Baking In My New Hand Me Down

My daughter and her husband bought their first home. It is a Pulte home in a neighborhood called Cadence, in Mesa AZ. It's a truly marvelous built! Plenty of rooms for her four children with a game room loft area! Truly a wonderful experience for all of them. Britt told me working with Pulte and the development staff at Cadence has been wonderful from start to finish.

The development itself will be amazing when it is complete. The recreation area and pool are amazing. Plenty of wonderful amenities are definitely a draw for family living.

We helped install blinds on move in day. I helped my daughter unpack all day on Saturday. It was a blast watching her run around from room to room living out her vision for each. Putting little decorating touches here and there. Watching her hopes and dreams come true. Extremely heart warming for me to witness. It truly is going to be a marvelous home for them!

I almost wish that I too could start over in a brand new build... fresh new everything. For now, I'm happy to have inherited this new to me range/oven. Britt has purchased this a few years ago for the home they were renting.

I decided to make a coffeecake. I created this recipe. Hope it's good! Apple Cinnamon Pecan CoffeeCake

Finished Cake ⬆️

I absolutely enjoyed every minute of baking this morning!

Happy New Years Eve. May you enjoy every last minute of 2018!

Playing By Ear My Interpretation -⬆️My YouTube Video Link

Elf Mission Completed Homemaker Burnout

Back to the North Pole. Our elf has left us and Christmas 2018 is now but a memory. As in every year, I did my fair share of elfing. I made several different types of cookies…

Hosted two separate large family dinner get togethers. A street taco party pictured here… The meat was still cooking and wasn’t pictured here.

Hamburger Corn Pie Casserole Party. A request from my oldest daughter who fondly remembered my casserole from her childhood…

A rarity that we are pictured together! My daughters are great ladies that I so enjoy being with! It strikes me as funny that they are both so much taller than I am…

Amelia told me she was practicing her “elf” look. I thought that was endearing so I snapped this pic.

I made a cake of my hometown, Morro Bay Rock. I tried to make sailboats out of mini pretzels lol. Hey it was my way of escaping the holiday stress and spending the afternoon at the beach that was home to me for 36 years!

I’ll Be Home For Christmas ◀️ My YouTube Cover Link!

I really missed my family and some friends that have passed this year. Every year I have a moment or two of remembrance and of missing them. This year, I really felt it deeply from time to time. Lonely inspite of having many things to do and people around. I suppose many others feel as I do the older that we get!

My taste testers…

⬇️

Camera shy kids and cats…

I hope that your holiday season has been full of joy and love! May you be at peace and feel fulfilled. Like our elf Huey, I’m finished elfing for the year. Or am I ???

It’s All Inside Of You

My creative focus has been everywhere this week...

Mostly on Christmas splendor lol. Also washing/ detailing the two cars, wrapping the presents, taking the cat in for shots, making appointments for getting eye and dental exams in before the end of the year. Just like a lot of you, the end of the year is a busy time!

Bye Bye Love Movin In Stereo My Cover ◀️ click

This was my me time on Monday. I took time out to work on these cover songs. The Cars are so amazing. I would love to see them live! When In my youth, I had every album that they made. They were just so cool... I thought it would be fun to cover these two songs as they probably aren't what most middle aged Grams from Phoenix would cover. They are near and dear to my heart as I loved these songs so much as a teen!

This part of me never wants to grow old... I feel a bit like Peter Pan... My love for these bands and the music of my youth will always be a huge part of who I am! I'm sad that I am limited in being able to post some of my artistic expression. Censored by the creator... I do several Supertramp, (Roger Hodgson) Covers that I would love to post on my YouTube channel. They are so fun to play and are some of my best Covers too! Unfortunately, I have tried and Rogers social media dogs find them and take them down.

Anyway, this Gram is having fun playing music and trying very hard to be authentic me. Have fun being you as well! Thanks for taking the time to support my endeavors! 

My Cover Of Win

I hope this video plays for you. If not please view it on my YouTube channel. Here is the link-

Win written by David Bowie Cover by Tyna J Phipps ◀️

My musical effort this week! I have loved this song since I bought and first listened to the "Young Americans", album.

