Saturday, June 6, 2015
9 months?
Well it looks like I was supposed to be blogging again but it's been 9 months since my last post! Oops! I'll really try to do better. I've been thinking about moving over to WordPress but it looks complicated. I don't have much time to invest in a learning curve, but I need to make the time. If I move over to WordPress the content will probably change a bit. I'm a full-time caretaker now for my mom. While it's not a terribly exciting venture, I feel like others might be able to benefit from some of my experiences. These might include medication and day-to-day management, dealing with hospitals and doctor offices, and insurance (Medicare and other). So if you're still with me, again I thank you! If you have any specific questions please feel free to leave a note. (That would be a great jumping platform.)
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Hey All!
Hello everyone!
If you're still with me, I really appreciate it. So much has happened! I just wanted update everyone and tell you I'm returning to the world of blogs. They probably wont' be too long at first. My life is not that interesting! LOL! I just feel a need to create something! :-) This will also give me an opportunity to learn HTML (hopefully) and just more than I know now. There are so many things I want to learn! I hope you'll stick with me through the journey and of course I'm open to any suggestions. Most suggestions anyway! After all, I just try to get it done all in a day's work!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Monday, August 16, 2010
Spam
Why? I mean really. Are Viagra sales so low, someone takes time out of their day to find a blog entry from a year ago to 'advertise' it? Really?
For the benefit of my readers I've put commenting on moderation. I do apologize for having to do this, but I gather most, if not all, of you would rather skip the silly comments advertising Viagra. If you want to comment on Viagra, please find another blog on which to do it! I'm sure there are blogs out there that welcome that type of solicitation. IT IS NOT WELCOME HERE!! Thank you and have a great day!
Chastising spammers, sadly, is also all in a day's work! :-{
Until next time,
Carmen
For the benefit of my readers I've put commenting on moderation. I do apologize for having to do this, but I gather most, if not all, of you would rather skip the silly comments advertising Viagra. If you want to comment on Viagra, please find another blog on which to do it! I'm sure there are blogs out there that welcome that type of solicitation. IT IS NOT WELCOME HERE!! Thank you and have a great day!
Chastising spammers, sadly, is also all in a day's work! :-{
Until next time,
Carmen
Monday, July 5, 2010
Loving the beach
I should have been a beach bum! I love the beach, but for the oddest reasons.
When I go to the beach with my friends or family, I'm not interested in going in the water at all! I just want to bask in the sunlight and listen to the waves and whatever is playing on my iPod. I'm glad my kids are old enough to body board and play without me having to pay too much attention to them. They're strong swimmers, but the current is often stronger so every now and again I have to remind them they're too far out.
Other than that, I'm good just soaking up the rays and occasionally walking the beach to collect seashells. We'll usually pack a cooler full of drinks and sandwiches and snacks. That's really all I need. REALLY! I could go every weekend, everyday actually.
We bought one of those tent things that help shield you from the sun from BJ's. It was only about $15. I loved it and it worked perfectly. Actually it could have been a little bigger so I could keep the coolers inside and thus the food cooler. But for the money it was perfect for just the two of us. The boys are always in the water so they really don't need it. I bought my mom a beach chair that had an umbrella with it and she loved it. She's 84 years old and loves going even though walking in the sand with her cane is like a triathlon to her!
Now that I'm planning on going to the beach more often I really need to find another bathing suit to wear. UGH!! That won't be fun but it's all in a day's work!
Until next time!
Carmen
When I go to the beach with my friends or family, I'm not interested in going in the water at all! I just want to bask in the sunlight and listen to the waves and whatever is playing on my iPod. I'm glad my kids are old enough to body board and play without me having to pay too much attention to them. They're strong swimmers, but the current is often stronger so every now and again I have to remind them they're too far out.
Other than that, I'm good just soaking up the rays and occasionally walking the beach to collect seashells. We'll usually pack a cooler full of drinks and sandwiches and snacks. That's really all I need. REALLY! I could go every weekend, everyday actually.
We bought one of those tent things that help shield you from the sun from BJ's. It was only about $15. I loved it and it worked perfectly. Actually it could have been a little bigger so I could keep the coolers inside and thus the food cooler. But for the money it was perfect for just the two of us. The boys are always in the water so they really don't need it. I bought my mom a beach chair that had an umbrella with it and she loved it. She's 84 years old and loves going even though walking in the sand with her cane is like a triathlon to her!
Now that I'm planning on going to the beach more often I really need to find another bathing suit to wear. UGH!! That won't be fun but it's all in a day's work!
Until next time!
