Something feels strange... like I should be having a hectic day, but instead, I had a relatively calm, leisurely summer day.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
Dropped down a couple, which is typical for the second half of the month. Right now we're just trying to get ready for the fast-paced ramp up we expect in August and September.

Reading: One book per week.
I got about halfway through The Everything Dog Obedience Book and then stopped after the part about biting. And then I picked up Brisingr and read the same page three nights in a row before setting the Kindle back down on the nightstand and passing out. The reading is a bit stalled, but I did two loads of laundry and taught the dog to come, lay down, drop it, wait, and look. Sadly, he's still biting.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: No, but I was thinking of working on that now. It's the thought that counts, right?
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Hmm. Actually, thanks to a prompting from Storm Machine , I stopped in at Helium, caught up on my rating, and edited a few of my articles. She's thinking of exercising her article-writing muscles, and I'm thinking of following her example.

Count points:
Umm.
 

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
202 today!

Reading: One book per week.
Brisingr: 53%. The Everything Dog Obedience Book: 22%. I was also proud to be the first person to download the newly-available-in-ereader-format Burning Bright by Storm Machine !

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: No.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.

*kicks self* I can't even write my WCD blog on a regular basis anymore, thanks to every waking (and some of the sleeping) moment dedicated to the new puppy. On the bright side, I think we had a breakthrough this morning, and he finally started to understand what I mean when I say, "Potty!" We definitely have "no," "come," "drop it," and "look" down pat. But the P-word is the ultimate.

Count points:
I'm going to give this a go again. Maybe tomorrow.
 

Whoever said puppies love us unconditionally was full of puppy shit. They don't love us when we wake them prematurely from their naps; lay them down prematurely for their naps; try to remove mulch from their mouths; try to remove poop from their mouths; try to remove chair legs from their mouths; try to remove anything from their mouths; or try to feed them boring puppy food when you're eating delicious-smelling bacon.

On the other hand, they get awfully excited when you come home.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
I blinked. We skyrocketed to 195.

Reading: One book per week.
About 50% of the way through Brisingr and tearing it up.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: No.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.

Count points:
No, and I want chips. But I also want to fit into my jeans again. Ah, when desires conflict... plots are developed!

 

Sammy the Yorkie: He's cute as a button! And though this isn't saying much, he has more energy than I. Thankfully, we've had the kids all week, since we're both on vacation. This is good because the four of us combined come close to Sammy's energy level.

About vacation: In my family, this is when you do a bunch of stuff together. Typically, we do that somewhere out of town, but due to puppy expenses, I convinced the boy to do local day trips instead. It's been much better, but we still have to plan, make checklists, reserve, leave on time, and follow a schedule. Plus, activities like hanging out on a pontoon boat all day, which should have involved me reading, actually involved me feeding the kids, hauling the kids out of the water, and teaching the dog how to swim.

Couple that with daily puppy play and potty training, and I find myself beginning blog post, walking away, and letting them time out before I finish what I started. I've also been helping the 13-year-old edit and publish his debut movie, Mezesoic Park. Yes, he spelled it wrong, LOL. Check it out anyway, it's rather hysterical. Plus, we could use the views and "likes" so he'll show up in the YouTube search:

CLICK HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZesAEhmy3Q

I also find myself yawning a lot. Is it odd that I look forward to returning to work tomorrow and all of next week?

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
Still in the 170's, but we've been closed all week.

Reading: One book per week.
Not since Eldest, though I did see Transformers yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the engaging and innovative plot.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Not for probably a month.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.

Count points:
No.
 

O.M.G... I hurt today. I discovered that whipped cream stains.

I bet most of you sicko readers already knew that.

So, after the pie tossing, we had two very sticky teachers, a sidewalk, a stone wall, and a set of windows to hose down. But we didn't have a hose. So we hauled bucket after bucket of hot, soapy water from the utility sink in the back of the school and dumped them all over the mess (with the exception of the teachers, for whom we found it much more efficient to transport the mess to the utility sink.) The soapy water alone didn't remove the whipped cream from the surfaces, so we got the broom out and scrubbed. For like an hour. It's still not completely gone, but I don't give a poop because (did I mention?) I hurt.