Maybe it's strange to have a woman cover it? Oh well, I did!

All we really want to do is "Win" in life. Win a few anyway! I have been working toward getting a head of the Christmas craziness... Decorating inside and out.

My high school junior was in her school dance performance last weekend. It was an amazingly professional performance! So very well done by all. A fun holiday event.

The season gets so busy for all of us. Take some time out for a personal "Win", whatever yours may be.

The Queen Of Something More

https://youtu.be/3KK8QzuclgU

The Queen Of Something More

An affirmation ⬆️ of what I would love to change about my life. I'd love to be able to break out of the cocoon that binds and gags me lol ... I feel oppressed and depressed in the current state in which I find myself. Probably like a lot of you? So maybe this is a very relatable song! Maybe, you also play the woulda, shoulda, coulda game with yourself? You know the one, "what if I zigged instead of zagged"... That one, is especially tough to contemplate! Oh my gosh. Well, this song cuts straight to my feeling about what I didn't do to fulfill myself as a person. I'm good at being everyone else's cheerleader but when it comes to taking care of my own dreams and desires, I fall short!

It's never too late to dream and dream big. I'm not done as I am still breathing... I get up each day hoping I'll run across, create that magic formula that propels me into my self fulfilling fantasy. Sometimes I get discouraged and sometimes, I even lose sight of what that looks like in my head. I am however sure that I am not living up to my fullest potential. I remind myself of this every time I clean toilets and the cat litter box lol...

I am content with myself, just not with where I have gotten to yet.

Maybe, you can relate? I think it really hit me the other day when we were buying a car. Because I am a stay at home homemaker, with no job- I haven't amassed enough credit to be on an auto loan and or therefore the title of our car. I get to own nothing!!! How's that for a reality check?! Yet another reminder of Something More Than Nothing... What the hell did I do to myself? All of this and I've been stone cold sober my whole life! " Calgon,Take Me Away!"

He looks awfully cute in this box doesn't he?

Wonderful Wednesday

Practice, "Covers" day. Here are a few that I worked on. I'm just getting over the worst chest cold I've had in 20 years. This one was a real beast of burden. Right through the Thanksgiving Holiday. I was actually sick for 2 weeks. I was annoyed lol. Anyway, I'm back!

This was a great way to spend a Wednesday morning. I am glad for the distraction as I've been saddled with domestic chores, kid stuff and auto searching. I'm glad the search is over! Yay now I can catch up on some music I want to finish!

Wednesday Practice Covers ◀️click on the link.

Tender Years Cover ◀️

I have been doing a bit of holiday decorating too.

A work in progress. The weather has been so nice it's hard to believe that Christmas is near! Even my ornamental Pear tree is confused as to what season it is...It's blooming in places!

Craziness!

Reinventing My Self Esteem

Self esteem is all in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes you lose it for awhile and you have to be reminded that you do still have some. You have to find it when it's hiding behind the darkness and the things you can't seem to effect and change! This cover is empowerment even if it's only likeable to me. It showcases my ability as an artist playing by ear. Everything that you hear in this piece is my musical cover effort. I layered two tracks of my musical input via my YamahaMOX8 keyboard. Everything you hear here, I played... The vocals are mine as well although I realize they aren't great. It was a great joy to create this cover in its entirety using just my old iPhone to record with. Probably the quality could be a ton better. Still, I'm proud to have tried to cover so many of the intricate parts of this original written by Roger Hodgson formerly of Supertramp. I'm not very tech savvy so it was a real revelation to me when I figured out how and that I could layer a track on top of another track via AudioCopy. I'll remind you that all I am really is a 56 year old housewife from the suburbs of Phoenix. A housewife that longs for a piece of the pie in the music world. Carving a niche for myself in some kind of money making, prosperous way? Lol that hasn't happened but I love to try. Never give up on your dreams even if they don't chase you back... Maybe?

