Month: June 2013 (Page 1 of 2)

It doesn’t take much to make me happy sometimes.

First of all, I’m really excited because I worked hard before and after yesterday’s play practice and got the house totally cleaned in the morning and the yard totally cleaned up (mowed, clipped and weeded) after supper. So everything looks so nice today!

And, drum roll please, today is the day we start rehearsing in the Barn, because the play before ours closed last night. This is exciting because it means I won’t be sitting at my keyboard in the midst of all the people that aren’t “on” as they chat and make noise while I am trying to hear what is going on “on stage.” Plus it is fun to be able to see what is happening – until we get the whole pit band together, I set up my keyboard right in front of the stage, so I will finally be able to just look up and see the dance numbers and all the action during the scenes.

And, finally, the weather is amazingly cool today, yet still sunny and beautiful.

On the down side, we are at the beginning of a crazy couple of weeks here in Chetek. This week starting Wednesday, of course, is Liberty Fest, which brings so many extra people and their cars to town. Then next week is  Farm Technology Days on Wednesday through Friday down in Dallas, but Chetek is the closest big down where people can shop and get fast food, so it should be crazy leading up to and on those three days, too. So, we’ve basically got to figure out how to not have to cross the main street for a couple of weeks!

It seems like time to update, although not much has happened this past week. I had play practice Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, so I enjoyed yesterday evening off. There are only 10 more rehearsals before the play opens and, of course, 10 performances. I look at rehearsals a lot differently because of the scooter. If I can ride the scooter to rehearsal, which I’ve been able to a lot, that in itself is a great thing. So I don’t mind the rehearsal nearly so much. The music for “Annie” is really enjoyable to listen to and to play, and that really helps. We start running scenes on Saturday, and I’m excited for that. The tedium of rehearsing dance numbers and sitting through endless blocking gets old after a while. I’m really looking forward to adding the rest of the pit band, too, in another week

Keeping up with the mowing and other yard work keeps me busy in whatever free time is left. I started piano lessons for two summer students this week. They will run for 8 weeks and then it is time for our family get-together!

Nathan, Amy, and the kids just pulled out on the way back home. We were able to have the grandkids here for 3 days! I met Nathan and Amy in Menomonie and picked took the kids with me on Wednesday afternoon and Nathan and Amy had some time to themselves until they arrived here on Friday around noon.

Ethan practiced his piano pieces for his upcoming recital on my piano, which he said played different than his, but that didn’t seem to throw him. He is doing a fine job on the piano after only this year of lessons. He also beat us in both Mancala and Goose Egg.

Audrey set up her room with all her things and kept everything neat and in its place the whole time. She was very sweet and very well-behaved the entire visit and asked me to read to her several times, which I absolutely love! But the most memorable part of their visit was when Audrey lost her second front upper tooth. She now has the first-grader smile!

Isaac kept me on my toes with his 4 year old antics. But he also fell asleep on my lap when I was reading to them, which was really sweet. He also fell asleep in the car on the way out to eat, and sort of fell back asleep walking into the restaurant and walked right into the door frame. That woke him up, but didn’t make him particularly happy. And he definitely eats like a Fritz.

This year Dad and I both took off at least part of a day to just play with them. I only had to take them to work on Friday morning and they played nicely while I taught my classes. We had a picnic on the hill at our country property and played out there and went to The Garage during the hot part of the day and played there. And we took them all out to a regular restaurant where they behaved admirably.

With them all living so far away, it is really great to be able to have this time alone with them in the summer. Pray for their safe trip home today and tomorrow. They are headed for Effington, IL today, then on to Franklin by early afternoon tomorrow.

Ugghh!  6 1/2 hours is toooooo looooong to sit at the keyboard and play. Not only was my back tired, but my abs are tired. 9:00 this a.m. until after 3:30 this afternoon. No lunch break. Three different groups getting their choreography — one at 9:00, the next at 11:30 and the next at 1:30 – so I didn’t play all the time, but I did play the same things over and over and over and over…

More of the same tomorrow. I’ll be glad to get to Monday when the rehearsal can only go 3 hours or a little more.

Just made the on-line payment on the Chase card to finish paying that last balance off. We totaled it up this a.m. and it was around $30,000 that we paid off since May 1, 2012. And just about as important, we also have our $1000 emergency fund (which we will now start adding to) and about $2550 in savings for other expected expenses (that is down a bit because of having to pay so much income tax this year, but we are saving now for unexpected income tax, as well. 🙂 )

What a great feeling! I hope none of you get in as much debt as we did because it really affects your relationship and the way you look at the future. I regret not being able to do the things that we could have, had we controlled our spending better. But I’m glad that we are on the right track now.

A big THANK YOU to Amy for nudging Nathan to apply for the job with Dave Ramsey, and to Nathan and Amy for giving us all the Dave Ramsey materials that have totally changed our life (and, of course, to Dave Ramsey for writing the material and for hiring Nathan).

My joy today is inexpressible, although I’ve just tried….

Grandma Mick is in the hospital, but it isn’t anything serious. Apparently the doctor put her on iron because she was anemic, but the iron made it so she couldn’t eat hardly anything without getting sick. So, when she saw the doctor again yesterday, her potassium was so low and she was so weak he decided to put her in the hospital to get things balanced out and get her eating again without getting sick.

I just talked to her on the phone and she sounds strong and she says she feels a lot better than yesterday.

I just finished a short, easy-reading little book called When God Winks at You. It is written by SQuire Rushnell and published in Nashville by Thomas Nelson.

It is about seeing the hand of God in your life’s coincidences. I think it is a great way of looking at life and it is just full of stories of how God has worked in peoples’ lives. If you get a chance to read it, I would definitely recommend it.

We had our first practice for “Annie” today and, I must say, we have a really good cast. They are going to be fun to work with and I predict the show will be very, very good. Nancy is playing the part she played last time – the Carol Burnett part. And the gal that is Annie is a little older – maybe 12 or 13, but can pass for 11. She has a marvelous voice and has her songs pretty well learned already. We read through/sang through it today and she just sang out on her songs like it was nothing. Very professional for her age. And she told me I was a fantastic piano player, so she has me on her side, for sure! P.J plays the wicked brother of the orphanage owner (played by Nancy) and he will be great in that part. It is a role that is designed to be pretty “over the top.” Whoever plays his girlfriend wasn’t there tonight, so I’m not sure who that will be. Terry Weisner is Daddy Warbucks and Bob Rogers is President Hoover. Like I said – really good cast!

Yea! the sun finally came out! I figured the grass down at the country place needed mowing, so I rode my scooter down to do that. I mowed about an hour and a half, but then the gas tank on the mower was running dry, so I had to quit. I had all the part you can see from the road done, at least. We’ll have to bring some gas down and finish it later this weekend. I wanted to get the important part done while it was sunny, in case this rainy spell isn’t totally over.

Dad is having a garage sale tomorrow and I’ve added a few things as well. I think it is just going to be in the morning. One of his long-time teen friends from the Garage has his graduation party tomorrow afternoon, so he wants to get over to that.

37 years and we don’t look a day older!  Ha, ha, ha!  And these aren’t even 37 year old pictures – that was before cameras! And computers!