lildahls's Blog

It scares me to cold call

lildahls — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:29:00 GMT

My ad in the newspaper only got me the one phone call for students, but I'm still overjoyed with that! Today at the grocery store I ran into one of Andy's co-worker's wives. She was telling me how she saw my ad in the paper and thought it was such a great idea and that I should call the elementary schools and get my name added to the music teachers' list of references. So as soon as we came home, I looked up the numbers & names of the schools & music teachers and went to work thinking of what I should say. Andy helped me out a bit, but I was still feeling at a loss.

If I'm unsure of what I want to say, I much prefer e-mailing people because then I don't feel as awkward and don't say um a lot. But as I was composing my e-mail, I called Andy at work to make sure he thought that what I was writing sounded okay. He told me that he still thought I should call them because that was the best way to make sure I got a response. While I knew that he was right, I get severely anxious when talking to people on the phone that I don't know and am not sure of what to say. But after we hung up, I knew that he was completely right and that I should just call. I keep reminding myself of when I was interviewing for a job, they said that they would call me in a few days. I waited a few days and when they didn't call me, I called them. The lady who hired me said that she's glad I called because it showed that I wanted the job and that was one of the reasons they hired me.

I called two of the schools (the schools here share 3 different music teachers) and left messages as the teachers were in class. The first school I called, the secretary was very nice and polite. When I called the second, I asked her if she knew if their teacher had a list of piano teachers and she sounded ....not snappy, but not as nice and helpful as the first. The whole time I was on the phone, I knew my voice wasn't unsteady, but the rest of me was slightly shaking with nerves.

There are several reasons I hate cold calling. One, I used to do interviews for big companies. Meaning I called random people at suppertime and asked them inane questions that got too personal at the end. Because I didn't feel as if those questions were necessary, I usually didn't ask them. And after a month of this job, I decided that it was a crap job and even if it paid $10/hr, I couldn't do it. It isn't that I got a lot of rude people, it's that I was scared I was going to get one of those rude people who freaked out on me. Two, I hate cold calling because some people just understand why you're calling them. At my retail job I would have to call customers to let them know it was double punch weekend if they used their credit card, or it was a certain sale or things like that. I was always relieved when I got their answering machine because it meant I wouldn't have to deal with the ".....okay? Thanks?" response when I talked to them. Once when I called the lady who answered said "Well, I'm not even planning on being in town this weekend, so....?" It just feels like such an invasion of someone's privacy to call them on the phone and pretty much ask them to shop at the store. Thirdly what I hate about cold calling places, is that I've encountered a few rude people. When I was looking for daycares, so many of the people who answered were just crabby in their replies. A few of them who said they would call me back never did.

Lastly, I just really hate those first few calls. The ones where you're still nervous and don't know what to say even though you've got it all spelled out for you right there on the piece of paper. You still stammer and give a nervous laugh once in awhile. But after those first few calls, it's a piece of cake. You speak confidently and without nerves and find yourself not needing your notes, you know what you're saying.

So all I have to do is wait for the teachers to call me back and relax. Yesterday I picked up two of the piano books I'll be using and have to wait 'til we visit family to find the third one. I'm pretty sure the primer book is a little too mature for the younger one who is starting, so I definitely need the pre-reader. The store in town here didn't have it when I looked and I'm sure as heck not paying $4 for shipping on a $6 book. If anything else, I really hope my mom still has my old book from when I very first started lessons. Because then at least I'll have something to show them. I ran through all of the songs yesterday and read the lessons so I could be familiar with them and be able to not sound lost. I've got bill sheets printed up and lessons sheets and whatnot, so I'm ready there. One more week and I'll be making my big debut as a piano teacher!

I hate Tuesday's

lildahls — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT

I think it's because on Tuesday's, the week just started and it isn't really going anywhere. On Sunday's we relax, on Monday's I do laundry, on Tuesday....well, it's just a long day. At least Wednesday and Thursday night I have knitting nights with my girlfriend and then it's the weekend.

