Yes, that really is yellow houndstooth linoleum.  We're gutting the kitchen.

There are 3 legal bedrooms, 1 bath, and something that T is calling his "gun room."  (It's a hole in the wall really, which will house his guns.)

Today I told my students that I was leaving.  Boy oh boy, there were tears.  Lots and lots of tears.  Somehow, I managed to hold it all together, but I think that if I would have lost it they ALL would have lost it.  It was really hard.  I had so many nice comments from kids afterwards and lots and LOTS of hugs.  They all even gathered around me for a ginormous group hug.  How sweet, eh?  I love it.  I love them.  After lunch I came back to my room with stuff like this written on the board:

"The Danger Zone is under construction"
"We were but lead and  you turned us into gold"
"We Love You"

and a poem that is just entirely too long to post here.  Man, we sure are praying that this is the right decision.  I'm gonna miss them like mad.

Today I decided that it would be nice to post about things that I love.
I love my job.  Yesterday we hosted our region's Large Group Music Contest.  We had about 12 different schools come to perform for a panel of judges, receive comments, and a rating.  All 3 of my choirs performed and they all received a "I" rating!  (That's the highest, with a V being the lowest.  I was soooooo proud of them!  We were aiming for a I+, but very few ensembles even received I's, let alone putting a + after it.  Phew.  I'm glad that's over, though.  There was a lot of stress leading up to the big event!  I'll post videos as soon as they're done uploading to YouTube.  Our internet is apparently really slow.

I love my kitty.















Nori and I spent all morning together, just chillin' on the couch.  This afternoon I opened up the patio door to let her experience the wonders of outdoor smells.  She's a bit of a fraidy cat, so she sat under the table for awhile first, but then her curiosity trumped her fear, I guess, because she's been sitting at the door for quite some time now.















Oh, Nori!  My mom bought her a fuschia cat bed for Easter that she has yet to use, but we're trying to convince her to use it.

I love my house.  This afternoon I baked banana bread, did laundry, washed my rugs, did dishes, and tidied up our little nest.  I just love living here.  It's tiny, yes, and it's not ours, I know, but I still love it.  Maybe because it's the first place T and I have had together.  Maybe it's the open kitchen.  Maybe it's the deck with the spring breeze wafting in, or maybe it's the overwhelming scent of fresh banana bread right now.  I don't know.  All I know is that this place feels like home.  Sigh. 


















EDIT:  Here are those videos I promised.  The weird clicky sound is my auto-focus.  Apparently it's really loud.






I'm so proud of them!!!!!

People : An honorable invite - Capital Journal Pierre, SD newspaper since 1881

Woo hoo!  There we are.  :D  I heart my kiddos!!!!!

This is why I've been wanting to pull my hair out for the last month...

I just have to share this with you, this is my younger choir singing the national anthem at a basketball game last week.




Man, I love these girls and I love my job!

Yesterday my Chamber Choir sang for the Legislative Memorial Service at the Capitol.  I got so many comments on how beautiful they sounded!  They were a big nervous too; there were a ton of people in there and the room is a little intimidating in the first place.  I also met up with some old friends who are legislators and caught up for a little while.  The worst part was definitely me accompanying them on piano.  You know, I can sing in front of hundreds of people and be just fine, but sit me down at a piano and tell me to play in front of 50 people and I get all sweaty and freak myself out.  At least I made it through the piece all right.  Didn't screw it up too terribly bad.

Well, my plans have drastically changed for the weekend.  I was planning on going to Sioux Falls for a big music teacher conference and spend some time with my parents.  That was, of course, until the South Dakota weather turned vicious again and I decided to be safe and stay home.  It's okay though, because they ended up postponing the conference anyway.  That just means a free weekend with my hubby!

Tonight T and I went out to our fav Mexican restaurant with some old family friends.  He is a legislator and got stuck here for the weekend too, due to the weather.  How lovely to have plans when we didn't have any 12 hours ago!  Funnily enough, we also have plans tomorrow night.  Apparently a ton of people were planning on leaving Pierre this weekend but everybody got stuck here, so we're having a "crappy weather" party and all hanging out.  I'm excited!  It's just too bad that I finished all of my fun projects last weekend.  Any suggestions for fun project for a snowed in, iced in girl???

T still hasn't heard about med school.  We've been expecting to hear word for going on 2 weeks now, and I still get butterflies every time I even think about the mailbox!!  It's pathetic.  I'm gonna have an ulcer before this is all over.

Happy weekend everybody!

Watching American Idol and now kinda get annoyed at the cheeziness sometimes.  I haven't watched it in like 3 years probably because of that.  Cheese, cheese, cheese.  Blech!!!!

Well, I am psyched to say that I have 8 (almost 9!) new choir students for next semester!  INSANITY!  I am so excited!  Some of these are kids that I've been trying to get to join since the beginning of the year.  I even have 4 new guys!  1 girl is still on the edge of joining, she said she was going to her counselor to change her schedule today...so we'll see if she pulled through with it!  YAHOO!!

Anyway, if you want to read something funny, check out this blog: Sleep Talkin' Man.  I found it yesterday as a blog of note, and T and I were nearly rolling on the floor we were laughing so hard!!!  My sister got a pretty big kick out of it too, you should check it out!!!

(Apparently I have decided it necessary to end each of the preceding paragraphs with copious amounts of exclamation points; it's like I'm subconsciously compensating for my lack of physical energy.)

I wish I had some crazy great story to tell you, or some pretty pictures to post, but I just don't.  I think that means it's time to stop.

G'night all.

Oh, what a lovely day to live fabulously!