I'm back!

Bet you all thought I was gone for good, didn't you!  Well... I'm back now!

Life got crazy busy for us there for awhile.  We were sick, which I why I wasn't blogging at first.  And then my piano studio went crazy.  I picked up a bunch more students (four last week alone) and now I have 16 students each week!  Yikes!

The adventures in gluten-free, casein-free, egg-free eating continue.  I just started a loaf of french bread in our bread maker.  This is the first time I've used the bread maker since last summer. I'm hoping the loaf turns out okay.  I'm still trying to figure out the best egg substitute for various items.  I'm using Ener-G egg replacer in this bread mix.  I guess we'll see what happens.  :)

Our car is getting older.  We're going to have to do some repairs on it next week.  We're hoping that will be it for awhile, but it sure is discouraging watching our savings disappear into yet ANOTHER repair bill.  :P

Speaking of savings... we're still trucking along, trying to get out of debt.  I think it has helped that we're getting really close to paying off the car, so it's giving us that extra little bit of excitement that we've been missing.  We'll probably have the car paid off by August, if not before.  Then it's on to the student loans!  :)

That's the update from us!  How are all of you doing?

Missed you all last week!

Sorry to disappear off the face of the blogosphere like that.  I ended up with a cold, and then spent the rest of the week trying to get my feet under me.  My piano studio is GROWING.  :)  I have five students now, and a trial lesson with one more tomorrow.  I'm still waiting to hear back from a mom I replied to last week (I think I will e-mail her again today), and that could be two more students!  I'm definitely keeping busy!  :)

How have you all been?

Busy Week!

Sorry to disappear for two days!  This week turned out to be a lot busier than I expected.  I started back to work with the MTHFR family on Tuesday and Wednesday.  After I finished there yesterday, I taught my other two students over there, and by the time I got back last night, I was exhausted.  I slept pretty good last night!  :P

Yesterday our naturopath called in the order for my allergy test, and my MTHFR test, so I'm looking forward to getting those results, though I'm not really looking for ward to the process of getting them!  I hate needles!

Great Day So Far!

This morning we had some errands to run in the next town over.  We went to Ted Brown Music to buy some books for my students, pick up some soap from the MTHFR family, and pick up a book I forgot at my students' house. Then we swung by Ebony & Ivory pianos, and talked to the owner for a little while. He even let me play some grand, upright, and digital pianos.  That was a ton of fun.  Probably the highlight was playing the grand.  :)  <3 it.  They even too my contact information in case they have people come in looking for a teacher!  I met their on-site teacher who said he's totally swamped right now. He seemed relieved to hear that I have some spots available.  :)  We'll see what happens!

This afternoon I have a lesson with my oldest student. I'm glad we'll have a half hour to play the piano this time. Hopefully this will give me a much better idea of where she's at.  I picked up more books today to try with her, so hopefully one of them will work, and we can return the rest!

Wednesday's Lessons

went pretty well too!  :D

Pleased as Punch

Who knows what that actually means... :P  But it sounds about right.

I'm so excited that my trial lesson with my oldest new student went well yesterday.  It was awesome.  Her mom is a real sweetheart, and the student is great.  Turns out we both started playing flute in the fifth grade, so we may be able to some flute/piano duets as well!  :)

But... since yesterday's trial lesson went so well, I'm concerned about today's!  Today's students are 10 and 12, so a little younger than yesterday's student.  I think it will go okay though, since I've already met the kids, and their mom will be around during the lesson.

The Plan

2013 is going to be an exciting year for Daniel and I.  In mid-December, I won a free spot in Go Improve Yourself. Dustin, our fearless leader, graciously agreed to let Daniel join in on the fun.

Last night we worked through a six-page (double-sided) document, writing down our one year and five year goals in various categories.  It was a fun exercise, and sparked good conversation.  :)  We're looking forward to buckling down and tackling some of our goals right off the bat.

Dustin is encouraging us to pick just ONE goal, and focus on that for the 30 days we'll be in the Go Improve Yourself program. I've picked a goal to continue to grow my piano study. Ideally, I'd like to have 9 students by the end of the year.  I have four right now.  Over the next 30 days, I'll take steps to move closer to having 9 students. Daniel has been helping me out with that by setting up my new website. In the next few days, I will write, and post, a new Craigslist ad.

This afternoon, I have my first trial lesson and new student interview with a prospective student.  Tomorrow I have two more (brother/sister pair).  I'm very excited about getting this ball rolling!

One.more.day.

