midweek! 1-9

I am getting back into the swing of things (well, sort of).  I have 2 lessons tomorrow and I believe that is all.  Faith is such a good student.  She lives down the road from me and her family are very good neighbors.  I would say that many of the neighbors in my subdivision are very good neighbors.  I also do get a small thrill to just go down the stairs to the living room to teach.  So much easier than going out to a studio or people's house.  With the health issues, it wouldn't really be possible to do that at this point.  It is easier also because if I need something, I have it in the house.  Also, if students are absent or don't show up, I am already home so that is good.  Although, I don't have too many just not show up.  Usually, all my students let me know they are going to be absent.

I am doing pretty well with the eating healthy.  I really feel better, not necessarily physically better, but a better frame of mind when I eat better.  I still have been having a problem with the lightheadedness.  I get light headed so easy.  I know part of it is the medicine.  I am hoping that in the future that I won't need so much medicine.  I am looking at trying to control pain with vitamins and such.  I have read that when we have vitamin deficiencies that it can cause more symptoms of fibro and everything that goes with it.  The bruise on my calf is getting better.  The red spot isn't too hot anymore so I know it is not a blood clot.  I think the danger of the blood clot is over.  I am hoping so at least.  The center of the bruise is still hard like a lump.  I don't really know how long it will take to go away, but it does get better everyday.  It just feels weird and is still swollen.  Then again, my legs, feet, and hands are often swollen.  I don't know why, they just are.

My headache is doing about the same.  It is bad in the morning and in the evening but during the afternoon it isn't so bad.  At this point, I expect when I see Dr. Rossi again we will probably change to a different medicine since at the higher doses caused me to hallucinate and the lower dose doesn't work too well.  I mean, it IS better than nothing, but not as well as I know she would like it to work.  It is nice to work with a doctor who's goal for me is to not have an everyday headache.  I look forward to that day too.  I can't remember what it is like to not have a headache of some sort.  Yes, sometimes I am able to ignore it because I am so used to it.  I used to think that it was just a part of fibro and I had to just learn how to live with it like everything else.  Maybe I won't have to just learn to live with it.  I have noticed that when I am sitting or lying down, I don't have a problem with light headedness, only when I am standing or walking.  I am not sure what that really means except that I am light headed when I stand or walking.  I do know that one of the side effects of some of the medicine is light headedness or dizziness so I don't really think it is anything to worry about.

I am hoping that this weekend, I will have some help taking down the Christmas tree and the decorations.  Acer has expressed interest in helping.  He wants to take down the decorations that are on the railings in the hallways.  It depends on whether or not Calli has homework or goalball to know if she can help too.  I think if I just do a bit everyday, then it won't be such a huge job.  The tree is about 5 or so feet and completely covered in decorations and I mean completely.  I don't think there is any branch that doesn't have at least 1 ornament and some even have 2 or 3 ornaments on the branch.  I would have to say that the kids did an amazing job decorating.  Everything looked so festive and beautiful.

Tuesday 1-8

I had a new student tonight, Nick.  He is in 8th grade and very musical.  So far, I have had 3 new students.  Of course, this balances out the 5 that have stopped lessons at this time.  You have to be super flexible for teaching and realize that changes can be made from one week to the next.  Nothing is written in stone, so to speak.  I am thankful that it usually evens out eventually.

Kathy's birthday will be on Thursday.  She will be 45.  I will be 45 in April.  It is so strange at times, this passing of life.  I don't feel 45 or even have a clue of how a 45 year old even feels.  My spirit hasn't gotten any older than how I felt when I was young and much more carefree.  However, I must confess that my physical body feels very, very, very old at times.  I think everyone has moments with feeling old and feeling young.

