Meet Chuck

If I could go stand in the lines in heaven again, the very first line I would stand in would the talents line and I would ask for the ability to sing.  It’s one of the talents that I wish I possessed.  Music is so powerful!  Whenever I hear someone with a beautiful, powerful voice, I get the chills. 

As you probably well know, I don’t sing, at least not in front of people. I love blasting the radio in the car and singing along just as much as the next guy but ONLY when I’m all alone.  I like to sing really loud in the car… and I pretend that I’m really good.  ;)

There’s even been a blog post or two where I mention my inability to sing.  Not that I can find them when I need them but they’re here… somewhere.

And then…

I got an email from Chuck.  It basically said, Hi, I’m Chuck and I can help you!  (in a nutshell)

This is Chuck!  (I meant to get a picture of him during the lesson but I spaced it.  This is his business card.)

He’s my new voice coach/singing teacher.  He has agreed to help A and I discover our singing voices.  Our first lesson was Saturday. 

You may be asking why I chose A to come along with me over the other girls.  As much as K and H would love to have taken this opportunity, A is the one with a true passion for singing.  She sings all. the. time!!  She’s also got quite the talent for it.  Anyone that hears her makes a comment about it. 

We weren’t sure what to expect for our very first lesson.  I was worried that he would be scared off by my inability to ‘carry a tune in a bucket’.  I must say that I was extremely nervous in the days and hours leading up to this first meeting. 

Luckily, after introducing ourselves Chuck invited A to go first.  PHEW!  He had her demonstrate her range.  He played the notes and had her sing along as he started with the low-ish notes and kept creeping higher and higher.  I think he was somewhat impressed with her range, as was I!

He then did some things that A thought was pretty fun.  He turned her into a BRAT!  No joke, he told her to act as if she were being a brat and tell her siblings ‘NO’ (they were hypothetically touching her stuff).  She was to be LOUD and BRATTY!  He played different notes for her to say ‘NO’ to and then had her start saying ‘Na’… as in “Na na na na na na!”  You know when you were a kid and you’d say ‘Na na na na na na!  You can’t catch me!”  She also had a few other sounds to make to teach her to recognize her natural voice vs. falsetto.

A had fun with it.  She even got the sassy hip swing goin’.  Though she didn’t really let him know how much fun she was having with it.  I could tell, I’m her mom.  Moms just know these things.  Plus, the fact that she came home and was practicing her best “Na na na na na na’s” kind of gave her away. 

Chuck taught her how the vocal cords work and how to open them and how to use her normal speaking voice to sing. 

Then she got to the fun part.  She got to sing a real song!  He had her sing “Reflection” from Disney’s Mulan.  Mind you, this is her first time ever singing it and she’s only seen Mulan a time or two so she doesn’t know the words or the tune. 

Tell me that microphone isn’t awesome!  It reminds me of the movie Annie.  Don’t ask, I’m weird.

Then it was my turn… YIKES! 

I was extremely embarrassed at first to do my scales and show my range.  But right away he made me feel better by telling me that I have a very good ear and surprisingly (for me) I was on pitch! 

REALLY?  Me?  Hmm, I never would have guessed.

That gave me just the boost of confidence that I needed to continue.  He taught me to use my speaking voice instead of going into a falsetto.  I think I’ve always fallen into that trap of thinking where you think your speaking voice and your singing voice have to be different. 

Guess what, they should be one in the same!  Who knew?  And if you did know, why didn’t you ever tell me?  Rude! 

Speaking IS singing… Singing IS speaking.  We speak in notes.  We’re not monotone.  Why not sing with that same speaking voice? 

He taught me how. 

After letting him know that country is my favorite style of music, he had me sing Jesus Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood.  I’m no Carrie, that’s for sure, but it was fun to sing into that microphone doodad thing. 

At the end of our session, he handed each of us a cd of the sessions so we could take them home and practice.  How cool is that?  A’s cd was in before dinner tonight.  She couldn’t wait to share what she had learned with her sisters.  All three of them were Naying, No-ing, and Na na na – ing. 

A is excited for next week.  As we left the studio she said, “That was so fun!” 

I agree.  We can’t wait to see what else Chuck has in store for us.  I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes each week.

If you are in the market for a voice coach or singing instructor I recommend giving him a call!  You can visit his website, Sing Utah or give him a call (phone # is on the business card pic above).  He’s super nice and he sure makes it a lot of fun.  

Tell him Brooke sent you!

P.S.  I know you’re completely disappointed (NOT!) that there are no pics or videos of me.  Sorry about that!  ;)  Maybe next week…..

P.P.S.  Here’s a video of A singing Beautiful Savior (well, part of it anyway) just before our lesson.  She’s trying really hard and I think it’s great but I think it’s even better when she’s not trying so hard.  I kind of put her on the spot for this.

 

 

Performances and an old friend

All three girls have had their dance performances.  Hooray! 

