My unReal World

Empty Nest

2011-08-15T17:45:00.003-04:00

The kids are gone,
the car is gone,
my man is gone.
All I have left
is
two dogs,
Big and Small.
That's all.

My First Post-it Note Tuesday

2011-01-26T22:35:00.000-05:00

Many thanks and linking to:

and also linking to:

Something that Makes Me Wildly Happy

2011-01-20T00:06:00.001-05:00

Beautiful Debi, 17, 2008

linking back to

http://leighvslaundry.blogspot.com/

haiku

2011-01-17T23:03:00.002-05:00

better tonight now
new stars new hope new vision
not so far from home

2011-01-14T23:08:00.000-05:00

They changed my sign?

2011-01-14T09:32:00.000-05:00

Flowers are Red- Southwest Georgia Writing Project, October 2010

2010-10-03T17:35:00.000-04:00

National Writing Project. I went through the Writing Institute this summer at Georgia Southwestern University, and now I am officially a Teaching Fellow. The National Writing Project has been around for 40 or more years. It's goal is to have teachers teach other teachers how to teach writing! It's a great program, and I really learned a lot and met a bunch of great teachers and made some new friends!

The meeting was fun. We wrote. The writing prompt for the day was "thinking outside the box." Our fearless leader, Dr. Peg Ellington, read us the book C in the Box - a Paradigm Parable.

Encouraged to write about "outside the box" I wrote this:

This story made me think about my Action Research project that I am conducting at my school right now. It’s about blogging with Elementary School students. Last week I took my classes to the Writng Lab to introduce them to their Music Blogs, a place where we can write, across the curriculum, about music online. The students were very excited to start blogging. I had spent 3 days of the same week teaching them how to prewrite, mind map, rough draft—all in response to a video we had watched Beethoven Lives Upstairs—They were ready to write, about music, online, and now all we had to do was get into the writing lab to start blogging.

Yesterday afterschool I was told that a teacher in the hall was heard complaining:
“We’re supposed to be going to Music, why am I bringing my class to the Writing Lab?”

Then, we were encouraged to draw pictures of flowers. No other directions given. Then we listened to Harry Chapin's "Flowers are Red." Finally, Dr. Ellington read us The Art Lesson by my favorite children's author Tommie de Paola.

Inspired I made this little movie about the day.

Click here to see my little movie

Needless to say there was food there, and friends, and the house we met at was extremely comfortable and beautiful. It was a great meeting. I'm glad I went. I look forward to our National Conference in Orlando, Florida which will be held November 17, 18 & 19.

I Make Music

2010-06-13T20:10:00.002-04:00

I make music

I make kids sing and dance when they don’t want to, and like it.

I make kids learn to read music and make it seem easy.

I make kids play on the beat and breathe at exactly the same time.

I make co-operate.

I make kids compete.

I make kids listen to music that they’ve never heard before,

Music like Bach, Mozart, Beethovan,

Gershwin, Coplan, Stravensky

and sometimes Miles Davis.

I make kids want to listen to it again.

I make kids ask questions, excited to learn.

and anxious to come to my class.

I make kids harmonize, improvise and compose.

I make kids practice and perform.

and keep playing even after they’ve made a mistake.

I make The Wizard of Oz on a limited budget.

On Memorial Day, in the heat,

In front of a small town

I make kids march down the street

in straight lines,

in step,

playing John Phillip Sousa

often on an instrument larger then themselves.

I make kids think about why we march.

I make kids play taps.

I make kids play the school song at every football game

And every basketball game

and Pomp and Circumstance

at each graduation.

I make kids laugh and cry

and sometimes apologize.

I make kids realize the world is bigger than their hometown.

I make kids listen

and learn

and love to make music.

See this poem at my personal blog My Real World at andreanichols.blogspot.com

Where I'm From

2010-06-10T22:49:00.001-04:00

Where I’m From
Andrea Nichols

I’m from a land that’s wild and free
Full of air and full of trees,
canoes and cabins,
Countryside,
Rivers clear and lakes so wide.
The nights hold stars of mysteries deep
With silent space on which to sleep.