I have no memory of actually meeting Kathy, none at all.  I also cannot remember a time when we were not friends outside of childhood arguments and such typical behavior.  However, our friendship has lasted the test of time.  From what our parents have told us, Kathy and I met in our church Sunday School.  Both my mother and her parents say that we met around 3 years old.  When I was 5 and starting Kindergarten, Mom said that it was thanks to Kathy being in the same class as me that saved her from a major meltdown from me.  Mom had talked to me about Kindergarten and what I would be doing, she neglected to tell me I had to stay in school all morning.  See, I thought you went to school, got your work and then went home to do your work with Mom.  I was about to start the meltdown when Mom pointed out that Kathy was in my class and there was an empty seat right next to her.  I sat next to her for the rest of the day and for the rest of the year.  It was good that we ended up at the same school since we saw each other a lot.  We had many play dates as children.  Kathy and I would play games, read, listen to music, and everything else two young girls would do.  I remember in 6th grade I got very angry at Kathy, I remember a bit about it but not really.  I do remember that in band she and I were sent into the practice room to work our disagreement.  I think it took a while to get over it.  I don't remember too much about it but I do know that talking to Mom made it okay and then Kathy and I were fine again.  I think that was the longest time we were upset and angry with each other.  I also remember when she got married.  I was so excited for her.  Kathy was so exhausted by time the wedding day arrived that I think I was a bit more bouncing off the walls than she was.  It was a glorious day.  I also remember the day I met each of her children.  Being an aunt is a great thing and I am glad that she considers me a part of her family.  Her children are the light of my life as is many of my students are.

This afternoon, I was checking facebook and I suddenly couldn't remember what day it was.  I was totally freaked for a few minutes as I thought I missed Kathy's birthday.  I quickly checked my planner for the date and realized that no, Thursday will be her birthday, not today.

I am watching NCIS.  Oh my, this was a really good episode.  It is a very sad one too since Vance's wife dies as well as Ziva's father.  NCIS Los Angeles will be on after this one.

My leg hurts more today than it did on Tuesday.  The bruised parts are a bit better as in they are not bright red like they had been.  It just hurts all up and down the leg.  I hope it will be better tomorrow.  My headache is going back down to the regular one.  I am also more light headed today than usual.  I am sure it isn't anything serious.  I am not up for anything serious with everything that is going on.

Ooh, it is time for NCIS Los Angeles.

The Start of the First Full Week of January 1-7

I turned in all the competition stuff on Saturday.  I mailed the checks from the parents on Saturday too.  I have to mail my dues tomorrow.  I sent in the form, I just need to mail the check.

I had new songs for Isaac all copied and put in sheet protectors.  I was looking through the Musical Theatre book for young men and I found a couple of songs that I thought were perfect for Isaac.  I got the music ready and when he arrived, his music was ready for him.  My wild boys, Rahul and Sammy, had their lessons and boy were they both a bit too much on the wild side.  I hope next week will be better for the young men.  Rachel did very well at her lesson today.  She is one of the sweetest girls EVER.  She works very hard and she seems to really like piano.  I am pleased with her progress.

A couple of my students are stopping lessons for now.  I have a few new ones starting this week.  It sure balances out the ones quitting with the new ones so it works out well.

Other than a few lessons, my day was rather quiet.  I have several books on my nook.  I received several Barnes and Noble gift cards.  Of course, at this time, they have all been used.  I love my nook.  I like some of the games that is on there too.  I really like the angry bird ones.  They are crazy but I do like them.

On Sunday I saw Les Miserables again.  I wanted to see it with my lovely girls so I called earlier in the week to see when they were available to see the movie.  I also called Star and asked if she was interested too.  When Natalie had her lesson, I asked if she was interested in going also.  Natalie said yes so we had 2 Natalies on Sunday.  The six of us then went to get ice cream after the movie.  It was a lovely way to spend the day.  When I dropped the Muglia girls off and Star off, I came home and relaxed before heading to bed.  Natalie Z seemed to really get along well with the Muglia girls and with Star.  I hope there is another movie or event that we can do together again.

I am planning to start taking the decorations off the Christmas tree this week.  Acer would like to help.  He said so.  Maybe on Saturday Acer will be able to come over and help me take them down.  I also have to remember to take the decorations off of the top of the other piano too.  Somehow, last year, that didn't happen.  Whoops!  I will take them down this year.  Rahul and Sammy want to use that piano next week.  Acer also likes that piano better than the one we are currently using.  I have to get both pianos tuned sometime this winter.  They are completely out of tune, not at all, it is just it is time to tune them so they won't go out of tune.

I am watching Castle right now.  I haven't seen too many of them yet, but I do like them a lot.  There wasn't anything else on the TV one night so I put TNT on and Castle was on.  I watched a couple of episodes and discovered that I liked it.  So on Monday nights on ABC are the current season episodes and the episodes shown on TNT are re-runs.

