music, therapy, and me

Hello, friends. Welcome to my end of the year post - the one where I usually reveal several things and spend time ruminating on various quests and goals that I have established. Today, however, may not include some of that information because I am currently figuring out lots of stuff and am not sure if I am coming or going. My mom has acute pancreatitis and is in the hospital. I have extended my trip an additional two days so I can be around for support. My sister is helping Mom out the way she always does because she is close by, and I am glad that I can be here until Tuesday. My mom keeps telling me to "have some fun" while I am here, but that is difficult to do when waiting for doctors and tests and information. My sister and I went to the hospital yesterday to wait through a procedure and then waited with Mom to hear about another procedure that will be happening today. At this point, we are not expecting surgery, but we might be going through that if the procedure today ...

Well, my goodness. In the past 36 hours, so much has happened. Shortly after I finished writing about my day yesterday morning. my mother walked into the guest room and laid on the bed. I asked how she had slept and the answer led us to spend 14+ hours in the emergency room before she was FINALLY admitted to the hospital. She is there now, I have extended my stay for a couple of extra days to support my sister, and things have changed a bit for the near future. Now, this is just what you do when you are part of a family unit, but it has been a bit of an adjustment to make in the span of 36 hours. I went from having one more day today to two more days after today before heading back to the world of worker's comp doctors and my clients. Mom is less of a medical mystery than before, and I am thankful that we have a diagnosis that we can work with and through. So, I am sitting here, all alone in my mom's house (which has not happened for many years - IF EVER, keeping the cat compan...

Today is the day that I have reserved for packing, shipping, and thinking. My mother is currently really focused on giving things away, so I am going to be sending my first cornet, three handmade animal puppets, and my gifts from my sister and my mother back to my house today. I have lots of room in my bag to fill up, so I will start there, but I also have an almost full set of dishes to send back, so my shipping costs will be substantial this time around. I guess it is a good thing that we haven't been shopping this break. I need the money to send things back! This is my usual way of doing things a couple of days before traveling. I pack things up, take them to UPS, and then send them on their merry way. I am always surprised when I open up the boxes because I forget what items are in the boxes in the week that it takes to send them across half of our country. It is almost like another Christmas when my boxes arrive, and I open them up again! So, today's chore is to pack thing...

It is day seven of winter break, and I have four more days before it is time to report back to work for the rest of the 2023-2024 school year. I am sitting here, at 3:56 am, writing the second iteration of this post to try to analyze what is going on in my brain and body after an insomnia night. I get these every so often, and so I am not all that surprised that it happened after Mexican food and arranging a visit with a friend from junior high all the way up to now. Add in the full moon, and of course I am waking up over and over again! I am starting to get into the holiday funk that happens to me sometimes. I start to feel squirmy because there are things that I want to get done but can't because those things are there instead of being here. In addition, I want to play with all my Mom's crafting toys, but I am scared to because they are her toys and not my own. I know that she would be fine with me using the stamps and the punches and the dies and all that, but I feel like I ...

Happy December 27th! I am sitting in the guest bedroom at my mother's house, waiting for the dawn and for her to wake up so we can start our day. We ate all day yesterday - a full breakfast, a late lunch of lazy lasagne, and then another batch of lasagne for dinner with a friend. I moved all of my gifts upstairs for packing and mailing, but I haven't done much of anything else. We thought my mother would have some friends coming through, but that didn't happen. I think my ability to keep my sister at home without shopping is coming to an end, so I anticipate that we will be leaving the house today to find some things to ship home. I don't know about you, but I am exhausted this year. There has been something going on that has just made everything more difficult to accomplish. I have finished many things on my quest board for this year, but the things that I have prioritized have slipped away.  I made great strides on my health quests this year. I combated my fear of all...

It is currently 5:27 am my time and 3:27 am at my destination because I MADE IT! Last time we talked, I was getting ready for a trip to my childhood home and was a bit worried that the weather would interrupt the way it did in 2022. It didn't, and I am home! I spent a very long day between Sunday School, church leadership, driving to the airport, and then 7+ hours of traveling, but I made it. My sister brought my mom along on the drive and picked me up at almost 11 pm their time. We then appreciated the holiday lights and chatted for about an hour before heading up to go to bed. We then woke up somewhat later than usual (at least, for me), and we celebrated our holiday with gifts and a good meal. Mom and I went upstairs early, and I was able to finally connect my devices to the internet to catch up on all the holiday wishes from various companies I am connected to. It is nice to know that the gas company wishes us all a happy holiday season! We have plans for today, but I am hoping...

It is the second day of my winter break, and I feel like day one went pretty well. While my kitchen isn't entirely clean, it is MUCH better than it was yesterday at this time. Today's tasks are laundry, sheets, and packing while eating up as much of the big meal that I made yesterday as possible. I might also bake some cookies for my organists and the church secretary and the pastor at my church job for tomorrow. Yesterday, I put a chair together that broke several months ago. I had to do some modifications, but it is working at the moment. I will need to take it apart again once I get better mobility in my left hand to finish one little bit, but I can use it again. I also spent some time starting to decorate my "Things I Love" journal. I enjoy making books, but I do not always use the books I make. I like sending them out into the world for others to use. This one, though, I decided I would make into a book about the things that I enjoy and that make me happy. I fini...