I love how Jax is at the age where we can play with the fingerpaints and go crazy with our (my) imaginations. Yesterday I was telling Andy that I want to redecorate our house. But obviously, the things I want to redecorate are the ones that cost mucho money. I love that Andy comes from an artistic family and always has these good ideas. And I love that only recently I've believed in myself enough to put my slightly artistic abilities into being. Yesterday I bought Crayola paint, 5 pieces of posterboard, regular dish sponges, and tissue paper. I reserved 4 pieces for me and cut up the other one into two different sheets for Jax to play with. This is what I created:

The first two are up in Jax's room, the faerie is in our living room and the tree is in our room. I think it'll be fun to do some for every season, so we'll have a constant changing decor!

What's one thing

lildahls — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:23:00 GMT

that you would like to pass on to your children or that your parents passed on to you that you think is important?

1. A laid-back attitude. I love how much Andy has balanced me out since we've been together. Most things just don't seem to be that intense with him around to quell my fears and be level. Which is good to have considering my mom's family and my recent choices of friends. Plus, being laid-back doesn't mean letting things roll off your back, it's more about being relaxed and not getting your panties in a twist about everything.

2. Be goofy. I always hesitated to be goofy 'cause I didn't think that being goofy was 'cool' or something dumb like that. But now I know that being goofy is fun and relieves a lot of stress. Sometimes when Jax is starting to get on my nerves, I start making funny faces and doing silly things and it seems to alleviate the stress right away. Because then he starts to laugh and I laugh and it's a good time.

3. Remember that not everyone is going to do things like you. It drives me up the wall when people say that they will be at such and such a place at a certain time and then are late. My mom does this to me all the time and it just bothers me. I'm one of those people who is almost always 15 minutes early for everything. There were times when I would go in for job interviews early and by the time I was done with my interview, it was the original time it was scheduled for. I like to have a schedule in my mind of what's going to happen. Sure I'm flexible, but I don't always like that feeling of not having a plan for the day.

4. Always be courteous. Andy doesn't necessarily agree with me, but I think it's important that our kids experience working in a service industry. I think it's important to know what it's like to be on the other side of the counter. There have been people who have admitted to being jerks on purpose to retail clerks because they thought it was fun and all I can think is, you are the kind of people that just make us want to quit our jobs and ring your necks. I don't think there's a better place to utilize the phrase 'kill them with kindness' than in retail. So many bi**hy looking women have come in and I felt like they were giving me a hard time, but I just kept on smiling and helping and in the end, they were sweet as pie! It's remarkable.

5. Have somewhere to outlet your anger. Playing the piano soothes me. It's really a place where I can sit down and zen out. I know Andy likes to game to relax and zone out the world.

6. Don't be afraid to say what's on your mind. I try to be upfront with Andy about how I feel, but sometimes I just can't and don't. I know it drives men insane when they ask if something's wrong and women say no, but they really mean yes.

Feels like I've run out of steam for thinking!

I love food

lildahls — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:14:00 GMT

I love how I'm a little more adventurous when it comes to cooking. My fear of just throwing stuff together has almost vanished and I'm not afraid to make things a little bland so we can add a bit more seasoning on later. I have a new appreciation for tater tot hotdish.

Last week I made 2 different hotdishes. The first one was with ground beef, zucchini, tater tots and cream of mushroom soup. I added some garlic salt and dry onions, but you couldn't really taste them. It turned out really yummy although Jax refused to eat the zucchini. In fact, when I asked him if he could throw the ends away, he backed away from me and ran. The second one I made had ground beef again, but I tossed in frozen peas and used more garlic salt and dry onions which you could taste and tater tots again. Both were super yummy and extended their usage into at least another full meal.

Tonight we did something wicked crazy but it turned out sooooo good. Awhile ago I had bought 2 little bags of frozen shrimp, just the little ones that people put on salads. With the first bag I used it on pasta alfredo and it was meh. But tonight we cooked rice and topped baby greens, baby shrimp and shredded carrots on top and mixed up our own oil & vinegar dressing. Holy cow it was so good.

Tomorrow I have Thai noodles and chicken thighs on the menu with a peanut sauce. I just love the idea of being able to create something totally random and yummy out of my own kitchen! It's way better than going out to eat where it feels like it's the same old stuff all the time.

I have students!

lildahls — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:28:00 GMT

It's day one for my ad in the newspaper and right away this morning I had someone call me and sign her two sons up for lessons! Holy cow I was so nervous talking to her, but she was pretty friendly and made me feel comfortable. So right now I have two students and the music store also got my information on their list of piano teachers. Yay! I was so excited this morning that I instantly called Andy and then called my mom.

