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Vote for Taylor!!!!

So another year of Idol has come and is almost gone and so I am out here to encourage any and all of you to vote for Taylor. Those of us who grew up in the late 70's early 80's remember the music of the Doobie Brothers and Joe Cocker, I loved that music and I have to say there are days that I have to ask myself what has happened to music... but I won't go there because I will then sound like my mom!!! Anyway, tonight is the last night for Idol and I want everyone to vote for Taylor!!! I have loved his voice since the auditions... I wish that he could play his harmonica more often... maybe tomorrow night on the final show who knows. Anyway, Katherine might be easier to market but Taylor is what we need!!!

Not Ready to Make Nice

I don't know if any of you have followed the whole Dixie Chick problem when Natalie made her comments about George Bush and the war. Then there were some issues revolving around her and Toby Keith because of these issues. She wore a shirt on an awards show that said F.U.T.K. (meaning FU Tobu Keith). I don't know everything about the whole story (I think I was pregnant with my first at the time and everything from that time is sort of a fog) but it was quite a fiasco.

Well being someone who LOVES the Dixie Chicks and actually agreed with many of the things that Natalie had to say... I have missed them. I missed their music a lot. I own everything that they have made and I use to listen to them all the time. They are part of my music history. I will never forget the days at the North End with Jenny and Becky (two of my best friends) taking the DJ's mic from him and doing our own version of karaoke to "Earl". Just about every Friday night for a year.

It was sort of ironic because just a couple of weeks ago while watching my favorite country music channel I got to thinking about the Chicks and I wondered if they were still together. In an answer to my thoughts... finally last week I was lucky enough to tune in to the Top Twenty Countdown on CMT to see that they were premiering the new Dixie Chicks video, "I'm Not Ready To Make Nice". WOW! What a video, what a song. They are good and I am glad to see that Martie and Emily are supporting Natalie. The symbolism is just wonderful. I don't know who directed it but it is great!!! I think that my favorite part of the video is toward the end when they are trying to do a spine removal on Natalie. She does not back down!!! No one should back down from their convictions!!!

If you get a chance head to www.dixiechicks.com and watch the video or listen to the song!!!

Macie and his Daddy...

Don and Mac are so cute together I thought I needed to share a few pictures. Mac is certainly all boy. He is very aggressive and he goes after Grace and thinks it's funny to blow raspberries on her belly. He likes to play rough and in the last few days he is actually crawling on all fours... no more combat crawling. He will follow Grace all over the house. He is so cute... but I'll let you judge that for yourself. Enjoy...

41... I'm old

So this year for my b-day I had these visions of doing something wonderful. Going away for the weekend, spending time with my family, maybe going out with friends... anything. But it just didn't happen that way. Everyone in my family was sick. There is some awful virus out there and well everyone has it. We did go out to a nice new restaurant in Frankfort, the food was really good but, Mac couldn't breathe through his nose so he didn't want to eat, and just wanted to be held. Grace was tired so she was a bit hyper and spilled her water all over the table. Don was really tired because he was feeling so awful and my Mom, she was being a trouper but you could tell she really didn't want to be out and about.

Oh well, I guess there comes a time in one's life that you quit having big celebrations for your b-day and just hang out with the family. It's just that last year for the big 4-0 I was very pregnant and I thought we just might do something fun this year... oh well. Maybe when I'm 45 I will get all my girlfriends together from High school and we can go somewhere tropical for a few days!!!

The day my life change forever...

I know that heading is a pretty big statement but I have to be honest, I think this moment was even greater than the birth of my children.

January 29, 2006 my daughter turned to her brother and said, "I Love You Macie" and then she looked at her dad and said "I love you, Daddy" and then she turned to me, totally unsolicitated and said, "I Love you Mommy". She gave me a big hug and I knew that she knew what she was saying. She knows what it is to say she loves us. She might not know everything there is to know about love but she knows that she loves me.

That was a moment that is imprinted on my heart and I will never forget January 29, 2006.

Christmas

Had a great Christmas this year but we were too busy. I felt bad that we had to rush through Christmas presents from Santa because I was singing with the choir at church on Christmas morning. I realized I can't do that again. I felt kind of bad. The nextmorning was so cute though... Grace woke up and come running down the stairs yelling... PRESENTS PRESENTS PRESENTS... Unfortunately she was quite disappointed when she found out there was nothing new for her underneath the tree.

