HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!

Words do not adequately express how happy and relieved I am to be finished with school! Ok, so I have one more 75 minute class on Thursday and we have to share our abstracts, and I've got more piano lessons to teach and 2 juries to accompany...but in my head, school is over! I have no more school assignments and the dreaded paper that was looming over me is turned in and out of my hands now!

What am I doing with this wonderful new time? Well, at this moment I'm sitting on my bed-room floor, in my P.J.s, typing this (why I'm not sitting on a comfy couch or bed...I don't know...guess I just felt like sitting on the floor tonight!). I'm about to go find something good to eat and watch "Eighteen and counting" on TLC (I really like this show...too bad there are not more positive Christian programs like this on T.V.!)
Then, I plan on getting LOTS of sleep tonight :) I'm not even going to set my alarm, and I'm going to turn off my phone so nobody can call me while I'm still sleeping like they did this morning! (or was that yesterday morning?)

I'm going to sit and chat with my mom who has had to put up with a cranky daughter the past few weeks who has not had much to say lately except "Hello" "Goodbye" and "Don't talk to me, I'm busy"...she deserves a nice, content "movie buddy" tonight :)

Again, I thank each of you (because pretty much the only people who read this are my good friends or relatives) so I know who you are and thank you for reading my blogs and praying for me. I can't believe I've finished 1 year of my doctorate already....I guess I just might make it after all!!!

God Bless and Happy Summer! ( I don't care if it's not "officially here" yet. In my rule-book, hot weather, summer clothes, and the first "Etnoyer strawberry shortcake dinner" initiates the beginning of summer! Now all I need is a good camp-fire and s'more party...sounds like a nice plan for saturday :)

UGH! THE SOUND OF STRESS (w/ a capital S)

Hi everyone. Sorry, but I don't have new exciting pictures of the beach or anything else. I just needed to vent a whee whee bit, and then get on with it. I have a 15 page paper due a week from Tuesday and I've been so busy there hasn't been much time at all to start the thing! So, I have TWELVE books/sources that need to be sorted through, skimmed, notes taken, etc. to form my outline and get started on this thing! Today I was gone all day teaching, a meeting, more teaching, and 2 rehearsals. Tomorrow I've got church, and about 3- 3.5 hours in the evening at church too for our last cantata performance! So, that leaves me NOW and tomorrow between 1 and 4 pm and at night, after the cantata to work on it. Monday I've got until I leave for teaching (I leave around 2:30 pm) and get home around 7:30, and then teach again until 8, and then have a couple of hours to work on it before bed. Tuesday...don't even ask!!! I go alllllll day looooong!!! Not to mention my piano lesson and organ lesson are both on Tuesday, of which I've practiced a LITTLE bit for, but also have music history tuesday and would like to come to class knowing I've at least started the paper! Wednesday I go to a junior high Christian school to accompany a choir rehearsal for their concert next week, then come back to the CAC (WVU) to teach until 6:30, then have studio 7-probably 8pm or so, then get home around 9 or 9:30 and have a couple of hours but have to be up early the next day to drive back to Morgantown a 3rd time for class. Then I come home, teach, then go to choir, work on the paper....oh yeah, I'm supposed to actually plan the choir's music in the next two or three days so I can have it in the church bulletin and practice/prep. for rehearsal! Hmm...I guess I could do that if I skip sleeping. Then Friday I teach, have some time during the day to work on the paper, but then in the evening teach 4 boys and then have Jon visiting me for the weekend...so Saturday and Sunday our OUT for working on the paper....then Monday I have the day time to finish it up, Monday night have to play for the junior high choir's first concert (I cancelled my teaching for that evening) and then Tuesday morning get up early go to class and turn in the paper.......

Think I can get it all done??? I honestly don't know! I know I'll probably do my best but I know a lot of other things are going to be left UNDONE this week for the sake of the paper...and sleep will likely be one of those things.

Ok, thanks for listening..or reading, or whatever. I'm going to start now...which is always the hardest part!!

