A Little Rambling

My friend Matt has this fun blog idea, wherein his blog topic each day comes from the song stuck in his head that morning.  Sometimes they're silly, sometimes he turns it into something quite profound.  Inspired, I thought I would try that. Problem: the song song stuck in my head this morning was "The Mitten Song."  ( listen to it here )  I'm not sure there's much useful storytelling I can pull out of "Thumbs in the thumb-place, fingers all together/this is the song we sing in mitten weather."  It's an adorable song, and I don't really mind it cycling around my brain, but there's really not a whole lot of purpose behind it except that kindergarteners will look precious as they sing it with their reindeer antlers and missing teeth in the Christmas sing-a-long. However, it does lend itself well to talking about my favorite classes - the Ks.  They're so flipping adorable!  I have one class in particular on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that I...

Oh, my poor blog, how I have neglected you! Today was such a lovely day that I decided to drive home the long way.  When you remember that I work 30 miles from home, you realize that the long way is really long.  But it was so worth it!  The sky was that lovely autumnal shade of blue.  Maybe it's just me, but I see the sky differently during different seasons, and there's a special hue for both sky and clouds that just means it's fall.  Anyways, the weather was so gorgeous that I didn't want to waste a drive on the freeway.  Since I work so far away, the "wild desert" is only two miles north of my normal route.  Not terribly wild, but you can drive without stoplights or seeing houses for quite some time.  It was a great choice. So, student teaching and working and job hunting and trying to sleep, eat, and have a life have kept me rather insane.  I'm really looking forward to three days off next week for Thanksgiving!  I realized durin...

I haven't blogged in forever, not because there hasn't been much going on, but because I'm generally gone from 6:30am to 11pm, and those precious hours in between are all used up on trying to sleep.  Today was an exceptional day, however, and I feel like sharing the happy highlights with you. 1.  My 0 Hour class brought breakfast, so I got to school just to feast on doughnuts, blueberry muffins, fresh fruit, and mini-cinnamon rolls.  Yum. 2.  In one class, we played silly mind games the whole period.  Singing? What's that?  We needed a day to re-group, there's been lots of drama.  (and it's a class of all boys) 3.  My girls' choir (the only one I get to keep from bell to bell as my own) discovered my laugh.  All 60 of them imitated it at once, which produced mass hysteria for most of the period.  Throughout the rest of the class, I'd hear a "her hee!" squeak out from a corner of the room, kind of like popcorn, but never being able ...

"Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude." (E.P. Powell) Ahhh, I am stuffed full of stuffing and other stuff. Well, I've never liked turkey or stuffing or green bean casserole or gravy or sweet potatoes. (I know, I know, how unAmerican!) I like the ham, the mashed potatoes, the cranberries, the rolls, and the relish tray. And this year, I decided I liked the martian goop, a green, creamy, marshmallow-y concoction of my cousin's husband's. I ate my plate piled high and did not have room for seconds, though I did manage to consume a small slice of Tollhouse cookie pie for dessert. When I got to David and Sarah's house, the first thing Abby asked me was if she could wear my boots. Having just entered the home, I told her after dinner she could. As soon as I finished eating, she reminded me of my promise and spent the rest of the evening clomping around in bo...

My truest passion is choral music. I love singing. I love piano. I love teaching both of those. I enjoy singing in a praise band. I love working with little kids, and reading, and cooking, and a whole host of other things. But I have no passion [for any earthly thing] that compares to singing in a choir. A GOOD choir. I have been in choir of some sort for as long as I can remember, starting in little kids' church choirs at Bethany. In 6th grade, I joined the Phoenix Children's Chorus, which built the foundation for this passion. In high school, I practically lived in the choir room. At 16, I left PCC and joined the Phoenix Symphony Chorus, and enjoyed being in a professional-level volunteer chorus, singing with the Symphony, under the best director I've known, Bob Moody. At ASU, I was in the women's chorus, which, while not on par with either PCC or TPSC, was still enjoyable. Then came Southwestern. Not being a student there anymore, I can say this out loud - ...