She got a wonderful gift that I don't that she totally appreciates as of yet but... we got her a tent. At some point she will realize this is a great place to get away from her family. But for right now it is in the sunroom, funished with an Elmo couch and chair and whe sits in there when her Granny is out in the sunroom with her.

One of the best gifts given to Grace this year was from her Aunt Megan and Uncle George. I had stipulated this year I was telling everyone what I wanted for the kids. I didn't want them to get a million gifts. I figured between 6 and 8 were plenty. Every one listened for the most part and got what I asked... Well Megan and George out did themselves... I asked them to gget her a microphone... Well she didn't just get a microphone, she got a Cinderella's carriage Karaoke Machine!!!! Those of you who know me know that I LOVE KARAOKE!!! So you know who the gift was really for. Any way... we have ahd so much fun with this. Grace calls it her "Hello" machine. She turns on the microphone and says "hello... HEllo... HELLO!!!" The whole family was in her room the other day singing and dancing. Her and Mac got laughing so hard. It was soooo funny!!!

The gift she plays with the most however is that Leapfrog Fridge Phonics. I have been worried about Grace for a long time that she did not like to talk. I don't know if it's that she couldn't, didn't want to or what. Well being the paranoid Mom that I am I called people, talked to Speech pathologists, and then simply decided to wait it out. I taught her some sign language in the mean time to tie us over until she decided that talking was a good thing. Well with in a week or so of learning some signs she started to talk. This Fridge Phonics was something she saw at her cousin Mattie's and so I told my cousin Tracey that if she wanted to get Grace that for Christmas it would be PERFECT!!! Since getting this awesome gift for Christmas, Miss Grace has gone from only a few words vocabulary to TALKING MY EAR OFF!!! Others can understand her all the time but I would say 90% of the time I can figure out what she is saying. I have to say it was a great Christmas for Grace.

I must say that I would blog about Mac and what he did for Christmas but it was very uneventful for him... He was 5 1/2 months old. He enjoyed watching but he doesn't get it. He got a lot of clothes because... he has enough toys and he is growing out of his clothes by leaps and bounds.


I hope that all of you had a wonderful Holiday season. We did. I am glad that it is a great time and that we can all be together!

Sick kid

So my family is sick. Since 11:30pm my poor little Gracie has been sick to her stomach. I don't know if it is going around but we have been sick here since the 28th of December.

I was the first to get sick but I thought it was because I had surgery the day before and I don't always react well to anethesia. After it lingered with me for about 24 hours I figured it might have been more than just the anethesia.

Well during that 24 hours both my husband and Grace got sick once. Don was feeling a bit under the weather all day but Grace decided to get sick first... vomit in the bed, on the floor, on her clothes, and all over her Mom. I had hand surgery and couldn't get my hand wet, yet I am rescuing my baby girl from her imitation of the pea soup scene in "The Exorcist". Whe Don doesn't feel well he is, for the most part, not very helpful. I will give him credit for last Wednesday though, he did all he could to help me. I just didn't seem enough you know... I have a hand all bandaged up, vomit all over me, and well it just felt like on of those moments.

So last night, once again, Don and Grace don't feel will. Poor Grace is throwing up bile she is so sick this time. Don has moaned most of the night because his belly hurts. Grace has thown up about every 2 hours. I have tried to give her a little 7up to help her belly, but that just comes up too. She has slept with us all night and well of course it is my side of the bed that has taken the beating from her being sick. I'm up at this time because I have been doing laundry to get rid of that smell that comes along with stomach flu. Mac woke at 5 so I have just stayed up since feeding him. He is the only one who hasn't been sick. I don't want him to be sick... so now I have to figure out how do I keep him out of VOMITs way.

I am not good when people, including myself, are sick. I tend to have to buck up even when I'm not feeling well. Is that the way it is for most Mom's? Sick or not sick you job is never done. I didn't even get pampered after having surgery... (I'm having my own little pity party right now...)

Anyway... to all Mom's out there I commend you for all you do especially during this flu season when we are catching ourselves coming and going and making sure that our family is taken care of.

I'm getting rid of my Televisions!!!