LE TOMBEAU DE MURTLE

MURTLE THE TURTLE (March 2009-April 2009)
Sadly, this post is in memory of my little friend Murtle who was only with us but a month! As my brother nick predicted, he wouldn't make it til' Christmas...he didn't even make it to Easter!

So, here's the story. My first little piano student had just arrived at the house. As she finished her first page, I ran to my room to get her stickers...which she absolutely LOVES!! As I ran to my room to grab the stickers, I noticed one of the two turtles jump off the log into the water and I said "WOAH! Look at that!" Sara quickly ran to my room to see what it was and I left the room to get her focused on her lesson! Fast forward a couple of hours later. I'm jumping out of the shower, hurrying to get ready for the 7pm Maundy Thursday service and passover meal at our neighbor church. As I bend down to say hello to my little turtles, I notice one isn't moving.....uh oh! He's glued to the side of the filter! At first I think, "maybe he's relaxing...or napping...wait, turtles don't nap under water!" I quickly figure out that he is...GULP,.... DEAD! Then I start blaming myself! Thinking...oh, the filter sucked him in, or I scared him when I ran into the room too fast..or I didn't pay enough attention to him this week!! Oh poooooor little Murtle!!

I skooped him out with a tiny plastic fork, layed him in the plastic bag, set it on the front porch, and left for church.

When I got home, my parents were gone at their church. The plastic bag is gone now. I checked on little Lurtle. He seems lonely and confused :( I gave him a little snack because I feel bad :(

I'll miss you Murtle. You were a cute little friend! All the memories of driving back 15 hours in the car...the day we walked on the beach, the night in the hotel, the excitement of the new acquarium,.....we had fond memories...and I'll miss you!!

(Enter sobbing now)

Please exit this post quietly and with reverence

Finishing Up

One more sunset picture, with me in it. I was wearing my black pjs anyways, but because the sun is so bright, it's just a shadow of me. I still love it though :)
My mom asked me to take a picture for her because I was getting up early the last day to watch the sunrise. Lynn walked with me to the ocean and I got the most gorgeous photos! This is one of them.
another person I don't know. Just a picture of the pool at our hotel, facing the ocean. The pool water was a bit warmer than the ocean water, so we swam in there a bit more :)
The waves were crazy our last day there....a storm was moving through and there were a lot of rip-currents...So, I respectfully watched without getting very deep in the water....good to have a healthy fear of nature!
I don't know these people. It's just a nice beach picture
This is what our hotel looked like from the beach...it was soooo nice :)
Murtle and Lurtle. My new pet turtles :) The only way to tell them apart is Lurtle has a tiny mark on his left side that Murtle doesn't. It looks kind of like the shape of Florida...that's the ONLY difference between the two...aren't they cute? :)
Another photo of the shuttle
Thanks to good timing, we were able to see the space shuttle that took off 2 weeks ago, from outside the back of our hotel, on the deck, facing the ocean. It happened about 50 miles from where we were standing, and only about 2.5 hours after we arrived in Daytona and settled in to our hotel. I took many pictures of this, but this one is pretty good. IT was amazing to watch, and also to see it as it went over the ocean, and got smaller and smaller. We even saw the (gaskets?) that dropped off after it reached a certain point...this experience really fueled my excitement for our trip to the Kennedy Space Center that we took a few days later.
Outside the front of our hotel (looking out our hotel room window). I miss those palm trees!
I'm not sure what happened but the last several pictures I added to my blog didn't show up when I published the page. So, now that you've seen pictures of the Kennedy Space Center, how about some of the beach?

