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Writing Hiatus: Am I Back? Who Knows...

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Walter - just because I love him!! Well, that was a rough week - I had food poisoning last Sunday after eating something I made on both Saturday and Sunday - only got food poisoning on Sunday for some reason. I did not go to work on Monday - it is hard to sing when nauseous - I slept instead. Last week went slowly and culminated with my second-to-last Talent Show. Nothing happened at the show, thank all things good and wholesome, and now we are on the downward slope to next week when all the end of the school year stuff happens. This week has a field trip for one group of students this morning. As far as I know, there is nothing else happening. Next week is a different story. We have graduation and then the end of the school carnival. After that, we will be done for a week before coming back and doing things all over again. Since I work in a psychiatric residential treatment facility school, my students are in school year round. That means that I am working year round. I really don...
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Fun Friday: I am Working on a Project...

It is time to get cracking on a new project. Of course, I want to, because there is so much to be done in other areas of my life, so why not start a new project in the middle of it all?? It is time. Today is my prep day at work, so I have some time to work on things that will work for other music therapists as well as for me. I am going to spend time working on gathering ideas for a new book. Collecting ideas and making new things is something that I really enjoy. I go through periods of time where I just cannot come up with something new, but then things start to gurgle again. Things are starting to percolate. So, that's it for today. Thanks to someone who asked for an idea and posted it in one of my groups. I need to find my TME jumpdrive. It is missing right now. I am not sure what I will do to replicate it if it is gone forever. It isn't, it is just someplace else. Time to get going though. 
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Nothing Goes Like It Seems It Will in April...and May

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My anticipation meter is a bit off this week. No one has actually done what I have expected them to do in music therapy sessions. My first two sessions on Monday were horrible - assists, screaming, arguments. It was stressful and led me to spend most of the rest of the week thinking about how much trauma the staff at my facility go through without acknowledgement or mediation. I am someone who releases my emotions well other than through crying. I cry quite a bit in my car. There is something really surreal about having to go through a session where everyone is screaming, trying to engage them in something musical, and then having to turn around immediately to do it all over again. I am sitting there, playing my guitar, while my fingers are shaking from my adrenaline release. It is part of what I do, but I am tired and am ready to move on.  Fourteen months to go. At this time next year, I hope that we will know who the next music therapist will be. I will have taken most of my thin...
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The Thrifty Therapist: Thriftbooks.com

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Today's post is focused on my biggest purchase point right now - Thriftbooks.com. If you are a bibliophile and haven't started shopping at that site, then you are really missing out! I love books, and I have no difficulty reading books that are used. I also like the idea that these books are not being thrown away or [shudder] used for crafting. (That is the one papercrafting situation that makes me sad - cutting up vintage books to use for other things. I know that it is fine, but I can't. I just can't! The only books that I will cut up are the ones that are damaged to the point of not being readable - AND, that only after I get a replacement copy!) So, I buy used books. This has been a great place to find books for music therapy sessions. Anyway, this is a site that I highly recommend if you want to find books that are affordable. (I am not sponsored by them at all, by the way - I just like their service!) I get my books quickly, and they are always as promised when it...
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Monday Musings - It's Going to Be a Late Start Type of Day

Sorry for the absence - I have not been in the mood to write lately. All I have been wanting to do is recline on my bed. Today is going to be a late start day. This is not because of anything other than my own laziness. It was tough to open my eyes this morning, it was tough to get into the shower, and now it is tough to come up with anything interesting to say about what is going on in the world. I miss Pope Francis. I am not and never have been Catholic. I am a Protestant, but I miss Pope Francis. I think that man did so much for bringing the Catholic church into the modern mindset, and I am sad that he has passed away. I am hoping that the next Pope will be more like Francis than Benedict. I am sending my prayers towards Rome today. I did not get a chance to speak to the person I need to speak with about the incident on Thursday afternoon because she was absent. So, that's still something swirling around in my brain. I need a project. I am currently working on getting my home co...
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Feeling Demeaned, and Trying To Change It For the Better

My feelings got hurt yesterday, and I am tired of feeling this way. So, from now on, I am going to be a bit more assertive about what I need. Let me explain. I attend the clinical team meeting on Thursdays. I am usually the only school-based therapist who attends, and the clinical supervisor (not my supervisor) always refers to me as "school." Never my name. Never my modality. Just "school." Now, when there are others present, we are grouped together into the title of "school" - at least, usually.  Yesterday, our two certified occupational therapy assistants attended the meeting. When it was our turn to speak, the invitation was presented in this manner - "School and the occupational therapists." That made me feel less than, and I am not less than. Why am I singled out for something that is inaccurate? I am not "school." I am a music therapist. I have been doing music therapy at this facility for longer than anyone else on the team. I a...
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Thoughtful Thursday: Absence

I'm sorry that I've been silent for the last two days - my allergies have been very challenging so far, and I decided that resting was more important than writing. At the moment, I am finally moving into the gurgly cough stage of things, so it will either be getting better or getting worse from here on out. It is no longer a dry, wheezy cough, now it is full out gurgling! This happens every spring, and it complicates my life so much! Enough of that talk, though. This morning, I had a bit of a panic when I came downstairs and my computer didn't boot up. We had a power failure two night ago, and I guess the computer didn't like that much. It took over 15 minutes before the computer booted up. I was mildly panicked about having to break my recently achieved financial goal to buy a new computer, but that's what savings accounts are for, so I would do it if I had to. Fortunately, it did FINALLY arrive at the boot sequence, so I won't have to go shopping for computers...
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