This & That

Has Anyone Else Noticed?

I think we've already established that I'm an early riser.  When I woke up this morning, instead of it being pitch black, there was a little light in the room.  This can only mean that spring is trying to get here, slowly but surely.  And while I love spring....the colors, the smells, the change of seasons....that can also only mean that summer (my least favorite season) will be that much closer.  It's a double edged sword, I guess.

Working the Fingers to the Bone

......literally.  It's festival time here and I am in the process of cramming 27 songs into my brain and fingers  for 7 different voice students.  As usual, there are 3 or 4 songs that I could cheerfully throw into a shredder.  I would think that with all the years I've done this,  I would have already played everything there is to play, but no.  It seems the ever-creative minds of composers are always hard at work dreaming up new torture for the unsuspecting accompanist.  See, it's not necessarily the number of notes I have to play, but the speed at which I'm required to play them.  I can play anything at turtle speed, even full orchestral arrangements, but when the songs are marked "vivo", I know I'm probably in trouble.  *Sigh.*  Back to the piano.

Just for Fun

The view from over my sink.  I've been wanting to do a layout about this for a while.  These are my Dish Buddies.   While most of you may have wonderful backyard views....this is mine, along with the recent addition of a turkey.....I get the view of his rear end.  The pictures aren't the greatest, but it was the memory I wanted to capture.  Where did I read recently?......."It isn't about the photos, it's about the memories."  The connections thing again.

The Lesson Well Learned

There are times when I feel a little picked on, a little behind because I have a lot going on... and then someone comes along and asks me to do something else.  And because I'm me, I usually say yes.  And also because I'm me, I tend to whine about it to my DH, who then points out it was my choice to say yes or no in the first place....and what I was really looking for was a little sympathy, but that's beside the point. 
Back to me saying yes to the other thing.  Don't you just hate it when that other thing turns out to be just what you really needed to get you back on track and reorder your priorities?  I had a meeting tonight at church I wouldn't have gone to,  except that saying yes made my presence obligatory.  I mean, we're all busy, right?  And it was just one more thing to add to the growing list this month.  But I did it and very early in the meeting realized that there was a real reason I was there.  I needed to hear what was said, shake off all the extras and busy work and re-focus on those core relationships that are most important.....me and my DH, me and my kids, me and God.  It's all about connections again.   Yeah, I hate it when that happens.  Take away a perfectly good whine and turning into a good thing.

One of Those Days

Off to a rocky start here this morning after having to wait for very silly 9th grade girls who for some reason can't be ready on time for the seminary carpool pick up.  Then, I fell in the garage over a pile of boots and shoes that were lying NEXT TO the shelf where they were supposed to be stored.  I was carrying 2 huge EMPTY cardboard boxes that had sat in my back hall for 2 1/2 weeks waiting patiently for someone to take them out to the garbage.  Well, the garbage man was up the street and I decided I didn't want to look at them another week.  Hence my rush to get them out and the subsequent fall.  As I am fairly hormonal, it hasn't been a pretty morning.  Want to try a new recipe that calls for fresh green beans.  Do you think I can find them anywhere??  Not even at the expensive grocery store....grumble, grumble.

We Went to Portland!

For a very quick trip, we flew over yesterday to hear DS#4 sing in the All-Northwest choir.  He was one of 6 kids from our town that were chosen to go. He tells us it's  a really awesome experience to be in a choir of 300 kids who really love to sing and then having a college level clinician who really puts them through their paces is just the icing on the cake.  They sang about 7 hours a day for 3 days and then performed yesterday afternoon.  Really, really awesome stuff.  Music is such an amazing way for people to connect.  This was held in the Oregon Convention Center, where I attended a scrapbook convention last March.  They still have the same migraine-inducing carpet.   We drove home from Boise this morning and we're all tired and a little grumpy around the edges but overall, what a terrific way to spend a day.

The Driver's License Adventure

Thanks to Laura , who last week told her driver's license story, I thought to look at mine and discovered that it expired this year, on this date.  So this week I dutifully went in to get it renewed.  It's been 8 years since I had to do this, but still, I know the routine.  I step up for the eye check and cover one eye and can't see a blessed thing!  Fortunately, you only have to pass with one eye and my other one can see everything very clearly.  Funny, considering my DH does eyes.  In any case, I jump through the other hoops and walk out with my newly minted license.  I look at the hair color listed and they have BLN.  Wait, isn't that code for BLONDE????   Last I looked, I was a redhead.  Yeah, well last I looked I was a spring chicken, too.  Apparently my hair has faded enough so that the obviously BLIND sheriff's department person (who incidentally is giving vision tests), can't differentiate the correct color.  Sometimes it just bites to get older.

A Year in Review

I took Donna Downey's  online class last year through Big Picture Scrapbooking .  It was a really awesome class, with great projects and I managed to complete all but about 10 of the weekly assignments. This was the final class project and maybe my favorite.  We were required to make a Year in Review album.  The innards were regular envelopes that had photos on the outside, along with a topic title.  Then inside was an insert with more photos and journaling about the topic.  It took me a while to get it all put together, but I really love the results.  I love the snippets and samplings of things that happened throughout the year and most of all, I love a completed project.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!  We have several traditions at our house that we regularly observe.  First, breakfast has to have some kind of red berries....strawberries or raspberries.   Usually I try to make waffles to eat them with.  We also always have heart-shaped homemade pizza for dinner.  The biggest challenge there is getting the dough to cooperate shape-wise.  Sometimes we have some very interesting looking pizzas.   DH's family has a doorbell ditching tradition in the evening.  When he was young, his grandpa (who lived right across the street), would buy each of the grandkids a chocolate heart with their name on it.  Then he would door-bell ditch them.  That has carried over to our family, except we use sugar cookies.
This is what I found at the door yesterday.   Hope your day is filled with love!

Lucky Me!

It's raining today!  After teasing almost all week long, we finally got some good rain!  We hunkered down in the living room, built a fire and read the newspaper.  Now we're going to make some cookies.  Rain is just the best thing!  Found this quote:
"A single drop of rain makes the grass many shades greener."--Henry David Thoreau