Frosty mornings, calm and cold
Trucks and logs await the snow.
Icy roads and spinning wheels
The toasty way a wood stove feels
Piling wood to keep us warm
Safe inside, safe from the storm

Ice goes out, finally
Let those crystal waters free
We all stand on the bridge to see
Crashing ice, bearing down
Soon it might flood out the town
We all watch without a sound

The sun comes up before the dawn
On dandelion carpet lawns
Then sadly, summer days are gone.
Bright autumn leaves, guns and deer
Hunters hunt, the shots we hear
We know the wintertime is near.

I’m from a land that’s wild and free
A place called Maine that’s full of me

2010-06-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

2010-06-06T00:55:00.003-04:00

I love cubist art. I love Picasso. I made this art at the website http://www.picassohead.com/ . The site allows one to make their own picassohead as well as view other people's creations.

An email from my mom

2010-03-25T13:48:00.001-04:00

Thank you so much, Tasha and Tara, for putting us up for the night. Really enjoyed visiting, seeing the kids, relaxing. We'll have to do that again, for no reason at all!! Jerry got his shot this AM around 7:30. Feeling better already, he says. Course, I found out I had to drive us out of Portland. We took a little side trip to the OLd Port, but quickly was able to get back on 295. I was more careful about what lane I drove in after that. Went to Freeport. Got a cute summer zipper hoodie for myself and a nice hat for dad. The winter hat was marked down to 9 from 24 dollars and we had a 10 coupon so we got it for free....yeah. The coat was 16 marked down from 50. Love LLBean!!.

We stopped a lot on the way home so dad could stretch. He drove after Freeport. Probably shouldn't have, but, he felt fine.

As we approached Mr. Katahdin, it started snowing. Little patches of snow started showing up in the woods. There was more and more of it until we reached Ashland where it was coming down horizontally. I'm sure people will be out ski-dooing tomorrow. And there was green grass in Ellsworth and Merrimack. I'm bummed!! I'm sitting by a nice wood fire, so I guess it's not that bad. I'll include a few pictures. Again, had a great time. Love you all....Mom

PS...I'm not sure I'm going to bother with MY FAMILLY website. This is just as easy...to just email.

On the way home....
UgHH!!
Leah Dahl's house in Masardis
Our driveway.....

This MSN Photo E-mail slideshow will be available for 30 days.
To share high quality pictures with your friends and family using MSN Photo E-mail, join MSN.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Untitled

2010-02-21T17:41:00.001-05:00

Download now or watch on posterous

VIDEO0059.mp4 (1933 KB)

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Ask God

2010-02-17T11:09:00.001-05:00

Download now or watch on posterous

VIDEO0049.mp4 (630 KB)

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

2009-11-25T21:35:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving Eve 2009

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

At School on a Saturday

2009-11-15T19:23:00.001-05:00

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Untitled

2009-11-06T11:35:00.001-05:00

MSNICHOLS39's Blog http://ping.fm/HCebW

via Ping.fm

Posted via web from Andrea & Friends

2009-11-06T11:34:00.001-05:00

MSNICHOLS39's Blog http://ping.fm/HCebW

My Backyard

2009-11-05T21:22:00.001-05:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

My Backyard

2009-11-05T21:20:00.001-05:00

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

My Birthday Song from Karen White

2009-11-03T21:01:00.001-05:00

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Debi and Misty on my birthday-November 2, 2009

2009-11-03T14:05:00.001-05:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

My Backyard

2009-11-03T14:01:00.001-05:00

From: Customer Support - Posterous <help@posterous.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 1:25 AM
To: Andrea <andrea.nichols1968@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: My Backyard

We were unable to post your email:
My Backyard

to site: andrrajnichols.posterous.com

[The entire original message is not included]

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Halloween at the Winsor Hotel

2009-11-01T20:53:00.001-05:00

Americus, GA 2009

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Where I Worship

2009-10-26T07:04:00.001-04:00

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Untitled

2009-10-14T07:53:00.003-04:00

BBC NEWS | Technology | Youth 'cannot live' without web ( http://ping.fm/NqqGd )

via Ping.fm

Posted via web from Andrea & Friends

2009-10-14T07:53:00.001-04:00

BBC NEWS | Technology | Youth 'cannot live' without web ( http://ping.fm/NqqGd )

