I just got a message from the school secretary. The administrator of our school just got a call that his house is on fire. The neighbor called and reported that it seems to be a total loss. Please lift this family up in prayer!!
The winter has been dragging on and on this year. I'm ready for warm weather, consistent sunshine, and the end of snow for at least a little while. Life has been rolling along as usual. This week is a little extra crazy. Tuesday night was Open House at school. Tomorrow night is a special missionary guest speaker at church. I'm looking forward to hearing the speaker, but the timing is really hectic. Tomorrow is also my dad's birthday. He's 60 this year, which is really hard for me to believe. We had plans of doing something big for him, but I don't think big is gonna happen. Then, Friday night is the spring concert at school. Yes, I realize that it's not spring yet, but our other options for scheduling put us into spring break, or Easter, or testing week, or just too close to the 6th grade musical (which I also direct.) Anyway, I'll be glad to have that checked off my to-do list. Right now, I'm just praying that enough of the students are healthy enough for us to do the concert. On Monday, about a third of my choir was out sick. About a quarter of my band missed school yesterday. Today, I saw a few more choir students leave to go home. It's crazy! Hopefully, though, they can get it flushed out of their system by Friday. In the meantime, I'm loading up on extra vitamins.
Oh, and I can't believe I almost forgot this. I should have my newly renewed passport in a few weeks. That makes my plans official to go visit my sister in Germany. I'm planning to travel with her best friend. I'm so excited I can hardly wait!
A friend just sent me an email asking me to update my blog, because apparently she's been checking regularly while I haven't been posting at all. My first thought was, "Oh good, someone actually reads my blog." The follow-up thought that came a few seconds later was, "Hmm, it's been about six weeks since I posted anything. My friend must be the only person who reads my blog." Kinda depressing, but I can't complain too much because I have admittedly put very little effort into writing anything interesting for a while now.
Anyway, there are some explanations for my lack of bloggage:
I feel it best for me to not go into detail on why I am saying this next thing. Still, I feel I must say it. I feel very strongly that people should say what they mean and mean what they say. I also have a great distaste for patronizing speech and behavior. I could rant about that for a while longer, but it would not be beneficial for anyone involved.
1. There are only so many times that I can tell you about how the weather has been too cold, wet, foggy, icy, or snowy for school. Normally, I'm a huge fan of a weather cancellation, but we haven't had a full uninterrupted week of school since November. Now that it's extending the school year, and the students schedules are all out of sorts, I'm not such a huge fan.
2. Sickness, like weather, makes for very dull blog fodder. The rounds of sickness have been fierce this year, but I feel that I am far too young to focus my conversations on health and weather.
3. Sadly, once I've passed up health and weather, my life is just not that exciting.
I have a hard time with the New Year. It's hard to explain just why it bothers me, but it does. Every year at this time, I reflect on the passing year. This year, that reflection is a little tough. The year has been a very challenging one. If you aren't sure what I mean by that, see this post or this one. It's not the challenges of the year that make this time difficult, though.
And the difficulty has nothing to do with resolutions. As a rule, I don't make resolutions. My personal philosophy on resolutions is that if it's worth resolving to do something, I should begin doing it right away.
No, this holiday is just one that gets me stepping back to look at the big picture of my life. I think it's that simple process that bothers me. Another year has passed, and my vision of where I thought I'd be by this age and the reality of where I actually am still don't line up any better than they did last year. When I don't focus on that, I'm pretty content with my life. I have a great job, a wonderful family, and good friends. I serve a loving God who knows my future, and He has better plans for my future than I can even imagine. My life is not my own, and remembering that keeps me content. So, if it's alright with you all, (actually, even if it's not) I'm going to go through the next couple of days as if no transition is happening. When I focus on the transition, my selfish mind goes to a really bad place. I prefer to take this walk of life one step at a time. For those of you who celebrate, I'd like to wish you a "Happy New Year." As for me, I'm going to think of it as another ordinary day, and I'm going to try really hard to remember to write the correct year on my checks.
--That just reminded me.....I don't write checks very often, and I always have to think twice before writing the date. The other day, I was writing a check, and I realized I had written '98 as the year on the date line. I don't know where my head was on that one. Oh well....it did give everyone a good chuckle at my expense.
