Fall Romances

Monday's here again and its another start to another week. I can't believe that October is almost gone and November will be here in only a week! So much to catch up on, and so many fun and exciting things going on!

When I last blogged I wrote about my choirs' concert, and how well I expected them to do in their performance. Well, I wasn't let down in the least, my students sang beautifully, and I do believe it was the best concert we've had at the middle school since I've been here! We were so polished and prepared, and they really did a wonderful job! Especially my audition group, my Star Choir, as I call them (b/c we rehearse during "star" period at the middle school). They've really grown musically since last year as a group and as individuals, and I'm so proud of them. Now we're off and running with Christmas music - tis the season you know, or at least it will be soon - and its going to be another great 9-weeks!

Today was one of those days that I really enjoy because I got some terrific results! A couple weeks ago I had 16 or 17 of my students work toward and record some audition CDs for 2 different honor choirs that happen in Wichita during the KMEA music convention in February. Many of them made audition CDs for both groups, and some didn't, but of the 8 students that I sent in CDs for the KCDA Treble Honor Choir, 5 of them were accepted! I was so excited, and a bit bummed at the same time because I felt that those 3 that didn't get in really deserved to. But there's always next year. Last year I only took 2 girls, and so this jump in numbers has me really excited and happy! We are still waiting for the other group's list to be announced, but hopefully we'll add even more to the list of people going to KMEA this year from our school! It will definitely be fun experience for all of us.

I've been to 2 rehearsals for the Wichita Grand Opera so far and they've been really great! The group as a whole seems a bit unorganized, as we still have yet to sign contracts, we just recently got our music, and we are going week-by-week on rehearsal times and places...but as my mother lovingly reminded me, "you are working with a bunch of musicians Kathy," so I haven't read too much into it. :) It feels fabulous to sing professionally again and I'm so glad to be back in the mix of making such beautiful music! Our first show is Madame Butterfly which has some wonderful music - I'm so excited to get things memorized and staged! A bunch of the faculty have already said that they're all going to plan a "teacher road trip" to Wichita to attend one of our shows. How great it will be to see familiar faces there cheering me on - I'm in such a great, and supportive place! I'm very lucky.

Among all the other exciting and busy things happening for me right now, I've met someone new. :) His name is Eric and he's such a super nice guy. He is a fellow musician, a band director and elementary music teacher. He lives in a near-by town, only 10 miles East of me! We have a lot in common, and I really like him. We'll see where it goes, but I'm really enjoying getting to know him and spending time with him. A big thanks goes out to my friend's wife for picking him out for me and setting us up :D

I am really excited about this weekend because I'm traveling down to Wichita to attend my big brother's Halloween Party! Its themed for TV and Movies in the 70's and 80's, which is perfect because the costume I had picked out for Halloween this year is Jessica Rabbit, from the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Its a left-over costume from previous years, but no one here has seen me wear it, and it still fits, so I'm going w/ it! I'm planning on going with my friend Doug who is currently living in Wichita, and we'll have a super fun time together! My other brother John is coming down from Omaha for the party, so I'm really excited to see him and his wife as well!

And, of course, I don't have my meals for the week planned yet, but hopefully by tomorrow (seriously this time) I'll have my week planned out. Tonight I dined at Subway :) and I have a few ideas of what I'd like to have this week, so we'll see what I come up with. It looks like its finally going to really cool off, so maybe I'll break out the cold-weather food.

10-10-10

Its one of those few days in the century that people realize when they've written the date on a check, or seen it on the calendar and they snicker - its October 10th, 2010, aka, 10-10-10 and its been a good day. It also happens to be my nephew Nathan's 8th birthday. He is definitely a 10 child; born on 10-10 (October 10th), he was obviously born w/ 10 fingers and toes (thank goodness), at 10:10, he is my parents 10th grandchild, and I think he weighed 10 lbs...no, maybe not, that's a big baby. But weight aside, thats a lot of tens to be dealt in life. His big brother Brock will be turning 15 on Thursday, and my oldest brother Mike will celebrate his birthday on the 16th. A lot of birthdays in October.

