Monday thoughts

I spoke with Bob today.  I had message he and Maggie about a decision that I was trying to make.  As it turns out, I feel I made a good decision, but I am glad that I messaged them because they gave me a few other things to think about.  Thank goodness for good friends.  I do feel I have a good plan now that I have been lacking in direction at times (outside of teaching) and really need some focus for long term planning.  When I had Mom here (before she needed 24/7 care from me) I could speak to her about these decisions and thoughts and I do miss that a lot.  I do have a savings plan, even with my tiny budget, that I will be doing.  My emergency fund is very small at this point and needs to grow.  I have added a savings plan in my monthly budget now.  It makes me feel much better knowing I have a plan.  I am a planning kind of girl.  I feel like the fog may be starting to be lifted about some things.  I don't always feel like I am walking through mud all the time, just most of it.  I am hoping the new roadmap will help with the mud feeling.

It is a bad missing Mom day mainly because I had to have someone else to discuss things with.  I couldn't talk to her about it and hear her thoughts about that.  It just is something I will have to get used to now.  I don't particularly like it, but I will have to get used to it.  Mom is in Heaven and isn't here to talk too.  I miss my sounding board.  I have had to find a different one.  I am thankful for the suggestions for me to think about.  I hadn't given some things attention and I needed to.  Thank God for good friends.

I had my lovely Muglia girls for their lessons today including Sarah, one of the little sisters.  She just started today.  She has played out of the book for a while and got all the way up to where she is starting to read notes so that is where we started today.  I think she will do very well just like the older sisters.  I brought the older girls a huge (I mean huge) bag of hoodies that were Mom's.  Some of them she has worn, many of them she bought and forgot she had or I forgot she had so she never worn them.  There were a couple of really cute disney ones that I think the girls will just love.  I asked that any that they don't want (I am sure there are some) to please donate them.  They said they would.  There are a bunch of cute hoodies there that I wished I fit into.  No hope there though.  By the time I may fit in them, they will be long out of style besides I have a bunch of cute hoodies that I have gotten in the last few years.

It was so nice to teach 5 lessons in one day.  I miss being that busy.  I mean, some days I am teaching just 1 lessons.  Now, I am grateful for that one lesson, I just want to be busier and soon I will be.  I am hopeful that I will get more students soon.  I know that by fall I will, I just need new students long before that.  Summer is coming and that is a tough time for lessons although the last couple of summers haven't been super bad like they were a few years ago so I am hopeful that this summer won't be too bad again.  I don't have any plans at this time to go on vacation.  I would like to go and see my brother in Seattle, but I am not sure that will happen.  All depends on his busy schedule so we will wait and see.

I am rather tired today now.  I didn't sleep very well last night.  I haven't been sleeping very well these last few nights.  I don't know why.  I think since I had to get up so early this morning that perhaps I will sleep well tonight.  I am hopeful about that.

It has been a good day overall.  I enjoyed the 5 lessons that I have taught today.  My girls are doing awesome with their music and Bob is doing very well too.  He will be ready in time for the spring concert.  The girls won't be able to attend because baby number 9 in the Muglia house will be making his debut around that time.  Thomas is expected in the 2nd and 3rd week of May.  It will be a busy but exciting time for them.

I do hope this finds you doing well.

small surprises

Well, I did it.  I went and ordered the course for writing.  When I clicked on to order it I got a big surprise!  It was 1/2 half off!  Talk about a nice surprise!  I was pleased because I don't have to use emergency money for this now.  I am so happy about that.  You just never know do you?  I do hope to get the course rather quickly because I am anxious to get started.  I now just need the creative juices that have been hiding in the fibro fog, to come out and get started again.  The nice thing is that I can do this at my pace which is probably slower than most people's pace, but hey, that is okay.  It is okay to go slower than the rest of the world, right?

It is a quiet day as I don't teach on Sundays very often anymore.  I am trying to have one day where I can not teach and do some stuff around the house.  I have time to rest if necessary so that is good.  Today's big challenge is bringing up the little sewing machine for my girls and separating hoodies for them.  I also have to bring down the hoodies that are in my room that were also mom's.  She never wore these ones so they are going to the girls.

I am still pretty tired as I had nightmares a bit last night.  I dreamed I was surrounded by Wraiths from the Stargate Atlantis show.  Very strange dream let me tell you.  I can't remember all of it, I just remember praying that the dream would go away and happy dreams would come back.

