FEBRUARY
We're now well ito February - it's one of the more "boring" times of the year for me, usually - even though there is always something to look forward to. As I go through each year, there's always a "season" of some sort - something annual coming up. For now, it's getting the house renovation finished up, preparing for the Easter season at church and preparing for the FCAT season at school.
HOUSE RENOVATION - well, I can finally say that we're getting close to being don
e now. Since December and the holidays, all of the appliances have been delivered and installed. All are working except for the dishwasher, which is yet to be wired up and plumbed. The laminate countertops have yet to be installed, as well. The "trim" which is the baseboards and interior doors has been mostly installed. We are still lacking a few room on the baseboards. The electrical work is also nearing completion with three rooms yet to be connected to breakers. So, now the big task has been getting in all of the things that have been sitting outside under plastic for the last few months. After getting in all of the boxes of office and paper things, clothes were next on the agenda. Now that I can wash and dry, I've been going "great guns" in getting clothes and things washed up. Unfortunately, there were quite a few articles of clothing that got wet and ruined, so some things were lost. Other than that, it's a bunch of smaller details that have to be done and getting furnishings and decorating done. At the end of this month - it will mark a year since we signed the paperwork to get this project underway. It's hard to believe that it has taken this long!
e now. Since December and the holidays, all of the appliances have been delivered and installed. All are working except for the dishwasher, which is yet to be wired up and plumbed. The laminate countertops have yet to be installed, as well. The "trim" which is the baseboards and interior doors has been mostly installed. We are still lacking a few room on the baseboards. The electrical work is also nearing completion with three rooms yet to be connected to breakers. So, now the big task has been getting in all of the things that have been sitting outside under plastic for the last few months. After getting in all of the boxes of office and paper things, clothes were next on the agenda. Now that I can wash and dry, I've been going "great guns" in getting clothes and things washed up. Unfortunately, there were quite a few articles of clothing that got wet and ruined, so some things were lost. Other than that, it's a bunch of smaller details that have to be done and getting furnishings and decorating done. At the end of this month - it will mark a year since we signed the paperwork to get this project underway. It's hard to believe that it has taken this long! FAITH UMC - Things at Faith United Methodist have been going slower than I would like at present. I'm beginning my second full year there, and just as last year, we have gone into this slump where choir attendance is down - and this year it has been all of the ensemble attendance that has been down. This is mostly for legitimate reasons - we have some people out because of long term illnesses and surgeries - and others that are participating in more of a periphery capacity. This is also attributed to the fact that we are in a time of transition at Faith - not just with music, but with the church as a whole. There is essentially new and relatively new leadership that is in place and the culture and times are changing. The church is adjusting and feeling its way through it all, I think. With consistency, and flexibility I do believe that things in all of the ministries will stabilize in the years to come. In the meantime, we are busy getting ready for this upcoming Easter season with two venues on our plates, musically. One is called The Early Christian Meal - which is a somber re-enactment of the last days of the life of Christ. The other is a work that we'll do on Palm Sunday entitled "The Power of the Cross." This is a more contemporary musical that will be done with choir and praise team. On Easter Sunday, we'll have speical music, as well. Then, after Easter, things will calm down some, although I'd like to keep a good bit of musical variety going in our worship, as well as looking ahead at some new programming.
SCHOOL - Carwise Middle has been busy too! Students have more than settled in and are getting very antsy this time of the year. This is when we do our big standardized testing - called FCAT. What this means for us is that the students are assigned to homerooms where they actually take their tests. We have already had one session, which was a mock test for what I am testing - 7th grade. We go for real in a couple of weeks and there are about 4 more half-day sessions where we will meet to test. Some time after that, we'll be looking at Spring Break - but not until after Easter.
COURSEWORK - As I work on credentials to teach social studies, I am taking a course at USF this semester called "Issues In Sport." It's an online course about various issues in the soprts world. This is a fantastic course in which we look at how to solve problems, who the stakeholders (people affected) are, and how to generate solutions to issues after we have identified the issue and have analyzed it - taking into consideration all of the stakeholders. So far interviews with Lee Roy Selmon and Bill Curry have been just awesome.
posted by George Winslow @ 2:43 PM
