School Year Update

Already, four weeks are nearly gone. Things are getting under way. I am busy.

At my giant-choir school, things are really chugging along. I am directing a 6th grade class, and a non-varsity women's class, which will combine with classes the other director is teaching, and then I'll direct them in concert. I am handling all the finances, and so far, I'm on top of it. There's no money left in the choir office that hasn't been turned in, which is my goal for every day. I have turned in a deposit nearly every day. That part of it is pretty tedious, but I'd rather be diligent with it in small doses than to let it pile up, and then it takes a whole day just to get caught up. Besides, it's policy to get it in. (I'm sorry... I know you don't care about this stuff. It's just what I'm thinking about at the moment.)

My tiny-choir school still has a tiny choir, but the culture is shifting somewhat. This year it seems like the kids aren't afraid to SING!! Amazing, huh? AND I have 2 BOYS in the class. That has changed things more than anything else, as the songs I pick now have to have parts for the boys. It's been a fun challenge. Unfortunately, there's so much more good music available for treble choirs than for 3-part mixed choirs... So far things are going pretty well.

Choir club is a bigger problem than I'd like to admit. I have lost 4 kids who were enrolled last year in my class who changed their electives to something other than choir because they can come to my after school choir club and participate that way. The problem is that I'm not paid for choir club (well, I get about $3/hr for it). My enrollment numbers are what matters to administrators for justifying my job, and while an increase from 9 to 12 is good, 16 would be far better. Again, I'm 6th grade heavy, which compromises my eligibility for the biggest contest we do all year...

This is definitely the last year I'm going to do the choir club. I just can't do this to myself, or my family. If not for choir club, I'd be able to pick up my kids from school most days. I could probably work it out for my mom to cover for me the other days, and then we could not be paying for after school care. When you take what we pay for the girls to have a place to go and offset it by what I'm paid for the club (that $3/hr), we're so far in the hole, it's really not worth it at all. Couple that with the fact that it's undercutting my enrollment... definitely not doing this again.

Big Girl is sailing along with 2nd grade. No surprises there. She really enjoys school. She's good at it.

Little Girl is having a little bit of difficulty adjusting to Kindergarten. She spent most of the first few weeks of school being very tired. It's a long day for her, I know. She's not used to paying attention for that many hours in a row.

I'm sitting right now, between schools, at a local sandwich shop, taking advantage of their free WiFi. My sandwich is long since eaten, and now I'm jamming to Huey Lewis & The News, "Happy to be Stuck with You." It's a nice break. Unfortunately, I need to go back to school. Class starts in 20 minutes... TGIF!!

1 Down, 35 More to Go!

One week of school is complete. There are 35 left.

I think this will be a good year. I can definitely see some challenges on the horizon, but all in all, it's good. I can see myself already being a better teacher. It's amazing what experience can bring. I'm glad to be in the same place, same teaching position as last year. It's nice to not be new.

Little Girl has now started Kindergarten. She's having a rough time of it. It's hard to get used to being "on" all day, and having that day start an hour and a half earlier than before. She's already showing improvement.

Big Girl is also having some difficulties, but hers are different. She wanted to be in the after-school care group with her sister, even though she is now classified differently, being in 2nd grade. They have a younger group (K & 1st), middle group (2nd & 3rd), and an older group (4th & 5th). Big Girl stayed with Little Girl the first week, and then today there were some problems when it was suggested that she go in with her own age group. I think it's worked out now, and she'll be fine. It's just getting adjusted. We didn't talk about her expectations, and we probably should have. If her expectations are set correctly from the start, there are far fewer problems of this nature.

I love both of my girls so much, and it's hard on me when they're having difficulties, especially when it makes me feel like my job is making their problems harder for them. I must trust God to know what's best for them and me, and He has directed my career path, and whatever bumps we all experience will work out for the good of us all. If I were a SAHM again, yes, I'd be there to pick them up from school, but I may not be the mom they need in other ways. Or maybe God has me in the mission field of public school for the souls of others at the expense of some bumpy days in my babies' lives for His ultimate glory.

The very anti-God teacher that I'm working with has chose to teach the men's choir "Fairest Lord Jesus." It makes my heart smile. Lord, I pray that the words of truth in that song will penetrate some very hard hearts.

School Starts Again

Today was my first day back at work after the summer vacation.

This summer we did so many things with the girls that were their first time... dance class, going to the movies, floating the river, going to the water-park, and finally going to the BEACH. The last of those we did last week.

Big Girl did so great. I was afraid she would be afraid of the waves and playing in water that she couldn't see the bottom (we went to Galveston, which is not the nicest beach by a long shot!). None of that bothered her, and she had a great time!

