Managed to accomplish almost nothing this past week. Injured my right hand, scraped it while closing a door so there was no cello practice. Client web work on hold while they rewrite all the text. Our car wouldn't start one morning as hubby left the lights on. Had AAA come and check it out. They claimed that the alternator was going bad, so took the car into the shop. One hundred dollars and 3 hours later, the shop tests come back stating that there's nothing wrong. Well, I guess spending $100 to find out there's nothing wrong beats paying $500 for a new alternator.
Booked a tour 3d/2n at Posada Amazonas, Puerto Maldonaldo, Peru for 30 Oct - 1 Nov. $279 pp. It promises to be a real jungle experience with no electricity or hot water. Rooms open into the jungle, no doors or privacy, plus the likelihood of moisture and mosquitoes. Rumors of dugout canoe trips and hiking in mud. My hubby is wondering why he signed up for this :)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Practice Week #40
Boring stats - 7 days (Sunday 6/15- Saturday 6/21)
Bow exercises 4
Bach Minuets 1
Vibrato 2
Suzuki 1
Sight reading 1
Didn't do so well this week, only got 4 days of celloing and no keyboard, two days of trying to get some web work done and a day going over Peru travel arrangements interfered. I did make it up to SMA Saturday. The interstate was still screwed up but I gave myself 90 minutes to get there this time. I was able to get off the interstate and take an alternate route after spending 1/2 hr in virtually nonmoving traffic.
Excitement for the week was finalizing my Southern Peru itinerary with friend, Rusela, and my hubby. The airfare had gone down so our tickets ended up costing $514 each which is pretty reasonable. Also booked Pay Purix hostel 3k from the airport for the days coming and going from Lima for $28 a room.
The netflix experiment has gone well. The instant video is fun but hubby is finicky and hard to please. The problem is we currently subscribe to blockbuster. Don't want to do both. May put blockbuster on hold for three months and switch back and forth with netflix for a while.
Hubby is feeling better but stamina is low. He still wants a ride to work and back. Normally, he'd take the metro. Also, South Florida has been having a lot of thunderstorms, no fun getting drenched. Still it's a dangerous commute driving the 3 miles into downtown Miami. There's always a strong chance of getting one's car bashed by some frustrated SUV.
For fun, I've been budgeting our grocery bill. Hubby tends to buy impulsively but since he's been sick, I've been in charge of getting groceries. My goal is to keep our total grocery bill under $300 a month based on this estimate: $3 a meal x 3 meals/day x 30 days = $270.
Bow exercises 4
Bach Minuets 1
Vibrato 2
Suzuki 1
Sight reading 1
Didn't do so well this week, only got 4 days of celloing and no keyboard, two days of trying to get some web work done and a day going over Peru travel arrangements interfered. I did make it up to SMA Saturday. The interstate was still screwed up but I gave myself 90 minutes to get there this time. I was able to get off the interstate and take an alternate route after spending 1/2 hr in virtually nonmoving traffic.
Excitement for the week was finalizing my Southern Peru itinerary with friend, Rusela, and my hubby. The airfare had gone down so our tickets ended up costing $514 each which is pretty reasonable. Also booked Pay Purix hostel 3k from the airport for the days coming and going from Lima for $28 a room.
The netflix experiment has gone well. The instant video is fun but hubby is finicky and hard to please. The problem is we currently subscribe to blockbuster. Don't want to do both. May put blockbuster on hold for three months and switch back and forth with netflix for a while.
Hubby is feeling better but stamina is low. He still wants a ride to work and back. Normally, he'd take the metro. Also, South Florida has been having a lot of thunderstorms, no fun getting drenched. Still it's a dangerous commute driving the 3 miles into downtown Miami. There's always a strong chance of getting one's car bashed by some frustrated SUV.
For fun, I've been budgeting our grocery bill. Hubby tends to buy impulsively but since he's been sick, I've been in charge of getting groceries. My goal is to keep our total grocery bill under $300 a month based on this estimate: $3 a meal x 3 meals/day x 30 days = $270.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Practice Week #39
Boring stats - 7 days (Sunday 6/8- Saturday 6/14)
Bow exercises 5
Bach Minuets 2
Swan 2
Thumb 2
Vibrato 3
Trill 2
Suzuki 2
Sight reading 1
KB Hanon 4
KB Marche 3
KB Scales 2
----
It's a start -- at least I did the 20 minutes of bowing exercises 5 times this past week. I was hoping to make it up to the Academy last Saturday. Despite traffic being light thanks to the gasoline prices, the powers-that-be decided to block all traffic lanes except one heading northbound. Decided that I'd be best off running errands instead of sitting in traffic for two hours and headed southbound.
Life's starting to get back to normal. Have to focus and try get some client work done this week. Found some new lovely distractions. Discovered online zynga free poker texas holdem. Very addictive. Will have to limit myself to playing only once or twice a week. Tried out Netflix's online streaming video today. The technology seems promising. I hooked up my laptop to our 26" TV and the video quality is similar to VHS. I've been dreaming of downloadable movies on demand ever since broadband first arrived.
Summer movies have begun. Managed to catch "The Visitor" (worthwhile), "Indiana Jones" (good for 10 yr olds) and "Iron Man" (extremely good for a comic book movie) while I was in Baltimore. Hubby wanted to see "The Happenning" yesterday. He thought it was well done but it left me dissatisfied. I've always liked M. Night's Shyamalan's movies but thought this one to be his weakest.
