All is good . . .

Just want to overwhelmingly thank everyone for the good thoughts and well wishes. We did have several tornado warnings yesterday, but all is good now. The sun is shining its beautiful shine.

I have a show tomorrow night at a coffeehouse in Kansas City, so that's what I'll be concentrating on tonight and tomorrow! Here's a poster I made to hand out at the gig. I'm happy with it; it's been in my head for a long time, but I was afraid I'd mess it up when pen met paper.

Take care out there! Love and Peace to all.

Get Crackin!

Well, so summer has started, and I'm setting up a plan both for myself and the kids to keep busy. I want to finish two drafts, as well as illustrate a side project (just for fun), exercise, and read A LOT. For the kids, I want to help them draw and write books using art paper, have them put a few plays together, read a certain number of books, teach Julia more of her sight words and phonics and math for 1st grade. Julia wants to film little videos of her toys (like little plays) for YouTube, and also I want to film her drawing her pictures for a little series on YouTube.

I'm hoping there will be a vacation sometime, but I'm not counting on it.

And that's about it. Swimming, baking, trips to the nature park . . . Summer is here!

Storms

It's a sad and strange day. There was a tornado a couple of hours from here in a town I've been to a few times. Actually, one of the bands I played with the other week is from Joplin, Mo. and I've been thinking of them today. I could see the back end of the storm late afternoon yesterday as I stood in a sun-filled backyard, and I kept thinking how stark and black the clouds looked in comparison to the rest of the sky. I wondered if it was going to turn bad. Just Saturday night I had to wake up the whole house to go down to the basement when the sirens went off. Julia was frightened but I told her we were lucky to have a basement as I wrapped her in blankets and led her downstairs. Liam slept through the whole thing. I carried him down and placed him on the old couch.

Tomorrow looks to be a bad day with a high risk for storms in our area. But for now, all I can think of is Joplin and all the people who live there, and those who died. There's something about how when a disaster happens somewhere else in the world, you feel compassion and concern, but it's distant. When it happens close, you feel it in your bones. It's people you know, and places you've been.

I'm thinking of you Joplin. You're in my heart today.

Is this what Rapture looks like?

"Frankly my dear, I ain't Frank"

I was thinking yesterday about Gone With the Wind, mostly about the ending. You know: Rhett's finally had it, "Frankly Scarlett, I don't give a damn." "Fiddle dee dee, I'll just go back to Tara." You know the bit. A sequel was written by another author, but it wasn't that great. I don't know, I just keep thinking, what would Scarlett really have done after that? I'd love to hear your ideas. Here's what I came up with:

Scarlett does indeed go back to Tara. She fixes the place, throwing a ball to recapture the days of her youth, but everyone hates her and no one shows up. However, Ashely, who's a widower now, fixes up his old family home, and tries to get Scarlett to fall in love with him again. She says no, no, I hate men, leave me alone you scoundrel! He makes up a lie to tell her Rhett has taken up with a woman in New York, and Scarlett goes there to see for herself. She buys a brownstone near Central Park where she can keep tab on the whereabouts of Rhett, but slowly realizes he's not chasing skirts, but caught up in a money fraud connected with the government—though he's innocent. One night they have a heated (in many ways) reunion and he confesses that he still loves her—just then bullets start flying and Scarlett must save both of their lives. Rhett tells her to go back to Tara where she belongs! but she can't until she can figure out why the gov is trying to kill her man. A bullet pierces her dress-front, but a bone in her corset ricochets the bullet off into space and . . .

Okay, this is getting bad. Did you really read all that? I'll have to think about the ending. Hope you're having a beautiful day.

And on the Agenda for Today . . .

To extend my boringness, I'll post two really really boring videos. The first one is a bee that caught my attention when I was out in the garden. His wings were so loud I just had to grab the camera and follow him in pursuit of clover. And the other is a loud, barking Henry, enjoying life in the tall grass.

But this news isn't boring at all: Ann Carbine Best just had a book release yesterday for her memoir, In the Mirror. She's extremely talented, and a lovely, lovely person. Congratulations Ann!! Go here to read a spectacular review of the book on Ann's blog.

Talk

I'm still in a non-talkative mode. Not sure why or how I get like this, but it can be frustrating. I've always wondered how other people seem to have a gift of chattering away for hours on end without any provocation. They walk through the grocery store with their phone headsets just talking away about, what's for dinner, or, who's gonna let the cat out, or, how someone's neighbor made brownies without any milk (it's true, I heard that very conversation at a grocery store a while back).How is it so easy for people to make talk so effortlessly? Sometimes I wish I could, and other times I'm glad I can't. Oh well, I'm thinking too much. Probably best to just enjoy the silence and not get all stressed about it.

'Enary the eighth I-yam-I-yam . . .

Here's a picture of my Henry. It's probably illegal how cute he is. He's a good boy too. Hates squirrels. Loves me.

Finland or Funland? You decide.

I have nothing to say. Nothing. This happens to me sometimes. Maybe I should just move to Finland.

The day after . . .

Last night was a lot of fun, and I'm still tired so don't fault me for having a sluggish post. I played a set of almost an hour since it was a shared show with two other acts, forgot a few words, but recovered well, I hope, and played the heck out of my old guitar. It was good to do this because I have wanted to play out for a long time, but as you know I suffer from pre-stage fright. When I get up there I love it, it's just the before that prevents me from gigging. So, I finally did it and the world didn't crash, I sang my heart out. Hopefully there will be more shows this summer.