Yesterday was a blast. We didn't have a huge crowd - maybe 30 or 40 people - but it was fun. We had given out tickets instead of stickers as incentives for the past month or so, so some kids had more tickets than others. My favorite moment happened when one little three-year-old preschool girl, Palak, didn't have a ticket, but wanted to throw again. I asked if anyone else had a ticket they would be willing to give to the little girl, and six-year-old Zoe stepped forward and offered her last ticket (when I know some of the older kids had a pocketful.)

My second-favorite moment also included little Palak and her three-year-old friend Soorya. After the student performances, I opened the floor for anyone else who had not had the chance to perform, or who would like to perform another song. The two preschool children wanted to play drums! So we beat 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 and 1-2-3-1-2-3 on the kit, which they LOVED, and of course the audience went wild. Then little Soorya wanted to sing "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" into the microphone, which was fantastic!!! and Palak wanted to play piano, so we played the Racing Car song from preschool class together. Why is this significant? (1) the audience ate it up, and (2) those kids will be MTMS students for LIFE now. By the time they're teenagers they'll be singing and acting; playing piano, drums, guitar, bass, violin, cello; and playing in at least one studio band. Mark my words. Because they've just tasted stardom. Because they'll never know anything but comfortable confidence in front of an audience. And because I plan to still be open and thriving by the time that decade passes us by.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
In case anyone is wondering how this number works... this is the number of private students who come in for music lessons every week. So right now, we shuffle about 190 people through our teachers' doors every week for one-on-one instruction. This does not include classes, samplers, or summer camps, which add another 15-30 on any given week. We are lining up a couple of volunteers to help us through the September ramp-up.

Reading: One book per week.
Oh, good grief. I worked from 8:30-8:30 yesterday, and the last hour or so involved scrubbing whipped cream off of the sidewalk and the walls and windows of the school (without a hose, which meant we had to haul bucket after bucket from the utility room.) I came home and passed out last night, and there was no reading involved. But I've pulled out an unread trilogy from my unread collection, and "Dragon's Blood" by Jane Yolen is now sitting next to me, just waiting for a broking binding.

It's so shiny. I almost hate to read it.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: No.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.

Count points:
No freaking clue. I've eaten graduation cake, ice cream, a cheeseburger, a Pop-Tart, and sushi in the last two days. And Raisin Bran. And probably some other stuff, too.

Now, if you'll 'scuse me, I believe we're off to get a puppy.
 

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
We hit 189 yesterday! ...and then promptly withdrew five more students for July, LOL. The 190's was soooo close, but at this point, I believe it's safe to say we've left the 170's in the dust.

Today will be busy. We have our normal Saturday morning lessons, then this week's Rock Band Camp (see below) will be performing their debut concert at 2:00, with renditions of We Will Rock You, Louie Louie, and The Who's My Generation. And later tonight, we are throwing a graduation party to honor our degree-earning teachers, one of whom realized Thursday that he can't make it because he has to work. I'm a little worried about the party, actually. We haven't signed up many student performers, and at least three teachers have backed out. It may not be the best time of year for parties. If we have a low turnout, we'll keep it short. It's fine, though... that's just more cake and punch for yours truly.

UPDATE: When I got to work this morning, I saw that the performers list has doubled! Yay for Friday students.

Reading: One book per week.
Not even an inkling.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Not a single word.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Nope.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: 169.2
Yesterday's points: 36
 

I've been getting a lot of random reviews lately. It's making me want to write, or at least revise.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
188 yesterday. We expect a big September, just by the nature of the business. Also, September is our 1-year anniversary, so I plan to hold an open house and maybe run a promotion. Chris wants to hire and train a receptionist in advance because she anticipates a lot of work. I say she's just a slacker.

