Tigers are very Smart!

I have always wondered how smart one of our cats is. Tiger always seems to know when it is about time to get up in the morning because he runs into my bedroom and bounds onto my leg or arm. Since he weighs in at a hefty 12 pounds, this serves as a cat alarm clock. It is much cheaper than batteries.

He also is a good problem solver which I think goes hand in hand with smartness. When we first moved into our house a few years back a cold streak happened in September. When the cold came, so did a family of mice. One evening around 7p.m., the mouse family decided to make a grand appearance on the first floor. Tiger went CRAZY. He raced around the house. That mouse was no match for a cat with no front claws! But Tiger, being the smart boy he is, solved the problem and sat right on top of the mouse. We watched his hair bristle back and forth as the mouse moved underneath him! And Tiger never gave up. He persisted until Stan finally rescued both cat and mouse from their fun.

And finally to close my three point paper on Tiger smartness, I end with this. Although Tiger is very gifted, he does have one small shortcoming. He barfs a lot. He has hairballs. Even with expensive hairball care catfood. Sometimes he goes for weeks without a barf but mostly he surprises us with a little pile every few days or so. He is usually quite thoughtful and keeps it very dry and in a straight line. Sort of looks like the letter "I" most of the time.

Well today, he proved his smartness once and for all. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with Tiger's latest masterpiece:


I personally think he is trying to tell me to watch CS and an implied "I" this week on TV.


Okay. Off to direct a ladies choir!
Heidi

A Culinary Tip

I do not profess to be a Rachel Ray or Emeril in the kitchen but I do think that I can hold my own most of the time. Tonight was a true testament to my cooking prowess. I had some hamburger in the fridge that was about to expire and since we have about overdosed on Meat Lasagna and Veggie Lasagna leftover from our Sunday party, I decided that it was time to use up the meat. I started to skim through the online cookbooks but every hamburger casserole sounded like a variation of Lasagna or Beef with mushroom soup and rice and I am not a fan of that recipe. I went to the Soup section and decided to go with Taco Soup because I have never made it and I know a teacher who brings it to lunch and I want to be more like her.

Here is the original recipe:
* 2 pounds ground beef
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1 can pinto beans
* 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
* 1 can stewed tomatoes - mexican style
* 1 can Rotel tomatoes
* 1 pkg. taco seasoning mix -(opt.)
* 1 pkg. original hidden valley ranch dressing(dry)
* 2 1/2 cups water or more, to make soup broth

Before I started, I was sure that I had ALL of these ingredients in my pantry or my basement grocery store so I started browning the meat. Immediately I should have noticed that I was doomed. I had just 1lb of ground beef not 2 lbs as the recipe stated. I should have made hamburgers. Because in looking back at this recipe, I only had 3 ingredients (and one of them was water) out of 9. This was really going to be a stretch for my better than Paula Dean cooking contest.

Here were my substitutions in italics:
* 2 pounds ground beef 1 pound ground beef
* 1 large onion, chopped Had this!
* 1 can pinto beans 1 can black beans
* 1 can whole kernel corn ,drained 1 can creamed corn!!
* 1 can stewed tomatoes - mexican style 1 can diced tomatoes
* 1 can Rotel tomatoes Huh? What is this? Added 1 small can chilies and a can of tomato sauce
* 1 pkg. taco seasoning mix -(opt.) Had this!
* 1 pkg. original hidden valley ranch dressing(dry)Read the ingredients on my hidden valley ranch dressing bottle and added a splash of vinegar and dash of garlic salt
* 2 1/2 cups water or more, to make soup broth Who can't come up with water?
So, how did it come out?


It actually tasted really good! Especially if you added grated cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream on the top. And don't forget the side of tortilla chips! :)

Blessings and bon appetit,
Heidi

A few Pictures!

Since there are HUNDREDS of regular readers that have never seen my house, I thought I would do little show and tell. Plus, we only have it this clean 2 times a year....Fall party and Christmas party!

This is the front entance area.

If you look to the right when you enter,
you see the little bathroom tucked down at the end of the
room and Stan's office that we put a frenchdoor on.

His office--off limits to the general public as well
as our cats!

Living room that has Madison paper bats
hanging on the mantle.

More living room.

Between the living room and the kitchen/breakfast
nook. We don't usually have that eating table there.

Breakfast nook and more Maddie Halloween.
Sliding doors lead to baby grand shaped back porch!

Kitchen that is too small but pretty!

Dining room with my too small kitchen
in the background.

And that does it for the first floor. I need paint and curtains....but that will be another post!

Heidi

Shingles

For about 4 days, I have had this weird burning/bruised feeling on the top left side of my head. It is so painful that when I sleep on that side, it wakes me up! I racked my brain for the first two days and knew that I hadn't bumped my head on anything and I didn't have the tell tale "knot" on my head. So I grew a little bit concerned.

On Tuesday night, I commented to a friend while chatting with them online that I thought I might be coming down with the flu. I felt my lips burning (this is how I 'feel' a fever coming), my head was aching, and the left side of my face was uncomfortable. So I just went to bed.

