Let's Talk About Music!

    Music is a very powerful thing; I don't think that's a statement that anyone can deny unless they were a psychopath who has no emotions. Studies have been made, articles have been written, and tests have established so many positive things about music. It can lift your mood or make you feel sad. Music can help you remember things and can even improve your health. Music is powerful.

Check out this Article
Or this one
Or even this one if you want to call bull on me. I don't know if they're all facts or just randomly written blogs like mine, but it should count for something that other people have written about music.

     Music, to me, is magic. It improves my mood, it steadies me, and more recently, it has amazed me more than it has ever before. I listen to my kids as they play and they are developing their own musical tastes. They are picking up songs that I listen to and they are singing them. I realize that they are making memories. Long after I'm gone, they're going to hear a song and they are going to think of me. I know this because every weekend, my dad would wake us (my sisters and I) up with the sounds of his 60s, 70s, 80s, and the hits of 90s and early 2000s. Those were happy mornings where we would all dance and sing and when I hear one of those songs, I get taken back. (Thanks Mary J. Blige)

     Music is also inspiring and one of the bands that has inspired me most has been my favorite band Lifehouse. It has always baffled me that they aren't more recognized. They've had many top hits and their songs have been featured in popular sitcoms including Grey's Anatomy and have made a song appearances in Vampire Diaries, and one very popular song in Smallville. I could list all of my favorite songs, but that would take all day. So here are two of their songs that I love that I don't think get enough credit.

Who is your favorite band and what songs have inspired you?

School Uniforms- Are They Really Necessary?

Ok, so it's almost back to school time and that means that I have to get my kids new school uniforms. All three of them will be in school this year and all three of them need to have uniforms.

I suppose that I should be happy that, at least, I don' have to order from a catalogue and can purchase them at places like Walmart or Kohls, deciding how fancy or nice I want them to be and also can control the cost a little bit, but I'm not happy that they have to wear them and here's why:

I'm a Mom Who Plays Dungeons and Dragons

 

    I wasn't really a nerd-type person when I was growing up, but I always enjoyed things that were considered nerdy. I liked to play video games like Ages of Empires or hack and slash games even though they always made me feel sick from all the motion. I also liked to write fictional stories with my friends. We had a made up alphabet that we used when we passed notes and created a land called Freesia that had fairies and elves.

   


   

     So.... When I got the chance to play games with actual adults, we started to play D&D. My first player was a half Elf Bard who liked to sing and dance and act out scenes. We have since changed campaigns and I'm now a Tabaxi- which is a cat- humanoid who like shiny objects and learning new things. 

      If you've ever played D&D or any other roll playing game, there is usually a world map involved as well as little game pieces that are used to be your character. While everyone usually choses a figure that resembles their character like this: 

This is the one that I've chosen to work with:

     It's Pikachu and he's adorable!!! While he may not be a cat person, he certainly looks like he has a cat personality. If I don't get to use him, I feel down and am sad if I have to choose a different figurine to play with. 

      So.... that happens a bit because this is my son's toy. He takes great pleasure in hiding Pikachu from me... Sometimes, I hide him from him. It's pretty childish, isn't it? Here I am, a grown woman, hiding my kid's toys just so I can play with him later. (I'm laughing as I type this)

      I've heard of parents hiding snacks from their children and this isn't the same thing. Shame on me!

How many moms or dads out there play D&D? Do you improvise with your characters? Do you have to hide things from your kids? 

My Wedding Ring Doesn't Fit

     About two, maybe three years ago, I had lost a lot of weight. For the first time since having kids, I had gotten below an important weight milestone. I was super stoked and happy. Then, after maintaining that weight, Christmas came and went as well as all of those other holidays that encourages holiday eating. I gained some weight and was back to pregnancy weight- ewwww.

     I was still able to wear my wedding ring until I hit a weight that was past pregnancy weight. I've been there for a while now and haven't worn my wedding ring in a little over a year. It's very frustrating, and sad, and mortifying, and leaves my hand feeling naked and weird.

     I could go on and on about how sad my life is, but it really isn't. Life happens, people gain weight. Clothes fit, then get too tight, and then loosen up again. I've been rotating between 3 different pant sizes for the last year.

      The good news, now is... I've lost almost ten pounds. I'm tired of being so heavy. I'm tired of looking at pictures of me, but most importantly, I'm tired of looking at naked fingers as I type. It's time to take back my fingers. Water weight is a real thing and I'm going to shed it, even if I have to go to the bathroom 103949183748317 times a day- ok, maybe that's to many times and pretty much impossible. How about 10 times a day. That's more realistic.

      My garden is flourishing- literally, not metaphorically. I have more cucumbers and zucchini than I know what to do with. My Pinterest is overflowing with zucchini recipes. I'm going to eat healthy and exercise more! (I've promised this before in a different blog, but this time, it's true!) I'm not sure I believed that with the laughing I heard in my head. (Ugh! the tomatoes haven't even begun to turn red, yet. #SaladsForDays)

     It's time to don those rings! Who's with me?

               

OMGosh!!! They're tight.... I don't think I can get them off! Do I really need a ring finger?