Reading: One book per week.
Nope.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Nope.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Nope.

Am I having motivation problems? Hm. I did add an entry to my dream journal yesterday for the first time in a long time, but that almost doesn't count. Should I get credit for productivity when it was accomplished by my subconscious?

If I could only figure out how to land a new gig, revise all my written works, write a blog post, and lose weight in my sleep, too.
 

I don't normally link other people's work in my blog, but this was exceptional.

http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battl...
 

We temporarily adopted a puppy (it was a three-day trial.) It didn't work out, but I've been a tad bit busy the last three days.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
We are at 180 and climbing. We always have a few withdrawals at the end of the month, so we may dip for a minute, but we have had a record in June for new enrollments (42 now) and it's still not over. I'm in awe.

Meanwhile, we have two partially filled band camps next week, so we're combining them. We're having a blast with the camps, and I can't wait until next year when we can get them on the schedule earlier and do a better job of promoting them. Plus, people who are doing it this year will talk about how great they are.

Reading: One book per week.
Um, I finished Eldest but have not picked up another book. I was going to download and read Brisingr but have not yet done so. Instead, I've been playing a word game on my Kindle. Lazy slacker.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Nope.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Nope.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: 166.6
Yesterday's points: 27
1.5 Coffee
2 Banana
1 Granola bar
 

1. I had a talk with the ten-year-old this morning. We both agreed to try harder to be nice to each other. So we're having a good day.

2. SUMMER CAMPS! OMG. Our camps are a huge success. The older kids had been together three days when they did this:


Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
We have officially had a record new enrollments month in June... and the month still isn't over, so I expect an even larger final number. On the other hand, we've also had a record withdrawals. Still, our overall growth is on the positive and even significant.

Reading: One book per week.
Finished Eldest, and now I need to download Brisingr on my Kindle. It will be the first Kindle book I actually pay for (not that I'm stealing books, but the collection of classics I downloaded were all free!)

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: D'oh. I started one... what happened to that... *digs around*
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Not remotely, but I might be forced to. I wrote a fantasy short a few years ago that my friend Tony, a local high school art teacher, has used in his classroom for character sketches. Well, Tony obviously really likes the story, because he's been talking about collaborating on a graphic novel for awhile now. He gave me a book to read, which I never did, but then earlier this week, he actually sent me an outline of the panels. I'm supposed to read them and comment. Since I barely remember the story, it will serve as a revision opportunity. And since someone else is pushing it, it may actually happen.

Now, on to the bacon.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: 165.8 yesterday, 166.4 today
Yesterday's points: I started to count, then lost track. I think around 35.
Today's food log:
1.5 Coffee
1 Granola bar
8 Bacon

I'm considering going on this diet where I plan my food every day. Here's the problem: I'm addicted to food. And unlike other vices, you can't give up food cold turkey. Well, maybe cold turkey, and hot turkey, too, but not food altogether, since we require it biologically. (Damn it.) Therefore, "acceptable" choices are not black and white. But if I plan my meals, it's unacceptable to stray from them. And I'm fairly sure the plan won't include bacon. Delicious, salty, crispy bacon...

I just want to get back down to 145 again!! That was soooo sweet. But not salty, like bacon.
 

The 10-year-old is turning into a total snob. I'm not sure what to do about it. Keith and I included her in our online vacation research, but she insisted she wanted bunk beds in whichever cabin we decided to rent. She was rude about it, interrupting with, "No." every time we read the part of the description that said, "queen beds," without allowing us to read the rest. We started to ignore her, which I could tell was upsetting her, because she was tearing up a little. Whether Keith failed to notice or chose not to notice, I'm not sure. Then when Keith and I had settled on two cabins, one with a stocked pond to fish in and one without, he tried to include her again by asking which one she liked better. She said, "Neither." Keith said, "Okay, I guess we'll decide without you." I should have left it along, but I always make these mistakes: I egg on the conflict. I said to her, "None of them have bunk beds. We've looked at twenty websites and not seen a single bunk bed." She replied, "You would if you weren't looking at ones that are like, fifteen dollars."

