one of those "get to know me" email thingies...

This is a combination of two different "getting to know your friends" "things you don't know about me" emails I've gotten recently...enjoy, lol!! I know that most of you don't have time to do these...I usually don't either, but one of the silver-linings of having less than healthy kiddos is couch time :) so, I thought it would be fun. And since I took the time to do it, I thought I'd add it to my blog!


Four things about me that you may or may not have
known in no particular order.



Four jobs I have had in my life (all of these were during high school/college...and this isn't all!)

1. ice cream scooper extraordinaire at Baskin-Robbins

2. Santa's helper/picture taker at the mall

3. lunchroom/playground attendant at a Catholic elementary school

4. Tanning salon attendant



Four movies I would watch over and over:

1. Love Actually

2. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

3. Gone With the Wind

4. any Matthew McConaughey movie


Four places I have lived:

1. Tucson, AZ

2. Enid, Oklahoma

3. Riverside, CA

4. Madera, Clovis CA


Four TV Shows that I watch

1. Greys Anatomy

2. The Amazing Race

3. Chuck

4. whatever the boys have on :)



Four places I have been:

1. Hawaii

2. Venice, Italy

3. Paris, France

4. Frankfurt, Germany (and a few other cool places on a high school singing tour)



People who email me (regularly):

1. Jules

2. Billy

3. Book club gals

4. my mom & dad



Four of my favorite foods:

1. Shrimp Payaso

2. Mexican food of all sorts

3. Browned Butter/Mizithra cheese pasta at Old Spaghetti Factory

4. Calamari salad at Andiamo's



Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Mexico

2. somewhere with no tv or phone :)

3. San Francisco

4. on a beach, with just the right amount of sun (not too hot)

Four friends I think will respond:

1. not sure...I'm just doin this for fun and because Torin needs me in front of the tv with him

2.

3.

4.



Four Things I am looking forward to in 2008:

1. learning more through life, every day!

2. travel

3. creating art of all sorts

4. practicing the piano more, and singing



Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your
friends. (this is the other one, lol)

1. What time did you get up this morning? too damn early

2. Diamonds or pearls? both (I prefer diamonds, but pearls are my birthstone)

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Alvin and the Chipmunks (I think?)

4. What is your favorite TV shows? see answers above

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? coffee w/choc soy or iced tea...waffle/pbj sandwich or granola

6. What is your middle name? Lynn

7. What foods do you dislike? greasy stuff or food that makes me bloat, lol

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Sara Bareilles- Little Voice; Josh Kelley- Special Company; Amy Steinberg-Must Be the Moon... (oops, just one!?)

9. What kind of car do you drive? 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid

10. Favorite sandwich? mmmmmm. I love sandwiches, lol. um, turkey, bacon, avocado on hearty wheat (or croissant on occasion) with lettuce and a bit o mayo

11. What characteristic do you despise? goofiness.....LMAO, just kiddin!

12. Favorite item of clothing? my Lucky jeans and my orange hoodie

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Ireland

14. What color is your bathroom? kinda rusty red color :)

15. Favorite brand of clothing? Bitten by SJP

16. Where would you retire? a beach somewhere

17. What was your most memorable birthday? I plead the 5th

18. Favorite sport to watch? Boxing or more recently, UFC

19. Farthest place you are sending this? don't know

20. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? Don't know...doin it for fun!

21. Person you expect to send it back first? same answer

22. Favorite saying? I don't know! I don't listen to myself :) maybe "please be kind to your brother"

23. When is your birthday? June 7th

24. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night. I only like mornings if I don't have to talk to anyone, lol

25. What is your shoe size? 8.5-9

26. Pets? family pets are- dogs (Bogart & Dash), cat (Tigger), fish (Morticia just died, so just Slimey left), leopard geckos (Junie and Carmen), White's tree frogs (Drake and Mylie), parakeets (Blueboy and Snowbell)

27. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? ummmm. I'm creating peace, abundance and health in my life in 2008 :)

28. What did you want to be when you were little? be a mommy, and a kindergarten teacher

29. What are you today? A wife and stay-at-home mom

30. What is your favorite candy? english toffee

31. What is your favorite flower? Stargazer Lily (oh, and alstroemeria, I know they're filler flowers, but I love'm)

32. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? can't think of one specifically

33. What church do you attend? Our Lady of Perpetual Help and recently, The Well

34. What is your full name? Cynthia Lynn (Madden) Lough

35. What are you listening to right now? Charlie & the Choc Factory

36. What was the last thing you ate? pasta with mozzarella

37. Do you wish on stars? yep :)

38. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? one of those muli-colored ones in the plastic case that you twist up (the closest I can get to tie-dye!)