This gave me great joy! It's the holidays and I'm choosing for the moment to appreciate the effort, not the result.

https://soundcloud.com/tyna-j-phipps/fools-overture-is-written-

Link⬇️

Fool's Overture is written by Roger Hodgson 

Quit Chasing Dreams That Don’t Chase You Back

I'm creating the big feast on Thursday. I always try to incorporate some little homemade craft for my table. This year Amelia and I had gathered pinecones on our day trip to northern AZ a few weeks ago. I wanted to use a few for our family dinner. This year my daughter and her family will be joining us.

I still have some grocery shopping that I need to do today. My daughter is bringing a few side dishes as well. Like most of you, things get pretty busy this time of year. The kids have a lot going on. I've been in hot pursuit of a low miles gently used Hyundai Accent Hatchback. At least I figured out what I would like to buy... My 2005 PT Cruiser is fading fast and I would like to replace it. Anyway, looking online for the best deal has taken a lot of my time and energy! The internet is a terrific tool. The gently used fleet cars via Hertz, Avis and Enterprise are possibly the most price efficient way to go. They are clean and have been serviced regularly. They generally have 30-40K miles on them. I looked into Carvana and Vroom and they may be easier and a more fun way to purchase a vehicle but a little more expensive. What a nice no hassle option though! Imagine having a car delivered to your door!

I'm thinking an Ironman Silver or dark gray color would be nice in the Accent. Maybe Black Friday deals will surface on these car options? As I said, a great deal of time and energy spent on looking for a used car.

I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody. I loved this movie! What great collective talent the band Queen was. Freddy Mercury was incredibly musically gifted. He had a hard and tortured lonely in ways life. Reinforcing my notion that nobody gets to have it all! Boy did he ever shine in the spotlight... I love his music and the amazing musical legacy he left the world. Talk about a contribution to the history of music! Loved the movie, loved the man too. I could just hug him! Although Freddy got most of the acknowledgement, the band Queen had so much collective talent and genius. Amazing musicians, all of them! The movie left me with a desire to cover some of music of Queen. Maybe I will try?

Speaking of Covers, I just read a bit about Article 13, all about copyright issues. The pros and cons for and against. I get it from a creator song writers perspective. I also know from my YouTube channel creator perspective that this will be the straw the brings down my channel. I have written a few songs of my own. I have worked on them and have reposted new versions of them and given them my best authentic me... Very rarely does anyone watch/ listen to my originals. My channel gets a fair amount of views but almost always, my Covers are viewed. So, with article 13, mine and many others don't stand a chance. I know for a fact I'm not the only artist/creator to have this issue. It's hard as heck to get people to listen to Original music.

▶️ My YouTube Channel Link

▶️ My Critic’s Choice Cover On SoundCloud

My hopes and my dreams of a YouTube channel that can grow and prosper was already dashed as YouTube keeps taking away features on small fish like me. I lost my ability to try to prosper when I suddenly had to have 1K followers... I have also lost the ability to utilize the geography stat that I so enjoyed viewing. It's a kick to see what songs do well in different countries! YouTube has been taking away vital stat info for growth and understanding of viewership for awhile. I used to be able to see gender pie graph charts etc... Now all I can see is what operating system and what type of device was used to view my videos. Pretty much useless info.

I'm sad that my fun as a creator on YouTube and on SoundCloud may be coming to an end. Awwww! I've had my channels for 5 years now. What this all did for me personally was amazing! Confidence, personal risk taking, and a chance for me to be authentic and an individual! I have loved every min of the time I have spent creating and being a creator! I have enjoyed tending my channel and having a platform to perform. My husband has pointed out more than once that had I been good enough, and talented enough, someone would have found and contacted me long ago... I have known that reality for a long time. I wanted to strive and to try! I wasn't going to let naysayers win! I have been determined and believe it or not, I have worked hard at trying to become better, good enough to become marketable and worthy of getting paid!

It hasn't been in the cards for me but I never give up... I suppose if they nail the door shut on my channel I won't have to feel like a quitter. I will have taken my love and passion for creating music as far as I could. I suppose that at some point, your dreams ought to chase you back...