This week was kinda lousy in its own ways. Rehearsals were really good, and considering we have a concert tomorrow night, I was pleased with the way the kids were working. We're ready for our perf

ormance, and I'm very excited for the kids to show off what we've been working on. All week long though, I've been trying to get sick and I stayed in bed all day yesterday, even though I was supposed to go shopping w/ my mom and sister. It was kinda a crummy day for everyone - my sister is trying to pass a kidney stone, my mom threw her back out, and I am not feeling the best, so I suppose it was just as well we didn't go shopping yesterday. Today however, was a very very nice day. My mot

her, bad back and all, drove from her home to mine, and together we picked up my kidney-stone-passing sister and drove to Topeka to attend my nephew Matt's Eagle Scout ceremony. It was very touching, and although I don't know much about the scouts program, I could tell it was a really big deal, and his parents were so so sooo proud of him for this accomplishment! They have great kids and I'm a lucky aunt :)

I also went through my finances today, which was a bit

depressing b/c even though I had put aside a bunch of money to go shopping with, I decided not to spend it that way. The money came from my first paycheck as the director of a church choir here in town, and I was so excited to do some much needed clothes shopping with it - and then after sitting down to look at my month's budgeting I realized that if I used this check on my doctors bills, I would have all of the small ones payed for right now! I have a lot of bills right now from the knee surgery I had this summer, and it would be nice to get them all taken care of - at least the small ones. So w/ a frown on my face, I decided to be responsible and put the money towards those and the money

I'll need for gas this month. When exactly did I become a grown-up? Oh well, maybe next month I'll go shopping.

On a more positive note, I found out on Friday that I was accepted as a chorus member for the 2010-2011 season at the Wichita Grand Opera! I was so super excited and I can't wait to start rehearsals! I just hope its a paying gig - that would be so stupendous! If its not it will still be an awesome experience, but a huge $$ suck on gas! I don't know specifics yet, just that they want me, so for now I'm really really excited to be singing professionally again! I was meant to make a joyful noise unto the Lord! :D

I've been pretty lazy with my meal planning lately, and tonight is no excep

tion...so maybe I'll get something planned during the week, cause I'm pretty sure I'll have soup tomorrow night...come back Tuesday if you're really interested. Haha!

These are photos of 2 of my previous successful meals - the pizza was homemade, even the crust and the other meal was shrimp scampi, a recipe I got from my brother Jeff! They were both so delicious!

Well ok, I didn't get my meals posted this week and its been kind of a crazy one at that! But its finally Friday and it couldn't have come any sooner! I've been on the go since the week started, and even though we didn't have school on Monday it seems like I couldn't have been busier! Here's the break down of the week I had:

Monday we had a teacher inservice which was great in the morning b/c the related arts staff were able to spend their own time in their own rooms working. The afternoon however, seemed to drag on forever - we had a special webcast conference with an educator who wrote a book that focused on supporting struggling students. The content was important and those of us who participated in the book study prior to the web conference got some good, valuable information from the book. The conference that afternoon was from 1-4, but it seemed to go on and on and on...it turns out that even though the author had great ideas and content in her book, she isn't much of a public speaker. It was long, flowed poorly and we lost a lot of the content that we read about. When I went home that night I worked furiously getting my house back in shape - I had let it go for a while :S I love the feeling of a clean house, and to make it better I had just bought some great candles with fall scents! So my apartment was clean and smelled of pumpkin pie and harvest spice~yum! I also took that evening to decorate my apartment for fall. I put out some pumpkin decor and I have some really beautiful paintings that my grandmother painted years ago that I like to keep hung at my place. Through regular seasons I keep up her signature lilacs painting, but for fall I have one of her harvest paintings. So now my apartment is set for autumn - and now I can do a little more for Halloween, it being October and everything :)

Its been a great school week, and my choirs are sounding the best they have yet this year! Any progress that was possible seemed questionable in the last couple weeks, but we seem to have risen above whatever funk we were in and I feel we'll be ready for our upcoming concert. Memorization is there and expression is following shortly behind it! Tuesday night I kept scorebook at the high school volleyball games, which is so much fun! I really enjoy being there to support the kids and keep the book! Wednesday night I directed church choir rehearsal and we have a performance in church this Sunday - we've only had 4-6 consistent choir members so far, so hopefully we'll have enough confidence to sing the Lord's praises! Make a joyful noise!!!

