The Scoop, lately...

Hi.  My name is Kensy.  I teach private music lessons, have a cat named Charlie, and live in a refurbished chicken coop.

For real, though - I feel like I need to reintroduce myself.  Thanks for sticking with me and reading, regardless of how often I hold up my end of the deal!

Lots of good things have been happening here:

• graduation parties for students I student taught 3 years ago
• acquiring new responsibilities and/or students at both work places 
• purchasing an iPhone 5 after going 4+ years without upgrading my non-smart phone (I'd been avoiding the switch, but was in the market for a new camera, as well as an iPod, so just went the smartphone route...got a free case and car charger out of the deal, too! You know how I feel about freebies... ☺) 
• whirlwind Memorial Day weekend, including wedding dress shopping with/for BFF from college in Norfolk, a visit from best friend from Topeka (shopping, Starbucks, painting nails, quality time with family and friends, etc.) and a visit from my super great brother (movie, iPhone orientation for both of us, day at the zoo and building Legos with the kids I nanny for, and Charlie time) 
• trips to the farmer's market
• hosting (and performing in) concerts for work 

Here's some photo evidence of some of the above happenings (all captured via the new iPhone ☺):

Sweet kiddo story:
The now-6-yr.-old I nanny for occasionally has things to share with me about various TV shows - specifically River Monsters - and always wonders if I've watched them, too.  I've had to remind him a few times that I can't watch most of the shows he talks about, because I don't have cable at my house.  The last few times I've told him this, he's said very matter-of-factly, "We have a million cables that would work on your TV - you could have one!  What's your TV look like?"  I told him, and he said, "Oh yeah, we have one that would work on that...they're pretty much new and just laying around."  I didn't have the heart to tell him it doesn't really work that way. ☺

I hope this finds you all well and you survived the recent storms and crazy weather.  Praise the Lord for the rain, but praying He blesses and comforts all who have been affected negatively by the it all.

Finally enjoying skirt and flip-flop weather,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

meeting new people

fresh asparagus from Mom's garden

these flowers from one of my students:

Hey, all - Happy Cinco de Mayo!

As usual, things have been crazy and time has been flying at the coop.

We had our studio recital yesterday, and I am so proud of all my students and their performances!  I know I've said it before, but I am continually thankful for the kind, funny, talented kiddos/students I get to spend time with on a weekly basis and their supportive, thoughtful families.  I am also so very thankful for my coworkers/friends and the opportunities we have to encourage and support each other.

Fun fact: two of my boy students were in casts as of a couple weeks ago, so we got to play impromptu duets on the recital - I played the part for whichever hand was out of commission.

The mom of one of my little girl students made this wreath, and they gave it to me after the recital:

Soooo thoughtful!

After reminding him of his Saturday recital time during his last lesson before the recital, one of my students said, "I feel sorry for the people who play on the Sunday recital."  "Why is that?" said I.  "Because they don't get to see you!"  I explained to him, "Well, there actually isn't a Sunday recital."  Relieved, he replied, "Oh good - then everyone gets to see you!"

The same little guy brought me these "fresh from the garden" before his recital:

The 5-year-old I nanny for asked me last week, "Do you have a boyfriend?"  After I responded, "No," he said, "You should get one."  I asked him where I should get one, and he suggested, "At a wedding...or at church...or a restaurant...or just somewhere - I don't care.  Just find one."  I told him I would see what I could do...though I've tried most of those options, already.

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the unpredictable weather!  Praise the Lord for some moisture...hopefully, we'll get some sunshine to go with it in the near future...

Thanks for reading,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

spontaneous breakfast-for-supper with my parents and the neighbors!  ☺

seeing old friends and celebrating life milestones

awesome bargains and teacher discounts

Call off the search parties...

Hey there!

Don't worry - I didn't fall off my corner of the earth. ☺ Here is a short list of some of the things that have stood in the way of giving you the "scoop" lately:

- filling out 51 student evaluations
- seeing The Lion King - the musical!!!
- short spring break trip to Topeka to spend quality time with loved ones
- lots of quality time with various friends
- playing trumpet for an awesome Easter service
- spending Easter weekend with family (including games, movies and basketball, great conversation, and good food)
- reading "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis and leading a Bible study on the topic

On an unrelated note, I have my morning alarm set to "radio," and it's on a Christian radio station. On separate days in the same week recently, I woke up to the words "Open the eyes of my heart..." and "I will rise..." Thought it was kinda ironic...and funny.