The Holidays Are Emerging

Hi there! I'm working on a few songs for my channel. Holiday music is on my heart...

Emerging Holiday Music Project The Process ◀️ click!

Nous Vivons Ensemble is written by Gordon Lightfoot (My Cover) ◀️ click on the link.

The domestic chores won out as their were many this week. I got up at 4:30 am this morning to make a big batch of my homemade Mac & Cheese for my husbands office potluck. He asked me to make it.

I was glad that this went over well! I primarily bake my Mac but this is a creamy béchamel version. Easier to keep warm with a crock pot.

Election Day is behind us as well as the constant commercials with each candidate bashing the other! I'm glad that's over! I'm saddened that our Senate race is too close to call yet. I really have a terrible dislike for Kyrsten Sinema. I wrote a post about my great disdain for her way of thinking. She called Homemakers leeches on their husbands! She is a clueless politician and has no idea what it takes to run the business of "family".

Homemakers are a different class of individuals. We work hard, don't receive a paycheck but still feel that giving of our time and energy to our families for free with no paycheck or 401K is a benefit. Homemakers provide quality of life plain and simple. We pick up the back end of the business aspect, the front end of caregiving and everything from meal planning, party planning, cleaning , cooking, carting kids to and fro and being the family cheerleader. The means of support. The go to person for everything under the sun, moon and stars... all, for free. It's pretty much a tiring, thankless job but one that seems to enhance the family objective and support system.

Anyone who doesn't see this as a job, hasn't experienced first hand the benefits...

Anyway, I really hope that Arizona doesn't have to endure this Sinema gal and her strange politics in the senate! I'm usually not outspoken about politics but I take umbrage at this candidates offhanded, disparaging comment and view of stay at home caregivers!

She has other quirks and strange misleading ideals... no thanks!!!

Anyway, I've had my say at the polls and here on my blog so I guess I can give up rant?

Here we go. A peaceful serene picture of the park I walk/ run by on my route... whew. Meanwhile the holidays are right around the corner. It's almost time for planning, budgeting and food prep. Before I know it, I'll be up to my ears in "Holiday Splendor", a.k.a. holiday decorating.

Have a great Thursday evening!

Back To Status Quo At Least I Hope So

From this, ⬆️ to this ⬇️ in one week. I kid you not! What a difference a week makes!

Reseeding, the winter grass project is finished!

Of course the grass is still thin and needs to fill in but it's pretty! So nice to be finished with the ravages of the long summer heat and burning sun. The plants and the yard are coming back to life!

This week I worked on my cover of Could It Be Magic-⬇️

https://youtu.be/--89UPKkP4U

⬆️click on the link.

I have been so busy the past month between a 5 day family funeral in California, and a pretty bad car accident .

I'm still dealing with the residual stress of getting through the aftermath of both.

Car shopping wasn't fun. Spending 6 hours in a dealership only to feel raked over the coals in an effort to replace a car that was rather new and that we loved! Back to the same amount in monthly car payment. Like chasing your tail... We had just done that 18 months prior. Car shopping is a pain! Driving in Phoenix is a scary thing to do! I'm trying to let the wreck go and forgive the uninsured texter that took out my car but... I'm still angry!

I did however take some time to spend with G-Kids this past Tuesday. They had a grandparent lunch and book fair at their school. I was glad to attend! We had a great time together and I could tell that they were truly glad to have me there! They are a sweet bunch of kids and I'm so proud of them!

This cutie, ⬇️ had a Birthday as well the same day! Her parents bought for her the cutest puppy ever!

My youngest daughter who is a junior this year went to Homecoming last night...

I baked a batch of Cupcakes for all of the kids passing through the house this weekend...

I made my Chicken Salad to have on hand for quick meal fixes on the go.... this weekend was busy! I attended a Western University graduation acknowledgment ceremony yesterday. My husband received his Master's Degree a few months ago.

Whew! So much going on this week!

Halloween is coming up on Wednesday...