39. How is the weather right now? Beautiful :)

40. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Jules

41. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes, I do!

42. Favorite soft drink? um, Dr. Pepper, I guess...

43. Favorite restaurant? local-Salsa's in Old Town Clovis; anywhere- El Corral in Tucson AZ

44. Hair color? dark brown with red highlights (that what color the silver ones change to when I color it, tee hee!)

45. Siblings? "little brother" Chris

46. Favorite day of the year? Easter

47. What was your favorite toy as a child? a microphone, lol

48. Summer or winter? Summer!!!!

49. Hugs or kisses? both, depending on who's giving/receiving

50. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla Bean

51. Do you want your friends to email you this back? whatever :)

52. When was the last time you cried? um, last week....overwhelmed by trying to have a healthy home

53. What is under your bed? underbed storage box of "off season" favorites

54. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Frank

55. What did you do last night? normal bedtime business....then tried to watch Apprentice with Dirk until Torin called for me :(

56. Favorite smell? Bed Bath & Beyond's Vanilla Sugar

57. What are you afraid of? Nothing ;)

58. Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn? all of the above....I LOVE popcorn

59. How many keys on your key ring? 2

60. How many years at your current job? 10 (same # that we've been married!)

61. Favorite day of the week? every day is the same....so whatever day Dirk has off and we get to hang out all together

62. How many towns have you lived in? 5

63. Do you make friends easily? I think so

64. How many people will you be sending this to? not sure! Torin is wanting me to play Tac and the Power of Juju so I can't concentrate any more!!

Creating...

My Well-Being card for today...

Whatever I give attention to- wanted or unwanted- I am creating.

Backside:

You were born with a magnificent (emotional) guidance system that lets you know, in every moment, exactly what your vibrational content is, which is being matched by the Law of Attraction.

As it is your desire to feel good, and your practice to choose good-feeling thoughts, only good things will come to you.

Okay....this is SO cool. Not just because I've been listening to the audio-book of Esther & Jerry Hicks' Law of Attraction book, and this speaks to me, especially today...but also because I've been trying to slowly integrate the Law into our everyday life. I've been telling Declan and Torin things as I understand them, as they come up (visualizing wellness, and being grateful that we have such great health, and thinking of how much fun they are going to have when they wake up in the morning feeling better, etc.).






For me, this is so evident in my life now...

by focusing on gratitude, I am receiving more to be grateful for! Each one of these things below, the more I focus on my gratitude, the more I'm given.

I'm so grateful for our home coming together...and today I noticed that it took less than an hour to pick up the house. That's the entire house, after being barely touched while we've been focusing on wellness for the last (almost) 2 weeks. Wowza. This is HUGE. There is no way to explain how huge this is. All of our closets are organized. I'm down to just a few cabinets (in the kitchen and under my bathroom sink) that need attention, and a box of sheet music to go through (that I pulled out of storage after we got our piano). This realization is so wonderfully, beautifully awesome that I'm getting teary-eyed.

I am so grateful for our health. Even with our challenges lately, it's so completely obvious that we are so blessed to be healthy in body and mind (well, most of the time, tee hee). My back is feeling great, my relationship with D is better than ever, and I feel so good about who I am and who I am yet to be.

I am so grateful that as we focus on our mantra "We can use money wisely." IT IS HAPPENING! We are using our money wisely, and beginning to live in abundance. Amen, amen.

