Valentine's Fun!

Valentine's Day is one of those days that can leave people feeling several things including joy, love and even bitterness in some cases. 

Throughout the years I have felt all of these things when this holiday has come around. However, the past few years I have taken a much different approach. I basically decided that Valentine's Day does not have to be about having love with a romantic partner. One can show love in so many ways; to your children, your friends and family. 

My children know that they never get their gifts until February 15th. That's right, it has become a tradition that they get the 50 percent off chocolates

and toys. 

My daughter and I both love pink and red and all of the fun Valentine's Day themed merchandise. This made it easy finding a few fun activities to do during the month! We made pink chocolate chip and red velvet pancakes. 

We also made cherry floats with vanilla ice-cream and cherry 7-Up and put the floats in wine glasses so that she could feel "fancy." 

Next year we plan on doing one activity a day leading up to February 14th! What is really kind of a silly "holiday" has turned out to be a favorite for the two of us. 

Always a Seahawks Fan!!

I will always be a Seattle Seahawks fan.

I have been a forever fan ever since I had the unique opportunity to cheer for them when my ex-husband was stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA. This was one of the best experiences of my life. Not only was I able to dance on an NFL football field, I had opportunities to sing and I made lasting friendships. This was one of those opportunities in life that I will be forever grateful for. 

Although tonight's loss at the Superbowl was a bit disheartening, I am happy that they made it to that point for the third time. 

Yes, I wanted them to win again, but even if they never win another game or make it to another Superbowl, they will still be the team that gave me a chance. They are team that hired me out of hundreds of women who auditioned, and that feeling alone is irreplaceable. 

To the Seahawks and Sea-Gals, great job tonight! It was a great game. 

The Opera Ensemble: "Florencia en el Amazonas"

My "river" costume. 

Singing in the ensemble with The Nashville Opera is always an enjoyable experience for me. I don't write about it enough, although I have several people that ask me about certain details. 

I have been singing with the company since 2007. Auditions typically take place in the spring of each year and you are required to sing a classical piece of music. Since I am a soprano, examples of arias I have sung are "O Mio Babbino Caro," and "Vissi d'arte." The latter is my ultimate favorite aria to sing. It is from the opera "Tosca, " and after singing in for my voice teacher one day, she told me that it really shows the range and fullness of my voice. (So that is that feeling I get when I just "know" that it is right!) It has stuck with me ever since. 

"Florencia en el Amazonas" was the most recent production I had the opportunity to perform in and we closed on January 27th. This particular opera was staged in a way it had never been staged before with the ensemble portraying the river. This meant that we had to sing on the floor, often on our backs after low crawling into our starting positions. One of the most fun parts for me was during the storm. I was able to incorporate more dance moves and flexibility. When the director says he needs more, I usually don't hold back! I have always had the thought process that it is easier for a director to pull someone back than to try to get more out of someone onstage. 

"Forencia en el Amazonas" is an opera full of gorgeous music and brought back so many memories for me. Remembering things of the past, and hoping to re-connect and get back what was lost, made some portions emotional for me. Florencia's final aria brought tears to me eyes two out of the three performances. If the music and the story of an opera can make someone feel, then the mission has been accomplished in my opinion, The feeling is what it is all about. 

I love being part of such a wonderful company!

We Made Butter!

Thank God it is Friday has been my phrase of choice today because this week has seemed extremely long for some reason.

That isn't to say that it was a terrible week, but I am mentally and physically exhausted. We started our second full week of homeschooling and this was in addition to work and opera rehearsals. 

Scarlett and I tried for a second time this week to make homemade butter during my lunch hour! 

We started off with the ingredients that included whipping cream and a mason jar. Scarlett poured the cream into the mason jar and we took turns shaking it. My oldest son Che' was off work today and helped a little as well, but the majority of the shaking was up to Scarlett and me. Okay, the majority of the shaking was up to me. :-)

After about ten minutes, I opened it up and all I saw was white froth. I kept thinking that perhaps it wasn't going to work again for some reason. After asking Che` to help out for a few minutes while I get a quick bite to eat, he began to notice something forming inside the jar. 

I opened it up, and we saw the ball of butter that has magically formed inside the jar! It may seem strange to some people, but I was really excited to see that our almost endless shaking had paid off. I think I might have even squealed a little! 

