Thursday

I had 2 lessons today, Breanna and my newest one, Annie.  She wants to sing in community theatre so that is what we are working towards.  I asked her to get a great book that I usually use as a supplemental book, but for Annie, it will be a great book for her.  Some of the songs have had the keys changed that will be perfect for her.  She is 29 and will hopefully be a nursing student soon.  I do hope so for her.  She really wants to be a nurse.  Right now she is a hair dresser and works at 2 different salons.

I went to the library today.  I got 4 books, 2 by Diane Chamberlain and 2 by Phillipa Gregory.  I then went to the used bookstore and got 1 from Kristin Hannah (my new favorite author) and 2 from Julie Garwood, an old favorite.  I am all set for reading right now.  I am tired of the books I have.  I have already read the new Kristin Hannah books two times so far.  Yes, I am sure I will read them again and again, but not right now.

I burned some CDs last night.  I am now prepared for Amanda's lesson on Saturday.  I have Calli and Acer tomorrow.

My birthday is next month and a party has been planned.  It will be at my cousin's Darrin's house in Belle River.  Cool, is all I can say about that.  It will be a potluck party.  I am to bring the cake.  Too bad an ice cream cake won't last that long of a drive.  Oh well, I will get a good one from a local bakery for that day.  I am to let all the relatives and friends know about this.  hey, works for me, a party!!!

So far, the new medicine seems to be helping.  I will know more later this week and early next week.  I am hoping it works because I need something for the pain.  It is hard to function at times with this much pain.  So far, I am hopeful about it.

We are expecting another winter storm.  Yuck, more snow, just what I want. NOT!  I do not want anymore snow but as I live in Michigan, there isn't anything I can do about it as this is normal winter weather for this state.  I am just tired of it this year for some reason.

The garage door now works!!!!  Yes!  It has been adjusted and works.  I will eventually need to have it fixed, but right now it is okay.  Since I don't use it too much at this point, the adjustments will work.  When I need it fixed, I just call Mr. Carnegie and he will come and fix it.  He also didn't charge me anything because he said he didn't fix anything, he just adjusted a few things.  I am just grateful that he was able to make the adjustments so now it works.  Now all I have to do is empty 1/2 of the garage and be able to put my little car in.  It has never been in my garage, poor little car.  As soon as the snow is gone, I plan to put the table and chairs in the back yard on the patio.  The rest of the stuff in the garage can then be moved to the 1/2 of garage I won't need for the car.  Then, my little baby car will be in the garage!!!  How cool is that?  Also, the garage door opener (the portable one) works still so that is so cool!  I am a happy camper with all of this.

All in all it has been a pretty good day.  I feeling a bit more positive overall these days, although I still miss Momma terribly.  I miss her more now than I first did when she passed away.  It is as difficult as I have been told.  I feel for my friends who are in the same position, it is rough to be without a Mom.  Moms are so necessary in our lives.  I only try to do what I think my Momma would want me to do.  Hard sometimes because I wouldn't discuss what would happen after she passed away, I just couldn't talk about it, now I am sorry, but I am doing what I think she would want me to do.

I do hope you are having a good day too.

one of those type days

It has been a day that started with anxiety over the finances again.  I looked at my bank account and was like, crap, i forgot about the insurances that are automatically taken out and I wrote checks!  however, once I calmed down and realized I hadn't deposited all the teaching checks, I would be okay.  I will also be able to pay the house payment on time as that also worried me.  What can I say?  It is one of those type days.