I am so grateful for the opportunities that I've been getting to create music. Each one brings joy to my life and to others...and it's just beginning. Why did I ever let that go?? I don't know, but now that I'm aware of how much it means to me and who I am, I won't let it fall to the wayside again.

I have really been grateful for all of the great things the boys and I can learn together just by living life. As I've focused on that, and how f'n cool that is, I've had more and more people and resources appear to support it even more! Unschooling has always been our main way of life, but now I'm meeting all the other great REAL PEOPLE (even if I haven't met most IRL) that inspire me and give me strength.

I am so grateful for the friends I have that "get" me...and as I focus on that, they just keep popping up out of nowhere!

my 5 year old's mutterings...

I've been wanting to document the sometimes in-his-sleep, sometimes upon awakening, sometimes in a feverish haze words of Torin. I guess it's one of the silver linings of being in a place where we need to be sleeping together again, and having lots of down time.


just now as I started typing, with the sweet thing laying by me on the couch...he awoke, and said:

"marshmallow butthead, marshmallow pillow bed, marshmallow bag...you get me a bag of marshmallows, please?"


some other notable mutterings:

"pause it! pause it! I have to pee!" ...said in his sleep (luckily I woke him up and took him to the bathroom!)

"I can't find Spongebob...I can't find the remote!" ...said upon waking.

"I'm glad I'm not a girl, Mom. That's alot of pain when you get older." ...said when we were playing marbles, outta nowhere




I'll come back and add more as I think if them...

A new beginning...

My Well-Being card for yesterday, which I'm keeping for today, lol:

I see this day as a positive, new beginning. (It's never too late to have a new beginning.)

the back side of the card:

Today and tomorrow can be very different from yesterday if you can let yesterday go and focus on today. Today and tomorrow are about your NOW vibration, and you have complete control over that. Look for things to feel good about, and watch how everything in your life will unfold to reflect that good-feeling vibration.

WELL....that totally changed what this post was going to be about. It's now going to be about the good things that came out of our not-so-healthy week and a half that's past!

It started a week ago wednesday....oops, it's now Thursday, so it was two weeks ago (?!), with Declan needing to rest and let his body heal the viral invaders that got in. Torin and I got to spend some amazing one-on-one time together while Declan slept the greater part of 5 days. We played lots of Mancala, read some picture books that haven't been off the family bookshelf in a LONG time, and found a mutual love for finding hidden things with the book-In Search of Elvis.

When the viral invaders made their way to Torin's body, Declan and I were able to play, Mousetrap, and read from his book, Kringle. Though I am needed more by Torin than Declan when he's feeling less-than-healthy, I've still been able to steal some quiet moments with my older boy. And today, Declan and his dad are going snowboarding!! DC's super excited, and I'm excited for him too...they are going to have a fabulous, fun time!

Through this whole experience, I have also realized that oftentimes, I sell myself short...I don't need to be Supermom when I can just be me! I can (and did) feel pretty well-rested on between 30 minutes of uninterrupted and 4 hrs of interrupted sleep for 2 weeks straight! I can, after all that, come up with a fantastic dinner on the fly (okay, I forgot to thaw one of the BIZILLION Dream Dinners in my freezer)...I made yummy salmon quesadillas! and I was proclaimed "cute" by a friend that came over to pick something up...without having showered, or put on makeup, and just a headband in my hair. I looked in the mirror when she left and realized that she was right! lol

More importantly...I was able to connect with both boys and make some awesome realizations. Declan showed me that he has an amazing resilience...and has gotten to the point that he can heal without me sleeping in his bed with him, lol. Thank goodness for that! He also still wants me to be with him all the time...but is becoming mature enough to realize when that isn't possible (like when he wanted me to take him to karate last night and Torin needed me to stay at home with him) and smile though it's not his first choice reality. I'm going to do my best to not take that for granted.

After a 7 hour Tac and the Power of Juju (XBox game) marathon with Torin one Saturday, I realized that his memory and reasoning skills are just amazing (even more amazing than I thought before). Another thing I came to understand with Torin, who gets his stubborn streak from me, is that he's very in tune with his body and knows better than I do what is best for it. Though it pains me to see him red-cheeked and feverish, I have to help him by trusting that he knows how to best support his body in healing itself. big sigh. (I did let him in on my thought process, and told him that once he hit 103 I would have to have him take something to bring the fever down, if he didn't want to get into the bath or try one of the other non-medicine options...)







