highlights from Christmas break

Drew's future bedroom

Jeanette's little Laura in Lewiston

Christmas Day at Nancy's. I was sick all day, but everyone else had fun!

Drew LOVED his present from Grandma and Grandpa Krum!

"Watch more Drews?" Drew likes watching videos of himself. (o:

Cousin Jade (same age as Drew)

Yay, I got some snow! 10 inches in one day.

Am now home after a wonderful time with family and friends and 2,000-mile trip.

Happy New Year, everyone!

congratulations, you're hired...again

I just received word yesterday that the dean has not approved the tenure-track search for my position next year. Which means...I have a job next year!! I get to stay at Oregon State another year. This is great news since I would have had to find another job in the state of Oregon in order to be able to get my full retirement benefits (minimum five years). So, I'm thrilled, to say the least. After next school year, who knows. I will still teach on a yearly contract, so the potential for my job to go away due to budgetary concerns is still there. That is not too likely, but you never know. I am still seriously considering grad school, but now I can put off deciding anything another year.

This also means that my friend, Karen, and I will for sure make plans to go to France this coming summer!! We were originally planning on Italy and France, but we decided to just do France this year (save Italy for another time). Our friends, Richard and Tina, will be in Paris at the same time, so we will latch on to their knowledge and Richard's fluent French to make it a greater experience.

Praise God for great news and His faithfulness!

wonderful video

Below are two links (part 1 and 2) of a speech given by an abortion survivor. Well worth your time to watch (about 16 minutes).

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKrW7vP8W00

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8B1nKGIAeg

I won!

Today at our University Day, I was one of the lucky winners of the drawing they have! The prize package is not one of the really fancy ones, but it is still very cool to have won one of the 17 prize packages out of the hundreds of people that were there! It includes a dozen cupcakes (yes, I will only be eating one--maybe two--and bringing the rest to the faculty room), some Beaver sticky notes, black and orange malt balls (bleh--my music staff will like those, too), stainless steel Beaver water bottle, Beaver travel coffee mug, Beaver canvas bag, Beaver ice bucket, and a couple of Beaver orange peelers (the campaign is "orange rewards"). AND $100 towards "orange rewards," which means $100 to any of the dining services on campus. I think this just may be my year's supply of coffee...

change is fun, right?

Well, I already "knew" this, but reality is always more stark. Here is a letter I got yesterday in my box:

As we discussed last spring, I'm officially giving you notice that your fixed term appointment will terminate as of June 15, 2011. We have discussed the reasons for doing this, and of course I'll be happy to discuss it further.

Please be aware that we have been exceedingly pleased with your hard work, the effectiveness of your teaching, your collegiality and your commitment to the department's various missions. And, you should also know that I will be more than pleased to write you a letter of recommendation for any future job searches that you may undertake.

Thank you for your wonderful contributions to the music department.

Sincerely,

XX XX, chair

So, I'm officially out of a job after this year. If they end up not finding someone to replace me for next year, they probably will hire me back but most likely without a salary. I don't want to do that. So, I may be looking for a job next year in Oregon. I need to work this year and next in Oregon in order to get five years, which means I can take my retirement with me. I'm a little nervous now that it is more "real," but not worried, thankfully. Change is fun, isn't it? I'm actually excited for the future--nervous, but excited.

transformed bathroom

I've decided this year that I would finally move into my condo. Yes, I've lived here two years, but now that I'm fairly sure I will be here hopefully two more years, I decided to finally make some changes. Last weekend's project: the bathroom. Oh, so much better!

Before & After

The color is gray with a beige undertone. I bought a new towel bar and hook (behind the door) and am still deciding on the curtains. I'm liking it! I now have to get out of improve-your-property mode since it's NOT my property!

There was one casualty of the paint. The already-cracked lid couldn't even take a little of my weight... My nice landlord did replace it for me, though!

redwooding

My friend, Karen, and I recently took a trip to northern California, southern Oregon, and a little of central Oregon. It has been my goal to see more of the state that I live in, so we took off for five days. Here are some of the pictures of the BEAUTIFUL state of Oregon and the northern California redwoods.

One picture of the southern Oregon coast. We stopped here for lunch, but didn't stop anywhere else--that will have to be a separate trip. Gotta say the southern coast beats central/northern coast!

We stayed at a KOA kampground (yes, campground with a K) right in the middle of the redwoods, near Crescent City.

To save money, we packed a cooler full of food so our only expenses were travel and lodging. Heck yes, I brought my toaster oven.

Redwoods 1, Humans 0

"Do you know the tide schedule?" the Idaho girl was asked. "No, sorry," she answered in a I-usually-know-but-just-not-today kind of way.