It is a missing the little Mom bad day today.  I got teary eyed when I went to the music store to pick up the music for both Christine and for Sarah.  Mom used to go all the time with me and look through the music to see what was there and what we wanted.  I miss going there with her.  She was always so excited when I bought new music.  If I bought some for me, she would immediately label it and catalogue it.  My music is all catalogue all thanks to Mom.  She spent hours getting it ready for me.  She copied almost all the original CDs so that I would have copies to give out instead of originals.  How cool is that?  Very, if you ask me.  I have 3 legal size file cabinets filled with music, so you can see what a big job this was.  Mom was just so organized that way.  I miss her organization skills as I am not as organized as she was.  She kept me nice and organized.  All my music was always put away when not in use.  I mean, I had it so good.  Just one more of a million reasons I miss her so much.  It is hard to believe how much you can miss one person in life.  It hurts physically at times with how much I miss her.  Today, it is not a physically hurt missing her day so that is good.  Either that or I have much better pain meds than I used to.  I would say it is just a super missing mom day without the physical pain of it.  I knew that when Mom passed away I would miss her this much.  I was warned ahead of time by one of my friends who has lost her mom how bad it would be so this isn't a surprise, I just don't know when it is going to get better.  Some days aren't too bad because I am busy but some are super bad.  I think if I get back into my writing this will help some because Mom liked my writing.  She would say go do some writing, you will feel better or go play the piano.  She was always saying things like that.  I feel like i honor her when I am teaching as she was so proud that I was a teacher and I think I will honor her again while I am writing.  The one thing she always told me (and several teachers have said too) is to never write a sentence or use a word you would be embarrassed to read out loud or read years down the road.  Always write what you would be proud to be read out loud.  It is something like that, I can't put it exactly the way they all said it, but you get the point.  Mom read pretty much everything I wrote.  She would do some spelling corrections at times or if a paragraph or a sentence didn't make sense she would mark it.  I miss having my own personal editor.  She was so good at that.  She was just a remarkable woman that is all I can say about my Mom.  She was the best.

It is going to be a decent day even though it is colder than it has been this week.  I am looking forward to a busy week with lessons and getting my new writing course.  I can't wait for that to come in.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

saturday

I had 3 lessons this late morning/early afternoon.  I got up earlier than usual because the lessons start at 11 am.  Yes, I know, it is not early for some people, but it is for me.  I got up at 10:30 and then went downstairs to sit and wait.  I sort of dozed as I was waiting for Amanda.  Amanda is doing very well.  She is happy with the songs she is learning.  We talked a bit about what she wanted to do for the spring concert.  I told her (and Kayla) that if there was something in particular they want to learn and I don't have it, they will have to go and purchase it themselves.  I don't have much in the way of popular music.  It is just not possible for me to keep up with that.  I don't have the money nor the space for the music.  Kayla had her lesson right after Amanda.  She is doing very well, but she thinks she is doing terrible.  I try to encourage her to let her know she is doing well.  She just doesn't believe me.  The biggest problem is that Amanda has a naturally mature voice while Kayla has a regular 12 year old voice.  Her voice will mature, I keep telling her this.  She is only 12, of course she says she is 13, which she isn't.  She has negativity for much of her lesson these days.  I am at wits end trying to figure out what to do.  She is doing very well and there has been improvement with her voice.  I think next week I will give her a lower song that may help her feel a bit better.  I just don't know.  It is so tough to watch a young person with so much potential and talent think she doesn't have either.  Katie had her lesson after Kayla.  She received her score sheets back from competition.  She is pleased with how she did.  She is going to audition for a scholarship that is put on by a local teacher group.  She could win $500.  That is a big chunk of money that she could definitely need for school in the next few years.  Katie is in high school but she is in a special program that requires her to go 1 more year for high school because by the time she finishes high school she will also have her associates degree.  I am so happy that she is in this program.  It has matured her and given her a focus that she didn't have a couple of years ago.  I am excited that she is going to try for this scholarship.  I am going to contact 2 of my friends to see if they can accompany Katie.

After lessons I wanted to get out of the house for a bit.  i was feeling a bit of cabin fever so I went to Tim Horton's for lunch.  I am working on cutting out a lot of my trips there because I just can't afford it without Mom here plus it was getting boring without having someone to go with.  I enjoyed her company so much that to go on my own is just not what I want.