Last night I supported our 7th and 8th grade volleyball girls at their home games - although they weren't all victorious, they all gave a great effort and succeeded in my book! I have some great kids this year :D

Today has been great, and I look forward to the restful weekend. I made some chocolate cake last night (my mom's "Lake Cake" recipe-yumm!) to bring to school today. I told some friends at work I would make Crispitos for lunch today, but I couldn't find a recipe, so instead I decided to bring some cake. It went over very well! Tonight I'm planning on going to my sister's and spend an evening w/ her, which will be nice. We live pretty close, but her family is so busy that when school is going on we don't see much of each other.

On Sunday last weekend I traveled to Wichita to audition for the Wichita Grand Opera. I auditioned for a chorus member position and for their young artist program, and I felt like the audition went very well - vocally I felt so good about it! I sang a french aria for them that I had just recently started working on. I should've maybe started with an italian aria that I've worked on and had in my repertoire for about 3 or 4 years, but I thought the french aria would show off what I can do vocally - which it did! I tried my best to memorize it, but despite my best efforts, my nerves took control and I ended up mumbling my way through some of the words. The people in the audition had a lot of really positive things to say and they said I would hear from them by this week - or at least that's what I thought they said, but I haven't heard anything from them at all - no emails, calls or snail mail...I'm not sure how they're going to let me know, but I hope its soon, I've been on pins and needles all week! We'll see what happens, and I'll go wherever the Lord takes me! :D God is so good!

That's all the news I have to report as of now, here's hoping for a restful weekend! Maybe I'll have a menu for next week posted.....maybe....haha

Its Sunday today and it was a beautiful Sunday indeed. I enjoyed a lovely cup of coffee this morning while I watched Sunday Morning and I couldn't help but remember my daddy and miss him so much. He watched Sunday Morning with his coffee every week before church, and it gives me such a sense of him to smell the coffee brewing and imagine the comments he would have about what was going on in the show. Every time I drive down the road and I see the beautiful wildflowers and the scenery I take it all in as if my dad were right there with me. He loved nature, he loved being outside and every time I see a sunflower I think of him and it makes me smile so big inside to remember him and how wonderful we all had it for a while. He is so missed in our lives, but I try to remember that because Christ died for us, my dad is now living eternally and forever with Him in His kingdom. Its taken me a while to get to the place where I can find peace in these thoughts....but I think I'm almost there.

After church and my weekly grocery shopping this afternoon I drove up to see my sister and had dinner with her and her family. I love spending time with them because they are so much fun, and I love them all soooo much! Their youngest, Hannah, is such a character! She painted my nails today and they're - well, most of the nail is covered with polish any way. I'll probably get lots of questions about them, or stares, but it'll be funny. So we had bbq pork strips on the grill for dinner with cheesy potatoes and peach cobbler for dessert - one could not ask for a better, more scrumptious meal, it was so yummy! On the way home after dinner I really enjoyed some praise time while singing along w/ Barlow Girl - what a wonderful day to praise our Lord!

In other news, I've been trying hard to get my voice back in shape - teaching has really taken a tole on my energy and my vocal development. Its such a struggle to go back to the school in the evening to practice when I've been talking, singing and teaching music all day. My voice is tired and I'm physically tired, but I think I'm making some progress. I've had lessons with my voice professor from college and I'm beginning to get back on track. So much so that I turned in applications for the Wichita Grand Opera-which I have yet to hear about-and I'm going to start working on making an audition CD for a performance competition happening early in 2011, so that prospect is very exciting! Above all, it feels good to get back where I was before I was teaching, although I'm not all the way there yet, and I just love singing!

I just finished skyping with my friends from Hays, and it makes me miss them so so much! I have a wonderful 1 hour conversation about things happening there, things happening here, and just life in general. I'm blessed with good friends, and I miss them, they're so much fun! But now its late and its time for bed...except I'm not tired, so this might be a challenge.

And lastly, here are my meals for the week:

Monday: Breakfast for Supper! - Pancakes, Eggs and Bacon

Tuesday: Baked Fish Fillets

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Chicken Noodle Soup

Friday: Singles Group Picnic

Saturday: Sausage Casserole

Sunday: Leftover Sausage Casserole

Ok, so here it is. Its Thursday and the week started out really good, but somewhere, out of nowhere my mood changed, and off and on I've been in a funk for half the week. I feel the beginning of a cold or allergies or something not good coming on, and I realized I'm in need of strong juice! But I'm going to try to get lots of rest and drink lots of water and such, hopefully I'll nip it in the bud. I'll probably get some oranges today and really enjoy some vitamin C.