I am so thankful this morning, for all of those lightbulb moments, for the Irish Breakfast Tea that I'm drinking on ice, and for the beautiful flowers that Dirk and Declan brought home for me after karate last night. Life is good.



Well, Cidlicious (that's my version of Supermom) has to get some "out of the house" clothes on, because I have to figure out how to get Dash from the vet (he's coming home ball-less) and still meet Torin's need to be comfortable while he's getting healthy. Better put on my cape, lmao :)

Manifesting mint cookie crush ice cream...

Well, Diana, it's going to take more work to get exactly what I want, but I got a damn fine substitution on Sunday. See this post for the back story...I've been craving my fave ice cream and I got out of the house to pick up dinner (next door to Soups n Scoops, the place that carries said delicacy) and popped in to eat some! They haven't had my flavor in awhile, but I was sure they would this time, cause Mama needed it!! I had to suffice with a delicious substitution:

Fresno State Cookies & Cream mixed with

Fresno State Mint Chip....made into a yummy shake that SO hit the spot!! With extra whipped cream, of course. I haven't had something like this in awhile, so I paid for it later...but I ate the whole damn thing and it was oh, so good. :)

Cid Trivia

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Cid!

1. Cid is 1500 years older than the pyramids.
2. Cid is the last letter of the Greek alphabet!
3. The pupil of an octopus's eye is shaped like Cid.
4. The Aztec Indians of Mexico believed Cid would protect them from physical harm, and so warriors used her to decorate their battle shields.
5. Cid is 984 feet tall.
6. More than one million stray dogs and half a million stray cats live in Cid.
7. It's bad luck to put Cid on a bed.
8. If a snake is born with two heads, the heads will fight over who gets Cid.
9. Olive oil was used for washing Cid in the ancient Mediterranean world.
10. Cid can't sweat.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Some of these are oh, so true...like #7, which just happens to be my favorite number. tee hee.

Death by 4 hour erection...

Oh, you read it right, tee hee I have wanting to write this post since Friday, but poor Declan has been throwing up since Wednesday night. I'm sure that tomorrow he's going to wake up and will be feeling GREAT, but the last 4 days have been hard on both of us.

okay, back to talk of erections :) I was lucky enough to get out of the house for a couple of hours on Friday (it was touch and go there for a little while, but Declan decided he'd be fine with the sitter) to spend some quality time with my friends Mike and Kenlynn at Dream Dinners!! If you haven't heard of Dream Dinners, you should go and check out one near you! If you're in the Fresno area, you HAVE to see Kenlynn and Mike!

Dream Dinners is awesome! You go online, see what meals are available to make for that month, choose which ones you want to make and pay with a credit card (which gets billed the Saturday before your session). When you show up the day of your session, they have a sheet printed up with the meals you're going to assemble...you put on an apron, wash your hands and pick what you want to make first! I love to cook (and I'm good at it too, if I believe what I hear from those that eat what I make,) but do not enjoy the prep work or cleanup ;) so this is good for me. I've tried freezer cooking at home before and it just wasn't worth the time I put into it. Besides the fact that when I did that, after a whole day of cooking, what I had to show for it was a bunch of the same types of dishes- beef soup, beef stew, beef and noodles... seeing the trend here? And I still had to do the f'n dishes!

DD been SO good for us (I've been going on and off since our Fresno location opened in 2004 (I think? Is that right Kenlynn?) ...I get 12-14 meals done in around 2 hours (depending on how much I'm talking, lol) and head home and put them in the freezer. We eat about 4 Dream Dinners a week, and the food I make gets us through a month. Not many have side dishes (which I'm trying to avoid anyway...feeling like we *need* to have a starch with dinner) so I just throw together a salad (or not!) and cook whatever I thawed the day or two prior and we're in business!!!! I love that the recipes are there to follow (can you read? then you can cook!) but I can leave out ingredients that we don't like (green peppers, ugh) and make it work for us.

