You guys. Isn’t it a little sad, that back to school sales and whatnot are starting up? I’m not ready!

I wish I could keep the summer feel going all year round, but it’s not possible at this time. (Maybe later, like in retirement.)

Nonetheless, despite my earlier blog post this week complaining, this week has been pretty good. I’ve accomplished quite a few tasks, and I am looking forward to a weekend of opera rehearsals (Nabucco with Union Avenue). It’s the first weekend I’ve really had to work through for, gosh, about 6 weeks…and though I’m a little sad to not be free, I’m excited to play violin more!

I did get some written estimates for the steps. I took care of some other things, and scheduled time to take care of more things. I probably accomplished slightly more than I hoped to, so that’s good.

I’ve spent so much of my practicing, and trying to get ahead in my career by practicing more…I’ve had a very unconventional career and life, by most standards, I would think. I find what I do to be fairly boring and mundane, because other musicians do so much more exciting things than I do, but I sometimes get tickled when people are excited to hear that I’m a musician, or that I teach music lessons out of my home. I suppose I shouldn’t be so grouchy about things.

One thing that I haven’t made much progress towards this summer is de-cluttering the house. I’m making slow progress over time but had hoped to really do more. It ended up not being as much of a priority, and perhaps slow progress is okay. I still plan to fill four boxes to give away by the end of July, and I’m only at about 1 1/2, so that gives me a goal.

It seems funny sometimes (or horrible) that we acquire so much junk that we need to just get rid of it, and that the junk we acquire makes us stressed out! In some places in the world people have nothing, and here I am complaining that I have too much stuff. It’s definitely a problem that I should be grateful for.

I also try to make sure to donate to charity and groups every month because if I have enough money to buy junk that I don’t even want a few years (or sooner) later, I have enough money to throw at this group or that group that is doing good. Then I feel bad because they send out so many requests for more money that I worry my initial donation only covered the mailings for future donations, and maybe rather than several small donations to a variety of orgs I should be giving more to just one…but I like to spread it out! I figure that covers worrying too much about what group is doing the best work and just help out a variety of approaches. What do you all do? I’d love to give more time, but right now I need my time for career building and maintaining, and I realize I just can’t commit to regular volunteering. But I can give small amounts of money.

A fun site I’ve been using to help out is Kiva. You give small loans to people and they pay you back, and then you can relend the money. I always consider it a donation, but they usually pay back, and then technically you could take the money back. You get to help people on a very small scale.

In any case, stuff like that makes me feel better. And having lunch with a friend, and working out, and playing music, and reading a good book. I’ve been rereading the Inspector Lynley mysteries lately, in addition to “Slaves in the Family” by Edward Ball. I’m pretty much done planning our trip in August, and I’ve even got a good cat-sitter lined up. (Local readers, what do you do with your cats when you go out of town, for future reference?)

Here are some pictures of Muriel and Miles, since I know that’s really why you’re here:

Muriel really loves this chair. Unfortunately, it’s the chair I sit in while I’m teaching, so she is not happy when I teach.

Miles had a follow-up visit at the vet. Nothing wrong, just the second round of shots. He’s gained about a pound this past month!

He might have been regretting his choice to walk up on Michael’s porch in this picture. I put it on instagram with the caption “Miles is regretting his decision to join the hoomans.”

I’m not going to lie: It’s hard taking Miles to the vet. It’s the same vet where we took Mackenzie to be put to sleep and I always cry a little in the parking lot because it brings back memories. I love my new kitties, but I still mourn my old pets. I suppose that’s normal? It’s wonderful to have them around and they are really fun to play with and watch! They love to wrestle and play, and are much more active than I know they will be later. They are constantly hungry and definitely misbehave, but they are just so cute

Have a wonderful weekend, dear reader!