I can't go without commenting on the warm weather the past couple of days. I was FINALLY able to wear open-toed shoes and skirts without tights this week - hooray! We also opened the windows at the coop, and Charlie spend the majority of the day sitting in them, breathing in the fresh air. This is how he spent the majority of the evening:

I hope this finds you and yours well!

If there's anything you'd like to read about, let me know!  Also, if you every want to get together in person, let me know - nothing beats face-to-face conversation!  ☺

Take care,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

roasted asparagus

getting everything checked off my to-do list

baby daffodils!

This one doesn't help my "not a crazy cat lady" argument...but I know a whole lot of you will enjoy it!

Hey, all!

Just have a couple things to share with you:

About a week ago, we put on a pot of chili at the coop...in the crock pot...leaving the empty box on top of the fridge.  After hearing some rustling and bustling, this is what we found (and continued to find for about 3 consecutive hours):

A few days later, we put the crock pot back in the box, but Charlie was determined to make equally as comfortable a spot out of the full box as he had the empty one (it took some doing, too - he was literally situating himself for 10 minutes):

In somewhat related news, one of my little girl students was talking about pets during her lesson last week.  In the middle of the conversation, she made the following statement: "Yeah...and I have to drag my cats when I walk them."  I had been ready to end the conversation and move on with her lesson, but this comment stopped me in my tracks.  While unsuccessfully trying to swallow my laughter and conceal my shock, I said, "What?  You walk your cats?!"  She replied, as if everyone walks their cats, "Well, one of them is really scared and goes crazy when we put the leash on, but the other one just lies down and I have to drag him along."  I told her I was so glad she shared that story, because I have to drag my cat when I take him for "walks," too, and was glad to know I'm not the only one.  What a priceless moment...and so hilarious!

Also - after reading about a new concept on the page before I could explain it, another little girl asked during her piano lesson, "What's a ritardando?!  Is that like a ballet move?"

Not really much more to report here...except that I need to add "travel agent" to my list of music librarian duties.  ☺

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

♥,
K

Favorites of the day:

broccoli, cheese, and rice

spontaneous weekend activities

a clean car (washed, dried, vacuumed, and Armor-All'ed)

New meaning...

Welp, happy snow day!

Not much to show for it here, but that's what snow days are all about, right?

Here's how one resident of the coop has spent his day:

The rest of us have followed his example for most of the day, so far.  ☺

I've debated about whether or not to tell ya'll the following story, but it was one of those (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime things that should probably be shared (those of you who get squeamish at the mention of bodily injuries may just want to skim, or skip, this one...):

On Monday morning, Charlie was sitting on my lap while I was checking e-mails.  I was petting and messing with him when a UPS truck pulled in to turn around in the driveway, so he didn't hear it, initially.  When he did hear it, though, he needed to run to the door/window to check it out.  In order to get there, he jumped over me to the back of the couch, catching my eye with his back paw in the process.  Luckily, I've been trimming his claws, so they weren't super sharp, but he still scratched my eyeball and a little bit of the skin below my eye.  

Immediately after the incident, my eye was kind-of burning, and I could feel something catching on my eyelid when I blinked.  It wasn't bleeding, though, and I couldn't actually see a scratch, but I figured I should probably get it checked out, anyway.

One of my students' dads is an optometrist, so I called his office, and they were able to get me in that afternoon.  He was indeed able to see a scratch across my iris and cornea.  It wasn't deep, but he said it was a good thing I came in, because there was a little flap of eye skin that needed to be removed in order for the new tissue to grow in and heal.  After numbing my eye with a drop of special potion, he removed the flap of skin and instructed me to put in my contact to act as a bandaid...and to leave it in that night (something I've always been instructed not to do)!

