music, therapy, and me

I had a really good day yesterday. I spent time decluttering, shopping, and crafting. I finished up a small book that I made out of thick cardstock, some craft paper, and various bits of writing paper and scrapbook paper. This was a bit surreal, but this book wanted to be finished, so I finished it. I am not going to use it as a journal (I don't have enough words to write in all the journals that I make), so I am going to give it away to someone. Who wants it? Really!! I feel that this book has a home out in the world somewhere, and I want to give it away! Here are some of the pictures of this little book. The first is next to a tall paperback book to give you an idea of the size of the book itself. I did not measure it, but I will do that from now on. I think this will become a habit - making a book and then giving it to someone who wants it.  This is not my typical style of book, but it was fun to put together. I used some vintage photo cutouts to put together this couple on th...

My mood-elevator keeping me in one place. Yesterday was not my best day when it comes to writing blog posts. I always hesitate to publish my rants because I don't want to drag you down into my dark moods, but I also try to remember that one of the pledges that I made to myself was to always tell the truth about what music therapy is and how I navigate the world of music therapy as a practitioner. That sometimes means that things don't sound happy. It happens. Yesterday's last session was a frustrating one for me, and the frustrations continued today, but I was ready and able to handle those challenges a bit better. This is often my pattern. I hit a wall - BAM - and then I am able to see the wall. I don't ever seem to see the wall until I hit it. It's silly, but that's me, ESPECIALLY in the summer months when I tend towards Seasonal Affective Disorder stuff. When the perfect storm hits, I tend to go off the deep end. By the end of last evening, I was in full-out ...

My week has been a good week. It's been full of ups and downs, but, on the whole, it has been pretty good. I had to spend some time, during my 12-hour day at work, focusing specifically on finding things that made me feel happy in that moment, but I was able to fill a page of those things - even in the midst of my disgust at having to be somewhere that I did not want to be AND doing something I did not want to do. I found some happy thoughts and was able to refocus on those things rather than my immediate situation. At the moment, I am enjoying a late arrival day for the last day of this work week. Everyone else had an opportunity to leave early on our 12-hour day, but I had already worked the hours, so I went to the doctor yesterday. Turns out I have an outer ear infection (which I knew about) and a urinary tract infection (that started about 90 minutes before I made it to the doctor's office). As a result, I am waiting to pick up my medications at the pharmacy at 9am befo...

I am on the downhill side of a long workweek, and I feel that I've managed to get quite a bit finished. I have two new Teachers Pay Teachers files up on my store, I have kept up with the registrations for the symposium I am coordinating that happens this weekend, and I finished up a really long day yesterday. I did manage to wake up about an hour later than usual this morning, but I still feel that I am ahead of the game. I think this goes along with my reverse seasonal affective disorder. I tend to feel happier and more productive in the dark hours of the winter than I do in the hot days and nights of summer. I'm not sure why, and I wasn't really this way when I lived in California, but here, I am not a fan of the bright days of the summer. For the moment, though, I am feeling pretty good. This may also have something to do with getting back into some of my music therapy groups. We are starting to address termination of services by my senior intern, so I am now in ...

Do you ever have one of those mornings when people just rub you the wrong way?? All the time?? Just by being??? This day is shaping up to be one of those days. One of the situations that happened this morning was a snarky email by someone who thinks I'm not doing one of my many jobs because a scam letter was received. The person obviously did not look at the scam letter very closely as it states at the bottom that it is not affiliated with the government at all AND that they charge a fee for any and all services that they provide. It just set my mood to harumph and that's that. My blood pressure seems to be up, and I have little to no food in the pantry because I put off grocery shopping until after my trip, and I have no desire to actually put on real pants in order to go outside and be around real people today.  After sleeping in all week and being late to work, today my eyes popped open at 4 am, and I haven't been able to get back to sleep. The one day I was actu...