I had 2 lessons today.  Bob, rescheduled from Monday and Christine, a new student.  Bob put Mom's bed back together and the mattress back on the bed.  I will make up the bed this week.  I have a quilt I bought for my bed a couple of years ago that I didn't like on my bed when I put it on.  I kept it for some reason.  Now I am glad that I did keep it because it will look really nice with Mom's new blankets.  They are blue.  They will coordinate well together, I think.  The blues will go well together.  I also have some pillows for the bed.  Overall, I think it will make a good guest suite as soon as I clean out the bathroom and put a shower curtain where the shower door used to be.  Mom took off the door years ago and her friend was supposed to put it back on, but apparently he can't do it.  I can't hire someone to do it because he has the parts for it.  This makes me mad, but there isn't anything I can do about it.  I have asked for that part back but since he doesn't come around much, and he was beginning to annoy me, I will live without the shower door where it belongs.  At this point I don't want to see him at all.  I just want him to stay away.  I am tired of listening to him about my weight.  I have been listening to it for about 20 years now and I am not interested in listening to him anymore.  I want him to leave me alone about it.  He hasn't been around for a few weeks, thankfully, last time he was here was on a Saturday when I was teaching!  I had told him a few weeks before that that I teach on Saturdays now and apparently he didn't remember.  I was in the middle of a lesson so he didn't stay very long now that he doesn't have Momma to talk to.  He got in a fight with his wife before Mom's funeral.  She didn't want him to go and he did.  Yeah, for the last 20 years he has had a thing for my Momma.  When he was divorced they dated but as soon as he remarried his wife, that was it for Mom.  She only was a friend to him and that was only at work.  She never saw him outside of work, ever.  He has been accused of fooling around on his wife (from his wife) for years, well, it wasn't with my mom, with someone else?  Who knows.  Whatever.  I just want him to stay away from me because he only makes me mad and I don't need to be mad all the time when he is around.

Overall, it has been a quiet day.  I had 2 lessons, ate dinner, copied the CDs for my students that I needed to do and read my new book that I got a few weeks ago.  It is a good book so far.  I will probably finish it tomorrow.  I have 2 lessons tomorrow.  1 is a new one and the other is Breanna.  She is doing pretty well.  She takes piano and voice.  I do enjoy teaching her.  I look forward to the new student.  I have some music picked for her.  I have the CDs ready for her too.

I am heading to bed soon.  I am very tired tonight.  I don't know if the Savella and the Celebrex is working, I think it is, but I will know more after I have been taking for a week.  I do hope you are having a good day.

blood test day

I had my usual blood test this afternoon.  Because of the blood disorder that I have I am on blood thinners and will be the rest of my life.  I usually get my tests done every other week, sometimes sooner, sometimes later.  This time, I have to go next week since my blood changed again.  I have to skip the medicine tomorrow and then start a new dosage on Thursday.  I was so thankful that the nurse only had to poke me once.  Sometimes it takes more than one poke to get the blood.  I do NOT like blood tests however, I do NOT want another blood clot, so I will meekly go and get my tests done.

I also am starting celebrex and savella.  I have not tried either so this is new waters with me.  I do hope they help, but the end of the night I am in a lot of pain.  My knee is getting a bit better now.  I do hope with the new medications it will heal faster.  I hate flares, of course, I know absolutely no one who likes them.  I do hope this flare is over shortly.  It has been a while since I have had a flare like this.

Charlie had his lesson tonight.  He is doing really well.  He has picked out his 2 pieces for the spring concert, one is a classical piece and the other is Over the Rainbow.  He is a fun lesson and such a good kid.  I have had him for about 3 or 4 years now.  It hard to believe that he is a junior in high school and will be 17 this summer.  Didn't he just turn 15?  Yeah, feels that way.

Rick had his last lesson for a month.  He is going out of town for a month.  He won't be back until April 12 for his next lesson.  I look forward to that.  It is kind of a drag that he will be gone for so long, but there isn't anything I can do about that.  He is a fun student to teach.  He wants to sing well so much and loves singing in general.  He is definitely a kind of student that is good to have.

Terrence should be back next week so that is good.  i have to call this week to find out when he will be starting again.  He has been gone for about a month too.  That is the way it is for adults.  Sometimes they have to miss because of work.  I am flexible so that isn't a problem.