Strike one.

Here's how that started. When we did our initial cabin search, we sorted on two criteria: (1) the cabin must have a hot tub, and (2) price, lowest to highest. As we flipped through various websites, we would stop looking after a certain point in the sorted list, citing that the cabins were way too huge and expensive (why would we need an 8-12 capacity lodge for a 4-person family?) Well, apparently, the child was convinced that we would find bunk beds among the higher-priced lodges.

Keith put the kibosh on that conversation, explaining that, no, in fact, bunk beds are actually cheap. Moving back to the comparison between our favorite two, Keith pointed out that it would be pointless to invest in the cabin with the pond if she didn't care about the pond. I agreed with him, asking why we would spend more money on something we didn't need. The ten-year-old jumped in and said, "Oh my God, Michelle, you're so cheap."

Strike two. You're out. Don't correct me on the rules of baseball, or you'll be out on strike one.

So I exploded into a lecture about how good she has it, and that she should appreciate what she has, and don't ever let me hear you call somebody "cheap" again, and that some people don't even have enough food to eat let alone money to go on expensive vacations. I was on a bit of a soapbox. The poor girl didn't argue back, she just said, "Stop!" after a good minute or two of ranting. The thing is, I've been worried that snobbery has been creeping into her attitude. She is at the most expensive gymnastics place in town. Her friend's mom paid for the kids to get picked from their last day at school in a limo. Her own mother is paying grandma to clean the house. She gets on these "I want" kicks, thinking she can automatically have whatever she wants, like the thing with the bunk beds (don't even get me started on the generic cereal argument.) And she's been rude and disrespectful to others. Even Keith is getting tired of that one. Every night she demands, "Daddy, tuck me in." He has started to insist that she ask instead of tell and say "please." Last night, that turned ugly, because she said, "No! I don't have to ask. Just tuck me in!" Daddy didn't like that one bit, and the ten-year-old cried herself to sleep.

Forgive me if I have no urge to procreate.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
176. Also, last night, I got an email from a lady who wants to know if she can still get into next week's summer camp, because her daughter is friends with another child who is already enrolled. We closed enrollment, but I responded that we would be delighted to fit her in. See? Delighted. Sadly, we may have to cancel one of the two camps scheduled the following week. We have exactly zero students enrolled so far.

Reading: One book per week.
Page 354 in Eragon, which is a little over halfway. It's interesting me, I swear. I'm not sure why it's going so slowly. Maybe because family drama is distracting me from my peaceful reading.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday:
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing:

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: ?
Yesterday's points: ?
 

Last night, I dreamed that while trying to land a gig in the restaurant now occupied by my old Potbelly, I discovered that Potbelly had re-opened across the street. I tried to get hired there, but my old boss hemmed and hawed and finally admitted that the whole "closing" thing was just a ruse to get me to leave.

Heh. I've never been one to suffer from paranoia. Nope, I enjoy it thoroughly.

Meanwhile, a customer pointed me to The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition  , which, knowing the majority of my readers, is already familiar to you. It was unknown to me, and this helpful customer suggested I might glean some business ideas from the Rules. I was most grateful and have already planned a brainstorming meeting with my staff. It all started because he wanted to pay me for next month three weeks early, and I informed him that I never turn away money, which he agreed was a wise policy.

And yet another customer threw a fit because two of the boys in the songwriting class will miss next week, due to a driving school conflict. He requested we reschedule the class. By policy, we don't reschedule classes, because we have to find a day and time that works for the teacher, the room, and five different students. It's nearly impossible for *one* class. Imagine if our policy was to reschedule for all our classes. I can understand his frustration, since this is a group that comes in together, but it's just not possible. How do you explain that the education your child is getting is already very competitively priced, and that if you have to miss one lesson out of six months, it's not going to diminish that education, nor the value of the product you're receiving for your monthly tuition? This band has written two very excellent songs and is working on a third, and has meanwhile polished the rest of their setlist. They are doing great, and I'm very proud of the kids and the teacher. And while two kids will miss next week, the other three will still be there. They might actually blossom a little outside the shadow of the two strongest forces in the group.

