TroubleMaker, the piano and getting older

TroubleMaker starts piano lessons in September. I'm over the moon excited about this: I've always wished I could play the piano. We've always had musical instruments in our house - as a 'former' aspiring musician, music has always been important to me - my child being involved in music has always been the one thing I new I'd do "right" as a parent.

I went to a fairly 'artsy' elementary school. We had a huge music room with a very well developed music program. I remember singing in choirs and playing various instruments (mostly percussive) from the first grade through to seventh grade. In grade seven, I took up the saxophone. I loved that instrument. I remember my parents banishing me to the addition to practice that first year (was I really that bad?) but practice I did! I played up until eleventh grade when my high school forcibly removed me from the music program so I could take a math course (see here for the results of that decision).

I think for Christmas when I was in the 8th grade (maybe it was 9th?), my parents bought me an accoustic guitar. By the end of the day, I could pick "My Guitar Gently Weeps". Being able to read music was very important... Along the way, we also got an electric keyboard (maybe Christmas 1987?). Although none of us played piano, my Dad felt it was important we had it. It was - it's how I tuned my guitar for the next couple of decades, it was the drummer on the old demo tapes my sister's ex-boyfriend and I recorded and I was able to play Christmas carols in the winter on it.

So, what I'm getting at is that I was fairly musically inclined.

When I was 22 or so, my ex-husband sold my guitars. It's a very long story and I do not think I've ever really processed how I allowed him to do that to me. I still harbour a lot of anger and resentment about it... Around 2003 I bought my husband a used guitar so he could learn to play - he didn't (too hard for someone who'd never taken a music class in his life) however, in 2006 or so, my husband decided to learn to play guitar and he bought himself a new one and started taking lessons.

In 2009, he fulfilled my life-long wish and purchased me a folk guitar and I started playing again. I was surprised how much I remembered! By this time, we had an electric tuner (so I didn't need my faithful, 20 year old keyboard anymore).

I don't play much - my hands are usually to sore and swollen to properly play but I try sometimes because music has always been therapeutic.

Anyway, this year (because I was too late last year), I enrolled TroubleMaker in piano lessons... The kid has a gift - when he was three, he started playing the old electric keyboard and made music. He needed lessons - it just took me time to figure out where to take him.

So we bought a new electric piano (from Costco, of all places). Last night, we set it up and TroubleMaker was so eager to play it! He's played it today again too!

As my husband was putting the boy to bed, I decided to sit down and see what I remembered.

I realized quickly, I remember nothing. I'm not even sure what the keys are anymore. I picked out part of "Pop Goes the Weasel" (one day, remind me to tell you about the drama class I took where I played that song for the class in an impromptu performance) but I was a blank. After ten minutes, it was evident that unlike the guitar, anything I'd once picked up on the piano, was gone.

To me, this means I'm getting old. I remember talking to my other half years ago and was absolutely flabbergasted that he couldn't remember things like his fourth grade teacher or the name of the first girl he kissed... Now that I'm getting up there, I completely understand.

So I'm going back to beginner piano with my son! The program is parent and child driven so I'm hoping, I'll be able to practice along with him because I really, really want to be able to make beautiful music!

Here's the first tinkering on the new machine - I'd love an acoustic piano but we decided until TroubleMaker commits to going all the way with piano, this little machine will work just fine.


 

Dream a little Dream: Plans instead of Resolutions!

I don't know about all of you, but I have dreams of grandeur. I don't mean that I dream of fame and fortune but I do dream of a life less ordinary. I start out the year (nearly every year) with the thought “this is going to be my year".

The year I lose weight and get healthy, the year I finish/write a story to publish, the year I get organized, the year I get my own business running, the year I succeed.

Each year turns out just like the last and I begin each New Year with the same ideas, hopes and dreams. I've known for a long time that my thought patterns are cyclical and in order to do something, I have to take it further than a list or an idea on a piece of paper. I joke about being scatterbrained and disorganized - and I am, to a point, but I think I also lack a few other things that keep me from succeeding.