I hope tomorrow is a less pain day for everyone!

A Blast from the Past 1-5

I received a call a while ago.  It was from a friend who I have not actually seen or talked to in about 20 or so years.  Her name is Amy.  She and I danced at the same dance studio.  We were both teachers there as well as her twin sister, Andrea.  I spent about 9 years at the studio both as a teacher and a student.  I didn't start dance until I was 16 right after I had my surgery and recovered for a year.  I could not dance or twist or anything like that until I fully recovered.  It took a year and I finished my year on December 8.  I began taking dance the next month.  I loved it right away.  I took dance because I wanted to be on Broadway and you definitely needed to learn how to dance.  I started teaching vocal at 18, right after I graduated from High School.

I went to the studio that day to sign up for the dance classes.  Karen, the owner and director of the studio handed me a schedule.  She said that these are the people who are signing up for voice lessons.  I was like, what?  I had a few students later that week.  I think I floated from week to week until about Christmas.  I was so stressed about teaching that I want to quit.  I never wanted to be a teacher in the first place.  I was talking to my mom and she asked me for my lesson plans.  I looked at her and said, what lesson plans.  Mom was shocked so she taught me how to write lesson plans.  This helped a lot.  After the first year, I got a better hang of teaching and that helped.  It also helped that I was learning how to teach and things like that in school.

I am now very thankful that Karen did what she did as I got very sick and had to drop out of a national tour.  Unfortunately, I have never been healthy enough to do any professional performing.  I was surprised that after I learned how to plan lessons that I really did enjoy the lessons.  For the first 2 years of teaching voice, mom would help me go over what the goals were for each lesson.  When I was about 20 or 21, I was hired to start teaching piano.  I was very nervous because I had only played for a couple of years.  However, the lady at the store who hired me had much more faith in me than I did.  I got the beginners books and went through them to see how to approach the music.  I think I was the only music major who was excited about taking piano.  We didn't have one at home.  I had to go to school to practice both piano and voice.  It was like that when I went to Macomb and also when I went to Wayne State University.

It really is thanks to Mom that I didn't quit teaching.  Now, I know all the piano books so well that I no longer need to write down a lesson plan.  The closest thing to that is to write what other music the student will be learning.  It is the same thing with the vocal students.  Mom was so proud that I was a teacher.  When my brothers would ask mom if I was ever going to get a "real" job.  Mom's comment was she has a "real" job.  It used to drive my brothers crazy for some reason.

Once I started buying music for students and for myself, Mom decided that I needed to organize my music better.  She spent Saturday mornings for several months creating my data base.  She not only would put the name of the book in, but also listed all the songs that were in the book, who wrote or arranged the songs and what level the music was in.  I am so grateful that she did that.  On Sundays, Mom would ask me what songs I would need for the week.  Yes, I know, talk about spoiled!  All I had to do was write the name of the song, who composed it, and the level and she would pull them for me.  She would also check back in all the books that I had received back.

It was such a great system.  Yes, I still use it.  I am not totally up on all my music being listed but I am close.  I no longer loan out a lot of the original music because I have had many pieces disappear over the years.  Students quit and never return my music.  Now, I copy a lot of it for the student and then they use the original for competitions and concerts.  Because I am a teacher, I am allowed, by law, to make one copy per student to be used as a teaching tool.  I bring all the original music to the events so that we have it.

 Sometimes it makes me sad to see her handwriting on the tags and most of the time it makes me smile.  I think one of my worst fears is that I will forget mom.  I know that it is not a reasonable fear, but I still do worry about it.  I am not as organized as my mom but I am learning to be.  I am also working on being a better money manager like mom was.  I am a lot like my mom except to when it comes to money.  For some reason, I used to be so much more materialistic than I am now.  Now, I want to have the relationships instead of the things.

Well, it is time to read for a bit.  I am hoping that Amy will message me back so we can go and hang out.

