a fun filled weekend!

I had 4 lessons on Saturday.  My last lesson cancelled due to work, I think that was why.  Kathy arrived at 4:10 pm just about as planned.  I whisked her away to Olive Garden for dinner.  Boy, it was a good think we went early because when we left, it was jammed packed with people waiting.  We had such a good time for dinner.  I kept teasing her about the surprise after dinner.  Now, I know Kathy does not really like surprises and I love to do this to her, so I broke down and told her the surprise.  She was so excited!  The surprise was going to our other friend, Heather B-T's house for games for the evening.  She hasn't really be able to spend a lot of time with Heather like I have been able to.  So after dinner, we stopped by her parents house to pick up something.  Kathy had visited with her parents before coming over to my place.  It would have been terrible to be in town and not stop in to see your parents.  They are very important.  So we chatted for a few minutes and Mrs. Knight showed me her Nook and now I want one a lot.  I am going to start putting money aside for one.  They're are simply wonderful.  I just love it.  I can only imagine how much space I would save by having one and not books.  We stayed for a few minutes at her parents and then headed right over to Heather B-T's house.  Calli and Acer were waiting for us.  First we chatted a bit.  Acer showed me the new electric piano they have.  It is totally awesome!  Bill, Heather's husband, also mentioned he knows a piano tuner so he is going to get me the name as in the spring my pianos are hopefully being tuned.  They haven't since we moved them into the house in September of 2008.  It is amazing they still sound wonderful but I am beginning to notice a slight out of tuneness that drives me batty.  Anyways, after chatting for a few minutes we went into the kitchen to play some games.  Acer decided he wanted to play other things so he didn't play, but that was okay.  Calli wanted to play some games with us.  We played Would you rather.  It was a blast!  I love that game.  I hope to play it again with them soon.  It was so much fun.  We laughed and giggled at our equally awful choices of what we would rather do.  Would you rather have ants in your nose and ears or slime all over you, type things.  Definitely worth a good giggle or too.  Then we played Uno.  Calli and I love that game.  Kathy likes it too.  We left at about 10 when the kids were in bed and Heather needed to get to bed to get up for church the next day.  Kathy and I headed back to my house and then talked to 1:30 in the morning!  Yes, I was awake until shortly after 1:30.  I was just having such a good time!  So we headed off to beds and then we both got up around 10, with me more around 10:30.  I asked her not to let me sleep past 10:30 because I didn't want to miss out on any of the visit!  So after we had some relaxing in the morning we headed to Red Robin for dinner.  Boy that was really good.  I am still so stuffed from it!  I don't anticipate any dinner for me as I am so full.  those burgers are huge and the fries are heavenly!  We didn't get an appetizer as I knew how big these burgers were.  Lunch was so fun.  When we walked in they looked kind of busy and I thought we would have to wait but we didn't.  We got seated right away.  Once lunch was finished and we were both so stuffed we headed to Walmart.  I needed to get some pop and chicken and Kathy needed to get some Valentine stuff.  There was no scooter there!  Oh my, that is a tragedy for me as I don't walk very well.  I knew we only needed a few things so we got a cart and I hung on to it for balance and we went to get what we needed.  it wasn't too bad.  I got my couple of things, so did Kathy and we checked out.  Then we went to Target.  Again, no scooter so I grabbed a cart and we got what we needed and left.  I am rather tired from all that walking but I am not feeling too bad from it so I am really happy about that.  I was able to do a bit more walking than I thought, but to do a whole lot of groceries, well, I can't see that happening very well.

Overall, this was a fantastic weekend and I hope we can do it again.  Even her little Samantha (she's 4) told her to have fun at my house.  Wasn't that just the sweetest thing ever?  Her children are awesome.  All four of them are wonderful children.  I enjoy being with them and watching them play and have fun together.



I do hope your weekend was as good as mine.

exhausted day

I don't know why, but I am so exhausted today.  I think I pretty much slept most of the day away.  I was up for a bit and then went back to bed.  I finally got back up again for dinner about 6 pm.  I am still so very tired so I will be heading to bed shortly.  I am just so tired and I don't really know why.  Usually it is because I did too much or didn't get enough sleep the night before, but I slept okay yesterday so I am at a loss of why I am so exhausted.