Today is a special day.  Lily turns 13 today.  Hard to believe that young lady is 13 but she is.  I remember her when she was about 3 and so tiny!  She is an official teenager now.  She is growing up so fast.  I am not sure when she and I will be able to celebrate together, but I will fit in somehow.  It is actually her schedule that is difficult, not mine.  She is much busier than I am.  I have lots of free time, it is Lily that doesn't.  It is nice though that she is busy.  I wish I were busier at times.  I have way to much time on my hands some days.  Of course, I do have stuff that I could be doing, cleaning, laundry, things like that, but hey, sometimes I would rather read, or watch TV or talk on the phone.  These things are much more fun.

Anyways, I do hope that you have had a good day too.

good day!

I didn't have any lessons today as Bob needed to reschedule to Wednesday but that was okay because he rescheduled and didn't cancel.  He generally reschedules instead of canceling, which is nice.

Anyways, I had the tax lawyer meeting today.  I am very pleased with this.  The lawyer is very nice and to the point.  He did say that this is a very unusual case as generally he speaks with the actual person who owes the money, not the deceased person's daughter.  He has a few questions about the particulars of the case.  He is going to be speaking to the IRS on Friday as the rest of his week is a bit busy.  I don't mind.  He wants a 30 stay right away which he feels he should get right away.  That would give him time he says.  As long as I don't lose the house, that is my goal.  I need a place to live!  I love this house.  It is the perfect set up for me.  The studio in the living room with both pianos.  I have the music in the office downstairs, I will have a sewing area, a library/TV area, and of course, a guest room.  Basically, the house is perfect for me.  It was perfect for Mom and I.  I do plan to put some pictures of the family in the family room because the walls are very bare and boring.  I will change that.  I plan to put some pictures up of all of us.  I don't have a ton of pictures, but I do have some family pictures that we had taken in 1989.  They did turn out pretty well.  I didn't like my picture at the time it was taken but I like it now.  I guess Mom was right (again!) that someday I would like it.  She was usually right (darn it all!).

I have a new student starting tomorrow!  I can't wait, plus I believe I will have another new one (not with the new company) on Thursday.  She wanted to start tomorrow, but I have a blood test appointment at that time, so that won't work this week.  It will work for next week, but not this week, unfortunately.  So I asked her if she had another day that would work, she said Thursday or Friday so I picked Thursday at 12.  I have another lesson on Thursday at 12:30 to 1:30 so this would work really well.  I am excited about these new developments.  I just need a few more and I will be all set.  That would be really good!  I just have to wait and see.

It has been a good day despite no lessons!  I feel very positive about the meeting with the lawyer.  I paid a few bills yesterday that were mailed today.  I did talk to a Doctor's office today, I am on a payment plan so I am hopeful that that will pay it off quickly.  I don't know where the bill to this doctor is right now so next week is when they will be sending out a new one.  I will pay it then.  This grown up stuff can be so hard at times!  I am glad I had a trial run at being in charge of everything these last few years with Mom here.  Being in charge of her really helped me get organized and keep track of everything.  Now it is just me, so I have to be ready for everything.

I hope you are having a good day too!  It wasn't too cold out for a change.  It is supposed to rain on Wednesday but be okay for tomorrow.  That is good because I am going to the doctor's office for the blood test.

so tired today

I have been so tired today.  I don't know why.  Maybe it is just catching up on me, it was a busyish week.  I got up at 11 and then took a nap a little while later.  When I woke from the nap, my tummy was upset and my head was bad so I took some stuff for it, and went back to bed.  In between the naps though, I had a lovely conversation with Kathy on the phone.  It was fun.  Samantha and Alicia had to say hi to me.  It was so cute, Ali had the phone and didn't say a word then handed it back to her mom.  Sammy said hi and a few other things before giving the phone to Kathy.  Jacob was kind of cranky because he had to read for a bit this afternoon.  That is something Kathy and i just don't understand.  We love to read and poor Jacob just doesn't.  I have read a bit this afternoon but my head just hurts too much to read much today.  As it is, I will be heading back to bed for the night in a while.