Friday 1-4

It has been a pretty quiet day.  I had 2 lessons, Emily and Natalie.  Emily is in level 3 now and she is doing very well.  She is a very sweet girl.  Natalie is 12 and will be going to competition for the first time.  She is very nervous about competition.  3 of the Muglia girls (Hannah, Lydia, and Natalie), Star, and Natalie will be going with me to see Les Miserables.  Star and I have already seen it but we both loved it so much that we will see it again.  After that we will go and get ice cream for the girls.  I am hoping that Star will be able to calm so of the fears that Natalie has.  She is very nervous.  I think at times that Natalie is so hard on herself that she sets herself up for failure.  I am hoping that after she speaks with Star that she will be okay and not so nervous.

Calli and Acer will most likely have their lessons tomorrow.  Acer is working on the Minuet in G by Bach for piano and Be Kind to Your Parents for singing.  He is a cutie.  I had hoped that Calli would have been able to join us, but there is a family event so no Calli for the afternoon.  I hope to have her come with me and keep me company while I pick up a few things at the store.  I don't have too much, just a few things, but we have a good time when we shop together.  It will also be the first time Q would be coming with us.  It should be a good time.  I am looking forward to it.

I am getting pretty tired so I am going to read for a bit before heading to bed.  I have 3 new students tomorrow!

I have met my ER quota for the year 1-2

After I wrote my post for yesterday, I just relaxed and read for a bit.  My leg was a little bit sore and a whole lot swollen worse than usual.  I touched the spot on my calf that is hard and it was warm to the touch.  I was unsure what I should do, do I go to the ER, do I wait until the next day and see the doctor?  I messaged my friend, Robin and asked what she thought I should do.  She did not message me back, she called, almost immediately.  With the history I have with blood clots, Robin said I should have probably gone on New Year's Eve when I noticed it.  She pretty much confirmed what I thought. I called my neighbor, Barbara Jean and she came to take me to the hospital.  I was there for a few hours.  I did have the Doppler test for a deep vein blood clot.  The test showed that I didn't have a deep vein blood clot.  At this time it is a hemotoma.  It is like a big bruise in a way.  The swelling should go down and the skin will go back to the regular color (it is purple and blueish right now).  I do have to keep an eye on it in case it gets bigger or hotter or if my foot turns blue, then I have to go back to the ER.  I don't expect any of that to happen but I will watch it anyways.  Basically, I think that this visit should be the only visit this year or at least I am hoping so.  Last year, I went 2 times, 1 for the headache and the other for the infection under the skin.  I have a good neurologist so I shouldn't have to  go to the ER for any headache issues.  I would just call her.  I really like her and I think my headaches are getting somewhat better.

Today is back to normal.  I have a few lessons, Ellie is sick so she won't be here until next week.  It is time to work on the competition entry forms.  I have to have the payments sent in by Saturday.  I will have the entry forms ready to be emailed.  I also have to send in my teacher dues at the same time.  I have Sarah, Aggie, and most of Natalie's info down.  I just need Nina's and Breanna's info and them I can send them all in!!!!!

My student, Antoinette should be here in a few minutes.  She will be taking some time off from lessons because she was asked to teach a few dance classes.  After the dance season is over, she is planning to come back for more lessons.  It will be just too busy for her.  I will miss her but we are friends on facebook so I will still get the scoop on how she is doing.

The Beginning of a New Year 1-1-13

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a good New Year's Eve.  I certainly did.  Bill and Heather came over with Acer, Calli wasn't feeling too well so she stayed with her grandmother.  Three of Bill and Heather's friends came over also.  It was a lovely way to usher in the New Year.  We decided to move the event from Bill and Heather's to here.  It was nice to spend the time with them.  We played games with Acer, we chatted, and we had some food.  Everyone brought something.  I bought the cutest Christmas cups for the party.

After we ushered in the New Year and everyone went home, I couldn't sleep.  About a half hour later, my head got worse.  I finally got to sleep in the wee hours of the morning.  I just have the regular headache right now.

I don't usually make new year resolutions, I just pick something I want to work on.  This year I plan to keep working on eating healthy and looking at alternatives to control the pain of Fibro, headaches, and everything that goes along with it.  I have been eating healthier since about Memorial weekend.  I will continue to do this.  I got some yummy berries yesterday at the grocery store.  I also got those little cutie oranges.  I like those a lot.  I am focusing on eating more vegetables and fruit.  I think this will help me lose the weight and hopefully the headache medicine will not make me gain weight.  It is an uphill battle at times because of the many medicines.  I am hoping that as I lose the weight, I will be able to be off some of the medicines.  That is the goal of the year though.

