New Music

I splurged last week on something that I normally don't buy -- sheet music. Not really exciting new to anyone else, but I was excited about it. :) Since I don't take lessons anymore, I never learn any new songs, and I was just completely tired of the same repertoire of music that I have been playing for about five years now. I knew I wouldn't have time to learn anything hard and my hands can't handle a lot of tricky stuff anyway, so I tried to think of what I would really enjoy playing. The answer I came up with was music from my favorite movies. It's already familiar to me, and it's just fun to learn songs that you hear in movies over and over again. I wanted to learn Bella's Lullaby from Twilight, so that was my first choice. The rest of the score is really just variations on the same theme, though. Then, I saw the score from the Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly. Now Colin Firth will forever and always be Mr. Darcy to me, but the music in this version is awesome. I love the titles of the songs, too -- Daydreams, Stars and Butterflies, The Secret Life of Daydreams, etc. The music is a little harder than I thought it would be, lots of twos against threes in music lingo, but I can't wait to learn it. And last, I happened to see a solo of My Father's Favorite from Sense and Sensibility. It may well be my favorite of all of it. So, I cannot wait to learn my new music. And, hopefully, our house is going to sound like a Jane Austen movie! :)

Last Final!!

I have officially packaged up my final project for my medical coding and billing career diploma!! It was rough. Twelve projects, which involved creating medical records, writing business letters, creating patient brochures, data entry, coding, etc, etc, plus a three page research paper. I thought I would never survive it, but it is finished. It may not get a good grade, but it is finished. I am so excited. I had planned to finish this in nine months. That didn't happen. But, it only took 15 months, and I am over halfway to an Associate Degree! Yay!! Now I can take a deep breath, slow down, and relax a little.

Blog Award

Kaitlyn at I Stand Redeemed gave me my first blog award!! Thanks, Kaitlyn!! :)

It's a new dawn, a new day, a new decade......2010

Just two days ago, we celebrated the beginning of a new year. It suddenly dawned on me today, that, not only is it a new year, it is a new DECADE. Ten whole years have passed since we welcomed in the millennium with excitement and apprehension. Were computers everywhere going to crash according to Y2K? Was an asteroid going to land on the earth? It's been quite a decade. Do you remember the New Year of the new millennium? Surprisingly enough, though I couldn't tell you for certain sure what I had for lunch yesterday, I remember ringing in the year 2000 clearly. It was our first new year in the state we had just moved to, approximately 600 miles from where the rest of our family were celebrating. We were living in a tiny apartment and I was 14 years old.



It seems like a long time ago now, but these ten years have gone by in a blur. And a lot of those years were hard. There were good times and bad times. There were lots of milestones along the way. I turned sixteen, got my driver's license, graduated high school, won awards for my artwork, and got my first job. I went to professional tennis tournaments, played the piano in competitions, entered art shows, and taught myself to quilt. I read more books in those ten years than I probably ever will again for the rest of my life. We brought Princess home in 2001. My baby cousin Kati was born in 2002. I saw several of my friends and cousins get married and start families. We lost my Grandma in 2004 and Grandpa had open heart surgery and became ill for months that same year. The whole country will remember September 11, 2001 and the war that has followed.

Last year was a very hard year. I've lost both my Mama and my Grandpa. And the year ahead will not be like any of the years before because my Mama won't be here. But I am hoping that though this year and this decade are coming on the heels of the hardest year of my life, that somehow, though different, they will be good. I hope to finish school this year and get a better job. I hope that I will accomplish some of the things I have always wanted to. I hope that I will find time again to do the things I enjoy and just remember to enjoy life in general.

I trust that God has a plan for me. He has been with me through all the difficult days. Even the days when I've had meltdowns and temper tantrums, I know He never forsook me. And His plan is better for me than any plans I make for myself.

Right now a new year and a new decade is before us. I have a wishlist of things I hope for, a list of goals that I want to accomplish, and a list of random things I'd just like to do. Well, they aren't physical lists, but I have the lists in my head. I hope that ten years from now, I will be able to look back and see that some of those things really have happened. Or maybe I will be able to look back on better, happier days than I even imagined for myself. I don't know. I do know that this is the beginning of a new decade, a new stage of my life. I hope this will be a good year. And I wish everyone a happy new year!

When I left Queen's my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight
road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend
in it. I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the
best does. ~ Anne of Green Gables

Christmas is Here!

