Rubbing The Belly For Good Fortune…

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As you can see, we happen to like budda. Zoe and I hung out with him and rubbed his belly for good luck. We went to a local Asian market at Mekong Plaza. I should have taken pictures. This market is huge and full of wonderful spices, meats, teas, inscense, fish. It is a beautiful place. We enjoyed dinner at the Mekong Center last Friday.
Yesterday was quiet so I took the opportunity to record a few songs on SoundCloud. Lost In The Game
Something More Than Nothing

We had a busy weekend! I was glad that I had a chance to spend some time with daughter Delcee and her little family! I watched the kids for Delcee so that she and hubby Sam, could have an evening out together.
I made bread pudding for dessert. Korbin and Kadee are sweet little characters! Korbin told me that bread pudding reminds him of pumpkin pie. He liked it!
Today, I am hanging out with these two charming guys, Tom and Nate

Mom is interning at the law firm and these boys are on fall break. So Gram is going to hang with them today! The weather is cooling off a little so I think McDonalds and the park are on the agenda for today! Yesterday was Nate’s B-Day so I think icecream at Dairy Queen might be fun too!
Have a great day, whatever you do!

Interest From A Philippines Network How Cool Is That?!

I am writing to you today from a computer. This is something that I have never done. I usually write and post my blogs from an iPad. This is new to me and I’ll tell you that I can type much faster on a computer!

As I sit here, I am staring out the window at my backyard lawn. We reseeded a few days ago and I am seeing a few hundred birds feasting on the lawn seed. I am tired of banging on the window to get them to leave! Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can keep birds off of my freshly seeded lawn? They seriously are just feasting out there!

l had an an interesting message yesterday from a gal that works for GMA Network from the 
Philippines. They are doing a feature story on John Legend and they want to use my All Of Me cover 
video in their story. They asked my permission to use the video. Of course I researched to see all that I could about this network. They are huge! I was excited and flattered! My only request in return is for them to send me a link or something in which to view the finished segment! I have not heard back. I am assuming that they are using mine to show how many cover videos of All Of Me are out there. When I posted mine, I couldn’t even find it on YouTube. It was burried in a sea of All Of Me Covers. I was impressed that they could even stumble upon mine lol. Anyway, I was flattered for a minute. I did however see a dramatic increase of views of that cover. Like 100 views in 2 days! Everytime I look there are more! It’s been fun to see that . I do hope they send me a link to the story! They are airing the story this Sunday.I looked at the video and thought oh my gosh, it’s the worst camera work ever! I wonder what they could want with that? lol I so want to redo it and post a new one! I think it is too late as the segment will air Sunday. Darn!  

Lol oh my goodness this is dorky! Oh well…

Yesterday I did as I said I would. I posted my Lost In The Game video on YouTube.

Just finished this. I'm hoping that the GMA Network will want to use this video instead!All Of Me

Today if I get some time I will try to redo this silly All Of Me video and see if I can’t get a better quality video for view lol.

Whatever you do, Have a great day! Have some fun!

Dreams Must Be Realized, In Your Head

I’ve been working hard in my little music studio this week. I wrote an intro to my original, Lost In The Game. It was yet another one of those moments that you really feel inspired! It came together and I was thrilled. I knew something had been missing from this song and, this was it! For a few weeks now every time I would sit down to play, this piece would start to come out lol. Not kidding, bits and pieces would come. I thought it was the beginning to a new song but then it just came together as the intro to Lost In The Game… I am loving this intro…

Lost In The Game

I also worked on and recorded an old favorite that is near and dear to my heart…
Casual Conversations written by Rick Davies

I hope to find some time today to get myself together enough to record a video of Lost In The Game for my YouTube channel. I’ve come to find that posting videos on YouTube is an extremely laborious effort! Oh my goodness are they ever. I get hung up on how I look and the whole production of it… When I post to SoundCloud I can sit there in Jammie’s and record… Lol. don’t think that I have actually done that but I could!