You know I can't even imagine my life without TV and I know that it would be very hard for my mother to watch both of my children if there weren't televisions in the house to help out for an hour or so from time to time, but I really want to get rid of the televisions in my house. I think that there is so much more that could be done without them. Family time, reading, art, music, play, I don't know just so much more. BUT I'm not the one at home 24/7 so I don't think I can make that decision. After being on the job all day long I would like to come home and sit as a family and eat, talk, laugh, and just enjoy each other's company. Unfortunately, Grace is addicted to Dora the Explorer, Elmo, and Blue. How do I tell her that she can no longer watch her favorites when it is because of me she is so into these programs. Not that they have been all bad. I know from time to time she is trying to speak to me in Spanish and I just don't get it. Or the things that she will point out that she knows or things that she says are just wonderful and unfortunately I can't take credit for many of her new skills. So I guess what I might have to do is start by taking the TV out of the bedroom and when we movel, get rid of another TV and slowly as the family gets older there are less TVs. I don't know... this is just another thing I think about!!!

Where are the Christmas Movies??

I don't know about you but I am really having an issue with the fact that there are very few Christmas movies on this year. I have seen the standard Rudolph, Frosty, and Charlie Brown Christmas. I think three weeks ago White Christmas was on WGN but it is December 19th and why isn't there a Christmas movie on every night of the week? I even got the TV guide out of the Sunday paper to luck up what I'm missing. What happened to the days of "It's a Wonderful Life" being on every channel any night of the week for the two weeks before Christmas? There's no "Miracle on 34th Street" old, new, or made for tv special. I'm just really upset about this. Where's the "Bishop's Wife" or the "Preacher's Wife"? IF YOU KNOW WILL YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHERE TO LOOK.

The other thing I have noticed is gone are the days of the Variety Show. Martha even use to do a Christmas special. I don't think there is anything of the sort this year. No Bing Crosby, No Perry Como. Regis I think I need you to do a Christmas Variety Show. I'm really in the dumps about this today. I remember this time when I was growing up as a time my Mom and I would sit on the couch, pop popcorn and just be together. I loved watching the old movies with her and it is once again a time I remember as special. If they quit showing these movies am I going to lose that time with my daughter? My Mom is at our house 5 days a week right now and I have to honestly say I was hoping to spend time this week watching the old movies with her and the kids.

Well I guess I need to just deal with the fact that network TV is all about their weekly progamming and Christmas movies and variety shows are a thing of the past. I guess I need to buck up and buy all the old movies so that I can create my own Christmas memories with my children.

The worst President EVER!!!!

The following is an article I read this morning written by Syndicated columnist Richard Reeves. I couldn't agree with him more. I thought I would share it with you all.


Is George Bush the Worst President — Ever?
DECEMBER 2, 2005
PARIS — President John F. Kennedy was considered a historian because of his book "Profiles in Courage," so he received periodic requests to rate the presidents, those lists that usually begin "1. Lincoln, 2. Washington ..."
But after he actually became president himself, he stopped filling them out.
"No one knows what it's like in this office," he said after being in the job. "Even with poor James Buchanan, you can't understand what he did and why without sitting in his place, looking at the papers that passed on his desk, knowing the people he talked with."
Poor James Buchanan, the 15th president, is generally considered the worst president in history. Ironically, the Pennsylvania Democrat, elected in 1856, was one of the most qualified of the 43 men who have served in the highest office. A lawyer, a self-made man, Buchanan served with some distinction in the House, served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and secretary of state under President James K. Polk. He had a great deal to do with the United States becoming a continental nation — "Manifest Destiny," war with Mexico, and all that. He was also ambassador to Great Britain and was offered a seat on the Supreme Court three separate times.
But he was a confused, indecisive president, who may have made the Civil War inevitable by trying to appease or negotiate with the South. His most recent biographer, Jean Clark, writing for the prestigious American Presidents Series, concluded this year that his actions probably constituted treason. It also did not help that his administration was as corrupt as any in history, and he was widely believed to be homosexual.
Whatever his sexual preferences, his real failures were in refusing to move after South Carolina announced secession from the Union and attacked Fort Sumter, and in supporting both the legality of the pro-slavery constitution of Kansas and the Supreme Court ruling in the Dred Scott case declaring that escaped slaves were not people but property.
He was the guy who in 1861 passed on the mess to the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. Buchanan set the standard, a tough record to beat. But there are serious people who believe that George W. Bush will prove to do that, be worse than Buchanan. I have talked with three significant historians in the past few months who would not say it in public, but who are saying privately that Bush will be remembered as the worst of the presidents.
There are some numbers. The History News Network at George Mason University has just polled historians informally on the Bush record. Four hundred and fifteen, about a third of those contacted, answered — maybe they were all crazed liberals — making the project as unofficial as it was interesting. These were the results: 338 said they believed Bush was failing, while 77 said he was succeeding. Fifty said they thought he was the worst president ever. Worse than Buchanan.
This is what those historians said — and it should be noted that some of the criticism about deficit spending and misuse of the military came from self-identified conservatives — about the Bush record:
— He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process;
— He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich;
— He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state;
— He has repeatedly "misled," to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign;
— He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign (Iraq and the battle against al-Qaida);
— He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity;
— He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress;
— He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic's oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime.
Quite an indictment. It is, of course, too early to evaluate a president. That, historically, takes decades, and views change over times as results and impact become more obvious. Besides, many of the historians note that however bad Bush seems, they have indeed seen worse men around the White House. Some say Buchanan. Many say Vice President Dick Cheney.