Yesterday with the weather being rainy and yucky outside, the kids were responding with unfocused craziness. They seem either uninterested or too wound up to focus, which can be very frustrating...and they're not the only ones. I've been a bit unmotivated this week, perhaps I'm not getting enough sleep at night.

Today I've been pretty nervous, probably for no good reason, but I sent my applications in for the Wichita Grand Opera auditions, which are a week from Sunday...I have a lot of work to do, thats if I even get an audition, I may have waited too long. Its nerve wracking, especially since its been difficult trying to keep up my voice while teaching and singing all day long. Mostly I'm just tired physically and vocally after school and I don't have the energy to practice. But I've had a few lessons with my voice coach and he seems to be pretty satisfied/hopeful, so we'll see what happens.

Its been a while

So its been a week or two since I've posted, but seeing as no one follows this blog yet, I don't think it matters. Not a whole lot has happened since the last post, but I'll go ahead and talk about my week and post my new week's menu.

In the last post I talked about my recent knee surgery and recuperation - its getting stronger, but not as quickly as I would like. My knee cap is still doing that funky sliding thing and when I talked to the doc about it again (well, via his secretary leaving me a message) he said that he wants to send me to physical therapy which I'm not thrilled about. I'm sure they're pretty expensive and I'm still trying to pay off the original surgery bills...not a happy camper. He said my knee cap is used to all that junky tissue being in there, and now that its gone the knee cap doesn't know where to sit, so its sliding all around. I'll probably wait for another week or so to see if it gets any better before I decide for or against the physical therapy. This didn't happen last time I had the knee scope - but then again the doc said there was a good possibility that they didn't get out all the tissue the last time, so it was probably worse off than before my scope in high school. Yesterday I was walking from the piano in my classroom to my desk and when I stepped on my left leg I cried out in pain and nearly collapsed to the floor. That's not normal...my poor accompanist was right there next to me and had to catch me.

Last week was a difficult one for me. Aug 31 marked the 1 year anniversary of my father's heart attack, followed by Sept 6 being the anniversary of his death. During the week was difficult, I felt very much alone and missing him a great deal. I was reliving the memories and happenings of our time with him in the hospital the week before he died. On the up side though, it wasn't all bad, painful memories...my siblings and I posted many many things on facebook that were wonderful, happy memories, and they made us smile and remember him so fondly. I had a very bittersweet moment with my 8th grade choir also. We were rehearsing a section of one of our songs, "The Journey," and when I picked out the music prior to school starting the words hadn't really meant anything to me. The words to the song are, "Though the road has been so long, now I'm going home...to the place where I belong, I'm going home...going home, going home, I am going home." And with the already difficult week, the music and the words hit me out of no where like a sack of bricks, and I started crying right there. But of course, it was so lovely, so I didn't want to cut them off, so I kept directing while crying, and my poor students didn't know what to do - they were looking around at each other wondering if they should stop or keep going. I finally cut them off and explained to them what was going on. Most of them were with me last year when it happened and they were understanding and sympathetic. So afterwards we were able to have a wonderful teaching moment where I could actually show them how music can move you and effect you in a way that almost nothing else in the world can. And then after that we were able to laugh about it b/c one of my students said, "Ms. Steinert we thought you were crying b/c we sounded so bad..." Haha - we all got a kick out of that.

We didn't have school on Monday, which was the anniversary of my father's death, and I had spent the weekend with my mother at home, which was very nice. On the way home that day I drove in silence and took in all the country scenery. My dad loved being outside, and he loved nature and it was very refreshing, while still a little painful, to try and focus on all the things that I love about him, miss about him and the things my family has said about him over the past year. I miss you so much daddy~

So, with Monday being Labor day, we didn't have school, so we have a short school week, which is nice. But I'm having such a difficult time with one of my choirs and their interest in singing. I need and want to make my classes more fun all around - but I'm not that creative of a person, so I'll need to do some research and looking into it...music and choir was always fun for me, so I didn't ever need to be entertained in other ways during choir or band...I realize that not all kids are going to like being in choir, although some really do, but it still makes me sad when they aren't enjoying singing. I'm sure the more I teach the more I'll get over that - and still find ways to make it fun for those who are usually bored. One idea I got today from the high school band director was giving out silly bands for those who knew their part and knew it well. I loved that idea, and silly bands are SOOOO in right now, I think the kids will eat it up! I wonder how much they are, I think I have to be sure to get some.