Could It Be Magic Music Only SoundCloud track! https://soundcloud.com/tyna-j-phipps/could-it-be-magic-piano-music. ◀️click! ⬆️

Have a terrific rest of your weekend !

Thanks for reading today's post!

Could It Be Magic Written by Barry Manilow Cover By Tyna J Phipps

Car Wreck Friday Taking It On The Chin

The one and only car that is running that we depend on is gone! My new as in I've only had it for about 18 months car is totaled! My Lulu from Honolulu destroyed. We bought her used. She came from Honolulu as a gently used rental car. I loved this vehicle and would joke about what a fun party car she was! We would bump with her kick ass stereo down the road. I would frequently take my teenager and her friends to lacrosse game venues as the kids played DJ from their phones...

I could tell you many sappy things expressing my love, appreciation and great joy of owning this Chrysler Town & Country Van. I realize she was just a car but to me, she was much more! What gracious luxury and space to move and travel in... Stow and go configuration possibilities making life and packing the car easy. The class and attention to small detail and functionality she had. The elaborate safety features she had including the headrests installed in the front that surely saved our necks from whiplash and possibly worse injuries we could have right now...

Thank God we had gap insurance to pay the car loan off. We are out all 7K worth of payments we have made, $650.00 for the new tires we put on her just last week! Also, a full tank of gas as we had just filled up.

Taken out by an uninsured motorist! I was taking my husband to work yesterday as we are down to one car. He was driving. We were at a stoplight almost to his place of employment. He watches his mirrors and saw the gal in a jacked up black Jeep Cherokee looking down at her phone. She was in the left lane, we were in the middle lane. She didn't really even brake, she just slammed into us going pretty darned fast! She came through the back hatch window and 
pushed us into the car in front of us. I was drinking coffee and my ceramic travel mug ended up injuring my chin. Either that or I hit the dashboard with my chin. I literally took it on the chin...

bruised and cut my chin. Doused both of us and the whole front of the car in coffee... As with most crashes, it felt endless, the noise the impact and distorted perception of what was happening as if I'm slow motion...

When we realized we were ok ish and it was over, we tried to figure out if we should stay in the vehicle or get out... Rush hour traffic was crazy and uncaring. Not one person came to see if we were ok. The person whom we hit in front just took off when the light turned green! The 25 year old gal that hit us got out of her car and went across the street. She never asked if we were ok or showed any kind of remorse. She appeared to have no injuries and didn't appear to be shaken up.

The police told us she has no insurance. She bought the vehicle a few days ago. We could see the temporary plates on it. How did she leave the lot where she bought it with no insurance?!!!

So we just have to eat it. All of it... Our insurance, our deductible, all of our payments, the one week old tires, the full tank of gas...

*The Collision shop texted me that just their visual assessment of the damages is around 16 thousand dollars. That's without full view and tearing into it. With the depreciation on a 2016 vehicle, I'm sure they are going to deem it a complete loss...

I'm beyond perplexed and frustrated! I'm pissed!!! I should probably focus on being grateful that my kids weren't in the car. My teenager sits back there on the side that really took the hit. My second grader would have been jolted badly had she been with us as well. We could have been in serious pain had it not been for the safety feature of the headrests that both deployed at impact. I should be glad to be alive! Instead, I am so sad for the loss of my car and all the stress that this is. All due to texting while driving or whatever distraction her phone was. Not to mention her driving without insurance...

Maybe tomorrow I'll be feeling grateful rather than furious? Today I'm just so sad...

R.I.P. Lulu, you were an awesome vehicle!

Rear Camera view.

Nora And The Phrase When It Rains It Pours

Dust Storm crossing into Arizona on Sunday.

We drove up into a dust storm on the way home from California on Sunday! Thought it was an interesting pic of the wall of dust we encountered.

From the car that sits awaiting repairs, to a new Air Conditioning Unit that will be installed tomorrow. New tires an absolute must on our car before we travel to California this weekend to attend my mother in laws funeral! So along with the remnants of hurricane Nora, plenty of rain has been falling around here! Life and living and cars are expensive! When it rains, it pours! I can still hear my mother telling me, "Into each life, a little rain must fall". Lol I get it... "Uncle" ! "Enough"! Surely something really great must be right around the corner. Something amazing and personally rewarding right?? Something smile worthy please!

