A Blog about life and living through my life experience and perspective. I am a writer, singer/songwriter childhood savant musician...Trying to find my niche and stake my place in society...
This weekend has been about fall cleaning! We spent the whole day yesterday cleaning out our garage. We do this every fall in an attempt to organize all of our Christmas decorations. This year we also needed to locate and gather all of the camping gear. We are planning a fun two night camping trip to San Diego for fall break. Brittany and her four kids will be joining us. we have a favorite KOA that we stay at in Chula Vista. They do a great job with the grounds and activities for families! Lots of electrical outlets and free WiFi lol. This is the way that we like to camp...no more roughing it for me thanks.
Britt's kids have never actually been camping. I'm looking forward to being a part of this new experience for them! This KOA is near the ocean as well, we will be spending quite a bit of time at the beach. I really enjoy that my oldest, Britt, is always up for doing trips and hanging out with me/ us.
You Know Like I Know written by Ozark Mountain Daredevils
While the kids were visiting, they spent some time with my special friend Twink... Bless her heart, she was patient with the kids and seemed to enjoy most of the attention. Not in this particular moment below...
It was a Casual Conversations day! I decided that it had been quite awhile since I did this song for my YouTube channel. I had a lot of fun revisiting this today. I ended up being very happy with this! I spent some much needed time with my keyboard, it felt great.
In Phoenix, terror is upon us on the road these days. The latest shooting was on a stretch of the I-10 that I drive often! It has hit home so to speak...My husband and many people, are using the surface streets to commute to work. This is creating crowed roads and a much longer commute to and from work for lots of people! I am unnerved at the prospect of driving the freeways around here now! I hope they catch this individual and the copy cats! People are freakin nuts! So scary! Phoenix is a
scary place to be right now.
As of this moring, they have a suspect / person of interest in custody. Lets hope this ends the rein of terror on Phoenix freeways!
Today is a clean the garage day. I don't even mind, it will be just good to do it and get it done! I don't mind working hard! I like the end result!
I think that I need to update this lol. I think I did this a year and a half ago! Oh well, it's a song near and dear to my heart. Another obscure song that was never a hit but struck a chord in me and just stuck! It's interesting the songs that used to just come to me when I was young. Now, I can actually seek songs out and learn them. I have much more control today over what I play.
I have to say I have been stuck in a rut the past month musically. I haven't known what I want to do next. With copyright infringement laws, I am thinking I should just write rather than do any more covers.
I am however thinking I may get into doing some seasonal songs. With the holidays coming up, I may cover some well known old standards. Do you have any suggestions? I would love to hear from you on this! What Christmas song would you like to hear me attempt?
I needed this song when I was getting it together as my cover. My Dad was on the verge of passing away. He had no religious affiliation and was an atheiest. He was an extremely gifted science guy and I think he would have been happier if he had some sort of belief system in place. I think he could find no scientific evidenence and so he abandoned the thought of relifion per say. In his last few years of his life he was fixated on cracking the secrets of the " Universe". He was writing a book about some wonderful new discovery he had found about the Universe! This song reminds me of him so much!
I am putting together the Halloween village for all my little kiddos. I have set up a small table behind my dining room table to display this seasonal favorite. My granddaughter loves all of these little decorations I put out. I'm glad that she gets so much enjoyment from them as my 13 year old daughter has sadly outgrown all of this. I know it is a bit early for all of this stuff but we like to have
it around for awhile.
I thought if a guy could make tons of money for wanting to make potato salad, I could try.
Lol. I hope I can find support for my cause. It is near and dear ...
If you watch the video you will see the entire collection that I just bought. I love to entertain and I'm so excited to be recieving these lovely serving pieces. Wow, just wow! I will recieve the fall set soon. In November, the Christmas Concentric Bowls will arrive. You can bake in the bowls! I can see my Mac And Cheese in the largest bowl at my Christmas Party. Other treats in the remaining bowls. In February the beautifully unique (2) Dragonfly Baking Dishes in time for Spring! Lastly in May, a gorgeous Red, White and Blue patriotic 13X9 in baker with a stoneware lid! I can't wait to own such lovely serving pieces! If money was no object, I would love to buy this complete set for each of my 3
older daughters...