Debi's Birthday Party

2009-10-08T09:50:00.001-04:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Debi's 17nth Birthday

2009-10-08T02:33:00.001-04:00

Pat's Place
September 17, 2009

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Debi's a GSW Freshman

2009-10-08T01:35:00.001-04:00

GSW library...studying?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Debi Sings at Recital Lab

2009-10-08T00:40:00.001-04:00

Download now or watch on posterous

Picture 007.MOV (25196 KB)

Georgia Southwestern University

Freshman Year

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Sumter County Elementary - Music Class Grade 3

2009-10-06T16:54:00.001-04:00

via sces.sumterschools.org

Just me doing my thing!

Posted via web from Andrea & Friends

Untitled

2009-10-06T15:41:00.001-04:00

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Debi's happy!

2009-10-06T15:36:00.001-04:00

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

Sunflowes!

2009-10-06T15:29:00.001-04:00

Posted via email from Andrea & Friends

2009-10-06T11:57:00.001-04:00

Q&A with Author of "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership (http://ping.fm/BsMoX)

2009-10-06T11:26:00.001-04:00

BBC NEWS | Americas | Fighting the 'contraceptive mentality' (http://ping.fm/nzMEY)

Sunday Afternoon with Zac and the Boys

2009-06-14T14:22:00.004-04:00

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon in southwest Georgia and it is HOT out. Really, even us southerners are shocked at the brutality of the heat. And as they say, it's fixin' to get hottah! Good Gracious.

Turn up the AC and stay inside. Listen to music.

Speaking of music, my latest obession is this Zac Brown Band I've found. Those few of you who read my Blog may not even like country but, believe me, this band is great, if you like that country-retro-rock feel with a fiddle. I feel it. I found a new site the Smoking Section of Rolling Stone magazine (of which I subscribe). They have some great in-house videos posted of various bands. Lo and behold, there's my Zac Brown and the boys! It's from a few months ago, but who cares. The song I listened to today, for the first time is the Highway 20 Ride. So wonderful.

There have been very few albums in my time that I have bought and truly loved, front to back, but The Foundation is one of them. Maybe it's because I'm a finger-picking guitar player myself. These guys are going to be huge stars, and then I can blog about how "I told you so!"

The Zac Brown Band

2009-06-12T01:21:00.006-04:00

Ok. I admit it. I love this band.

At first I just loved the song, "Chicken Fried", but now have come to realize that I actually really enjoy a lot of their songs. And now that I have added the Zac Brown Band channel to my blog (don't roll your eyes, give it a try), I am enjoying them even more.

It's embarrasing to admit just how much I have learned about the band tonight. First I found thier website www.zacbrownband.com and somehow thought I better head on over to www.cmt.com and vote for their video for "Chicken Fried", which is nomitated for some kind of an award on cmt.com. I am so crazy over this song/video I took the time to register at www.CMT.com just so I could vote for the song. I've never voted online for anything, mind you, not even American Idol! But yet, I was driven. I do watch CMT a lot so I thought maybe it would be good.

I cruised on back to the www.zacbrownband.com and explored their site a little further. Somehow I found out that you can score free tickets to their concert, but first you had to register for another site www.streetpropaganda.com. So I did this. This was even more difficult. I don't know if it was me and the chrome browser I use, or them and whatever their page uses but it was SLOW GOING, but I pressed on. Finally, I am a registered user of www.streetpropaganda.com.

On www.streetpropaganda.com I am able to actually promote bands, for no pay of course, by doing different "missions" and get points for free merchandise, and potentially even tickets to a concert. THAT WOULD BE SO COOL. You have to take webshots of your work and submit them to the site for points. I even figured out how to take a webshot with the snipper device that is on Vista. I did some shameless promoting, submitted my "work". I am awaiting word about the points. It was kinda fun. I feel closer to the Zac Brown Band now.

I think I'm going to write about them again. But for now. LISTEN. You will like.

Long Time Coming

2009-06-10T12:01:00.003-04:00

I have neglected my blog. I know it's there, I even check on it occasionally. What do I think is going to happen with it? It's such a responsibility! But, I'm on school vacation now, and I owe it to myself to jump back in the blogging ring and get back at it. Just to get warmed up here's a list of things that have changed since the last time I blogged:

1. I am no longer dieting. I should be, but I'm not.

2. Debi did not get accepted to Belmont in Nashville, she was dissappointed but now looks forward to going to Georgia Southwestern here in Americus, GA.