We made a fast trip to Salinas last Friday to help with the funeral planning and just to see my husbands siblings. My mother in law had been ill for many years and this past year, was horrible for her. Her health declining so drastically that she ended up having a leg amputated 6 months ago. The remaining leg also had to be amputated above the knee a month ago. She was really forced to make agonizingly hard decisions near the end of her life. Nobody ever wants to have to make decisions like that and then have to live with them. Brave I'd say! Extremely brave!

She died under the care of Hospice and private caregivers. A peaceful, loving end at home... I can't say enough wonderful things about Hospice. My mother also was under the care of Hospice years ago when she passed. A wonderful non clinical way to leave the planet. Dying at home with dignity!

I will be cooking/baking all of Friday to make food for the weekend of funeral events. We have three days of events so I thought I would make a few meals. Hopefully to offset travel expenses and to share with in out of town relatives. My plan is to bake a few small cakes, a Bundt and a Texas Sheet Cake are what I have in mind. Three batches of cookies for all of the kids that will be in attendance as well. Hopefully it will help to feed the many well wishers and out of town relatives that will be dropping by. It will probably be a good showing of people, love and support.

The food after the service has been taken care of. The funeral is going to be a very nice, well thought out and rather formal and traditional send off. Three days of events from the viewing, a church service and then a military burial on Tuesday. My father in law is a retired Colonel in the army so the military burial along with a Catholic Mass service, is what he and the family have chosen. I'm sure it will be a wonderful recognition in honor of her life.

Downgraded to a tropical storm, Nora dumped the remnants of moisture left in this system on Arizona. In Phoenix, we topped out at around 3 inches of water in just a few hours. A lot of water for dry as a bone Phoenix! The cooler temps that this weather disturbance brought is greatly appreciated. Although it is humid as heck, it has cooled off a lot. Our air conditioner broke during the storm. It's was an old unit but still I couldn't believe the rotten timing financially! Ugh!When it rains, it pours...figuratively, literally and this week in my heart!

Pouring rain and a flood of tears and tests. This week has left me perplexed as to the challenge that living a good life can be. This is my mantra and inspiration this week. This is my YouTube Musical Cover-

https://youtu.be/-FT11-3D4O4 ⬆️click

*Live The Life is written by Michael W. Smith. This, link is my cover video! I'm trying to do my best but sometimes life and living on a shoestring budget is a pain in the ...

The Grass Is Dead And This Song Is Stuck In My Head

Believe it or not, this tree drops brown crispy dry leaves year round. I should have taken a before picture so that you could see my clean up project. Now that it's done, you see how dead the grass is. We go through this every year. It's still too hot to seed the for fall/winter grass. It's still 104 degrees here in Phoenix this week. This morning started off beautiful allowing me to tackle the ton of leaves and dead grass thatch clean-up. Along with trimming the dead branches out of my oleanders on my side yard.

I actually don't mind doing yard work at all. It's a good workout! Monday-Wednesday, I worked on a fun musical project. It didn't turn out musically as good as I had hoped it could. Who knew that this song, would be so hard for me vocally?

Anyway, I decided after countless attempts to get a good take, to just get the vocals there. I decided that the lyrics are so powerful that maybe you can overlook the less than perfect vocal effort? Maybe, you can see past that and look into my heart a little bit... Since it was an audio track, I created a video from my own pictures and home videos to post to my YouTube channel. I'm thrilled with the outcome! I personally think it is artful in and of itself.

Creating a video from family gatherings and everyday life with my music in the background, is my own kind of art! If I'm honest, I'm not at all sure that anyone else would find any enjoyment and worth in any of my endeavors. Any and all art is so subjective!

My homemade videos may only be my unique way of scrapbooking. It sure is entertaining to me! I guess the answer in all of this should be obvious by the lack of views I get on my homemade everything iMovie creations? Within minutes of uploading this new video to my YouTube channel, someone watched and thought enough of my endeavor to comment on it. It was nice to hear!