Okay, so what in the HELL does that have to do with erections?? I love that I have made SO many friends SO many different ways, that I can enjoy talking with. I love my boys and I love the life we've chosen, but I need some adult interaction, too. Well, the conversation is always good at Dream Dinners (when you go in, tell them that you're a friend of mine and they'll skip the "polite talk" and go straight to the interesting stuff!). I mean, you can't really go wrong with (mostly) women in an open room, working with food, right? Well, the topic of convo went to all the f'n erection medication tv commercials we're being bombarded with on all channels, at all times of day. GOOD GRIEF! And Kenlynn says "when I'm 60 years old, the last thing I'll want is for my husband to take a pill that gives him a 4 hour erection! That's not what women want! Maybe a 4 hour nap?" I agreed, that there may just be women dying out there because of these stupid pills! Death by 4 hour erection!!

Well, we were rolling on the floor...and then another customer mentions that since her husband's prostate cancer, he's been having to use those kinds of drugs and they'd tried out x and y...and she couldn't wait until things were working on their own :) It could've been terribly embarrassing, but she jumped right into the conversation and took it a whole 'nother direction. She has teen or pre-teen girls (can't remember) and was saying how aware they are of sexual things, and that it's a good thing because they can talk about it openly and be honest with each other (mom and girls). We all had similar "don't talk about that" experiences with our parents and found out the facts of life by reading (my parents left out an awesome set of books for my brother and I...that I have now, lol) or from our friends. And we all did things that were not very smart as a result :) And that led to talk of....

Oh, what fun! It's a good thing that Mike is such a great guy, and a fun person to talk to as well. Otherwise, he may just have to hide in a corner all day...

Ooooh, another thing we talked about is that Mike & Kenlynn had noticed their phone ringing once, then stopping, and didn't think anything of it (solicitors, etc.) until they got a phone bill for over $300!! This is their business line! Well, turns out that someone from a local place (not sure I should mention where, as there may be legal stuff pending, lol) was tapping into their phone line somehow, like a three-way call, and then making a collect call and charging them for the call! It had happened to home lines in the Fresno area as well (they found out later), but those folks couldn't prove that they didn't accept the calls....whereas, M&K could prove that some of the calls were when they were out of town and nobody was there to answer the phone! Hopefully it will all get figured out and the others that were screwed will get reimbursed. Crazy how people can figure things out like that...

What flower are you?? LMAO, I love these things!!

it says...

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Sweet Heaven Above....

Diana, the baking goddess, has posted the most fantastical-sounding cookie recipe (chocolate mint cookies!!) on her blog, with pictures!! Ah, Diana, how I love you, lol. Can't wait until Dirky gets home and I can run to the store for provisions, lmao! Well, Declan may not be ready for me to leave the house again today...I'll explain all that in the next post, whenever I get to it...

These cookies make me think of my very, very favorite ice cream flavor....made by Fresno State...it's called Mint Cookie Crumble. Like oreo cookie with a mint twist. Unfortunately it's not available all the time, boo hoo hoo. The sweet young girl at Soups n Scoops tried to help me re-create it by mixing cookies n cream with mint chip, and it was pretty good, but I like it better without the chip pieces. The real deal is like a scoop of heaven :) oooooh, I'm gonna try to manifest it!!!

what color should my hair be?????

Your Hair Should Be Pink

Hyper, insane, and a boatload of fun. You're a traveling party that everyone loves to follow.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

What color is my aura? :)

Your Aura is Red

You have a high level of emotion. This can mean passion, but it can also mean rage. Usually, you don't take these emotions out on others. You just use them as motivation - and it works! The purpose of your life: embracing all the wonders of the life, lots of travels, and tons of adventures Famous reds include: Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Jennifer Lopez Careers for you to try: Dancer, Boxer, Surgeon

What Color Is Your Aura?

Nashville trip...