On Friday, I decided that it would be wise to see a doctor. When I arrived I was greeted with the following, "Hey Heidi. I can't believe how long it has been since you've been here--January 2006...you must really be sick!"

When I walked out of the office 20 minutes later, he had diagnosed me with the early stages of Shingles. I am not really a candidate for shingles. Most sufferers are over 60, have a compromised immune system, and are under a lot of stress. But, it does hit about 2% of my age bracket who are otherwise healthy. I read a lot about it last night online because I was curious as to what the symptoms are. After reading the articles, I pretty much agree that I may have shingles.

It is most unpleasant. It is quite painful. I am able to carry on with life and I am on some pretty heavy duty drugs. I haven't had the blisters develop on top of each other yet. (I think this is where the name came from). I am waiting for them. When they happen, I will stay home because people who haven't been vaccinated or had the illness in childhood can catch the chicken pox from me. They could last a long time. Oh, did I mention that I have no idea what to do about my choir concert in 4 days?

Tomorrow I have 17 people (one of Stan's graduate classes) coming over for an open house dinner. Today I work my magic on the first floor of this house and cook a lot of food. And today I wait for the Blister Family to arrive. Maybe they will be in time for my party tomorrow.

So, there you have it. Life in the very best form!

Blessings,
Heidi

A Concert...again.

As a choral music director/teacher, I struggle with whether I want my choir to "know" music or just perform music. It is very easy to pick one road or the other yet I am not sure which one is better. I try every year to cram more teaching of the literacy/technical points of music while still trying to uphold a pretty rigorous concert/performance schedule. Usually the two collide many times during the trimester and my job becomes extremely frustrating.

Let me try to explain: In September and October, I focus on the very basics of tone production, vowel formation, and breathing--these all deal with the performance side of vocal music. I also spend equal amounts of time on Rhythm, Solfege (do, re mi's), note reading, and interval training--these would fall into the literacy part of "knowing" music. And then all of the sudden, we stop. We stop sight reading, rhythm reading, and ear/interval training because we have a concert to give. And then right after that concert (which is next week), we have about 25 class days to get ready for a Christmas concert. And the vicious cycle begins again.

Sometimes I wish I would have chosen to become a Math or Science teacher. (this is a joke because these are my WORST subjects). But honestly, those departments have teams of teachers that work together to align curriculum so that it works. Choir teachers are rarely found in teams but usually are singletons. So, who do we begin to align curriculum with? When we have monthly department meetings, I gather with the 4 gym teachers, 1 art teacher (who now is teaching at the elementary as well so she doesn't attend) and the band director (who teaches at the middle school during the meeting time!). It is called a "specials" team. Isn't it special that there are 4 gym teachers and 1 choir teacher that gather in one place to talk about things that they DON'T have in common? I don't think it is an extremely useful way to spend my time!

I now know why I am a special teacher. I am all alone. I teach in my own wing of the building. I rarely see another adult on any given day. I can go for days without communicating with any adult during work hours if I choose. I can actually get work done in my office (which I don't share with any other teacher) and not ever be tempted with idle chit chat. This makes me special. HELLO?? Does anyone know me? Do you know that I love to gab with anyone in sight? Sometimes, I walk up to the office copy machine (off limits to teachers) and make copies so that SOMEONE will say hello to me. So what is so special about this?

I teach my choirs to sing. I teach them to read music. I teach them to love music and respect each others gift. I deep down know this is why I am special. What math or science teacher does this? Oh, and have you ever heard of a "Math Concert"? Yup. Me neither.

And now onto a little plea. Would ANYONE like to direct my concert next week? My kids can sing an "O" vowel perfectly (when I convince them to and they are all paying attention) and they can count simple rhythms but they aren't really ready for this public performance piece of the curriculum. It is so hard to put my reputation out there every 6-7 weeks. I guess this makes me special too.

YUCK!
Heidi

How did this happen?

I don't have a logical explanation for this but tonight I have nothing to do and no place that I have to go. What's up? Could I have an appointment that I am forgetting? Is there a rehearsal that will be without a director? Can I really begin to "catch up"? I hope I haven't just jinxed my plans or lack there of.

Thought you might want to know!

Heidi

When did they grow up?

I frequently have Nathan let himself into the house when he gets home each day. This way he has a little bit of alone time to do his homework and practice trombone before Madison makes her entrance about an hour later. Most days, I am rolling into the garage a few minutes before or after she gets home. Today I was about 20 minutes late pulling up.



I always wonder what they do when I am gone. Today I entered the house to find this going on:
















I am really not joking! I am just not sure how to punish them!
Happy Wednesday!

There comes a time when only a song will do.

An event that happened tonight has changed my life.

IN YOUR NICEST VOICE, SING THE FOLLOWING TO THE TUNE OF "YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE". OUTLOUD. PLEASE. NOW.

When I got home from
My choir practice,
I spied a package on my porch.
It was a brown box
With lots of writing,
And my heart,
It lept with joy.

Inside the brown box
Was lots of paper--
The shredded type that hamsters use.
I spied my brown purse
Inside a sittin'.
And my heart,
It lept again with joy.