Over the weekend, we were hit with a whopping 17 inches of snow. Like most people, I enjoy a good snow day now and then. After spending nearly seven hours shoveling my car and sidewalk yesterday, though, I'm becoming less of a fan. Then, the authorities deemed the roads unsafe today, too, so school is canceled. Again, these days are welcomed when they hit occasionally, but this is the third school cancellation in the last couple of weeks, and I'm supposed to be directing the Christmas concert tomorrow night. The weathermen are predicting that the roads might be clear enough by tomorrow night, but the whole prospect of directing small children (as young as 3) in a program for which they've missed about a third of their practices for the month is a very scary prospect. Also, snow has begun to lose its appeal for me. I used to love playing in it when I was younger, but after lifting roughly three tons of it yesterday, I'm becoming a much less enthusiastic fan.
This hilarious little skit says it all so well. And before anyone gets the oh-so-misguided idea that I am above making financial mistakes, know that I relate to the people sitting at the table a little more than I care to admit. I know that the best way to buy something is to save the money first and pay for it in full. That's what made my recent purchase of a camera so satisfying. Still, I find myself scheming ways to get other things from my wish list a little faster. So, the skit is funny, ridiculous, and obvious, but it's also just the reminder I needed.
Now, I'm not a parent, and if I were, I'd never get my parenting tips from anyone in Hollywood, but this is scary. Pink eye from the dog and string around the diapers....Seriously, this is disturbing on way too many levels for me to count.
Spears’ advice to Klum
Really, I've seen forgetful, but this tops them all.
Man forgets car at gas station
After my previous post, a friend emailed me a link to this video. I thought it was really too funny not to share. I should probably also warn you ahead of time that this video is not rated G. (I'm no expert, but I would guess it's probably PG-13ish.) So, enjoy it, but be aware...
P.S. Please do not take this post or my last one as my attempt to prove any kind of "grammar or spelling superiority." I depend on the spell-checker sometimes. I also miss mistakes in my own writing after I proofread. I simply believe that no computer-based program is smart enough to catch all mistakes by itself.
Alright, I know that title is not earth-shattering news to any of you.....
I'm sure most of you have been there. You know.... you type something, and in re-reading it you realize that you typed "from" instead of "form." Your spell-checker realizes you've typed a valid word, but it has no idea that your sentence makes absolutely no sense.
I have after-school supervision duty this afternoon, and as I was waiting for the students to be picked up, one student was telling me (read: griping) about the number of steps his teacher is making him do for his essay assignment. The steps include creating a rough draft, editing, and revising. (He may have mentioned more, but I had to stop kindergarten students from running out in front of traffic at least three times during the conversation, so I lost track.)
He explained how he thought it was all a waste of time. He could, he reasoned, just type it directly into the computer and skip all the steps between the rough draft and the final draft. In vain, I tried to explain that the computer does not catch all the mistakes. He quite simply wasn't buying it. I felt defeated, but it is a Monday, and Mondays generally come with that defeated feeling.
Then, I ran across this article. Please go read it (at least the first paragraph.) Not only is it a piece of good news for once (which is why I was reading it,) but it also proves my point. Where did the boy scout find safety?....What exactly is a sleeping back?
OK, I know, I'm preaching to the choir, but I had to use my blog for a little Monday afternoon therapy. Spell-checker is a wonderful tool, but it can't make up for simple human editing.
Thanks for listening. I really do feel better now.
I enjoy photography. I really do enjoy the whole process. I've enjoyed snapping pictures since I got my first camera in elementary school. (That first camera, by the way, used disc film--remember that stuff?) My love of photography increased as I learned the basics of black and white film development for my yearbook class in high school. Then, in college, I took a couple of photography classes, learned how to really do well with all the manual ins and outs of the camera, and even won first place and a small cash prize in the photography category of a college art show.
I am also somewhat of a purist. My major instrument is the piano, so very few electronic keyboards or pianos are acceptable for me (although I love the Yamaha Clavinova that I have in my school classroom.) And until now, that has also been true of my feelings about cameras. I like the feel of a real camera, the click of a shutter, the view through an SLR viewfinder, the smell of development chemicals, and the thrill of seeing the image appear on photo paper. I've played with some other digital cameras, and I really never expected to like one.
I have a confession to make, though. I am in love with my new digital camera. I love that it feels like a real camera. I love that I can zoom, add a real flash, change shutter speed, and manipulate all the things I like to manipulate. Most importantly, I love the instant gratification. I love being able to immediately see how the picture turned out. I love that if it isn't good, I can delete it and try again before everyone leaves. And, I love that it is now so easy for me to post pictures of some of my adorable nieces and nephews like this:
My brother's kids
My older sister's kids
And a combo shot
I've been slacking (again) on my blogging, as I'm sure my loyal reader has figured out.