I’m never happy with YouTube Videos. I always feel like the iPad adds pounds to me. The lighting and color of my studio stinks… Just not happy with how it all looks. I suppose that I could repaint my room but I’m not feeling inspired to do that. I do all of this because…? I’m sometimes not sure. I just feel compelled to leave something of myself to music. I feel compelled that if I don’t try to do something with this ability I was given, it would be wasted. Then again, I’m beginning to think that maybe it was just intended for me to enjoy. A personal experience between me and the Universe/ God.

Until I’m sure of the why, I will keep plugging away until I feel I have either exhausted myself or I make it somewhere in this. Which ever comes first. I will not ever have to answer to ” What did you do with this ability that I gave you ? ” I will be able to say that I really tried to do, ” Something More Than Nothing” with it God!

My dream and my goal is to put together enough originals to make an album. Howard, challenged me to see if I could acquire fans and financial support to do this. He told me about this website called, FundMe. He encouraged me to write up a project and post it. So, I figured why not.. He told me a story about how some guy wrote a project to learn how to make potato salad. Apparently the guy did extremely well with this… Lol.

Mine is not a hardship story, I simply aspire to record my originals in a professional sound studio with full arrangement! I can imagine what that would feel like! What it would be to be able to listen to what you created realized, glorified, enhanced to it’s finest, full potential. I want this so much! That in itself would be thrilling and amazing…

http://www.fundme.com/en/projects/9715-Please-Help-Tyna-Record-An-Album–A-Life-Long-Dream

Part of me detests stuff like this just as much as you do! I’m not one to ask for help! I simply need to know also where I stand in all of this. My husband is sure this should prove to me where I stand. He all along this journey has been convinced that I’m fooling myself. He doesn’t like my music and has told me so. He tells me that he doesn’t get my music. He’s forever trying to change my style of music and tells me to get hip and contemporary. “Play more modern stuff” he’s always telling me. The music that comes out of me is this… This is what flows through me! This is what I have to give/ contribute. I’m not even sure what you would define my genre as…

I can’t even get angry that my husband doesn’t like my music. At first I was so hurt! Then, I realized that music is so subjective! We all have our personal preference. So, it’s ok. I will continue along my path. If my dreams and goals are never realized, at least I had some!

Done, Done And Done! Pleased As Punch!

I don't have much to say today. Just something to share. I finished composing my song. I posted it on SoundCloud yesterday. I will probably fine tune this thing a bunch of times like I always do. I'm thrilled with it for the most part! I'm so excited! Please take a few minutes and listen to this.

https://soundcloud.com/tyna-j-phipps/lost-in-the-game-written-by?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=email

Thanks for taking the time to listen.
                                               Have a terrific day!
                                                                 Where ever you go, there, you are!

This affirmation I wrote and I say to myself every day...

*Whatever I touch, there I will prosper. Whatever touches me, I will make better.*

                     What affirmations do you feel best suit your life mission statement?

                                              So much of life and living well is mental!
I wish that I could master this mental game! Every day I get up and I try!
                                         
                     Counteracting negative mind speak is more than half the battle!

                                                              I try to remind myself of this every day!

                                                     Nothing ventured- nothing gained!
                                                                                  AND
                  Never                                                                                               Ever

                                                                                                              Ever
                                  Never
                                                   Never                               Ever
                                             

                                                                       Give Up!!!


                                                                      # FORTITUDE!

Betty Crocker,Your'e Off Your Rocker, What Are You Thinking!?

 Welcome, this is how I choose to sit and talk with my friends. Come sit with me on the couch and lets chat! This is how I began my week. A good friend of mine came over for a couple of hours on Monday and we just had a great conversation. I love spending time with friends like this!

Lizzy of course! I was fortunate to spend Thursday watching Liz and brother Aaron for the day. Britt was interning at the law office. They were terrific and I enjoyed every minute of hanging out with 

them!

It was an enjoyable evening out with these gals. They are always a great duo.

Zoe is having her BFF Paige, for the weekend. We took them to dinner and then to pick out doughnuts. Not just any doughnuts... Krispy Kremes! If you have never had them, they are the best doughnuts money can buy. My opinion of course.  