Mr. Reeve's website is www.richardreeves.com give feedback on this column » column archive

Have you ever googled your name?

Tonight while I was checking my email and then I was having trouble sleeping so I thought I would surf the web for a while. In doing so I thought... I'm going to google names of people I know.

I started with Don. I did that because I knew that there were some articles and NCAA articles that I could read about him. In doing so I found a web blog that was written by one of Don's former volleyball players. She didn't like him very much. I felt sort of sad that someone felt this way about him. I sometimes think that kids in today's society confuse passion and wanting the best for the student with a teacher not liking them or being mean. What happened to the days of the teacher and or adult being right, the day of the Nuns hitting you knuckles if you were bad, what happened to the day when a child did what they were to do because it was right... I could blog forever on this subject.

I then moved along to myself... I am glad to say that I could not find much about me. No student blogs nothing... BUT there are many women with the name Christy Woodard, which was my name with my first marriage. In fact there was another teacher in Illinois with the same name... IHSA got us confused at the State track meet one year. I did not look up my maiden name... maybe I will do that tonight.

I then started looking for people from my NEA Intern program. I was happy to find one person that had sort of "disappeared". I didn't get through them all but I think I have found my new hobby.

If you have never Googled your name you might want to see what you find. ENJOY

WCKG and Pete McMurray

RUMOR HAS IT PETE MCMURRAY MIGHT BE RELEASED FROM THE WCKG LINE UP AFTER CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!

I am not happy about this at all... and if you are not happy about it either help me out in supporting Pete by writing WCKG and tell them not to make a change in their midday programing.

If you have never heard the show you can listen to it live through your computer. Click on my link to the WCKG website and click on their link that says "listen live". I promise you... give it a day or two and you too will like this show.

It is only SNOW

I can't tell you how frustrated I got yesterday dealing with the traffic yesterday. We had our first snow all in Chicago yesterday and you would have thought people had never driven before. It took me 35 minutes take Don to work and 45 minutes to get home. His truck is broke down and so we have been taking the opportunity to spend a few minutes without the kids, BUT 35 minutes because idiots don't know how to drive. IT IS SNOW!! You know if everyone would just slow down a little because it is snow and not drive like the streets aren't wet things would be much better. Some people drive like there is no hazzard, others drive like it were a 10 inch snow fall, and then there are people like me. I drive like there is wet pavement. I keep my distance, 2 seconds between me and the car infront of me, and I drive. I just can't tell you how much people who drive STUPID in bad weather get to me. I was NUTS about this yesterday.

I wonder if there is a difference in the way people from Chicago (this includes the suburbs) and people from downstate are taught to drive. First of all Don is the worse driver I know. Second, you know when I learned how to drive in the snow my Mom took me out on country roads and pretty much got me stuck so I would know how to get out of a drift, taught me how to drive with the car sliding on ice, and how to spin the car out into a donut. I know how to drive. In the wonderful words of Rainman..."I'm a very good driver." My ex-husband might disagree with that statement but he never let me drive so his opinion doesn't count.

