Month: May 2015 (Page 1 of 2)

When we got Pippi from the rescue, we had to sign a paper where we agreed that if she didn’t work out, we would return her to the rescue. Because of my returning to work, coupled with her very active temperament, we’ve decided she would be better off in a family with people home all day and, hopefully, with children to keep her busy and entertained. So we are returning her to Minneapolis today after church.

It is sort of sad, but I know it is for the best for both of us. I feel a lot of guilt, having to keep her in her kennel so much of the time. And she misses the kind of life she had when she was staying at Erica’s, I’m sure. She is a very appealing dog, so I’m sure it won’t take long to find her a new home.

Our attorney submitted his responses to the allegations brought against us, and I must say it looks like the other side is going to have a hard time proving we were in the wrong. Of course, it is his job to make us look right and the other guys job to make them look right. Unfortunately, they used a LOT of incorrect information in their document, which we are able to prove is incorrect.

There was a fair article in the Chetek Alert yesterday, not that any of you are going to be able to read it. But it was nice to see the paper conceding that those people may, indeed, be without a viable case against us.

And so it drags on. I think I might be getting an ulcer over this. My stomach is really bothering me.

This is the second time I’ve put this one together and I’d say it is my favorite. Lots of detail and an interesting shape, too.

I know – more appropriate for Christmas, but that was just the one I grabbed.

Having just found my box of puzzles and put a couple together in the past few days, I thought I would share some things about me and puzzles. A lot of people enjoy putting puzzles together, but we are not all the same (obviously) and our reason for doing puzzles is very different, I am sure.

As for me, I don’t really want a challenge when I put together a puzzle. My life is full of challenges, so I am looking for something engaging, but that I can be successful at without much trouble. It needs to be relaxing, or I simply don’t do it. I put all the pieces out, then put them all back in the box a couple months later, without having ever put together more than, possibly, the border. The things that make it too hard for me are the number of pieces – anything much over 300 doesn’t fit on the table in a way that I have room to put the puzzle together while I can still see all the pieces – and the size of the pieces – small pieces don’t have enough “information” on them for me to be able to figure out where they go. So small pieces if the puzzle is very detailed are okay. But hundreds of small pieces all the same basic color does not make for an enjoyable experience for me. There have been occasions where I worked for a couple hours and only found places for three or four pieces. I just don’t have that much patience!

So my favorite puzzles are 300 piece puzzles with “large, easy-to-handle pieces.” It may seem like no challenge to  you, but for me, it is something I can put together in a couple sittings and have fun doing, then store it away until I put it together again next year or the year after.

I’m saying all this because I really do appreciate that you give me puzzles as gifts, but I suffer a lot of guilt because of not following through and putting them together when they are just way beyond my personal level of “puzzle enjoyment.” I hope you don’t take this wrong! And truth be told, I really enjoy putting together the 300 piece “easy” puzzles!

And it took less than two hours to put it together, once I got started on it. It is actually quite big. Now I need to mount it on cardboard.

I’m making food for the recitals tomorrow. I still don’t have a plan, but it is early. Brownies, for sure. I may even frost them this year, since I’m starting early in the day. Then some other bar that isn’t chocolate. Maybe lemon bars – I haven’t made them in quite a while. Punch, of course, and bowls of skittles and m&ms. I only have 14 kids playing, total, so don’t need the mountain of food that Erica does.

Then, later in the day, I’ll go over to the senior center and get all the chairs set up and the piano moved out a bit, so I don’t have to do much tomorrow. The first recital is at 1:30, so people will be arriving shortly after 1:00 and I don’t even get home from church until noon.

I may have mentioned about the vocal instructor up at the college missing a lot of lessons this semester. Well, anyway, a couple of the students petitioned the head of the music department about canceling juries and she did. I was supposed to have to be there for several hours today doing that, and I didn’t have to go, which was great. I still get paid by the students as though I had, though, since I spent all that time preparing with them.

The student recital was yesterday and it went fine. I played for six different people, plus a duet. All-in-all it was a weird semester, though, with my having to do so much of the work with the students alone. I’m glad its over and next year I’ll be working with Beth Joosten both with the lessons and with the Red Cedar choir.

Nothing new to report on the suit. I talked for a long time with our attorney on the phone the other day and that was calming and encouraging, although we may have quite a battle ahead, since these people will stop at nothing and don’t care who gets hurt in the process.

The conference was good, but I was pretty lonely being there all by myself with absolutely no one I knew at all. But I did get a chance to watch like 5 continuous hours of HGTV yesterday evening. I got home at about 4:30 today. Nothing terribly exciting planned for the weekend. Next week is the week before the recital on Sunday, plus I think I’ll be getting ready for the high school spring concert. For sure I’ll be getting ready for and playing for the UWBC student recital and juries which are on Wednesday and Thursday.