It's August! Yeah! (I think.)

It's August, and August means that there are a zillion things I wanted to get done this summer that I haven't done yet. There are still items on my "To Do" list from August 2009 that aren't done yet. But, overall it's been a great summer and I've had some awesome experiences.
I kicked off my summer with a presentation on memorization at the MMTA Conference in June. I had a great time preparing and giving it, and except for having more material than time (even though I timed it a couple of times the week before) it went very well. My nerves showed up in the form of dry mouth, so I took a lot of drinks, but other than that, I felt good about it and got some positive feedback.

Summer lessons started the next week. I have over 40 students registered for summer lessons, but because of camps, vacations, etc., I'm lucky to give 20-30 lessons each week. I love my summer schedule. Monday is my day. Sometimes I use it for doctor's appointments or other errands, sometimes I clean (I've been doing a much better job of keeping up with the cleaning), and sometimes I just read and/or waste time. I've had Tai Chi classes on Monday nights, so I never waste the WHOLE day. I have pretty full teaching days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and then do half days on Thursday and Friday, leaving some time for the business side of teaching. Like I said, I love my summer schedule. I just wish I could afford to have this schedule year round.

In early July I went to SLC for the NATS Conference. Here's a cut and paste from the blog I started about that, but never finished and posted:
I'm back from my trip and trying to get caught up on everything and get ready to teach lessons again starting tomorrow. Overall, I had a good trip. I didn't plan as well as I should have, so I ended up spending more money than I should have and I missed seeing some friends. But, the lack of planning also gave me some flexibility that was really nice.

I spent much of my time at the convention with my friend Elizabeth.

On Sunday, July 4, my parents picked me up and we went to a family picnic where I got to see relatives on my mom's side that I haven't seen in years. I really need to to a better job of keeping in touch. I just get so caught up in trying to survive my own life that I don't take the time to keep up with others.
After the convention I rented a car and drove to Soda Springs, ID to see my parents, niece, and other relatives.
End cut and paste.

I also made a quick run up to Rexburg to spend more time with Elizabeth.

While I was with my family, I helped with some of the cleaning of their house. The previous renters left the kitchen in a pretty scary state, so that's where I spent my hours. You would not believe the scary stuff I cleaned off of that stove. The kitchen cupboards were not much better. It made me want to come home and really clean my house because if for any reason someone had to come clean it for me, I didn't want them thinking thoughts about me like those I was thinking of the previous occupants. How can people live with that filth?

I had jet lag (or extreme lack of energy and motivation) for the first couple of weeks after the trip, but then I finally kicked it in gear and have really accomplished a lot the last few weeks. Which is good since there is so much I haven't done yet.

I was really going to get back to eating healthily this summer, but that kind of went out the window while I was on my trip. Sunday I'm going sugar free and low carb again. It's not about the weight (although I really need to lose some). I just feel a lot better when I'm filling my body with good things. I had an amazing salad for dinner tonight from the co-op salad bar. I love salad anyway, but all organic just tastes great.

Another thing I was going to do this summer is get back to going to the gym regularly. It hasn't happened yet, but on the positive side, I have been taking the Tai Chi class once a week and getting in 1-3 other sessions on my own at home.

There are always ay least a million things I want to do over the summer to improve my teaching and my business. I have lots of things I picked up at NATS that I want to work into lessons. I've already started with a few things and I'm getting very positive responses from the kids.

Another goal has been to find more ways to make use of Music Teacher's Helper. I used it last year to set up my studio website and started using it for calendaring and billing, but entering all the data was taking too much time. I'm starting to experiment with ways to enter things during the student's lesson, thus saving me some time. This week I've been typing up lesson notes during the lesson and then emailing them immediately when I reconcile the lesson. The only drawback is that I have to take my laptop to and from school all the time, or leave it there and be computerless at home.

School starts in a little over a month. I've set a goal to enjoy August and not get stressed out. At the same time, I want to see if I can maintain this level if high productivity so that I start the school year strong.





-- Posted from my iPhone



-- Posted from my iPhone