If you at all interested, here is the link...

Click▶️ Mind Games Cover Video With Vocals ⬆️

I've had some interesting occurrences while trying to cover John Lennon songs. I haven't spoken about them because I was trying to wrap my head around theses rather supernatural events. I also don't wish to be pegged ridiculous or somehow not credible.

I just kind of wonder about these strange happenings and I try to make logical sense of them. When I Cover songs of people that have passed away, or are living for that matter... I often question myself about what they might think of my attempts to put my own stamp on something they created and made great. I want to assume that my spirit of great love and adoration for the artist would be obvious and would be perceived by anyone looking in, as such!

Well, about four Christmases ago, I set about trying to do my best cover of John Lennons', "So This Is Christmas". I moved all of my equipment into my front room among my three Christmas Trees for ambience lol. I worked hard to get all of my ducks in a row to get a good take!

Production always takes awhile! Warming up and coming up with good takes is not easy! Shooting a video looks easy but it's not as easy as it appear especially all by yourself. Anyway during the day, I was video taping and creating the SoundCloud audio. I did hours of playing and trying to get it just right.

During the audio recording portion of my cover, while I was playing the song, I suddenly lost all power to my keyboard! With my iPad still recording I can be heard saying "what the heck?! Hello? What's going on? This is weird hello? " I got up to troubleshoot this crazy odd occurrence. Fearing that I blew a fuse or that my keyboard was malfunctioning... I suddenly realized that my keyboard had been unplugged from my amplifier... I was the only one home and I had been sitting there playing for hours and suddenly, my keyboard was unplugged? I had a hard time finishing that cover. It still makes me scratch my head... Huh??? What the heck happened there lol??? By the way, I kept that audio track for a few years before I deleted it... That, was so strange...

I haven't even thought about that event at all in years. We have road construction going on in the neighborhood so I shut my studio door to cancel out any construction noise during recording.I have hung my costume jewelry on the back of the door to keep my necklaces from tangling lol.

While I was practicing this cover- Again, all alone in the house, I hear what I deduce is my cat jumping on the closed door. I'm assuming that the cat wanted to come in the room. It was a loud, jumping and thumping noise that made the door shake and my jewelry swayed and rattled against the door loudly. I stopped playing and ran to open the door. When I looked out, nobody was there! I checked down the hall for the cat... my kitty had been sleeping in my closet! Oh my I was perplexed to say the least! I still am... ????

Anyway, I just thought I'd share that with you... Think me nuts or crazy, these things happened and I have no reasonable explanation for them. Talk about "Mind Games"!

Mind Games Love Is The Answer

SoundCloud Audio Only-Mind Games Cover ◀️Click on the link!

Mind Games YouTube Cover Video-

Mind Games written by John Lennon. (My Cover)

⬆️Click for video link!

Thanks for reading my post and for listening/ watching my channels. Your support of my music means a lot to me! Thank you!

I thought this was a cute video. I told them I was taping them for my new YouTube video lol.

When The Walls Close In And The World Gets Smaller Turn Over A New Fall Leaf

Not much to do when your wings are clipped. Down to one car finds me home most of the time. I'm hoping that he fixes it for real this time. Small budget fixes via YouTube videos. He does repairs this way. Mostly they work?

Speaking of YouTube, I'm so sad that they just took geography away from me. I don't have enough traffic on my channel and they just keep taking away features that I enjoy. I enjoy seeing what country a song is being viewed from! Now, the only analytics I can see are what device and operating system was used to view my video. Useless information! YouTube would like to shake off all of the small fish like me... I'm so sad!! I wrote to them and sadly, no response back.

My cousin died a few days ago. She was probably ready to go as she had been ill for a long time and was miserable. She was an active wonderful lady with many talents! She was a crafter and she made many lovely handcrafted pieces! Full of spunk and life until she became ill. Although we weren't very close, I admired her so much. She will be missed and I feel like my world just keeps getting smaller with each passing. The people that actually knew me as a kid are mostly gone! The people that I grew up with have passed away! I feel so alone in the world! I suppose that is very common the older you get!