This isn't the way that I want to frost my cookies! (Just sayin...)

This got me pondering about what this company is thinking. Yuck! This just doesn't look appetizing at all! I'm seeing a trend of questionable flavors for products. Lays with the create your flavor of chips. Cappuccino flavored chips, really?

What about some of the Oreo flavors they have come out with recently... The pumpkin comes to 

mind. Watermelon? 

These are also on the unappetizing side of why bother to make this? I'm all for trying new things but Ewww? If I have offended anybody's taste buds, I do apologize. I realize that taste is subjective. If you find these appealing, drop me a line and tell me so... 

Would be interesting to see how Betty Crocker ends up doing with these products. Who knows, maybe I'll give them a try just to see what it really is like. If I do, you can bet that I'll report back to you on this.

Enjoy your day all!

Inking Your Life With Indelible Ink. Carpe Diem!

A while back I think that I wrote a post about leaving your mark upon this earth? Well this is my own personal way of doing just that. I had my first original song copywrited! For some reason this was so extremely important for me personally to do! It is copywrited and entered into the Library of Congress. Which, for whatever reason makes my heart sing! As I said, this is my way of leaving my mark...

                              I received this in the mail yesterday! Wow just wow...

If you are interested, Here are some links to this original...

Something More Than Nothing

Violin Version

Most recent and revised...

I have so many reasons for wanting to do this you have no idea! A very deep down to the core reason of which I won't speak about. Intensely personal...but very poignant and relevant to the lyrics of this song...A terrific sense of validation.

Also, I mentioned to you in an earlier post about my father being unable to 

complete writing his book due to his decline with Dementia. Watching my Dad yearn to finish his thought process, propelled this need in me to do more with my life.  Possibly also this particular stage of my life... My kids are all accomplishing their education and I don't want to live vicariously through them! I want and need to have my own set of accomplishments. Even if they are not realized by this world as such.

This whole music thing that I am trying to make happen for myself, is all so personal. It is genuine and authentic to me, since I was just a little kid! If I never get anywhere with it, if the universe, (lol) doesn't recognize me ...

I will have been genuine to myself in putting it out there!  This I feel passionate about... Personal validation is critical!

I urge all of you who read this to make this a priority in your own lives. What are you passionate about? What really means something to you? Find whatever that thing is and throw yourself at it or into it! When you are genuine and authentic to yourself, inner peace starts to permeate through you.  Genuine happiness begins to emerge from the core of your being...confidence and a sense of well being take over your life. Replacing doubt and inner unrest. Life becomes this incredible journey toward....? You have to decide the ?, goal. 

I'm learning that I am not defined but anyone, anything or any  wrong decision that I have made. It's a journey and navigation process through this thing called life. You can be the creator, the orchestrator just pick something that you want to accomplish and work toward that. Make your life purposeful! Also realize that the journey, the quest, is the real reward! Isn't a purposeful life what we all want and strive for? That is our right of passage here on earth for everyone, I believe. 

Money is great to have while here on earth but we don't get to take it with us! I remember this real epiphany I had after my Mom died. The finality of life was so in my face as she was the closest person ever to me, to pass away. I  recall thinking to myself as I was surrounded by her belongings..."She didn't even take her lipstick!" Such a strange but humbling thought.

So to be cliche and use this phrase, Carpe Diem ...( Seize The Day! )  Time Is fleeting so 
leave your indelible mark upon this earth! You will be happy that you did no matter how 
small a contribution others perceive it to be!

* The copyright process is straight forward. Did mine all online through the U. S. Copyright Office. Cost me $35.00. The feeling of accomplishment is well worth the money!

Enchanting Or Scream For Your Life... It's Coming!!!

 Halloween is fast approaching! Even if you only do something small to note this holiday, do it! You will be glad that you did! This is a fun holiday.

This was from a family get - together a few years ago.

 The spooks come out at night.....

Ghosts and Witches

 

More Witch and ghost friends.

