It is Monday!  The last day of November.  This month really flew by, I don't know how, but it did.  Time is no longer crawling along (Thank God for that!!!)  I have had one student and have two more later.  Tomorrow is a new student.  He is a scholarship student that I used to have, so I guess it is actually a student coming back rather than a new student.  He is a good kid.  Both his parents are out of work, and really, I would rather teach a lesson than not.  I have other kids on scholarships due to these tough economic times so why not him?  That's what I said!  He should.  He sounds excited about it.  I will be giving him Christmas music, he will have 17 days to learn his Christmas songs for the concert.  He can do it, I know he can.

I remembered to send in my Michigan Music Association dues on time this year.  Last year I didn't, but not because I forgot, I just didn't have the money until February.  This year one of the parents offered to help with it, but I could do the dues myself.  I was thankful they offered, but I didn't need the help.

New Moon was really good, I thoroughly enjoyed it, so did Kathy.  I not only got her for a movie, but for dinner too!  I was soooooo happy about that!  I miss her when she isn't around, and since she lives so far away, I don't get her as long as I would like.  I have thought about moving closer to her, but my luck she would be moving right after I moved, so I will stay here.  I will see her at Christmas too so I am glad.  Mom liked the movie too.  She got a little agitated at the restaurant and I wanted to yell at her, but I didn't.  I know it isn't her fault she gets like that, but sometimes it is irritating when she does.  She did better Sunday and today she is doing well.

I added a sign on the door that tells her I am upstairs so she knows where I am in the morning.  It seems to help some.  As long as she doesn't go out the door!  

Anyways, my wonderful student should be here any minute!  I hope you are having a great day like me!

We are going to see New Moon this afternoon after teaching!!!!!!!!  I can't wait!  I have been waiting forever (it seems) to see this movie.  Now only if my headache would go away.  If it doesn't I will be miserable and that won't be any fun!  I have had this bad headache for several days.  It needs to go back down to normal, so I will be fine.  I have a headache everyday and have for about 5 years now so I need this one to calm down to the normal headache.

Tillie came over for Thanksgiving!  I was excited about that.  I could stand up normal by thanksgiving so I was very very grateful for that!  I cooked dinner and it came out good!  Yeah me!  Mom and Tillie ate a good dinner so it must have been alright.

My one student just called to say she just woke up, so she is coming at 1:30 instead of 12:00 noon.  Kind of hard to be in two places at one time!  Silly girl!

I hope you had a great holiday and are doing alright!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!!  Hope it is a great day!

The costume is finished and with the student.  She was here for the final fittings (the elastic for the top) and took the costume home with her.  There is some question on when the play will now be as something has come up for the original date.  If they have it on the date they want, she will not be able to attend.  I hope she gets to be in it.

I have the turkey breast in the fridge thawing ready for tomorrow.  We are having Tillie over for dinner.  I am cooking it.  Mom will help.  My right side lower back has been acting up again, I can hardly walk and can't straighten up very well.  I hope it clears up tomorrow or it shall be interesting.  We shall see.

Mom is dozing next to me in the dining room.  Our TV sits on our kitchen counter because the downstairs is so cold that we don't use it much.  It is just too cold for Mom.  She has been up a lot today instead of her usual dozing.  I hope this translates to a better night sleep for her.  I am very tired because I got up earlier than usual today.  I am trying to get up by 10:30 in the morning now because Mom is up by herself just too long in the morning and she gets a bit confused and I don't want her going outside like she did yesterday while I was sleeping.  Fortunately, our neighbors found her outside the house and brought her in and woke me up.  This is the third time she has done this.  She does this after 11 am when I sleep in later than that so I am getting up earlier so she doesn't have the chance to do it again.  She stayed upstairs most of the time this morning.  I was pleased about that.  Since tomorrow is a holiday, I will be getting up earlier than usual to make the dinner.