2.1 Debi graduated from High School. See her blog: http://whatsdebidoing.blogspot.com/

3. I broke up with my boyfriend of 5 years. I am still sad-a little.

4. I got a new puppy, Otis, a black lab. Very cute. I found him abandoned and "adopted" him.

That's enough for now, because I have to do some house-stuff. Ugh. But I'm going to start blogging "for real". Later.

Nashville is Fabulous!

2009-02-16T13:54:00.007-05:00

Debi and I had the greatest time in Nashville. Her audition went well and she loved the school. We're keeping our fingers crossed. The city is so neat. It's not nearly as metropolitan as I expected, I'm used to Boston and New York (being originally from Maine). It's so friendly and there's so much to do.

She really did not want to come home! I will post more later! Thanks for your well wishes!

Watch out Nashville, Here We Come

2009-02-11T22:23:00.009-05:00

We're going to Nashville! I'm so excited for my weekend! My seventeen-year old daughter and I are going to Nashville for the weekend. It's about 6 hours away from our hometown of Americus, GA. She has an audition Saturday morning at Belmont University. We are making a vacation out of it. Comfy hotel. A couple good meals and a trip to THE GRAND OLE OPRY! I love country music, as does she. We've never been! And it's at the Ryman Auditorium (rather than the new Gaylord Opryhouse). So we get to see the historic Opry. She has to sing 3 songs, she's ready. She wants to major in Commercial Music. Her songs are (classical) I Wonder as I Wonder, (pop) Tears in Heaven, and (standard) In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning. I just can't believe she's old enough to be going to college and that we are FINALLY making it t o Nashville, even if it's just for a weekend.
Wish Us Luck!

The Letter P/ All About Me

2009-02-08T19:31:00.003-05:00

Hello! Today my Blog is about the letter "P". You see, I have signed myself up to one of those viral tagging games that find their way around Blogs and Facebooks and other online communities. (Here I assume, being only involved Blogging and Facebook). I saw this one on lori times five (which I love, by the way, so pretty and fun to read. I think it is the peaceful yellow color she uses for wallpaper. Yellow is a happy color.) She got her letter from Val (monkeysontheroof). I wondered over to Val's Blog (also fun to read) and requested a letter. She kindly gave me "P".

10 Words, beginning with the Letter P, that are significant to me.

1. Patience. I need more for sure. I try to conserve what little I have but I never have enough. Between the 800 children at my elementary school, my two teenagers and my younger man...let's just say you can never have enough patience. I even go to confession at church (yes, I'm Catholic) and confess my lack of it. My Priest tells me that it is a Grace given by God and I should pray for it. So I do. I believe it helps.

2. Prayer. See #1. No, just kidding. Prayer is very comforting. I go through periods where I'm not so sure about God, but then I realize that he probably goes through periods where He's not so sure about me. I find regular attendance at church helps me. The readings from the Bible, the songs, the Other Believers really support me. I like to think there's someone out there listening to me when I Pray.

3. Peace. Peace feels like floating, nothing holding you down. Like a hot bath, when your family is all asleep, nothing but the sound of the ceiling fan and your own thoughts. World Peace would be nice too.

4. Pupils. My students are very important to me. I spend a lot of time thinking about them, how they are, how they learn, are they learning? What to teach and how to teach it. It's my job but I love it.

5. Parent. I love my parents. They've been happily married for 45 years. They are still in love. They love me. They spend a lot of time thinking about me. I'm a parent too. I spend a lot of time about my offspring. I spend a lot of time thinking about my parents. I spend a lot of time thinking about my student's parents.

6. People. People are important. Sometimes I don't want to deal with people, but I have to most of the time. Students, staff, administration, parents, partner and kids. Everyone is so different. It's amazing when you think of just how different people can be and the things people are capable of. Good and bad.

7. Practice. Being a parent and a music teacher I am always worrying about practices. Are my students practicing? When is my daughter's Chorus practice? When is the practice for the musical? I need to practice that music for church. Don't be late for Band practice.