Okay, I should probably write about my trip to Nashville. I've been in a funk since I got back- probably due to 1. the let-down after actually auditioning after all the prep and excitement 2. Dirk being out of town from 4 hrs before I got back until tomorrow (Friday) night 3. the reality that I have a house to get back in shape, boys who missed me that need me, and bookkeeping to get caught up with now that I'm dealing with a new accountant. Declan is sick today, which I should take advantage of and do some books, but instead I'm finishing the kitchen and catching up on my email/blog. I don't know why I resist getting the papers up-to-date and uptight, but I do. ugh.

So, I left the house Thursday morning around 4:30 (yippee!!) and made it through to the gate with no problems. Billy and I were both flying through Denver, so we met there and took the flight to Nashville together (separate seats, which was fine, because we were both tired and tried to sleep!) There were thundershowers over Nashville (microbursts, the pilot said?) and so we flew a pattern over Nashville for almost an hour! Much better than landing in it, I say...and we didn't have a connecting flight we were missing, so that was good too!

The hotel I had booked was good enough, not in a great part of town, but only a lil bit over a mile to where we were auditioning. We decided to take a nap and then decided maybe we'd just call it a night, and then thought "we're in Nashville!!!! we're aren't so old that we need to go to sleep!" So we rallied, and decided to go and check out a band called "Telluride" that Bill had competed against in some online contest w/CMT last year, who just happened to be playing at the Wild Horse Saloon (where are Saturday auditions were). So, we got a feel for the place and enjoyed the band...they did some great covers, lol. We posed for pics by a couple of the "Wild Horses"...I'm bummed that Billy's pic is blurry :(

Friday we got up late (can u say "rock stars"? lol) met an old friend for lunch (or would it be more polite to say a friend from high school Choraliares?) at Wolfgang Puck's Express restaurant. Wally brought his youngest daughter, who's name I've forgotten (it was really cool, too...so I hope I remember) who they adopted from China. She's 3 now, and just adorable...imagine a lil china doll with a southern accent ;) We talked "music biz" with Wally....he's an artist rep in the Christian music industry... and caught up a bit. Billy and his wife are seriously considering moving to Nashville at some point, so it was good info for them. I think if I'd have gone on this trip 15 years ago, before marriage and kids, I'd have moved there instantly. Not my speed now, and unless it's a temporary move to record the show, I'm just not interested, lol

So, after lunch we hit the music. We'd pissed off the hotel "neighbors" the night before when we were playing/singing after midnight, but decided we chance practicing in the room again...it went well, and a couple of hours in, someone knocked on the door :) not the neighbors, but someone from the office with a box to deliver to me!! My awesome cousin, Donna, sent chocolate-covered strawberries!!! (Billy called me a true "rock star") Included was a note wishing us luck...how lucky am i?

After practice and dinner at Spaghetti Factory, checking out the parking sit for the next morning, hitting a Target for protein bars and water, we headed back to sing through the song a couple of times (quietly, lol) and go to sleep. Can't remember if it was that night or the previous night that we went down to the hotel lounge and listened to a music writer's night (I think it was Friday?) and heard an awesomely funny group (well, 2/5 of the group) that sang some songs that reminded me of Presidents of the United States of America. They sang a song about Austin, and a few other funny ones...we enjoyed all but the first one, about a turd floating in the pool. Woulda been funny, but they chose to have it taken out by a Mexican named Paco. I'm thinkin if they sang that in the southwest, they get their asses kicked.

We both had a hard time sleeping...anxious for the next morning. I finally got to sleep well around 2, I'm guessing, because at 2:30am the next door "neighbor's" alarm clock went off...then again at 3:30. ARGH. Then my phone rang (thank you TJ!) at 5 minutes til 4, when my alarm was set to go off, lol.



We got to the line around 5...and there were already probably 250 people in front of us...by the time the registrations opened at 9, there were probably 2500 behind us! This is a pic of the CMT sign on a nearby building and I was trying to get a picture of the line, but it's hard to see how far back it goes in the dark. It went 2 blocks and around the corner toward the bridge!


