The mind is a terrible thing to waste.

this is one of the pieces of art that I am thinking about for my bedroom! I like it a lot!

Ok, so I have been working really hard to focus on the upcoming changes in my life and schedule and such. First of all, I have moved my business to the Community School for the Arts. That was a HUGE decision. First of all, I haven't been saying very good things about them because I haven't liked the problems they have been making in people's voices. I have had a couple of students come back to the studio after studying a little with students up there and I have pretty much had to start all over again with our studies and get their voice back on track. That's been frustrating. However, as of right now, I believe I will be their only teacher and by teaching up there I gain a work space that's out of my home and therefore gain a bedroom in my home. I don't have to do my own billing or taxes. I will love most of the administrative sides of things as long as I still get to make my own decisions and run it like I would my business, which is sounds like they are going to let me. It costs a little more for my students and I am really hoping that won't be a problem. They have to charge a little bit for overhead and such and my overhead costs was next to nothing and included in my fee. So, I am anxious to move up there and see how things are and get started. I just hope that everything goes ok. I am a little nervouse about the change. I am sure that it was a good decision. I ran all my thoughts and questions through my friends and family and they came up with some good questions for me to clear up before I agreed. Thank goodness for the Goodall's and their smart little minds. :)

The other concern that I have in my life right now (I mean other than the fact that my son has been having seizures, because THAT has been foremost in my mind lately) is going back to graduate school and finishing my degree. I am nervous about how it will play out. Boise State wasn't willing to work with me when I was a student there and I can't imagine they are willing to work with me now. I have only received 2 emails so far and neither have answered my questions and both have been worded quite rudely. the first one I got after sending an email to my advisor to ask about where I was in the big picture and make sure that I wasn't missing any classes or requirements that I didn't know about was replied to with, "I will get to this at my earliest convenience.". That's it...Ok, so, I gave my advisor a week to look into it and when I still hadn't heard, I did some looking myself. I made some phone calls, some emails, talked with people in admissions and such and found out most of what I could. I emailed her letter her know that I had looked and had in fact met the requirements that I thought I had and that I needed to know if I needed to reaudition for the program and such. The email I received in reply was rude and short and basically told me that I shouldn't be talking to my advisor, I should be talking to my instructor. Well, that's just silly. Why would my instructor know if I have taken all the predictive exams and how many credits of what I still need to finish my degree. Besides, I was hoping not to have to work with her because we don't get along very well. I get the feeling she doesn't like me. She is the instructor of the class that I need and probably will have to oversee my thesis recital. That makes me very nervous, but there isn't much I can do about it. If I want to finish my degree, I will have to work with her and that's all there is. So, I emailed her last night and asked her my questions and we'll see what kind of response I get.

Ok, I'd better get going. I was up all night with Ethan (who is feeling better, by the way, but has to have meds every 3 hours) and I have some serious amounts of coffee to drink...

jme

Ethan's second seizure...

Well, today has not been the best day of my life, that's for sure! I was planning on sleeping in a little this morning because I haven't been getting much sleep in the night because the baby's been up. So, Sam and I had it all worked out. Ethan woke up around 7:00 am, usually he's up at 6:00, so this was great! Sam said he felt a little warm and kind of feverish. We gave him some tylenol and took his temp. 100.6 under the arm. Well, about 15 minutes later, he had a seizure. This one was very similar to the one he had before. It lasted about 2 minutes and was the longest two minutes of my life next to the 2 minutes of the last seizure. When he was out of the seizure and regained consciousness, he had a lot of trouble with his motor skills and couldn't grab for his tigger or make a fist to bring the sheet over him or anything. We called the Dr. when they opened at 8:00 and took him in at 8:30. He was a little concered at the close timing of the seizures and said that Ethan had some little white spots at the back of his throat that might be causing the fever and therefore, the seizure. I remembered that we were at Sarah and Dani's house for a visit while Carrie and Tim and the girls were visiting and went over there Sunday and Sarah has mentioned that her kids have been complaining of sore throats. I mentioned this to the Dr. He ended up sending us up to the hospital. Poor Ethan got blood cultures taken and a work up was sent to the lab for a bunch of tests. Then, we went upstairs and the Dr. had ordered an EEG. They gave Ethan medicine to put him to sleep and hooked up 30 electrodes to his head and face and recorded his brain activity for about 20 minutes. So, we spent most of the morning at the hospital. By the time we got home as I was putting him down to sleep, I noticed a slight fever still. I took his temp and it was 102.7! It had spiked high and fast and I was worried about another seizure. I called the Dr. and of course, they were all on lunch, so I called my Dr. cell number which he had given me earlier that day. He told me to bring him in right away for a shot of Rossefin. It's a big dose of strong anti-biotics to get the fever down pretty fast. So, now we are home and Ethan is sleeping peacefully. He isn't warm to the touch and we have antibiotics and tylenol for him. It's pretty scary. It's one thing when you know that it isn't hurting them and that they will grow out of it, but it's another thing to think that every time he gets sick, which has been a lot in his life, there is a possibility of a seizure. I am going to have to go through what to do with all my sitters and nannys to make sure that when and if he spikes a fever when I'm not around, they will all know what to do. That's kind of the scary part too is that it happens sooooo fast! Within 15 minutes he went from alert and eating a banana for breakfast giving no indication anything was wrong to seizing on my bed. Pretty freaky!