Chocolate cupcakes that I made...

My Scarecrow Friends...

The yard becomes haunted with ghosts...

And, candy of course...

Ghoulish, creepy figures appear at grown up parties..

This guy scares me all of the time, he is huge and well just creepy.

Grandkid Spooks wreath that I made. A ghost for each kid...

 Even my cats get in on all of the fun!

My handcrafted Witch Hat centerpiece. (Kitty Clarice photo bomb).

Above are pics from previous Halloween decorations I have crafted. I made most of what you see above.

I know it's too early for this but I felt inspired to share. I just went into my mess of a garage to dig out my Halloween bins. I think some of it is still buried somewhere in the vast jumble of ...stuff. This will haunt me lol, till I decide to be proactive and begin an aggressive search. This will entail taking 

everything out of the garage, sorting through it until I locate the missing bin. What a pain in the butt 

that will be...lol but, I need to just do it!

I love Halloween and all that it conjures up in your mind. From spooky, scary and the hope that the 

paranormal exists - to whimsical, light hearted and just plain cute decor.

I love decorating for Halloween because it evokes a mood, and a certain ambience for the holiday.  My Zoe is getting older and I'm not sure how much any of this that I do regarding decorating for the 

seasons matters to her. My G-kids however seem to really enjoy it for now.

I will be carving pumpkins as long as I am able. One of my favorite fall things to do.

I hope you can find at least a part of this holiday that you really enjoy. It's fun to feel like a kid again 

or at least view it from a kids perspective.

I'm going to see what I can conjure up for this holiday. I will post current pics when I decorate this year.

This is my favorite and most Halloween like image of all. My majestic, beautiful old mesquite tree. With a beautiful full moon!

Love this

and

what would Halloween be without this beautiful BFF Halloween kitty,

Twinkle Darling...

..

Thx for the view..

Meow!

You Know Like I Know, Yet I Have A Lot To Learn...

Just me and my cats today hanging out!

                                                                 Clarice and Twinkle

I was able to take a few hours to work on a few old songs from the 70's. I recorded them on SoundCloud.

Guitar Man Written By Bread

                                                                                AND
                                                       Could It Be Magic Written By Barry Manilow

I took some time to look at and revise my YouTube Channel... I wrote a fan letter to the band the
Ozark Mountain Daredevils. I got this back from their social media company. I thought this was nice...

Tyna,

Thanks for the honor of a Daredevils song by your version on Youtube.  We sent it on to Larry Lee, the song writer and singer of the original.  It would be great if the band could get a show in Phoenix.  Not real likely as they seem to be staying closer to home these days.  It really takes an interested venue owner or promoter to want to book the band, and that is done through an agency.  We haven't much control over the booking.

If you want to see the band in concert the best way to do that is purchase the reunion DVD set that we have.  It's a great production and you can see them right in your own living room.

Check it out when you have time.  Merchandise

Thanks again and best wishes,

New Era Productions for The OMDs
www.ozarkdaredevils.com

In a message dated 9/7/2014 10:08:58 A.M. Central Daylight Time,tynajoy.metzner@gmail.com 

writes:

Hi, my name is Tyna. Just wanted to tell you how much I've enjoyed your music throughout the years! I have a real appreciation for your collaborative efforts. Thanks for the wonderful music!

I cover one of your songs, " You Know Like I Know ". I do this from my spare room, not making money! Just appreciate this beautiful song. Here is the link to my cover...
http://youtu.be/nN4lOSQVXI4. This is my interpretation, I don't read music so I learned this by ear many years ago. The original of this song is beautiful!

Any chance of seeing you in Phoenix, AZ? Wild Horse Pass is a popular venue bands from your era play at...just saw Roger Hodgson there.

Hope to see you live one day. 

With warm regards and great appreciation, 

Tyna J. Metzner
Sent from my iPad

=

Thanks for the honor of a Daredevils song by your version on Youtube.  We sent it on to Larry Lee, the song writer and singer of the original.  It would be great if the band could get a show in Phoenix.  Not real likely as they seem to be staying closer to home these days.  It really takes an interested venue owner or promoter to want to book the band, and that is done through an agency.  We haven't much control over the booking.