Little Girl also had a good time, but you might not have known it to see her there. She did an awful lot of fussing for someone having a good time. That's just her way, or rather, how she acts when she's not in control. She is only 5 years old, after all, and she's got a long way to go in the maturity department. Her passion will eventually have a clear channel where her personality will be one of her greatest assets. For now, it gets in her way, and I can completely relate.

Anyway, today was the start of school for teachers in our district. I have mixed emotions about going back. I'm sad that the summer is over. More specifically, I'm sad that I'm going to have to be accountable for how I spend my time, and that it will not be my own. It's my selfishness groaning a bit. On the other hand, I love my job, and I'm excited to get another shot at doing it. I'll be in the same position as last year, with two schools, the biggest and smallest middle school choir programs in the district.

Just this past weekend I got to enjoy doing something for the second time, and NOT BEING NEW ANYMORE!!! It's hard to be new. The only thing good about being new is that as the new person, there's an excuse for making mistakes. "I didn't know, sorry. I'm new." In every other way, experience is definitely preferred. So here's to putting a year of middle school choir experience to good use!!

I know with the start of the school year I won't be blogging nearly so much, so I apologize in advance for not checking in.

Big Girl is starting 2nd grade, and Little Girl is starting Kindergarten in a week from tomorrow. I know both of their teachers, and I'm very pleased with their placements in those two classes. My girls will both be blessed to have excellent teachers this year. I'm taking it as an indicator of a good year to come.

I know there's more I could blog about right now, stuff God is doing in me, stuff that might edify those who read, but I just can't bring myself to spend my time tonight on the computer.

The song in my head right now is "Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be?" which is one of the songs my associate and I have chosen for one of the choirs at the big choir school to sing on the Fall concert. I'm a sucker for 6/8 time signature. Always have been...

The Red Room

All week long I've been painting my bedroom. I've been painting it RED. If you've never painted red before, let me just tell you, it's the hardest color EVER. It's so hard to get good coverage. I've painted navy blue before, and that covers in one coat. I've painted beige, tan, purple, light blue, all of those cover in one coat. I have now painted two master bedrooms and an accent fireplace wall, and red just doesn't cover without more than one coat. I've even primed with tinted primer on two of those jobs, and it ALWAYS requires more than one coat to get decent coverage. Even after 2 coats, it looks like another would be better, but I'm just so out of patience with the project that I'm calling it good enough, and done.

To say that it's taken me all week is really no exaggeration. I painted all day Monday, took a break Tuesday for dance class and my hair appointment (more on that in a minute), painted all day Wednesday, and then half the day on Thursday and Friday. I'm so sick of my hands, feet, arms and legs being covered in paint and/or primer. I'm also sore from getting down on the floor and back up a bagillion times. Seriously, my quads are killing me. That may also be a product of the furniture moving I've done this week too. I had Hubby help move the bed, but I did the dresser all alone. I had to get on the floor and push it with my feet. I couldn't lift it. As Dwight Shrute would say, that's the problem with women- weak arms.

I do feel kinda powerful when I'm at the end of a big project. I have something to look at a think, I did that. I have a whole folder of pictures on my Facebook profile dedicated to all the projects I've done in the last two or three years. My home's transformation has been well documented. It makes me a little sad that I didn't keep track of all the things I did to our last house, especially since Little Girl doesn't really remember that house. We moved when she was only 2 years old.

The RED room was a much bigger project than I anticipated. The last time I painted a room red, I had many friends help me. My best painting buddy and I painted 4 rooms together in my last house, and 4 rooms together in her houses (I've painted in 3 different houses of hers over the years), plus wallpaper removal. She's the friend I took the girls to visit last week out of town. I miss her so much, especially when there's work like this that we would be sharing if she were still here. *Sniff, sniff*

Anyway, red is finally painted. That's one coat of primer, and two coats of paint on all the walls in the biggest room I've ever painted. (I'm sitting her with my computer on my lap, still in my painting clothes, with red paint splatter all over my right arm.) Major sigh...

About the hair, it's been several days since the new cut, and yesterday I tried the wavy hair look. I think I must have the wrong products for it, because it looked OK at first, but then it just looked messy by the end of the day. I still haven't had a chance to really fix it straight, but I think it'll be OK. It's not been the best week to judge a new haircut, as I've been tying it up in a ponytail to work for the three days since getting it cut.

The song in my head for the last several days is "Keep Fishin," by Weezer. The girls have been into watching a DVD of the Muppet Show lately, and Hubby showed them this video, since they now have an appreciation for it. So good. Very catchy. It'll definitely stick with ya!

*** UPDATE - Saturday, July 17 ***

This morning while Hubby was mowing the yard, I moved the BED back into place ALL BY MYSELF!! It's not that he wouldn't have helped me, it's just that I was impatient and didn't want to wait for him to get finished, and then get himself cleaned up. I am woman. I am strong. Don't worry, I'm not going to roar!

