Snot, sweat, and sonatinas

On Wednesday I received a talking-to by Mimi (aka Dr J) that I am not taking enough time to take care of myself.

Last night I finally admitted to myself that she was right. Instead of being intentional about what I want to accomplish, I have been just taking life as it comes....all very well and good if you are on a 3-day weekend away somewhere, but not good for long-term living of the one life God gives us all.

So goals for today were: sleep until I woke up (yes, it's true :) this cold has sapped me), spiffy up the living room and kitchen, make the kids spiffy up their respective rooms, go to Bally's PacWest and make use of the membership I've had for the last 10 years, and run off tomorrow's WSMTA Chapter Recital programs at Kinko's.

Mission accomplished!

Andy took the kids to Toys R Us while I was at Bally's. D & S had each received $5 gift certificates from Sunday School (jeez, their teacher gives out incredible awards - we can never replace her now that the kids are spoiled!) - so they whiled away an hour enjoying (or enduring, in Andy's case) the toy scene while I was sweating. I learned a few valuable bits of info at Ballys - one, my premier membership includes free child care if I call at least 2 hrs before hand! How COOL IS THAT? Two, there's family swim nights MWF and all day long on Sat and Sun. Right ON! I checked out the aerobic/cardio class schedules - mostly step and yoga, with only one Pilates. hm. I could also do Salsa dancing? One kickboxing class but it's while I'm teaching. Will find one to match my schedule soon I'm sure. But Andy is supportive of my venture, and will work with me on getting me out of the house and sweating.

Bread machine is making a loaf of herb tomato bread; now I have to make the chicken noodle soup to go with it. We'll see if there is any truth in this chicken soup thing being good for colds. I am carrying a roll of toilet paper with me since it's cheaper than Kleenex (I think I'm out of Kleenex anyway).

Lori and I planned the annual Valentine's Banquet over the phone last night. Since Joe is in recruiter's school somewhere in the South right now, she's glumly the one in charge of Getting The House Ready To Sell and Preparing To Move To New York City. I invited her and the boys up next Friday night to hang out, make chocolates and test-drive some recipes. We're planning chicken cacciatore, garlic mashed potatoes, an olive-garden-style salad, bread with olive oil/balsamic vinegar for dipping, plus after-dinner chocolate mints (made by me, naturally), tiramisu, and.....something else I'm forgetting. Ah. Apple tart. Do you have any good crusty Italian loaf bread type recipes?

Today was a sonatina festival at UPS but I didn't have any students in it so I didn't go. Instead I just worked on the programs for tomorrow's recital. We're having all the boys play at 3, then the girls' recital starts at 4. The goal for this recital was to have girls play works by female composers - trying to demonstrate to the audience that it isn't ENTIRELY a man's world when it comes to composition. However, in practicality, it didn't work out that way. So I arranged the first half of the program to be all the women composers (I titled it "Part One: She's Got the Beat" - which I was proud of ! lol) - then the second half to be the male composers. All of Mimi's students save two are playing Chopin! There's one Beethoven, one Mozart, and one Copland. So for part two of the program, since I didn't think of anything as good as "she's got the beat" - I just called it "She's Classy, Romantic, and Contemporary" in honor of the three periods represented in the repertoire.

This makes for a very long Sunday afternoon for us teachers. I am annoyed with one teacher who keeps bailing on attending the recitals. Technically if you put students in a recital, you the teacher are to be there as well. She did this last recital too: "just reassure my kids and make them feel comfortable!" Well, how the heck do I know who your students are?! I plan to say something at the next chapter meeting re: attending YOUR OWN STUDENTS' recitals. But oh-so-diplomatically, of course.

AH CRAP I just remembered I'm supposed to make certificates for these kids for participating. Good thing I remembered now instead of tomorrow at 2.