Anyway, people people people... remember the next time there is snow. Don't drive like a maniac, keep ample space between you and the guy infront of you so you can stop if someone spins out, and please REMEMBER it is only SNOW!!!

Weight Loss... I hate the struggle

Since six weeks old I have been on a diet. Back then they switched you from whole milk to skim milk but whatever they did I have been on a diet virtually my whole life.

I have read every book, tried every diet and well finally three years ago I had hit rock bottom and decided I was going to change my life. I was close to 300 pounds, very unhealthy, and I found myself lying to guys on match.com about what I looked like. I would go on a date with some of these guys and I know that they had to be disappointed when they met me. I was just out of control. Before leaving for New York in August of 2001 I went to visit a friend who had lost a lot of weight when he really didn't need to. He told me that he was seeing a wholistic doctor and he was cleansing his body and through that he had lost weight. I left for New York deciding while I was there I was going to start working out, get a trainer, and eat right. Well, I did join Bally's, got a trainer, and continued to eat the same way I always had. I couldn't get past the food. I couldn't lose any weight. I believe that my body was so toxic at the time there was no way I could lose any weight.

In November, I got a new job in Skokie, IL and with that I knew I had to do something. I knew that I wanted to live in this area for the rest of my life. I wanted to meet a handsome man who would like to do the same things I did and I knew that was not going to happen being 300 pounds.

I called my friend and I asked him if he thought that the wholistic doctor he was seeing could help me get my weight off. He said yes, gave me her numbers, and on January 3, 2002 I went for my first visit.

As I said earlier it was all about food. I loved to exercize, I really do, I just never find the time to go, especially now with two kids and my husband... anyway... When I went to Dr. Renee for the first time I was floored by what she was telling me. She was showing me what was going on in my body by looking at my blood. She told me that my liver was full of junk and once we cleansed it my weight would start to come off. I have to tell you that I thought she was a bit of a nut at first... then she told me I had to eat all raw fruits and veggies for the first 10 days and I really thought she was nuts. She gave me some suppliments and a food list and well... I went home to have what I called at the time my last supper and began my new diet the next day.

Ten days of raw veggies when you don't even like vegetables is rough. I was lucky however in that there was a vegetarian restuarant in Evanston, not far from where I was living and so I went there every night to get a salad that I discovered. I can't tell you how many of these salads I ate over the next 8 months but it was a lot. I followed my diet almost to a "T". I would cheat from time to time, but not often. I would fast for a week once every 7 weeks. That was tough but you can do it if you put your mind to it. By June of 2002 I had lost close to 80 pounds and the weight was still coming off...

Then... I met Don. I was still trying to be good on my diet and he was very sensitive to the fact that I did eat a lot of vegetarian meals and so I didn't put any weight on while we were dating... UNTIL... I got pregnant. Now I had tried for over seven years to get pregnant with my ex-husband and nothing worked. I truly believe it was the cleansing of my body that helped me to get pregnant. So the baby was a miracle in my eyes and I wanted to only gain 20 pounds. I was trying to be very faithful and then I couldn't help it... I started to eat whatever and when ever I wanted to. I gained and gained and gained. I was so upset. After Grace was born I never quite got back on the saddle and then I got pregnant with Mac. He was a God send. I was sick most of the time with him and I only gained 20 pounds with him. After having him, my weight came off pretty easy. But now I'm one month from when I am going to stop nursing and I know that I have to get my act together again. On Dec. 23 I am going back to my wholistic Dr. and get back on the program. After Christmas day I am going to be as faithful as I was three years ago. I am an older parent so I need to be healthy. I need to be here for my kids.

So let the struggle begin. I have to have a lot of will power to make this work for me again. It is a big commitment. I am also going to join Weight Watchers so that my Mom can go with me... she need to shed a few pound also... but this way I will be accountable for my weight every week. I need to be accountable. If I follow the diet I do with Dr. Renee I will be able to eat all day long with Weight Watchers because I think certain veggies are free!!!

I will keep you posted with my struggle. If you too have this struggle I encourage you to post a comment and we can work on this together.

