Friday

I woke up feeling a little blue today. I've been told I should ackowledge my feelings, and allow myself to feel even the negative ones. Then I can deal with those feelings deal instead of burying them. But I don't have time to deal with them today. The kids have dentist appointments beginning at 8:00, and last night it SNOWED. It's still snowing, and that means the roads will be a mess, and the drivers will be insane.

I did my morning routine, visited blogs, and skipped my run. At 7:30 I took Darrin, Jr. to school. Every other parent in town was driving a student to the high school, as well, I'm sure of it. The line of cars waiting to drop off kids stretched for blocks. I finally got back to pick up Tabitha, Adam, and my carpool kids at about 7:50. I told the carpool kids we were going to have to drop Tabitha off at the dentist before taking them to school. We started on the way, and encountered a detour. Again, cars were lined up for blocks to go through the detour. I took a LONG way around and got to the dentist just as they were opening--apparently I'm not the only one running late this morning. I dropped off Tabitha and zipped to the school to deliver the carpool kids. Adam and I went back to the dentist to wait. Tabitha was finished in about 20 minutes--which is very quick for our dentist. The hygienist told me to go get Darrin, Jr., because they would be able to get him in an hour ahead of his appointment. Tabitha and I went back to the high school, this time in lighter traffic.

One of the office workers at the high school turned out to be the mom of one of my students when I was teaching elementary music in school. Her son was one of my favorite students. We talked for a few minutes, then she asked me why I was at the high school. I told her I needed to pick up my son for a dentist appointment. Her eyes got wide, and she said, "YOU have a son in high school? You don't look old enough! You must have been VERY young when he was born!!" Hmmm...no, not really. I was almost 24. But the compliment was nice. Every "almost 40" woman wants to hear that she looks young.

We went back to the dentist and all the kids were finished more than an hour ahead of schedule--and NO CAVITIES!! I taxied them back to their respective schools, and went home. I was supposed to practice, but I'm getting tired of continuous practice, so I didn't. I blogged instead. I wrote lots of VERY LONG comments on all the blogs I visited. Some I visit regularly, some were new. When I visit a new blog, and I'm not sure I want the blogger to visit me, I won't give them my link. There are things in my life I don't want just anyone to share. I've already had some pretty negative comments that I've deleted, and some interesting e-mail--also deleted. Then I paid some bills online and balanced our books. I have to do our taxes SOON, and we're going to owe because both Darrin and I were self-employed last year. Self-employment tax sucks!

I went to work around 11:00, finished some personal 1040's, and went to rehearsal at 1:00. Because one of my piano buddies and I decided to cut our solos from the program, we're substituting a couple of shorter ensemble pieces (AT THE LAST MINUTE!! WHAT ARE WE THINKING!!), which means we'll be rehearsing again tonight. A photographer showed up to take our pictures for the newspaper and for our programs. We all look EXTREMELY casual. I'm the only one wearing make-up (because I went in to work), and no one is dressed up. It's typical of my life. Always expect the unexpected...

I raced home at 3:30, met my first student there, and taught lessons till 5:30. Then I ran to get pizza for dinner (Papa Murphy's--you bake it at home), put it in the oven, and went to my second rehearsal. I was home around 7:30--and BRAIN FRIED.

I e-mailed our program to the publicity guy, sent an e-mail to the piano buddies and our page turners about Sunday's schedule (dinner together at 5:00, program run-through at 5:30, dress and wait at 6:30, performance at 7:00). Darrin snoozed on the couch (he had to work 10 hours today), while I e-mailed and killed time. We were waiting for Darrin, Jr. to call for a ride home from a youth dance. He actually got home near midnight--he caught a ride with a friend, so we all went to bed.

I was too tired for words. I don't even remember falling asleep.