I hate making people unhappy. But I will make a lot of other people unhappier if I change that policy.

Can you tell that I'm arguing with myself?

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
Hovering at 175, with three full summer camps, for which I am very happy.

Reading: One book per week.
Eldest, little by little.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Published.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: ?
Yesterday's points: ?
 

Somehow, by some miracle, we filled both of next week's summer camps by the end of business yesterday. Also had a really good conversation with the superintendent of the local school district about supporting a scholarship initiative idea I have. That collaboration is in its infancy, but expect to hear more about that in the next six to twelve months.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
We finally hit the 175 mark, and though I don't have faith yet that we've hit it permanently, I *think* we're past the 160's for good.

Reading: One book per week.
About halfway through Eldest.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: I wrote and scheduled tomorrow's post already.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: ?
Yesterday's points: ?

I sort of have a headache today. I came in to work early because of my meeting with the superintendent, and I work all night on Tuesdays, so it's a 9am-9pm day for me. Meanwhile, money conversations with Keith and my mother, budget and planning conversations with my staff, and my own personal concerns about finances, have been frustrating me. I ask opinions because I really want to know, and I share personal and business financial situation (as applicable) because I want those opinions, but somehow it backfires every time. Opinions conflict. Others worry even more than I do. I get yelled at for buying a $150 piano (you bought another piano? Couldn't you have scheduled students around the pianos you have?) I get chastised for not using my staff efficiently enough, by assigning projects to teachers and lab attendants when their students don't show or they have a schedule break. Never mind the fact that it would take longer for me to come up with a project than they actually have to work on the project.

The problem is, I see everything, and my confidants only see what I tell them. Our budget is so complicated that I can't possibly share everything unless the person really wants to take the time. For example: I don't have a handle on our supplies budget, and I bought a new piano because we now have five teachers on Wednesdays and Saturdays but only four pianos. See how those two facts alone, out of context, could create angst? I don't know how much I can spend on paper towels but I'm buying whole pianos? Meanwhile, we have to make vacation decisions based around our summer budget and how much we're spending on gymnastics and braces for the children, but it's okay to just willy-nilly go and buy a piano? I get it. But neither I nor my confidants have the time or inclination to understand enough about my budget to realize that those are all independent things. We have soooooo much money floating around, coming in and going out, every month, and it's in a slew of different accounts. Figuring out adequate versus deficit is a full-time job.

Through this whole business start-up thing, I discovered something interesting about myself, something that I probably knew deep down, but always hid, even from myself. Something that will probably crucify me if and when any future employer researches me and discovers this old archived blog of mine in which I published the terrible truth:

I'm not a team player.

Frankly, I'm in a position to make all the financial decisions myself and avoid getting in trouble. If I would keep my damn mouth shut, it would never come up. But that feels deceitful to me, and it's not my style.

To the boy's credit, I did get an unsolicited apology about the reaction to the piano. After all, he spends more than that some weekends in beer, and as he pointed out, he doesn't even have anything to show for it afterward. I think he's just worried, even though I've told him the return on investment will really start to show next year. He's a natural worrier, and part of me wants to make a profit now just to ease his concern. But I can't. I look at the projections and know - with confidence - that we're slowly getting there. I just have to be patient, and so does he. And poor Mom is just trying to help - after all, I asked her to work on a budget with us. And Chris just wants a receptionist as soon as we can afford it - which, sadly, is probably not going to happen until at least September, probably more like November. Luckily, since we'll be here a lot, she and I still love our jobs.

But the good news is: we hit 175, we filled both of next week's camps, and we made friends in the local school district. Things are going well.
 

...always get me down. Well, maybe just today.

We got enough students in one of our 6/13 summer camps, but if the other one doesn't get two enrollments TODAY, it gets axed. And we don't have enough students in ANY of our other camps this summer.