I wrote some checks to pay some bills today.  Boy it feels good to be able to pay some bills.  I have a few more to pay this week too including some doctors.  I owe so many doctors so much money.  It is so frustrating but there isn't anything I can do about it.  i owe the money so i will slowly pay it.

I was in mom's room this afternoon.  I have to get new sheets, blankets, and pillows because they got rid of hers.  Those pillows were about 6 months old.  I was not very happy.  I will be doing that next month as this month I had to buy a box of contacts so that was the end of my spending money for the month as of right now anyways.  I don't think anyone is coming to visit right now so that shouldn't be an issue.  I will get it taken care of soon.  I am not in a hurry.  I do hope that I am able to hit some sales for the bedding too.  I have to get a bed spread too.  I thought that it had been saved but it was mom's blanket it that was saved, not her bedspread.  I really liked her bedspread too.  I have the drapes and curtains so those won't be an issue.  I will probably buy the stuff a little bit at a time.  I also still have the mattress waterproof cover.  I am going to ask Bob if he can help me put the mattress back on the bed frame next week after his lesson.  I am meeting with the lawyer tomorrow after his lesson so that is out tomorrow.

I had a somewhat good day despite the many naps.  The highlight was talking to Kathy and also my cousin, Cathy, made a comment on my face book that made me smile.  She is so funny sometimes.  I just love both Kathy and Cathy!  They are amazing women.

I do hope you had a good day too!

Semi busy Saturday

I was to have 4 lessons but my first one, Koffi, didn't show up.  I had received a message from Takelessons that she hadn't paid for the month of March so they were taking her off the schedule, but I expected her today as she had paid for one more lesson.  The bad thing is she has 3 of my books and CDs.  I do hope to get them back from her.  Yes, I have other copies of all the books, but you never know when you will need extra copies for things like competitions and solo and ensemble.

Kayla came to her lesson in a really bad mood.  She was so angry at her mom for waking her up early and doing some work around the house.  She was 10 minutes late because of that.  She was cranky through out the entire lesson although I did get a bit of a smile from her.  Amanda was excited because she got Over the Rainbow today.  I have to copy her Colors of the Wind CD so she can have that one next week.  Charles is doing very well with piano.  He learned 4ths and 5ths today along with a new hand position.  I am pleased with all of their progress.

It will be a quiet evening as I have no plans tonight.  I had some mashed potatoes and will be having some veggies for dinner.  I am just not very hungry right now.  That may change, but usually it doesn't.  I have a bit of a bad headache again tonight.  I woke up with it.  I am so sick of them.  My knee is getting better though so that is a good thing.  I can almost walk normally now.  I am happy about that.

I took a brief nap between lessons today.  i am so tired.  I could sleep right now.  I think I will head to bed earlier than usual tonight.  I am just so exhausted and I only taught 3 lessons!  how did I used to teach 8 to 10 a day and on Saturday 12 lessons.  I don't know.  I was much healthier then too so that does make a big difference.

I am going to read for a bit now before I head to bed early.  I hope I am awake enough to last.  We shall see!

Friday

I had Calli and Acer's lessons today.  Well, sort of Acer's lesson.  The young man doesn't always like to do his lessons when he arrives.  Sometimes the allure of legos calls his name.  I was able to have him learn 1 new song in his piano book.  I hope in the next few weeks that I will have him in level B books and learning to play with both hands at the same time.  Calli will be starting level 3 next week.  How cool is that?  I think it is pretty cool.

I have a new student, Christine, who is 10, starting next week on Tuesday.  I am excited about that.  I do need about 10 more though and I do need them rather soon as I am not quite making all my bills.  I am excited about her lesson.  She has had a few lessons before so she is bringing her book for us to use.

It will be a busy tomorrow with 4 lessons.  I am very happy about that.  I have a lesson at 11, 11:30, 12:30 and 3pm.  I will be a happy teacher tomorrow.  So far, next week I will have 11 students for the week.  Good, but I need more but it is a good start.  I will keep praying for more students.  I also advertise now on a homeschool network so that should hopefully help.  I do hope so.