I have to say that Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman, has a beautiful new line of stoneware and cookware that she is selling through Walmart. It it beautiful! Bright with attractive patterns and the best part, they are affordable! I haven't seen all of the products yet their are so many! What fun that Ree is appealing to the majority who want to live pretty on a budget! I am so impressed with Ree's new line!
I bet a lot of us will have a whole Christmas Wishlist full of her products. Her cookbooks were on my Wishlist last Christmas and I'm happy to say that I got one! Zoe bought Ree Drummond's " A Year Of Holidays", for me! I am a fan of Ree's " Pioneer Woman " cooking show. Love her style in general!
Thanks for letting me share my domestic aspirations with you!
As I sit here this Labor Day and ponder the things that I want to accomplish today, I am drinking coffee. A delicious cup of Donut Shop coffee. I'm sure like a lot of you, I blog while drinking my morning cup of coffee. It's the one time of the day that I have for myself!
This next week I plan on working on getting a set list of songs together for an upcoming audition! My neighbor told me he has an "in" with a local wine bar owner. He thinks that he can get me in front of
this person for a musical interview. Oh geez! If I think about this it will scare me to death. It is what I would dearly love to do but this voice in my head wonders if I can pull it off all by myself! Now I find myself wishing that I had a band to play with. When I was a kid I was in a band. I loved that I was a part of something grand. I did one solo song each gig . I don't know that I want to try to be the whole enchilada! Talk about pressure! Having to come up with enough perfected material to fill at least a few hours by myself.
When you play by ear, you have nothing to rely on as a reference point or starting point. It is all by memory and feel. Focus and attention are key. In a noise filled environment who knows what that would be.You factor in fear and adrenaline and it could end not well lol. All the lyrics that have to be recalled with every song. Omg, playing in front of people for hours at a time, just me...
Sounds so stressful! I have to think about this long and hard. I have been in a musical pattern of learning/creating a song, working on that song for hours at a time. Recording that song on YouTube and on SoundCloud and then moving on to the next song! I rarely go back to songs once I have covered them. I have to be realistic and really see if I can tighten up my covers consistently to be pro enough to pull it off. If I can't, then I will know that I can't. This week will determine my intentions and aspiration.
I have also worked a great deal on writing my own songs and perfecting them. So having to perfect hours of content and lyrics seems daunting! I wonder if I'm even up for the task. I'm also not like some entertainers who can just play requests. I know what I know and, that is that! Self doubt is creeping in and it's ...counter productive.
As a semi test for myself I went into our local Guitar Center music store. The keyboard section in the back so I decided to just sit down and play one of the tester keyboards. I played a few songs and pretty soon people were coming over to listen. Kids and adults were standing around listening. This gave me some confidence. I was there for probably 30-45 min. just playing. It was a Sunday afternoon and the store just let me play. When I finished playing, I went up to pay for a mic stand and the cashier asked me how long I had been playing. I told her since I was a kid and she said she could tell. She complimented me and told me that I sounded great. Others behind the counter also expressed support. This was a boost that I needed to get me going. This prompted me to look beyond playing from the yellow room. I just wonder if I'm up for filling hours of time by myself.
Feeling brave after my music store recital, I posted several business cards on the artists board that they have. It felt good to tack my business cards up there! I felt like I was a taking a real step toward putting myself out there! Making this dream from the yellow room a possible, tangible reality! Baby steps... baby steps.
So much of life is a mental game! If you can master the mental mindspeak and the self doubt you can conquer and accomplish great things! I just need to get some confidence and a clearer understanding of my true capability as an artist. I have to figure out if I am truly capable of carrying a whole gig by myself! If I can pull it off, I sure want to! It would fulfill my dream to play and get paid! Oh how that would fulfill and thrill my spirit!
Wish me luck as I embark on a dream that could better my life in so many ways!
