Eggselent

In a rare bout of spontaneity, we decided to attend a jazz concert in Town Square on Friday night. So we hired a sitter to be in the house while the kids slept and headed down there. We stopped by Bakers Street Pub beforehand, and ordered a couple of Boddingtons on draft and some Scotch Eggs. If you've never had Scotch Eggs, you should have some. They're a hard-boiled egg encased in a thick layer of seasoned stuffing and sausage that's been fried. They then cut it in half, and serve it with a spicy mustard and some kind of relish (cranberry?) that's to die for. You spread the mustard and relish on thick, take a whopping bite, and wash it down with a good quality beer. No light beers, please. You need a full-bodied beer to appreciate this taste.

Well, we finished up and walked down to the Square. The time was 9:37, the band (we thought) was supposed to start at nine, so we figured we weren't missing much. As we walked up, they were packing up. After checking the website, we figured out that they started at 7, not 9. We had missed the entire thing.

This was disappointing. I think Bry was just going for kicks, but I really wanted to hear them. Music affects me differently than most people. I'm really emotional about it. I can get swept up in it, and it stirs things in me that most other things don't. I'm one of those people that bawl like a baby during worship on Sunday, because the songs mean so much to me. A song I can identify with is something very powerful in my life.

When we watch a movie, when it's over, I'll be the person that comments on the soundtrack. Bry's the one commenting on the cinematography, my ex-photographer husband. It's rather humorous. I don't care if the actors were brilliant and the cinematography was spectacular. If the music sucked, I won't like it. A lot of times my poor hubby doesn't even notice there was music. I try to explain to him about how music affects the mood of a movie, and how it wouldn't be as dramatic without those bows scraping across the violin strings, but he just smiles and nods, a lot like I do to him when he gets going about anything computer-related. We're about in the same boat. I can find my way around a computer enough to do what I need to get done, and he can pick out the theme from Star Wars on the keyboard with one finger. I figure we're about even.

In other news, Izzy's birthday party was quite a success, I think. Not a drop of cake left over. My waistline thanks you. Between the moonwalk and the tire swing, I'm sure most of the kids at the party passed out shortly after supper. I know mine did. Izzy got an array of girly gifts that she adored. She's spent most of the time playing with them since. Including painting her brother's nails pink and purple, and putting hot pink lipstick on him. And teaching him how to dress a Polly Pocket and style Barbie's hair. And between her new outfit and her new mermaid dress-up dress, I haven't had to worry about telling my little nudist to keep her clothes on, either. It's been a nice break.

We got her a new bike (which she broke in immediately) and a Betta, which she named Doc. He's blue with red tips on his fins and is very pretty. He's in a tank in her room, and she gets to feed him pre-measured amounts of food every other day. Mommy will be handling cleaning out the tank for now, until she's a bit older, but she's in charge of entertaining Doc while I do so. She talks to him, sets a tea cup in front of his tank and has tea with him, and more than once has told me that we needed to go home from running errands because Doc was scared.

We also had to... umm... *cough coug* let Mambo go... because he was... umm... not eating right. Yeah, that's it. Well, he got replaced at her party by a new Pac-man frog that she named Sumo. It's appropriate. he's all belly and teeny-tiny feet. He eats like a horse, and it's very entertaining to watch. Just pop in some crickets, and the kids are entertained for a half hour, watching the little blob of froggy lard hop around and catch crickets, then close his eyes in a moment of pleasure as he swallows them whole. He's all belly and eyes, and he's the cutest little thing! We haven't taken a picture of him yet, but here's a pic I found on the internet that looks like him:

Pics of Sharka Rosa

And you can click on this link to visit their website.


Penelope the camel has... one hump! Penelope the camel has... one hump!


A beautiful Clydesdale, one of many they have there.


Making friends with a lemur. By the way, that's me in the robin's egg shirt.


Lemurs like Izzy's head.


On the tour!

And a lemur on top

Interesting weekend. We went to visit my mother-in-law. My sister-in-law and her new husband were there. And I have to commend her again on her choice of hubby, he's really awesome.

Saturday morning we went to Sharka Rosa, a wildlife ranch near their house. It was so much fun! Not overwhelming like the zoo, but we felt we could do everything in a few hours without making the kids go nuts. You know how kids get.

They had a tour where you sat in a cage pulled by a tractor, and the cage had buckets on the outside. The animals came up to the cage and ate, and you could pet them. Therefore, the kids and I got to pet a longhorn, a water buffalo, a zebra-donkey (zedonkey???), and some camels. I got some great head-shots of Penelope, but all I could catch was her head because she was so close. We also got to see some endangered animals that they were taking care of.