Kathy will be in town this weekend for the holiday.  I get her on Saturday after I am done teaching.  I have two lessons for the day, as usual.  I am excited to see her.  We are planning to go and see New Moon.  I can't wait to see it.  It looks so good and I loved the book.  I hope it stays close to the book, I don't like it when movies go too far away from the books they are from.  The one exception was the princess diaries which I didn't really like the books at all.  I thought they were not as good as the movies.  I loved the movies.  They are some of Mom's favorite movies too.

This past year has been a better year than 2008, but I am looking forward to 2010.  I don't know what the future will be, but I am hopeful it will be bright and hopeful and better than this year.  I don't really miss the store too much anymore.  I pretty much have gotten over the fact we lost it.  I try not to dwell on that anymore.  I am hoping to have a few more students in the new year.  I spoke to a young woman yesterday at the little cafe we go to often about piano lessons.  She asked for my name and number, so I am hoping she calls.

I hope this finds you well and ready to enjoy Thanksgiving!  Happy Thanksgiving!

I am almost done with the costume!  I just have to hem the vest and hem the sleeves, and put the casings for the elastic in the top.  I am glad to be almost done because the play is getting closer!!!  She will look adorable as a fairy.  She is a great kid that is growing up way to fast.  I can't believe she will be 12 soon.  It seems like yesterday she was turning 7.  Wow, how time does fly.

I pulled out the turkey breast to thaw in the fridge.  I am actually getting excited to make dinner.  I haven't cooked in about a year!  At least since last march, the night Mom went into emergency for chest pains.  Ended up not being anything, thankfully, but you never know.  I haven't cooked since.  I have everything ready that we need so Mom and I will be up early on thanksgiving getting the turkey breast ready.  It has the bone in it.  Don't really know what the difference is, except this was the type the store had.  If I do this well, I may cook a bit more often.  It is the standing I have problems with, but Mom can help with that.

I have some Christmas crafts to do after I finish the costume.  I make ornaments for my students every year and Hannah helped me cut them out and basted them so all I have to do is sew them together and stuff them.  We will do that next Friday, our next sewing day.  Their little sister, Sarah, wants to sew to because I bought this beginning sewing kit for her and she did real well with it.  She told her mom she really liked sewing.  So I may start her on some easy stuff for little ones.  She is only 6.

I almost have my Christmas cards done.  They are mostly addressed except a couple.  I will finish them this weekend and mail them out early next week!  I am so proud that they are almost done.  I haven't done cards in several years so this year is cool!

I hope this finds you doing well.  Mom and I are fine, almost healthy (well, healthy for me anyway, just still have a bit of a cough).  We are thankful for our friends and our families!  I hope this season brings you much joy and happiness!

I found the shampoo!  It was in the freezer.  I don't know why I didn't look there in the first place.  I took them out of the bag so Mom would know what they are.  She said she doesn't know why she put them in there but said she believed she did it.  I know she did, but to hear her say it was interesting.  The freezer is her favorite place to put things (like milk and apparently bananas), so I should have known to look there.  I will from now on when I am missing things.  I am not sure if the shampoo is harmed in any way, but I am using it anyways!

I have two students today, so I am happy about that.  I got up really early for me for Mom doctor's appointment.  I am trying to make sure I cover all my angles with her now so I know what is happening.  She answered a few of the questions, so that was good.  I answered the rest.

I hope you are having a great day, and for Agatha - get well soon!  She has the swine flu!  Poor girl!

The shampoo disappeared in our house somewhere, magically, somehow between Friday and today.  I know Mom moved it, but I don't know where.  She has been randomly taking things out of the back room and putting them in my room.  I just empty my room afterward.  I had to use some other shampoo that doesn't work as well on my hair.  Oh well, I hope to find it by tomorrow or so.  It was very expensive so I won't be buying it again any time soon.  Sometimes the little things she does can be frustrating, but I can't really complain to her because she doesn't know she does this stuff at times.  She forgets after she does it.  Considering what could be happening, I will take this, but I will try have more patience with all of this.