Bow exercises 5
Bach Minuets 2
Swan 2
Thumb 2
Vibrato 3
Trill 2
Suzuki 2
Sight reading 1
KB Hanon 4
KB Marche 3
KB Scales 2
----
It's a start -- at least I did the 20 minutes of bowing exercises 5 times this past week. I was hoping to make it up to the Academy last Saturday. Despite traffic being light thanks to the gasoline prices, the powers-that-be decided to block all traffic lanes except one heading northbound. Decided that I'd be best off running errands instead of sitting in traffic for two hours and headed southbound.
Life's starting to get back to normal. Have to focus and try get some client work done this week. Found some new lovely distractions. Discovered online zynga free poker texas holdem. Very addictive. Will have to limit myself to playing only once or twice a week. Tried out Netflix's online streaming video today. The technology seems promising. I hooked up my laptop to our 26" TV and the video quality is similar to VHS. I've been dreaming of downloadable movies on demand ever since broadband first arrived.
Summer movies have begun. Managed to catch "The Visitor" (worthwhile), "Indiana Jones" (good for 10 yr olds) and "Iron Man" (extremely good for a comic book movie) while I was in Baltimore. Hubby wanted to see "The Happenning" yesterday. He thought it was well done but it left me dissatisfied. I've always liked M. Night's Shyamalan's movies but thought this one to be his weakest.
Friday, June 13, 2008
The Water's Fine
You'd think that living by the bay in Miami, one would actually visit the water once in a while. Well, we're so sun-phobic here that any hint of sunshine instantly makes one duck for cover.
Today, the overcast drizzly sky inspired me to drive the 5 minutes to where one can actually wade in the water for twenty minutes. Still wore a straw hat to make sure none of that nasty sun stuff got on me. Saw a multitude of small speckled fish, a puffer, a blue crab and a ray. Really should get out more often.
Today, the overcast drizzly sky inspired me to drive the 5 minutes to where one can actually wade in the water for twenty minutes. Still wore a straw hat to make sure none of that nasty sun stuff got on me. Saw a multitude of small speckled fish, a puffer, a blue crab and a ray. Really should get out more often.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Buckling Down, Saddling Up, It's Summertime
OK, now that hubby is on the mend, this is the week to get back in some sort of routine after being off games since chamber music class ended.
Summer goal is to work up the first movement of Breval for chamber music class in the fall.
Boring stats for the last 99 days (3/6 - 6/8/08)
32 days on, 57 days off
Bow exercises 32
Corelli 30
Bach Minuets 26
Swan 26
Thumb 18
Vibrato 18
Trill 17
Suzuki 17
Sight reading 9
Oops, noticed I didn't log (1/15 to 3/5/08) 49 days
18 days on, 31 days off
Bow exercises 18
Corelli 8
Bach Minuets 12
Swan 4
Thumb 4
Vibrato 2
Trill 3
Suzuki 6
Sight reading 6
Summer goal is to work up the first movement of Breval for chamber music class in the fall.
Boring stats for the last 99 days (3/6 - 6/8/08)
32 days on, 57 days off
Bow exercises 32
Corelli 30
Bach Minuets 26
Swan 26
Thumb 18
Vibrato 18
Trill 17
Suzuki 17
Sight reading 9
Oops, noticed I didn't log (1/15 to 3/5/08) 49 days
18 days on, 31 days off
Bow exercises 18
Corelli 8
Bach Minuets 12
Swan 4
Thumb 4
Vibrato 2
Trill 3
Suzuki 6
Sight reading 6
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Trading Cards
Last month I participated in a Drawspace card exchange. The theme was "April showers bring May flowers" -- drawings of flowers or springtime.
Here are the cards I sent before I left for Baltimore.
and the lovely cards I received since I came back to Miami...
Here are the cards I sent before I left for Baltimore.
and the lovely cards I received since I came back to Miami...
Monday, June 2, 2008
Back in Miami
Last Wednesday, my husband checked himself into the hospital with bad case of prostatitis. Unfortunately, the hospital kept him. I was in Baltimore, none the wiser, except that Earl's mother had been trying to call him all day. Being 92, she decided that something must have happened to him and called me at 11 pm to worry me about him. Another call from her on Thursday at 10 am telling me she was sure he was dead. So I asked a neighbor to check on our apt and was told that no one answered and that the newspaper was still outside our door. Hmmm, that wasn't good. Happily, I thought to ask the neighbor to check our parking space. In the meantime, Earl called me to let me know that he was in the hospital.
Yesterday, a friend picked me up at the airport at 6:30 pm and I raced home to check on all our animals and make sure that they were still all okay. The degus were out of water and the birds were loose in the apartment. The 90 gallon fish tank had one large fish instead of several. There was a large strange moldy alien egg on the kitchen counter which on closer inspection turned out to be a watermelon.
Anyway, off to the hospital and they were ready to discharge Earl to my care. Finally got Earl home by 11 pm and then off to the pharmacy for $300 worth of pills.
Canceled all plans for traveling to NC for the chamber music workshop and visiting friends. Could have been worse, we could have been going to Romania next week. The hospital bill is going to hurt because we have a large deductible with our insurance. Other folks we know are going through even worse this month so counting our blessings.
Yesterday, a friend picked me up at the airport at 6:30 pm and I raced home to check on all our animals and make sure that they were still all okay. The degus were out of water and the birds were loose in the apartment. The 90 gallon fish tank had one large fish instead of several. There was a large strange moldy alien egg on the kitchen counter which on closer inspection turned out to be a watermelon.
Anyway, off to the hospital and they were ready to discharge Earl to my care. Finally got Earl home by 11 pm and then off to the pharmacy for $300 worth of pills.
Canceled all plans for traveling to NC for the chamber music workshop and visiting friends. Could have been worse, we could have been going to Romania next week. The hospital bill is going to hurt because we have a large deductible with our insurance. Other folks we know are going through even worse this month so counting our blessings.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)