I apologize to the one or two of you who have actually noticed the lapse. Life has been crazy the last couple of weeks. My sister's kids contracted head lice, which didn't really have any personal bearing on my life, except that it made me really paranoid. Chickenpox has been flying around at school. The innoculation is required of all the students starting school, and it has been required for a few years. The older students, though, started school before these requirements were in effect. So, our upper grades have seen several cases. Since Friday was grandparents day, meaning a large music program, the chickenpox-infected students had me scrambling to cover parts last week.
This weekend, our school had several celebrations for its 50th anniversary. Our church also had celebrations for its 30th anniversary. I'm feeling like I could use another weekend just to recover from this weekend. The problem with leaving the small town in which you grew up and returning to the school and church you attended as a child the year before they both celebrate significant anniversaries is that they both expect you to share your perspective at their celebrations. They asked me several times to share something at the school's Friday night banquet. I declined the invitation. When I left the banquet (which took 4 hours, by the way), I was very glad I had not agreed to share. I only wish I had made the same decision about the church anniversary. For that one, they videotaped our testimonies. My clip was shown in a short blurb in church, and in a longer video that included pictures of me with a series of bad haircuts, perms, and braces. The long blurb is (thankfully) not publicly available. The short one is on the church website, here if your interested. It would have been OK, but the pastor really liked what I had to say, so he referenced it in both services on Sunday morning. When will I learn to keep my big mouth shut?
Postmodernism tells us there’s no such thing as truth; no such thing as meaning; no such thing as certainty. I remember lecturing at Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in this country. I was minutes away from beginning my lecture, and my host was driving me past a new building called the Wexner Center for the Performing Arts. He said, “This is America’s first postmodern building.” I was startled for a moment and I said, “What is a postmodern building?” He said, “Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.” I said, “So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?” He said, “That is correct.” I said, “Did he do the same with the foundation?” All of a sudden there was silence. You see, you and I can fool with the infrastructure as much as we would like, but we dare not fool with the foundation because it will call our bluff in a hurry.
I just began a study of Colossians for a Bible study I joined with some ladies from church. I'm really looking forward to the study. While I've always loved the book of Colossians, I have never done an in-depth study of the book. We were encouraged to read through the entire book, so I did that this morning. (Don't be too impressed--it's a short book.)
I was really struck by two things about the book. First, I had never really thought about the tone of the letter. Paul and Timothy wrote this letter to the Colossian church. (Can you imagine getting a letter from those two?) Not only did they write the letter, they wrote it to encourage this church, because they had heard about their testimony and had been praying for them. Now they wanted to encourage them. The Bible study guide encouraged us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of the original readers. The idea was to give us a sense of the excitement, and I definitely could imagine the excitement.
The second thing that struck me about the letter was the focus on heaven. The recurring theme in the letter is that God sent His Son to pay for our entrance into heaven, and that's all that really matters. Colossians 2:20-23 really drives home the point--Christ paid the price, so what am I doing trying to add my own ideas of "shoulds and shouldn'ts?" I was reminded (again) of how much I love Colossians 3:2's reminder to keep my mind on God's view and not on the stuff of earth.
You're probably wondering by now how Fanny Crosby fits into all of this. I'm sorry that this is a "sorta-long" story--I'll try my best to sum up quickly. At school this year, we are celebrating the school's 50th year. So, as a Jubilee celebration, we are studying Psalm 145. Each month, we study one character quality. This month's character quality is "Joyful Praise." I have also been charged with the responsibility of choosing music for chapel. (Days of Elijah made the perfect theme song for the year--if you haven't heard it before, go listen to it here.) We are also celebrating our heritage with a different hymn each month. This month's hymn is To God be the Glory by Fanny Crosby. This Friday's chapel has no speaker because of a scheduling glitch with the room, so I was asked to lead a praise chapel with lots of singing. In addition to the singing, I'm planning to share a little about Fanny Crosby's testimony with the students.
In reviewing her story and testimony, I was struck at how well she exemplified the Colossians attitude and the focus on heaven. She wrote at least 8,000 songs, and some sources believe it may have been closer to 10,000, since she often used pen names--and she didn't write her first song until she was 41 years old. She was also quoted once as saying that she didn't write a single one of those songs without first praying that God would use it to reach lost souls. Even though she was blind from infancy, most of her 8,000+ hymns speak of seeing Jesus.
