August 10, 2007

  • Only have a few minutes, but thought I would post and let you all know that my Dad is doing better.  The doctors cut his bp meds in half and I think he will go back in another week to be checked. 

    My interview at the John Cooper School went very well yesterday. So well that they asked me back today to meet some more people.  Hopefully I will know something by this afternoon or by Monday as to whether I get the position or not.  I am very nervous about trying to handle two schools with all the schedules and concerts, etc, but I am going to do my best to stay positive about it all.  I didn’t get much sleep last night because I kept trying to think of songs and games that I will be doing with the little ones.  It’s been a very long time since I’ve taught that age. 

    Gotta run…

August 8, 2007

  • My dad blacked out and fell and gashed his head open yesterday…something like 20 stitches in his head.  Said he got dizzy and blacked out.  At the emergency room (which was a major feat in getting him there), they did an EKG and a brain scan and both of those came back alright, so they let him go home.  He blacked out and fell again after they got home.  When I spoke with him last night it sounded to me like he was talking funny so I immediately thought of stroke.  My sister, mom, and I were so worried because we felt like he should go back to the ER, but Dad kept saying he felt fine.  My niece’s husband is studying to be an EMT, so he came over and took his blood pressure and it was 80/50!  Sheesh…no wonder he was passing out.  He did go to the doctor this morning and now they are thinking it is his bp.  They cut his dosage in half and they want to see him back in another week…what a scare that was. 

    I just got back from the hand specialist.  He gave me a cortisone injection for my carpal tunnel.  I’m hurting pretty badly so I am going to quit this right now! 

    Later…

August 7, 2007

  • Last full week of summer.  I’ve been very lazy this week and last.  I have gone over some music that I will be directing.  Connie, Sandy, and I have planned to meet on Friday to talk about choir camp music and details for that.  I just emailed my resume and interest in a part time postion at the John Cooper School.  I hope I will hear something soon on that.  What I’d really like is for a surprise phone call to come from my principal or from Connie saying that my position at Mitchell had been restored to full time.

August 1, 2007

  • The summer is slowly winding down. Jacob and I went to TCDA (Texas Choral Director’s Assoc.) and had a wonderful time at the convention. It was especially good for Jacob. He was asked back in the spring to be one of the student conductors at a reading session. This is great because alot of choral directors get to see the up and coming college students that will one day be looking for jobs. Jacob also was an intern for the convention. That means that he worked for one of the VP’s of the TCDA Board. That was also great because he got to meet alot of the finest choral directors in the state of Texas. He did an amazing job on his directing…I was so proud…and mad at myself that I didn’t think to bring my camera…duh…but I took a picture of him on my cell phone. One of the VP’s asked him when he was graduating and told him to be sure to give him a call…wow! So…it was a great convention for Jacob.

    I had alot of fun, but I can’t say that I really learned very many new things. We did read through and find some good new pieces of music for our choirs. The convention is always just a fun time to hang out with some amazing choral directors and glean experience and knowledge from them.

    On Sunday, the fam went down to Galveston for a mini vacation. We got there around 4 pm and checked into our hotel and then went to Wally World to get us some snacks and drinks. We hung out at the pool for a while and then went out to eat. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped and played putt-putt golf. That was hilarious…I didn’t do as bad as I thought I would, but I was in third place. David won, of course, but only by one point…Jay came in second, I was third, and Jacob was last…what can I say? Jacob and I definitely are more artistic than athletic!!

    After that we went to see Live Free or Die Hard ~ it is a really good movie…on the edge of your seat action the whole time. We got back to our hotel around midnight and crashed.

    Got up the next morning and spent the day at Schlitterbahn. It was really nice at first when it wasn’t very crowded. There aren’t really many rides to do there right now since it is so new, but I did like their lazy river. We had intended to go to Moody Gardens yesterday,, but when we saw how expensive it was per person, we said…no thanks! We had breakfast, loaded up and got home by 10:30 am…

    I realized that I had left some clothing in one of the drawers of the hotel, so David is on his motorcycle right now driving down there to get my stuff….is he wonderful, or what?

    So, today I am going to take Jay to get him some new shoes and some jeans…he has lost so much weight that all of his jeans are falling off of him. Tomorrow I hope to take Jacob to get him a new pair of shoes and pants.

    We take Jay up to college on the 16th. Jacob will be moving into his dorm that day also. It sure is going to be quiet and lonesome around here. I’ve been crying off and on for weeks about that fact. Sometimes I just start crying…can’t seem to stop it…

    I have two possibilities of some part time work. I hope at least one of them works out. One is a part time position at John Cooper School and the other is a musical director position at Northland Christian School. Both of those will depend on whether I can fit them in to my schedule that I have at Mitchell.

    Ok…gotta run…this seems long and very random…got things to do today and I’m still in my jammies drinking coffee…I love summer!

July 23, 2007

  • Hey everyone,  Just wanted to let you know that the kids did get out safely.  Thanks for all the prayers.  It was a very long day for them all.  They ended getting out a back way, but the police and EMTs had to get involved.   They all had to be there for safety purposes.  Anyway, they got home around 1 am.  Sorry to be so slow getting back to you all.  I was very busy all day yesterday washing and packing for my trip to San Antonio…the choral director’s convention. 