I am excited about tomorrow.  I get 5 lessons to teach and Kathy!!!!!  Kathy is going to be here at 4 pm and boy do I have plans!  He he he!!!!  I am excited that I will get her until Sunday afternoon.  I do hope she has a good time.  I figure she will arrive and we will whisk away for dinner and then on to the surprise in the evening.  I know she will have a good time, she is usually game for anything, which is one of the best things about her, besides being my best friend.  We have known each other since we were 3 years old when we met in Sunday School at church.  We went to school together all the way through from Kindergarten to 12th grade.  We didn't go to the same college as she went to Western Michigan University and I stayed here in town for college.  I went to Wayne State University in Detroit.  After college, she moved back into town and then got married and moved to Kalamazoo!  I do wish we lived closer, but we do have good visits when we are together.  Momma and I went to see her and her lovely family this summer and had a good time.  Momma really had a good time.  I am glad she did because she needed the time away too and to have a nice relaxing time from her not so good summer.  Kathy was at the funeral for mom which I really appreciated especially since I held myself together for most of the service but at the end I lost it when it was over and they took Momma away.  Fortunately, Kathy was there and I cried all over her.  She said just let it out.  My other good friend, Peggy was there too as well as the Emerton family.  Lily was there too.  She sat next to me at the luncheon.  Her sister, Emily didn't stay for the luncheon as she had a rough time during the funeral.  Both girls were close to my mother and looked to her as a grandmother.  I simply love all of the Emerton girls.  Their parents are very good friend too.  I am very blessed with my friends as well as my family.

I am thinking that next Sunday maybe Lily can come over for games as I haven't seen her since Christmas and that is just too long for me.  I need my Lily.  I have cookie dough too so we can make cookies too.  The following weekend is competition.  I am looking forward to competition as it will be a nice weekend away.  I am nervous about the drive there and back as I don't know how exhausted I will be, but if necessary I can stop and rest on the way.  It really is only about 3 hours away.  What used to happen is that I would drive there and Mom would drive home until, of course, she became unable to drive then she just kept me company on the way home.  I only have 3 students going to competition this year.  It is less than I used to have, but what can I say?  It is the economy and I got the new students too late to have them enter.  Perhaps next year I will have a few more.  Doesn't matter to me, if you want to go then go, if not, that is okay too.  The important part to me is the learning process.  Learning to sing or play properly, using good techniques, learning the techniques, and stuff like that.  I love teaching although I miss how many students I used to have.  I have to be careful how many I have because I am not healthy enough to teach full time which bums me out, but I have learned to live with this.  I think it is something that many of us have had to learn to live with.

I can't wait until tomorrow.  It should be a fun weekend.  I can't wait to see Kathy.  I do hope she has a good weekend here with me.  It all starts shortly after I am done teaching with going out to dinner.  I have gift certificates!!!

I do hope you are having a better day than me.

paperwork

I think I have finally turned in all the paperwork for the bankruptcy!  Boy has this been a long process to deal with.  I don't ever want to do this again.  Well, I didn't want to do it in the first place but when we lost the store, we lost pretty much everything.  Thank goodness Mom wasn't on the business or we would have lost the house too.  She didn't want to be on the business.  She said it should be me and my brother alone so that is what we did.  Thank goodness!  Because of that, I have a home to live in.  I do hope that I don't have anymore to turn it.  There are a couple of papers I need to take with me, but I have them put aside and ready to go.  My meeting is set for early March.  I am so happy I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It has been such a long road and it didn't help that I procrastinated about it either.

I don't have any students today or tomorrow.  I may go and visit tomorrow, but I am not sure.  We shall see how cold it is out and if I feel like going out.  It is a rough decision in this cold weather.  The one thing I do need to do is clear off the table so Kathy will have a place to sit.  Right now there are music books sitting on her chair.  That will be a problem.  I am going to put them in a box and take them downstairs to the office where the rest of the music is.

Andrew is feeling rather sad today.  He put on face book that he is missing Mom a lot today.  This is the first time he has done that since she passed away.  I put a small comment to him.  I hope it helps him.  I know what it is like to miss her.  I told him I missed him too because I do miss my brother.  He may drive me crazy, but he is my brother and I do love him.  I am hoping to see him in the spring.  Right now he is so busy with school that he doesn't have time for any visits.

