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!

Throwback Thursday

Yes...I'm participating in Throwback Thursday...my first. I don't know how often I'll do this, but it works for today. I've been working to clean and organize my computer files like I mentioned in yesterdays blog entry and I wanted to share a couple with you today.

The first one is only a throwback to last weekend...LOL. I began making artist trading cards again...I'm not real happy about it because though they are fun, they take up way too much time that I want to spend scrapbooking. Why am I doing it you ask? Well, since the scrapbook store closed, just like I feared, I have lost touch with my friends from there. Without the store, we don't have a reason to get together regularly and easily except for the monthly ATC meeting. SOooo...in order  to see my friends I'm making ATC's. :P Anyway, I was not excited about the ones I made this month, so I didn't take any photos of them, but while we were at our meeting, our hostess took our picture of us posing with her cat, Bob.

Three of these ladies are dear friends and have taught me so much about paper crafting...we have so much fun when we're together. Mary is next to me, Linda is next to her (she is the expert on "tea bag folding" and "spirelli"), and across the counter from her is Jeanne (I can't even count the number of things she has taught me). At the bottom of the photo is Mary Ann, I don't know her very well, only from the ATC meetings. I am planning a get together after the holidays to have them over for a crop.

The second photo throws us back much further. In my file organizing project, I've run across an annoyance on my computer. I can click on a file, open it up to view, then click the arrow which should take me to the next photo on the list, but instead it jumps around randomly to other photos and I haven't been able to figure out where it goes or why it chooses to display the particular photos it displays. It's quite annoying when trying to work with a specific group of photos. Anyway, I was working away and clicked on this recent photo of me and my son on his wedding day.

It's a new favorite of mine for obvious reasons. I then clicked the next arrow and it took me here:

Suddenly the tears were flowing. Pretty weird if you ask me.

Three students scheduled for today...one made it so far, the others just rescheduled for tomorrow, so I'm done for the day. Calico beans for supper tonight with corn bread. Not much excites me about food these days, but this does. :)

 Well, I'm making a little progress with my project, more to come...stay tuned...

Oh My Goodness !!

We certainly do have a lot to catch up on! I had to go back and read up on what I posted last...I almost got lost trying to find my way around LOL! So here's the plan...there is a lot to share and I don't want to overwhelm you all in one post, so I will be working on the project of sorting and cleaning out my computer files and pictures and sharing things with you as I go along. By the time I finish, we should be all caught up...that is if I can do it fast enough LOL. 

So we got our first big storm of the season yesterday, dumping approx. 24 inches of unwelcome white stuff. Here is a picture of our downtown that someone posted on Facebook:

Most of my students yesterday and today cancelled so I started a major cleaning project that has been waiting for me for weeks. I cleaned the kitchen walls and ceiling to get rid of what swatting mosquitoes this summer left behind. I still have the rest of the house to do, but it's a start. While in the kitchen I also cleaned the stove, refrigerator, microwave, windows, coffee cart and counters. I hope to get to the cabinet door fronts soon and clean out the cupboards. I'm saving floor scrubbing until after the family leaves after the holidays. No sense cleaning before we have 6 dogs in the house!!

So with the coming of winter, I will spend today sharing our last bit of summer with you. We had a garden again this year, but it struggled due to our colder than normal temperatures. One day as the season was winding down and I was out picking some of the last of our produce and I snapped a few photos of the plants as they were going to seed. 

Hubby tilled it under and got the manure on it just in time before the snow began to fly! I'm already missing my tasty veggies...I'm so spoiled! I cooked up some frozen spinach from the store the other day and it was so bad I couldn't finish it! :P I even had a friend out there this year, though I was never able to get his picture. I named him Timothy (after the NCIS character Timothy McGee), he was a toad and I thought he truly did remind me of Sean Murray! He didn't seem too frightened of me as long as I watched where I stepped. His favorite place to hide was under the spinach! 

Well I hope you enjoyed the last of summer with me, I enjoyed visiting the garden one last time. 

More updates to come, stay tuned....

What a Beautiful Fall We've Had This Summer!

Which makes me wonder just what fall and winter will bring! 

I continue to stay busy, trying to harvest the garden before everything freezes and catch up on all the chores I was supposed to do this summer but instead spent most of my time sitting on an organ bench LOL! I've finally cleaned the basement and the garage. I still need to scrub down the ceilings and walls - between the wood stove and all the mosquitos we squashed this summer, they're gross! 

You may have seen on Facebook that we had an organist meeting last week - we hadn't had one in a quite a while. We headed over to the Heritage Center following dinner and played the pipe organ there. I'm planning on everyone coming over for dinner on the 3rd of October, then heading over to our church to try out our "new" organ...now that it's been here for almost a year LOL! 

It's been an emotionally trying week. Most likely we will be voting PT to be our Pastor in October, but before we do that he wanted to give members a chance to meet with him to discuss any concerns about his vision for the church's future. Hubby and I didn't sign up, but PT asked for a meeting with us. That took place over breakfast at our house, Monday morning at 7:00. He wanted to meet and pray with us regarding his decision to not marry Son and his intended. He also wanted to discuss church music and the fact that people are complaining about the new organ. Just as I thought I finally had everything as it should be, had a successful concert, etc., now I find out I have to go in today and rethink everything I've been doing. I have to try to balance allowing the instrument to do what it is designed to do and still make "everybody happy". It's finding out that though I had thought I was aiding in worship, I have been hindering it. I feel like I've been punched in the face. Praying God will give me wisdom in what changes to make. 

Monday I unloaded on Mentor and he understood completely and let me have my rant, then he consoled me and told me what my next step needs to be. I honestly don't know what I'd do without him! He always knows just what to say to help me keep my focus where it should be. Monday night I felt like a wet dish rag. 

Yesterday I tried to put it out of my mind and I spent the day pulling up garden vegetables and preparing them for the freezer. Also I finished work on my studio website so it is up to date for the coming year and I signed up my 16th student! Last year I prayed for 15 and God gave me 13. This year he has brought me 16. I haven't met them all yet, that will come next week. 

Today I'll spend the afternoon on the organ bench trying to figure out what needs to be changed. I hope I'll be able to practice some as well. Also, a lady from church who has been a "fan" all along has asked to be introduced to the organ as far as finding out what everything does and what I'm doing when I'm up there. I don't think she has a music background at all, so....interesting. She plans to stop by sometime this afternoon. 

Lunch is leftovers and supper is probably stuffed baked potato and maybe some fresh carrots, broccoli and beans from the garden. I'll have to go out in this rain storm to gather them.  

Son called. He wanted my opinion on the suits and ties for himself and the guys and also the sashes to cover the chairs that his intended doesn't like. He told me he signed up the caterer that we talked to last time they were here. I'm glad because it will make things so much easier, but I'm also concerned about the money aspect. They are coming up on Saturday and I'll go with Son's intended for her final dress fitting and will be at their beck and call for anything else they need done. This is most likely the last time I'll see them before the wedding. 

I honestly don't see things settling down until after the wedding - then it will be time to prepare for Christmas! I know once winter settles in and Hubby goes back to hockey, I should have my evenings more to myself...I think...who knows! 

I do miss blogging regularly and hope to be back at it...someday soon. Please don't forget me. ;)