I am watching a marathon of Law and Order: SVU.  It is good.  Right now they are running season 13, of which I missed most of it.  I don't really know why, I just did.

I do hope that you are going to have a great year and that 2013 is a less pain and more energy year!

Les Miserables 12-29

Oh my, words fail me about how wonderfully beautiful the movie was.  It stayed pretty much true to the stage production with a few changes here and there.  Over all, it was breathtaking.  Simply breathtaking!  Anne Hathaway has one of the most beautiful voices EVER!  She was amazing.  I think I could go on and on about it.  I plan to purchase this when it comes out on DVD.  It has been nominated for some golden globes and I hope that it will also be nominated for Oscars.  I went with Star to see it.  When Star was younger, she was my student and now, she is grown up and 25 years old.  It is nice to be friends, not just on facebook, with former students and seeing how they have grown up and mature.  It is awesome.  I am friends with several former students now.

It is hard to believe that in 2 days 2012 will be over and 2013 will be ushered in.  I think in some ways I have changed and maybe have grown.  I started the year with such a heavy heart, deep into mourning.  I still miss mom everyday but it doesn't seem to be as physically hard as it was.  I still have many days physically feeling the grief.  My heart ached physically and mentally.  I had to change my wallpaper on my computer because it was no longer helping me.  It made me sadder every time I saw a picture of mom.  I changed it back to the Winnie the Pooh pictures.  I think today that many people forget how long a person grieves and they expect a person to be "over" the person who passed away fairly quickly.  Some in my family are like this.  To be in mourning is looked up as a depression, which mostly it isn't.  Yes, I am very sad at times.  I had a very close relationship with my mom even before she had Alzheimer's.  The Alzheimer's brought us closer together.  I do thank God that I was the one to take care of her even if some days I was frustrated.  I know she was frustrated with me at times too.  I am glad that she is all better now and is in Heaven.  For a long time all i wanted to do was to be with her.  If I had died, I wouldn't have cared, I almost would have welcomed it.  The one person who was beside me my whole life was gone.  I had purpose when I took care of her.  I was upset when we lost the store.  Mom was there.  At that time, Mom was still more like herself with only a few changes outside of her memory issues.  I think it was around fall 2009 when she started to not be herself anymore.  She cried so easy, like I do now.  Mostly I can think about her and not be sad, but I still do get sad thinking about her.  She would have loved this movie.  She had seen it about 4 times with me.  I saw it 1 time without her.  I loved going to the theatre with her whether it was a live stage play or a movie.  Mom and I had so much in common as far as music and movies as well as many activities.  I am thankful that in the spring I went and spoke with Star's mother.  She really helped me a lot.  I am much better now.  Yes, I still miss her and I will for the rest of my life.  The only regret I have is that I wouldn't let mom talk about what she wanted me to do when she wasn't here anymore.  I just couldn't think about so now I don't know.  Overall, 2012 was not the worst of my life, it is getting better.  Will I be the same carefree woman that I was before 2009?  No, but everyone changes as time goes by.

I am thankful for the things and people I have in my life.  I have a few plans for next year.  I plan to be with friends on New Year's Eve.  It will be nice and quietish like it has been the last New Year's Eves.

Thursday, which I thought was Wednesday!

All day today I thought it was Wednesday.  Silly fibro fog!  I should have actually had a clue since both Faith and Laith had their lessons and Thursdays are their regularly scheduled lessons are.  That should have told me which day of the week it was.  Nope, not me, what can I say?  whoops!

