Let The Sun Shine In!

This time of year we see the sun and the moon so rarely that I felt the need on Saturday morning to document the event. It's been so refreshing and energizing to see the sun the last two days. I am hoping for this gift at least one more day as tomorrow I could really use the extra energy it brings. These are photos of the moon set and sunrise on Saturday. 

Update: I didn't get this posted when I had planned, but the good news is, it looks like we'll have that sunshine today that I've been hoping for! I've already got a good start to my day. 

Even Gibbs, as much as he adores the snow surely must enjoy the sunshine as well. 

Saturday was also our monthly ATC trade. Our theme this month was music and these are the cards I made and took to trade: 

And these I made but saved for now:

We've had some illness among our group so our meeting was cut short so those ailing could return home. Prayers are offered for one with skin cancer and another with vertigo. It is my prayer that all will be feeling much better for our all day craft day next Saturday. 

One of the things I'm doing for myself is making more of an effort to look the part of "queen". I've never been a fan of make-up and I'd prefer to wear a sweatshirt and yoga pants than take the time and make the effort to put together a nice outfit, but I find when I do take the time to dress up and put on make-up it also affects my attitude. I find I feel more elegant and more feminine. I have to talk myself into it more often than not since it's easier to be a slob, especially when my job doesn't take me out of the house on a daily basis. I know in my heart that I should dress better for my students, their parents and even for myself. A dear friend used to regularly tell me "head up, shoulders back"...he's not around to remind me, so it's time to remind myself and it's something I must do daily...dressing up a bit does help me hold my head up a bit higher.

Oh, how could I forget?! I was given a surprise gift from a friend at the ATC trade. Pam is a local artist that sales her creations and she made me my initial and these magnets. The initial is a store bought letter but she decorated it with...wait for it...EGGSHELLS and alcohol paint. She does this for jewelry too. It's amazing what this woman comes up with! The magnets are common tiles painted with alcohol ink. I was so surprised...still am as she's not someone I would have expected a gift from. It's not like we know each other very well, I hardly know her at all but come to think of it, she's always doing nice little things for me. I must make her a thank-you note for her this week. Do yourself a favor and visit her Facebook page at Pamations and scroll down to see some of her other creations. I don't think it's been updated in a while, she's too busy being creative, but if you happen to see something you like, you won't be disappointed. 

One more step toward my goals. 

Sparkle on....

Summer Begins

With the start of summer coming on, I have been keeping quite busy. Memorial Day weekend brought my son and daughter-in-law up for the long weekend...it was nice to have them for longer than usual. Past visits have proved difficult for them and their two large fur-babies...the dogs are quite needy and finding a place for all of them to stay that was both private and quite was a challenge. They decided they wanted to try reclaiming a room from our old apartment which is over Hubby's print shop. Since we bought our house and moved out of the apartment he took it over for added shop space and it's quite full and quite the mess. I helped them clean out a room and make a bathroom look less like something you'd find at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. :P It was exhausting work, but they seem to be comfortable with the result. 

Here I am pictured with one of my piano students. I carried 15 students for most of the season and Saturday the 4th 11 of them participated in our spring recital. We had several with fast fingers...some of that due to nerves. I try to tell them when the adrenaline kicks in things can sometimes get out of control. Even with some mistakes, everyone seemed to handle it well. I took this week off to catch up on some things here at home before I start summer session for those who want it. I think I’m only going to have about 6 and most of those will only be once a month to every other week depending on their needs. I think I’m the most flexible teacher in the area when it comes to scheduling.

I’ve been working on spring cleaning a little at a time and trying to sell some of our extra junk we no longer use or need. It’s quite the job to sort and make decisions, take pictures, write up descriptions and post on websites...time consuming too.

I have been working with a fellow pianist and teacher this winter. We have traded services to better ourselves. She is working with me on the piano to sharpen and enhance my skills as both pianist and teacher and I am teaching her the organ. It’s been a good experience for us both and on August 26th we will be joining together in a recital. We will be using a very historic organ in the area and one of my favorites. Our recital is one of several to showcase the organ and raise funds for it’s upkeep. 

