Music

Anyone that knows me even a little knows how much I love music.  It is my salvation.  It is where I find my voice when I cannot find the words.  It is where I find my heart.  I am open to all kinds of music, because good music crosses all genres.  I grew up listening to Elvis and Merle Haggard.  By choice.  I had a very broad range of musical interest. I listened (on my own) to Wayne Newton, for instance.  I grew up knowing every word to every song on every one of his albums.  Didn't make me popular at school, but what it did give me was an appreciation for talent, looking outside what the world around me was telling me was "cool".  I also listened to Bob Seger, ACDC, The Eagles, The Monkees, U2, The Osmonds, Jackson Five, Jimi Hendrix, CCR, Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama, George Strait.  The list goes on and on and on... 

Today my musical taste hasn't changed.  My iPod is a mixture of bluegrass, gangstagrass (look it up), country (old and new), rock, pop, alternative, metal and classic rock.  I like it when others tell me about bands they listen to I might not know about.  I just found two that way; The Black Angels and Golden Animals.  Although I am 50, and hardly likely to be a fan, I am enthralled with Default, Theory of a Deadman, Staind, and Cage the Elephant.  I am a long time fan of Daughtry, although that's not a surprise.  Bluegrass music was something my Dad listened to and although at the time I certainly didn't have the appreciation for it that I do now I realized it's significance in American musical culture.  I love the newer bluegrass bands like Newfound Road and Steeldrivers. 

Music is my salvation. 

Hope floats

I wake up every day with a positive attitude.  It's as if the slate is wiped clean from the day before.  All the people that got on my nerves is forgiven.  All the work that was so frustrating is a memory.  I exit the elevator on my floor hopeful that today is the day.  It normally doesn't take very long for that old feeling to creep back in.  People are creatures of habit.  If they are normally late for meetings, nothing is going to miraculously happen overnight to make them less late.  Sigh.  I love that saying "Hope Floats".  To me it resonates sunrise and a new day.  A new beginning to do better and be better.  I wish others could/would embrace it.  But we are often stuck in ruts too deep to get out of.  People often don't like feedback or criticism, so approaching them to make changes can be a struggle.  I'm not perfect and I take way too much personal when I shouldn't.  But I think I am very self aware.  I realize when others are silently criticizing me for things I fall short on.  I would prefer to fix those before they feel the need to make a suggestion.  Others don't seem to follow this lead.  I often wonder if they have an attitude of self-importance.  Like people who are habitually late for everything.  It's been my experience that these people think it rude others don't wait for them.  I know there are often circumstances outside of our control, but people need to take accountability at some point. 

Okay, I'm off my soapbox.  On to better things...

I am in the middle of 2 blankets; one Ohio state and another signature throw.  The signature throw is the furthest along, but the Ohio state blanket needs to be finished first.  That's my first priority this weekend.  It's for a coworker's husband and a surprise for him.  I bought some beautiful purple yarn for the next signature throw and I can barely contain my excitement to start it and see if the colors are as amazing as I think they will be.  I've had a lot of traffic to the Etsy shop lately.  It seems they are checking out my sold blankets, so I feel a little driven to get something out there for inventory.

I'm hosting the February Craft Club.  We are going to make our own personal mini pizzas.  We have two new members and they are younger so it's nice to see their interest and enthusiasm. 

My sister is hosting a jewelry party on Saturday.  I am looking forward to going and maybe finding a cool piece or two...

Off to start my day.  Yay, it's Friday!!!

WFH

WFH = Work From Home, for those that aren't aware of that acronym.  Yesterday I left work around 5 and had clear weather the entire drive.  DH and I decided (unwisely) to have grilled sandwiches for dinner.  Now, on the surface that doesn't sound bad, but have you ever had one of those meals where NOTHING tastes good??  That was our dinner.  We have this tradition where if dinner sucks, we have to make up for it with a DQ Blizzard.  So, he buys and I fly.  Now DQ is only about 5 miles down the road from our house and a straight shot, but when I opened the door onto the deck, I realized my drive could be a little more dramatic than I expected.  The snow had started coming down with a vengence!  But I was on a mission, so I got into my trusty car and headed out.  Honestly the driving conditions were alright for someone taking it slower than normal and paying attention.  DQ was empty as one would imagine and I got our make-up dinner and headed back home.  I was behind a car who was directly behind a salt truck.  So it was even slower travel.  I pulled into our driveway and my DH is there to greet me.  He was worried sick about me being out in that after he realized it was coming down so hard and how long it had taken me.  We enjoyed our blizzards and listened to the freezing rain hitting our house.  It sounded like rocks being thrown.  I went to bed and it was still coming down.  I woke up at midnight and it was still coming down.  I was up at 5:30 to feed the cats and after evaluating the road conditions in front of my house I made the command decision to WFH.  Many others are doing the same.  It's just not worth an accident.  They provide a laptop and access to their network.  It's sort of a no-brainer. 

I'm anxious for the sun to come up so I can see what we got!  The lights shining on the snow/ice make for a lovely scene!  We have dripping ice off of branches, picnic tables, porch rails...  Although quite a few have braved the roads and there is traffic on our street, it's moving really slow.  I've yet to see a salt truck this morning. 

Hope everyone has an awesome Wednesday!

No rest for the wicked

Greetings.  Apologies for my absence.  Not what I had intended.  Let's see if we can't keep this rolling, shall we?

1.  Nashville is a great city.  Loved everything about it. 
2.  I Love Lucy musical was awful.  I've seen better high school musicals.
3.  Boo on the Super Bowl.  Not only because the Broncos lost, but it just wasn't a "good" game to watch.  I thought the commercials (save for the 2 by Budweiser, the T-Mobile ones) were awful. 
4.  Bruno Mars was great.

The DH and I went to a Super Bowl party and because it wasn't far from where I work we got a hotel.  I learned something about myself and my DH.  I learned that how I cope with my job isn't congenial with everyone.  The DH doesn't like being outside his comfort zone.  He is a homebody of sorts.  Being in a hotel for me is just something I do sometimes.  It's not ideal.  It's normally not "fun".  It's tolerable.  It gives me a break from my hour commute.  It breaks up what would otherwise be a long week.  For me it's not a big deal.  For him, it was a very big deal.  He definitely doesn't like new things.  1150.  That's how many days I have till retirement.  At least that's the magic number right now.  If things go well, that would be greatly reduced.  Time will tell. 

FoFo I apologize for not getting back to you about a visit.  My daughter had plans for us all weekend and as it turned out we had such a good time Friday night, Saturday morning and into the afternoon were spent recuperating.  :)  I will go back to Nashville though.  I really loved it.  What a great music town.  I mean, I've heard that before, but I guess I just never believed it.  Boy, was I ever wrong. 

Hope everyone has a great day!