Well, the school year ended very successfully and what felt like rather abruptly. We are down and real into the summertime here in La Grande complete with sunny skies, bike rides, and a kitchen remodel. I know, we just did one. That was 8 years ago and although I loved it, it was never finished, Sam's first attempt at a woodworking project (of any kind!) and had some high-traffic areas that were frustrating. It's been a huge undertaking complete with the removal of a chimney, removal of 1920's flooring and re-wiring and re-plumbing. However, we are just about half way finished and I am loving it already!
Ethan is enjoying his summer of adventures. He went to "Camp Grandma" the second week of his vacation. While there, he learned to kayak and was in it almost every day! He also enjoyed a trip to the zoo (complete with making paper out of elephant poo) and a day trip to go whale watching on a tour in the puget sound. They all had a wonderful time and I was impressed with the little man that was returned to me at the end of the week. It's amazing how confident he became in a weeks time. I'm glad he had a blast and it gave us a chance to get some good work done on the kitchen.
When we dropped Ethan off with Grandma, Sam and I took off to celebrate our 13th anniversary at a bed and breakfast in Camano Island. It was absolutely wonderful! It was so quiet and peaceful and lovely to get away from the construction, the daily grind, and our kiddo just to enjoy each others company. It was a wonderful weekend getaway.
Now we are into July and looking forward to the 4th. Ethan and I spend our days with friends, on bike rides, birding, cleaning the house, and reading. He doesn't love reading, so I'm trying to spend some time to change his mind on that topic. He loves to be read to, but whether it's his eye not being able to see well or something else, he doesn't enjoy reading out loud or to himself. His attitude about it slowly starting to change as we go through our days of mandatory reading time (of any kind I can convince him to do).
I am teaching Kindermusik this summer and giving individual private lessons to about 10 students or so per week. That keeps my mind working, keeps me engaged, and brings in a little extra play money. With a house remodel, the play money has been wonderful. :)
Well, I just thought I would stop in and give a brief update. I'll get on again soon for another update and hook up to the printer to get caught up in my physical notebooks. :)
Monday, July 02, 2012
Thursday, March 01, 2012
The older you are, the faster time goes.
I have found that the older you get, the faster time goes. People have told me this in the past, but I just smiled and didn't think twice about it. I guess I kind of had the attitude of well, there's nothing I can do about that. Now, here I am at the ripe ol' age of 33....or am I 32?....I think I'm 33. I can't remember what years things happened. I mean, I remember when I got married. I remember when I graduated from high school, but only because my bank occasionally asks me. I remember that Ethan was born in 2005 and I remember graduating from college in 2001 and moving back to La Grande from graduate school in 2003. Other than that, I can't remember details. I can't remember the year a certain student graduated from my studio or who the last student was that I taught a certain aria to. I can't remember the year Sam quit teaching (without counting) or the year we got our AnnaPurna dog. Life is funny that way. Sam and I were talking about our previous trips to Moab during past Spring Breaks. I have distinct memories. I remember hiking the Joint Trail in Canyonlands, but I have NO IDEA what year that was. I can't remember if it was one of the years that Timmy came with us or after we had Ethan. I can't remember (without checking my scrapbook) what year my mom came down with us.
It's just weird. There are memories, but no timeline to them. I wonder if that's just me or if everyone experiences that connection of memories not related to time. The one thing that helps keep me straight is my scrapbooking. I can look back in my scrapbooks and remember (because of how the photos are labeled in my hard drive) what year things happened. What makes it hard is that I'm so far behind, it's not as helpful as it could be. So, I'm going to start a monthly scrapbook night with my girls. We can share a bottle of wine and catch up with our scrapping. Then my memories will be appropriately placed on a timeline that is able to be referenced whenever I need to. Anyway....random thoughts, I know. :)
So, I haven't blogged in a while, so I'll let you know that after a couple of relatively scary months, JC Woodworks is starting to stand up on it's own two feet. Word of mouth is starting to travel and jobs are coming in almost daily. They have done kitchens and bathrooms for homeowners, reception area cabinets for local businesses (Mountain Valley Therapy's gym addition and the Sheriff's office), they just finished a conference table for our local credit union, built custom furniture, and most recently, they got the bid for all the cabinets in someone's personal hunting cabin. They are busy most of the time. They have wonderful customer service, rarely make mistakes and right them when they do. Customers are very happy with the work that they do and the guys are very happy to be setting their own hours, in full control of their final product, and finally making some money. The business is off to a great start and we are all pretty happy about that. They are now working to build up a cushion and pay off their loan to make the company as sustainable as possible for the future.
Work at EOU is stable and wonderful. We recently had the Portland Opera to Go group come and work for a week to create a wonderful show and inspire the students. I think everyone had a great time and learned a lot! It was a little stressful making sure all the scheduling lined up and making sure all the parts came together, but I think it came off without a hitch. It was a long week and I spent today on the couch recovering as my body has finally decided to give in to the germs and bugs that have been floating around.
I am spending Saturday adjudicating for District Solo and Small Ensemble, so I need to be healthy in order to do that. I think laying low today was helpful.
Well, there's a little update for now. More later.
It's just weird. There are memories, but no timeline to them. I wonder if that's just me or if everyone experiences that connection of memories not related to time. The one thing that helps keep me straight is my scrapbooking. I can look back in my scrapbooks and remember (because of how the photos are labeled in my hard drive) what year things happened. What makes it hard is that I'm so far behind, it's not as helpful as it could be. So, I'm going to start a monthly scrapbook night with my girls. We can share a bottle of wine and catch up with our scrapping. Then my memories will be appropriately placed on a timeline that is able to be referenced whenever I need to. Anyway....random thoughts, I know. :)
So, I haven't blogged in a while, so I'll let you know that after a couple of relatively scary months, JC Woodworks is starting to stand up on it's own two feet. Word of mouth is starting to travel and jobs are coming in almost daily. They have done kitchens and bathrooms for homeowners, reception area cabinets for local businesses (Mountain Valley Therapy's gym addition and the Sheriff's office), they just finished a conference table for our local credit union, built custom furniture, and most recently, they got the bid for all the cabinets in someone's personal hunting cabin. They are busy most of the time. They have wonderful customer service, rarely make mistakes and right them when they do. Customers are very happy with the work that they do and the guys are very happy to be setting their own hours, in full control of their final product, and finally making some money. The business is off to a great start and we are all pretty happy about that. They are now working to build up a cushion and pay off their loan to make the company as sustainable as possible for the future.
Work at EOU is stable and wonderful. We recently had the Portland Opera to Go group come and work for a week to create a wonderful show and inspire the students. I think everyone had a great time and learned a lot! It was a little stressful making sure all the scheduling lined up and making sure all the parts came together, but I think it came off without a hitch. It was a long week and I spent today on the couch recovering as my body has finally decided to give in to the germs and bugs that have been floating around.
I am spending Saturday adjudicating for District Solo and Small Ensemble, so I need to be healthy in order to do that. I think laying low today was helpful.
Well, there's a little update for now. More later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)