Yes, it was uncomfortable the rest of that day (felt like there was a big eyelash under my contact), and I had to do some explaining to my students about why I was squinty and sometimes teary-eyed.  The eye heals faster than any other part of our bodies, though, so when I went in for a check-up the next day, it was 90% healed, and I could tell it felt better.  It was super sensitive to light, though, and of course, the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky that day.  So, the doctor dilated that eye in order to relax the reflexes that were making it so hard to keep my eyes open when outside...and when driving.  Had to explain that one to my students, too.  ☺  

Today, it seems to be 100% better - pretty amazing!  The whole ordeal sure gives new meaning to the phrase "makes me want to scratch my eyes out," though!  Definitely not a pleasant experience...but it could have been so much worse, and I'm very thankful it wasn't.

For all you cat-haters out there, don't let this story fuel your fire - it was just an accident.  ☺

Stay as safe and warm as possible!  Hopefully, I won't need to call on any of you to come help dig us out of the coop...

Happily seeing,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

not setting an alarm

Doritos (Nacho Cheese flavor, of course)

techonology

Lent, little things, life

Howdy!

I hope you all had a wonderful week and enjoyed the various festivities it brought.  The Valentine's decorations at the coop are put away and the Easter ones are out!

In case you were wondering, I am giving something up for Lent this year.  I haven't given anything up the past couple of years for reasons similar to the reason I don't make New Years resolutions:
In my opinion, making a sacrifice/lifestyle change/etc. shouldn't be tied to one particular time of year, season, or event, but rather, it should be a year-round, continuous mind-set and/or goal.  I understand some individuals are motivated by the New Year or making a sacrifice during Lent in honor of what Jesus did, though, and I respect their decisions.  On the other hand, no offense intended, I start to question people's motives in making these sacrifices when it becomes something they make very public and they take on a "woe is me" mentality.  Isn't the point of making the sacrifice in our own lives to remember what Jesus did and draw closer to Him in place of the thing we've given up for 40 days?

Anyway, I'll get off my soap box, and tell you that my Lenten sacrifice is giving up hitting the snooze button in the morning.  It's a (terrible) habit I developed in college and haven't been able to shake since.  I think I've mentioned something about this in earlier posts... maybe...?  Either way, it's just gotten a little out-of-hand, to the point of pushing my morning quiet time (Bible reading, prayer journaling, etc.) to the evening, which in turn affects the rest of my day in various negative ways.  So, after a few years of setting my alarm much earlier than necessary so I could afford the "luxury" of hitting "snooze" for about an hour (on average), I've gone cold turkey.  These first couple days, I've found myself a little resentful in the morning...which is when I take the opportunity to remember why I'm making this change/sacrifice.

Making this public announcement and explaining this to you may seem contrary to my thoughts in the previous paragraph about Lenten sacrifices, but I don't mean contradict myself.  I simply wanted to share this with you all, AND I strongly believe in the power of accountability, so feel free to ask me how it's going at any time.  I'm planning on making this a permanent change (rather than hitting "snooze" 20 times on Easter morning).

A couple other things to share:

When I was getting groceries the other night (something I enjoy very much, as you know), I was witness to the following scene:

A dad was pushing one of the little half-size carts with and his 3 young kiddos (elementary age) trailing along.  One of the little boys was having a hard time keeping up, and as he was rushing to catch up, he glanced my way and asked his dad, "How come we have to have a little cart?"  The dad replied, "Because we don't need to get much."  The boy looked again at my cart and said (somewhat to himself) in passing, "Well...she has a big one!"  They were in the refrigerated section purchasing little bottles of chocolate and strawberry milk.  Apparently, this was a big deal, and the kids were soooo excited.  As their dad was pulling out a bigger bottle for himself, the little girl exclaimed, "How come you get a big one?!"  He replied, "Am I bigger than you?"  I encountered them, again, in the frozen section while they were picking out ice cream.  The kids kept going on about all the fun treats they were getting.  I don't know what the occasion was, but it was so refreshing to see kids excited about and appreciative of the "little things."