Christmas Eve was a nice evening.  I spent the afternoon and evening with Kathy and her family at her parents house.  It started to snow about 1/2 hour before we were going to go to church.  We got the twins and Kathy's sons in the car and it was snowing really hard.  I followed them when Kathy turned off the main road and into a sub.  For a few seconds I thought I followed the wrong car.  No, I didn't.  Kathy and her mom decided to turn around and go back to her parents house.  I did feel bad for her boys because we had to take my scooter apart and now we needed to put it together again.  It is just to far for me to walk to Kathy's parents' condo.  I am thankful that they help me put it together and take it apart.  It is a big help.  I like my scooter.  I now keep the key on my car key ring.  This way, I will not lose it like I did a few years ago.  Kathy was in town and we decided to go to the mall.  We get the scooter all together to discover that I had lost the key.  Talk about a letdown.  I was able to get another key so that is good.  I definitely take much better care with the key now.  Anyways, when we arrived back from the aborted trip to church we opened presents.  I love what I got!  I got gift cards for barnes and nobles and amazon.  Yes, needless to say, they have all been used.  I bought lots of books.  I have lots of books for me to read that for a while.  It is exciting!  I left earlier than I normally would have since the roads were not good at all.  I also forgot to take my camera so I have no pictures of the kids this year.  Kathy's younger brother, Dan and his wife, Tracy have a 9 month old baby.  His name is David and oh my, what a charmer.  He is a good nature little guy.  I loved watching him open his presents.  I had such a hard time in choosing what cute outfit to get him.  Everything was just so cute!!!!  The boys seemed happy with what they got and same with the girls.  Overall, I think everyone was just happy with what the got.  I know I was.

Christmas Day I went to Andrew's house.  It is about 2 hours and a bit to get there.  He made a lovely turkey breast dinner.  He wasn't feeling too well but Angie and I really enjoyed Andrew's cooking.  He is such a good cook.  Everything tastes amazing when he cooks, let me tell you.  I was glad to visit him and his girlfriend.  They have the cutest dog.  He is a pug and such a sweetie.  He did try to get me to give him something off my plate but I don't know what he can and can't have so I didn't give him anything.  I didn't stay super late there since he wasn't feeling too good and I had a long drive home.  I put some Christmas CDs on and sang the whole way home.

Yesterday, I had a few lessons and then it was snowing really hard again so I just decided after my last little ones left I would go and get in my new Christmas Pajamas and have a nice cup of tea.  It was lovely.  I read a bit and then, I got on my nook and bought a lot of books.  I have several gift cards this year so I shopped and shopped.  I used alllllll the gift cards in one sitting!!!!  I now have a lot of stuff to read.  I have also discovered that I am addicted to the game Angry Birds.  Yes, I know have Angry Birds, Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars, and Angry Birds Seasonal.  Needless to say, I love those games.  When I woke up this morning, it was a winter wonderland!!!!  I called my lovely neighbors, the Hubels and they came and dug me out.  I have cookies to make for them.  I have chocolate chip and a butterscotch ones too.  I am planning to bake them tomorrow and then deliver tomorrow or Saturday.  I also need to finish their ornaments tomorrow too.  I am almost done.  Which is good.

I had a couple of lessons today, like I said and I expect to have a couple tomorrow.  Antoinette will have a make up tomorrow because the snow was so bad on Wednesday.  It definitely made perfect sense not to drive in that snow storm and reschedule the lesson.  It was just too awful to drive.  The snow did look really pretty but with the roads covered with snow, I am sure driving was slow and dangerous.

I am not sure exactly what I will be doing this weekend.  I have one lesson on Saturday and one on Sunday.  New Year's Eve will be spent with Heather B-T and crew.  It may be there, it may be here, whichever works best for the family is what works with me.  I know she is not feeling super well right now because her back has been bothering her a lot lately.  I will see them tomorrow.  Acer and I have started a different path for piano now.  I have decided that I don't want to do the typical lesson book thing right now.  Maybe in the future we will go back to the lesson book, but at this point, this works better.  He is also singing the cutest song ever, "Be Kind to Your Parents".  It is from Fanny.  He does sing the part he knows really well.  Oh my!  I just remembered I have to send the words for Acer!  Okay, going to do that now!  I am done.  Now I just have to email it to Calli so Acer can braille it out.  Well, I think I am going to email and then read one of my new books on my nook now!!

