Rest In Peace.....

David Carl Haller
March 1, 1938 - December 11, 2007

My dad, David Carl Haller, passed away on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007. I flew home as soon as possible to help my mom take care of all the arrangements and now I'm finally able to settle down and write this.

It's been an draining and truly exhausting week, and I'm so tired that I feel like I could sleep for a week. My husband has truly been a rock for me to lean on and so supportive and helpful....

Now the hard part happens when all the family goes home and it's just me and mom for the Holidays and we have so much work to do!

Anyways, so that's what's going on in my world. And it's really hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year....And the worst part is, this is usually my favorite time of the year.

~KMB

Reality sinks in.....

My dad is in Hospice. I can actually say it now without tearing up, which I suppose is better than the alternative. It's truly sinking in. I don't know how long my dad has left...days...weeks, months perhaps? At least they will help him be pain-free until the end and help him die with dignity. (I hope).

It seems so surreal. I know it's real though. I saw this past weekend how small he's gotten. Odd, my dad never looked small before...he was always so big and confident, and at times, really annoying, but never small. Now he's irritable and small and can't catch his breath most of the time.

All I can say is it's heart-breaking to watch.

I'm such a slacker.....about blogging anyway!

Ok, so I'm truly a slacker when it comes to blogging....Aug. 2nd was my last post...Aug. 2nd???? that was almost 2 months ago!!! What is wrong with me?????

Well...I have a TON of updates!!

First, Vacation with hubby was wonderful!! I got home from Raleigh/Durham, and he surprised me with an iPhone...yes, you read that right, an iPhone! After getting it set up and doing laundry we left for a few days of vacation and it was wonderful!

Since then, I have gotten a job at the Art Institute of Atlanta (the new term starts Monday!), and finished the rest of my gigging commitments with bands. For the next 8 months or so...I'm off the road due to the new job! This is mostly because I'll be travelling between three states EVERY week....i think I'm nuts!
So I now work in Nashville, Bowling Green, KY, and Atlanta, GA. Let's just hope I'm still sane by the middle of June when we're moving permanently to Atlanta!

So currently this is concert week in Bowling Green...we had a concert on tuesday morning (children's concerts), a concert in BG last night, and tonight is in Glasgow, KY (about a half hour from BG). Then it's back to the grind!!

In other news....well, I'm not sure there is other news. I'm going a little crazy trying to keep up and organized with this new schedule and I'm a little worried that I'm going to have a bit of a breakdown. I can't seem to remember somewhat important things sometimes....like on Monday night when I stayed over in BG....I forgot my suitcase! I thought I had loaded it up already...but no!!! Luckily I had some extra time and Target was close...so I had to buy mostly new stuff. It was a costly little mistake. So I guess I'm afraid that those kind of stupid mistakes are going to become the norm.


I feel very random today. I suppose I'm allowed, seeing as it's my blog...but still. I should strive for less randomness. But I continue....I think there's something wrong with my car...and I don't have time to get it fixed before I have to drive to Bowling Green, KY and then onwards to Atlanta. This sucks.

Also, I think I turned/strained my ankle two days ago. I went out walking with the hubby---trying to get back into a normal workout routine and I don't remember it rolling, but I remember going down a hill and my feet were moving in my shoes, so i braced my feet differently. And yesterday woke up with a swollen and aching ankle. Yay, me.

So now everyone is completely up to date on what's going on or wrong or right in my world. I just wish my world would slow down a bit so I could catch my breath!

until next time.....which hopefully will be sooner than two months!

~KMB

I'm leavin' on a Jet Plane.....

Well, I'll only be gone a few days! I'm back from Dayton and catching up with my students and basically trying to get ready for the fall teaching schedule!

I'm off again on Saturday to Raleigh-Durham, NC to play with the Blair Band....I have absolutely no idea where. That's how it works in this band (a lot of the time). He'll ask if we're available, then book the flights, but not tell us pretty much ANYTHING about the gig. Oh well...I don't guess that I know anyone in Raleigh or Durham anyways....

When I get back on the 7th, the hubby and I are going to take off that day (hopefully right after I come home, but I might need some clean laundry!) and head to Chattanooga for a day's vacation!! I'm very excited...although it was supposed to be four days in Chatty, but then the gig came up! Ah well, perhaps next year!...at least we get tuesday night/wednesday...so we'll stay in a fun B&B and then see what we can on Wednesday before heading down to Atlanta. Unfortunately Alan's got to teach on Thursday morning really early...ughh.

And I'm a little sad as my friend Rachel left for Holland yesterday....she's going to be working at the Hague as a legal intern for the yugoslavian war tribunals (or something like that). How cool is that???!!! I know she's going to have a fabulous time while there, but I'm going to miss her :)

Anyways, got to sign off now...have too much to do today!

~KMB

Hello from Dayton!

Just a quick post....as I'm trying to get better at writing more often! I'm in Dayton, OH right now to do some recording for a friend's album thursday and friday and then I'll be playing at the Dayton Celtic Festival on Saturday and Sunday! Whew...it's going to be a long, but really fun rest of the week!

Even better? My friend Sheila just had a daughter, Emma Grace, about two weeks ago and I'll get to see her this weekend! I can't wait to see the little munchkin...but that reminds me...I still need to get a baby gift!

Anyhooo.....I'd best get going...I need to figure out what tunes I'm supposed to play on tomorrow :)

Keep on keepin' on!

~KMB

Hmmmm....

I thought I would try to be better about posting, but apparently I'm just not!

I've been back from buffalo for about three weeks now and sooooo many things have happened:

1) I got a job with the Art Institute of Atlanta...to start in October of THIS year (I'll mainly be teaching classes on fridays/saturdays...etc)
So starting in October, I will be in three states EVERY week....I think I'm crazy, but at least the money will be good!

2) I played at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games a few weeks ago and will post pics soon! I had a great weekend, met some awesome new people, and overall just had a lot of fun! It rained out our last set on Sunday, but that was alright...as I had to get back to Nashville anyways!
For more info, I will be blogging on the goddess blogs about my fun time...there were lots of men in kilts!!!

3) My husband and I celebrated our one-year anniversary a few days ago (July 22nd)!!!! We had a wonderful day--very leisurely and finished it off with a yummy trip to the Melting Pot (fondue restaurant)....there were a dozen roses waiting for me on the table--it was so beautiful!! (And the food was great too!)

All in all...everything is going pretty good right now. My parents are doing ok...well, Dad is being dad and has his good days and bad...but he's hanging on.

Oh yesh, and I thought I had played my last Blair band gig at Grandfather Mountain, but apparently I'm on for at least one more! We're off to Raleigh-Durham, NC on August 4th....hopefully it'll be good times!!!

So that's about it methinks. Life has it's ups and downs, but hopefully there will be more ups than downs in the near future!!

~KMB

Planes, Trains, and well...just planes...

So I'm off tomorrow morning at the butt-crack of dawn to catch a plane home to Buffalo, NY to visit the parents for a week. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of people while I'm there!

And now, onwards to the good news updates!

I've just signed the contracts to play full time (well, once a week rehearsal plus the concerts) as the Principal second violinist in the Bowling Green Western Symphony Orchestra. I'll also be teaching in the pre-college department at Western Kentucky University (which the BGWSO is a part of).

I may have another possible job in the works...though I'm unsure of when I might start. I'm hoping it will happen as the extra money will be a godsend!

So keep your fingers crossed for me :)

~KMB