I am trying to take some time and calm myself down a little. Sam is napping and I was trying to read, but my mind has been going to fast today, I can't concentrate on my book. So, I thought I would get some of my fears and worries out of my head and onto my blog so I don't have them rattling around anymore.

Ok, I feel better already. My house is an absolute wreck and I have a lot of stuff going on right now with my busniness, which I will have to go into later. For the rest of the day, I am going to try to just chill and see how things go. Off I go to lay on the couch and maybe watch a movie.

This is not a romantic getaway!

My family had Thanksgiving dinner in August! We never have Thanksgiving together, so Noel and her family made us a huge tukey and ham dinner complete with all the fixins! It was so very nummy and this is a not-very-good picture of all of us enjoying our meal. We had to bring chairs and tables in from the deck to make it work but it was fabulous!

Ok, so apparently my entire family reads and quotes my blog because "this is not a romantic getaway" was the theme of this year's reunion and was repeated often. :) We all had sooooo much fun during this year's reunion. The house was beyond expectations and so freakin' fabulous, I am a little worried that nothing will ever compare. It did have minor fall backs. We had some issues: a smelly bedroom, a friendly mouse, lots of bugs, but what could we expect from a mountain house with no window screens. The food stuff worked out great and everyone provided a dinner and contributed to the group food. The sleeping arrangements worked out better than could be expected because there were 2 lofts in addition to the 7 bedrooms. Actually, the lofts were awesome because they both had doors that opened out onto patios. It was pretty freaking cool. Silverwood was fun, but I have to say: I just don't think I am an amusement park kind of girl. I went on the rides and screamed my head off like the good singer I am. I had a fun time, but I just don't think I would do it again. To pay $33 for about 8 hours of standing in line for a 3 minute ride. I don't know...I guess if my whole family was going, I would go again. It was fun to hang out with them and go on rides with them and stuff. Sam had a blast mountain biking on the mountain for 2 days. He loved it and even rented a better down hill bike the second time he went and was in heaven all day! I just can't say enough about the house. You would really just have to experience it. It was incredible! We met and talked about next year and mostly decided on the Oregon Coast ...(again!). Leavenworth is the other option. People kept saying there would be nothing to do in Leavneworth, but there is. There's lake Wenatchee for the lake people, shopping and wondering for the shoppers, sight-seeing for the sight-seers, and hiking for the hikers. I found a great place, it would be easier on my uncle Kevin to come and lots of other reasons why Leavenworth would be great. The beach is always wonderful too! There's beach combing, walking, shopping, horse riding, sand dunes and whatever else people's hearts desire. Either way is fine with me. I am a little sad, however because the really nice beach places that will fit all of us are always booked. I am sure we will come up with something. I want every reunion from now on to be as good as the one we just had or better! :) Grandma and grandpa and all of us were also talking about summer 08 and it sounds like we might be going on a cruise to Alaska! How awesome would that be! Anyway, it was an awesome reunion and well worth all the planning stress and mishaps.

It's good to be home, I must say. I have made some other life decisions as well. I am going to work as much as I can this coming fall at the University and at home. I am going to take as many students as I can and teach as much as the University will let me. I would like to finish my graduate degree and this is the year to do it. I will need lots of money to make that happen, not to mention that I need to pay off all our kitchen work. The good news is: WE PAID OFF OUR CAR!! I got the title in the mail yesterday! I am so very excited about that! I will be so happy to have that $$$ back in my budget.

It looks like Jeannette Smith got the job at the high school teaching speach and drama. I am so very excited for her. It's perfect for her and her situation. We are talking about trading off kids a couple of days per week if that works out for both of us. It could be very good! If I could trade her off and on a little bit, it would save us both $$ in childcare.