A performed last night at a local high school.  K performed twice.  Once at The Festival of Trees on the 2nd and again tonight at a nursing home, along with H.  Tight quarters there at the nursing home.  Most of the parents didn’t even get to watch.  I was one of them.  It would have been just fine with me except that this was H’s very first performance EVER and I missed it.  :(

Anthony and the boys went back to the car after realizing there was extremely limited space.  

On a happier note, I got to see one of my old good friends!  She happens to work at the nursing home the girls performed at. 

Never mind that my face went beet red upon seeing her.  It’s normal for me.  I hate it but I don’t know how to prevent it.  It doesn’t matter who it is, if I know someone and I run into them somewhere, I feel my face get really hot and red!  I stood in the get-embarrassed-over-just-about-everything line in heaven… probably a few times.  It seems that I must have also stood in the line that prevents me from knowing what to say when I run into someone I know.  Especially someone from my past.  I just babble (ok, I know I babble here too but it’s much worse when I run into someone) and talk about… NOTHING!  Such a geek, I am! 

And do you know what I discovered?  I discovered that I really miss my Heidi friend!  It was so fun to see her.  **And if she happens to be reading this, I really do think that we need to go to lunch sometime… I promise to rehearse ahead of time so I can actually have an intellectual conversation.  You’ll still have to deal with the red face.  It goes away… after a while ;)**

Heidi and I were like bread and butter when she first moved to my neighborhood.  Thick as thieves I tell you (now watch, she’ll disagree)!  We just clicked.  Complete opposites but I learned so much from her. 

She memorized every stinkin’ one of the scripture mastery scriptures for the Book of Mormon in 9th grade.  It was pretty much awesome!  I always wanted to follow in her footsteps but only came in at a close second.

I memorized all but two…

Alright, you win!  I cannot tell a lie.  I didn’t memorize a single one.  They were just supposed to come to me like magic!  You know, I was going to reap all the benefits without any of the work.  I just don’t understand why it didn’t happen like that.  UGH!

Anyway, I’m getting way off track here.  It’s almost 2:00 am (yes, I’m insane) and I’m about to go on a streak of complete random.  As in, I will have no control over what I type. 

So, point at hand, all the stressful dance performances are over which means that we can now start focusing on OTHER Christmasy things.  Like cookies!  C has been begging to make some and I promise they are coming. 

We’ve got a birthday party to plan, 2 (possibly 3) Christmas parties to attend and Christmas Eve coming up – all of which require food.  That means RECIPES! 

And just because I did a post yesterday without a picture, I’m throwing this pic in for you to enjoy laugh at.  Are we super cute or what? 

Don’t answer that!

 

Halloween Bouquet & Booing Your Neighbors

This is risky!  I’m taking a huge risk by posting this on my blog.  If only I had a little more sense…  It’s one of those lines I should have stood in while in Heaven but apparently I didn’t. 

You see, I Boo’d my friend/neighbor the other day with this fun Halloween Bouquet.

 

Do you love it?  It’s not quite as beautiful or perfect as the ones that my Mom makes for my kids but it’ll have to do.  She started making these a handful of years ago for my kidlets every October.  My kids look forward to it every year.  Of course they do… it’s chuck full of sugar!

But see, I should have Boo’d someone that I was absolutely positive does NOT read my blog.  That way, I could share this with you and not run the risk of them seeing it on my blog and knowing who Boo’d them.  Ugh!  Silly me.  Well, too late for that.  I have to share and just cross my fingers that she (my friend) doesn’t read my blog.  If so, ummm HI!  It was us.  Sorry I ruined it!  I was smart enough not to choose the people that I know to read my blog.  Do I get any points for that?

Anyway, you know what ‘Booing your neighbor’ means don’t you?  If not, allow me to explain. 

You take a treat to a neighbor (or two) along with a printed ghost (to display in the window to represent the fact that they’ve been Boo’d) and a poem that gives instructions for them to follow (Boo two other neighbors that don’t have Boo signs in the window, along with copies of the poem and ghost).  But you don’t just hand it to them.  You set it on the doorstep, ring the doorbell and RUN!  The kids think it’s great fun.  Good thing too because I know for sure I’d get caught.  I’d either not be fast enough or I’d trip as I ran across the lawn.  I just know it. 

Well, when I went to find the poem online that you are supposed to use, I couldn’t find one that I liked.  I thought they were a little vague in their directions so I made up my own.  You can use it if you’d like to.  Nothing fancy.  Just something I whipped up last minute.

 

You’ve Been Boo’d!!

We like you well enough and all,

But now the season has turned to fall.

 

 Which means that ghosts and goblins are about,

They seem to have found you, there’s no doubt!

 

 Halloween will soon be here,

The ghosts like to spread some neighborhood cheer.

 

 Make two copies of the poem and ghost,

Within two days, or you’ll be toast!

 

 Display the ghost in your window and then,

No one will be able to ‘Boo’ you again.

 

Take two more treats to some ‘Boo’less friends,

Soon the neighborhood will be Boo’d from end to end.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

I found a printable ghost here for the window.  I just wrote “We’ve Been Boo’d” on it and outlined the ghost in black marker to make it bolder.