We basically just froze our asses off from 5 to 9, Billy went and got coffee and then later went and got McD's...he got to warm up in the car and then I went and ate in the car and put on my makeup (why waste sleeping time to do it at the hotel, right?) When I got back from the car it was almost 9 and time for Billy to pull out his guitar and get'r warmed up.



Here's the duo that was in line in front of us (we also met a great couple of guys from Oklahoma and a mom who was there with her 15 year old daughter who was singing with one of her husband's "men" (military).) They were performers from Branson, who were very "theatrical"!






besides the "sideshow performing" duos in line, there was other entertainment....including this dog with shades :)








and nothing could compare to the Port-a-Potties.....not so bad when they first dropped them off at 5, but NOT good when we needed to make last minute trips before our auditions. Even the guys thought they were bad, so it wasn't just us girls. UHG.



Here we are, just minutes before making it INTO THE BUILDING to register, lol. (one of the Okla boys is in the background, in the black hat.)At this point we'd been in line about 7 hours. The nerves were starting to get revved up, and the Broadway Boy kept things light by acting a fool and questioning people as they left..."were the judges scary?" "I'm SOOOOOOOOOO scared!" He was a riot!


They separated us into about 10 duos to a group, and then we turned in our paperwork, showed our IDs and snaked around in the saloon to walk in front of the stage...we didn't sing on the stage, just walked by it to get to the back rooms, where they had producers (of some sort) in about 6 little rooms. It was our turn, we went into room 101 with 2 men and 1 woman. They said they liked our name, Vista, which Billy pulled out of his butt that morning. We said it was appropriate because we've never lost sight of our dreams (vista means view or prospect). We sang (found out in line that we had 45 seconds to give them our best, so we started from the first chorus and ROCKED them to the end!) and then were told "thanks, you'll be hearing from us"....what? huh? Talk about anti-climatic!! We headed to meet Billy's friend, Scott and his duo partner, Drew, for a beer at Hard Rock Cafe.




Here's Billy Boy....rocking his audition number on the hat routine...I think he was a little tired, lol. I'm so glad that I have such an awesome friend that thought enough of my vocal skills to ask me to audition for this thing with him.


Trying not to be bummed that it was over, we went back to the hotel and took a nap, lol, only to wake up for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack, WOO HOO! The crab legs were good...and we got there just at the right time. We only had to wait 20 minutes, and during our wait, it went up to an hour wait for those sad souls just coming in.



Scott and Drew met us after they had dinner with friends (Drew had lived in Nashville previously,) and we went from there to walk downtown and take in the live music scene. We hit Tootsie's, The Second Fiddle, and a dozen other places I don't remember the names of! We saw the most AMAZING pianist/singer at Second Fiddle....her name is Sarah Davison, and she is just downright inspirational! Her cd, Blessed, is also inspirational (in both theme and talent!) I could have listened to her play forever, and the band she was playing with that night was pretty sensational, too.

I was designated driver, a role I'm very comfortable with, but I must admit, firefighters (which all three fellas are) party just as hard as military men. I got everyone home (hotels) safely, with no fights, passing out, or incidents...as much their credit as mine. These are good guys who took good care of me :) I didn't even get to walk on the street side of the sidewalk, lol Drew said something that was very true....it's so cool to go out with other musicians, you can sing harmonies at the top of your lungs while the band is playing and they don't look at you funny....they just pick another part and sing along! It was great fun, a great introduction to Nashville on a Saturday night.




The boys...Billy, Drew (thanks for flashing the "West Side" sign, lol, and Scott

T's Pump it Up PARTY!

Torin decided that he wanted to have the party for his 5th birthday at Pump it Up! I was so happy, because we usually do Chuck E. Cheese's or Alberto's and I thought this would be easier and more fun :) Don't *have* to feed people to make it a party, right?? T chose an ice cream cake from Maggie Moo's by the movie theatre. In typical T fashion, it was white cake, vanilla ice cream with sprinkles mixed in and sprinkles on the white frosting, lol. AND IT WAS YUMMY!


