Nervous

One of the ministers at the church affiliated with the kid's school asked me to play the harp at the Ash Wednesday service. At first, I thought she meant at the Children's Service during the school day. So I said yes. I have been wanting to push myself a little harder in playing the harp and performing. I have a lot of performance anxiety, especially in performing by myself. The larger the group, the easier it is to play. It is also a lot easier to play the clarinet, since that is my primary instrument. I have now discovered that she wants me to play at the adult evening service! I am now totally panicking. She gave me the "easy" version of the song, but it is still hard to this beginner! I have been practicing like crazy and now my fingers and hands are sore from the constant plucking. I have a little under two weeks. I sure hope I don't freeze. My back-up plan is just to play the right hand if I get too shaky to play both. I know at a minimum, I will be able to at least get that out. If you have any extra luck, please send it my way! Now, back to practicing....

Style Stitches: Month 2

I promise I will get back to regular UU blogging soon! Being sick for almost a month really put me behind on a lot of projects. Above is the February bag - the Reversible Everyday Shopper. You can't really tell in this photo - but this bag is HUGE! While it is reversible, I doubt I will. I like this side. It is meant to replace shopping bags, so it is pretty basic. After last months challenge, it was nice to have an "easy" Amy Butler pattern. Personally, with this fabric, I suddenly feel like going on a picnic. Too bad it is raining!

Trademarks Gone Awry

I just read this from Crystal over at HeartSong Farms. Please go and check it out. I certainly could not say it any better. I would only add that it makes me sick (and not b/c I still have the flu :-) that people can trademark a generic lifestyle terms. It is crazy. Do other countries allow this? As someone very interested in this topic (I don't want to write it b/c I still need to brush up on trademark rules), the ramifications are quite widespread. I find it unbelievable. While I don't agree with what the urban farmer's are doing (and I don't know their exact reasoning), I am more distressed with the U.S. trademark system. This is not the first time I have run across questionable trademark allowances.

Vertigo & Guilt

I woke up Sunday feeling really nauseous and a little unsteady. I thought I had eaten something bad and tried to ignore the feeling. Sunday was also the day for the big children's play at church. I was certainly not going to miss it! (I will post later on how it went). Later that day, I wasn't so queasy, but still didn't feel right. Well, by the time I went to bed the house was spinning. I have never felt vertigo so intensely. I went to bed hoping that by morning it would be gone. Well it wasn't and the nausea kicked back in. I could barely walk. It is such a weird feeling. I called the doctor because I didn't know what to do (plus, I think Husband was afraid I had a tumor). She immediately diagnosed "dizzy" flu. Evidently it is going around. It is so crazy. I have completely new respect for people suffering from vertigo.

Today I am still wobbly and the room still spins. If I lay perfectly still, I feel fine. But, the moment I move, it all starts back up. This presents a lot of problems. Mostly, I don't want to drive. Thankfully my in laws have really helped in getting the kids to and from school. The problem is that once again I am missing running the library at the kid's school. The library is only open on Tuesday. Due to illnesses and snow, I haven't been at the library in almost a month. I am pretty sure that my helpers are starting to think I am intentionally avoiding working. This is where I feel super guilty. I hate asking people to fill in for me. I hate feeling like a slacker. I feel like the library is my responsibility (even though we all volunteer) and I don't like putting other people out. Honestly, it is getting a little pathetically comical on how often my family is sick on Tuesdays. Any thoughts on what I could do to thank them for stepping up? I feel like I need to do something to show my appreciation.

A Now A Break In Our Scheduling

I have mentioned before the struggles we have been having in our RE Department. So, to shake things up a little bit, we decided to put on a January/Feb intercession play. Our DRE suggested the idea, and it has proved to be just what we needed. The kids will be performing the Tailor of Gloucester. It easily adapts to whatever amount of kids you have, with lots of room for interpretation. We have the added bonus that the DRE's adult daughter is a brilliant musician who has arranged some operatic classics for the kids to sing. My friend, with some help from me, is in charge of costumes. Above is the aviator bat hat I made (only 7 more to go!) that middle son is trying on with his "aviator goggles". It has really energized the congregation. Parents are helping out, the kids are excited, and the larger congregation is looking forward to this innovative performance. I feel like it is really connecting RE to the larger congregation. We have even had better luck recruiting teachers for this Spring semester. We perform in a couple weeks, and I can't wait!