Now for the sad part of my blog. My brother Paul called the night he was supposed to come to the reunion and said that his girlfriend had been in a car accident. She went into surgery and they tried to stabalize her before life-flighting her to Harborview Medical Center. Unfortunately, she died shortly after surgery. I only met her once and only for a short time. She seemed very nice and sweet and smart. Everyone who knew her better than I did said that she was a great person. I am sad that Paul has had such a rough life lately. he's really been trying to find himself. They were the best of friends and worked together for a long time. I am so very sorry for his pain and sadness. My mom is there this weekend along with my brother Ross and my dad. Paul has lots of friends to support him as well as lots of family. I am thinking I will wait a little while until the services are over, the friends have gone back to work and the family isn't there anymore and then I will either head up to visit Paul or have him down here for a little while. what a tragic thing to have happen to a person. My prayers and thoughts are with her family and friends and my concerns are also with my brother. Paul is in a vulnerable position now and I hope that his life begins to head in an upward direction very soon.

I don't want to leave on too sad of a note. Although, this thought is sad in another way...school starts in a little over 2 weeks! That means so does my studio. The next couple of weeks are going to be very busy trying to make everything work and come together to be ready for life to start. I hope I get some more students. I think my count is a little low right now. It would be great to fill up and soon!

Ok, off I go to find something to do. More soon, I'm sure.
Jamie

A little ranting does a body good.

A Day in the Life...

Ok, so, for all my family who reads this blog, please don't just automatically assume this is about you....unless it is. :)

I just got a call this evening and I don't understand why people complain so much. I don't think my family understands how hard I have worked to put this family reunion together. I looked and looked and looked for an appropriate place and found a palace that actually fit grandma and grandpa's budget and actually was available! Amazing! Then, I started all the stressful stuff of arranging for reserving the house, arranging for payment of the house, signing my name to a lease on the house, filling out paperwork and more paperwork on rules and regulations and info "about us" kind of paperwork. then came the part where I actually had to tell my family about it and so I put a lot of time into a nice family letter and called around kingdom come looking for people's updated address to make sure that everyone got the news on what was going on. Then came the part where I have to try to take 23 people and put them all into 5 bedrooms. Yeah, try that and make it work. It doesn't unless I piss people off because here's the deal!!!: No one gets a private room! We have families who need acommadated, grandparents who need accommodated and I'm sorry, but in my humble opinion, everyone else can fend for themselves! I got a call tonight (I know, I already said that) about someone specifically requesting one of the entertainment rooms as a sleeping room. All I could say was that there were 10,650 square feet in the house and there were going to be at least 3 air beds that I knew of. Anyone who didn't contact me about whether or not they were coming or would need a bed or when they would be there, I didn't worry about. I put a first come-first served policy on everyone else with the exception of grandma and grandpa. I just don't get where people get off complaining about a free weeks vacation in northern Idaho. The people who never contacted me to say they were coming are also not having to host a dinner. the rest of us are putting out money to feed the other 23 people one night of the week to make sure that there is food for dinner and help offset the cost. But no, some people apparently are excused from that and then they want their own room. Sorry, this is not a romantic getaway. If I have to share a room with my brother and his wife (yes, Ross and Kari, I love you, but let's face it, we'd all rather have our own rooms, huh?), then people who didn't do anything to plan this reunion or make any effort to be a part of the planning or even let me know they were coming until after I had everything already planned out are just out of luck. There will be plenty of room for all! I just don't want to have to worry about it anymore! If I didn't want the reunion to happen so badly, I would have given up or not taken it on in the first place, but I am looking forward to seeing everyone. I just hope I don't have to do much in the way of coordinator once I get there. Ok, I feel much better now! :) I really am looking forward to the trip and I am very grateful that everyone is coming, but it's been a lot of work making sure that everyone has everything then need and calling me two days before I leave when I am stressed about work and construction and packing myself and my family to complain about the fact that people don't have their own rooms, that's just not cool.

Here's to hoping all goes well...

Jme

This is the amount of food for three people at the Crab Pot in Seattle. :) It was soooo much fun to eat there. They put a bib on you and bring you a mallet and a cutting board. They cover your table with butcher paper and come and dump a bunch of seafood in the middle of your table. It was a blast to eat there and I would highly recommend it to anyone! It's a little pricey and it's down just below pike place market right on the water. It's worth it! The food was yummy!

So, I have opened up my "comments" part of my blog so that anyone can leave a comment. If I start having trouble, I will have to change it, but if you want to leave me a little note, now you can.