Momisms

Hello everyone! I've written this before, but I was hoping to make it better for social media. As parents, we have learned that things don't always mean the same thing to those who don't have kids. I had a little bit of fun making up some Momisms. What do you think? Are there any more that should be added?

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

     I just read a book by Jennifer Fulwiler that literally could have been about my life, called One Beautiful Dream

     

 In this book, she writes her story about her journey to becoming a published author while being a stay-at-home mom of six children. She writes about feeling inadequate with being a mother, a teacher, and a writer and how she overcomes those feelings by including her family in her decisions and how thinking differently helped her home life. This is a book that I recommend anyone who has ever done anything to read.

     As a mom who stays home, I've wondered if what I do matters. I see my kids and I wonder if the way that I'm raising them is going to help them in life or make them little serial killers in the future. (Since they are playing nicely and aren't skinning animals, I think it's safe to assume they're going to be ok). There really isn't a right way to raise kids, especially when they all have their own individual personalities. My daughter, for instance, wants to be a mother when she grows up. (One good parent point for me) My oldest son wants to be a video game designer (maybe I let him spend too much time on video games) and when he's done with that, he wants to be the president of the United States. I'm a creative person and not a teacher, I find house cleaning abhorrent, (I get cleaned what needs to be clean, I just detest it in the process), and I don't like to play toys with my kids the way that they want to play. That doesn't make me a bad mom, though.

      Jennifer explains many of the things that I've talked about and have wondered in her book and says it better than I could. I highly recommend that you read it!

      I've had this blog for over a year and still don't consider myself a writer. My whole life I've written stories and have started writing books and am almost finished, but still don't think of myself as an author. In the book, Jennifer says that everyone has something that fuels them whether it be arts and crafts, writing, organization, or hospitality. She calls this your blue flame. This is the thing that energizes you and gives your life fire. You see, the blue flame in fire is the hottest source of the fire and is where it originates. We can be stay-at-home moms or women or men who work, but we all need something to fuel us. Even if we are good at what we do, we can still burn out, which is why she says to find that thing that fuels you.

      Find your niche- that's something I've been reading about when creating a blog. My blog has been a smorgasbord of topics, therefore not quite how it should be according to the "blogging experts", but this is my life and things that I enjoy. I may not think of myself as a writer or author because someone hasn't said, "Girl, you're a writer,"but that doesn't mean it isn't so. Jennifer wrote and kept writing and she called herself a writer even though it took her five years to finish her first book. I just need to keep on doing what I love. I'm writing, (Ok, maybe typing) I'm publishing online, I'm getting the things in my brain on paper and into words, I'm a writer.

      Keep on persevering, keep doing what you love! If you keep doing it, you are it. I'm a writer, you're an artist, you're a teacher, you're a caregiver, you're a minister. Embrace who you are, weirdness and all. You don't need someone to tell you who you are, just DO IT!

Have you found your blue flame? What gets you energized?

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Do You Worry About Being Remembered?

     I don't know if it's just part of being a woman or maybe every human feels this way from time to time, but sometimes, out of nowhere, I get into a weird funk. Sometimes it happens when I'm reading a book or when I'm listening to old songs (this is usually what gets me) and I get taken back to a time years ago. Sometimes it happens when I try on a pair of clothes and they no longer fit or when I see a picture of myself and think, "That's not what I look like in the mirror." I can get really down and I start thinking about what it was like in school.

 

     I used to be a very outgoing introvert... I think the terminology might be ambivert, now.... or maybe I'm wrong about that. I was the type of person who liked to go meet people, but after a while, I liked to just be by myself because I overwhelmed myself from trying to get popular. I was the type of person who tried to befriend everyone! I was the person who followed the calling, "Go forth and make disciples" (especially when it was competition time in the youth group.) If I knew you, you probably were getting invited to church all the time.

       I used to be cute and skinny and had many boyfriend prospects. It was nice to know that people liked me and that I could make friends so easily. Perhaps that's why I get into funks now. As a stay-at-home mom, my priorities have changed. My friends are my kids and my family members. Yes, I wonder from time to time if someone thinks about me and has great memories of me just like I do them. It can be discouraging when I think about how large my group of friends were, even though I still had my close group of friends too.

      I thinks its natural though, to separate from each other. We're all at different parts of life, right now. I've been blessed to get married right out of college and have kids right away. At some point, we had to grow up. We went to different colleges because that was what was right for us. We had to move away because we had better opportunities. When I get into my funk and I wonder if I'm thought of often or even on occasion and hope that I'm thought of fondly, I should be glad to have had those experiences at all. We weren't dumped by our friends, time and life just happened and we should be glad that our friends are happy and wish the best for them.

     Here's my challenge for you: If you think of someone from the past, pray for them. Let them know. It's funny how we have this thing called Facebook. Send them a message; a word of encouragement. Don't be shady about it, because that's just weird. Say "Hi, I was thinking about you today. Remember when....?" It might brighten their day, and if they're like me and feeling down about their weight or feeling a little lonely, it can turn a funk day around to a good day. So let's encourage each other, today!