Happy Friday!

Happy Friday my friends! It is yet the end of another insanely busy week. Right now, I am teaching full time, co-directing a spring musical at a local high school, singing in a Symphony Chorus that is preparing for a HUGE festival in May where we sing a different set of rep. every night of the festival, and a thousand other things.


I was kind of glad when I was told that I didn't have to show up for the inservice day today at school. Instead, I met with the organist friend of mine whose church I'll be canting at this weekend, and then I drove over to see my good friend and fellow Army wife, Melanie. Hanging out with Mel today was such a great end to my insane week.

It's the end of February and I'm starting to feel slightly burned out. I am ready for the spring musical to be over, in all honesty. Only a couple-few more weeks and it will be! It has been a great experience and something I can also add to my resume. At the same time, I am ready for it to be over. In another sense, I, as a performer, am always looking for more sinigng gigs (weddings, church solo jobs, etc.). I've been contemplating adding voice lessons back into my schedule - but do I really want to add something else?

To add to all this, the May Festival is quickly approaching. I'm still trying to decide if it's going to be ok or not. My wonderful husband will be in the field during the craziest time of the festival and will actually miss all the performances. While that's great because I won't have time for him during those couple weeks, what do we do about our dog? We have a needy puppy. Harry is a HIGHLY energetic Australian Cattle Dog (aka Blue Heeler). Doggie Day Care is expensive, but we might have to suck it up and do it. During those couple weeks, I will be working all day, only to come home for 90 minutes - 2 hours and then leave for a 4 hour rehearsal. Harry is going to need some serious love when all of this is through.

Right now, I truly enjoy my weekends when I have nothing planned (which is not normal for me). I have never ever felt that way before in my life, as I'm the go, go, go kind of girl. Recently, a lot has happened to make me realize that I need to slow down once in awhile.

My mother-in-law, whom I am VERY close to (and she's also a retired Army Wife) recently had a heart attack. That scared the bejeebers out of me! Then, right after that happened, I got hit with the flu. Not only was it the flu, but I had the swine flu - again (I had it a year and a half ago). This was NOT fun. I laid in bed for 3 days with a 104 fever and felt like death. I actually had to call in sick to work - a job that I absolutely love. I'm learning to kind of slow down so that I don't get too run down.

In the middle of this, all I think about is lesson plans I need to prepare, the 2nd grade musical that's less than 1 month away, etc. My brain NEVER slows down. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I have a hard time falling back asleep because my brain starts running and doesn't stop. I guess it's time to start really running again so that my brain gets that thought time. I also can use the exercise as unwind time. I sure need it.

To sum it all up, my calendar is crazy. I have days I leave my house at 7:30 am and I don't get home until after 10 pm. I want to sing for anyone who will listen. At the same time, I need some ME time. Hopefully, I can slow it down a little so that I can hang out with some of my best Army wife girls!

I know we all have crazy busy lives, as Army wives. What do you do for stress relief and/or ME time??????