Tomorrow is another ATC trade - this months theme is "Holiday-you pick". I'm trying to use up all my scraps that I won't be needing for scrapbook pages so my holidays were chosen with that in mind. I did four on Easter using the song text from Easter Parade: 

I continued on with New Year's...not the holiday I would normally choose, but again, I had supplies to use up:

The two in the middle are my favorites. Using more supplies I went on to St. Patrick's Day and made two for Christmas. The one in the middle is my favorite of this group:

It seems my to-do list is ever growing. There never seems to be enough time in each day to accomplish all I should do. There has been some curiosity from some of you as to the goals I've been referring to lately. I will be sharing some of those with you in coming blogs so stay tuned. Nothing earth shattering, I assure you. 

I'm off to the church this afternoon for practice time.

Hubby and one of our church members have been making some repairs on our church organ. I am very thankful our friend is good at soldering. We still have some work to do, we did find out a repairman is out of the question due to expense.

Hubby and I thought we were going to be given an organ for me to practice on at home. It would have been very helpful for numerous reasons but the deal fell through. I still hope to obtain one at some point. 

Friends Near and Far

In my last post I shared my Artist Trading Cards for this month and today was our trade - I was hostess. I spent the morning touching up the house and preparing snacks. The trade was at 1:00 but they were still straggling in at 1:30. We always have a good time when we're together, there is lots of laughing and great stories. It was fun having them in my home for the first time. Every month as I struggle to get my cards done in time, I consider quitting and then we have our trade and I know I would miss getting together with them so I soldier on. 

Today I shared with them my desire to be a Magnabilities consultant and I showed them the product and they were very encouraging. They all said they would come to a party and one of them said she would host a party for me. I'm still not getting anywhere with the company, even though I prefer to email (I like having things printed out for future reference), I think I'll call them next week.

My heart is heavy today as I received this email update this morning from Gordon's wife: 

Well friends, here I am again asking for prayer! We went to clinic at lunchtime today because Gordon was having such an awful time breathing. His oxygen level was very low and the oncologist had him admitted to the hospital. He was in his own room by 1:45 or so! Thank you Lord! 

She also had bad news -- the biopsy on the fluid taken from around the sacks around lungs (last weekend) had cancer cells in them. The miracle drug (pill) isn't working for Gord! 
She said she has a chemo cocktail for him to go on...Hopefully very soon!

We are all tired of all of this, but especially Gordon! He has lost a lot of weight and finds it difficult to walk. Please keep praying for strength and healing and God's mercy and grace. Our spirits are low, but we rely on Our mighty creator God!! Thank you sooooo much!! We couldn't make it without your prayers!! Bless you! 
Please continue to keep him in your prayers. 

I also connected with my mentor, David today through email. I found out his procedure is supposed to be outpatient. It's scheduled for Thursday and he hopes to be home by Saturday if all goes according to plan. He encouraged me to email him if he fails to send me an update and that was nice to see.

Pastor Tony emailed with challenges regarding the music tomorrow morning - I will need to get there early to prepare and stay focused. 

I'll be busy making cards next week. A college friend saw my cards on Facebook and ordered 20! 

Well I think it's time to throw another log on the fire - I mustn't let it die out as Hubby will want to warm up when he gets home from the rink. 