Independently Wealthy

Today I was approached by one of my members who said to me, "I heard that you are leaving us." I laughed at her and said, "Yeah right, if I were independently wealthy I would leave and stay home with my kids. But I'm not so I won't"

This got me thinking... if I were independently wealthy what would I do with my life. I know that I would stay home with my kids but I also know that I would still have my Mom come help me because she is the organized one and keeps my house in ship shape condition.

I think I would have to work in some capacity. Whether that be making more of my Mary Kay or Creative Memory business I could do that or I think that I might have to help with some sort of issue. I don't know what that issue would be but something. Or I might go volunteer at my church. I like the people there and it might be fun to help out.

If I were independently wealthy I would travel. A LOT!!! I think I would spend K-6th grade with my kids traveling the whole United States. I would home school them and travel to all the states see all there is to see and learn all that we could learn. I don't know how I would do this travel because Don could not fit in an RV but if we could have a custom made bus, like a rock star, I might be able to do this. Wouldn't that be neat...

I would have the house of my dreams with the biggest kitchen known to man. It would have storage space and room for at least 30 to sit and have Thanksgiving Dinner. I would have a separate living space for my Mom so she could help us during the day and then have her own "place" at night.

I would have more children. I have at least two more names that I would like to name kids but I'm too old and we're not independently wealthy so I won't chance it.

Well it's fun to think about what I would do if we were independently wealthy BUT we're not SO I will continue to go to work every day and work as hard as I can until I am independently wealthy and can do the things I want to do.

Ebay... you gotta love it...

I have just spent the last 2 hours (while my children nap) listing items on eBay. I have learned over the last year that I can make a lot more money on my "stuff" by selling Grace's clothes on eBay rather than having a garage sale. I also believe that I am going to do all of my Christmas shopping via eBay. I tell you it beats the crowds, the pushing, the shuving, and the loosing of ones wig because she gets pushed down in the frenzie!!! Happy shopping!!

Oprah Dave... Dave Oprah

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!! I hate to see a grown man beg but David Letterman has been begging for years for Oprah to come on his show. Finally she has agreed. It's to promote her musical "The Color Purple" but she's going to be on... We'll all have to watch Dec. 1.

Those songs...

When I think of my childhood and moments with my Mom I often think of songs that were popular during a certain time of our life...What are those songs that help you remember moments in your life? Do you know them? Do you have any? My husband doesn't but they didn't listen to music like I did. I feel bad for him sometimes that he doesn't have music memories as I call them. When I look back know I'm so glad that I have those moments. I believe that I can remember so much about my childhood because I can hear a song and remember what was going on in my life when a certain song was popular. I started thinking of this subject the other day when I saw a commercial for Martina McBride's new album of old hits she is now covering. One of the songs on the album is "Help Me Make it Through the Night" which was originally done by Kris Kristofferson. My memory takes me back to a time when my Mom was dating a man named Ed. I was in first grade and I remember how much they liked this song. Ed use to come and pick my Mom to go on a date and he would steal my nose... I loved that... I remember when they broke up. I remember her pain. I know that she might think that I was too young to remember this but I remember every horrible minute it was for her. I remember her burning his pictures. I remember her crying in the middle of the night. I remember going over to the neighbors for the day so that her and her friend Carol could go shopping for the day so Mom could just get away. I remember not knowing what to do and being sad that Ed would never be coming around again. But I hear that song and it gives me a sense of love for my Mom. I really think at some point she thought she was going to marry Ed... Unfortunately it didn't work out that way.

I remember being 5 or 6 and Janis Joplin "Me and Bobby McGee" was popular. My Mom had bought the 45 (ok so how many of you out there remember what a 45 is???) and I remember her putting it on the record player and she would dance with me in our dining room.

I remember riding in the car, I believe it was a Nova, and Mom had the Carol King Tapestry Album on cassette tape. We didn't have a tape player in the car but we had a battery-operated tape player and we listened and listened and listened to that tape. I can still remember the words and whenever I hear a song from the album I tend to get a smile on my face.

We went to Florida the summer before I went into 2nd grade on a bus trip. There were two girls on the trip and they loved the song "Day by Day" and they would sing it out loud with out any background music...

When I was, I don't know about 8 years old on, I remember sitting in my room listening to that Carpenter's album and trying to get my voice to sound just like Karen Carpenter's. I was going to be a famous singer; I just had to get my voice to sound like hers.