It is a rather quiet day around here.  I am feeling better than yesterday.  I am not in as much pain and the tummy feels so much better.  I am reading a really good book too that is so hard to put down.  I hope to finish it tonight so I can start a fresh one tomorrow.  I am waiting for my Army Wives season 4 to come in the mail.  I love that show.  I don't know if it is because I am an Army Brat or not, but it is such a good series.  I don't watch it when it is on during the season because it is on rather late and I am usually getting ready for bed at that time so I buy the DVDs and watch it that way.  Also, no commercials when you watch the DVD so that is awesome!  I also ordered 1 book.  That is all my spending money this month though but that is okay.  I doubt I will need anything else.  I don't buy a lot of DVDs so to buy the series is not really a big deal.  I also usually buy my books at the used bookstore so it is a treat to once in a great while buy a new book.  I also had gift certificates from Christmas that I hadn't used.  I do have one more for Border's that I haven't used yet.  I am waiting for the next book club book before I use it.  I got the next book club book a couple of days ago.  I plan to read it when I am done with the 2 new other books I got.  It isn't because I think it will be a bad book, it is because we won't be discussing it until April so I don't want to read it too soon and then forget what I read.  You know Fibro Fog!!!  I have a hard time remembering books at times now.  It is very frustrating to me when that happens.  I am going to also reread the March book club book close to the end of the month because I forgot what I read!  I read it while Momma was still with me so you know how long ago that was!  Time to reread!

I have some DVDs that I bought while Momma was still with me that I haven't watched yet.  I haven't been able to watch them without her but I think I am at the point where I can.  One of them is the season 12 to Murder She Wrote.  Momma and I loved that show so much.  We watched it when it was on regular TV when I was in college.  Every Sunday I would put aside whatever homework I was working on and sit next to Momma and watch it with her.  When it was over, I would pull out my homework and continue working on it.  It was a nice ritual to do with her every week.  It is the small things like that that I miss the most.  I am anxious to finish up the entire series of Murder She Wrote so that I can start watching them all over again.  I also have the movies to the MacGyver series to watch.  I don't know if Kathy and I will have time to watch them.  I have plans for us so we will see!

I am not working on much right now.  I think I am going to work on the back room a bit today so I can start to get that done.  It is not hard work physically, but putting Momma's

I do hope this is finding you having a good day.  Stay warm!  Bundle up!  I hope you have less pain if you have any.

0 degree temps with -10 degree wind chill

It is so cold here.  I am not happy about being so cold.  I don't mind in the 20s right now since I have a very warm coat, but when it gets really cold, below zero with the wind chill, my bones ache, my joints ache, my head aches, and it is just really bad at night when it is this cold.  I have about 4 fleece blankets, 2 velour blankets, and 1 quilt on my bed at this point just to keep warm.  I am seriously thinking about switching rooms.  Momma's room is a bit warmer than mine and it is okay in the summer, so maybe I should switch to Momma's room.  I don't know.  I just don't know what is best.  Most of the time I love my room, until it gets this cold, then I am not so happy with it.

I am not feeling so well tonight.  My tummy has been a bit upset since last night.  I didn't have any regular tummy medicine though, so I had to use something else and it just doesn't work as well.  I went to the store and picked up some when I picked up my pain pills that I was also missing all day yesterday.  Apparently, it works better than I thought because I didn't have any yesterday and I ached all day and night.  I am grateful to have both medicines right now.  I do hope they kick in soon.

I had a new student this afternoon, Brianna, she is taking both piano and voice.  She is 15 and a homeschooler.  She did very well for the first lesson.  I look forward to working with such an ambitious young lady.  She is on her way right now to pick up the piano books she accidently left here.  She just picked them up.  Difficult to practice when the books are at your teachers house!  Her mom is ordering her music tonight so that is too cool.  I am so happy when they order the music right away.  It shows to me that they are serious about their lesson.  I have one mom who doesn't want to order any music right now because she isn't sure her daughter is serious about lessons.  I do hope this month she buys some music.  That would be good.

I don't teach again until Saturday.  I am going to stop at the Lawyers office to drop off yet some more paperwork.  I am so tired of this.  I have to find my social security card.  When I go upstairs I will look in the file cabinet.  I don't know if mine is in there or not.  Otherwise, I have to order a new one because I need it for the bankruptcy hearing.  I don't know why, I just do.  I had hoped to just order it online, but that isn't the case.  You can't just order a new one online like I thought.  Darn.  Oh well, I will get it.  I am asking the lawyer about that tomorrow.  I wish the medicare card would count but it is a totally different card.  I have a court hearing on March 2 downtown.  I will map it out a few days before and maybe take a ride down there so I know where I am going.  I have never been to the courthouse down there so I am nervous about being late.  If I am late, the hearing will get postponed and rescheduled.  I definitely don't want to do that.