Let it be Christmas everywhere

In the hearts of all people both near and afar

Christmas everywhere

Feel the love of the season wherever you are

On the small country roads lined with green mistletoe

Big city streets where a thousand lights glow

Let it be Christmas everywhere

Let heavenly music fill the air

Let every heart sing let every bell ring

The story of hope and joy and peace

And let it be Christmas everywhere

Let heavenly music fill the air

Let anger and fear and hate disappear

Let there be love that lasts through the year

And let it be Christmas Christmas everywhere

Let it be Christmas everywhere

With the gold and the silver, the green and the red
Christmas everywhere
In the smiles of all children asleep in their beds
In the eyes of young babies their first fallen snow
Elderlys' memories that never grow old
Let it be Christmas everywhere
Let heavenly music fill the air
Let every heart sing let every bell ring
The story of hope and joy and peace
And let it be Christmas everywhere
Let heavenly music fill the air
Let anger and fear and hate disappear
Let there be love that lasts through the year
And let it be Christmas Christmas everywhere
Let it be Christmas everywhere
In the songs that we sing and the gifts that we bring
Christmas everywhere
In what this day means and what we believe
From the sandy white beaches where blue water rolls
Snow covered mountains and valleys below
Let it be Christmas everywhere Let heavenly music fill the air
Let every heart sing let every bell ring
The story of hope and joy and peace
And let it be Christmas everywhere
Let heavenly music fill the air
Let anger and fear and hate disappear
Let there be love that lasts through the year
And let it be Christmas Christmas everywhere
Christmas everywhere Christmas everywhere

Grandpa

My Grandpa passed away late Monday night. He had fought a long, long battle with lung problems, but now he is finally at rest.

Back in 2004, he had open heart surgery and developed the worst case of the worst kind of pneumonia that you can contract. He was on a ventilator for months, which damaged his lungs further. We never thought he would come home then. The most we expected was for him to wind up in a nursing home. But he recovered and came home.

He was never strong and healthy again, but he did get to enjoy more things in life. He remarried (Grandma died early in 2004), spent time with his grandkids and became involved in church. Over the last two years, his health started to decline. He became dependent on oxygen and had a hard time going places. My mom was his oldest daughter, and losing her took a toll on him, too.

About ten days ago, he went into the hospital again. I wasn't able to see him as often as I should have. Monday, I saw him one last time. As soon as I saw him, I knew he couldn't last much longer. It was just like looking at Mama during her last days again. That night, they called and told me he was gone.

It has been hard to go through another funeral so soon, especially right here at Christmas, so please pray for us as we go through this. We are all glad to know that he is in Heaven, free from pain and suffering.

Another long absence......

So much for thinking that I would get back into blogging again. It's not that there isn't anything I would like to blog about, I just have no time. None. The hours my retail job are requiring of me are rediculous. Add to that the part-time teaching job, trying to keep up with my schoolwork, housework, grocery shopping, bills, etc, etc and you will hopefully understand why blogging time is limited. But, the semester has ended at the college and I have a little free time. My New Year's Resolution will be to blog more. Of course, my readers have probably forgotten me by now. Don't give up on me yet. I am going to make an honest effort to get back on track.

I have survived another Black Friday as a retail associate. I was truly hoping last year was going to be my first AND last of that experience, but, November 27, 2009 found behind the register again. This year was entirely different. Not only was I a cashier, but a department associate as well. That meant not only was I responsible for waiting on customers, but I had to set the sale, set the signs, wait on customers and ring them up. So, I worked about five days straight leading up to Friday. Wednesday was set-the-sale day. My department includes the home department. This means that I had to pull out all the bedspreads, mattress pads, pillows, sheets, pots, pans, coffee makers, take-and-bakeware, foot massagers, record players --- let's narrow it down---- everything weighing at least 20 pounds, out of the stockroom and back shelves and stack them in the center aisle because the were the "Early Bird Specials." Other people were working on it besides me, of course, but my point is that I had a lot of heavy lifting to do. When the store finally closed at 9 pm, we spent the next two hours taping rebates to boxes and putting up sale signs. I got home about 11:30 pm.

Thanksgiving Day was somewhat of a blur. We ate dinner with my aunt on my dad's side, then ate supper with my aunt on my mom's side. The food was good, but I was too tired to really enjoy the holiday. And I was dreading tomorrow.

My alarm clock went off at 2 am Friday morning. Or does that still count as Thursday night? At any rate, I threw enough make-up on to make me look alive, put on the most comfortable clothes I could get away with wearing, and headed out into the cold, dark night. I arrived at 3 am to buy my own early birds before the store opened. One of my purchases was a pre-lit Christmas tree. I knew I would never put a tree up if it wasn't 90% pre-assembled. We went through the ritual -- the 15 minute pep-talk/lecture, the final touches to the signs, the doors burst open.

The big crowd didn't sweep through like last year, but plenty of people came in. And they came in bunches all day. As far as the crowd was concerned, it wasn't really any worse than a busy Saturday. But the people were crankier. One woman cussed us out. Another aggravated me to the point of tears. One family of middle-aged sisters went through my line so many times, one at a time, buying one item at a time, that I would gladly have given them all the cash in my wallet if it would have made them go home. By the time 3 pm came around, I was so tired I thought I would fall asleep standing up. And I was finally allowed to go home.

I went home --- and crashed. I slept like a rock for three hours. Then I got up, ate leftovers, and put the tree up. And there it stayed, with no ornaments, for about a week. But now, most of my shopping is done, school is out, and I have three days off next week!!! So, I have made it through my second holiday retail season (or I will have officially in two weeks). I sincerely hope I will not have to work through a third one.

How is the Christmas season going for everyone else??