What really bums me out is that I *knew* we needed to get the camps advertised earlier. By now, everyone has their whole summer planned. It was giving me anxiety all through January and February, but the teachers who were supposed to write the curricula didn't move fast enough. I told them over and over again that if we didn't get them out early, we wouldn't get enrollments.

Damn it. *kick*

On the plus side, I get to sub for the Mommy & Me Music class this morning. That will be fun. On the minus side, that might get the axe, too. We barely have enough students to pay the teacher, and we're not sure we going to keep the students we *do* have.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
I think we're past all the June withdrawals. It was brutal, but we're already recovering, and we never really went backward, so that's good. We kept enrolling as fast as we withdrew, and we still hit our target enrollment increase in May... barely. June is looking very promising for new enrollments, which means we should have no trouble meeting and even exceeding our net enrollment increase target.

Reading: One book per week.
I'm about halfway through Eldest and enjoying it. It strikes me that, especially on Writing.Com, everyone has an opinion about "good" writing. We write reviews suggesting improvements... how would I improve Paolini's writing? I would tone down the descriptions and ramp up the pace. It's moving a little too slowly for me. How would I improve Stephanie Meyer's writing? Well, her settings are not nearly as vivid as Paolini's, and I never did get a good sense of where La Push is compared to Forks and the Cullen place, let alone how the settings differed (aren't they all just a bunch of woods with a perpetual overcast sky?), so I would polish the descriptions. But doesn't that sound hypocritical, or at least ironic? Meyer, write more like Paolini. Paolini, write more like Meyer. It's all my personal opinion anyway, so who cares? I'm tearing through both authors' works like they're going out of style. There comes a point when you just need to stop listening to what everyone else says about your writing and just write.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Yep.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: I did get a head start on this week's MT.com blog post. It would be good to work on some fiction, though. With lots of narrative drive. And vivid descriptions.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: ?
Yesterday's points: ?
Eek. Eek. Eek.
 

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
Hanging on until next Tuesday. By Monday night, we should know which students are withdrawn for June. *holds breath* But I was looking at the stats and was amazed to see our June new enrollments rival any month we've had so far. That's significant not because I was expecting LESS enrollments in June, but because June just started yesterday. We have at least three weeks to add to that number, meaning June is likely to have MORE enrollments than previous months. So far, November is our record month, so I'm crossing my fingers that June will indeed rival it. That would compensate for our June withdrawals.

Reading: One book per week.
I tried to read some of Eldest during the day yesterday, but I got distracted by a new database project. Then I tried to read last night before bed, but I got distracted by a margarita.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: I guess I should have done this yesterday.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Nada.

I had a group of girls at church who were emailing our daily food logs to each other, but it's just totally stopped. I *will* keep track of my points today. If I feel like it.
 

Sometimes, I think I want to be a writer again. But then I remember that writing is work. Heh.

As many of you know, I am not allergic to work, like many of the seven-year-olds who walk through my school door thinking they want to be Hendrix or Swift, only discover that learning guitar takes practice - hours and hours of it - and hurts your fingers. No, work doesn't bother me. But I do too many kinds of work at a time right now as it is. It's good to know your limitations.

Still, I miss writing.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
We were closed all weekend, and I worked on yard work. But as of yesterday, we dipped back to 169 and up again to 171. This withdrawal - one dude, a double lesson - never paid his May tuition. Then he kept missing his double lesson in May and asking for make-ups by email, but completely ignored his statement and my request that he call in with a tuition payment by the end of last week. I believe this may be the first withdrawal that we forced on a client.

Reading: One book per week.
Still weeding through Eldest. Enjoying it, even getting sucked in a bit, but nothing like the Twilight series. I find that interesting fodder for analysis. It's got to be the narrative drive. Meyer's writing just moves. Paolini sweeps Tolkien-esque across sprawling landscapes, with an occasional zoom in on plot and characters. I can envision legato, crescendoing music as the camera swirls in fast-motion around the towering mountain peaks... but I'm still not as engaged as I would be in a fast-paced action film.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Guess I missed this entirely last week. And... oops... today is Wednesday again.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: I hardly think the paragraph above took 30 minutes to write.

