Hits and Misses (September 1-7)

Here are the highlights (sadly, most of them are low-lights) of the week that has been.

HITS

• It's always nice to start the week with a holiday. The family got together for lunch that featured Dad's barbecued ribs. I opted for the lemon pepper chicken instead.....very, very tasty!
• The new semester of playing at Union University got under way this week. It's always fun to get all of the new music and once again have a reason to spend a lot of time on the piano bench.
• I continue to realize how blessed I am to have truly understanding employers and family. 
• When picking up my newest reading material from the library, I ran into a fellow pianist that I went to graduate school with. It was nice to catch up and hear how things were going in his world again. I think the camaraderie is what I most enjoy about music in an academic setting.

MISSES

• Labor Day also saw unwanted pests in my house. No, I am not talking about my siblings either! I spent most of the night fighting mosquitoes in my bedroom. If that wasn't bad enough, I nearly stepped on a quarter-sized spider in the bathroom......in my bare feet. Needless to say, the exterminator was instructed to douse the back rooms in our house to get rid of the unwelcome guests.
• Monday was one of the few days I would have been able to sleep in, but my internal clock felt the need to stay on schedule. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5:45am was not my plan for my day off.
• I've been sicker this week than I have been in quite a while. Everything started going downhill on Wednesday evening when I experienced severe nausea. Things did not improve overnight (I'll spare you the gory details here). Suffice it to say that things were bad enough for me to cancel all of my engagements at Union on Thursday. I hated doing it, but knew it was necessary.
• When I went to bed Thursday night, the nausea had finally passed. In its place was now increased stuffiness and a bit of tightness in my chest. I headed to class on Friday morning and thought I was going to pass out while in the bathroom. Somehow I got through both lectures while sitting down and headed to the doctor's office as soon as class was over. Dr. Pierce's wonderful staff was able to work me in early that afternoon. Nose and throat looked okay, but there was congestion settling into the lungs....but not quite bronchitis. I'm in the midst of ten days of antibiotics to try to knock the infection out. I'm really getting tired of all of this mess.....and people wonder why I'm so desperate to get out of Arkansas! I'm never this sick living elsewhere.

That's it! Now it's time to get back to work and get ready for the family reunion that Mom is hosting here this weekend. I'm sure there will be some stories to share.