I had a brief meltdown this afternoon before I went to go and get Brianna's music.  It was definitely a bad missing Mom moment.  They seem to happen less often, but are still intense when they happen.  From what Brianna's Mom said, it doesn't get better, just a bit more bearable.  She lost her Mom a year ago.  I have heard that before, my friend, Anne, said the same thing.  We belong to a club of motherless daughters, a club I had hoped to never belong too, yet I do.  I also melted down before bed last night.  I think because I was in so much pain that just added to the meltdown.  I think I was missing how Momma would rub my legs and help them not hurt so much.  I miss that.  Sometimes I would hurt so bad that it wouldn't help, but sometimes it did help.  It made me feel better even if it didn't help the pain.  Momma always felt so bad for me and wanted to know what she could do to help lessen the pain.  It was nice to have a sympathetic, but not overly sympathetic Mom.  If was wallowing in self pity she would pull me right up.  She didn't put up with that too much.  I now have to do that with myself in memory of her.  I try not to feel to sorry for myself as I have noticed that it increases my pain level.  I wonder if that is normal?

I will most likely going to bed a bit early because I am really tired.  I didn't sleep to well last night with having an upset tummy most of the night.  I am hoping for a better night tonight.  I really am, although with no lessons in the next couple of days, I can take a nap if necessary.

I am feeling more confident about the finances now with the new students that I have.  It makes me really think that I can make all the bills and not have an issue with them.  I am looking forward to being about to pay the bills and breathe a sigh of relief of being able to pay them and not have them get behind.  I was so nervous at first about that but now I am relaxing a bit about that.  My prayers have been answered with the finances.  Momma is definitely my guardian angel on this issue.  I just hope I can be as wise with money as she was.  That is my goal to be financially wise like my Momma.  I love being told I am a lot like her.  I hope I am with the good things.

I do hope you have had a good day.  Overall, it wasn't too  bad, just filled with a bit of pain and upset tummy issues.  I do hope they go away tonight.  I did take the medicine so I am hopeful it will work.

Lazy Day

Well, instead of clearing out the utility room I went to the bookstore.  I got 3 new books.  One was the new Cleopatra book, a non fiction one, which I got for 60% off!  The other two were paper back and looked interesting.  I may start the back room tonight or tomorrow.  I need to find the black garbage bags though to put Momma's clothes in.  My clothes need to be hung up or put in the proper drawer in my room.  Then on to emptying the 2 boxes of stuff that are back there.  Pretty much it, only I didn't do anything except read today.  I was pretty sore when I woke up so I came down and took some pain pills.  Of course, I am out of my regular pain pills today.  I did call in and order a refill only to find out that the prescription is out of refills and it will take another day to get a new prescription from my doctor.  Yeah, oops on the timing of that one.

I did have a lovely chat with Kathy today!  That was the highlight of my day.  Alicia and Samantha (age 4) also said hi and chatted for about 2 seconds each but it made them happy.  I love talking to them.  Alicia told me the big news at preschool is that they got new toys to play with.  Apparently, this preschool changes the decorations in the room every month and puts out different toys to play with every month too.  Sounds like a really good idea as the kids can't get sick of toys because they are different every month.  It seems to me it is a great idea!

It is very quiet in the house tonight as I don't have the TV on right now.  I am enjoying the silence.  I just heard the heat kick in again.  It is supposed to be very cold these next few days.  I am NOT looking forward to that then it is suppose to warm up a bit.  That I am looking forward too.

I have only 1 more lesson during the week this week.  All my lessons seem to be on Saturday this week. My today's lessons were moved to yesterday because of schedules and the one I was suppose to have earlier in the afternoon had to cancel due to being out of town with work.  I am disappointed with that, but not much I can do except look forward to his next lesson.  My Thursday girl moved to Saturday morning at 11 am because of her Mom's work schedule.  I am glad we finally straightened that out because I was getting rather worried about that.  So after a lesson tomorrow at 6, I don't have another one until Saturday morning at 11 am.  I will have to buy some milk this week before the weekend.  I meant to do that this afternoon when I went to the book store, but I forgot until I was comfy in the house.  It is too cold out to go now.  I can wait until tomorrow.  I don't need the milk this evening, although I was getting in the habit of having a glass before bed.  I don't know if it helps with sleeping, but I do like it so that is why I was doing that.