8. Planting. I love to garden and I can't wait to start planting my garden! I'm so excited at the longer gardening seasons here in Georgia. (It's a lot different than Maine!)

9. Possible. Is it possible? Can it be done? Anything's possible.

10. Performance. Once again, my world is full of performances. My student's Christmas performace, my daughter's performance at her audion this weekend, the teacher talent show performance in March, my performance at rehearsal at the college tomorrow night, our performance at church this morning.

This was fun! I am surprised at the plethera of "P" words!

Oh no! Not Project Playlist!------------------------------>

2009-02-07T22:34:00.005-05:00

I love Project Playlist. I've just been surfing around the web, and I stumble on news that THE MAN is taking Project Playlist off MySpace and Facebook???? It figures. Just when I get something figured out, and make some use of it, it gets taken away. Story of my life, really. But that's another blog, for sure.

About 5 months ago my 17 year old daughter Debi set me up with Project Playlist on my Facebook. She said it was "better on MySpace, because the music will start playing when someone goes to your page."

"Whatever," I said, it was cool enough for me on Facebook. But I soon realized that the application gets buried on Facebook, and you gotta kinda go looking for it to play it and no one does. So there it sat for awhile before I deleted it. But then I discovered Blogs, I started this Blog a month ago and someone else had it on their Blog, and I actually sat and figured out how to add it to this blog and found some music and well, I enjoy it! It starts up when I open my Blog. Just like MySpace!

And now they're gonna rip it away. GAWD! Well, I'm keeping mine till Blogger is bullied into taking it down. I wonder how long that will be? Jeeez. If any of you techies out there know, or if you have kids that are techies and they know, will you let me know? I searched (for a second) on the web but did not see much about Blogger and Project Playlist. How irritating. Grrr.

Debi also says that Tom over at MySpace is "ruining" MySpace, his own creation! Is this true? Does anyone out there know? She told me this morning as I drove her to a visiting day at Georgia Southwestern State University. I was working on my first cup of coffee and dismissed her ramblings but now I'm wondering....

Another Find on Facebook

2009-01-30T23:07:00.003-05:00

As I've stated in a previous blog, I Love Facebook. I am not ashamed. I have been finding so many past friends. One of my favorite hobbies on Facebook is collecting former students. Here is today's find: Ms. Ashley MacDonald! I taught Ashley in Eastport, Maine. (Easternmost City in USA.) She was in Elementary School at the time and was a really entertaining music student. At the time, she had a goth thing going on and was passionate about the arts. She is so beautiful, talented and smart. She has a job she loves and has decided to Blog about it! Starting TONITE you can follow her blog. I just read her post and now I'm so excited! You can find her blog at:

http://ashleyisconvinced.blogspot.com/

Check it out!

I Just Love it When a Plan Comes Together

2009-01-30T21:05:00.005-05:00

I love it when a plan comes together. My daughter and son are playing Rock Band together for the first time. Song: Mississippi Queen (Mountain). They Rock! Nick got a 94 on guitar and Deb got a 96 on Drums. Now, as I type, my serenade has changed to Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter". Sounds good to me. I am enjoying a Jim Beam and Diet Pepsi. My favorite. I seldom indulge. But it is Friday, and like I said, I love it when a plan comes together. Okay. Nick's getting a 82 on his guitar solo. Cool, he ended with 90% great solo. It's his first time on Rock Band. He wore out Guitar Hero I. (mastered all the songs). Last year, his senior year in high school, he used to be the musical entertainment. The would party, he would play PlayStation.

Rock Band is a PlayStation game I got Debi for Christmas this year. It was her "big" gift. (Deb and Nick are now discussing their next song: Dani California "Red Hot Chile Peppers"). Deb's still playing drum set...I wish she'd sing. She needs the practice. She has an Audition at Belmont University in Nashville, TN in two weeks. I try not to be a stage mom. It's her life.