When I got home I took a nap because I was so tired.  Between getting up early and not having a good sleep last night, I was very tired.  I ended up sleeping for 4 hours and I am still tired.  I am not sure when I will go to bed tonight whether it will be early or regular time.  Tomorrow I need to pull my tax stuff together and get Sarah her new books for piano.  She is starting Monday after her sisters' lesson.  I know have 4 of the Muglia children for students.  I am excited for Sarah to be starting.  Apparently, she plays a bit everyday.  That is a good habit to get into.  Her older sisters practice pretty much everyday and have since they started lessons so many years ago.  I think it was about 8 years ago, but I am not sure.  I think Hannah was 7 and now she is 15.  Lydia was 6 and now she is 14.  Natalie didn't started with her sisters, but she easily caught up to them and now they are all about at the same level which is nice and not because they all play the same music eventually.  I try not to give them the same songs at the same time though so there is some variety in the practicing.

I am at a loss of what to do.  There is a children's book writing course I would like to take.  I have been writing for young people since I was a teenager.  I have some talent (I am certainly NOT saying I am the best ever, because I am NOT) and I have been told that I do.  I have taken a couple of other writing courses with this company so I know the company.  Their copywritingbreakingant to get back into writing and I do feel the course would help me break into the business.  I just don't know if I should use the emergency money.  There isn't much left and this would make even less.  However, I do know that if I tighten my belt, I can replace some of the money in the next few months so that is a possibility.  It is so hard to make this type of decision by myself.  I have asked 2 friends for their opinions.  I could use the extra money if I get published, but I know breaking in is a difficult thing, not impossible, but difficult and I haven't written professionally for about 5 years now so it is like rebreaking into the field.  I don't know.  I have been praying about it.

It has been a good day, I do hope yours has been good too.

Friday

I was supposed to have 4 students today and ended up with 1.  I am thankful for the one.  The first student, Terry, I had spoke to earlier this week to find out his schedule.  We agreed that Friday at 1 pm would be good.  Unfortunately he didn't let the new company know or he didn't get back in town on time, either way he didn't have a lesson.  The other two's Mom was not feeling very well today.  She gets bad headaches like I do, so when they arrive, you can only lay down and hope that it goes away so that left only Christine's lesson.  Thankfully, she and her Mom are feeling good for the day.  Christine will have her lesson again next week at the same time.  She is 10 almost 11.  Calli just turned 11.  I think the girls will get along well and have someone to hang out with at concerts.  I just wish they were closer in the piano levels so they could play duets together.  Oh, well, I will get a duet from someone someday.  I will just have to wait a bit longer.

Last night was a great evening.  Breanna had her lesson and right after I went over to Heather B-T's house for Calli's birthday dinner and brownies.  It was a wonderful time.  By the time I got there Acer was waking up from a wee sleep and Calli and I were chatting away.  I can't believe the lovely young lady is now 11.  It is hard to believe, but it is true.  She is 11.  I was honored to be asked to come and celebrate with her.  Talk about a great time!  I had a wonderful evening with the family.  Calli got some nice gifts for her birthday.  She was very excited about that.  Acer was excited to help Calli open up gifts.  We had rice with spinach, chicken, and veggies for dinner with homemade brownies for desert.  Calli wanted brownies instead of cake.  Hey, works for me.  Whatever works for her, works for me.  Overall, a great evening and no place I would have rather spent it.  They are great kids and i enjoy all the time I get to spend with them.

I met up with my friend, Wendy for tea this afternoon.  We had such a good time as usual.  She is a good friend.  We meet up every few months to hang out for a bit.  She is a pretty busy person.  She works two jobs, not to mention a wife and mother with 2 lovely children.  We usually only get about 1 1/2 hours, but hey, I will take as much time as I can get.  I enjoy talking to her about everything.  Her daughter just made her high school freshman softball team.  She is so excited about that.  I was excited for her.  She has played softball for about 9 years now.

It is hard to believe that it is Friday already.  Just seems like yesterday it was Sunday.  Time is flying fast.

The Celebrex seems to be helping with the lower back and hips pain.  I don't have as much pain getting up from my chair at nighttime.  I am glad about that.  It was getting really hard at nighttime.  Anytime after 5 pm the pain would just get worse.  I know that is about the sun goes down and the temperature drops, but the pain would just be worse.  I am thankful something is working a bit.  it doesn't erase all the pain, but it is helping some and that is what I needed.  I didn't expect it to get rid of the pain.  I don't think anything will.