Focus - I know this is a problem. What starts out with a bang gives way to me forgetting about it, replacing it with a new and even better idea, or my lack of confidence zaps the life out of it.



Source

Commitment - maybe this is similar to focus but I can't commit to any one thing. I've got a few talents and they aren't the get you rich quick kind of talents but moreover, I need to hone in on one thing and start with that but because I lack focus, I'm not sure how to do that!

Time - not enough of it. I know everyone suffers from this. The real world gets in the way of living one's dream. Food needs to be bought, bills paid and by the time all that is done, there is no time left in my day to dedicate to a start-up. I work 7 to 5 (including commute) and I have a small child who is not known for his ability to sleep... I just don't know how to get it all in...

Health - I lack it. Not just my weight and lack of regular exercise. I have a few health problems that are roadblocks. I've never used my health as an excuse but as the drugs increase in my body, the side effects worsen but the issues aren't really being resolved. My body hurts, a lot, but worse than that is the exhaustion! Any parent, college student, senior or stressed person can relate, I'm sure, but many days, I feel like that times 10. My head gets muddy and I can't think straight and its sheer will power that one foot gets put in front of the other. Working all day and walking all over campus do me in. When I get home, its make dinner, find jammies and SIT! There is no playing with my son, no visiting friends, talking on the phone, and writing or being creative, I am just finished. And the bonus? I get to do the exact same thing the next day!

But I want 2012 to be different. I’m three years from my fortieth birthday and although that doesn’t really bother me, the fact I feel stalled – and like I’ve spent nearly twenty years stalled – does. I want to live life, not wait for a life to live. I’ll let you know right now, I don’t know the answer, I don’t have a plan and I don’t know if I will have any success but this New Year, I’m making a list and I will be checking it twice! Assuming I can remember where I put it…

Christmas Crafty Goodness - paper crafts!

As the holiday season approaches, I am addicted to Pinterest and all the lovelies being shared far and wide. One thing that has been catching my eye is all the great ideas for paper crafts!

For TroubleMaker's Halloween party, I folded some lovely Spooky 12x12 scrapbook paper into envelopes... They were all the rage with the Mom's so this got me thinking about what I could do with some of the fantastic festive 12x12 paper so I've been amassing a whole bunch of ideas!

I'd like to share a few of my favourites with you... And soon, I hope I can upload the pictures of my creations! Enjoy!


Paper Gift Box



























Finnish Paper Star Ornament

















Paper Wreath













Scrap Paper Tree












Do you have a favourite paper craft? I'd love to see! Thanks for popping in! Hope to see you again soon!

All the Things I want to do One Day

My head is a jumble of everything. I have ideas, thoughts, dreams, ramblings, half formed posts, half thought thoughts...

I have a lot of things going on in my head at any given moment and my general repository is to say it over and over and over in hopes of committing it to memory. Or I email it to myself at home. Or I write it on a slip of paper.

As you can well imagine, none of those scenarios work very well.

I have an "in box" filled with hundreds of self-addressed emails with links to different things I want to do, try, or read more about. I can only remember so much and I don't remember much at all anyway so the repeating it to myself only works for 'short term' things like a phone number (til I find paper) or something I have to tell my husband who's in the next room. The slips of paper could be effective if I kept them all in the same place, but I don't... Pinterest is helping, assuming I can remember to go look and not just pin things to my boards where they will sit, unattended, for decades to come.

So as I was cruising the net at lunch today, I had a thought as I found yet another thing I want to blog about one day... The thought was this:

I should have a blog where I can post about all the things I want to do one day.

But you have a blog already.

Yes, but it's not about things I want to do one day.

So make it about things you want to do.

Why don't I write a post about all those things?

Why not write one weekly?

Cause sometimes I have more than one thing in my head.

So...

So it's a mostly formulated thought. The Things I want to do One Day - we all have them - craft projects, books to read, recipes to make. And now I'm going to use electronic media to capture and track all those things for me. Coupled with my Pinterest account, I'm hoping to made a definitive collection of "things I want to do one day".

How about you? I think I might create a link party in the future, we'll see...