The Countdown Begins

This time next week, I will be headed to the airport (well, sometime on Tuesday - I have to check that info again). And on Saturday morning, I will be heading out for our choir tour. All the way to Peterborough. The bus leaves the church at 9 am, and returns Sunday in the late afternoon/early evening. The concert is Saturday night, and then we sing at the church service the next morning, too. Hopefully, we will not be too hungover. You see, Weasley and I, Beck, Lord Elgin, and a few others will be checking out the Peterborough nightlife (hoping there is some that is half decent) after the concert. Who knows if Peterborough will ever be the same? Oh, and this is the concert in which I will be playing my flute. Gordon, wise man that he is, has that piece second in the programme, so I can just be done with it and not spend the entire time freaking out inside while trying to sing and keep it together.

My parents will probably be here when I return from the choir tour. They will be arriving on Sunday to take care of Corwin and Clara while I am at my music therapy conference in Kansas City, MO. Since Hubby leaves the house before 6 am, and gets home between 4:30 and 5, there are a few hours that school doesn't cover. Plus, there is a PD day on the Friday, so that's a whole day off school. It works out very well. In fact, he probably has it better when my Mom is here, because the house is clean, the meals are made, the kids are taken care of, they behave better because it's Gramma telling them what to do, and he doesn't have to deal with me (it may surprise you to learn that I'm not always sweet and wonderful, LOL).

So my flight leaves on Tuesday, and I return on Sunday evening. While I am in KC, I will be taking a 10 hour (8 credit) institute on NICU music therapy (providing music therapy in a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)on Wednesday. This is one of three units in a specialized NICU music therapy certification, so hopefully I will have the opportunity to complete the next two levels over the next year and a half, so that I can market myself to the hospitals around here that have NICUs. I'm really excited about this course, even more so because Hashbrown will be taking it, too. It will be great to see her, and catch up, and enjoy some "liquid refreshment". On Thursday, I have a five hour (5 credit) course on Vocal Health in Music Therapy. As you can imagine, it sucks to have no voice in my job because singing is kind of required. Every year I end up with some sort of laryngitis, and if this course can help me prevent that, I am all for it. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't require singing alone in front of people (it doesn't say so in the description, but you never know!).

The rest of the conference will consist of concurrent sessions, and some shopping and socializing. Pearl and Berly have already made reservations for The Melting Pot on Friday night. Bert has decided not to join us, and I still need to ask Hashbrown (hey, you in?). And the list of shopping includes: Bath & Bodyworks, possibly Victoria's Secret, Pottery Barn (to drool and get a catalogue so I can drool more at home), Williams-Sonoma (ditto), and any drugstore to get the Boss-Lady (from my decorating) some Pond's that is less goopy than the Pond's we have here. I am hoping to get out dancing at least once (love you Bert, but I refuse to do disco this time!!!). Wish me luck on the clearing of customs. I wait in dreaded anticipation for the questions: "Have you ever lived in the U.S.?" followed by "Have you ever been denied entry to the U.S.?" Will they ever stop asking?!?!?!?!