Thursday is Thanksgiving, Tillie is coming over.  I am actually going to cook the turkey breast!  Shocking, I know.  I was going to order our dinner and then just finish heating it, but when I added up how much it would cost to have what we would like, it was a lot of money.  I mean a lot of money, so I went to Walmart and bought our dinner.  I bought pre-made mashed potatoes because while I can cook the potatoes, mashing them would be too difficult.  The rest of the stuff will be a piece of cake (or pie! Tis the season!)  The hardest thing will be cleaning out the microwave, I don't want Tillie to see how bad it really is.  So Mom and I are going to clean it on Wednesday afternoon.  

I have managed to keep the dining room pretty clean and emptied of newspapers and magazines and junk mail since Tillie and I cleaned it last Sunday.  I will do a sweep of it on Wednesday afternoon to make sure the dining room is just so for Tillie on Thursday.  I want everything to look nice for our holiday.  I know Tillie wouldn't care what it looks like, but I do.

Speaking of holidays, we may see my brother on the Christmas holidays, if I get my back disability by then.  I have been waiting for months.  I am hoping we will be going to my older brother's for New Year's because we are going to Tillie's on Christmas Day.  It should be a fun holiday.  I haven't seen my older brother in over a year, and my younger brother in about 3 years.  We shall see who we see at Christmas.  It would be a good time for them to spend time with Mom as she is doing mostly well right now.

I am almost done with Lily's costume.  I have to do a few adjustments, and the hems then I am done.  I am glad.  She will have her whole costume then.

I hope this finds you doing well!

Went to the arthritis doctor for a follow up this afternoon.  After waiting for an hour, I saw the doctor.  I really like her, but the waiting is so frustrating.  Just drives me nuts waiting all the time for the doctors when we go.  I feel like I need to schedule a whole day just for a doctor appointment.  Anyways, I can get the cortisone shot after my next blood test in December.  It should help my shoulder move better.  It is somewhat better so I am happy about that.  I can at least move it higher than I could last month.  Mom sees her on Monday.  I have to finish some paperwork for her, then she is ready to go.  I feel like this month has been more doctor visits than anything else.  I can't wait until December when I don't have any appointments.  Mom has her last test Saturday and then we will get the results when we go see the doctor next week.

I bought our dinner for Thanksgiving last night.  I decided that I will cook it myself after all instead of ordering from Boston Market.  I compared the cost, and cooking it won.  It is about $50 cheaper and with Mom's help, I can do it.  The hardest thing will be cleaning the microwave.  It soooooo needs to be cleaned.  I am planning to do that this weekend.  I bought a nice turkey breast, mashed potatoes (Bob Evans pre-made) corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and cornbread stuffing.  The day before thanksgiving I will go to Boston Market and order the cornbread loaf that I love, that will be the only item I will order.  I have to find the thanksgiving table cloth, I may just buy a paper one with matching napkins.

Tonight we have a subdivision meeting at one of our neighbors house.  I am on the board and have enjoyed the meetings so far.  We missed last months because I forgot to write it in the planner.  Silly me.  Mom goes with me.  Then again, Mom goes everywhere with me.  She gets too frightened to stay by herself at all.  In the morning it is sometimes hard for her when she is down stairs and I am in bed.  So far, she doesn't get to upset, usually she finds me upstairs to ask if I am ready to get up.  This morning I got up a little later than usual so when she came in to ask I was like, "what?"  Then I looked at the clocked and was like, oops, guess I am getting up.  She is used to me getting up around 11ish.  She knows I am not a morning person, although some days she is in my room asking me if I am getting up every 10 to 20 minutes and that does get annoying, but I can't do anything about it because she doesn't remember that she already asked.  I am working on patience with that.

Pain isn't too bad considering I was at the arthritis doctor and she had to test my tender points.  Yup, they were sore when she touched them.  The arthritis hasn't gone away either, darn.  I keep hoping they will go away and never come back.  I know, wishful thinking.  I think all of us would like fibro to go away along with all the other problems we have with it.  That would be a dream.

Anyways, I hope this finds you doing well and having a decent day.

