Fun Halloween Decoration

I ran across this fun Halloween decoration idea today.  Wouldn't this be fun to sit out on an end table or shelf during October??  This person bought these this way, but I think I'll hit D.I. and find some old books and paint them up.  I'm lovin' it. 

Piano Lessons Renewed

I have taught piano lessons for years...and years (perhaps 30ish).  I took a break when we moved to Roosevelt, I was burned out.  Decided to start a new endeavor and learned how to longarm quilt.  I've been doing that about 5 years now, and I've gotten to the point that I don't have to think so hard any more to put out a nice quilt for a customer.  When a friend approached me about teaching her daughter piano lessons; instead of groaning inside, it sounded fun again.  A good indication that I could return to it.  The past 2 years I've casually taught just a few students, I decided to just keep things easy and uncomplicated.  (I have a very bad habit of thinking outside of the box and turning little endeavors into massive projects.)

 Here I am again, turning something nice and easy into a massive project :)  I just can't help myself.  Google is the devil!  I was online a few months ago just flitting around, and decided to see if Pinterest had anything fun with piano lesson ideas.  They do!  But the best part was that I found a piano teaching site that has changed how I want to teach this next year.  I've spent the past 2 months in every spare minute I had reading all their past posts, and searching other sites and googling hundreds of piano teaching topics, I'm going to be the FUNNEST PIANO TEACHER IN THE STATE!!!  We're talking lead sheets, composing original compositions, games galore, monthly incentive programs, a studio blog (I hope, haven't gotten that part done yet), mash-ups, fun sight reading, silly things in my front yard each week to welcome students, interesting performance ideas, goofy practice ideas each lesson.  The list goes on and on.  I'm still trying to organize my massive piles of notes.  I've just pulled out a bunch of my teaching aides that I haven't looked at in almost 10 years to remind me what I have and reorganize them.

These photos don't even show the stuff that is in by my piano or downstairs in the storage room that I haven't gone through yet.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, but I will get it up and running and it is going to be sooo cool.  I wish I'd had a teacher like me when I was taking lessons :)

Yard updates.

 We spent several hours at our old house/rental today.  The cement edging was put in a week ago and it looks good.  We had to go and clean up the sod that was cut away in the prep for the cement. 

 I always regret it when I let a contractor do something when I'm not there.  Overall, it is good, but there are two spots that he didn't do it like I wanted it.  In the above photo he curved in behind two above ground sprinkler heads.  We'll be putting grass in along the rest of the fence there and with it the way it is you would have to mow and trim around those two sprinklers.  Not what I told him.  We planted 6 plants to fill in areas where we'd taken out plants that were creating a mess.  You can see a couple here.  They look small and inadequate now, but when they grow it'll be pretty.

 The bush on the right is another new addition.  After speaking to the renters they started watering the lawn better and it was looking quite nice a few weeks ago....today it's looking dry again.  We're going to do things differently with the next renters.  Live and learn. 

 I'm going to move 3 large boulders that are in another area of the yard and put them in front of this tree to fill in that area a bit better.  The next step is to lay down weed fabric and have our local landscaper bring in rock to cover all the dirt in the planting bed areas.  Try to get this to look nice, but keep it easy so that it takes little effort for renters (or us) to maintain it. 

 My mother asked about how my flowers were doing at our home.  They FINALLY started to grow and fill in.  Still not terrific...I think I need to add some more stuff to the soil.  They sat and did nothing for weeks and weeks, the center island and around the post on the left still aren't really great, but it's better than it was.  I had such visions for this and it's been a bit disappointing that it hasn't lived up to them, .... next year :)  I didn't get to it this year but plan to put in artificial plants in the two planter boxes (under the window on the left, and under the fake shutters above the garage).  That will look nifty. 

I've been amazed how much these new bushes have grown just this summer, especially those bright green ones in the back.  I love to have splashes of red here and there, in my yard as well as decorating in the house. 

Land Barons

 Tongue-in-cheek :)  But we do have 1 rental home as well as take care of my mother's rental.  Seems like this past summer we've spent quite a few weekends (and weekdays) at one or the other fixing something.  The above photos are from the front yard of our rental - we have a very nice young family living there right now, but the yard has just gotten away from them.  It is a hard yard - I struggled with it when we lived in the house.  The above photos show that a few of the trees are suffering from bores (or so our local nursery thinks), and you can see in the top photo that the plant/shrub areas of the yard have gone pretty wild. 

 We sprayed Round Up on things a few weeks ago and last night went over there and pulled, chopped, raked, and sawed until it was pretty cleaned up.

We are far from finished.  Need to get the stump guys over to grind up the stumps of dead or removed trees.  Then the cement edger guy over to lay edging down so the grass stays in it's own area.  Then lay down weed barrier and haul in rock to make things look nice and neat and it is easier for renters to keep the yard crisp and clean.  Next year we plan to start the same process in the back yard.

 We finally got renters in at my mother's rental. When we went over today we were happy to see that the lawn was all nicely mowed....a good sign.   We finally are getting around to replacing some broken boards on the gate to the back yard.  We also needed to trim the bottom of all the gate boards so they didn't scrape on the cement.  That gate has bothered me since we bought the house.  Finally fixed :)

Wedding Anniversary

Then

Now

(Well, actually this was taken last year when we were in Logan for my Dad's burial)

Today is our 39th wedding anniversary.  We've been together twice as long as we weren't together, does that make sense?  So many things in those 39 years, and we now find ourselves in the "golden years" - those words actually make sense now.  Other than losing parents they really are pretty golden, much easier than earlier ones.  As life would have it, we're spending the day apart - Dave has a bank meeting out of town and I have such a backlog of quilts with upcoming deadlines that I felt pressured to stay home and keep working. It's okay, we'll do something this weekend, part of being together long enough you get over fussing about the little things.

We are so grateful for 4 wonderful children who continue to make us proud, as well as their spouses and our grandchildren - the legacy we'll leave behind.  They are the gold in our lives.  

On to year 40!  We're already talking about an Alaska Cruise :) 

Book: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

I admit that I read weird books.  This one was extra weird.  I liked it, but its one of those stories that sticks with you for days afterwards.  I found myself dreaming about it while up camping in the woods -- not sure that's what I was really looking for.  It has some holes in the logic of the story, my initial thought was that it was dumb - nobody would ever really do this - but then when you think about what normal people actually do, how they justify horrendous actions, maybe they might.  It's easy to see what the author is pointing out, interesting. Gets you thinking.

"The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights.  The chilling resolution:  Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen.  Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end.  Connor is too difficult for his parents to control.  Risa, a ward of the state, is not talented enough to be kept alive.  And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound.  Together, they may have a chance to escape -- and to survive."

Chapter 61 was the part that really got me....the process of a teenager actually going through the process of being unwound.  Chilling.

This is a stand alone book.  Unusual these days of multiple sequels.  Despite everything, I did like it -- had a hard time putting it down.

Book: "The Selection" by Kiera Cass

""

I'm surprised I like this book...I mainly checked it out because of the cover, what a fun dress that would be to wear!  (Lame, I know!)  It's a tad juvenile, kind of predictable, and has a real flavor of the TV shows "The Bachelor or Bachelorette" which I don't watch because they drive me nuts.  But regardless of all that, it was a fun read!  I'm surprised. 

"For 35 girls the Selection is the chance of a lifetime.  The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth.  To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare.  It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her.  Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want.  Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks. 

Then America meets Prince Maxon.  Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself -- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined."

It is the first book of three, and yes, I'm going to go and look for the next one.