With the 2 temporary students finished, the 5 adult students who started in January and have quit, and the other student who has quit, I find once again I am nervous about finances.  I am praying for more students that will stay with the lessons.  I need some more so that I can make all my bills not just some of the bills.  I need prayers on this a lot right now.  I know that I am not the only one in this position.  I do hope that in the next month or so I will be able to be okay again.  I am hopeful in this.  I am trying to rely on prayer and faith on this.  I am confident that eventually I will have the amount of students I need to pay all of my bills not just some of them.

Overall, I must say, despite my disappointment over the first student not showing up, it has been a good day.  Meeting up with Wendy and having Christine's lesson have made it a good day.  I do hope my friend, Heather B-T's headache is gone and she is having a good evening.  It has been a pretty good week so far.  Tomorrow I have 3 lessons that I am excited about.  I don't know what else I am going to do tomorrow, but the lessons will be fun.  I do hope this finds you doing well too!

quiet wednesday

I didn't have any students today, which is alright.  I would rather have a student, but today just isn't a day I have one.  Last week's new student that had her lesson on Wednesday will have hers on Friday this week.  She is what the new company calls a flex student because she doesn't have a set time every week due to her mother's work schedule.  Her Mom is a nurse and works 12 hour days so there is no set schedule for her.  I don't mind as long as she has a lesson every week.

My friend from high school, Vicki is coming by.  She has a good friend who's husband needs a heart transplant and they are holding a fundraiser so she is coming for a few violins.  I am happy to have them go for a good cause.  I do have 2 that need to be painted, I am planning to paint them this spring.  It has been 2 years since I have painted a violin.  I have 16 that are painted left.  I want to take some pictures of them and put them on ebay.  I am going to get a new memory card since I can't figure out how to clear mine.  I have removed all the pictures yet the card still says it is full.  I am so technological inept that I will just buy a new one instead.  I will do that next month as this month is very, very tight financially speaking.

I asked for the price of Savella today at the pharmacy.  It is $147 a month.  Yeah, that is a lot of money I don't have.  The biggest concern I have (outside of price) is that the week that I have been taking it, I have had 3 nights of no sleep.  One of the side effects is Insomnia.  Is less pain worth no sleep?  I don't know.  I just don't know what to do about it.  I did get the Celebrex today at the cost of $127 for the month.  I used some of the emergency money.  I wrote an email to my older brother and he suggested i contact the company who makes Celebrex to see if they have a program to help pay for it so I did.  They are sending me an application that both me and Dr. G have to fill out.  It will get here in time for my next appointment with him.  I pretty sure I qualify for free medicine because of my low income.  I am way under their cutoff point but about 11,000 so I am pretty sure I qualify.  However, I was reading the info for the side effects and things like that and it says that taking it with the blood thinning medicine may cause some bleeding.  Once again, now what?  Is this why the arthritis doctor didn't give it to me in the first place?  I guess I will just monitor myself and see what happens.  The Celebrex really helps with the hips and lower back pain from the arthritis so I am going to see about keeping it and just watch myself in case something happens.

I am putting my receipts together this weekend so that I can make my appointment with Julie to get the taxes done.  I am not really in a hurry as I usually don't get anything back.  You actually need to pay tax to get some back and since they don't tax social security, I don't get any back.  Makes sense to me!  Sometimes I have to pay because of teaching but I think this year I have enough bills that will cancel them out.  I do hope so.  I don't have any extra money to pay the IRS with.  Boy, things are sure tight without Mom and her social security.  I didn't realize how good we had it until it was gone.  Of course, I miss Mom more than just for her money.  I miss her so much everyday.  My friends have been so right, I miss her more now than when she first passed away 5 months ago.  Friday will be the 5 month anniversary.  My heart broke then and I just don't see it healing to quickly without the little lady around.  I do enjoy looking at pictures of her though.  She had such a pretty smile!

Saturday is my nephew, William's birthday.  He will turn 10 already.  So hard to believe.  It seems like yesterday that he was born.   I remember the day he was born as well as the day his older sister was born.  Two of the best days of my life.  We have another special birthday this week too.  My friend, Heather B-T's daughter, Calli turns 11 tomorrow.  I am going over for dinner and brownies and floats.  It will be so nice.  I just can't believe how fast these kids are growing.  Seems like yesterday Calli was just 9 and arriving here.  These last two years have just flown.