I have a semi-bad headache right now.  My left side is a bit sorer than normal.  Probably because I only have Tylenol for pain right now and that doesn't always cut it.  I can't do anything about that right now until the pharmacy calls to tell me my refill is ready.  I do hope it doesn't take very long, that is for sure!

I am looking forward to the weekend.  It looks like Kathy will be able to come barring some unexplained circumstance that neither she nor I are aware of.  I am so looking forward to it.  We need some good bonding time!  She is coming on Saturday.  She is going to stop and visit her parents while I teach.  I think that is a great idea because parents need to see their children, even if it is only for a little while.  Then she will be coming here!  I am so excited to have her for almost 2 days!  If we need to reschedule, well, that will be a disappointment, but I do understand things come up.  I have the spare bedroom all ready for her.  We are going to use some of the gift certificates I have.  I have one for Olive Garden and another for Red Robin.  Both are so good!  I simply love both restaurants and spending them with Kathy is a great thing to me.  I have some books for her to read to.  I just finished Daughters.  It is a YA book, but it is so good.  I really enjoyed it.  I have some new ones though now.

I am going to put the news on for a bit now.  I have to see what the weekend weather is going to be like!  I do hope nothing drastic that will make it impossible for Kathy to come.  I do hope you are having a great day!

a simple Monday

I was expecting to have about 6 lessons today, however, my lovely Calli is still not feeling up to a lesson, so she and Acer were absent, which left me with 3 lessons.  That was fine.  I just hope my little ones feel better soon.  Actually, I was also supposed to have the Muglia's today, which is 3 lessons, but as they all have the flu, so no lessons there either.  I will see them next week instead.

I am trying to work on my list of what to do with the house, reorganizing-wise.  Should I pull up the carpets in the upstairs, or not?  I don't know the condition of the hard wood floors that are underneath them, plus they would have all the carpet tacks holes in them, so is that a bad thing?  Hard to say for me.  I just don't know.  I am going to work a bit in the back room tomorrow, I think.  I am just not sure where to begin.  I really don't know.  I need to work on the upstairs too, but I am not sure I am ready to do that.  I think starting in the back room will be a good start.  There are many of mine and Momma's clothes hanging in the back room that need to be put away.  I will do that tomorrow as I have no lessons tomorrow at all.  Hard to believe but it is true.  No lessons at all so plenty of time to work on the back room.  Everything is so much harder to do without Momma here to help.  I think I still feel like I am walking through mud, but it isn't as bad as it used to be.

I was thinking about getting a new steam cleaner because ours is big and very heavy for me to use.  Well, it was pointed out that I probably couldn't do it in the first place because I would be in so much pain.  I hadn't thought of that so I won't be getting a new steam cleaner.  I will have to have someone do them for me.  I just am trying to come up with ways that will make it less dust around here especially in my room, which is filled with dust.  Our house is just filled with it.  The last couple of years I have skipped the spring cleaning because I was concentrating on Mom.  Now I am regretting that I ignored spring and fall cleaning for the last few years.  It just isn't a good idea to skip those type things.  I have started with the kitchen and I will be beginning the utility room.  I have to get the wall cleaner.  I don't remember what Momma used to use.  I do like the magic cleaner erasers though.  They are really nice and clean up so well.  I want to empty out the boxes in the back room and clean out some of the cabinets.  They weren't washed when we emptied them.  I thought they were, but they were only vacuumed out.  Some of them need to be washed, not all, just a couple of them.  I am moving the cans to the back room because I need to do some changing around in the kitchen again, but that doesn't need to be done until the grill finds its home.  I know where I am going to put it, I just have to empty the drawer and find a cupboard to put the stuff in.  First, though, I am going to work on the back room.  I have to put the clothes of Mom's in a bag to donate.

That's my plan for tomorrow and I hope I feel well enough to do all this!

I hope you are having a good day.

A fun afternoon

Well, instead of book club, we went to Olive Garden for lunch.  I woke up late as usual, and was a bit hungry.  Maggie has been so busy with work that she didn't have time to finish the book yet.  So we will talk about it next month.  We already have the month after's book picked.  It is an ancient Egypt couple of months.  I simply love book club.  I am excited that my friend, Pattie will be joining us.  I will be messaging her today so she can plan ahead.  I am so excited about this stuff!  I now teach until 4 on Saturday so book club is going to be a bit later than it used to from now on.  I don't mind.  It makes for a very fun filled day.  Lessons and then book club!

