My Yamaha is ready for Spring!

My piano students enjoy it when I change things up with the seasons, so I've decked one of my pianos out in colorful egg lights and hung a cheerful banner welcoming Spring. Here are a few pictures:

The egg lights stay cool, and they're not breakable. I found them at Big Lots for about $5. The banner is made of 2 sheets of 8.5" by 11" pastel cardstock folded in half length-wise and taped together underneath. The "Hello Spring" letters are cut from various pieces of paper scraps. I just glued the letters on and had an instant piano banner! It is held in place with a piano lamp and a paperweight.

Multi-Tasking on a Sick Day

So today is Saturday, and I'm on Day 2 of what I believe is the flu. Yesterday it hit hard, so I followed the advice we've all heard a million times and attacked it with full guns at the first sign. It seems to have worked, because today I feel great. Just one problem, I now have pinkeye (conjunctivitis) as well. Before we talk pinkeye, let me tell you about the weapons I unleashed on the flu yesterday.

1. Airborne. This stuff is terrific. I drank a fizzy glass of orange-flavored Airborne every 4 hours as soon as I had the slightest inkling that I was getting sick.
2. Neti Pot. You really have to use a Neti Pot or some other type of nasal cleansing system if you truly want to attack your flu with nuclear power. I know for a fact (and I'll spare you the details) that I exorcised the ring leader of my flu germs from my sinuses the third time I did a nasal rinse. I rinsed every 2-3 hours yesterday. Now that I'm feeling much, much better, I'll probably slow that down to twice today. To learn how to use a Neti Pot, go to YouTube and watch the many entertaining how-to videos. 
3. DayQuil and Mucinex. My caring son made a trip to CVS for me and brought home a bag of flu weapons. DayQuil helped alleviate the all-over achy feeling that usually accompanies the flu. It also put the breaks on my coughing spells. I really was not experiencing tons of congestion on Day 1 of my flu, but I knew from experience that it was coming. So I preemptively took a Mucinex with a full glass of water.
4. Rest/Sleep. I called off all of my fun morning plans (which included scrapbooking, thinking about scrapbooking, and shopping for scrapbook supplies) in order to stay in bed several extra hours. My teaching schedule for the day began at 2:30 (yes, I did teach...see below), so until 1:30, I slept, Neti Potted, Airborned, and splashed my face with warm water.
5. Hot Shower. At 1:30, I hopped (really more like dragged myself) into the shower and breathed in lots of steam. This made me feel instantly better.
6. Piano Lessons. Early in the day, I emailed my 10 Friday students to warn them of my condition. The ones who either didn't get the message or who had gotten flu shots went ahead and came to piano. The other half or so opted to stay home. (Note to you piano teachers out there: My studio policy states that I will guarantee a make-up lesson or tuition credit if a canceled lesson is due to teacher illness or conflict.) Was it smart for me to teach on a sick day? In hindsight, probably not. But I did clean the piano keys and computer keys/mouse several times. My students and I all used hand sanitizer more than usual as well. If no one reports back that they later got sick, I'll be very happy.

That brings me to today. My flu symptoms have almost disappeared! It's pretty unbelievable. But now I have pinkeye. Where did THAT come from? No idea. I did have two adult students scheduled today, one of whom is a doctor. She said that pinkeye is "super catchy" and that I would need antibiotic eye-drops to clear it up. So, no lessons today. I called my family doctor, and she was willing to phone in a prescription for me without having me come in to see her. Bless her! The world's greatest small-town pharmacy is in my neighborhood. They delivered my drops, and now I'm on my way to normal eyes.

So, now about the multi-tasking on a sick day. Here's what I need to make progress on today:

• Filing my taxes
• Practicing piano for an upcoming performance
• Laundry

Here's what I want to do today:

• Scrapbook
• Get a manicure

My solution is unfolding before my very pink eyes. Here's the plan. I'm going to pull out my handy kitchen timer and work on a circuit. There are no serious deadlines today, but they are looming in the near future. Therefore, I can make room for my "wants" in today's sick-day circuit while inching closer to finishing my taxes and laundry and being ready to perform. Each time I complete a full round of circuit items, I'll call that a "Phase." (IMPORTANT: To make this plan enjoyable and possible on a sick day, you need to have already showered and spruced up a bit. I don't think I could drum up enough motivation to proceed while sick if I didn't feel fresh.) So here are the six phases:

Sick Day Circuit: Phase I (1 hour)

10 minutes: Start the laundry & drink Airborne
10 minutes: Prep nails for manicure
10 minutes: Work on taxes (I'm using H&R Block At Home)
10 minutes: Practice Chopin Mazurka: Do an initial run-through & jot down items needing work
20 minutes: Scrapbook! (I'm in the middle of a giant scrapbook about my college years.)

Sick Day Circuit: Phase II (1 hour)

10 minutes: Switch loads and do Neti Pot
10 minutes: Manicure: Base coat of polish
10 minutes: Work on taxes
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Focus on/drill 1st few items on list from Phase I
20 minutes: Scrapbook!

This is not a hand model. This is my actual hand today.

Sick Day Circuit: Phase III (one hour)

10 minutes: Switch loads & take Dayquil
10 minutes: Manicure: First coat of color 
10 minutes: Work on taxes
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Focus on/drill next items on list from Phase I
20 minutes: Scrapbook!

Regroup/Take Stock: At this point I have treated my dwindling flu symptoms; I've gotten 3 loads of laundry partially done (1 completely, 1 in dryer, 1 in washer); I've worked on my taxes for 30 minutes; I have a half-complete manicure and an intelligently rehearsed Chopin Mazurka; and best of all, I've gotten to do the thing I wanted most of all (scrapbook time!) for an hour. If my energy level were lower, I would need to stop here and take a nap, but I'm feeling pretty good, so I'll go on to Phase IV.

Sick Day Circuit: Phase IV (one hour)
10 minutes: Switch loads (last one in washer) and take Vitamin C
10 minutes: Manicure: 2nd coat of color
10 minutes: Work on taxes
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Rehearse/drill next items on list or go back and rework 1st items
20 minutes: Scrapbook!

This is not from a Martha Stewart magazine. This is my actual laundry.

Sick Day Circuit: Phase V (one hour)
10 minutes: Switch loads (no more in washer, just dry and fold)
10 minutes: Manicure: Top coat
10 minutes: Work on Taxes
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Rehearse/drill items from list
20 minutes: Scrapbook!

Sick Day Circuit: Phase VI
10 minutes: Finish laundry (fold/hang the last load from dryer)
10 minutes: Work on taxes (5 minutes on the computer, and 5 minutes putting away papers)
10 minutes: Practice Piano: Do a slow run-through and jot down items still needing work for next time.
30 minutes: Scrapbook!

This is the Chopin Mazurka I'm practicing. I love it so much!

There we go! It looks good on paper. I'll post a comment later on to let you know how things actually ended up. If nothing else, I am a list lady, so this plan motivates me a great deal.