It has been a quiet day with the exception of the grocery shopping that I had done this afternoon.  I wasn't feel so good when I went to bed last night.  My throat was a bit sore so I took some cold medicine.  I didn't get up until about 2:30 this afternoon!  I guess I was a bit exhausted.  I am still tired and I have a bit of a bad headache.  My throat is fine today, thank goodness, so I will not need to take any cold medicine.  I haven't made the appointment with my doctor yet.  I will do that next week.  I need to do this but I also keep procrastinating about it.  I don't really know why except I get tired of going to the doctors in general.  I know there isn't much he can do and I am tired of trying new medicines that don't work but I do need new pain medicines.

I do hope you are having a good day.  Despite how short my day has been, it has been a good one.  I am looking forward to my lessons tomorrow.  Sunday will be rest day and who knows what day.  I may see a movie if something is good that is playing or maybe I will watch a couple of movies here at home that I haven't seen yet.  I have a couple that I haven't watched yet since I got them.  The new Bambi movie is out now.  I love Bambi so I will need to pick that up eventually.  Mom and I loved that movie.  Of course, was there really a Disney animated movie that Mom and I don't like?  We love them all.  Mom used to say she was upset when we started school full time because it meant no more cartoons for lunchtime.

It is a Thursday!

I got a surprise this afternoon!  My former student, Samantha (who is now in 10th grade!) stopped by and brought me back my music.  I was so thrilled!  2 of the books she had were books that I have been missing and didn't know where they were.  Now they are back!  Of course, I haven't had her for a student in 2 1/2 years, but hey, I got the books back and that is what counts.  She also had an original CD!  I didn't know that or well, I did not remember that!  I am so glad it is back along with the book.  I now can copy the music for Amanda since I needed a song out of that book.  I do have another copy of that book but Breanna has it right now.  I will burn another CD for Amanda too because Breanna has that one too.  Not a problem, I will do that tomorrow.  I was very happy to see Samantha and she has grown so much since I last saw her. She is simply gorgeous and is going to be doing Cosmetology next year in school so that is great.

I had one lesson earlier today and I have another this evening at about 5:15 ish.  Breanna is doing very well with her lessons.  She takes piano and voice.  Charlie will have his tonight.  I just copied the Over the Rainbow song for him.  I tried to make a harder version for him, but it just didn't work out.  Maybe I will be better over the weekend.  Either way, he will have the song now and we can talk about how to jazz it up a bit.  My brain is not in creative music mode today for some reason.  I need to make another copy of that tonight too for Amanda as she wants to sing it.  At least I have a CD for that one!!!  I made it several years ago and transposed it into a couple of different keys for my students.  Amanda also wants Colors of the Wind.  I now have a second copy of that thanks to Samantha bringing me my books back.  Most of my music is now put back into the filing cabinets.  I have a couple of piles that need to be done, but they will get done soon.  I do have to put all my CDs in order.  That is not done.  I have some in order in the drawers, but there are a couple of piles on the little table next to the sofa.

Other than lessons, I haven't done much today.  I finished reading a good book and I am not sure if I will start another one tonight or not.  I do have to go to Walmart tomorrow to pick up my prescription.  It is ready so I will go when I get up tomorrow.  I went and got gas this afternoon.  $30 to fill my little focus and it was 1/4 full.  Wow, I can't imagine what gas is going to go up to.  Thank goodness I don't drive very much anymore.  I like having the student come to me because if I need something, I can run (well, walk) downstairs and get it for them.  I love that ability to do that because there are times when students do forget their music.  It is rare, but it has been known to happen.