Maggie and I just talked and talked about so many subjects.  She is a wonderful friend to have.  I am so blessed with the friends I have.

I have to pay some bills today, well, write the checks out for them.  I am going to do that as soon as I finish up with my post.

Competition is coming up.  I made the hotel reservations the other day.  I am looking forward to competition.  It will be a nice getaway for me.  I have only been to competition by myself once, so this will be strange.  Also, I am the only one who is planning to go to the banquet which kind of stinks because I think everyone should attend.  It is always good and then you have a good seat at the awards ceremony.  I have to send in my check for that too.  Just called Rachel, they aren't planning to go to the awards banquet so i think I will surprise Rachel and get her a ticket.  She won't know until competition.  I think she would like to go as it is her last year.  I did ask Tillie if she wanted to go but she can't this year.  Oh well, maybe another time.  I will have a good time anyways.

Well, it has been a fun filled day so far.  I am making cookies for the kids who are coming to do my driveway and sidewalks.  They are such a nice family, super nice and supportive.  Barb's daughter, Carolyn was the one who would come and stay with Momma when I had to shop.  She was so good with Momma.  When I called Barb to ask her to pray for us when Momma was dying, she came right away.  It was so nice.  They also came to the viewing and the service we had for the little lady.

It is a normal pain day, nothing is worse than normal so I am so glad about that!  My headache is it's normal pain.  With the snow we have had I expected worse than normal pain and I didn't get it so I am happy about that.  It is also a normal missing Momma day so that is good too.  It was nice to talk about Momma with Maggie.  She knew her pretty well these last few years.  She says I am doing really well and am thinking things clearly.

I do hope you have a good Superbowl day!  I will be reading for a while after I make cookies for the kids.

more snow

I looked out the window when Amanda was leaving after her lesson and it was flurrying.  Nothing major, a few flakes here and there.  Well, by the time Kayla arrived, it was snowing hard and it still is.  We are heading for another 4 to 6 inches between today and tomorrow.  I am so not happy about this, but I can roll with it.  I just won't be heading anywhere for a couple of days that is for sure.  We were supposed to have book club today but it was snowing too hard so we are doing it tomorrow instead.  I don't mind.  I didn't have anything really planned since the snow ruined my plan.  Tillie doesn't drive in the snow so she isn't coming tomorrow.  Oh well, we are having book club so that is okay!  I don't mind.  Not one bit.  I get book club!

For some reason this afternoon I got a bad headache.  I will be heading to lay down shortly as it really hurts.  I am rather annoyed by it, but at least it came after lessons and not during!  I am so thankful for that! Because it is damp outside, the pain is a bit higher, but that is too be expected with this type weather.  It usually happens when it snows, rains, or is super cold or super hot.  So, basically, I am a fall and spring girl.  I sure do hope that the person who has been doing my snow all winter is going to do it again, because otherwise, it won't really get done because I just can't do it.  I simply can't stand long enough for it or lift the snow.  Mom used to have fits when I would try.  She would be like, put that down, go in the house, what are you trying to do to yourself!  I have finally come to realize, I just can't do it myself.  I need help with it.  I did buy some cookie dough to make the person who is doing it some cookies, if I ever find out who it is.  I haven't checked to see if it stopped snowing so I don't know if it has been done.  I will check tomorrow before Maggie arrives.

Not much happening this evening.  I had 4 lovely lessons today.  They went very well.  I am excited about my new students and the progress they are making.  I am not sure if Amanda S's mom is happy, but she is progressing very well.  Her mom just doesn't hear any difference yet.  She has only had 3 lessons so far.  I do hope she gives her a chance.  We shall see.  I have another busy week ahead!  i love being busy!  My Thursday student who didn't show up did call me this afternoon.  It looks like we will be moving her lesson to Saturday also because of Mom's work schedule.  I am so glad I was able to get a hold of her.  i was getting really worried about it because she already paid for the lessons and then to miss without a phone call?  So we are going to speak tomorrow and confirm the schedule.

I think I will go and lie down for a bit.  My head is sore and I am so tired.  I am also cold right now.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

semi busy day

I had one lesson at about 12:15 this afternoon, then I  went grocery shopping, then I had 2 more lessons.  I believe it is the last lesson for Stephanie because tomorrow is Solo and Ensemble and that is what we were working towards.  I may have a new one because a mom called me today so that is hopeful.  She will take both piano and voice so that is awesome!  She is 15.  I hope her Mom calls back tomorrow and signs her daughter up.  I am hopeful!

