today is the final round of canning tomatoes and tomato sauce!!

School is off and running

2 (4 day) weeks in so far. I have approximately 125 beginners between 4 buildings. Now that's a lot of "Hot Cross Buns"! After another week or two, when kids start to get into a routine, and after they all finally know how to assemble their instruments and blow, life will get a lot easier. Maybe by next week someone will actually get to "Au Clair de la Lune."

Anna's 2nd grade picture

Anna had her 2nd grade picture taken at registration a couple of weeks ago.

Yesterday we took Anna to falls fest. She was able to ride a camel and feed some goats and llamas.

On Sunday we will be off to the Manitowoc Zoo and then the Submarine museum.

A lot of work to do before the beginning band program starts in 2 weeks. I pulled stuck slides, and oiled/greased what I could for 1 school this morning. 2 more to go....... And then I can start with rental contracts..... so much for my 2 weeks off this summer.

more awards

It has been quite a summer for bassoon students: max won a full ride to UW Madison, Adam won a half scholarship to next year's music camp at lakeland and a 2 year renewable scholarship to attend the college, and Brian won a mock audition at the Ball State Bassoon Camp, and was 1st runner up for a scholarship to attend Ball State.

grad classes finished!

I emailed my final set of essays for the 2nd class tonight. What a relief to be done with that. I took a class on "how to teach so students remember" and another on the latest brain research and how it affects education. It was pretty interesting reading, but the writing was a chore. I think between the 2 classes I had about 45 pages of text. Yuck. But at least I didn't have to sit in a classroom. These were correspondence courses, so I could read on the comfy couch.

My hours at the computer sent me to the chiropractor twice this week though. My neck and back are still killing me. I need to figure out better ergonomics that's for sure!

Tomorrow music camp begins. I am teaching all the bassoon sections, 1 or 2 theory sections, a class on finale notation software and the cartoon music class I developed last year. Although teaching at camp is a lot of fun, it is really exhausting.

Ciao

Anna and her totem pole she created at the arts festival.

Anna acting crazy.

Anna the Kitty Cat

Anna had her face painted at the JMKAC arts festival this afternoon.

Anna is being silly and trying (again) to learn how to ride a bike. She now can go up and down the block with training wheels and not tip over.

Pictures of flowers from the gardens around my house. The bottom one is a dianthus.

Anna's last day of first grade with her teacher, Mrs. Siebert.

Here is a picture of when I was young.

New Car Picture

new car

Yesterday I bought a silver toyota Prius. My cruiser has been turning into a money pit. In the last 4 years, I've put in 2 new radiators and etc.. On Friday, all the antifreeze leaked out. I filled it up and 2 miles later is was all gone again. Nuts to that. I decided to trade it in while there is still some value left in it. It is at the shop now and on Wed, we'll finalize the Prius deal after the dealer can inspect the car.

The Prius has a huge trunk, a necessity when your job involves hauling around tubas and cellos. And I wanted something with really good gas mileage, because I hate going to the gas station every week.

teaching assignment

I just got word on Friday that my teaching assignment for the 2009-2010 school year is drastically changing. I will be pulled out of 3 buildings and placed in 3 new buildings and I'll keep Grant School. So after 16 years at North, I am being reassigned to an all elementary position. My participation rates and retention rates are especially high in the grade schools and my supervisor is putting me at 4 of the largest elementary schools so I can boost the enrollment district wide.

I am very sad to be leaving the high school. Being a high school band director has been part of my identity for so long, this will definitely take some getting used to. One thing I will miss is the variety. It will be challenging to stay interested in teaching, when the material is "Hot Cross Buns" all day long, every day. But on the other hand, the outside of school commitments will be far less at the elementary school. No more pep band, marching band, parades, graduation ceremonies, fundraising, band parent meeting, solo and ensemble festivals etc... I certainly won't miss sleeping on a bus traveling to Disney World.

1776

Dirk just finished his last performance of 1776 with the theatre company. He plays the part of John Dickenson, the only one in the continental congress who refuses to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Anna the Ballet Dancer

Anna had her first formal dance recital last Wednesday at the Weill Center.

 New Family Pictures!

Easter Egg Hunt

Today Grandpa and Grandma Milsted had an Easter Egg Hunt for our church. Anna had a fun time and it looked like the other 80 kids did too.

Spring Break

We went to the Dells for a couple of days this week over spring break. Here are some pics.

Spring Break

This week is spring break!! Thursday-Saturday we are taking Anna to the dells for a little vacation.