Beach, Additions to the Family, and More

This is the thing that you always see in pictures...the part that lands on the moon...and I think the space craft lands on it or something...I don't know! But here it is :)
Girls, if you ever feel "fat" just stand in front of one of these....you'll feel wonderfully small :)
I talked about this below. All of these would have had fire blowing out of them during take-off. These are the missiles that were used for the Apollo launches. What they use now is a bit different and while probably just as powerful, not really comparable to these in that they are compared to the power of an atomic bomb!
One of the engines for one of the...umm...I think it was for one of the missiles?? (I don't think that's right...anyways...it was an engine!!! (or rather it IS an engine..just not one that's used anymore :)
The most I understood about this massive 'thing' is this. We had to drive way out past the sand track to get close enough that we could climb up a tower, and I could zoom my camera as far as it would zoom, to get a picture of this thing to turn out like it did. The actual space launches are on an island, about 3 miles from land (and we were in the building where the control panels are..and got to see them ourselves! And outside that building is the bleachers where close family/friends only were permitted to view the take-offs. This is part of many other constructions near the island, that helps power the process. That's all I know...sorry!! Interesting fact: If you are 800 feet from the actual take-off, the sound is so loud that it would kill you! When we stood inside the control room, they reenacted a simulation of a take-off so we could feel how hot and loud the room got, 3 miles from the action!!! There is a strip of solar panels at the top back of the room and they flipped open and shook violently and heated up....it was pretty neat :) Can't imagine what that was like for the families to be sitting outside and see it that close-up....also, the old apollo missions used missiles that had the power of an atomic bomb when they heated up!! Pictures of that on here too (see above)
An up-close visit with the NASA Space Center. Interesting facts: 1) See the large parallel gray things on the right side of the building (around the corner from the NASA emblem)? Those doors open up and they store the space shuttles inside of that building! They come out of those doors and are wheeled down a sand-track to the launching pad. This process of a relatively short trip takes about 8 hours....gotta be careful with billion dollar flying objects!!!! Fact #2) The blue area of the American Flag (the entire area...yes, where the stars are) is the size of an NBA Basketball court!! That's how massive this building is, in case the picture doesn't do it any justice (which it definitely does not) By the way, this is as close as we got to the building. We were taken in other buildings but this one is I'm pretty sure closed off to the public completely (doesn't that make you curious of what other projects and possessions are inside of there??? It does me!!)
The Explorer-an up close view of a real space craft that has been to space...too cool!!! (my friend's husband explained to me that the black tiles were part of the heat shield and that EVERY SINGLE SQUARE had to be checked or the craft could burn up before its return to earth)
Standing inside part of a display at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Well here it is! I finally did some new fun and exciting things this month! Ever since my parents got me a digital camera for Christmas, I've had so much fun taking more pictures than I did in the past. Here are a few of the things I've been up to in the past several weeks:

1) I went to Daytona Beach for the first time over spring break with my friend and her husband and mother. The four of us had such a wonderful time and I've got some great pictures to prove it :)

2) I adopted 2 little turtles on the trip. Their names are Murtle and Lurtle (the 2nd name was taken from a 3 year old cousin as my cousin and her children were helping me come up with good names. I'm really looking forward to telling him when he grows up that HE named the turtle Lurtle...just in case that poor little turtle gets made fun of :)

3) This weekend my parents took a trip to where we used to live in PA to visit my brother. So, I'm enjoying some much needed and appreciated time by myself. Time to think and pray about a lot of things weighing on me lately. And time to relax a little and remember that God is STILL totally in control and aware of all things.

4) School has really been winding down for me, in large part because of my decision to take on less this semester and a lack of practicing---one of the top reasons I chose to stay home this weekend. However, this has been a very busy teaching semester for me and between students and church activities, I manage to keep busy enough. In case your looking for a reason to pray for me...on top of the many other great reasons!! (relationships, guidance, decisions with school...guidance in general) you could also pray that God would help me develop and use the communication/leadership skills to know when to put my foot down or draw the line, so to speak, when it comes to students cancelling lessons and making them up. This has been quite an issue this semester, even more-so than in the past, and it's something that really needs to be dealt with as these students are taking more and more of my time rearranging and cancelling things.

Ok, enough talking. I can't wait to show you these pictures! And unfortunately, I still haven't figured out how to get them to post BELOW my text, so you've already seen them by the time you've read this! Oh well, minor detail. Thanks for keeping up with me and God Bless!!!

March is here!

So, I'm trying to make a point this year of being more regulary with my blogging, a bit shorter and concise, and thinking of things interesting to others. I've come to learn one thing through this, I'm NOT that interesting!!! :) Hence, the blog title "March is here!" I really couldn't think of anything more exciting, sorry!