Her biography is almost Job-like. She lost her sight at six weeks old and her father in her first year of life. She married another blind musician when she was 35. They had a baby who died in infancy, and Fanny's husband died soon after that. Yet, despite all these things (that would leave most of feeling sorry for ourselves), she lived in an attitude of Joyful Praise that the first face she would truly see would be the face of Jesus. All I can say to that is "Wow!"
I have gotten several pieces of good news this week. Really it's been a pretty good week. So, I thought, why not share it with my blogging buddies. If you aren't as excited about this news as I am, I promise I'll understand, but I just have to share it.
First, I was very glad to find out about an upcoming meeting. I am not normally a fan of meetings, and I can't go into all the details of what this meeting will be about. I'll simply say that this meeting will involve a group of people who have been doing some serious self-evaluation. In that self-evaluation, there has been lots of disagreement and tension. Now, in a way that I can only call a huge answer to prayer, we seem to be coming to some agreement. This meeting should be a time for us to come together and begin to move forward. I'm very encouraged by that.
My second bit of good news involves my father's new job. He had been teaching at a local Christian school for the past ten years, but due to low enrollment this year, he was not offered a contract. He and my mom worked together and both taught math. Since the school didn't see the need to keep two math teachers, they let my dad go. The job search has been very frustrating for him. He found several openings for second shift jobs which meant he would hardly ever see my mom. After 36 years of marriage, the last ten of which have been spent working together, that didn't look very good to him. Other places where he applied weren't interested in hiring someone who they assumed would want to retire in just a few years. (He's 59 now.) When I talked to him earlier this week, he told me about the newest job possibility. This was the first possibility he seemed excited about. He will be working from home as an independent contractor for a local instrument maker making keys for beginners' bassoons. It actually sounds really cool to me, too.
Then, my newest bit of good news is purely selfish. I found out yet another reason to love my Honda Civic. It's one of Consumer Reports' top picks for surviving to high mileage, and according to this article, that's a very good thing.
I was questioned by a four-year-old fashion police officer this week. I think I've managed to recover from the trauma, but it will definitely make me think a little more seriously about my choice of outfits for school.
On Thursdays, my music class teaching schedule includes two sessions of the 4-year-old preschool. The morning class is large and very active. The afternoon class is small and very affectionate. I was enjoying the afternoon group when one of the little boys said, "Hey, those are the same clothes you were wearing last music time." Now, I have a feeling he's probably right. The last class was a week earlier, and my outfits for Thursdays are always chosen with consideration for the fact that I will be teaching the preschool classes which involve sitting on the floor. I don't remember what I wore last Thursday, so I had no reason to think he was remembering anything untrue. So, I said, "Wow, you must have a very good memory to remember that from last week." He fave a shy little smile. I could tell that something was still bothering him, though. Finally, he couldn't take it any more. He leaned in close to me and quietly asked, "Did you wash them?" I laughed and said, "Yes, I did." A look of relief passed over his little face, and he said, "Oh, good job!"
Well, from now on, I'll give a little extra thought to my choice of clothes for Thursdays. I don't want to be "that teacher" who always wears the same five outfits. However, I was relieved to have passed the most important test this little guy had to give me.
I'm feeling a little foolish this morning. I have a physical reminder of a very silly thing I did yesterday. Somehow, I feel like admitting it to my blogging friends will help a little bit....
So, it all started yesterday afternoon. I teach a piano lesson at my home after school on Tuesday, so I was glad that there was an assembly yesterday afternoon at school. An assembly meant my last class of the day was cancelled, so I had extra time to finish up my end-of-the-day work. That, in turn, meant a little less rushing to get home for the lesson. That would have been great if I had used my extra time a little more wisely. When I got home, though, I realized that I had about 15 minutes of "flex time." So, I sat down in front of the TV to chill for a few minutes. I only get a few channels, so I landed on Oprah.
That is where my trouble started. Oprah had two doctors on as guests. The doctors were going through a lady's home denouncing the evils of the American diet, so I was immediately intrigued. The next shot on-screen was the amazing transformation of the lady after she changed her diet and exercised. She really look amazing. She had lost 45 pounds, and she looked much younger (and I'm sure the fashion makeover and the professional lighting and makeup didn't hurt.)
The doctor then began talking about the danger of belly fat. Belly fat, he said, is caused by stress, and forces your liver to process the fat. This is apparently very dangerous. Then, he started in with the statistics. He gave a magic number for the waist size for women. He said that if a ladies waist is any larger than this, she is in physical danger. I had to know right away whether I was in danger or not, so I grabbed my tape measure. I discovered that my waistline is in the "safe zone." [Whew!]