I'm tired of my weight-loss goal.
 

My parents flew in last night. Mom is going to go over the biz plan with me and work on some budgeting ideas. I'm also going to talk about some house options, because my house is starting to get on my nerves. They're helping me clean up the landscaping and take care of some minor repairs, which makes me feel better.

I spent a bunch of time on the business plan yesterday, and WOW... I got really caught up. I also added "Buy Now" buttons to the websites for students to sign up for our samplers and summer camps, and HOLY COW, somebody used the buttons less then 24 hours later. She signed her twin boys up for a sampler. She was one of the easiest enrollments I ever processed and totally worth the exorbitant Paypal fees, which are twice as much as our normal merchant services account (to accept credit cards). The buttons stay up for awhile on a trial basis. Let's see how it goes.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
We cleared 170, then had a few withdrawals, so we were back down to 167. Then last night was the final class in a four-week guitar sampler, and four children signed up for lessons. Another child withdrew, and one more signed up. Net result: 171. For today. Tomorrow, who knows which direction the yo-yo will travel? I already know of two withdrawals we plan to process if we don't receive payment by the end of business today.

Sometimes in the last two months, it's felt stagnant. But the numbers prove it's really not. We're still more than doubling our original planned volumes, and even beating the revised projections I drafted around November when I realized that my plan was ultra conservative. And we're actually starting to get summer camp enrollments, w00t!!! I'm psyched because those are going to be a blast.

Reading: One book per week.
Ooh! Ooh! I did pick up Eldest last night and read a few more chapters. It's interesting again.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: D'oh, I forgot. That's what I get for not blogging for three days.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Nope.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: 165.6 Wednesday, 167.2 Thursday, 169.2 Friday.
Yesterday's points: a bunch. I was doing okay until we went out for Mexican. It's evident in the data. Today will not be much better, since we're going to Bob Evans for brunch and a Japanese steakhouse for dinner.
 

Let's see... yesterday was Monday. So I got spring recital photos from my photographer in record time, and I posted the photos online in record time: MTMS News  

My parents are visiting this weekend, therefore Keith is in all-out panic mode regarding house cleanliness. I'm doing my best to be understanding and just scrub, switch, unload, and make.

And an old high school friend visited last night and got to see the school just as a severe thunderstorm barreled it over. It was good but weird - not really enough time to talk about much at all, so it felt like we were spewing a couple miscellaneous bios and moving on. But he did leave me with an open invitation to visit his family in Austria after they relocate there this summer. Since Keith and the kids just learned to love skiing this past winter, I may bring that up next year, after I hit my first million.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
We're still hovering around 170. I know we have a couple of withdrawals pending, so I'm not convinced we're permanently in the 17x range yet.

Reading: One book per week.
Nada.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Pending.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing:Nada.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: 167.2
Yesterday's points: 28
 

We had spring recitals all weekend. It feels like a lot of work, but it's probably only a total of about 8 hours altogether, divided across Saturday and Sunday. And I love my job. The students make me so proud! And none of them are even "my" students anymore.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.


Reading: One book per week.
Maybe. I did start Eldest, but apparently it hasn't grabbed me yet.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Pending
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: I spent a bunch of time reading and revising my own work this weekend.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: 166.6
Weekend points: about fifty million. Love Mondays. Back at it. I've already had a cinnamon roll and a serving of kettle chips. I'm all about a healthy breakfast.
 

Maybe I should do some laundry today, seeing as how this is my day off and all. Except something seems wrong with that logic.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
172 when I left last night...

Reading: One book per week.
I started reading Eldest despite my hiatus.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: Check.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: Not really.

Count points:
Morning weigh-in: 166.0
Yesterday's points: 29.5