music, therapy, and me

Way back, in my youth, I used to sing a song called "We're Great But No One Knows It!" It was a good affirmation song, and we used to sing it loudly when things were difficult. During the last trip I took, my mom and I were watching an old movie, and the song appeared. I didn't know the origin of the song, other than that I had learned it at camp, and here it was!! The movie was My Sister Eileen . That is really not all that relevant to this post, but it is always interesting to find where songs come from... Anyway, I am in my job-hunting mode right now, and it is not very positive. I am sending out resumes and all that stuff, but no one has contacted me yet. I am trying to figure out how to find funds for medical expenses and am to the point where I am going to have to use my credit cards - which is something I do NOT want to do! It is ridiculous that someone has to use credit in order to get insurance, but I am hoping that I will be able to qualify for some sort of ...

Tuesday. Ugh. This is not the day to be sitting here wondering what I am going to do next. It is library day, so I will be heading out later this morning to see if things get going with my brain and my creativity. I cut out all sorts of cards and decorative papers to make cards for my exhibits this spring, but I can't move forward on that until after tomorrow's visit from the plumber. Once that is over, I will move things out of the storage system that I have started and make as many as I can. I have too much stuff. Not a big surprise to you if you read the blog regularly, but it has been really piling up around here. I have to start the donation process now. It just means that I have to do it - I just need to get started. While I am at it, I should start packing things that I know I will not be needing in the very near future. There is a reason why I kept all of my boxes from my last move. I also want to arrange things for the exhibits that I referenced earlier. No reason for ...

On Friday, before I went a-craftin', I went to some thrift stores to see if I could find an interview skirt and then to the Dollar Tree to roam. I try to get to the Dollar Tree once or twice a month to see what they have that can supplement my music therapy experience design. This month was fruitful for Halloween-themed things. Now, if you know me, you know that I do not celebrate Halloween much. I tend to downplay holidays in my therapeutic interactions with clients because (my former) clients tend to get too involved with holiday excitement and seem to think that it is an excuse not to work on therapeutic goals. This is too bad because there are SO many cool things to shape therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) for this season. Friday's trip was no exception. I left there with all sorts of things, placemats, stickers, playing and educational cards, Mad-Libs, and Halloween Movie Night Kits which go along with my most recent sing about edition: sing about the movies . Of course,...

Now, don't get me wrong, but a weekend of sitting and crafting just knocks me out. You would think that I would be more exhausted after going for walks and stuff, but NO! It's the sitting and crafting that takes the energy out of me. Anyway, I spent 4.5 hours on Friday evening and 7 hours yesterday sitting at my preferred seat at my preferred table with people that I am getting to know. There is Jeanie (all names changed) who has a couple of grandcats, and a whole slew of stepfamily and half-family members.  There is Penny who makes cards by the hundreds and seems to prefer to just work rather than chit-chat. There is Lorraine who colors amazing paperdolls that she makes out of stamps. She also designs t-shirts for her nephews and swap cards for her nieces that have significant layers and steps to them. All of them do wonderful things and are inspirations to my own crafting and creative processes. Meanwhile, I did pretty well myself. I started making cards and got about 110 of ...

One thing about me is that I have degenerating discs in my back. For this, I take medication to help me with the pain, and that medication has interesting neurological side effects that include difficulty focusing my eyes. As such, I cannot drive a car until these side effects wear off. Today, I am feeling the side effects later than usual because I had to take my medication off my usual schedule. As you know, reader of mine, I tend to do better with a schedule than without one, so the change in medication time affected this morning's thinking and functioning. I am now getting to the point where I can feel my brain waking up and becoming more focused. It is a strange feeling, but one that I experience every morning. Last night, I went to the crop at my local craft store (I love these experiences). It had a different feel than the others that I have been to, but it was nice to sit down and try to prod my brain into creation. I am in the middle of making several books, but I am tired...

I am going to go to one of my favorite things tonight and tomorrow - a scrapbooking crop which morphs into doing whatever crafting thing you want to do in the company of other people who craft. A local craft store offers these every so often, and I am finding them to be pretty inspirational and well worth the $25 they charge. So, I am going to be spending some of today preparing for this event. I have no idea what I want to make tonight, but I know that I don't want to make more books. I already have five books that need to be finished and decorated, so I do not need to make more. I might focus on making the things to go into the books instead of the books themselves - clusters, hidden paperclips, pockets, envelopes, belly bands, and that sort of stuff. The largest problem with this type of thing is not knowing what I will be in the mood to make when I get there. I have to pack up my resources, so I also need to think about what I want to do. In the last crop that I attended, I spe...