Adding: Cro, I literally did what you said and dusted off my old brown suede boots. Okay, more than dusted, I had to rub them down, tape and glue the soles, glue a heel back in place, haha. It was major surgery. But it worked. I wore a pair of funky brown tights, kind of like fishnets, and the boots just looked like they had been to too many shows—which is true! We definitely have a history, those boots and me.

Thanks for all the good words yesterday! Have a beautiful Tuesday.

This is it

Well today's the day. Or tonight rather. This is the worst and the best time of doing a gig, because it's when you realize all those stupid lyrics that are being forgotten will probably still be forgotten at the show, and there's no more time left to make your brain remember. It's when that darn guitar chord is still not sounding perfect and the guillotine nears close. It's when a performer gets to see their dreams come true. It's when we get to wear thicker make-up, and nice clothes, and we get to be important for a few hours of our lives. The best part is that someone new will be out there hearing our music for the first time.

I've been practicing down in the basement staring at a kid toy that's perched on a box, and it has become my best audience member . . .

Celebrate!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there! It ain't an easy job, so I hope you're enjoying yourself and having a great day.

Moving on to other things . . . I was just thinking how much more accomplished I feel now that my book is to be published. It's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Everyone I know has a degree, or a solid job doing something that is respected, and for the last few years I've felt as if I was grasping at straws, flailing from a worn rope. I love music, I love writing, and I love art. And I LOVE being a mom. I've put my heart and soul into all of those things. And finally, finally it feels like I'm graduating and being handed a degree. That's an incredibly nice feeling ya'll. Big time nice!

I feel like partying . . .

Penance

I've been practicing for my gig for a while now, but this week was going to be a real lockdown with me going through the set once or twice every day while the kids were in school. Well you can guess what happened. Ear infections. Sick days. Extra money spent on doctor's visits and prescriptions. I had eighty dollars on Tuesday that I was going to use to buy a new pair of shoes for the gig. All gone. But . . . this is what being a mom is all about. So when Mother's Day rolls around this Sunday, I'm not going to be crying about what I have or don't have in terms or time or material possessions. As long as my kids are healthy and happy, then life is good for me. Just hand me a margarita and we'll call it even.

Gig Talk

I'm just in a weird funk today. Best to stay positive, so instead of talking about how nervous I am about gigging, I'll mention how beautiful it is outside. The sun is shining and it finally feels like spring! Take that winter!!

How are things in your world?

Family

Just wanted to let you know my mom has a book out on Kindle of short stories called First Dates. It's a nice mixture of crime and romance, with a bit of humor thrown in. Give it a look if you have some time. I think I'll do an interview soon. Do you hear that, Mom? She's jumping up and down now.

Here's the link.

I'll be back later after the morning has settled down!

Justice

Because such an important event has happened today, I will make a double post and tell you how I feel about all of it. You probably know I'm a liberal, though I do try extremely hard to look at things from a clean perspective without any labels to cloud my view. What I feel today is not what I would have felt as an eighteen-year-old. I was really liberal then! I would have said that murder is murder and no one should rejoice a man being killed just for revenge. Well, the older Amy says Osama Bin Laden being killed was more than just. For all the families that have suffered with grief these last ten years, and for the continued growth of hatred spread by Osama, murder was the right thing to do. It's no coincidence his death coincides with Hitler's—and by the way, a famous white supremacist was murdered recently. I find that of no coincidence either. The universe has a way of sending out messages. And this message is clear: death to hatred, death to racism, death to judgment, and pain, and misery. Let it be gone from this earth for good.

After 9/11 I spent every evening for almost a year crouched on my darkened kitchen floor praying for those that were killed, and for the families still living. Something in me felt compelled to do this. I ached for them, as we all did and still do. The world can now feel joy again, if it wishes. The air feels clean. Justice has been served.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/05/02/2011-05-02_osama_bin_laden_dead_president_obama_advisors_watched_raid_to_kill_al_qaeda_lead.html#ixzz1LF6o97LF

In Retrospect . . .

The most impressive thing about the AtoZ challenge was just how many bloggers visited, commented, and how positive everyone was. Some blogs were funny, some were informative. You know I joked around yesterday about how hard the challenge was, but actually it wasn't that bad. Knowing I had a certain letter to topic each day was a nice excursion from having to randomly pick a subject as usual. And I learned so much from each person. Thanks for that. And thank you to Arlee who started the challenge!

The End

Z is for Zapfino. You know, that pretty little font that makes your heart go all aflutter? It's like butterflies and rainbows, marshmallow goo, kittens, airy clouds, ocean waves lapping at the shore. Evil people hate Zapfino.

Click this link to see an example the magic of . . . Zapfino (zapfino, zapfino, zapfino . . .)

Are they gone? They are? Shew. Man, this challenge was HARD. I mean really, really hard. I had a helluva time trying to find a letter for each day that would provide enough content to keep a crowd of, oh, I don't know, at least four, interested. It was like being in high school english again. Good challenge, though. I did enjoy it quite a bit. Man, that Y day really tore my brain apart. Yours too? Heh, heh, weakling. Hey, wanna go grab some food? We could go get a burger then hang out at the mall for awhile. I hear the pinata store just got a Trump. Oh, well, that's okay. We could hang out here and . . . what?! It's still on? Dammit!!!!! Geez, just give me a—Hey, everyone, thanks for stopping by for this whole challenge. You made it special, yadda yadda yadda. Well . . . so . . . uh have a great Sunday and see you tomorrow (I hope).

This concludes the A to Z challenge. Take care.