New Hair Cut

I know it's completely superficial, but hey, we live in a physical world where we are judged by what we look like before we can be judged by anything else. Here's my new do:

I like it so far, but I haven't had a chance to wash it, play with it, or fix it yet, so the jury is still out on whether this is a good cut. It's supposed to be easy to fix, but it seems like they always say that when you're at the salon.

That picture doesn't show the cut very well. Here's one that shows it better:

Uh oh, I tipped my hand. The shirt is really red. I blued it up in the first picture to bring out my eyes... That was completely superficial. :o)

Summer of Firsts

I think this summer is the "Summer of Firsts" for my girls. They've already tubed down the river for the first time in their lives, and then this last week we did a couple more things for their first time.

On Monday we had some friends come down and stay with us overnight, and then Tuesday both families went together to a water park. Hubby and I think it's the best one anywhere, and it happens to be not too terribly far from home, certainly close enough for a day trip. We've been before, but we had never taken the kids, and after seeing how they did on the river, we knew they were ready. It was so much fun. Little Girl is my dare-devil, and she did EVERYTHING. Big Girl did most everything, and had a great time. They both are looking forward to going back next year, which we'll probably do if I take my choirs there again next Spring. We got a great deal on our tickets because I had taken my choirs there in May.

Then Thursday I took both the girls to go visit a friend out of town. This friend of mine is a very dear friend, one who was there for me when I had my babies, and my miscarriage back in 2004, and it broke my heart when she moved out of town with her family back in 2006. At least they are only two and a half hours away, and I can go visit her during the summer when our kids aren't in school and I'm not working. Anyway, that's what we did. While we were there, we all went to the movies. We saw "Toy Story 3." It's a very cute movie. We opted to not pay an extra $3 per ticket to see it in 3D.

So what's the big deal? That was the first time my girls had ever seen a movie in the theater. I had been afraid to take them when they were littler, and Hubby hates going, and I didn't want to take them by myself, because if one of them needed to go potty, then the other would miss the movie too. They did great, loved the experience, and no one needed to go during the movie.

I think later this summer I'll go back and visit my friend again, and we'll take all the kids to the beach. My girls have never been.

I hate that there are so many things I haven't done with my kids yet. I can't beat myself up too much though. It's not that I'm depriving my kids of experiences on purpose. We just haven't been there/done that YET. They'll get to do it some time. Maybe even sooner than later.

The longer I wait, the more likely they are to remember the experience anyway.

Borderline Disrespect?

Big Girl is growing up. She's closer to 8 years old now than 7, and her intellect is maturing so much. She is understanding humor in a brand new way, and even getting many of the jokes in her VeggieTales videos she had missed as a little girl. As a result, they're getting more play in recent days than they did in the last few years.

Another thing that's happening is she's getting a little bit of an attitude. I can see that in a typical child her age (like her sister will be in a couple years) that the attitude factor would be major. With Big Girl it's like a very subtle undercurrent. Big Girl is the most indirect individual I have ever known in my whole life. So when she's developing an attitude, she doesn't come out and mouth off. That's not her style.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. A few weeks ago, after school was out, and I had been going back up to the school cleaning out the choir room storage closet. In the late afternoon on just such a day, I was sitting on the couch with my computer on my lap, watching TV. I had worked at school for about 5 hours, with both of my girls playing in the room while I worked. Big Girl was wanting to watch one of her shows on the DVR, which is only on the TV I was watching. She sits on the couch a little ways down from me and says, "I've noticed that you've been watching TV a lot and playing on your computer a lot. That's kind of lazy."

"Really??" It was just about all I could do to not either laugh or yell at her. Instead of yelling, I calmly asked her, "What was I doing this morning? Didn't we go to [insert school name here] this morning and you played while I worked cleaning out the closet? Was that lazy?"

"No." Her blunder began to register, and she was on the edge of crying.

"Yes, I'm watching TV and playing computer right now, but I've worked for 5 hours today. What work have you done today? Don't you just want me to stop watching TV so YOU can watch what you want?"

She went away crying just a little. At dinner that evening, Hubby made sure to ask Big Girl if I was being lazy when I made the dinner she was eating. Big Girl got very upset and started crying. "Why are you crying?" he asked her.

"I'm so ashamed." And rightfully so. It was a big lesson.

This scene has unfolded a few different times in a few different ways, but each time, I am careful to call a spade a spade pretty gently. Sometimes I'll let her have the remote control, and sometimes I won't, but I'll let her know when she's doing that indirect, manipulative thing. Her most common approach is to ask me if I'm really watching whatever is on the TV. That's a pretty polite way to go about it, I suppose.

I love my Big Girl so very much.