My friend, Vicki just left with 3 violins for the fundraiser.  She picked them out herself.  I wanted her to. I think it makes it more special if you pick them yourself.

So far, it is a less pain day.  My back is a bit sore for some reason where it usually isn't, but other than that, the pain is under control for a change.  I have a good evening so far with a nice visit with Vicki and her Mom.  I am so glad she is close to her Mom just like I was.  She spends at least one night with her Mom every week.  I do hope that you are having a good evening too!

I may have been a bit hasty

I may have been a bit hasty in my thinking the Celebrex and the Savella aren't working.  I haven't taken either of them for 2 days and tonight when I got out of my chair, oh my, the pain.  I also can't sleep because of the pain.  Yes, I came down and took a Savella.  I also priced the Savella.  I don't know how I will afford them, but they did seem to work enough where I could get out of the chair without to much pain at night and get some sleep.  Right now it is 2:08 am and I am tired but I ache so I can't really sleep.  Thank goodness tomorrow is a no student day, just my friend Vicki stopping by to pick up some violins for a fundraiser they are planning for her friend's husband.  He needs a heart transplant and they don't have the money for it.  I am not sure how I can buckle down more to stretch the money to get the new prescriptions, but I will try.  I may be able to get some more samples from the doctor but I know he was out of the Celebrex, that was why he wrote me a prescription for it and only gave me 6 days worth of the sample.  I don't know, but I will try somehow.  How do people do it with more prescriptions?  I know, they don't fill them.  that is what I have done in the past, stopped taking a lot of the medicine.  What can I say?  I am in the same boat as so many that I know.  I am thankful that I have the Medicare part D but I do wish I had some secondary insurance but I am not at the point that I can afford something like that right now.  Please pray that I get more students.  That would help.  2 new weekly students on my own or 4 new weekly students from the new company and I will be able to pay for the new prescriptions.  I also need a few more to pay for the property taxes too.  I am still just a bit short to make everything, I have the basics now, just need the property tax and the new prescriptions to be covered and then I will be fine.

I am going to try to get some sleep now.  I do hope I do.  I don't like being awake at this time of night.  I should be asleep like the rest of the world.  Nighty night!

Tuesday 3-15

Hard to believe we are in the middle of March already.  I suppose it isn't a bad thing, just surprising that it is here already.  I spoke to Kathy on the phone today for over an hour and boy was it great.  I so miss seeing her all the time.  You would think after 14 years of her living in the western part of the state that I would be used to it, but no, I am not.  I try to talk with her at least once a week or once every other week.  With the way her kids are growing, anything less and I miss something.

I am not as tired as I thought I would be at this time of day.  I had to get up earlier than usual for the blood test today.  Only one poke today!  Thank goodness for that.  I figured I would need a nap before Charlie's lesson tonight.  Maybe I won't.  that would be nice, a napless day, highly unlikely though.  He will be here this evening.  He is such a good kid.  He is definitely one of those student teachers love to have.  Tomorrow is a studentless day.  Maybe I will go and get my hair cut.  I want to get some bangs and some length cut off.  We shall see.  I don't know.  I do want to get some vacuuming done tomorrow on the main level since when my cousins were here the floor needs it pretty bad.  i also need to scrub that area too.  That would about do me in for the rest of the day so that will be my only plans tomorrow.  I plan on putting the sheets and blankets on Mom's bed tonight before bed.  The quilt will look so pretty with the new blankets and pillows.  I am pleased with my purchase.  Then it will just need a guest to come and stay the night in there.

