Nerves.. more music teacher stuff

   Today my students are auditioning for our local jr. district festival. If you're not "into music," it's a day where about 1,200 students from 6th-9th grade (from 85 different towns) will come to audition for a spot in the district girls chorus, boys chorus, orchestra, jazz band or concert band. This year I don't have as many as I'd like to have audition going. I have 9 kids coming this year, 6 girls, 3 boys. All of them are good singers. 5 have worked their butts off.  All are very nervous about the audition and 3 of them have been sick this week. As a music teacher, my nerves for them are shot! I was up half the night worrying. Will they get in? Won't they get it? If they get super nervous, will they not try out again next year? What if they go to the wrong part? Can they handle rejection? Will I be disappointed if they don't get in? I'm working as assistant boys chorus manager so I'll get to hear all of the vocalists today. It's extremely competitive and I'm so excited/anxious about it. Hopefully the kids slept easier than I did. I would REALLY disappointed if less than 2 made it in. My aim is 2-5 but that depends on their auditions! Eek. Off to spend the day there.

Create- Paint Night

   At the beginning of the year I told you that I would be focusing on the word "create" this year. I signed up for a local paint night tonight where I painted this picture. Honestly, I'm not super in love with it but, if you've ever heard me complain about how insecure I am with doing anything involving visual art, I don't think it's bad either. My main complaint is that I should've made the lines on the ground thinner. All in all, I'm happy with it and proud that I'm being brave enough to share it here. :) I'm happy with the tree trunks, which have always been a nemesis of mine. (Guess my tree project on Thanksgiving helpes with that!)

      Mail out headed to England, New York, Maryland and Missouri.

Incoming mail today came from my penpal Ashley in Wisconsin. She always writes great letters and sends really fun envelopes.

   Then I received another Goodreads win from the author R.J. Eliason. This is a fantasy book, signed by the author too. Grateful for another win!

   Yay for good mail! Boo for there only being 2 things after having 2 days of no mail delivery at all!

    Ok, I'm off to finish submitting my grades. 

Lettermo2015

   Who else is excited about The Month of Letters 2015? I have been involved for a few years. To be honest, I didn't do a great job. 2013 I did really well getting my mail out to people but then got behind and was in a huge funk because of stuff like the marathon bombing. 2014 I don't even know if I got anything out. So, 2015- new year. I prepared by writing a list of people who I had written to before or who had written to me, checking out their blogs, writing to the international ones so they could receive it at the beginning of Feb, and finding some new friends. I'm hoping for a really successful year. (Things that will make this successful for me: 1) Sending mail every mail day of Feb. This will greatly help with my 366 project. 2) Meeting some new people who I can continue connecting with throughout the year and 3) Hopefully getting some good mail.)  You should challenge yourself with Lettermo too. (You know I'm always looking for mail!)

     Here is my outgoing international mail... if I can get to the post office.

    These postcards are headed to Turkey, Germany, England, and Australia.  

The 366 Project:

Sent: 32

Received: 15

   Oh yeah, and it snowed. I present to you "BLIZZARD 2015"

Oh... shoot, wrong Blizzard.

   It wasn't bad. We have about 22 inches of snowfall but the drifts are huge. This is the front of my house so it is blocked from the wind. I'm 5'10" and the snow there was almost up to my waist.  It snowed for another 8 hours or so after those pictures were taken. I was trying to get into my car to get my school bag to do some work. I still have not completed the work I intended to but I'm relaxed and happy. (for now.. lol)

3 great cards- Turkey, Russia and China

     I received 3 beautiful cards today. This one is from Turkey. It is a painting that shows the Hagia Sophia in the background.  I think this is my first official postcrossing card from Turkey. I know I have received at least 1 other card from Turkey in a private swap.

 These were the stamps.

 This beauty is from Russia. It is in Yekatarinburg.  Can you imagine living in a house like this? The colors are so vivid. I would love to see this place in person.

    I really like this one too. This card is from China and reminds me very much of one of my favorite pictures of my 2 sons.

The 366 Project:
Sent: 27
Received: 15

    In other news, I'm supposed to receive a ton of snow tonight- between 20-30 inches. School has been canceled for tomorrow. This is great because I was actually scheduled to report for jury duty. That has been canceled too so I have a relaxing day at home and I didn't have to write up all of my lesson plans. Plus, now I won't be behind in my classes.  I plan to hang out in my pajamas all day and just hang out with the kids! Seriously.. flannel pjs all day :)  If I think of it, I'll take some pictures of the snow. We may have Wednesday off from school too, depending on how well the roads are cleared, if power is lost, etc.
      I also hope to do some art stuff tomorrow since I don't feel pressured to get anything else done.

My first typography envelope

     I saw a really cool template for an envelope over at The Postman's Knock and decided that I would like to try it. I used a pen that was far too thick for what I did with it, but 1) for a first try and 2) for someone with carpal tunnel syndrome that was bugging me that day, I'm okay with the results. I look forward to trying it again and getting better. Hopefully Mary doesn't see this here before she sees it in her mailbox :)  Here's the link to the template if you want to try it too.

    Saturday brought some fun mail. This homemade postcard comes from Danielle in Chicago. I love the image on the front, though I'm slightly confused by it.. lol, and I love the sewn edges.

     While sloshing over to my snowy mailbox, I was delighted to find this sunny postcard from Heleen in the Netherlands. We're getting 20-30 more inches of snow Monday-Wednesday so I'll keep this visible to brighten up the day.

 This is my first card from Singapore. It is from Suriani. I didn't know there was a Universal Studios in Singapore.

The 366 Project:

Sent:27

Received: 12

Finally some snow

We finally have a little snow (5 inches according to David's snowman measuring tool in the picture above). The boys bundled up and went out to play a bit.
     Looks like it will be a nice relaxing day just hanging out at home. I started my day by having breakfast with 4 of my friends at a local cafe. 2 friends were from church, 1 is a former colleague and 1 is a new friend I met through Timmy. It was really a blessing to start my day with these ladies.  Matt is working today so I look forward to playing some board games, getting some organizing done and just relaxing. This week was kind of emotionally taxing so I'm excited for the weekend.

Another Goodreads win

  Have I ever mentioned that I love Goodreads giveaways? Yes, I have. Well, I won a few more books this month. This one was my only good piece of incoming mail on Friday. Monday's Lie is a book that will be released February 2015. It's a thriller. I'll let you know what I think of it. In the meantime, yay for new books!

   I also received a really nice letter from a student yesterday, but it was just put in my school mailbox rather than mailed so I'm not counting it. (I'm not a rule breaker. Ha ha.) It was the nicest thing that happened amid a kind of cruddy day. She's a super sweet young woman and her words really made my day a lot better.

Outgoing mail today went to my Chemobuddy in IA and to a student who has been out sick for a long time.
The 366 Project:
Sent: 25
Received: 9