Tomorrow Calli and Acer have their lessons.  I am glad to have their lessons tomorrow otherwise I would have nothing scheduled for the day.  I dread those type of days, I really do because unless I have something else planned, they are more tiring for me.  I don't know why they are but they exhaust me more than when I have a lot of lessons.  I have 4 lessons on Saturday.  I am so glad about that.  I have a new student that will be starting.  They haven't scheduled their first lesson yet.  They have just signed up.  It is for a 10 year old for the piano.  I will have to go and pick up the books and flashcards for her before the first lesson.  I like to do this because then we all know they have the proper books and will be ready for the first lesson.  Usually the parents like this too because they don't have to worry about it then.  I am going to call her later today to introduce myself.  I am so excited about the new student.  Since I have lost a couple (they were temporary students) and also Alyssa, I need replacements for them.  I do hope to get more in the next few weeks.  I can almost cover all my bills including food and gas.  I can't quite yet, but I am close.  I pray every night for new students so that I will be able to cover all of my bills and not get behind in any of them.

Painwise, I am okay except for the flare in the knee.  It isn't much better today.  I am hoping it will clear up in the next week or so.  I will be making the doctor appointment later today for early next week.  I dread going because I know there isn't much he can do for me, but I do need better pain management for my head and my body in general.  I have been getting too many bad headaches so that needs to be addressed.  I just dread going.  At least now, with Medicare, most of my doctor visits will be covered now unlike my old insurance so I suppose that is good.

I do hope you are having a good day.  It is slightly sunny here, not too much, but a bit now and again, but it is cold out too.  I can't wait for the warm up!

The hard part is over, now just the waiting

I had my meeting with the trustee this morning.  I was thinking I was going to court and seeing a judge.  Nope, you go to a federal building and meet with a trustee.  Much less stress when you get there.  The trustee asked me questions about the house and the trust.  I answered them all very honestly.  I also let him know that I am paying all the house related bills, not my brothers, although they are also co-owners of the house.  I am thankful this part is over.  Now I have to wait for 60 days for anyone who objects to the discharge of the debts.  The lawyer doesn't think they will be any because no one showed up today.  The bottom line?  I get to keep the house.  That was the important thing.  I own my car so that wasn't a part of the bankruptcy, thank goodness.  I am glad to have this behind me or at least the beginning of behind me.

After the meeting I went over to Windsor to close the safety deposit box.  It was empty just like I expected. I also owed from the year before so I ended up paying $70.  I was not happy about that, but it is paid and closed that is the important part.  I no longer have to deal with it.  Now I just have to have the bank here in Michigan drill the safety deposit box open and empty that one.  I have no idea how much that is going to cost.  I am going to take care of that in a couple of months as I don't have the money right now.  I may possibly be losing a student because they haven't paid for March yet.  They have a lesson on Saturday and that may be the last one.  Definitely, a bummer but I am hopeful they will stay.

Monday I have the meeting with the tax attorney.  I am definitely tired of all these lawyer meetings but I have to have this taken care of.  I have to bring a copy of the trust with me.  I will just bring the entire binder and let them make a copy of what they need.  I have to bring the letters from the IRS too.  I hope this is an easy process too.  The lawyer thinks it will be.

I am very tired despite the nap I took this afternoon.  I was up at 6 am this morning.  I think I could sleep a lot more!  Tomorrow I have to be up by 12 noon so that isn't too bad.  Brianna has her lesson at 12:30 for an hour.  Charlie also has his lesson tomorrow evening so that is good.  I love how he almost always reschedules his lessons instead of canceling them.

I am hoping the locks get changed tonight.  John is going to call me after Awana at his church around 8:30 or 9:00 or so.

Darrin looked at the pictures of the shuffleboard and doesn't think his friend will end up buying it.  He was expecting more of a toy and this is a real shuffleboard.  He also said his friend is cheap, so I may not be able to sell it right away like I had hoped.  Darrin also said if he had the money he would be buying it because it is in such good condition and looks great.  If he really wants it, I may change the price for him if he can do that.  I don't know.  He may know someone else who would like it.  I am hoping to sell it this spring.  I need the money for the property taxes.  I can't think of any other way getting the money this year.  I also am planning to sell the living room set and the bar stools.  I am keeping the round table and barrel chairs.  I really like them no matter what anyone says.  I am not selling them, I am just not.  I am going to use the table for sewing and I think it will be perfect for sewing.  If I find out that it isn't good for sewing, then I will sell them but not until I start them.