I'm very much looking forward to my weekend to get some much needed rest...I have been waking up every night, several times during the night, and I don't know why! It makes me mad and sleeping and not want to get up in the morning, so my prayer time this week has suffered greatly! I've been asking for better discipline and this is probably how God is answering my prayers...trying to make me stronger by making things more difficult :) For when we pray for things, does God give them to us or does He give us opportunities for us to show these qualities. Haha...we'll see how I do next week I guess.

Lastly, here is my week of meals - even though its now Thursday, and the week is almost over, here it is anyway:

Monday - I don't remember what I had for dinner, but I planned on this day, so it wasn't in my plan - haha

Tuesday - Hamburger Quiche

Wednesday - leftovers

Thursday - SAI meeting-eating pizza there

Friday - home made pizza (mom's recipe)

Saturday - grilled salmon and baked potato

Sunday - Tacos

I bought some soy beans at the store and so I think I'm going to try a chinese appetizer recipe too - yum!

Recuperating knee

2 weeks ago I had a arthroscopic surgery done on my left knee. I have a chronic condition (I don't think there's a name for it) where the tissue in my knee that is supposed to grow nice and smooth, grows jagged and pokey, irritating my already over-lubricated joint. So when I was a senior in high school I had the same operation done, and here I am again. The doctor says that although its healing well it will come back, probably within another 7-10 years, and I can expect to have at least 2 more knee scopes in my lifetime. Lovely...

On Sunday my stitches were starting to look bad - swollen, really red and oozy. I was worried about infection, but when I went to the doctor yesterday to have them taken out the doc said it was just my body's way of rejecting the stitches...duh...and just ripped it out! I told him that the first time I had tried the bicycle at the gym I had stretched my leg out all the way and when I tried to bend it back it felt like my knee cap was going in toward my thigh and wouldn't let me bend my leg again - which was also painful! So after telling him this I said, "I'm sure that's not what's happening, but that's the best way I can describe what I felt..." (not wanting to be dramatic) and he said very simply, "oh yes, that sounds like that's exactly what's happening." What?! I couldn't believe he was so calm about it...last time I checked your knee cap isn't supposed to move that way, right?!

So any way, the stitches are out and I'm trying to work hard on getting my flexibility back by bicycling at the gym. Its been tough, and at first it was painful, but now its feeling better every day. I still feel like I walk with a limp, but its been since February since I've walked normally, so I guess it'll just take me a while. Ha - maybe my hip has gotten used to being higher than the other one and is just stuck there. Guess that's not something to laugh about :)

In other news...this week is the second full week of school and I'm still exhausted, but not as much as last week. The kids aren't exactly excited to be in choir, or in school for that matter, but the ones who are happy and working hard to sing their best almost make up for the ones who don't. Of course, this still brings my teaching skills into question and pushes me to find funner, better, more interesting ways to incorporate music and singing into their lives and our classes - we'll see what I can come up with.

So far this week my meals haven't worked out as planned - for varied reasons - and I've only followed through with one planned meal. But tomorrow is a new day and I am determined to keep going! Now my task is to plan my budget for the month, and then do some much needed grocery shopping. If you have any particularly yummy recipes I'm looking for them, so bring 'em on!

Beginning

Ok, so I'm new to this blog thing, and I'm going to follow in my best friend Kristin's footsteps and share what's going on in my life - even if its simply keeping up with my and others' meal schedules. :)

So right now I'm in my second year of teaching middle school vocal music and I'm loving it! This week was the first week back to school and I am exhausted!!!! I don't remember being this tired last year, so I guess I'm getting old - either that or the summer really had a hold on me! :)

I'm going to try to plan out my meals a week at a time and here's my first attempt doing so:

Monday: Spicy Chicken Sandwiches

Tuesday: Hamburger Quiche

Wednesday: Marinated grilled chicken and brocoli

Thursday: porkchop

Friday: Chicken Casserole

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Leftovers

I'm always looking for new recipes, so if anyone has suggestions or good blogs or resources for new stuff, let me know!