I attached it to the bouquet and we did our thing… (you know, the knock and run thing.)  I, personally, did the wait and drive thing around the corner.  Go me! 

So, are you ready to make your own Halloween Bouquet?  It’s great for decoration {it wouldn’t last 5 minutes in my house} or for Booing or whatever you want to use it for. 

Here’s what you’ll need:  Desert Foam (is that a brand or is that really what it’s called?), candy, trinkets, wooden dowels, tape, garland, plastic pumpkin (or other container)



{I forgot to put the garland in the picture.  $3 Halloween garland from Target.}

Tape your candies and trinkets to the dowels.  You could hot glue them if you want to but tape is easier and won’t melt your plastic wrappers or your chocolate.  And you could even paint your dowels if you want.  I didn’t, but you could…



Cut the foam just enough so that it will fit in the bottom of your container.  Then use the excess to fill the front and back.  This will keep it from sliding around in the container as it gets heavy from all the candy and trinket filled dowels.  I had to use about 1 and 1/4 of the foam blocks.

 

Starting with the larger items first, start sticking your dowels into the foam.  Gradually work down to the smaller items.  Push them in as far as you would like.  Have fun with it!

 

The last step is to take your garland and just start weaving it in and out of the dowels to hide the bottom of the pail (no one wants to see the foam and a bunch of sticks…). 



So easy and what a great conversation piece too!  Great table centerpiece if you can keep your kids from trashing it. 

Mr. Pumpkin and I had a fun photo shoot before I sent him away to a new owner.

 

If you were the recipient of Mr. Pumpkin and you are reading this, I am so sorry!  And to all of my neighbors that read my blog, SSSHHHHHH!!!  Don’t tell!!  Maybe they won’t find out ;)

Happy Booing!! 

 

 

 

 

My SuperMom Mom!

This is my mom...



She lives in Santa Barbara.  Yep, the Santa Barbara where the temperature is pretty much perfect all. year. long.  Hmph!  Who needs perfect weather anyway? 

Well, it just so happens that she is in town this week {for the first time since she moved 6 months ago… YAY!} and I’ve wasted no time putting our mother-daughter bonding skills to work.  She got here Sunday night, on her birthday, and already we’ve been shopping, had a girls night, been to the movies, had pedicures and manicures, and been to a concert.  It’s been sooo fun!  Love hanging out with my Mom!

Psssshhhh!  Who am I kiddin’, right?  {Not about loving to hang out with her, just for the record.  I really do love hanging out with her.}  She’s not here for me.  My five little rugrats are the real reason she’s here!  Besides, I don’t have the funds to do ANY of the stuff I mentioned.  And I’m not due for my once-every-20-years pedicure anyway.  I’ve still got 14 years to go!  {Only had one…… ever!  Six years ago.  Sad, I know.} 

I did, however, put her to work.  That’s right!  I’m that awesome of a daughter.  Only a mere 12 hours into her stay, I put her in charge of organizing my office/craft room.  The 12 hours was just enough for her to sleep, get showered and dressed.  You totally wish you had a daughter like me.  But in my own defense, she asked the question, “What can I do to help you?”  I took her up on her offer.  Nothing wrong with that, right?

I’m pretty sure she thrives on organizing things, anyway.  And since she failed to pass on the organization gene to me, she is my only hope of getting things done in there.  She’s one of those people that get started and it turns into a mass frenzy of just getting it done.  I, on the other hand, like to drag my feet.  There’s so much to look at and ‘go through’ as I go that my pace is that of a snail, or worse… what’s slower than a snail? 

Anyway, the point is, she gets it done!  And once she gets going, you do NOT want to get in her way.  You might get run over.  Come to think of it, my sister is that way as well.  Why did she get the ‘clean’ gene?  Oh, that’s right!  I stood in the wrong lines in heaven.  **Sigh**

But my office is looking really good!  And guess what… I haven’t scrapbooked for years but I will get to do it again!  All the supplies have been buried in my black hole {aka the extra bedroom downstairs}.  Literally, BURIED!!  I don’t even know how to use the tools anymore.  Most of it was only used once.  Actually, that’s an exaggeration.  Most have never been used.  I’m so excited to pull it all out again and get to work.  It might look like the scrapbooking styles from the year 2000 because that’s how behind the times I am in that area but hey, at least I’ll be doing it, right?  And at some point, I’ll get caught up.  Someday!

Isn’t my mom awesome, though?  She truly is a SuperMom.  Maybe one day I’ll be a SuperMom, too.  Do you think I ought to give her a break and let her do something fun with the kids?  Maybe the zoo on Thursday?  I think yes.  But only if she’s done with my office by then.  Better get crackin’ Mom!! 

 

P.S.  I’m thinking that I need to start a new weekly post entitled, ‘Our Sunday Adventures’.  Seriously, we have some of the most entertaining adventures on Sundays.  Quiet and peaceful?  NOT!