I figure by spring I will be sewing again.  I used to sew every night when I watched TV with Mom.  I haven't sewn in a while but I will get back into it again.  I love sewing.  I know people don't think I will, but I will.  I also want to get back into crafting again.  This past year I got away from it because Momma needed me more and she couldn't do any.  It made it easier not to do it because it was sad to do crafts and sewing and she couldn't do it with me.  I loved sewing with Mom, but when I am sewing it will make me think of her because she taught me to sew and craft.  I would like to do some craft shows in the future and maybe sell some ornaments online.  That is my goal.  I will achieve it.  I need to get back into it and start working on my future.  I know my future is uncertain at this point, but I need to do something.  I am hoping to have enough ornaments to open an etsy shop by summer.  Like Richard has said, I need to get back in the business of living.  It won't be easy, but it needs to be done.  I miss Momma all the time and I don't expect that I will stop missing her ever, so I have to do what she would want me to do.  If only when she wanted to talk about it, I would have listen to her but I just couldn't.  I wasn't capable to hear it.

It's March!

I can't believe today is March 1.  It is so hard to believe.  Tomorrow is the court hearing.  I think I know where I am going.  I checked out the area online and I have directions.  It doesn't seem to hard.  I am leaving early so I will be there in plenty of time to park and walk inside.  I don't know how well I will be walking with this lovely flare up, but I will be alright somehow.  I am nervous about tomorrow but I will be glad when this is over!  I can't wait for it all to be over.

I also will have some help on the IRS issue of Mom's.  I see the attorney for that on Monday.  Ugh, more money out the door.  Well, at least this will be cleared up to and I won't have the house levied.  That is the important thing.

It is very quiet in the house today.  I went to Border's near my house to see if anything good was left.  There wasn't.  This particular location is going out of business.  Borders is closing several stores and has entered bankruptcy.  I have known for a while that the business is in financial trouble.  I have heard it on the news.  I do hope they come out of the bankruptcy nice and strong.  I like that store a lot.  Then again, is there really a regular bookstore that I don't like?  I usually go to Barnes and Noble though because I belong to their club and I get a discount off of everything that I buy.  I like that.  Right now I am very into Kristin Hannah books.  She is so good.  I have now read about 6 of her books and simply love them.  I plan to have some of them in book club soon.

It is nice out today.  It isn't too cold and the sun is shining.  To me, it is a reminder that spring is on it's way.  I do hope we are finished with snow though.  I am sick of that white stuff coming down and staying.  We do have snow on the ground but it isn't on the streets anymore.  I am very glad about that.

I am going to be changing the locks in the house this week or next.  I have discovered that I don't have a key to the back door and since it is a different key than the rest of the house, I don't like that.  It is just me living here so I want all the doors to have the same key.  In order to do that, all the doors must be rekeyed.  That is my goal of the week, that and finishing Mom's paper work.

I have a couple of things that were Mom's that I am sending to my sister-in-law, Jennifer this next few weeks.  I think she will like them and they will look nice in her room in her house.  I don't know what I am going to give Abigail and William of Mom's yet though.  I have some key chains that they might like, but I don't know for sure.  It is hard because they never really got to know Mom that well since they live so far away from us.  It was like each visit they have to get to know us all over again.  It is sad because Mom loved them so much and they didn't get to know her and now they never will.  She knew some of my friends' children better than her own grandchildren.  She knew Lily very well.  Lily's family are friends of mine and Mom's.  Mom really liked being with Lily and her sisters, Emily and Elyse.  We always had a good time with them.  I had a chance last week to hang out with Lily all day and had a really good time.  We played Monopoly and I actually won for a change.  Lily also made cookies and rolls.  She had Calli help her roll up the chocolate chip cookie dough.  They both had a good time doing that.  I don't know when the next time will be when I get her for the day.  She doesn't have a vacation from school until Easter and that is at the end of April.  She is very busy right now with school and other activities.  Lily will also be 13 on the 8th.  That is hard to believe.  I remember her at 3.  How time flies.