Monday I have the Muglia girls for their lessons.  I am bringing the portable sewing machine for them and the hoodies that I have to separate.  I have several hoodies that I think will look so cute on them that were Mom's.  Most of the ones I am giving them Mom never wore or rarely wore but some are ones she wore.  The 3 older girls love hoodies a lot and since I have quite a few, I am giving them some.  There are about 4 in my room that need to go.  Those ones, Mom never wore because they were too thin for her but she would have looked so adorable with them on.  I just wish she could have worn them.  We had fun picking them out for her.  Mom had a nice smile when she realized that they were for her.  She was always surprised when I bought stuff for her like that.  She rarely asked for anything too.  Once in a while we would pass a particularly cute stuffed animal or a sweatshirt or something like that and she would ask if we could get it.  Generally, this was so rare that I almost always was able to get it for her.  We usually only were at the store when we had money to spend anyway.  I am not a window shopper and I hate going shopping in general so to shop and only look doesn't work well for me.  I go when I have a particular thing I need and I have the money to purchase it.  I work on the cash only basis.  It is amazing though, how many credit card offers I have received since I filled for bankruptcy.  Yeah, you know I shred those things super duper fast.  First of all, I don't have extra money to be paying a credit card bill every month and second of all, I don't need a credit card to temp me.  I have no reason to really have one especially one that has $150 a year fee.  If I had $150 a year it would go on a bill, not the credit card.  Yes, eventually I will need to start working on rebuilding my credit, but the offers I have been getting are not the way to do it.  Nothing like temping the person who just declared bankruptcy to go and get in the same financial mess again.  Of course, I wouldn't because I don't have a store to lose again.  I don't own a business anymore.  I am an independent contractor for teaching and I only teach a few lessons a week.  I know I won't get in the same mess because the circumstances won't repeat themselves.  I also, believe it or not, have discovered I like this new cash only business.  If I have the cash and I need it I will buy it.  If I don't, I won't.  Rare have I needed something and not got it.  I did have a week where I didn't have the money to get my synthroid medicine.  That was the first time that had happened.  I also know that next time that happens, I have a friend to ask to borrow the money to get it and then pay it back when my money comes in.  I don't foresee this happening again, but I have the fall back if needed.  My friend was horrified that I didn't have my medicine.  At least it wasn't my blood medicine.  That would have been a big problem as I could get another clot before I got the medicine and who knows what could have happened.

I am going to read for a bit before I make myself some dinner.  I don't really know what I want but I will figure it out shortly.  So far, despite the blood test, it is a good day.  Pain level isn't too bad.  My knee is almost back to normal so all in all, it is a good day.  I do hope you are having a good day too!

Monday after the time change

Oh my, the time change!  Wrecks havoc on me every year twice a year.  I don't know why, but I just don't respond well with it.  I had to take a 3 hour nap this afternoon/early evening with it.  I don't get it.  I hope by the end of the week I will be fine.  We shall see.

I just checked my planner.  I have a blood test tomorrow morning.  Yuck o!  I will go though because my blood was kind of messed up last week and I hope it is back to normal.  I hate extra blood tests.  I hope after this I won't need a new one for 3 weeks which is the next doctor appointment.  I hope to get a better pain pill and that will be it at the next doctor visit.  The new medicines didn't work and I am tired of trying new ones.

I had Bob's lesson this afternoon.  He is doing very well right now on his songs.  He is working on the tempo of the pop piece and the first page is pretty much there so that is a great start.  He can play the invention faster than when he plays it for me, but when I am there he gets a bit nervous, so he has to slow down.  A normal reaction for a student.  You always can play better at home than when someone is staring at your hands like I am.

I am annoyed tonight by something someone said to me.  I am trying not to let it bother me, but it does.  I didn't appreciate it and I wish I had never answered the call.  Next time, I will not answer.

It is getting so nice outside right now though I am sure we are not done with snow.  I didn't get the news tonight because I was just getting up from my nap, so I missed the weather report.  I will check online before bed so I know if we will have white stuff on the ground like we did one day last week.  I don't remember the day.  I am really hoping we are finished with the winter.  I am so tired of being cold.

I started making the bed in Mom's room today before the nap.  All I got to was the mattress cover.  I will do the rest tomorrow.  I also have to put the night stands back where they belong and the chest of drawers that was moved too.  Then take the empty boxes out and put them in the garage, vacuum again, close her closet doors, and her room is ready for visitors.  I think the visitors will like what I did with Mom's bed.  I do have to put up the sheer curtains and the one set of drapes as they are down, but I will do that when I have some help because it is difficult to put drapes and curtains up by yourself.  I have tried and it just doesn't work, plain and simple.  Then I will vacuum the hallway, the spare room, the path in my room and then bring it to the kitchen and dining room, which also need to be vacuum but I will wait until the next day for that one.  Too much vacuuming makes me ache from the motions of vacuuming.

I can't really say what kind of day it has been as I think I slept a lot of it.  The parts that I was up, except for the annoyances, were good.  I am going to read a bit before I turn in for the night.  I do hope your day is going well!