This holiday season has given me a new appreciation for the men and women whose spouses are serving tours overseas. My husband gets to come home every night, but it sure has felt like a long haul.  Daniel has had one day off over the last week and a half, and tomorrow is his last day of work before his two day weekend.  Next week they start inventory, so he'll probably be working long hours again.

And... next week I start teaching three new students!  *gulp*

I have one new student interview scheduled for the 1st, and two scheduled for the 2nd!  I'm excited.  Yesterday Daniel brought home the lesson books I'm hoping to use with two of my students, and I spent a bit of time playing through them, since I've never used them before.  Should be a good experience.

Back to the Grind

My parents and my sister came for Christmas, but they left this morning, so it's back to the grind now. Daniel only had yesterday off, so he was back to work too.  I went to see the MTHFR family today, but they're not back to school yet, so they're still off their routine.

Tomorrow the books for my only male student should get in, so I may go pick those up and flip through them.  I also need to call my newest student and arrange a time for her interview and trial lesson.  I'm thinking I might plan that for Friday.  She's not in school right now either, but her mom seemed very excited for her to start lessons.  :)

I got the key!

Yesterday, the treasurer at the church next door called to get me to come meet his pastor.  Turns out that he had already made a decision to allow me to use their church to teach piano!  :)  So, he gave me a key, and now I can say that my piano studio has a home at Iglesia Bautista El Calvario.  And... the treasurer's 15 year old daughter wants to take lessons!

Another "Life in Little Hispaniola" Moment

I don't usually blog on Saturdays, but this was just so unexpected that I have to blog about it, and I didn't want to leave it until Monday when the whole thing will hopefully be settled.  :P

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm looking for a place with an acoustic piano that I could use one afternoon a week to teach piano.  There's a little Spanish church next door, so I contacted their local association office to see what the best way to get in touch with someone who speaks English would be.  They gave me the name and number of the church treasurer, who I called almost immediately.

I told him what I was looking for, and he sounded genuinely interested.  I wasn't really sure I would hear back from him though.  Today, my phone rang, and it was him, calling to see if I wanted to come over to the church and check out the piano!

So I did!

It's a Wurlitzer, pretty old, but all 88 keys and the damper pedal work.  It's definitely out of tune, but if I can get a few students, I think I might be able to offer to pitch in toward the cost of getting it tuned.

The church treasurer said he'd talk to the pastor tonight, and call me either tonight or tomorrow morning. If the pastor says it's okay, then I'll go over in the morning to meet him.

Here's the fun part... the treasurer's wife said they're having a potluck after church tomorrow and invited me to join them!  :)  Daniel might have to work tomorrow morning, and if he does... I think I just might go!  :)

Welcome ICLW!

Hi!  I'm Stephanie, I'm 28, and I'm a scattered blogger.  We've been TTC for nearly four and a half years, with no success.  You can read more about our journey under my "TTC Timeline" at the top.

For now, I just mostly blog about day to day life and the things that are going on at our place.  Up until September, I was solely a (mostly) volunteer online community manager, but now I'm also a mother's helper, and a piano teacher.  In 2013, I've decided to get a little more serious about the piano teaching side of things, so I'm working on finding a place to hold lessons, because my keyboard is not adequate.

So... that's my last month or so in a nutshell.  :)

New Students!

I never would have expected I would say this... but I'm a piano teacher!  I've been teaching one student since the fall, but I have two more starting in January. I'm a little apprehensive about starting with new students, since I've had such a good experience with my first student. One of my new students has never taken lessons before, so that's familiar. The other new student took three years of lessons, ending about three years ago.  I'm planning to start them both off very basic, but I'm hoping I'll be able to push the older, more experienced student a little faster.  I think I will be able to.  He seems like a bright kid.

Another leap I took today was e-mailing our facilities manager at our (rather large) church to see if I might be able to utilize the acoustic piano at our church to teach lessons one afternoon a week.  I don't know when I'll hear back from her, since it's so close to Christmas.  If I don't hear from her pretty quick into the new year, I'll contact her again.  Being able to use that piano would enable me to expand my studio and take on new students.

I'm also hoping that if I can get enough students, that I might be able to afford to re-start lessons myself.  I haven't taken lessons since high school.  I think that if I want to be a really good teacher, I should be in lessons too, and constantly challenging myself.  (Plus... maybe if I can take lessons from one of the more advanced teachers in town, they'll be willing to refer their beginner inquiries to me, allowing them to focus on their advanced students, and helping me further develop my studio!)