If you want to see the band in concert the best way to do that is purchase the reunion DVD set that we have.  It's a great production and you can see them right in your own living room.

Check it out when you have time.  Merchandise

Thanks again and best wishes,

New Era Productions for The OMDs
www.ozarkdaredevils.com

In a message dated 9/7/2014 10:08:58 A.M. Central Daylight Time,tynajoy.metzner@gmail.com writes:

Hi, my name is Tyna. Just wanted to tell you how much I've enjoyed your music throughout the years! I have a real appreciation for your collaborative efforts. Thanks for the wonderful music!

I cover one of your songs, " You Know Like I Know ". I do this from my spare room, not making money! Just appreciate this beautiful song. Here is the link to my cover...
http://youtu.be/nN4lOSQVXI4. This is my interpretation, I don't read music so I learned this by ear many years ago. The original of this song is beautiful!

Any chance of seeing you in Phoenix, AZ? Wild Horse Pass is a popular venue bands from your era play at...just saw Roger Hodgson there.

Hope to see you live one day. 

With warm regards and great appreciation, 

Tyna J. Metzner
Sent from my iPad

=

* This is the link to the original song by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils

You Know Like I Know

Hurricane Norbert Made A Crazy Unexpected Impact On Phoenix, AZ Today!

                                                This is a major street in my neighborhood.

This is along my walking route. It is a wash that is normally dry as a bone...

This is a road and the sidewalk along my daily walking route..

It was crazy! Lots of thunder, lightning and rain! We got almost 5 inches of rain in 6 hours! When this happens in the dessert ,the ground it so hard it can't absorb the water. The run off accumulates and collects. It's crazy. This is record  breaking rainfall for all time here today! Weather history was made in Phoenix today...

Expecting more rain but won't be as heavy as we got this am.  

On foot the view of our great flood was amazing. The cooler temps are nice for a long walk too.

All in all, pretty exciting. I wonder if the sidewalks will be ok after the water dissipates?

Just thought I would share with you the view from my neighborhood! Have a great day folks!

Fall Is Near And Dear, At Least In My Head And Home!

 

Fall is starting to come to life at least in my house. Outside it is still very HOT! So trying my best to inspire the feel of fall for my family. I even baked a pumpkin pie which isn't anyones favorite around here. I love pumpkin pie but Howard and Zoe, not so much. They teased me like crazy about having to eat it.

It will be nice to cool off here this weekend as we await the remnants of  hurricane Norbert? From Mexico. We could sure use some rain and my sinuses can't wait. The dust around here is awful and whatever I'm allergic to has me sneezing and kinda miserable. The rain will help calm that down if we actually get some. This has been a very dry summer in Ahwatukee this year ! Many parts of the 

valley got a lot of rain but right here, hardly any. Maybe I will go do a rain dance in my backyard lol.

Reorganizing the garage is what is on my agenda for today. This garage looks like Hoarders live here. Maybe we are closet hoarders. Ugh! Between his tools and my seasonal stuff... You never know, it might be true. Anyway, organization needs to happen here. Who knows, maybe I can get Howard to bring my treadmill back in the house and set it up in the music room. I hate the idea of that great piece of equipment wasting away in pieces in the garage! I love power walking outside and so ,I do. I probably walk 6-8 miles a week.  Lately though my allergies are driving me nuts so maybe the treadmill would be better than dusty pollen.

*Whatever you do this weekend, have some fun! Oh and by the way, I notice that alot of my posts are being viewed by someone in Poland. Would you please reply to this blog? I would love to know who you are! Perhaps you have a blog that I can read also? I am interested in all of my viewers!  I 

would love to know who is reading my posts.  I would enjoy getting to know my readers! Let me hear from you! 

My YouTube Year Full Of Effort And Big Dreams...