Next, he started talking about physical fitness and exercise. He said that the average 30-year-old woman should be able to do 45 bent-knee push-ups. By now, I'm sure that anyone who knows me has figured out where this story is going. I simply had to find out whether or not I could do 45 push-ups. So, five minutes before my piano student was scheduled to arrive, I was down on the floor trying it out. Now, I was really proud of myself when I was, in fact, able to do 45 bent-knee push-ups.
Then, I got up and realized how stupid that move really was. You see, I had already agreed to help my friend move last night. The move went pretty well, but it involved more lifting....Let's just say that conducting the afternoon music groups will probably be a little painful today. The fact that I can pat myself on the back for being in the safety zone does take the sting out a little bit. I suppose that's what makes it so hard for me to turn down those challenges, but every time I've had to pick something up today, I've felt the need to curse that character flaw of mine.
I saw this headline on my internet homepage this morning: "Study: Blue-eyed People Smarter Than Brown-eyed."
Since I have blue eyes, I was intrigued. Who doesn't love to prove that they're "smarter?" I read the article, and in case you should feel so inclined, I've provided the link.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293777,00.html
To be fair, though, I should let you know that my second reaction to seeing the headline was, "Really? That was the best way they could find to spend the research money?" I guess that's just one of the many reasons why somebody else is in charge of scientific research.
I just returned from the trip to Tucson. I had a wonderful time visiting the family. Chloe is just beautiful, and I had a great time visiting with her and her parents. There aren't too many stories to tell. The flights went smoothly, and the time in Tucson was very relaxing. My sister kept apologizing that we couldn't do anything exciting. Normally, she'd have taken me swimming, hiking up a mountain, or out to visit some of the sites of Tucson, but the baby was only four weeks old on Tuesday (the day before I left) so they couldn't do much outside the house. That may sound boring to some of you, but I found it wonderfully relaxing. I got to hold the baby a ton. It was also really fun to spend some time seeing my sister.
Also, we did get to see one tourist-y place. It's an old west town and restaurant called Pinnacle Peak. We ate at the steakhouse there, and my sis and I got one of those old west costume pictures taken together. I'll post a picture of the ceiling at the steakhouse. Any guest who wears a tie to dinner gets it clipped off by the "sheriff." The tie is then nailed to the ceiling. It was a little comical to see some of the men wearing old ratty ties over t-shirts and waiting for the sheriff to come by. If you're hoping to see the picture of my sister and me, though, you're out of luck. It's not very flattering, and the beauty of having my own blog is that I can choose which pictures I want anyone to see.
I can't post about this trip, though, without posting pictures of my beautiful new niece. I also need to brag a little about her. She just turned four weeks old on Tuesday. While I was visiting, I saw her roll herself onto her side more than once. She also smiles, laughs, and coos.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with baby devlopment charts, these are all things they don't expect babies to do for the first couple months of their lives. In short, my newest niece is not only beautiful, she's a genius.
Welcome to the world, Chloe Josalynn!
Chloe is my newest niece, and I would post a picture of the beautiful child, but it will take too long. I'm house sitting for my parents while they take their turn visiting their newest grandchild, and they only have a dial-up connection. That makes it too frustrating for me to try to post pictures. So, you'll have to just take my word for it that she is, in fact, beautiful.
The summer continues to fly by. The nice thing about the summer is that even though the schedule is full, it's mostly full of fun activities. This morning, for example, I went with my sister-in-law and four children to see the free movie. During the summer, they show a free movie every Wed. morning. This morning's show was Charlotte's Web. We had a good time. It's especially fun to watch animal movies with my (nearly) 2-yr.-old niece, Callie. She jumped up and down in her seat every time she saw the geese. At one point in the film, my sister-in-law pulled out some snacks for the kids. I tried passing one to her, but she was so engrossed in the film that she wouldn't take it. That may not mean much to some of you, but this little girl doesn't usually turn down food.
After the movie, we enjoyed a pizza lunch. A local pizza place had customer appreciation day today, and large pizzas were only $5 each for carry-out. Then, we used the rest of the pre-nap hours to hit Staples. They were selling folders and packs of pencils for a penny a piece. So, I stocked up. The stored had set limits on how much I could purchase, but I was very pleased with my bag full of office supplies that only cost me 12 cents.
The day has been full of fun and very cheap entertainment. Since we can't yet see the baby in person to dote on her. We decided to celebrate her arrival in our own way.