Out Of Sorts

That's the only way I can think to describe the way I've been feeling lately. I was doing so well getting back into the "swing of things" after the holidays. I spent the week between Christmas and New Years cleaning the Turquoise House from one end to the other not missing nary a cranny. I was quite pleased with my work and quite pleased with my plans for the winter. I had begun my exercise program again - I started slow this time because I had gotten so far out of shape and I felt good about what I was doing, that was until this week. Monday I woke up with pain in my shoulder right blade...this is not new, it is a chronic problem that I've had for years, but now it seems to have escalated and decided to share the pain with my entire upper back. It hurts to turn my head, it hurts to put my head down and while working at the computer or practicing, I get an awful burning sensation. I wasn't too concerned, I'm still not too concerned, I've dealt with it before, it's just worse this time. Now lets talk hips. Again, I've had hip pain in the past and have been successful treating them with chiropractic, massage therapy, exercises and stretches. Yesterday I woke up with pain in my hips that I had never experienced before. The only way I can describe it is, I felt as though my body was not my own from the waist down. I called my chiropractor and was able to get in same day. Surprisingly, I did not need an adjustment but she said my hip flexors were very tight and so she did some soft tissue work and I was able to walk out of there without the limp that I walked in with. I felt pretty good when I woke up this morning and went about my chores and errands, by lunch time though I was starting to hurt again and so tonight I sit in pain. I'm hoping my stretches will help ease things so I can sleep. I'm discouraged. It's so hard to get back to an exercise routine when I'm in so much pain. I've been head-achy and tired and I just want to curl up by the fire and forget I have responsibilities. I think the pain is just getting to me. 

It's difficult to keep track of my students these days. Some are quitting, some want to quit but the parents won't let them, some want to increase their lessons, some take every other week, there has been illness, bad weather and deaths in families. I struggle to keep a consistent lesson plan going with any of them. 

Our recently graduated daughter has still not found a job and her car needs a complete engine rebuild. We are going to help her with that, but it will clean out our savings. Trusting God to provide for our needs. 

Nothing new yet regarding Magnabilities. I was hoping to have it all up and running before the 15th as that's the last day for half off the price of the kit. I'm just not sure why it is taking so long to get help.

Do you remember Gordon? He's still fighting his cancer...he's had a tough go of it lately, just getting out of the hospital again after having fluid drained from his lungs. He's been in a lot of pain and began slipping into depression, but praise God, he's home now and is more like his old self again. Please continue to keep him in your prayers for complete healing. 

I've also mentioned my mentor, David from time to time. He'll be having surgery on the 22nd. He has a bone in his neck that is poking into his spinal cord; it's been causing numbness in his hands and feet and we're praying that this surgery will restore that feeling. Please pray for guidance and wisdom for the surgeon - anything having to do with the spinal cord is scary business. I made him a card:

and while I was at it, I made some Valentines to sell: 

It's also ATC time again! This month the theme is "Ethnic Background". I wasn't sure how to interpret that, but one of my friends said she was going to just use some of her photos from her heritage album, so I decided to do the same. The meeting will be at my house this month so tomorrow I'll be making refreshments and getting things prepared. 

Until next time dear friends, 

Let's Play A Little Game

I just finished my Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) for December, tomorrow's trade is at 1:30. This month's theme is "Myths". I never studied Greek mythology so I had to do some research and some are not Greek. I will give you a hint, for the very first one you need to know a little about the area where I live as it's a local myth. 

I will post pictures of my completed cards and you can guess what myth each one represents and put your answer in the comment section. I'll post the answers when I feel enough of you have had the chance to post. You might need to click on the photo for the large size to see the detail. READY? Here goes:

Set #1 left to right a) b) c)

Set #2 left to right a) b) c)

Set #3 left to right a) b) c)

Set #4 left to right a) b) c)

In other news, you may have seen on FB that Hubby and I celebrated 33 years together as husband and wife yesterday (the 4th).

He bought me these beautiful red roses and an expensive organ book I've been wanting for years and I bought him season 11 of NCIS. We went out to supper tonight because I had to teach last night. We enjoyed a nice supper at our favorite restaurant and then he had to rush off to ref a game. 

Tomorrow after the trade I will practice the organ for a few hours, then pick up pasties for some hungry boys that are coming over to help Hubby move fire wood to the basement. Tomorrow evening we are going to Lessons and Carols at the Catholic church where I practice to hear my mentor play the organ. It is such a beautiful program every year and this year is probably his last to play as he's retiring this summer.

I don't want to miss being there! Please keep him in your prayers as he has some health issues he's dealing with and also for my friend and former teacher who is still struggling with cancer. He was doing so much better but now is in so much pain from his back (the cancer is also there). I just pray it is not spreading. I know he's getting discouraged.

Ok, that's all for now. I'll be watching for your guesses!

Until next time...