Currently 6/16/15

Watching:
   I may or may not be watching some television that kind of makes my brain turn to mush. You know how sometimes you just need to sit and not think? Yeah, well that's been me in front of the TV lately. I will admit to watching The Whispers, which I don't know if I "like" but I was drawn to the interesting score.  (If you're not a musician, the score is the music composed for the movie, show, etc.) Being a music teacher I just can't shut this off and not notice. The composer's name is Conrad Pope. I have never heard of him before but I may just look up some of the movies he's previously orchestrated because I like his stuff from what I've heard.


Reading:

    Thanks again, GoodReads! People fascinate me and letters, I believe, are one of the coolest ways to learn who people really are. I didn't know much about Norman Mailer before (and I'm only in the 1940s) but MAN... he's a prolific letter writer.  If you thought I wrote a lot of letters, he wrote more than 45,000 letters in his lifetime. Woah. Right now I'm reading about his experience in the service. I'm enjoying the book very much so far and the notes explaining who the letters were to, different references, etc. are very helpful.

Listening:
   At the moment- Pandora on shuffle. Pompeii by Bastille is on. I've also been listening to some covers done by one of my former students who just graduated from high school. Another previous student has an EP release party on Thursday so I anticipate listening to a lot of his stuff too.

Making:
   I'm making progress in cleaning/organizing the music room at school. I have dedicated the last 20 minutes of school every day to trying to organize the sheet music in my room. It is everywhere- file cabinets, drawers, choral music boxes, EVERYWHERE. I have tried to do this project for years. I always start pulling things out to sort them and by the time I get everything out, my prep is over or it's time to put them away.
     A week ago a few students offered to help. I have had between 5-25 kids every day who have just "come to help out."  They have NO idea how much they are blessing me. One of them told me that I was "the most organized person she's ever met."  I laughed since we were surrounded by literally hundreds of pieces. I didn't feel organized but she was impressed that I knew where everything was, where it should go and how to make that happen. I took it as a small victory and was encouraged by her sweet comment.  Only 2 more years of working this hard every day and I might make a dent. :)

Feeling:
   Been a week of ups and downs.
Downs- I lost one of my ChemoBuddies this week. I hadn't heard from her in a while. I texted her a few times and got a thumbs up emoji but no words. My guess is that she didn't want to feel like a burden but I wish I had known she wasn't doing well so I could've been more of an encouragement to her.
   Lots of friends are going through some things- medical diagnosis, emergency surgery, stress over moving, difficulties adjusting to major life changes, etc. Although things are pretty good with me, it's okay to hurt with people you love.
    Speaking of hurt- I have plantar fasciitis in both feet. It is horrible. I have pretty high pain tolerance and this hurts... a lot. I have wrapped it with Kinesio Tape (thanks Jerry), stretched, iced, rested, etc. PT starts next week. Hopefully it feels better soon.
    Frustrated that I have not been able to do my ICAD cards yet.

Ups:
- Faithfulness of God in many of the situations above. I'm blessed to have hope in all these situations that can seem so huge on your own.
- Student help
- Super excited about huge vacation plans. I'll update on that another day.
- Timmy made the All-Star team for baseball. I don't care if he's a good athlete or a bad athlete. He is a great kid who works hard and it's nice to see him included.
- 8 more days of school
- Diagnosis for my feet- another dr had told me it was something much worse.
- My students have not shut off their brains yet. 98% of them are still working hard and doing quality work- WHAT!? Thank you!
- New babies for a few of my friends. Adorable little guys!
- Cold, rainy days during the times that are usually brutally hot in my classroom.

Planning:
    Vacation.

Loving:
   Spending time with my boys. I can't wait to be with them this summer.