They brought out some animals for the kids to pet, one was a miniature horse that acted like a dog. It would roll onto its back for you to pet its belly and kick its legs. Sooooo cute. And we also petted two lemurs and a baby albino kangaroo. We watched the kangaroos and walabees running (hopping?) around, and met a deer with a growth-plate deformity that caused its bottom jaw to grow at a sideways right angle from its mouth. In the wild, it never would have survived. But they take care of her, and when she's done growing they can fix the plate.

I got a great picture of a ring-tailed lemur jumping on Izzy's head. She freaked out for about two seconds, then said, "I think he likes me." Yep. He also wanted a closeup, so he came over and grasped both ends of my camera and stuck his face into the lens. What an adorable thing to see. Unfortunately we missed the cougar cubs they had earlier that morning, they were only visiting.

I've got a few busy weeks ahead. Another trip, a birthday party, teaching lots and lots of lessons. I hope there will be even more to teach after today.


Observation of the week: Moms never get a break (yeah, like that's news). But most people don't realize to what extreme this goes. Forget everyone who says moms don't even get to go to the bathroom alone. I know many times that not only was I not alone while going to the bathroom, but was made to multitask as well. Some of these jobs included dressing dolls, combing hair, negotiating fights, and helping my kids get dressed. And people wonder why modesty flies out the window after you have kids. It's out of necessity, not will.

Bored

A little bit of a boring entry today, just to update. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm tired, and a little down. No reason, really. I think it's mainly boredom. I have no book to read (library run immenent). I've already browsed everyone's blogs, checked up on MySpace, done a friend's credit repair letters, and updated my teaching schedule. I have nothing to do and it's driving me bonkers. Of course, I could clean the house, but doing laundry for our trip this weekend is about as far as I'm willing to go, considering that since I'm trying to keep my house clean all the time for my lessons, I clean it several times a day. I'm just tired of cleaning.

Lessons are going well. All the students are promising. I think it's funny, because I forgot that I could easily tell who has practiced and who hasn't. And to think I used to think I could fool my teacher into thinking I'd practiced. Haha. I've got five scheduled, with a sixth in the making (we're playing phone tag currently). I'm hearing from Stafford tomorrow about teaching on Wednesdays. I hope soon that my schedule will be chock full of wonderful students. I can't wait to get the ball rolling on teaching and the things I want to get accomplished with the money I'll be bringing in by teaching.

October will be insanely busy. We're going to see my mother-in-law this weekend, I'm going with my Aunt next weekend to see my Mom and my Aunt who will be in from Pennsylvania, the weekend after that is Izzy's birthday party and the Crown social, the weekend after that is probably going to be spent at Steph's if I'm here. The last weekend is the Harvest Party. I promise I'll post pics of this year's fairy costume. As if I wouldn't take a chance to dress up as a fairy. You know me better than that. I'm even watching a gold headpiece on eBay as I type. So there. I've just got to finish my costume by making the shoes and the arm bands.

OK, I guess I'm going to go back to being bored now. At least it's almost 10:00, so I'll have an excuse to go to bed without looking like an idiot.

Escape

I was at peace. Relaxed, absorbed. Completely in "the zone." I was lost in a world where only beauty and harmony exists. Even the dissonance was beautiful, and the chords resonated deep within my soul. I was floating in a surreal world where everything was perfect, and I hadn't a care in the world. Humanity was laid bare before me and explained in minor thirds and German fifths.

There was a strange sound, inhuman and alien in my perfected state. What was that? I tried to ignore it, but it grew louder until my attention was pulled away from my reverie. Water?? I had to stop whatever it was that was interrupting my dance in this world.

Suddenly my eyes focused, the reverie broken. I realized it's the sound of a toilet flushing. Apparently my daughter was up, and listening in, and had to use the bathroom. I had been in such a trance while playing the piano that I hadn't even noticed her sitting there behind me. I usually save my playing time for after they go to bed, so I'm not having to fight for bench space, keyboard space, or break up fights while I'm trying to play (although I have done this several times anyway, and Mrs. Anita's competition training came in handy during these times). In a very unusual circumstance, maybe out of unconscious respect for my state of mind, she had been very quiet and hadn't interrupted.

Now my daughter was eagerly looking at me. Her eyes were wide with a spark that told me that one day she could experience the same escape. I want that for her. "That was pretty, Mommy. I wanna play, too."

So yesterday I gave Iz her first piano lesson. I am so proud.

Romans 8:28

You know, sometimes God is so cool.

The certified letter wasn't what I was expecting, and actually helps us. Hmmmm.

As my husband told me, "Don't borrow trouble." He was right.

And maybe I should delete that before he sees it. Can't have him going and thinking I'm actually admitting it.

MIA

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to post over the past week, and geezzzzzz...

