There and Back Again

Well I’ve been home for two and a half months and been running full tilt. Our house is full and crazy and jumping into the school year 6 weeks late generates even more paperwork than usual. 

Suzie moved back in with the parents after 3 years at school in Ellensburg to do her full time student teaching at Bothell High School. Student teaching is super intense and so she was gone all day and then doing lesson plans and homework all evening. In addition to evening jazz rehearsals she also did a once a week lunch time group at Canyon Park JH. Despite doing everything in her power to extend her undergraduate experience she’s officially completed her BM degree and is waiting for her certificate to come so she can start subbing and looking for a job.

Nicole finished her first and last semester at Cornish for art and fell in love with photography. Check out her work on her blog and facebook group. She got great grades going to school full time while teaching night school at NW Hair Academy nearly full time. Her lease was up in November and she decided to move back in with the parents to save up for moving to Canada. Earlier this year Nicole met Amanda from Vancouver BC & they got married over Thanksgiving weekend. Nicole spends her weekends there and then is back here while in school and teaching, only really home to sleep and when there's a little time cook for us and do our hair. She’s in the process of getting a work visa and residency so she can move up there permanently. Once in Vancouver she plans to work in a salon and take the photography course at VanArts and hope that they open another Paul Mitchell School for her to run. 

With three grown girls moving back in there simply isn’t enough room for everyone’s stuff. Nicole and Suzie have a full storage unit and most of my stuff is under my bed. I’ve spent the little free time and energy I’ve had shuffling everything around in the house to try and fit more things in. Suz got a free loft bed on craiglist and we set it up over my bed. Nicole’s futon is squashed into the computer room and we do our best to not go crazy living on top of each other. I had thought that I might have enough saved up to move out by now but not so and I still have to wait for Suzie to get a job.

My biggest busyness has been being back at school. Concerts, trips, performances, hoodies, uniforms, recruitment, arranging etc. I’m doing Bel Canto and Mello-Aires at Edmonds Woodway and band and Cedar Valley Elementary. Bel Canto is half the size it was when I left but the kids are great and we’re working hard. My friend Wendy covered the class for the first six weeks of school until I got back. She conducted the Fall Concert and then I took over for the Winter Concert. Mello-Aires hopped right in learning the Christmas binder and did nearly a dozen holiday performances in December and started learning jazz tunes for future festivals. Elementary band was a new experience all together. Quite the learning curve but now that Suzie’s done student teaching she’s been helping out. 

It was a sprint to winter break as usual and not until break did we get to think about things like Christmas trees and presents. 

We had a quiet holiday- lots of baking (Suzie stirring her cauldron of fudge), eating, napping and media consumption with an adventurous trip to the dentist thrown in for good measure. I got all caught up on Bones and Suzie’s getting caught up on Doctor Who and it’s time now to start thinking about school and planning for retreats, the musical, the quad workshop, MENC conference, middle school glee club, men’s choir, spring tour etc etc etc...and hope that at the end of the year I’ll still have a job and don’t end up on the chopping block again.