Remember my post about all my duties as a "music librarian" and all the updates to the list, since then?  (Here's a link to that post, in case you need a refresher.)  Well, I was feeding the fish the other day, and thought I'd document it a bit for those of you who might not know exactly what this entails:

This is just a snack for these discus fish - they got a full meal later in the day.  Yes, you're seeing a shot glass with an eye-dropper.  The glass contains previously frozen blood worms and brine shrimp (little tiny, tiny shrimp...haha - that seems incredibly redundant, but really - they're so tiny) thawed in a little water.  These fish and their 10+ friends gather around for drops of this tasty concoction as I squeeze it into the water with the eye-dropper.  These particular discus are about 4-5 inches in diameter.  We have another tank in the office with ones that started as babies (I guess all of them started as babies, but I actually got to see these in their smaller state), and it's been fun to watch them grow!  I think I've become so accustomed to the beautiful tropical fish I get to see on a regular basis that I forget to appreciate them.  Thanks to my boss for sharing this hobby with the rest of us.  ☺

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and stay warm!

-Kensy

Favorites of the day:

checking things off my to-do list

trimming Charlie's claws (ha - NOT!  It's nice to have a less-destructive kitty, though.)

Downy Unstopables

chick flicks

Somewhat overdue update

Happy February! Hope it's off to a great start for each of you!

Those of you who see me on a regular basis may be wondering why I didn't wrote a post about all the experiences life had in store for me last week. I'll admit I had a large portion of a post written and ready to go, but I decided to not throw a pity party for myself and/or give you all more details than you needed/cared to know. In short, I was in and out of the mechanic's shop 4 of the 5 weekdays last week. Thank goodness for AAA, capable mechanics, helpful friends, and a flexible work schedule.

In other news, I have a few kiddo stories to share! Enjoy:

One of my little girl students asked at the end of her lesson the other day, "How many pictures of pianos do you have at your house?" I considered the question for a second before asking why she was asking. She said, "I just wondered how much you really love piano." Apparently, my home decor is directly related to my love of the instruments I play.

I was playing dollhouse with the 3-yr.-old I nanny for, and we were setting up the baby's room. While I was looking closely at the little changing table, the following conversation ensued:
Her: Whatcha looking at?
Me: I'm trying to figure out what these little things painted on here are...I think they're two safety pins - you know, for the diapers.
Her (without missing a beat): No - those are the buttons to not let babies fall off when we are wiping them.
She proceeded to demonstrate by putting a baby on the table, "pressing" the "buttons," and said, "See - he's not falling off, now!"

After playing a song about whales jumping out of the water, one of my little 4-yr.-old boy students said, "God can fly." I said, "Yeah, I think He can probably do anything He wants." He replied, "You can't see God...but people still believe in Him...but why is He there?" "Probably because He loves us so much and wants to be around us...don't you think?" I said. He thought about that for a second before saying, "Yeah, and He still loves us even when we do bad things." I just smiled and said, "He sure does!" before sending him out the door.

A couple other exciting things...

I received my official Nebraska driver's license the other day! I know, I know...I should have probably gotten one over 2 years ago. My Kansas one didn't expire till this year, though, so I just didn't think I needed to spend the $26 till I absolutely had to! ☺ I didn't anticipate it being a big deal, but it hit me a little harder than I expected.

Also...I was recently approved for a home loan! This may come as a little bit of a shock to some of you...? I don't think I've written about it here, before, but home ownership has been something I've been mulling over for a couple years, now. I haven't actually looked at homes, yet - I've always said I wouldn't do so till I knew whether or not it was even realistic for me to be considering it. So, I just decided to "talk money" with someone and figure out what might be feasible this past week. That all made the potential search more real, though, and a little more scary. I'm still not sure whether or not this is something I'm super serious about, and it's definitely not something I'll be doing in the very near future, but I am going to put myself on the real estate radar and see if a super-awesome-perfect deal/home falls into my lap...someday. More updates to come on this, I'm sure.

How's that all for a life update? Let me know if you have any questions/comments/concerns - I'd love to get your input on any and all of it! ☺

Lovingly (yes, in honor of Valentine's Day - have a good one, btw!),
Kensy

P.S. Thank you for the 9,500 views! Guess I need to start gearing up for a 10,000 celebration...?

Favorites of the day:

performing on Trumpetfest today!

family time

b-day celebrations and festivities