If you read my last blog post, you know where I’ve been. Working! Work life balance? Not me! Well, a few issues:

First: too many students. I mean, they are great. I have some wonderful students. But seriously, there are too many. I do nothing but teach. Wake up, teach, lunch, teach, teach, dinner, lie in fetal position, repeat. It’s probably too much. Some days I count my money, other days I read, occasionally I practice and head to gigs, or play baroque violin. I did that last weekend, which cut into my teaching and was a nice break. It also rained, finally (we really needed it) and now it’s still raining–I’m not sure if we need it any more, but the rain keeps coming.

Now all the students are sick, so I’ve gotten a short break (hopefully nothing serious!) and I thought, hey let’s do a quick blog and tell people I’m still alive! Probem number two. My laptop computer battery is dying, so it really doesn’t function as a laptop anymore. So that means when I want to use my laptop I need to have it plugged it, if I want to use it for more than 5-10 minutes. Louie can get a new battery and change it for me, or I can get a new laptop, and I’m trying to decide which I want to do. Until then, I am avoiding all computer work at all and just using my phone and iPad to answer emails which means I have not been doing that as much. Because of problem one (remember, two many students), when I’m not teaching I haven’t felt like doing anything else, so that means my email inbox is a bit overwhelming, and it’s been hard to stay up on it.

So things are slipping. Laundry piles up. Washer to dryer, I do that. Dryer to basket, slow. Basket to fold, slow. Other household chores, slow. Car needs gas, avoid driving. We need food, eat less, use pantry. Find other clothes to wear.

We did get the roof fixed. It was (fingers crossed) an easy fix according to one company. Hopefully they were correct, who knows. I am not an expert. If they were wrong, we will find out later. We need to get some trees trimmed and I am slowly working on bids for that. I got some vaccines. Each week there are more appointments, doctors, dentist, eye doctor, hair. Always more things to do! Adulting never ends. Bills, checks to sign, insurance to renew, contractors to call. Emails to answer, student inquiries. Louie power washed the deck and restained it. It looks great, I would never think to do it! We thought we had a squirrel in the attic, it was just mice.

Halloween: candy to buy (check!). Food.

Books to read. Friends, what is that? Friends you see at work! Musicians, we are so lucky, we do what we love AND we work with our friends, isn’t it great? I think to myself, my career has many seasons, and I’m in a busy one. How long can I keep this up…but then I think, what if Louie loses his job, that’s our health insurance. He won’t, he is very needed, currently enrollment is up in his department, his class sizes have doubled. And if he did, well, he’d get another. Or I would find something. Or we would figure it out, we have savings. It’s fine. I could relax. But who would teach all these students?

Augustin Hadelich on Saturday night. We went to see the Symphony in their new, remodeled hall. They spent a ton of money on the renovations.

Miles has decided he only sits on the softest of the softest of seats. Here he is sitting on a furry white pillow on a soft orange chair.

Last week on Monday I bought a pumpkin at Schnucks (the local grocery store.) It was on sale for $3.99 and I thought it would be a nice fall decor. By Thursday morning the squirrels had started eating it. By Saturday morning they had knocked it off. I put it back once. They knocked it off again. I gave up. But other neighbors have pumpkins as decorations, why can’t we??? I guess our squirrels are particularly vicious?

They ate into the middle and then started on the other side. Hope you enjoy your Halloween treat, squirrels.

With fall weather comes radiant heat and kitty cuddles.

Louie went to a workshop at Carleton College in Minnesota and sent me this picture of a pond there. They were deep into fall.

Another Minnesota picture. Our fall may be less dramatic since we had such hot weather so late, I guess we will see if the rain ever stops? I don’t really know how weather works.

Okay, so it’s been busy, I’ve been overwhelmed, but I’ve read, I’m going to book club tonight. We went to the symphony, we have gone to Jazz, we went to our neighborhood’s Oktoberfest celebration. This week we are going to a movie, and passing out candy for Halloween, and going to a party at a neighbor’s house (maybe). November has slightly less craziness for me: in the past month I’ve played 8 weddings and 4 performances with requisite rehearsals and practicing, plus a short recording session, which is probably why I feel so AHHH. And this weekend is another performance, though technically in November, and also another wedding. So yeah. Craziness. Plus teaching, which I’ve missed a few here and there but mostly keeping at it. I might be a little insane, but just as a rich person can always find somebody richer, a musician can always find somebody busier.

And the truth about teaching is: the more I do it, the better I get. EXCEPT when I’m too tired. So, there’s a curve, when it gets worse. But also it gets better. That curve changes day to day and week to week, but it’s interesting. The more people I see, the more patterns I’ll notice, even though I KNOW things, I’ll really know them. It’s hard to explain. But also teaching less means I’m refreshed and can be more present for each student.

Sigh. How is your month? Are you dressing up for Halloween?