Boxing Day 12-26

These past few days have been very busy.  Saturday, my aunt came to town.  I am so hoping little Peanut is going to get better.  She is such a trooper though.  Sunday, I went to my cousin, Maia's house.  Her daughter and her family were there too along with Tillie and Maia's son Zachary.  We had a nice dinner and the kids seemed to really like their gifts.  I had to bring Elizabeth's gift back with me because there was a flaw in the slippers.  I was able to get her another one so when I see her next, she will get it then.  Myles seemed to like the mega blocks.  He banged a few together and promptly put one in his mouth.  Fortunately, they are too big to fit in his mouth.  Monday, I went to Kathy's parents house with her and her family.  Kathy's brother Dan was there also along with his family.  Everyone seemed to like everything that they got.  I was pleased with my gifts too.  I can do a lot of shopping for my nook!!!  Yesterday, Christmas Day, I went to my younger brother's house for dinner.  He wasn't feeling too well, but we had a good visit despite it.  He thinks it was something he ate.  I hope he is feeling better today.  Today, I had a few lessons.  It is snowing so hard.  I think we have got lots of snow.  I think we are supposed get about 8 inches of snow.  I made the mistake of going out in the snow.  Yup, roads were very snowy.  It is December so I guess this is the type of weather we should be expecting.  Thank goodness I do teach here at home.  2 of my students rescheduled their lessons because of the weather.  I expected them too.  I know how bad it was when I went out.  I picked up some muffins for tomorrow brunch in case the weather is still bad.  I hope it does clear up and that the roads will be clear.

Painwise, the past few days have been exhausting, but I expected it to be.  My headache was bad by the time I got home on Sunday.  Christmas Eve wasn't too bad.  Yesterday, was okay until about 1/2 way home, then it got a bit on the bad side.  I have also noticed that my right knee is hurting a bit, which is something it doesn't always do.  I am a bit stiffer than I used to be and this did cause me some concern until I realized that part of the reason I am stiffer and a little bit more sore because I know longer take the Meloxicam because of the ulcer.  So yeah, without a replacement pain med, I am just going to be more sore at times.  I am relieved that I figured out I was in pain more than usual for this time of year.

Well, time to a bit of shopping for the lovely nook!  One of the nicest perks of being a teacher, is that I do get some really cool gifts, some of them are handmade (I love those) and some are gift cards as well as all sorts of things.  I am hoping that on the weekend I will see my girls to watch some movies here at home with lots of hot chocolate and popcorn for them.  I will stick to tea.  I don't like popcorn because usually after a few hours of eating it, I get an upset stomach.  I enjoy being with my students and their families.

Not exactly how I envisioned Christmas this year 12-23

I had an enjoyable day yesterday with my Aunt Michelle and cousin, Jayson.  We visited and then we went out to dinner at Red Lobster.  It was awfully yummy.  I love their soup and their salad.  It is very good.  So after dinner we came back to my house.  We visited some more and then they had to go home.  I was planning to see them again on Christmas Day for the day.  I received a call from Michelle about 11 ish and she was sobbing.  While we were visiting, her 2 5 month old puppies somehow got out of the fenced in yard and both were hit by a car.  Poppy didn't make it and Peanut has a dislocated joint and a broken femur bone.  So instead of a happy day, it is very sad in the family.  They were so small and cute.  The person who hit them didn't even stop or see what he/she had done.  Nope, they just drove off.  I have spoken to Michelle early in the afternoon.  The orthopedic surgeon was going to be in the pet hospital about 7 tonight.  I haven't spoken to her since.  I have left a message and I hope to hear how Peanut is doing.  She is such a sweet puppy so was Poppy.

I will be planning to see Andrew on Christmas Day.  Today, I went to Maia's house for dinner.  I had a few gifts for the little ones.  Elizabeth loved the Cinderella stuff only one of her slippers was damaged so I needed to take it back and get her a new one.  Fortunately, I was able to replace it.  Myles seemed to like the Lego blocks.  He is only 1.  He is almost walking now.  He can take a couple of steps by himself and walk if you are holding his hands.  He has 2 bottom teeth and 3 coming in.  Overall, I think it was a good day, well, as good as it could be with everything that is going on with the puppies and my aunt and uncle.  I left Esther's gift with Tillie so when Lia comes back down to Windsor, she can get it. Danielle is planning to see Kayla tomorrow so I think she was planning to take the gifts for Warren and Phoenix to give to them tomorrow.

Pain wise, the headache was really bad this morning and my whole abdomen hurt about 4 in the morning.  It was so bad.  It was like it was on fire.  I went down and took some Mylanta in case it would help.  Eventually 2 hours later, it did help some.  Since I can't take my Reglan right now, I do not have a replacement for it.  I do hope it doesn't happen again because it was horrible.

I hope the next couple of days are not bad for the headaches or stomachs.  I hope yours is good too.