It is supposed to be rather cold this weekend, so I am probably not going to go out this weekend.  I don't want to freeze, not at all.  I do have a nice new coat, but I don't like to freeze so unless I have to, I am not going out.  I am thankful for my new coat.  It definitely keeps me warm on these cold days.

I may have company on Sunday for dinner.  We shall see.  I have invited Tillie but she isn't sure if she is babysitting Warren or not.  I do hope she comes over.  It will be fun.  I plan on making beef stew and biscuits with cake as desert.  I haven't had anyone over for dinner since Thanksgiving week so I am hoping she comes over.  I guess she is planning to come over on Tuesday for shopping.  She doesn't always stop here when she goes shopping.  I don't shop very much.  I don't particularly like it.  It isn't very fun to me.  I did like shopping for Mom when we had the money for it.  I did like picking clothes for her, but I don't like it for me.

I am planning to go to bed a bit early tonight as I have to be up a bit early for lessons.  I have 4 lessons and book club tomorrow!  I am so excited about that.  I haven't seen Maggie since before Christmas.  I think I know what book we are going to read this next month.  My friend, Pattie wants to join our book club so hey, how cool is that?  I think it is neat.  She will get along really well with Maggie.  Maggie is just so nice.

It has been a nice day.  I am looking forward to the weekend.  I do hope yours is going well too!

Thursday

I was supposed to have 2 lessons today.  1 didn't show up.  I don't understand it, but she didn't.  The new company has a strong absent policy.  I decided to email her and see what the problem was so I am just waiting for the email.  I do hope to hear from her.  It is frustrating to want to teach a lesson that doesn't show.  Let's hope she will have a make up later this week.

I got a letter from DHS today.  Apparently, with my new part time job, I no longer qualify for food stamps or medicaid.  I knew this would happen, so it isn't a surprise.  It is not that bad of a thing as I anticipated it happening, I just didn't expect it so soon because I didn't expect so many new students.  I would rather have the new students than the assistance.  I think I am starting to get back on my feet.  I need 7 more students from the new company or some from the new company and from my website, either way would work for me.  I just need a few more students and I will be a-okay!  It does feel good to know that I can pay my own bills (mostly right now).  I look forward to the day when they all are paid right away and I don't stress over them.  If I had a choice, I would prefer that Momma would be here, but since I didn't have a choice, I am glad she taught me to be strong.  I can still be strong and have a chronic illness, can't I?  Fibro only takes my physical strength, it can't take all of my inner strength.  I won't let it.

I didn't get up too early today.  I could have, but I was being lazy.  Tomorrow I have a lesson first thing in the afternoon, so no laziness tomorrow!  I like having an earlier lesson because it gives me a reason to get up and get going.  That is important to me.  I had a dream about Mom and wanted to really think and remember her so that was part of my laziness this morning.

I was going to clean up the dining room table.  Maybe I will, maybe I won't.  We shall see.  I have to figure out what bills need to be paid right now.  Several automatically come out of the bank account (love that - nothing to forget!) so there are only a few left over.  I have music on the table too that needs to be removed.  I will do that this weekend after I am done copying everything that needs to be copied.

Saturday is book club too so that will be awesome.  I am really looking forward to it.  I love book club.  We haven't really had a book club since Momma passed away.  At first, I just couldn't really function enough to have one and then Christmas and the holidays, so we are having the first one now.  We were going to have one in December, but Maggie took me to lunch instead.  We had a great time.  We really did.  I just love Maggie.  She is such a good friend to have.  She and her husband, Bob, are such great people.  Bob is my student and he plays piano so well.  Just goes to show you are never to old to start.  My little Sarah Muglia will be beginning piano next month, so that is exciting to me.  She is a little doll.  She is 7 (I think).  The entire Muglia family is really awesome and very, very supportive.  They really helped me while Momma was dying.  The girls came to see Momma in the hospital and then they came to both the viewing and the funeral.  It was so wonderful to see them there supporting me.  They knew how difficult it was for me.