I do have one bit of exciting news, although it's not the kind that will make you jump out of your chair and yell "YIPEE!!!" But it's enough for me :) I finished my paper on Bach's Orgelbuchlein project, about 20 minutes ago! I've been working on it since Saturday and had no idea it was going to take 3 days of work to finish! Now, I still have to type the hand-out and practice GIVING my presentation, which needs to be about 25 minutes long. I'm the first one tomorrow morning, at 9:30 a.m....and aside from not being much a morning person, I don't realy like going first! But, the good news is, I get to be done first! :) I had no idea this project would take so long....oh wait, I ALREADY SAID THAT!!!

When this boring and BORED doctoral student finishes this project she's going to come up with some nice new and exciting things to talk about...promise :)

Until then, HAPPY MARCH!

Birthday, Weather and Other Happenings

It has been a while since I posted anything new so here are a few updates.

1) My birthday last weekend was great!! I've attached several pictures. We didn't do anything huge or expensive, but it was an enjoyable, and relaxing day spent with family and friends. What more could I ask for?

2) Last week I drove home from Morgantown in a 60-70 mph wind storm that almost blew my car over! I was counting my blessings when I got home that night, even though power was out and several places had wind damage.

3) Tuesday night I got a really sore throat, and finally went to the doctors this morning thinking I had strep. The good news is I don't have strep, but the dr. did give me an antibiotic because my throat was so swollen and red, and my ears had extra fluid and my sinuses were a bit swollen. Tis' the season! I am thankful though for medicine, and the excedrin which has temporarily taken all the pain away!

4) This is REALLY exciting!!!! A few weeks ago God answered my persistent prayers to get out of my apartment. It was sub-leased and the day they called I had to be out by the next day! My dad was also wonderful about driving up with me to help get my things out and staying up late on a work-night. The living situation was stressful with one roomate in particular, so I was extra-thankful to have 'Daddy' there to ward off a very disgruntled roomate. All ended well and I'm so happy and content being home again :)

5) I finally got my room organized! I had piles of pictures, letters, cards, etc. etc. ETC. all over my floor and I'm a neat freak, so this was REALLY bothering me! I was allowed to get a nice little wooden night-stand at A.C. Moore for my birthday which was extremely helpful in organizing things. Now I have more desk space, and floor space, and walking around in the middle of the night is no longer a hazard :)

6) School has been going well. It hasn't been as busy for me, intentionally because I only signed up for 1 academic class this semester. But, organ lessons are going really well and I'm getting pretty good at the pedal and finding and coupling stops, etc. :) Also, piano lessons are back into the swing after a short break away after not winning the YA competition. My teacher just had emergency surgery but he's back now too, so we're going to get the show on the road and April 28th I'm giving my first DMA chamber recital!! All of Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2

7) I am, as of today, up to 23 piano students now...yup, that's a lot. I'm so thankful though! Not all of them signed up for the full 13, so having a few extra really helps compensate for that. I'm trying so hard to get ahead on bills this year, and have not used my credit cards once, since the first week of the year! It's a good feeling to change to healthier habits, and especially in the economy we are all living in right now, I am extra thankful for the income and stability.

8) I am looking forward to spring break this year! For the first time in all my college years, I'm going to go on vacation, to a place of MY choosing (with my friends :) , where it is warm and sunny :) We're planning on going to Florida March 14-21st, God willing and finances allowing. I'm really looking forward to it.

9) The pounds have not shed yet, but I've been working out a lot the last month or so. Since my throat has been so sore too, I've had very little to eat today, and am hoping for good results by Monday morning (I refuse to weigh-in until next week because I'm thinking weighing every day is obsessive and not healthy. I'm just focusing on diet and exercise and using common sense!!!

10) I am thankful for my church job!!! I had a recent re-evaluation and with the exception of a few easy improvements, which I've already started to put in place, they want to keep me!!! This was wonderful news. I'm so blessed to have this position, and to be part of such a loving church family.

That's enough for now. Enjoy the pictures! :)