I know that it's too early for this but I just couldn't resist. Every time I go to the grocery store I see a bunch of Halloween decor and well, I love this holiday. I love every bit of it and what it represents. From spooky, scary to adorable!

I made this wreath last year.

Today though, I was looking at my YouTube channel and I decided that I should list all of the links to my

videos here. I have had my channel about a year. In this year I have posted many cover videos and 3 original ( my very own 😄 ) songs. My husband has been telling me that I need to conform to whatever is popular out there in music. My husband has been very vocal about my music. He tells me that he doesn't "get" it. He doesn't like it. It isn't main stream or funky enough for him. Although I like quite a bit of what is out there, I don't feel that it is authentic to me. I tried that. I did a cover of All Of Me ,written by John Legend. It was kind of a test to see if I could get more views. Because it

was such an over covered song the opposite happened. In fact, it is one of my covers with the least 

amount of views! So I have been sticking with what is most authentic to me and my style of music/ 

genre . By the way, what is my genre? I haven't 

even determined that for myself!

When I look back at this past year I see the vast amount of effort that I have put forth. Hours spent trying to perfect and produce a solid piece to post. It's been challenging and tremendously, personally rewarding. I haven't made a dime from any of it. I hear loud and clear the universe telling me that it's

 my own thing. I get that I'm the only one that "gets my music". I have had very little feedback of any kind on my music. Surprising really. I should consider myself lucky I suppose, people could be very 

nasty and critical. Mostly just silence. Sometimes it's deafening! I think it interesting that I got comments from Terry Kath fans about my covers of his songs. They really weren't about my cover but about him. They would say heartfelt things about him. Terry Kath died when I was about 17 I 

think sooo maybe 35 years ago he died.  He was the husky voiced guitarist from the band Chicago.

In this past year I have established to myself that I can learn, write and execute original songs from deep within my soul. This has been fun!

Lost In The Game

Shiny New View

Something More Than Nothing

Something More Than Nothing ( violin piece )

For whatever reason the following two songs are my most popular everywhere I post them even on SoundCloud. The most viewed of all of my songs...

Tender Years

 Downstream

Here is a complete list of the rest...

Color My World 

Till We Meet Again

Do You Dream Of Me

You Know Like I Know

Saturday In The Park

Nous Vivons Ensemble

Drive

House

The Christmas Song

Critic's Choice

All Of Me

Songs I Could Just Play As A Kid

Alma Mater

Could It Be Magic

Casual Conversation

Win

Us And Them

I'm really wishing that I could make money doing this. I get so discouraged with trying to figure out how to try. I'm trying to learn the etiquette of social media...lol! Thats a whole other world within a world... Oh man!

If this contribution of my effort and soul never becomes realized to others, it's still part of me. I 

wouldn't change a moment of this. It has meant the world to me on a personal level. I have loved 

every note, every challenge and every memory of it.

I guess every hope and dream I have of doing this can be played out in my head. Next best thing to actually being there doing it!

Dinner with G-Kids and Dog Children, Keeping Delightful Company!

                                  Elizabeth

                                                                            Aaron

 Thomas

Nate is in there too!

Coco

 Rose and Chewy in the back. ( dog children )

All of Britt's kids! Bug hunting...

Excuse our dead grass. This is late summer in Phoenix, AZ. We let the grass die off so that we can plant the new winter grass/ rye... Our corn died awhile ago... Just haven't wanted to get out there in the heat to take care of it... Will get around to getting the garden cleaned up and ready to plant again. Still around 108 degrees here... a few days this week were 111!

I spent yesterday with children and dogs. What a wonderful way to spend time... I enjoyed every minute! Today I plan to get back to my little music studio and record " Lost In The Game " for my YouTube channel. I need to get a better video camera, this iPad camera isn't great. also, the sound 

quality isn't very good. I'm not complaining, just acknowledging that I am aware... Something to aspire to.

*I swear the iPad camera adds 10 pounds to ya... I know it does! Dislike that... Doesn't keep me from posting but I dislike that camera!

Have a terrific day whatever you do! Lost In The Game written by Tyna J. Metzner