music, therapy, and me

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...

I am at the place where I do not want to work for anyone. I want to work for myself but I do not have a dependable income coming in and significant health issues so I have to have some sort of money to pay for my insurance. I don't want to leave my house to work, but I also don't want to be at home all the time. I put in a job application last week. I have not heard back from HR yet about the position. I am a bit concerned about that fact, but I also have to remember that I have not been in the job market for many, many years and things have changed a bit. I am watching job announcements and am trying to figure out whether I want to apply for other jobs. This is a strange place to be in - having to find something to do that will generate consistent income and not wanting to stay in this place for very long. Okay, after a talk with my sister, I have submitted two more applications to some jobs outside of the music therapy realm but that I could do...I think. The imposter syndrom...

(Sorry for the title - I really enjoy alliteration...)  I wrote TWO brand new songs while at the library yesterday. TWO NEW SONGS!! I think this going to the library thing might be a good thing for my focus and my task accomplishment! I am going to try it again tomorrow to see if I can replicate the process... we'll see if I am successful. Anyway, that means that my next sing about songs  edition is almost finished. Once I arrived back home, I puttered around a bit and then designed a new board game (related to the upcoming edition). I am going to print that and then make the game to use with someone in the future. After that, all I have to do is write up the TME format for the new songs, copy TMEs for the other offerings, and design one more set of cards/titles for one more original TME. Then I can release the edition!! In fact, let's get started with the game board design. I think I am going to do a folder version and a binder version this time around which means getting out...