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1. Mr. Pete is working very hard. This is his busiest season and it will last until around Christmas. First there are the kids going back to school who need instruments or to have their old instruments fixed. Then there are the perpetual repairs to be made during marching band season. As soon as football season is over though there will be a mad dash to bring in all the marching horns and get the concert horns out as they prepare for the holiday concerts. It is a very busy time.
2. Sam signed up to be a soccer ref again with CYO. He took four hours of training but has only been assigned two games. I noted that some of the other refs were doing three or four games in a row! I’m just wondering what we have to do or who we have to know to get more games? On the other hand, although Sam is interested in doing more, Mr. Pete does not want him to get a regular job because he doesn’t want to work around his work schedule. Calvin was working part time at this age. It would be nice if Sam could get at a church playing the piano or organ. From what I hear there is a shortage of church organists.
3. Sunday we have to make a Christmas recording at church. There are three pieces planned. I will also be recording with the children and the bell choir. I guess I should really try to get some good practice in today and Saturday and make sure my embrouchure is up to it!
4. I recently bought a new Pentax DSLR camera. This is my first camera that is not a point and shoot. It’s taken me a while to figure it out. The camera kit came with two lenses and because I was shooting cross country I put the largest lens on first – with mixed results. But this week I tried out the smaller lens and I am much happier with the pictures. I’m still trying to figure it out. Here are some of my best from last night.
5. My biggest challenge this year is keeping Gabe motivated. He is such a difficult student to prod. In many ways he is like his father at this age. Mr. Pete always got OK grades in school. OK, but not great. He was quiet, friendly, not a trouble maker and a bit of a charmer and that apparently got him by in school with a solid C/B average. Gabe tends to be the same way only as his mother, I can see through the charm!
6. We started movie day in our homeschool. This is something that the Bravewriter web site advocates. I have one day a week when I am swamped with work, and the morning is taken up with music lessons. So instead of losing the day I started movie day. Yesterday I had the kids watch Expelled, a film I blogged a lot about last year. For my high schooler and jr. high student it was very thought provoking. I’m not sure my 6th grader got it all but he did understand that there was some discrimination based on a different world view. Izzy and Rosie just played pretty much. I hope to come up with a new list of movies that should see. Movies are part of the cultural literacy now, but it’s also important to pick movies that are appropriate for their age range. I plan to include a lot of musicals!
7. I found out it would cost in the thousands of dollars for genetic counseling and testing to find out my risks for getting ovarian cancer. (Our insurance would cover it, but we have a $5000 deductible.) So I’ve decided the cheapest and probably most prudent way to go would to pretend that I do have the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation and just act accordingly with regular checkups, mammograms etc. I will have to run that by my doctor but right now that’s the way I’m leaning.
In the meantime, the mind can play terrible tricks. Every little ache or pain now in my abdomen makes me think of cancer.
About eleven years ago, a friend of mine turned 40 and she was petrified of having cancer and of her own mortality in general. I was pregnant at the time. She came over to my house to laugh and cry about it. I had a blood pressure cuff so I took her blood pressure and it was normal. I remember holding her while she cried a little bit from relief, but also in facing her own mortality. At the time I didn’t have such thoughts. I was literally full of life. But now at 50 I get it. And after watching my mother die, I REALLY get it.
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