A little disappointed

The Celebrex and the Savella don't work for me.  I am not too surprised since I have yet to find something that does, but I am a bit disappointed.  Also, they are so expensive that I just can't afford them even if they did work.  The Savella kept me awake pretty much all night last night.  I finally feel asleep around 7 am.  Not fun.  I hope that doesn't happen again tonight as I did not take any Savella at all.

I didn't get up too early as I was awake all night.  I forced myself to get out of bed around 2 pm.  Plus we had that lovely time change, so my body is exhausted right now.  I will be going to bed early tonight.  I don't have to get up early tomorrow but I do need to get some decent sleep, well as good as i get anyway.

I have 1 lesson tomorrow, Bob in the afternoon.  I so enjoy his lessons.  He picks good songs when he gets to pick them and he has pretty much liked everything I have given him to play.  The spring concert will be in May so we have an additional month to practice which doesn't usually happen but it will this year.  With my birthday, Andrew's graduation, and Easter being so late, it just didn't fit in the month of April this year. I don't mind.  May works out well too except the Muglia girls will not be there.  They have some first communions in the family and Mom is expecting number 9 near the end of the month so they won't be there.  That is okay, maybe we will do a summer thing this year.  Hard to say what we will do.  It is all up in the air.

Maia may come for a visit soon, I just don't know when.  She mentioned it in a message sometime last week or the week before.  I like it when she comes for a visit, not to do any work, just a visit.  I am going to ask her to bring some tummy medicine with her as I am completely out.  The stuff I like you can't get here in the USA.  I don't know why, but you can't.  Maybe it is sold under a different name or by prescription only, either way, I don't know where here I can get it.  I can buy it over the counter in Windsor so that is what I need to do.  I forgot, as usual, when I was in Windsor a few weeks ago to go and get some.

I think I am going to go and lay down.  I am just that tired and I don't feel that well today.  I hope tomorrow is a better day.  I hope your day has gone well!!!

A rather quiet day

I had one lesson today, Amanda.  She was so excited because I brought out the Colors of the Wind song for her.  She really wanted to learn that one.  I am excited because I got the other copy of the book back from Samantha (2 1/2 years later) so that I could give her the song.  I have to redo the Over the Rainbow in Finale (a music program) so that it is in the right key for her.  Both my orchestrated version and the proper key version are missing.  At least I have the sheet music for it.  That is the good thing!  Thank goodness for that.  I am hoping that before I redo the song in the Finale program, I may still have it on the other computer so I am going to put up my other computer and check to see if it is on that one.  That would make my life much easier!  All I would have to do is reburn the song then instead of put every note in the finale program.  I am going to do that tomorrow.

After Amanda's lesson, I was on face book for a bit when I realized I was hungry and needed to get out of this house.  I don't always feel that way, but today I did.  I went to Tim Horton's and ate my lunch inside reading my wonderful new to me book.  I finished it while I was there.  Then I went to Barnes and Noble.  I love that store.  I got 2 new books so now I have a total of 7 books to read this week.  4 from the library, 2 from Barnes and Noble, and 1 from the used bookstore.  I love reading although I wish I had something else to do with my time too some days.  I can't believe I am going to say this, but sometimes I am even sick of reading.  I know, gasp!  I can't believe I said that, but it is true.  I really miss taking care of another person and being their caregiver.  I would do it for a job if I was healthy enough.  It was because Momma was so small that I was able to do things for her.  If she had been taller (she was 5ft 3 3/4 at healthy height and I would say she shrunk to 5 ft 2) and weighed more (she was usually around 120 pounds until the end at 84.6 pounds) then I would not have been able to help her.  Thankfully, she was at a height and weight that I could be the caregiver and keep her here at home.  God definitely saw to that.  He knew she was terrified of being alone in a nursing home so he didn't make her very big so that I would be able to take care of her.  I loved taking care of her these last few years especially the last year when she needed me so much.  She got her little sponge baths, she got her meals, her entertainment (yes, I even could entertain her at times!),  I was just able to do everything for her.  When she got further down the line, it did help to have someone come in and give her the baths.  The company we had was wonderful for that.  They brought physical therapy to her and a nurse came to see her too.  When we need hospice, they were simply wonderful, just wonderful.  I don't know how they do, they are very compassionate and caring, yet they can watch and help people who are dying and will not get any better.  I don't think I could do that, but the other things I think I could, if I had better health.  Right now, I will stick with teaching as it is the best job ever.  I would NOT give up teaching to be a caregiver, I would do both.  Teaching brings so much to my life that I just can't explain.