So I'm enjoying the calm before the storm. It's nice to be wanted. I've watched my 3-school contact list jump to 9 schools through referrals. Apparently I'm a hot item right now. Everybody wants me. Yeah, baby. The most common thing I've heard a band director say over the past two weeks has been, "So I gave your number to so-and-so and such-and-such school, they're looking for a clarinet teacher, too..."

I've gotten two students scheduled, with countless others waiting in the wings, breathless in anticipation of a phone call from me.

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I've still got a lot of students who need scheduling. It's a matter of time before my schedule is marked up with lots of black writing. Probably this week, since I have not forgotten to mention that there are only six lessons available between now and regional tryouts, and that's if they start this week.

So, yeah, I'm about to get busy.

Oh, and we got a frog. His name is Mambo, and he adopted us. He hitched a ride home on B's windshield after a poker game, hung on the entire time. We figured he really wanted us. So he's been sitting in his tank, getting fat on crickets and keeping the kids amused.

And I am sooooo behind in homeschool. Three days now. Yikes. I decided we needed to step back since the Iz was having a little problem distinguishing Ah, Eh, and Ih phonetically. So we're concentrating on that until it's down pat. Unfortunately, that means I've also gotten lazy on the other subjects. Shame on me.

So this week is catch-up. Again.

I'm really looking forward to coffee in the morning, but not so much looking forward to the post office run I'll be making after it. I know the only people who would send us a certified letter, and it's not someone I care to hear from. It's a long story, and I won't go into it, but you can ask about it if you think to. So, mixed feelings about tomorrow. I may just hide in Dori's closet until the post office closes. Sounds like a plan, right? As long as she keeps the coffee coming I'll be perfectly fine.

Hardy har har.

Achoo!

A sudden case of level 3 allergies hits my sinuses. So, so, so much fun.

But I've scheduled two students so far, with 8 more who haven't yet answered their message, and a new list coming in tomorrow with new students. And this is all from one school. Apparently word has gotten around that there's a clarinet teacher in this school district, so my name has been passed along to about four new schools that I previously had not contacted. I'm having to get creative to expand my teaching hours. I've widened it to accommodate about 24 beginner students, it will be less if I get some advanced students that take hour lessons instead. We'll see how it all falls. It's nice to have a niche.

Looking forward to a new year of Time Out tomorrow. I've enjoyed the book so far, and I think we'll get a lot out of it. I'll miss the crafts, but their absence won't stop me from coming.

I'm going to go tether my head for a while until I can let some of the helium out. Maybe do some research on teaching method differences between saxophone and clarinet, since I've been talked into teaching sax as well. The more the merrier, right?

Satisfaction

A clean house, and kids that helped you do it.

A student list from one school that has 10 students on it, when I was only planning on taking 16. What are the other schools going to do if I run out of time?

A weekend spent getting pretty new shoes, seeing friends, going to a birthday party, and starting the newest semester of Crown.

Seeing a need and being able to fill it.

Not having to cook dinner because your wonderful hubby did it for you.

Still busy.

Rush

I can feel it coming on. The sheer anxiety right before the adrenaline rush. Sometimes I wonder if I crave it, and that's why I keep myself busy. Adrenaline junkie.

Somehow in the past few hours my week went from nothing to packed. And I'm loving every minute. Still no lessons set up, but the school year is still young. I'm expecting most of my students (beginners) to start lessons in October, once they're familiar enough with their instrument maintenance and posture to begin real teaching. Fundamentals, you know. Gotta have 'em. Until then I've occupied myself by playing with my new toy. It's a tuner, one of the kinds that recognizes the note you play and tells you if you're sharp or flat. I've been singing into it for days, just for the heck of it. It's a pretty cool toy. And it has a plug-in for when I finally get a guitar. Which may or may not be in the near future. I'm just looking for a cheap-o practice model with an acoustic neck, so if you know anyone that's getting rid of one, let me know. It's the last instrument I care to learn and develop skill on.

This past weekend I helped some friends move. Again. We laugh about it now, just because it's so funny the number of times they've moved. And I've been there every single time. This time I was a little more help, though. I'm stronger because I've been working out. I think I shocked some of the guys helping.

But you know what? I love the south. Men are such gentlemen down here. I would open the door for a guy carrying a huge box in (yeah, right, like he could open it himself), and even though it was the seventeenth time I'd done that in the past half hour, he still said thanks every time. It was comical. And since I was the only woman in the group helping lug boxes, I was contantly fawned over.

"You got that?"

"You need help carrying that?"

"Is that too heavy?"

No, boys. I'm fine. Thanks for asking. Could you get the door for me?

And I got to drive a 24-foot moving truck. That was an experience, let me tell you. Before that, the biggest vehicle I'd driven was my Jeep. Unless you count the time I test-drove an Odyssey. I was scared to death, but surprisingly I didn't hit anything or anyone. I am woman, hear me roar. Go me. And all that jazz.