I love this kid.

Today I was listening to students play pieces they had written. When one particular student came up I asked "are you ready?" The answer? "Let's let er' rip!"
When I asked if something was missing from the piece and they did not know, I told them that when I send it to the publisher they will not know where to send the money when it sells. Response: AAhhhhh! My name!  
The performance went well and I congratulated them.
"Well, when you get a million dollars, send it my way!"

The lines kept rolling from their mouth. I wish I had written them down while they were being said.
Oh and did I mention that for no particular reason this child speaks with a Texas twang? They have lived in Northern Illinois their whole life. 

A good day was had by all.

So today I was lucky enough to spend entirely in yoga pants. I like this way too much. I also got to spend time with many of my favorite people. This is even better. Kyle and I woke up leisurely and picked up silent five as she was in the are and needed things to do. We had a lovely pancake breakfast together and then read every single issue of food network magazine that I own. We call it food porn. She then stayed the day and we made pumpkin pie and roasted pumpkin seeds. Things were delicious. I highly recommend the pumpkin pie recipe in the last month's food network magazine.

An Evening at the Symphony

Tonight, I am looking forward to an evening at the symphony with my DH and best friend silent five (and her first mate as she calls him.) We are being fancy. Well, sorta. We are lucky enough to have my husband working for the CSO and because of this, he can acquire tickets for us at a rate that is less than what the real fancy people pay. This will be a nice night out because I really miss her and I also need some relaxing, creative stimulating time.
But Katie, you say, you spend your whole day singing and playing music.
Well yes I do but, I spend my day doing kids music, explaining the most basic parts of music, and I also do everything a minimum of 8 times. 1 time for each of my classes in that grade level. It puts you in a rut.

There is a magical part of listening to a world famous orchestra playing that takes you out of yourself. They are also playing Beethoven tonight. I am in love with Beethoven's music. It is powerful and emotional. I can be anywhere and when LvB's music is playing, I am instantly somewhere better. A place where my emotions are pulsing and making my brain do all sorts of flip flops. Many composers have music that cause this phenomenon as well. Brahms gets my creative side moving. Listening to Brahms makes me want to pick up an instrument and play along. Not because I can, because I feel I must. 

Do yourself a favor and go get some orchestra tickets. Find the nearest professional orchestra and purchase tickets to the next thing that they are performing. It will cleanse your soul.

I don't feel like cooking cooking.

So, because of this week's ailment I have not wanted to prepare dinner for most of this week. What's a girl to do? Answer: easy food!

Tuesday I had put together a pot roast before leaving for work. It basically cooked itself for 9 hours while I went to work, came home at 10:30, and slept the rest of the day. WHo knew I could cook a delicious meal for 9 hours while sleeping on the couch?

Tonight was Mom's dump it all together Turkey noodle casserole.
step 1 Start boiling water for pasta, when ready, dump in pasta. Drain pasta when it is done.
step 2 While pasta cooks, brown a pound of ground turkey in a pan.
step 3 Throw a bag of frozen veggies (any blend will do) in the now empty pasta pot.
step 4 When the veggies are no longer totally frozen, dump in the now cooked turkey and a can (or 2 if you like) of cream of mushroom soup. Stir it up and then add the pasta and stir.
Step 5 Add any extras you like- cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Eat it straight out of the pot.
Step 6 (this is the extra step if you really want to make it better) Pack some casserole into a casserole dish and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. (or crunchy things) and bake until the thing is bubbling and hot and crispy on top.

This took almost as long to type as it did to make.

Me and the stomach flu.

I had the stomach flu this week.
Yes, I know it is not real flu but, calling it what it really is seems less accurate. When you have the flu, you feel like you are going to die. Possibly just from sheer exhaustion. Gastroenteritis makes it sound like you just have some tummy ache. This was no tummy ache. This was 2 days of pain and suffering and fever and more pain and suffering and no energy.
The end.

Things I promised.

Here is my fantastic Halloween costume. My teaching partner and I dressed up as big cereal boxes and trick or treated in each classroom for box tops. It was also a contest for each class.

Ghost Cupcakes and Jake's Birthday Cake

Our little cottage in the woods, near the river

Home Sick

I am spending the afternoon at home. Something nasty is going through my school building. There are 3-6 kids out in each class and our sub board is full. It was only a matter of time until it got me.
I went to work today feeling a little wobbly but not !00% but, I do that all the time.By 9:15 I knew this was not going to be a good day. I stumbled up to our school office and asked one of the secretaries if we could find me a sub for the afternoon. She said it might be difficult this late but she would try. 30 minutes later I had a sub and I could go when she got there. Whew! I would not have made it through a full day today. So, here I sit, on my couch, going back and forth between sleeping and feeling miserable.