Five girls and I use to get up in front of our music class in 5th grade and sing "Country Roads" by John Denver all the time. This was the first memory I have of someone telling me I could sing. I didn't do many things right when I was in grade school so this was a plus for me. It helped me make it through those rough days when then kids were cruel.

By the time I got to Junior High I was singing pretty regularly in choir and in the musicals my music teachers were putting together. Popular music was still a major part of my life and my friends life. One song that was very popular when we were in 8th grade was Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life". I will never forget the 8th grade talent show when Lisa Jones, a rather large African American girl who had a set of pipes on her that could blow you away, got up in front of the whole student body and said, "Robbie, this song is for you..." Robbie Carr and Janelle Hokenson were the popular couple, the "it" couple. Every one knew of Lisa's crush on Robbie, and there she was no fear singing "You Light up My Life" in front of God and everyone... She's was phenomenal. I remember standing a cheering her on. Janelle, Lisa, myself and a girl named Winnie sang in a quartet that year... we won so many awards. It was one of the best years of my life.

When I got to high school, from about my sophomore year on it was all about Journey and Styx. Maybe a little REO, maybe some Loverboy, but whenever I hear a Journey or Styx song I could tell you where I was... what I was doing... it was all about them...

Duran Duran, "Her Name was Rio" was my first MTV video. I was in Arizona, at an audition to get into the music program at ASU.

My first boyfriend, Brook, was "Straight from the Heart" and we ended on a "Total Eclipse of the Heart." My first formal in college was "Drive" by the Cars... the guy who took me had too much to drink and well he left me at the dance by myself. I remember coming out of the bathroom and he was gone. Or the first time my Dad came down to U of I with wife number 4 and they cleared the dance floor when they danced to "Hound Dog" by Elvis.

When I came home from college I worked as a waitress and bartender at the same place from 1987 until I think it was 2000. There was a house band called "The Movies" and variations of the like for many of the years we I was there. So many songs so little time.

My first husband our song was "Alone" by Heart. If you know the words to the song you would know that the relationship might have been doomed from the start. Toward the end of that relationship my theme song, as I called it, became "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi. I still can't hear that song without turning it up as loud as possible and singing my guts out.

Other songs during my 30's have special meanings... too many to mention tonight but oh so many...

One of my favorite memories of my friends from Sterling are those moments we were out at the "North End" and Marty was DJing and we would take his Mic and sing "Goodbye Earl" or "I Will Survive". These songs are for any girl who had ever had a bad relationship.

Don and I don't really have a song. I find that I don't listen to music as much as I use to before moving to the city where talk radio is the thing to listen to and/ or having my kids. I can't listen to Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" or Luther Vandross' "Dance with my Father" without bawling my eyes out.

So now Martina McBride has remade "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and I sit and wonder... will Grace, Mac and I have those special songs? Will we sing in the car like I did with my Mom? Will Grace know or remember that everyday for a year I would rock her to sleep and sing "Amazing Grace" to her? Will Mac know that the new song by Carrie Underwood "Jesus Take the Wheel" brings back memories of how one year before he was born I was in an accident that could have killed me but for some reason, I believe only God can explain, a higher power took the wheel of my car and kept me alive so that I could be his mother. Will they remember times in there life like I have? Will they have a favorite? I hope so. I hope that I can bring to them the joy of song that I have always had and hope that I will continue to have.

What to do with your kids for Christmas

The other day I went to this neat little story in Homewood, Art4Soul. While there I found out that they had a room for ceramics. I remember doing ceramics as a child, and Aunt of a friend of mine had a ceramic store and we would go there on Saturday afternoons and make something. Well while I was reminising I thought of something I am going to do with my kids, hopefully for every Christmas from now until well... for the rest of my life if they want to. Starting next Friday I am going to take my kids and we are going to make a plate. Grace is old enough that she can paint her plate and then we are going to put her hand on it. With Mac, this year, I will paint his plate and then we will try to put his hand on the plate but if that won't work, then we will do his feet this year.

Maybe I'm just hoping that my kids will appreciate this activity, but I know at some point in their life they won't want to do it. I DON'T CARE. I have decided this is the thing we are going to do together at Christmas and it will be a "mom thing" that the whole family will have to put up with. I know that my husband thinks I won't do this for very long but... he can think what he wants. I think it's a great idea.