She actually has to practice her classical piece. From the list of suggested titles, I selected "I Wonder as I Wander", an Appalachian Tune. She (we) only have two weeks to get this piece ready. I rush ordered the music from sheetmusicplus.com. It should be here Tuesday. I am going to the music store tomorrow to finish paying for this cool piano I found at the obscure music store in downtown Americus, GA a couple weeks ago. $300! An antique upright. Newly refinished. Very nice sounding. Reminds me of the piano in my parent's basement that I learned to play on. They're delivering it for $50. So cool. Moving pianos is the pits. I know, because I owned one up until I moved here and I moved all the time it seemed. My poor Dad ended up moving it with me almost every time too. I gave it to a church before I moved to Georgia. I miss it. It was a nice Kimball. But I found another one, not as nice, but it will do! The price is right and it's respectable. When we get it we can start practicing for her audition. Because she's a Commercial Music major she can audition on any genre except for Music Theater. She's going to also be performing "Heartbreaker" (Pat Bennitar) and "Tears in Heaven" Eric Clapton. It's funny, she really does do country most of the time but here we are.

Debi's Singing! Mississippi queen! She rocks. 5 stars! 100% (evil laugh from Debi)

Nick leaves the room for a cigarette. A nasty habit but he's 19 and trained to smoke outdoors.
Note to readers: Another good reason to move to Georgia: It's warmer than Maine when you have to go smoke outside.

"I Wonder as I Wander" is a Christmas/religious piece. It's in a minor key and listed as "medium" under difficulty. At least it's in English. (I took a look at it on sheetmusicplus.com. That site has a "look inside now" feature, very nice).I'm glad that the piano accompaniment is easy too, since that may be my roll at the auditions but not if I can help it. They say they provide an accompanist.

Debi's trying to blow out Nick's TV speakers by yelling in the microphone. I tell her not to, loudly, and she responds "Yes, m'am". She acclimates so well. There's no "M'am" in Maine! Now she's singing, I think "Creep" by Radiohead. My boyfriend JR and I crack up at the lyrics. Debi says the lyrics creep her out.

If Debi does not get accepted into Belmont in Tennesse, she's applying to Georgia Southwestern (which is literally in my backyard), and University of Mississippi, Hattisburg. If she, by the grace of god, gets accepted to Belmont her degree will be Commercial Music with a concentration in Music Business. If she doesn't, she would like to go to GSW. There her major would be Music Performance: Voice. If she goes to Hattiesburg it will be Music Business. She really wants to go to Full Sail in Florida but don't like that idea because they have no dorms. She needs dorms, and all that traditional college stuff.

Ok, Debi says Ok Go's"Here We Go Again" made Youtube famous because they danced on treadmills. "If you don't believe me go look it up," says Debi. She moves on to "Learn to Fly" by Foo Fighters. "I never sung this song before," says Debi. "Sang," I say. I contemplate her Northern Maine accent. Nothing we can do now. Hopefully the being immersed in the southern accent will smooth it out.

I'm kidding. She's fine. I try not to be a stage mom.

She tries it up an octave. I cringe. She takes it back down an octave. She stands up to get some air. (She was singing draped over her brother's twin bed.)

I think she has actually blown the speakers on her brother's TV. Great.

"I haven't blown the speakers out!" she yells when she reads this post over my shoulder.

"Oooooo," she coos, "98!" She flits through the songs on the TV, "Have you ever heard the song Epic?"

I just love it when a plan comes together.

Happy Friday Everyone!

2009-01-29T23:08:00.003-05:00

Baggage

2009-01-28T23:07:00.008-05:00

Today's photo features my daughter Debi modeling my new bag! I got it at Cato's for 21.99. I love it! It's kind of a suede-ish material, moleskin maybe...I don't know. It's the right size and it's lined with a soft, lovely, light material. I bought it a couple days ago and I'm very excitied about it, hence the "Ode to My Bag" post.

I keep picking it up and admiring it. It's not designer or anything but it looks good. I've begun to look at other women's handbags. They definitely say something about a woman's personality. I never even carried a bag until I was 37! Now I don't know how I got along without it. I wonder why men can get along so well without one.

It is important to have a good handbag. I'm looking for a good clutch. That's what I had before this bag, and I loved it because it has a handle that fits right in my hand. But it had to go. Wrong material. Too small. But I'll keep it. I may love it again.