Right now I'm in the midst of looking through which books exactly I want to teach out of. The guy at the music store highly recommended the Faber & Faber which is what I heard from Andy's neighbor. He said that they are more up to date and current than the old Bastien and Alfred books. It sounds like most piano teachers are using Faber & Faber books. But I'm still going to check around.

I told the mom today that it was my first year teaching (that didn't seem to bother her at all) but I have been playing the piano for quite a long time. To help ease her worries (not that she voiced any) I offered to let her stay and watch the first two lessons and see how it goes. Andy told me that I should have copies of my own of any of the books I'm teaching out of and I agree with him. It'll be nice to have copies for a few reasons. One, so I can review what I'm going to be teaching ahead of time and plus if they happen to forget their book (which I hope they wouldn't), I'll have a spare copy here. Since it'll be their fist time taking lessons also, I told her I was going to have a couple different books that they can practice out of the first lesson and see which they prefer.

I know I sound more lenient than a seasoned teacher, but in my opinion, I think I'm going to get farther going this route. It also helps that I have a lot of tips from Andy's neighbor and my mom was reminding me of other things I should remember to teach in the first few lessons.

The library didn't have any books on how to teach piano, so I might have to order one from Amazon. It feels like it will be simple to teach, but I want some solid facts on the subject. Thank you for all of your support, you guys have been great in helping me keep my confidence in myself!

I did it!

lildahls — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:36:00 GMT

Yesterday I emailed my ad to be put in the paper this week and next week. My only complaint is that it is costing me $53 to do so. From the way everybody was talking about it, I was counting on it costing me less than $20 to do. But my ad is about 6 lines long. They do 4 words per line and the word intermediate took up a whole line! So I'm crossing my fingers that people will call and be interested!

Today I think we will go to the music store and buy a metronome and check out what kind of books they have in stock. Andy's neighbor gave me recommendations on the books she uses and I've done a little bit research on which beginner books are good for youngsters. I'm going to buy a few so I have a copy myself and so the parents/students can see what exactly they need.

I am really nervous

lildahls — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:08:00 GMT

On Sunday before we went grocery shopping, I typed up and printed off a one page ad for piano lessons. Andy helped me perfect it a bit before we left and I proudly stuck it up there where it was prominent. Tomorrow I plan on calling the newspaper and getting my ad in for a couple days this week and a couple days next week. I am really excited to do this and actually doing this that will help me accomplish my goal.

But I'm also really scared and nervous. I'm scared that the parent's who call (and IF anybody calls) will be super critical of me and not buy into my thought that having been a proficient piano player for a long a** time counts as qualifications for teaching. I think more than anything I'm scared that I'm putting myself out there and someone will call me unworthy.

Delicious oven recipes

lildahls — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:53:00 GMT

It's been tough trying to put together a meal for supper when Jax has swimming 'til 6 and Andy doesn't get home from disc golf 'til 6:30 sometimes 6:45. But I've discovered something that saves the day. Our oven has a delay start timer. I had never heard of it before, but it helps out so much when we get home at 6:15 and need to have dinner ready by 6:30 or so.

My first recipe is simply fish (bass I think, can't remember at the moment). I put 2 fillets of fish into an oven safe dish and quartered as many potatoes as would fit and then poured a can of green beans into the mix. After I arranged everything, I sprinkled some lemon pepper on top, slid it into the oven at 350 and baked for 45 minutes. When it came out I added a little bit of balsamic vinegar and it was fantastic!

The second recipe is one that I did tonight. Once again I set the oven at 350 and everything cooked for 45 minutes. I used a bigger dish and used about 7 potatoes, quartered, sliced up 1 zucchini and 3 chicken thighs. Once they were in the dish, I added about 1 cup or so of cooking white wine and sprinkled basil on top. This also turned out really yummy although my husband said that potatoes turned out bland. I believe this is because I added the seasoning as an afterthought and didn't get any on the potatoes.

Anyhow, these were a couple of easy to get ready meals that my husband and I find delicious and I thought I'd share! It's nice too because in the afternoon I got everything ready and put it into my oven dish and then set it into the oven so it could just go whenever the oven was ready. Technology is GREAT for this kind of stuff!