I think it is the down times that I miss her the most because I don't have someone always to talk to or hang out with.  Overall, I am pretty satisfied with my life despite my disabilities, but sometimes I want some more company.  I need companionship at times like I had with the little lady.  Today, just seemed more than usual.  What can I say?  We were very close especially the last 5 years when I had my store and when we lost it.  We did the store together, she even came with me to sign the papers.  We were both so excited about that.  She couldn't stop smiling and neither could I.  I miss her smiles and laughter the most.

I did speak to the younger brother, Andrew, live and in person (over the phone) today!  It was a short call as long distance is very expensive for him but I wanted to speak in person and not through email or face book.  There are times when they are not enough for me.  He is excited and getting ready to graduate with his degree.  I am so thrilled for him over that.  He will keep me posted on when the ceremony will be.  I also told him about my birthday party the family is having at my cousin Darrin's house.  Andrew said he would try to be there.

I do hope you are having a good day!  Despite the missing of Momma, it has been a pretty good day.  I would have preferred 3 lessons instead of 1 but I am thankful for the 1.

Friday Thoughts

As the news media keeps Charlie Sheen in the news, I received a notice that in April he is coming to the theatre near me live and in person.  On facebook, I have a friend who is actually going to go and see him.  That seems rather strange to me because he is falling apart and out of control.  It is not something I would want to pay money to go and see.  He lost his job and his kids, and is now going on tour?  I do hope he gets the help he so desperately needs.  I also am sick of the phrase, Winning.  That is so annoying.  I don't see anything winning about Charlie and his life right now.

I can't even imagine right now what it is like in Japan.  It seems so unreal when these things happen.  I know that many of the people in Japan are prepared for disasters like this, but how can you really prepare? Those poor people, I do hope that this is over soon and that people's life goes back to normal.  All I can do is pray for those that are affected by this.

It has been a fast couple of weeks to me.  I was getting ready for teaching when the Mom called.  She was getting a bad headache, so we canceled.  I totally understand that.  You never know when the headaches are going to arrive.  I have one tonight.  So I took a small nap.  I am still very tired.  I only have 2 lessons tomorrow, that is a bit of a drag, but that is okay, it is still 2 more than I had yesterday.  I usually have 3 on Saturdays, sometimes 4 and sometimes 5.  I like teaching a lot on Saturdays.  I haven't heard from Katie so I don't know if she is going to have a lesson soon.  I have her score sheets from competition a few weeks ago.  I also haven't heard from Rachel either.  I do hope to hear from them soon.

I am going to put Mom's bedding on her bed this weekend.  I have the quilt ready for it too.  Her room will look very cute now as a guest room.  Her mattress is in good condition and doesn't need to be changed like the one in the other guest room.  I don't have the money to do that though.  I hope to change it this summer.  I don't see it happening anytime soon.  My mattress is okay for a while longer and if necessary, I can always change with the one in Mom's room but right now it is okay.  Once the bedding is fixed up in Mom's room the upstairs will be mostly done for now.  I do have to remove the buckets that Maia and Tillie brought it.  I have no idea why they brought them up but they did.  It was strange the first time I saw them.  I don't always understand why they do what they do at times.  Right now, I am taking a brief break from working on the house.  I want to put the boxes that have tools in the furnace room so that they are where I will be able to find them when I need them.  I was surprised by how many tools were found hiding in Momma's room.  I am thankful though.  We found a few things that we certainly could have used during this last year.  The stud finder for one.  I have 15 holes in the wall near where the railing is because Tillie couldn't find the stud.  I have no way to actually fix them right now because I am not going to paint right now.  When the railing for the other railings to go up we will use the stud finder or they won't go up because I don't want tons of small drill holes in my wall.  For some reason, it just doesn't add to the decor.  I know the entire house needs to be painted, but that is just not happening anytime soon as 1 - I can't do it myself and 2 - I don't have the money for it.  I will worry about this stuff at a later date.

I think the new pain meds are working pretty well.  My knee is getting better too and I am not sure if that is from the new medicine or just it coming along naturally.  Either way, I am glad it is getting better.

I do hope you are having a good day!