Debi knows how I am with bags. After modeling it for this photo she laid claim to it. She says it will be perfect for her for college after I wear it out a bit! She's funny.It matches my winter coat that I hardly have to wear here in Georgia. She likes to draw on her purses with markers.

Mostly she draws on her jeans.

The Nicest Thing Anyone Ever Did For Me

2009-01-27T19:43:00.008-05:00

Today Lori of "lori times five" (see my sidebar: Other People's Blogs) answered some questions for a friend. An interview. Her answer is very cool. Especially if, like me, you have always wanted to go to Paris. Her blog is a Blogger.com "Blog of Note", which is how I came to read it in first place. She has amazing California pictures.

The first question is the title of my post today. I hope this practice of stealing ideas is okay in blogworld...

The nicest thing that ever happened to me was around 1993 when I was living in Orono, Maine. I must have been around 24. I needed a bone marrow transplant for my Hodgkin's Disease (cancer). Before I could go have the transplant I had to have a bunch of treatments and stuff to prepare me to go through the process. I was given a prescription for some kind of steroidal injections that I was to give myself, like a diabetic does. When my then-husband and I went to our local pharmacy we found out that it was going to cost, I think, $1,500.00. We were living in family housing next to the University of Maine. I wasn't working, we had 2 babies and he was just a student at the University. Needless to say, we didn't have the money to pay for the prescription and no credit cards to dump it on either. The pharmacist realized the predicament we were in and offered, offered mind you, to extend us a line of credit to pay for the medication. (I was bald and pathetic looking.) We both had no/terrible credit so this was a great generous gift obviously. I seem to remember him even saying, "You'll probably have to file bankruptcy when you're done treatments, you can just throw this account on that later." He was right, we did have to file bankruptcy after the Transplant was over. If that pharmacist had not done that for us perhaps I would not have survived! I remember this tremendous feeling of relief/gratitude/amazement washing over me right in the store. I almost fainted.

More Thoughts on Blogging

2009-01-26T23:25:00.003-05:00

Blogging Update: I have Blogging for a week now and I like it. I have a follower to my Blog, which is cool. Her Blog is great too! She has a great spirit and it shines through her writing. I have enjoyed all my comments thus far. I feel like my Blog will only get better because I do truly love to write. I never make the time but now I am. I feel braver too. I will never Blog anything I would be ashamed to have my mom read, but that still leaves me a lot of room to work with.

I have a childhood friend that blogs over at WordPress. I like her Blog. (Check my Blogs I Like list below). She's a intelligent, cool person who somehow manages to generate controversy quite often. Not with me, mind you, it just seems like there's always that naysayer. It's from women too. Nice Christian women. I don't get it. Her blog is apparently some source of this controversy, although I can't see why it would be. It's pretty benign. She's happily married to her first love and they have a tribe of kids that they love dearly. Lots of beautiful pictures of them on her blog. And she's a good writer to boot. Maybe they're secretly jealous of her. That's how my Debi explains everyone's behavior...

Needless to say I almost would rather have strangers read my Blog! Somehow they have less invested in you personally and can be more objective, I guess. I do link this Blog to my Facebook account (cool feature on Facebook notes application). So anyone over there can read this there, but it's prettier at the blogger.com site. Hardly anyone has read it yet, though, but my long-lost cousin Nancy read yesterdays and told me she was proud of me. I'm proud of her too. Her road to hoe has been long too. Our harvests are plenty though!

I sent off an email to my former Art Professor at UMPI in Presque Isle, Me yesterday and he replied promptly which was so cool this morning. He said, and I quote:

Subject: Hi from a former Painting Student
Hi Andrea,

It was nice to open your email this morning and go to your site. Really nice. Congratulations on your job and all you are doing!
Thanks for staying in touch and I will definitely play some Phish for you. Yeah, it was 35 below when we got up this a.m.
We are planning a Phish retrospective in the gallery this fall. Anyway, good life to you,

My best,
Andy

Andy is such a great painter. There's a couple links embedded in yesterday's "Painting" post. His art is amazing. And to think I got to sit up there in the studio watching him create some of it.
Fun times, for sure.