This pic cracks me up, because the kids just sit there and watch the video and regurgitate the rules back... of course we have however many darn people we want on the slide at the same time :)





This is a cute pic (if I do say so myself) of me and the man, who was able to take a few hours off to make it there to jump and play with the kiddos. We even went down the big slide together :)








I love these pics of T & D. Wrestling (one of Torin's favorite things to do with his daddy) and posing as I took a picture through the netting. The second pic looks cool-like the net made a neat frame or something...

okay, my kiddo LOVES Target gift cards, lol. He's been saving up for two months for a Video Spy Car (remote control) and he's pooling together gift cards and his allowance to get it!! What a great smile :)

Torin passing out the goodie bags (so worth having Pump it Up staff put them together :) )

The car arrived!! I was SO worried, because when I started looking for it at Targets in town, after Christmas, they were all sold out.....aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! The sweet lil guy's been saving up since the beginning of December, and now we're not going to be able to get one? So, I got on amazon.com and found there...had it delivered to the house and had him "trade in" his Target cards for the car :) He was so excited to open the box...and we had a blast playing hide and seek. The boys and D played while I finished packing for my Nashville trip. The person who was "it" sat in the bathroom, with the car in the kitchen against the wall....when the hiders were ready, the car went looking for them...COOL!

Torin's Birthday...

We were lucky enough to celebrate Torin's birthday as a family...with Nana and Papa, too! We got some "fireworks" leftover from New Year's...the box looked just like the ones they sell for the Fourth :) UMMMMMM....they were poppers, and we had a good laugh after Dirk tried to light the first one for us and we realized that the string was for pulling!! MWAAAAAAAAAH hahah! We had a great time making noise, mess and celebrating that Torin is on this earth, and in our family!!

Though I should be sleeping, I am playing along...

(thanks to Diana, who's post sucked me into this, lmao)

My band,
Okinawan Cuisine
just released our much anticipated album-

"in repute, be great"

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN PLAY TOO:
1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
2. www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
3. www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. You then take the pic and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your pic.

The Juggling Act...

Just read this in my Daily Meditations for Busy Moms by Patricia Robertson (entry for Jan 12,) and it struck a chord with me...

"There's only one of me and four of you, so you'll just have to wait," I tell my children as all of them come at me with demands. "I can only do one thing at a time."

My children don't accept this answer because they know I'm lying. They know that at any given moment I'm capable of doing at least two or three things. I'll have, for example, laundry going, supper in process, and dishes half done-all while answering several phone calls. No wonder they don't believe me.

Society rewards this ability to do more than one thing at a time. I'm told I'm efficient, a hard worker, that I really get the job done.

But I'm tired of this juggling act. The times that I give each of my children my undivided attention are few and far between. They are missing something...and so am I.

Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. Luke 10:41

I have so many things to get caught up on after my trip to Nashville. Today, I thought I'd catch up on sleep, lol. I tried to nap ALL day, seriously. The boys weren't having it. They needed me after I'd been gone for 4 full days. They both needed me and it was quite obvious to me that I wasn't in any shape to be there for them. I tried my best...made pancakes for breakfast, tried to nap, made chips and cheese, tried to nap, took a shower, tried to nap...you get the picture.

I'll get it all done, eventually. The bookkeeping that I'm so terribly behind on, the rest of the house de-cluttering, the last of the Christmas stuff that Dirk so sweetly left for me to put in the bins, blogging on my trip and other stuff I didn't get to. Oh, and over 750 email messages that I may just delete. Fer f'sake! I'm gonna scan through them and look for the diamonds in the shit and then just delete them all. So, if you emailed and don't hear back....try me again. I'll get back to you as soon as I'm done sleeping, lol.

Fun boys- fun pictures!!

The boys were making crazy eyes at Nana and Papa (complete with ice cream mouths) and I had to have Papa take a picture! This is what Torin's "chicken eye" looks like :)



Torin having fun on his bed...


We were playing with the Magnetix sets...Torin made a neat "sculpture" and Declan made some cool glasses!





Declan and Nana and I worked on his closet...he's so proud, and so am I! It's going to be so much easier for him to find his things to play with...


Declan showing off his new Pokemon shirt, with matching stuffed Chimichar :)