We rock!

It looks like we rocked Fontera Fest last night. See the great review here. The performance was a lot of fun, it went really smoothly. I just love it when I get to work with folks who are so professional and great at what they do, but also are hilarious and fun to be around.

I also really enjoyed watching some skit comedy by Lovey and Lovey. If you get a chance check them out.... Its been a while since I laughed that hard!

Breaking things is fun

I know that doing sound effects for a Frontera Fest piece may not seem very high profile to some people... But man, its really fun! I mean, how often do you get to throw glass items in a box and drop it to see what kind of sound it makes! Yay for sound design :)

And, that new student drought may be ending.... I've taken on one student in the last week and have gotten several calls from interested families. Let's hope this keeps up!

Oh yeah, and Georgia turned one on Sunday, but I'll have to devote a whole other post to that!

Argh!

I swear, I am THIS close to bagging this whole "I'm a piano teacher/running my own buisness" thing. If I have one more family tell me that they're not sure if they're continuing or not I'm going to go insane. My studio is barely hanging on as it is. I've advertised, put the word out via word of mouth, I'm on teacher referral lists of all manner.... I'm friends with a million moms, the problem is none of them have kids old enough to take lessons. And very few of my current students have siblings or friends of the age where they're wanting to start lessons. Most of my students are middle school/high school.... you know, the point at which they start dropping like flies. And that's exactly what my students are doing. I've lost 3 students at the end of the fall semester, possibly another one is going at the end of January, and 2 other long time students are going to every other week lessons. I'm so frustrated. I've not gotten one single solitary call from an interested new student since OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!! I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do. What's crazy is that I have awesome babysitters to watch the kiddos while I teach. The only problem is that I can't afford to keep them if I don't have anyone to teach. I attribute this paucity of students to the economy. But perhaps its just the cycle of one's teaching career. You go through boom and bust cycles just like any other. I'm trying to ride it out and take joy in teaching the few that I have. Because they are committed, bright and generally wonderful to teach. But, when you've got 2 other little people demanding so much of your time, your energy, and your soul every single day, there is a point where you have to ask yourself "Is it worth it?"

I love teaching piano. I never thought I'd be 10 years into my career and asking "Where have the students gone?" I know I've kind of killed my word of mouth momentum by the fact that I took two sabbaticals to have kids, in quick succession. But, I thought "Hey, there's always a wealth of young kids looking to take piano" I thought, with my close proximity to 2 neighborhood elementaries, plus the hordes of young families in Circle C, there would always be budding pianists knocking at my door. I have connections with home schoolers, evangelical Christians, Montessori school families, the Chinese community, and the Catholic church. My luck has got to improve at some point, right??

It's 2009!

Here's what Daniel has to say:



We attended a pagan ritual, er, First Night Austin, last night. At 8PM, they had a "family" finale that culminated in the burning- that's right- burning of a several hundred foot high wooden clock. There were throngs of people, all gathered round the pyre, chanting "Burn it, burn it". Sean figured if they didn't set that puppy on fire soon, people were going to get testy.... And when it went up in flames, well, see for yourself:



Pretty cool. Definitely tapped into a primal human fascination with fire. I found it interesting that in 2009, we were spending a long winter's night much as our ancestors thousands of years ago did.



















I could wax philosophical about all that I hope for in the new year, all the things I hope to change about myself. But I'll just sum it up like this: More than anything, I want to be happy where I am, happy in whatever moment I'm in. I don't want to live anyone else's life but my own. And I wish the same for any of you out there reading this too. Happy 2009!

Christmas family cheesiness

Christmas really is a lot more fun with kids around. The previous Christmases with Daniel have involved the fun of watching him rip open gifts and things of that nature. But with all the conversations about Santa, baby Jesus, along with his cries of "Wow! Look at those lights!" everytime he sees Christmas lights, I'm starting to realize just how much fun is in store for us during the coming years. So, here are some pics and favorite Christmas sayings from this year:

Overheard this Christmas:

me: "Do you want to sit on Santa's lap?:
Daniel: "No, I want to sit on the Snowman's lap. Little boys sit on the Snowman's lap, only little girls sit on Santa's lap"

As we entered the trail of lights, we encountered a display based on the book "Where the Wild Things Are" Immediately Daniel pointed at Max, the main character, and said "Look, its baby Jesus!"

Taking a walk in the neighborhood, looking at lights. Daniel is naming off people who're going to be there at Christmas. After naming off Santa, reindeer, snowman,
me: "Baby Jesus will be there too. Its his birthday, you know."
Daniel: "NO! Its not Baby Jesus' birthday, he's NOT going to be there!!!"
me: "Yeah, he is. Really, its his birthday. Don't you like Baby Jesus?"
Daniel: "NO! I DON'T like Baby Jesus!!!"
Let's just hope that conversation doesn't go down in his permanent record.....

Its good to have friends...

So, I've been feeling like I'm about to lose my sanity lately. And that's why I was extra thankful for days like today, when I got the brood out of the house and went to hang out at Julie's house. Even if I don't tell friends that my nerves are frayed and I'm on my late ounce of patience, even if we never get the chance to spell it all out to each other, just being around other people is so great. It really gives me strength to go on. Like today.... I had no food in the house, no milk, no coffee even! I know, horror of horrors. I got a late start, and even though I hung around after other folks left, Julie was kind enough to let us stay to lunch. That helped me out more than she knew. I was saved from going to the grocery store with 2 cranky little ones in the middle of their usual lunch time. I am so thankful for the generosity of friends, and from having friends who are down in the trenches of raising kids, so even though its not easy for any of us, we're all in it together. I wish I could return the favor of generosity more often. I'm generous in spirit, really I am. One of these days I swear I'm going to get it together and become one of those people who always has something fresh baked and yummy to share. I'm just thankful to have enough people who share what they have with me and know that when they are in need I'll be there for them.

I have a lot to say these days. But, you'd never know it from my blog updates. I just never have the chance to write it down. Or I get too overwhelmed by too many things to say, too many directions that I could take any given entry. So, I'm just going to write. Today, I feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of raising my children. I am completely disappointed in myself and my lack of patience, kindness, and caring towards my toddler. And embarrased at the realization that many times I'm way too hard on Daniel. I think I expect too much of him sometimes. I found myself saying to him this morning, as I was trying to hustle him out of the house to Mother's Day Out "Come on, I know you can concentrate better than this because you're ...." and then I thought, how should that sentence end? "Because you're two?" Yeah, cause we all know two year olds are known for their ability to concentrate on complex tasks. Sometimes I feel so bad that I can't devote more time to him and just him. And other times I feel so guilty for not oohing and aahing over every little thing that Georgia does. Sometimes I feel like they get so little of me, that neither one of them really get what they need. Which ushers in the mother guilt of having my kids so close together. I guess this is where the casual observer might say "I told you so" and where all heads will start to wag at the fact that we broke the sacred rule of 2.5-3 year child spacing. Yeah , yeah, I know. I thought it might be slightly easier by now, but the truth is, it never gets easier. It just gets different. The difficulties rearrange themselves, but the level of constant work, of feeling like my head is barely above water, its, well, constant. Ah, I had so much to say. But the non-napping 2 yr old has started throwing cars in his room which has woken up the very miserable 10 month old. And the fun begins again.