I have one lesson tonight that I am looking forward too.  It should be fun.  He is an adult that loves to sing and we are working on about 4 songs.  2 classical and 2 Broadway.  He is anxious to learn to sing properly.  It is an hour lesson.

I do hope you are having a good day and that it is nice outside for you too!

what to do????

I am having a bit of trouble trying to talk to the IRS on behalf of Mom.  In 2008, we cleared out most of her IRA both because we needed it to live and to try to save the store.  I hadn't been paid much in 2008 and bills must be paid so we withdrew money early.  I didn't have them deduct much tax either, which in hindsight was a huge mistake, however, that is over and done.  We were on a nice little payment plan until she died.  Then, I didn't know what to do.  I ask for advice and well, I should have continued to pay it as now it is becoming an issue.  I should not have stopped paying the taxes.  I know Mom is gone, I am not sure what will happen to the house.  I have contacted 2 lawyers for information.  I spoke to one and he gave me good advice, but it doesn't seem like he thinks I will need a lawyer for this.  I am waiting to speak to the other.  He left me a message and I hope to speak to him tomorrow.  So until then, I am just praying that is isn't going to be a big issue.  We shall see.  I just am at a loss of what to do since I screwed up badly on this one.

I had one lesson today and it looks like on Mondays I will only have one right now.  Calli and Acer have switched days from Monday to Friday.  It works better for their schedule so that works for me.  This way, Calli will have plenty of time for homework as lessons take up about 1 1/2 hours on Monday night plus drive time so I totally understand why they needed to switch.  Now I have lessons on Friday to look forward too so I am happy on that.  Before, Friday was a blank day and I dreaded them.  Now I don't.

I slept in so late today but I expected to as I didn't sleep much over the weekend.  I planned that I would wake up super late and I did.  I feel a bit more rested now that I have had a good night sleep (well, as rested as I get and as well as I sleep!).  I was so exhausted from the weekend even though I did take naps during the day at competition but it is such a busy weekend for me plus the 2 1/2 hour drives each way.  When Momma was here and could drive, she usually drove home as I slept most of the way home from sheer exhaustion.  Another reason to miss her.

Bob picked out his spring concert music today.  I think he will do very well with them.  One of the pieces is a piece he is working on.  It is an invention by J. S. Bach.  The Sonata from Mozart just will probably not be ready by the concert so he pick a fun piece, Volare.  He did a nice job for the first week on it.  I like the song so that is good.  Overall, his playing has really improved over the last year.  His sight reading skills are pretty good, and his musicality has really improved.  I am pleased with his progress.  Now we just need to work on nerves.

I have some more paperwork to fill out for Mom to her known creditors that I am going to do tomorrow after I drive downtown to find the courthouse.  I am nervous to leave it to Wednesday morning to find parking and where I need to go.  I am just not going to wait on this.  I want to be prepared as I have to get up at 6 in the morning and leave by 6:15 to make sure I am there by 7:30.  I will be bringing a book with me too so I will have something to read while I wait.  I anticipate arriving early.  I can't wait for this process to be over.  I should have done this last year and not waited so long to do it.  This was another bad decision on my part.  Procrastinating on this but it is almost over, thankfully.

Just relaxing this evening, nothing much planned except watching the news for the weather.  My knee is still really sore and I realized today it is in a flare just my knee though nothing else.  Weird, I know, but what isn't weird about this illness so many of us have?  My head is a bit sore more than usual today, I think that is from the exhaustion that I still feel from the weekend.

I do hope your day is going well and that the week will be great also.