I can't believe the summer is almost over! We had sooooo much fun on our trip up north. The Mariner's game was awesome. We got to visit most of the family that lives up there. We spent a night at Sam's grandpa's house and I was happy to get to visit with him for a somewhat extended period of time. He is a great man and we had a wonderful time. The visit with my family was good and then we stopped at my aunt Ann's house in Yakima on the way home and spent the night. We had been at the Six Flags in Tacoma all day, which was a total blast! I don't remember the last time I was on an amusement park ride. So, between Sam's conference (out of which he was chosen to conduct in a master class), the sailing we did in Gig Harbor, the Mariner's game, the trip to the zoo, the Crab Pot, the day at the amusement park, it was a pretty good trip. :) All that and more in a mere 7 days! It was packed with adventure.

We have had a pretty good time at home these last few days as well. 98% of the cabinet doors are on. Shelves are in, boxes unloaded, and the kitchen is looking great. In addition to work, we have had some fun times playing as well. We went up and hiked/biked (Sam bikes and Ethan and I hike) the Umatilla Rim trail. It was soooo gorgeous. The day before that, we went and hiked into Van Patton Lake. Again, absolutely gorgeous. The lake is only about 1.5 miles in, but it's a pretty steep climb. It was a great time and we swam once we got there, well, got in the really cold water anyway. I don't know that you could call it swimming. :) Timmy was here for the weekend. He came on Thursday and left yesterday (Monday). It was good to see him and have him around as well. We had a wonderful dinner last night with a past student, Darcy. It was great to see her and spend a little time chatting with her before she heads off to College in New York at Hartwick. They are driving to New York and headed out on Friday, so it was great to spend a little time with her. You will be missed, Darcy!

Today I have a lunch with some mom friends which I am really excited about. Tomorrow I will be talking with Peter in the morning about my position at the University and what I want that position to be. Then, we pack and hopefully bottle and brew some beer tomorrow night with Miki and Grady and then we pack and leave on Thursday. It's going to be crazy until then trying to make sure everything is taken care of. For instance, I have no one to water my garden or anything while we are gone. Totally forgot about that part. I'll have to get on that today.

Well, this has been a very long blog, so off I go to find other things to do. Maybe Ethan and I will read a couple more books and let daddy sleep in a little more. :)

Did it work?

Ok, so this is a test to see if I have figured out how to post a picture in my blog. Apparently I have to use a different browser than what I was using because I didn't have all these options before trying in in Netscape. If it works, this is the house I am going to for a week with my family reunion on the 10th! :) Yeah!

"Do they have ketchup here?" asked by my sister while in Canada

I can't believe how fast the summer is going. It's already the beginning of August! We are headed to our family reunion in pretty much no time and by the time we get back, it will be time to get ready to go back to work. Man, I hope my kitchen is done by then! It still seems like there is so much left even though it's mostly little stuff, it takes a lot of time.

I am anxious about teaching this year. I am fine with my home studio and everything seems to be going fantastic with my students here at the house. I am a little worried about the fact that I lost so many seniors (good ones too!) that my numbers will be a little low, but if I am going to be taking on a few more hours at the University, maybe it's better that way. We'll see what my numbers actually look like come this fall. I am a little concerned about the University teaching. It's a great gig and I am very excited that I have the position, but I know that it can't last unless I actually finish my thesis and receive my master's degree. I don't know that I want to drive to Boise twice a week while Ethan is still so young. I miss him when I work all morning and all afternoon. I know that I have it great because I have a home studio and I know there are lots and lots of moms (probably more than not) who have to work full time and have their kids in daycare full time. However, I didn't want to do that. I still don't. Ethan hangs out with his cousins and his Aunt Sarah while I work at the University. I just feel guilty. Sarah is a stay-at-home mom and somehow she invokes guilt in me without saying or doing anything to make me feel guilty. Those feelings are coming from me. I do want to see my son. I do love what I do and I love the extra income that allows us the freedom to do fun things and do things like remodel my kitchen. If I quit at the University, I would have to increase my hours at home and our income would suffer, but I might be happier in the long run. However, if the University is going to increase the pay for adjunct faculty (which they are thinking about) and it would be at all possible to teach out of my office up there and get my home studio out of the spare bedroom, that would all be very good. I know that it wouldn't be forever though. I would need to finish my thesis in order to stay. So, needless to say, I am very confused. Getting it down on "paper" helps it make a little more sense though. I will be teaching in the fall and most likely throughout the rest of the year. If the program keeps growing the way that it is, they are going to have to hire a PhD "soon" anyway and then none of this will matter too much because I won't work there anymore. I do love teaching at home and if I could just do that, I would rather, but I enjoy the differences in teaching the University provides me.

This stuff has been on my mind a lot and I thought I would try to get some of it actually out of my mind for a while.

Jamie