Painting

2009-01-25T19:45:00.007-05:00

I finished my degree from the University of Maine at Presque Isle in December of 2005. I graduated from High School in 1987. You do the math. It took me awhile. I took the long road for sure but "I wouldn't take nothing for my journey now." The thing is, all the little side trips I took just enhanced my educational journey, not just prolonged it. In between the years of 1987 and 2005 I got married twice, got divorced twice, had two beautiful children, had cancer, survived cancer, had a couple car accidents, shoveled my weight in snow a couple times over, and attended three out of the 5 Maine institutions of higher learning (USM, UM and UMPI). I attended two Phish shows, saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, as well as Bob Dylan, Indigo Girls, the Nutcracker Suite in Boston, Alan Jackson, Julie Roberts and Ani Defranco. I've worked as a waitress, fast food employee, secretary, ice cream counter help, nanny, substitute teacher, tutor, College Radio DJ, and road crew member. I changed my major four times before finally graduating with a B.S. in Educational Studies. I am employed as a Public School Music teacher which is what I planned to do all along.

The final time I enrolled in an University, I decided to take advantage of some electives offered at the school. I always felt as if I could paint. I had never really tried but the idea of an open canvas captivated me. I would look at a scene and imagine painting it. I took a series of three painting classes at UMPI, Painting I, II and III with a wonderful professor, Anderson Giles. He is in the Art Department at UMPI.

The painting I used behind the title of this blog is one product of that experience. It is a part of my journey that I cherish and although it has nothing to do with teaching music, it makes me a better person.

I also like to take artistic photographs. I will be posting these from time to time. The photo attached to this post is one such photograph. It was taken at Big Lake, Maine. Sunset over Big Lake, Maine.

Thank You Facebook

2009-01-24T20:38:00.006-05:00

About eight months ago, a friend invited me to join something called Facebook. I was unusually bored and followed the links in the email to the site and joined up. Everyone knows about, or has heard about this phenomenon by now but for those who haven't it's a "social networking" site. Not a dating service, mind you, unless of course you want it to be. I have a man, so I have been Facebook to connect with family, friends (old and new) and former music students. Facebook allows me to see what people are doing! It is a joy to find, or be found by, someone you have wondered about for twenty or more years! To see where they are, where they are and, in many cases, how beautiful their offspring are. So far I have not been found by anyone I have not wanted to find me, but I supposed that could happen. I'll take my chances.

There are downfalls, people throw snowballs at me, send me stripping santas and ask me to join causes. Sometimes I throw the snowball back, delete the stripping santas, and join the cause. Sometimes I just ignore. Sometimes I block an application or two, I don't want to be part of a Mafia anything. I do like the Godfather movies though.

Recently I sat down at the computer with a glass of wine, (which is out of the ordinary for me, the wine that is) and opened up my Facebook. Voila! There it was "Friend Request". I opened it and I almost choked on my wine. It was a dear friend from my college days at the University of Southern Maine! I had not seen or heard from her in 19 years! But at one time, we were close enough that I choose to give my daughter my friend's first name. I couldn't stand it. I checked her info page and there it was, her phone number! Oh the marvel of modern technology. Within seconds we were chatting on the phone and exploring Facebook in tandem.

My world is better for her finding me! Thank you Facebook.

A Prayer

2009-01-22T22:56:00.001-05:00

O God, is it Friday yet?

A New Era

2009-01-20T23:27:00.001-05:00

Today was a great day for me. Although I am typically somewhat conservative, I was won over by this man, President Obama, late in the campain. Before that I really didn't care. Listening to him speak gives me hope and inspiration. I don't want to explain why it does, it just does. No other politician has made me care before. I believe he and his wife Michelle are sincere and I will pray for them every day.
It is a brave new world.

Debi and Mom

2009-01-19T21:36:00.000-05:00

Although this is not my favorite picture of me, I love it anyways. Debi had just finished performing with her show choir, and was just so happy.

What is a Blog?

2009-01-19T21:23:00.000-05:00

What is a Blog and why would anyone want to do it? This is a question that was posed to me and I can't really answer it. I don't know. hmmm. It just seems like a good place to get some writing done, if you are the kind of person who might like to write. One would have to like to write, I guess.

My First Post

2009-01-19T16:52:00.000-05:00

Okay, here I am. Blogging my life away. I give. I'll give it a go. I will be a writer.