After that, I gave Scarlett a coffee filter and a container so that she could strain the buttermilk, which was used earlier tonight to make corn cakes as a side dish with our Cornish hens. The butter tastes wonderful and I even added a dash of salt for flavor. I decided not to add the salt during the shaking process just in case it didn't work again. The idea of salty whipped cream wasn't appealing to me. 

I plan on making butter again in the future! Maybe I can even try to make my own sour buttermilk next time. On second thought, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself!

Homeschooling Week Two: Doubts

I can feel the thoughts of self-doubt creeping in since I don't feel that this week has been as productive as last week. 

 

The week started out well with Scarlett getting more than her required lessons completed on Monday. I had the day all planned out. We would make home-made butter on my lunch break to implement both Science and History. We had the ingredients including the whipping cream and the plastic Tupperware type container for the shaking. Instead of making butter, however, we accidentally made whipped cream due to the fact that the lid on the container wasn't airtight. It wasn't a total loss since I explained how the air was able to get in and that made the whipped cream. We also had fresh whipped cream for our hot chocolate!

This weekend I will be purchasing a mason jar and another container of whipping cream and we will try this again. I think I was more disappointed than Scarlett, because the idea of homemade butter and butter milk being used for cornbread was a nice thought. We will do it right next time. 

It is now Wednesday and I don't feel that we have been very productive since Monday. I am starting to over think the scheduling as well as the curriculum. I have read several posts and articles, and apparently that is something most families who decide to home school go through. 

I am trying not to doubt myself. Whenever I see a gleam in her eye as well as get verbal confirmation that she is enjoying Language Arts, it makes me happy. Reading is one of her main struggles, and as amazing as Scarlett is, she can also be very stubborn. This can sometimes present a challenge. With that being said, the fact that I can already tell that she is enjoying reading more than she used to is half the battle I suppose. Besides, we still have a few more days left this week. :-) 

Discipline Problems and Fun Stuff!

Yesterday was a little more hectic since Scarlett was not in the best mood.

She ended up really acting out by the end of the day and I had to deal with this. She is now grounded from her Kindle Fire until the end of the month which is about three more weeks.  

Today was much better! She got a significant amount of work done and even studied her spelling words for her test I'll be giving her tomorrow! 

During my lunch hour, I finished uploading our latest video to our YouTube channel. We have been doing toy reviews for a few months, and we have a lot of fun with it. Our channel is called  "The Monster Mane," and one of my amazing friends, Dan Williams designed our logo for us! He is a graphic designer, entertainer, super hero costume designer...you name it and lives in Orlando, FL. 

We began doing the toy reviews because Scarlett follows a few YouTube channels and loves it. She asked me if we could start doing it too because she thought it would be fun. I have to tell you, it really is!

Here is our latest video. Thanks for reading and watching! 

Life Lessons and Gratitude = Peace of Mind

I have often said that I feel that I am a much better parent with my daughter Scarlett, and the mistakes I made with the boys are not being made with her.

Don’t get me wrong, when my boys were little, I was so patient, and did everything for them. However by the time I got separated and divorced from my ex-husband, I allowed the daily stress to direct a lot of my decisions and wasn’t nearly as patient. In hindsight, instead of trying to work so much to make ends meet, I should have figured out some way to spend more time with them. That is one of my regrets. However, at the time, I felt that I was doing what was best for them.

The simple things are easier for me now. The phrase, “Do everything for your children” is pretty much second nature. Perhaps it is dealing with a lot that life has dealt; heartaches, financial issues, you name it…that stuff either makes or breaks you. I have had my moments where breaking points were just around the corner, but always overcame them somehow.

Taking things day by day is still a skill that I aim to perfect, but I feel that I am closer now than ever. I am actually strangely fulfilled. I don’t own my home, but I have a decent place to live. I’m not in a relationship with a significant other, but I have a very significant relationship with my children and myself. I am by no means wealthy, but my children and I are healthy. I have opportunities to sing, dance and act in performances, and this has always been one of my biggest passions. I am not reporting as much right now, but I have my blog, so I am still able to write.

Hopefully the previous paragraph was not too sickly sweet, but oh well. I suppose you don’t have to read it. ;-) Yes, I am also grateful for my smart ass way of thinking and somewhat dry sense of humor. 

And…on that note:

I guess all any of us can do is try our best with the life we have and be thankful every day for our blessings and abilities.