So basically, the next few days will be lots of fun.  Three lessons tomorrow, 4 lessons on Saturday plus book club!  I am looking forward to the next few days.  Things are improving for me.  I am finding I can do more than just function, I can sometimes enjoy myself again.  I am not as afraid as I was, so that is a big improvement.  I am working on giving it to God and not taking it back.  This week hasn't been too bad in that way.  I am going to start a Bible Study online.  It is by Beth Moore, called Believing God.  My friend, Kathleen is currently involved with it and says it is wonderful.  So we shall see how it goes.  I am looking forward to that.  I like doing studies and miss the friendships that come with studies.  I know this one will be different as I will be doing it online and not with a group, but that is okay.  Overall, I think it will be a good experience for me.

I do hope you are having a good day.  So far, it has been good outside of the disappointment of not having my student.

the blizzard of the year?

Well, we didn't get the amount of snow they predicted here in Michigan.  I am very thankful for that.  We got about 6 to 8 inches which isn't too bad.  Once again, I was blessed by a neighbor who shoveled my driveway and front walk this morning.  I am one lucky girl when it comes to the snow being shoveled.  I woke up this morning and looked outside to see how much we got and noticed that my snow was pretty much gone.  There was a bit on the ground because it was still snowing, but hey, it wasn't much and I am so happy not to have to shovel myself.  Of course, I have no idea how I would shovel myself, but I don't have to worry about it.  We are supposed to get a few inches this weekend.  Yuck.  I am ready for spring.  I am not ready for summer but definitely for spring.  I am a spring and fall girl.  I don't do well in winter and summer.  Extreme temperatures make me ache more whether it is too hot or too cold.  I have the little heater on tonight as I am still in my pajamas.  I didn't get dressed because I needed to do some laundry.  I was slightly out of clothes.  Oops!  I fixed that though.  I woke up nice and early for a change and really was happy about that.  I did take a brief, well, not so brief nap but that was to be expected since I woke up early.  It helped to cut back on 1 of the Tylenol PM last night.  I still slept okay, as good as I usually do, but I didn't sleep as long as I have been.  I feel like I should have done something more today, but I will work on stuff tomorrow.  I am thrilled that I have 2 lessons tomorrow.  My lovely Stephanie couldn't make it today as the weather is worse where she lives than where I live, so she is coming tomorrow instead.  I am happy about that.  I also have my usual Thursday girl, Koffi.  She is very nice and very sweet girl.  She has had one lesson so far as she was ill last week.  I do hope to see her tomorrow.  I have 3 lessons on Friday so that is even better and even better than that!  4 lessons on Saturday.  My Katie won't be having her lesson this week because of her schedule, so she is going to have her lesson next week instead.  I have a goal of having about 4 to 6 lessons Monday through Thursday and Saturday.  That would be enough for me and probably the most I can handle in a day.  I feeling pretty well overall these days.  I do have pain, but it isn't as bad as it could be so that is good.  My head does hurt everyday but the bad headaches are further apart than they used to be, or at this point.

I called a neighbor tonight to see if she knows who has been shoveling my driveway.  I am so thankful for that!  I really am!  Being disabled, it is difficult to do these things so I am so grateful that someone is taking care of me.  We have great neighbors.  When Momma was here, one of the neighbors would come and stay with her while I went grocery shopping.  At the end, she just couldn't walk that far so I had to go without her.  I miss hanging out with her all day.  I am used to it though.

I think some of the fear I had has gone away.  I don't feel so consumed by it this last few days.  I am thankful for that.  I still pray that the rest of the fear will go to.  God is so good!  He is really providing for me.  It is amazing to see how God is working in my life.  I am excited to see what will be happening in my life in the future.  A few months ago, I didn't imagine a future without Momma.  I couldn't see how I could live without her.  While I still have trouble with the fact she is gone, I am starting to see a future for me.  I still miss her all the time.  I imagine I always will.  We were best of friends but I feel like she is watching over me and cheering me on at times.  I will always wish she were still here with me, but I am able to live without her by my side all the time which is something I didn't think I would be able to do.  It is a day by day process with me, I think it will be for a long time.

Tomorrow I think I will be working on the dining room before lessons.  I want to clear off the table and put the bills in order to be paid tomorrow.  I am pleased that I can pretty much pay my bills now which was a problem when I didn't have the students I have right now.  I am thankful for what I have.  I am confident I will get the amount I need in the next few months and then I will be standing on my own two feet!  What a concept!  Me?  Independent?  Wow, what can I say?  Something I wasn't sure I would be able to do with the illnesses that I have.

All in all it has been a decent snow day.  I didn't do any work like I should have, but there is always tomorrow or later this week.  I do hope you are having a good day too!