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, 

Photo Shoot

It's been a busy week...Sunday was the LSMTA Piano Recital, my students all did well. Hubby saved the day again by printing the programs at the last minute and serving refreshments when he noticed the rest of us got caught talking. 

Monday I went down the hill for organ practice time and had a scary trip back home; I'm trying to decide whether or not I should continue that trek during the winter months. Because of the snow, I've had several cancellations and reschedules lately, the reschedules I don't mind so much, but the cancellations sure cut into my budget at a tough time of year. I have three scheduled for today and two of them are very late...maybe they're not coming? 

I have a grocery trip I need to do for our Thanksgiving week, but customers have not been paying in a timely manner, so we are behind. Please pray I can pay bills and get the food I need to feed my kids when they arrive. 

I have a very long list of small projects that need doing...I won't bore you with it, just know that I am overwhelmed by it and by the amount of music I have to learn between now and Christmas so please pray for me. Daughter #2 is our budding photographer...she really does quite well and we are hoping to be able to purchase a camera for her for graduation. Last weekend she borrowed the camera from work so she could get some good shots of herself for her web page and resume and I mentioned how I'd like to have some good photos of me at the organ,so we took full advantage and had a great time doing a photo shoot. She took all these pictures, even the ones of herself (technically), she got everything all set up and all that had to be done was click the shutter. I hope you enjoy....

Our daughter #2 and soon to be college graduate in search of a job..Pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Scientific and Technical Communication, a minor in Journalism and a certificate in Media with a concentration in Marketing. 

What I do: Communication, Collaboration, Photography, Design, Technical Writing, Creative Writing, Editing, Marketing, Publications, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Cumulus, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint.

And if the job has anything to do with bicycles, that will just be icing on the cake !

Hubby and Me on a brisk Sunday morning before church: 

And finally, my long awaited pictures of me at the organ. Mentor chose his favorite and wanted me to add it to my email signature and so I have done. He also told me I needed to share it with Gordon; he said "he'd be so proud":

Stay safe and warm!

Straight From Urban Dictionary

Jul 3, '11 5:35 PM for Julie's contacts

I looked up my name on Urban Dictionary and this is what it said. Since my legal name is Julia and everyone has always called me Julie, I included them both.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Julia
	a name for girls. Most julia's are artistic, smart, romantic, beautiful and also very charming. Julia's can get whatever they want if they try. They can be very sexy so watch out! They are romantics and love old movies, art and books. they love old stuff! They usually aren't very athletic but if a julia is athletic she's kick butt! they have great fashion sense and usually look smokin'. A julia will most likely become a mother because they love kids. They are very successful in life and there is just something about them that draws people in. Also they are ah-mazing dancers! Julias are people that love everybody and are loved by everyone. they are very artistic and express their feelings to people they love and can trust. they love to draw read and dance when no one is watching. they care a lot about fashion and clothes but are very unique and love to stand out and be different. they are very hot cut and sexy so you have to be careful with them. they are very sensitive when it comes to people but they are very strong and tough and do not care what people say or think. they are extremely good friends with everyone. they are brave courageous and bold and they will do anything. they are also attracted to boys named Joel. But more than anything they are extremely hot friendly and sexy they are the best people to know. Julie Sweet and downy haired girl, changable, and often misunderstood and complex. A fearful creature as well as highly loyal. She will rule your affection and once you have hers it will be forever. You will love Julie forever. 1. A popular French name meaning youthful, soft-haired and vivacious. 2. A woman who is hated by woman due to her care free ways and ability to have men swoon at her very sight. an awesome girl that loves her friends, family, and animals. cares for earth, and is a strong supporter of many opinions. a very opinionated person. open minded to all suggestions and loves to have a good time. straight-edge. always down for a partyyy. 1. "Wow, that Julie is really cool!"

Ha Ha!! I wish I could live up to all those glowing attributes!!

Go ahead...be brave...look up you own name and share! http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Andante Grazioso E Moderato

Andante grazioso e moderato

Mar 4, '11 8:52 AM for everyone

Andante: A slow, even tempo; literally, "going". A walking tempo.

Grazioso: 1.
pleasantly kind, benevolent, and courteous.
2.
characterized by good taste, comfort, ease, or luxury: gracious suburban living; a gracious home.
3.
indulgent or beneficent in a pleasantly condescending way, especially to inferiors.
4.
merciful or compassionate: our gracious king.

—Synonyms
1.  benign, friendly, favorable, polite. See kind . 4.  tender, clement, mild, gentle.

e: In Italian, "e" means "and".

Moderato: Moderate tempo.

Recently I have been working on a Paderewski piece entitled Melodie in B Flat and I found this to be the tempo marking. I knew what each of these terms meant, but I have to admit that I had never seen them put together in this way before and it got me to thinking about...well lots of things. Having a personal interest in the great Paderewski, I couldn't help but wonder if this tempo marking was his or if it belongs to the arranger, Henry Geehl. Either way, as I continued my work on the piece with the tempo mark in mind, I discovered the music to truly exemplify those qualities and again that set me to wonder about what must have been going through Paderewski's mind as he composed this beautiful work.

Since this piece is very much a "walk", I got to thinking about walking. We could consider this a true walk as if we were going on a walk through town and the music certainly lends itself to that picture and I liked the idea of walking at a moderate speed not so fast that we miss things along the way or become stressed, but not so slow as to not get where we are going in a timely manner. If we consider the term, grazzioso or graciously along with andante and moderato, it seems to me to suggest more of the walk through life. What would it be to walk with graciousness at a moderate speed?

I finally came to the conclusion that this could be a proverb for our lives. We should walk slow enough to interact with those around us. When we meet people on our journey we should treat them with kindness, being helpful, courteous, using good taste and good manners, being merciful, even compassionate - certainly each of those terms could open up a whole new set of thoughts. We should not walk so slow as to get bogged down in the mundaneness of life or so slow that what needs doing doesn't get accomplished.

I think that this is my new favorite tempo mark, what would be yours and why?

Walking along at a moderate speed with grace and elegance - certainly something to consider and aim for.

CPR/AED

CPR/AED Class

Feb 20, '07 12:05 AM for Julie's contacts

Tonight for my job, I took a CPR/AED class and passed!! We had a good group of ladies, and even though what we were learning was serious stuff, we were able to laugh once in awhile and have a good time. I hope I will never have to use my new skill, but I feel really good for having learned.




We were each given our own "dummy victim", and when one of the ladies received hers, she got silly and started kissing "him". We all had a good laugh when her dummies head fell off following her kisses!! We had another great laugh when the same lady was doing role play. Having come across a victim, she is supposed to 1) make sure the area is safe 2) try to rouse the victim 3) ask someone nearby to call 911 and get the AED. When she got to step three she looked up to her team mate (me) and froze! She had the most hilarious look of panic on her face because she couldn't remember what she was supposed to ask me to do. That poor thing kept us in stitches all night!!



It was a long, exhausting evening, but it was also fun and rewarding as well. Too bad my favorite CPR instructor couldn't be there to help me learn!! Of course, then it would have been very difficult to concentrate on my training.

Re: CPR Name: Fred Date Posted: Feb 22, 07
Good job Julie.