The family I have created is pretty much all I have left. I'm looking to expand my world and get out of this funk! Turn over a "Fall" leaf lol and start anew! I've been keeping busy and active and who has time for the nonsense of being a small fish in a big pond. On to the next adventure whatever that is...

Sadly I'd like to put a DNR (Do not resuscitate) sign on this blankity blank vehicle... it really should just be done... ⬇️

Here I come! See the resemblance hahaha...⬆️ Have a good weekend all!

Car Problems More Time To Play

Legendary 70s Songs That I Revisited Today I worked on this today... This is my SoundCloud track link. Click on the link.

So this is the YouTube link. I made a video to go with the audio track...

Legendary 70s Songs That I Revisited Today  ◀️Click)!

This was fun! Queensrÿche is the first band to acknowledge my cover of their song. They actually listened to my track too. So fun!

Here is that track as well...

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Silent Lucidity!

It was another musically rewarding day!

I also played and uploaded this track to my SoundCloud Channel today⬇️

You Know Like I Know

I have had more time to play this past week. Car issues have left me home this week. I thought I'd make the best of it and work on my music.

They have almost finished the sidewalk/ curb around my house. It looks beautiful! Nice work!

Yogurt Parfaits And Time For Reflection

I started making these Yogurt Parfaits for the kids in the morning, they love them!

I apologize. I deleted the YouTube upload that I gave you the link to in my previous post. I added a couple of promo slides to it an uploaded it again. Here is that link

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Planning My Escape The Time Is Here

⬆️click on the blue link!

Praying For Time Cover ◀️click

Planning My Escape The Noise That I Choose To Hear

Planning My Escape/The Time Is Here⬆️

Click on the blue link-⬆️!

Crazy day around here. Every corner in the neighborhood is being torn up and resurfaced. The corners are being brought up to compliance via the Disability Act for proper wheel chair access.

My grass is in a transition phase. This is the time of year that we let the Bermuda grass die, and reseed the lawn with Rye grass seed. Living on the corner, has its drawbacks. I decided to make my own noise today since this sidewalk project is extremely noisy. Tuning out the road construction, was a good excuse for me to play my piano.

We are still looking for ways to beat the heat as well. We hit 107 degrees here today! This past weekend was downright hot. Daughter Britt brought the kids over to swim at one of the three community pools close to us. It was fun taking a quick dip with this bunch Saturday evening!

Fall The Pumpkin Spice Of Life

I couldn't wait any longer. I decorated for Fall. It's still hot although maybe not as hot as it was? Today is going to be 105+. Every year we get to September and I think maybe if I decorate for Fall, it will feel like Fall? I should know by now that Phoenix is September is still brutal. The temps are unrelenting and it's HOT! Even in October most years we have 100 degree temps! In November however, it cools down so much that we are suddenly into winter. But because we live with such extreme temps for half of the year, when it cools down we really feel cold! Our blood thins and cold temps feel extremely cold to us!

I drug out my Fall dinnerware.

I made homemade Banana Bread...

As if we could sit out on the patio 🤣... my eclectic mismatched vinyl patio table covers lol...

I even found the Scarecrow girl that could pass for Amelia's twin. See the resemblance? Amelia asked me to find and put up the Scarecrow gal that looks like her... I'm thrilled that she appreciates that I decorate for the seasons and holidays. Nobody else in my home seems to care.

Touches of fall are pretty much everywhere throughout my house!

My favorite season of the year and it's the only season that Phoenix doesn't ever experience! Again, this realization and thought brings with it the question... Why do I live here in Phoenix?

I dream in a Fall color palette. I absolutely love the colors of Fall. I grew up in Pennsylvania and I miss that snap of Fall. The leaves, the crisp air. The feelings the season evokes!

This is Fall in the desert lol. A cactus plant surrounded by a handcrafted Fall inspired plate...

I'm manifesting Fall in my own little world and in my mind!

If I could find a niche in home decorating I'd love to do it.