Also I found a 15 year mortage for 4.625%, so we are going to refi.

Well, our school district may cut up to 51 teachers for next year, because our district is facing a $5 million budget shortfall. My time at the high school has been reduced, but since I have seniority, I'll be bumping a less senior teacher at another school to keep my contract at 100%. But depending on how I am scheduled I could be at as many as 5 building 2nd semester next year. Totally insane.

Anna doing her homework.

The deer in our backyard are a weekly appearance. Here is what we found this morning.

this recipe is pretty good. give it a try!

A slightly more sane week up ahead. This weekend I had 2 rehearsals and 2 concerts. Time to crash. Looks like I might even have a free night on Tuesday, no rehearsal because it is a string sectional. I don't remember the last time I had a free week night. Dirk wants to audition for a play that night. Over the river and through the woods I think.

Anna performed  at Love Bowls this afternoon.

Yesterday we had off from school for those teachers who wanted to attend a reading convention. (it's not a vacation day, the day gets tacked onto the end of the year). Anyway I took that time to get my bassoon fixed (again) and then I had a massage and went shopping for smaller clothes!! Christopher and Banks and Boston Store have some really great deals going on now. Slacks for $9.99 and 70% off clearance prices.

Tonight is our SSO concert. I'll be glad when this one is over, I really don't care for the music that the director picked out for this concert cycle.

bag this rehearsal too.

Can you believe another bassoon malfunction!?! I got my axe fixed last wednesday and now it is not working again. The whisper key keeps sticking and some keys lift up but don't go back down. Last time it was because of the dry, cold weather; the wood shrank and the keywork got out of whack. It looks like it is the same problem this time. I am supposed to play 2 more rehearsals and a concert yet this week. So back to Scott's I go on Friday. I'll have to find another bassoon to play on tomorrow night.

I hit 40

Not 40 years old, but 40.4 lbs on my weight loss journey. About 15lbs more to go to make it to my goal weight. =)

Friday, Jan 30

Had my hearing rechecked and still have a partial hearing loss in my right ear. So on Monday I go in for 2 hours of testing. Oh yeah.

Went to the Highland house for dinner tonight. We had enough reward points to eat free. That's always nice!

bag this rehearsal

So I am sitting in SSO rehearsal and the keys on my bassoon (the whisper key especially) start binding and do not move back and forth freely. So I can't play most of the notes on my horn without them cracking and sounding like a pubescent teenager. Time for an emergency call to Scott for a bassoon fix. The irony was he just returned my clarinet tonight. Well, at least I got to leave rehearsal early. These last ones have been pretty tedious.

Got an offer for another gig on the 15th of Feb. I think that should work. But I must be crazy to accept another commitment with my schedule. I keep going back and forth between feeling guilty  and a sense of duty. I really shouldn't do it, but if I don't who are they going to get? I am the only trained bassoonist in town except for my students. And it sounds like most of the other players hired for this gig are symphony members, so I can't really send a student to stand in for me. Such a quandry!

Not too much new going on lately. Anna is finishing up her first round of swimming classes this semester and she will be dancing (ballet) at the Love Bowls on Feb.8 at 12:30 (held in the south high commons).

I am having my hearing rechecked tomorrow. It feels as if my right ear is clogged. So the Dr. gave me some nasal spray and tomorrow I am going in for a follow up. My ear seems better, but it is still not 100% Evidently there is fluid build up behind my ear drum that needs to drain.

Dirk is still enjoying playing on the Wii. He has rented several games to play with Anna. It's kind of nice to rent them. A good way to give them a test run to see if we like them enough to try them.

Anna and Daddy added icicles to the top of the fort they made.

My father gets excited when he gets flannel shirts for Christmas.

Anna opening gifts at my parents.

Dirk and Anna are playing on the  Wii Santa brought for Christmas.

Anna attended her first ballet this past December.  She was really excited to see it because some of the music she heard is being used in her ballet classes.

Dress up

After our hearty bean soup for lunch, Anna and Grandma Joyce played dress up and pretended they were Cinderella and the fairy god mother. Grandpa was the prince that who married princess Anna.

Snow Day

yeah, it's a "snow day", again. Well, not really yeah. We are already making up days into the 3rd week of June.

Today the in-laws are coming over for lunch. Yesterday I made a big pot of bean soup. Actually it was pretty good.

hello

I'm finally here

Well, this is my first attempt at a blog. Let's see how it goes!