After the redwoods, we headed to Ashland which hosts the yearly Shakespeare Festival. We saw Twelfth Night, which was excellent. We bought standing-room tickets (a lot cheaper than sitting...and they were sold out of those anyway). We stayed at a cute old hotel and then left for Klamath Falls the next morning. We picked up my aunt Robin and headed to Crater Lake. Beautiful!

Karen and I had a lot of fun with both Robin and Brent. Robin cooked us dinner Friday night and Brent cooked breakfast Saturday morning. After days of eating out of the cooler, it was wonderful!

We ended up heading home on Highway 58 (beautiful drive) and stopped at Salt Creek Falls.

We ended up putting a little over 1,000 miles on my car. Despite encountering many protest signs like the one below (people seem to be pretty passionate about this issue), we're ready for our next travel adventure!

Yuengling

One of the goals while I was visiting my friend, Carol, in D.C. these last few days was to have a Yuengling (can't buy it anywhere in the western United States). Yuengling was my gateway beer quite a number of years ago when Em, Steph, Sarah, Erin, and I went on a fun trip to Baltimore/D.C. I was a beer-drinker after tasting it and haven't looked back since.

Well, Carol and I forgot about it and I didn't realize until Carol texted me before my first flight to Atlanta (connection to Portland) to tell me. When I got to the Atlanta airport, I had to go to a different terminal; thought I was going to be late, so rushed to get there. Turned out I had about 20 or so minutes. So, I found a bar and grill that had Yuengling on tap and managed to down a pint of it in about 10 minutes. Yep, after many, many years, I once again have tasted Yuengling. And in quite the ladylike fashion, might I add.

And how was it? I discovered my beer tastes have matured since that time. It is a good beer, still, but not for me anymore. I can now continue to live my life--fondly look back to the time when my sister and I carried a 24-pack of Yuengling bottles crammed in our carry-on bags (clinkety clink) from D.C. back to Idaho since having it in our suitcases we were checking made it 50 pounds heavier than it should have been and would have cost us an arm and a leg in fees--and never yearn to have a Yuengling again. Thank you, Yuengling, for the memories.

soaring above the earth

Why am I posting a blog about nothing? Because I can. Because I am flying miles above the earth at this moment. Right. Now. And because buying internet time instead of food on a 5-hour flight is so worth it.

oboe awesomeness

Last Thursday I put on a recital for my five oboe students. It was a fairly relaxed affair, with mostly just parents there to watch. Each student performed one solo and my older students and I performed a duet and trio. At the end, all five oboists and me on english horn played a Beatles medley I arranged. This was the first and only time we had played it all together, so it was by no means perfect--in fact, we had to restart Eleanor Rigby since we were in different keys. So, besides some wrong entrances and notes, it turned out OK. I wish we had time to do it again, but, alas, it was not to be.

Five oboes/one english horn+The Bea'les=AWESOMENESS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqbIpShH83s

he's dancin'

Yes, he is both cute and talented.

Here's a link to it on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLBfff59kns

Photo Booth fun

I am currently having fun on my Spring Break in Pocatello. Emily had to work on Monday, so I got to babysit the Drewberry all day. Here is some evidence of the fun we had.

Pat Robertson debacle

Here is a link to Donald Miller's blog addressing Pat Robertson's on-air comments about Haiti last week. A good other perspective.

http://donmilleris.com/2010/01/13/1513/

update on my grandma

I'm pretty much copying my sister's blog. I'm sure she won't mind...right?

So, there was a development before the surgery happened this morning. The pathology report came back inconclusive, so the doctor decided instead of the six-hour long surgery today he would just do a surgical biopsy and put in a tracheostomy (breathing tube in her neck) as the mass was growing so fast that she wouldn't have been able to breathe by tomorrow. During surgery they sent a sample to pathology and it came back as lymphoma, not the squamous cell originally thought. Both are bad cancers, but evidently because it's lymphoma they will NOT have to remove her voicebox, and this cancer is much more responsive to chemo and radiation! This really is next to the best case scenario, so we are relieved. Thank you so much for your prayers!!! They were obviously needed!

my grandma

I want to echo my sister in asking for prayer for my Grandma Cris (my dad's mom). She is going in for surgery this Friday to remove the cancerous tumor pressing on her windpipe. Since it is wrapped around her voice box, they will remove it as well. Our family would appreciate your prayers. This picture was taken 17 months ago of our grandma with our little Drew.

happy new year!

Have a wonderful start to a new year, everyone! I feel especially blessed by all my family, my friends, a job I love, my freedom, and especially a Savior who, by grace, continues to walk with me.

I love listening to Chris Rice's Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus) at this time of year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_4g8_e16dc

Have a blessed year!