I now have credit
Oh lots of credit!
And a bit of cash to use.
I have an i.d.
And lots of receipts
And some hamster shred inside
As well.

Oh Mr. UP's man,
You are my sunshine.
You know just how to treat me well.
Your brown truck pulled up
And then you jumped out.
And you changed my life for the good.


Thanks Vangie for taking care of me!

A trip down memory lane

7 1/2 years ago.
And it just keeps getting better!

Vangie

We had planned to do nothing when we met in Indiana. We both were exhausted from our jobs. We needed listening ears, open minds, and non judgemental opinions. I know that we both got what we needed. It was good. Actually, it was super special.

I met up with my "lifer" today. It took about 10 seconds to feel like I was staring at the 20 year old that I lived with at Asbury so many years ago. She is pretty much the same. She looks a little older and is much more talkative but she still has the same mannerisms, smile, and great sense of thoughtfulness.

We had a very relaxing time. We did absolutely nothing....except eat, sleep, and talk. That is what we both wanted to do so it worked out great until the the last 5 minutes of the adventure. We were just saying our goodbyes and I realized that my keys were not in my purse. They also weren't in my pocket. Or my suitcase. Or my computer bag, my hotel room, the hotel lobby, the hotel breakfast area, the inside of my car (I have a keyless entry code thingy), or Chili's, or McDonalds. We searched for a long time. I had given up and already called the wrecker so that he could tow my car to the Ford Dealership and they could "rechip" my car. I guess my car is fancy because if runs with a key and a chip. I just know that a "chip" meant that my pocket book was going to suffer some great loss that afternoon. As we waited for the tow truck, I mentioned to the front desk that I threw out some trash from my car when I first arrived and was wondering if I could check the dumpster. They said that they would send someone out to look in the dumpster and so I waited. Well, miracles do happen because five minutes later said garbage picker came back with my keys and a giant smile on his face. The tow truck was canceled and we all felt great. Hence the photo opp with both of us smiling and me holding some beautifully dirty keys!

Part two of the awful day turned better and then turned awful again. Vangie and I parted ways and I calculated the time that I needed to get back home before the kids got off the bus. I had exactly ten minutes to spare which was great because my stomach was growling and by this time is was 2:30 and I hadn't had lunch yet. I got into the car and drove for about 30 minutes and then saw a fast food drive thru that I could tolerate. I reached behind my seat to grab my purse and BAM! My purse was not there. It was not there because it was in Vangie's car, which was heading in the opposite direction.

My purse is now in the mail. And of course Monday is Columbus Day. I am thinking that Tuesday may be my first perfect day since Thursday. We'll have to see!

Road Trip!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I have had parent teacher conferences and have been out everynight this week. I am looking forward to having Friday off. My children both have school on Friday so let me tell you what is about to go down!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had reconnected on Facebook with a college room mate that I haven't seen in 16 years! Tomorrow I will jump in the car after parent teacher conferences and travel to the halfway point in Indiana and have a "paint the town red" party with her. I am like a middle schooler tonight....I can't decide what outfit to pack and I can't sleep because I am so excited!

We have rented a room at Comfort Inn and I am bringing popcorn and a deck of cards. It should be a blasty blast!

I will take pictures....well at least one!
Heidi

My children are currently reading the same book series called "Warriors". In the few years that both of them have been reading, this phenomena has never happened. Let me remind you that Madison prefers "historical fiction with two pounds of action and a spice of romance" and Nate prefers just plain historical fiction. This book collection is about a pack of cats and I guess they are warriors....or at least this is what I gather from their highly intelligent impromptu book group which happens at least once a day.
I asked Madison to summarize the "Warriors" Series and she said, "It's about lots of cats in the forest who are trying to survive and they are all in 4 different groups who have different territories and their goal is to have different territories by fighting for them with claw and tooth."


Since we are at grandpa and grandma's house and the toy options are somewhat limited, Maddie and Nate decided that they would play out the books in live feline action with little cats that they have. There is only one small problem:

The "warriors" aren't that fierce.

Over the river and through the woods.

Tomorrow we "blast off" to Grandma's house! I can't wait to get on with the adventure. It is an understatement to announce that this week has been long. A break to Lapeer will be good.

One of the reasons that I am going for a visit is that my mom does all my laundry. Ok, that was true but really not the reason I was thinking of! Mom is participating in a quilt show in a few weeks that is being sponsored by her Methodist Church. She told me a few days ago that "when you do a show that is not sponsored by a guild, you really don't know how many entries/quilts you are going to end up with". So, in order to see this "show" survive, she is supplying about 75 quilts from her collection that she has made. I mean, who really wants to come to a show and see just five quilts? Since she has given me quite a few as gifts, I wanted to bring her some for the show! Now I wish that I could come and see the show because about 80% of the show is her! And everyone knows that you can never get enough of your mother! Hopefully, my dad will take lots of pictures for a future blog post!

The ones that are pictured in this post are the ones I am lending her.

Well, there you have it. Another tidbit that really doesn't matter that much to some of you but matters a huge amount to me!

Blessings for a great day ahead!

Heidi