Carmen
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Music pt.2
Fast forward to having kids...I didn't get them a piano at an early age, but I did expose them to good music. They listened to good music from the womb. Good music doesn't always mean classical music either, though that is how I was trained when I took lessons. My dad didn't let us listen to the radio back in the day. We listened to recordings of Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and the like. In fact, I remember telling the kids at school about who we saw on The Lawrence Welk show the night before the way kids talk about American Idol today. My friends however were not at all excited about my music. (I only talked about Mr. Welk once, I learn fast!) We listened to classical music often, and my dad was a big fan of Barbra Streisand. I tried to instill the same things in my kids, exposing them to the best of whatever music was out there. We liked all kinds of music, from Hard Rock to R&B to Country and everything in between, but we just listened to the best of each genre. At the time I didn't think it had much of an affect on my sons.
Boy was I wrong to think that! It started with my oldest son. My husband would sing to him at bedtime to rock him to sleep. At some point in time, he would sing the song "I Swear" by the group All-4-One. My son must have been about 9 months old when we were in the car and the song came on. I was talking to my mom and would arbitrarily changed the channel. My son cried and screamed. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Nothing else was on the radio so I ended up turning it back to that song and he abruptly stopped complaining! Then I realized it was my changing the song that made him upset. I changed it again just to test my hypothesis and low and behold he started up again. When I changed back, he stopped. A music lover was born and had 9 months old he had a preference! He continues to love music and has taught himself to play the guitar! My youngest sou has taught himself to play the piano and guitar and both of them want to play the violin. They love all different types of music. Good music.
One of our favorite activities is to go to Sam Ash Music Store and pick out sheet music and play all the instruments. We can literally stay there (and have) for hours! Even though I wasn't able to pursue my goal of becoming a music therapist, I'm glad I was able to share my love of music with my children the way my dad shared it with me! It's more than a day's work, it's a life's work!
Until next time!
Carmen
Boy was I wrong to think that! It started with my oldest son. My husband would sing to him at bedtime to rock him to sleep. At some point in time, he would sing the song "I Swear" by the group All-4-One. My son must have been about 9 months old when we were in the car and the song came on. I was talking to my mom and would arbitrarily changed the channel. My son cried and screamed. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Nothing else was on the radio so I ended up turning it back to that song and he abruptly stopped complaining! Then I realized it was my changing the song that made him upset. I changed it again just to test my hypothesis and low and behold he started up again. When I changed back, he stopped. A music lover was born and had 9 months old he had a preference! He continues to love music and has taught himself to play the guitar! My youngest sou has taught himself to play the piano and guitar and both of them want to play the violin. They love all different types of music. Good music.
One of our favorite activities is to go to Sam Ash Music Store and pick out sheet music and play all the instruments. We can literally stay there (and have) for hours! Even though I wasn't able to pursue my goal of becoming a music therapist, I'm glad I was able to share my love of music with my children the way my dad shared it with me! It's more than a day's work, it's a life's work!
Until next time!
Carmen
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Music pt.1
I started taking piano lessons when I was 5 years old. My father was a musician. I remember thinking, no... knowing, the powerful effect music can have on people. I remember my dad being brought to tears by hauntingly beautiful pieces of music. At other times, they lifted his spirits. Without ever really saying alot about it, he taught me the value of music. It's always been a part of my life and because it has the ability to move, uplift, and inspired, and I wonder what makes people tick, I naturally felt that music therapy would be the field for me to go into. Years later, that never happened for me. Nonetheless, I used music to soothe myself, help me release emotions I would generally wouldn't, and at times feel joy.
That was until I got married. My husband loves music also, but not like me. I lived for it. I tended to put music on the back burner. I was a wife now. Spending all day consumed with music was not to be and I really was consumed. For example, by the time I graduated high school I played the piano, trumpet, flute, violin, guitar and sang. I spent my summers taking classes in a Fame type school, we're I learned to master my instrument (at the time the violin) learned another instrument (cello), took a class in conducting (which I loved, naturally!!), and then played in the orchestra at the end of the day to practice a piece that we would perform at the end of the summer. At the end of the summer in the middle of playing, I had to stop and listen to all the instruments around me. It was phenomanal! I couldnt' believe I was a part of it. We were playing at our best at that moment, every note pefectly played, perfectly in tune, just plain perfect! I was stunned! It was like a flurry of notes all around that suddenly came together in harmony. (As you can tell I'm having a moment!) I really don't know how to explain it. My husband rolls his eyes sometimes when I go back to those days. I keep telling him, it was truly was an experience that words can't contain. Have you ever had an experience like that? Maybe it wasn't musical in nature, but have you experience a feeling so intense, words can't describe it? For me that's what music is like.
Stay tuned for part two!
Until next time!
Carmen
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