Today is my first day of winter break for 2023, and I allowed myself to go back to sleep (fortunately, without the nightmares that often happen when I go back to sleep) and lay about in bed for a bit longer than usual. I am now up and ready to start the next two days of at home break time. The first day of winter break is always a time where I make lots of plans for future me to accomplish. I rarely complete any of those plans. I have things that I need to get done, including cleaning the kitchen. I also need to do laundry, pack a bag, and prepare for the rest of my winter break. I am starting my task list and am getting ready to start things off after I post this essay. Lately, my thoughts have been taken over by thoughts about how people learn. I have really been focused on current music therapy students and interns because that is who I work with in my music therapy job. This is probably going to sound a bit preachy or critical, and I am not going to apologize for that tone - mainly...

Today is the last day for my students for the 2023 calendar year. Teachers have to report tomorrow for professional development and grade preparation tomorrow, but then we are finished with our work for the same year. Our co-workers, the Behavioral Health Technicians, will be working with our students for the rest of the year. Today is the beginning of the end of the year for me. We have our Holiday Sing today. We are going to sing holiday songs at the end of the school day, usher everyone back to their classes, and then shoo them out the door during our early release afternoon. After this afternoon, I only have one more church service to go before I get on a plane and head home for the first Christmas at home in four years! (Please, weather patterns, do NOT screw this up for me! I really want to go home.) I have to run three groups this morning and then get ready for the Sing. I will be exhausted at the end of this day, but then I have choir rehearsal and music for the Christmas Eve s...

"Tis the season for holiday hype. Can you feel it? If you are like me, you do everything you can to avoid the stores this time of year because of the barrage of holiday music that bombards you as soon as you enter and continues until you leave. There are messages of consumerism every place you look, and it is sometimes hard to see the original purpose of the holiday itself under all the glitter and tinsel and opportunities to "buy, buy, BUY!" The holiday hype permeates schools. If you are involved with school-aged kids or adolescents, then you know that there is a change in learning ability and interactions between October and January. If you work in a school associated with a psychiatric residential treatment facility for school-aged kids and adolescents, then you know that those changes happen in those settings as well, but the responses may be a bit more pronounced. We are in the last week of school before our winter break begins. Students are finished with school on ...

Here is today's random number post - #1209 from June 12, 2016 . Over the years that I have been writing on this blog, I have changed the focus of the Sunday posts many times. During 2016, I was using my Sundays to show how to use some of the visual aids that I have generated over the years. Today's glimpse into the past shows a bit of how I teach my clients something about rhythm notation. Now, you may be thinking, "Mary Jane, you are not a music educator, so why are you teaching about rhythm notation?" My answer is pretty simple. Most of my clients have not had good experiences in general music classes. Most of my clients will be returning to music education rather than music therapy services when they leave our facility. Since their futures will not be music therapy, I try to give them some knowledge about music education so they have an idea of what is going on in music education - a VERY abstract part of education when you think about it. So, I try to teach them s...

I am a pushover. I do not like confrontations, so I tend to do things that accommodate what others need over what I want to do or need to do. This can be a problem in times like the holiday season where everyone is wanting things and people seem to be more self-centered than usual. So, I set some boundaries and try my best to stick to them. I was called by the plastic surgeon yesterday to set up an appointment for a consultation about my finger. I am not sure why a plastic surgeon is calling, but when I called back, the scheduling person told me they had one appointment available - next Wednesday - at 1:15 pm - right in the middle of my Holiday Sing. I told them I was not available because I am not available at that time. The next available appointment (that was only 40 miles from my home rather than 50 miles in city traffic away from my home) is on January 24th. So, I have to go through another 5 weeks in my splint before I can even get a consultation. This frustrated me more than I c...

I woke up very early this morning (about two and a half hours ago - it is now 4:30 am), and was unable to get back to sleep. I took myself into the world of social media and wasted about an hour and a half checking up on things. I am now sitting at the computer. writing this post, and watching the fourth Indiana Jones movie. This has been a long week. Fortunately, it hasn't been a hugely challenging week for my clients in music therapy, but it has been a long week nonetheless. I have had to physically intervene with aggressive clients even though I am on light duty and should not be doing any sort of physical intervention. Today is my plan/prep day, so I will have only two groups to be part of - one is just oversight and the other is mine to lead. After bus duty this afternoon, I have to get out of the town as quickly as possible so I can get to my Workers Comp doctor for a useless appointment where I will sit and wait for the doctor to say, "I don't know why the referral ...

It is halfway through this season of festivities and stuff, and I am tired of it all. I went to do some laundry (because my room is currently 60 degrees and not getting warmer during the day so kids are bundling up in the blankets that I had my facility buy since they are not fixing the HVAC system AT ALL), and the COTAs were painting applesauce and cinnamon ornaments with students and they put on Christmas music. Now, I do not listen to much Christmas music during this season because it is everywhere and I get tired of it all. So, I was hanging out in the laundry area listening to this music and watching my students either protest or become so enthralled that they were not doing anything they were asked to do. I have three more holiday obligations to go before my holiday can start and I can flood myself with Christmas music. I will be able to listen without thinking about all the things that I need to do in the next 10 days because those 10 days will be OVER! I enjoy Christmas music, ...

Do you ever get an email that just brightens your day? I did, last night. A friend of mine sent an excerpt of a paper written by one of her students that cited my TME form! I am an APA citation!! That's a bit of a thrill, to be honest. I know, I know. It seems kinda silly, but that citation made me feel so happy.  There is someone out there who feels that the system that I have created (and try to get my interns to buy into) is a valuable tool. I feel that it is, and I think that other people might benefit as well. Of course, I am a bit prejudiced towards my own work, but I figure that there are others out there that think the way I do, so that's why I write about this as much as I do. The point of this post is that you never know when you might get an encouraging word. I thank my friend for sending the comments on to me. It made my week! I am an APA citation! Happy Wednesday, all!