July 21, 2007

  • Pray for the safety of our youth group and all the adults that went to church camp this past week.  Our camp is called Bandina Christian Youth Camp and it is located between the two Texas cities of Bandera and Medina in the hill country.  The road that leads into the camp is totally blocked by high water from the Medina River and the kids were due to leave to come home today.  They are stuck and cannot get out.  The road that goes over the Medina River (which is usually very dry at this time of year) is very low and the water is at 4 ft.  The buses cannot get in to get the kids.  The last I heard is that the leaders of the camp are talking with the state and local police to find other ways to get out of there.  There really are no other good roads to get out of there, from what I understand.  The officials are saying that they may have a 30 minute window where they can get some of the kids out.  If they run out of time, they are going to leave the older kids (one of them being my Jay, and our niece and nephew) behind.  They were supposed to start trying to get them out at 2:30 central time…that is just 20 minutes away.  If you are reading this, please pray for safety and that they can get all the kids out….
    Thanks…and I’ll keep ya posted…
    Hugs

July 17, 2007

  • How many of you have seen the new Harry Potter movie?  What did you think?

    I saw it today and I thought it was OK…nothing spectacular, but not bad.  I was really hoping for spectacular.  I can’t wait until the new book comes out.  I’ve had mine ordered from Amazon for quite some time now.  Probably won’t get a chance to start reading it until next Sunday though. 

    David’s 50th birthday is on Saturday.  We have plans to go out to dinner with our best friends and then come back to the house for cake and ice cream and play some Mario party 8 on the Wii. 

July 14, 2007

  • Rainy day here today.  We’ve actually had about a week with no rain, so that has been nice.  Everything is still so nice and green. 

    Jay will be packing for his last church camp today.  They leave tomorrow for the hill country.  It is always the highlight of the summer activities at our church.

    Jay also just got back from his orientation at SHSU.  He was advised and registered for his classes, so I think he is set to go.  He knows what dorm he will live in, but doesn’t know who his roommate will be yet.  I hope he gets someone decent!  That can always make it hard. 

    I just got back from a choral workshop in Grapevine, Texas.  Ran into the lady that I taught with right after I graduated from college.  Haven’t seen her in about 25 years.  I recognized her right away, but it took her awhile to figure out who I was…hmmm…what does that mean???? 

    Anyway, it was a fun trip.  Next week it will just be David, Jacob, and I around the house.  Planning on going to see Harry Potter…can’t wait…the boys have already seen it, but I think we are going to go see it on the IMAX screen in Houston…

    Following week is TCDA…I love going to this workshop…so much fun.  Then the fam is going on a very short vacation to Galveston…doing the Schlitterbahn and Moody Gardens thing. After that I think I have another two weeks before choir camp, then inservice and then school starts…wow…it goes so quickly.  It’s going to be a very strange year with me only teaching half day…

July 9, 2007

  • Idiot
    Sightings!!!!   Be careful, be v-e-r-y careful….
     
    IDIOT
    SIGHTING: Hubby and I had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman
    told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a  ”large” enough
    motor on the opener. I thought for a minute, and said that  we had the
    largest one Sears made at that time, a ½ horsepower. He shook  his head and
    said, “Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower.” I responded that ½  was larger
    than 1/4. He said, “NO, it’s not. Four is larger than two.”  We
     haven’t used Sears repair since.
     

    _____________________________________________
     
    IDIOT SIGHTING:
    I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local
    township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign
    on our road. The reason: “Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don’t
    think this is a good place for them  to be crossing anymore.”   From
    Kingman ,
    KS

    ______________________________________________________
     

    IDIOTS IN FOOD SERVICE: My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a
    taco. She asked the person behind the counter for “minimal lettuce.”  He
    said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg.   He was a Chef?
     Yep…From     Kansas
    City     !

    ______________________________________________________
     

    IDIOT SIGHTING : I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an
    airport employee asked, “Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your
    knowledge?”  To which I replied, “If it was without my knowledge, how
     would I know?”   He smiled knowingly and nodded, “That’s why we ask.”
    Happened in     Birmingham ,
    Ala .

    ______________________________________________________
     

    IDIOT SIGHTING: The stoplight on the corner buzzes when its safe to cross
    the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker  of
    mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it
     signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, “What
     on earth are blind people doing driving?!” She was a probation officer in
         Wichita ,
    KS

    _______________________________________________________
    IDIOT SIGHTING:
    At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker: She was leaving the company
    due to “downsizing.” Our manager commented cheerfully, “This is fun. We should
    do this more often.” Not another word was spoken. We all just looked at each
    other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare. This was a bunch at Texas
    Instruments    .

    ________________________________________________________
    IDIOT SIGHTING :
    I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself, and for
    the sake of her own life, couldn’t understand why  her system would not
    turn on. A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs  office no less.

    ________________________________________________________
    IDIOT SIGHTING :
    When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we
    were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and
    found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver’s side door. As I
    watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and
    discovered that it was unlocked. “Hey,” I announced to the technician, “Its
    open!”   His reply, “I know – I  already got that side.” This was at
    the Ford dealership in     Canton ,
    Mississippi !

    ______________________________________________________________________

     
    STAY ALERT! They walk among us, they REPRODUCE and they
    VOTE!! 

July 6, 2007

  • David and Jay made it home safely from Honduras yesterday afternoon.  That was a long two weeks for me!  But they had an awesome time and helped many people out.  Jay said it really made an impression on his life.  I’m glad to have them home.