It has been a few days since I wrote.  I didn't mean to neglect the blog but it was slightly crazy in the house.  Sunday was a nice day with my cousin Tillie coming over.  We cleaned out the dining room and that took all day.  Hard to believe, but we have some space now.  Thank God for that.  We had a nice visit as she helped me.  She came over in the early part of the day and stayed until about 8ish, then went home.  She will be back next week for Thanksgiving dinner.  I am excited about that.  We are ordering from Boston Market so all I will need to do is heat up the dinner.  Much easier for me than cooking as standing is an issue and it tastes good too.

Yesterday, Mom had her colonoscopy, and she did well.  She came through with flying colors.  Her colon is in good shape which is good news.  She has her scope on Saturday, then another visit with the doctor to see what the results are.  Her swallowing acted up again yesterday, but is okay today.  The nurse told me to expect her to be dehydrated because of the procedure so I was expecting swallowing to be an issue.  She is fine right now and as usual, dozing in the chair as I watch Murder She Wrote.  I love that show, even though I have seen almost every episode at least 2 times each and we have 10 of the 11 seasons on DVD.  Season 11 should be coming out before Christmas.  I am planning for Mom to get me that for Christmas.  

Speaking of Christmas, I have almost finished all my presents.  I am just working on the ornaments I need for my students and I need to get 3 gift certificates for the girls, then I am done.  I will be mailing Abby and William their gifts the day after Thanksgiving.  I also will be mailing my Christmas Cards the day after Thanksgiving too.  I am buying the stamps this week though because I expect the post office will be busy.

I am working on Lily's costume this afternoon.  I love sewing and am glad I have had the opportunity to rediscover the love of it.  Lily will be an adorable fairy in her school play.  Mom and I are planning to go and see it.  Mom loves going to see kids in things like that.  I hope to see my student Grace in her musical that she will be in soon.  Rachel and Rebecca are also in plays right now too.  So we have a busy social life coming up.  I am glad about that.

Pain isn't so bad right now.  My shoulder is getting more mobility in it again.  I am soooooo grateful for that.  I have an appointment with my rheumatoligist tomorrow.  I will get the results for all the x-rays I have had taken.  

I hope this finds you having a great day and enjoying the week before Thanksgiving!

It looked like today was going to be a boring day, but we ended up being rather busy.  A nice surprise.  I found some elastic I need for Lily's skirt so I just have to put the casing on and the elastic in the casing.  So that is almost done.  Monday, Julie and I will work on the top and the vest.  She will be one adorable fairy for her play.

After we stopped at the JoAnn's ETC store, we went to walmart to pick up mom's prescriptions.  She has the stuff she has to take before her colonoscopy and then her new medicine.  The new meds are cheap though, so that is good, as long as they work.  She has two tests this week, a colonoscopy and a scope.  I have a doctor's appointment somewhere in there too.  Busy week for us.  In between, I will be working on Lily's costume, so I am happy about the coming week.

We didn't get tickets for Jessie's play after all.  I am a bit disappointed with that.  Well, better luck next time for that.  I have seen her perform before and she is awesome.  She has grown into such a beautiful young woman.

After walmarts I took Mom to Olive Garden for dinner.  She has been getting very tired lately, so I have tried to do things to keep her awake during the day, because she sure wakes up early in the morning!  I wish she would sleep in more, but she has been a morning person her whole life and that doesn't really change when you get older!

Tillie is coming tomorrow, I think.  I will find out before I go to bed.  That was the tentative plan as of Friday, so unless anything changed, she will be here all day.  I am looking forward to that, I enjoy her visits.

Head is slightly bad tonight, not like the other night, but bad enough.  Arm and shoulder are a little better.  I could even reach with the arm higher than I have been able to!  I was happy on that!!!  Knee is alright today too.  Let's keep it up!

I hope your having a good day too.

Part two of today's post:

I have decided against having weight loss surgery, too many possible problems, with blood clots at the top.  I have a blood disorder that causes blood clots, so that would not be good.  Also, there is a long list of possible problems and none of them sound good.  So, we are back to the basics, trying to exercise more, and watch what I eat, by eating more healthy.  I have a lot of weight to lose so I am starting now.