A song to be sung

Recently, I was going over a bunch of papers Jennifer brought home from school. I noticed an advertisement for a talent show and asked her if she was going to participate. She shrugged and said she didn’t have any talent to share.

“You do SO have a talent!” I said. “You’re an artist!”
 
She said that showing off one’s art was not considered “talent” for a talent show.

Remembering how she sang at past talent shows, I asked her, “Well, why don’t you sing?”

She said she didn’t have a song to sing. (She wrote the last two songs that she sang.) Then her eyes widened, she got excited and said, “I know what I can sing!”

“What?” I asked, thinking she was going to remember a song she wrote recently.

But instead, she said a song that I wrote: “Little Hands Left Behind!”

It was my turn to slouch and even cringe a little bit. My smile faded as I recalled this particular song, which is about abandonment, addiction and prostitution. Er, um ... not exactly family-friendly material.

I wasn’t so sure about this one.

“I don’t know, Jen,” I said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate.”

But she was all of a sudden so excited about singing this song. “But I love that song!” she said.

I know she likes this song, but it’s not exactly PG-rated because of the issues it addresses. I shook my head. “I don’t think they’ll allow it.”

She grew disheartened. Then I said, “How about this. I’ll print out the song lyrics and take it to the school. Then if they approve it, you can sing it.” I sat there thinking Fat chance but I didn’t want her to feel so discouraged.

She thought that was a good idea so that’s what I did the next day. Later, I got a message from the school saying they didn’t think the song was appropriate. So I talked to Jen and told her, “You know, I have a lot of other songs and maybe you can look for another one that you might like that the school will be okay with.”

She nodded and decided to do just that.

I have actually written and co-written over 100 song lyrics. Unfortunately, most of them were lost in a move! I have tried to rewrite some of them that I know by memory, but that’s taking a while.

Anyway, I opened up my file containing a bunch of songs and Jennifer sat down to read them. She decided on the song “Let’s Be Friends Forever.” This is one of my favorites. I wrote it in high school for my best friend. And I rewrote it from memory. I’m so glad she picked that song, but at the same time, worried the school might make a fuss over it.

But the school DID NOT make a fuss over it. Today, Jennifer auditioned for the talent show, singing that song. When I picked her up after the audition, I asked her how it went. “Great!” she said.

“And what did they think of the song?” I asked.

She smiled then said/signed, “They thought it was amazing.”

“Awesome!” I cheered. We both cheered as I drove the car out of the parking lot and I had a huge smile on my face. This is SO COOL. A song that I wrote will be sung, put to actual music, by my daughter. HOORAY!! I am so excited and very thrilled. I have had demo tapes of my songs made in the past, but nothing happened with them and only my family heard those songs. Now a song that I wrote will be put to music and heard by a whole audience! I have always dreamed this would happen with one of my songs and now it WILL happen! I am so excited. Hooray!!

Summertime activities! Day 2

Today was Day 2 of the summer activities I have planned for the kids. My back and hip were REALLY bothering me last night (we’re talking radiating pain jolting up my spine kind of pain) so I was not able to blog about Day 1 last night. So! Here is Day 2!

Since we were going to do something science-y today, Jennifer wanted the theme to be "static electricity." So when it came time for that, I read to the kids these kid-friendly pages I printed out about static electricity. They had fun charging a comb and watching the cereal on a thread move close to it, as well as “bending water” with a charged comb. Then they logged in at BrainPOP.com to learn more about static electricity.

While there are positive things resulting from these activities, such as the kids learning new things and working on their math/reading skills, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing.

For one thing, I have come down with a cold and it’s a struggle dragging myself out of bed in the mornings when I just wanna STAY there and be a sickie. I thought Jesse caught my cold for a while there (he had a bad couple of days) but today he seemed okay. I hope he stays okay! But I wouldn’t be surprised if he caught my cold, too.

For another thing, we’ve been off schedule for two days in a row. Everything is supposed to start at 9:30, but it’s a struggle getting Jennifer (the night owl) up in the mornings. She is NOT a morning person. So we’ve started late.

Also, the kids haven’t EXACTLY been getting along very well. The kids have been fighting and there’s been a lot of drama. Today, after it got so bad that Jennifer tore up Jesse’s picture, I declared activity time was over and the both of them had to be separated for a while so they could cool off.

And, finally, it’s been a challenge for me, personally, trying to do housework and work with the kids during these activities. I fit stuff in here and there – for example, yesterday I folded a load of laundry while lunch cooked and today I made up the beds while the kids took a quiz on the BrainPOP site about static electricity – but not as much got done as usual. I do try to make up for that after we’re done for the day.

Overall, though, it has been fun and it’s definitely kept the kids from having a “boring” summer vacation. Tomorrow is “history” and even though it is technically a holiday, technically not a day for “school stuff” and technically our “family day” during which I’ll be off the computer, we still want to do history. It’s a good opportunity to talk about why we celebrate the 4th of July and what it means to be a free country.

We are looking forward to “craft day” coming up. This week, for music, we have been exploring making music with musical toys. Next week, we’ll make music with homemade instruments. We don’t have many, so we’re going to make more on “craft day.” And Jennifer is excited about “cooking day” coming up. She wants to make something with zucchini. (She is a budding chef.)

I have still managed to fit in time for the writing and book reviewing here and there, as well. Today, however, my muse has been rebelling and because I’m feeling so yucky, I told my muse, “Rebel away.” I’ll get back to it when I am able.

Today Jennifer has learned about “Bloody Mary.” She got really freaked out about it and asked if it was true. I laughed and told her it’s just an urban legend. She says she still wants to do it. I told her to go for it. I just hope she doesn’t learn about “Bloody Mary” the movie. I don’t think that’s a movie she should see.

Last night in my dream, I saw Jonathan Knight at a kid’s birthday party. He was dressed up as a train conductor and entertaining a group of kids. Because I follow him on Twitter, I was tempted to tweet to him, “You look cute dressed up as a train conductor.” But given what happened the last time I replied to one of his tweets, decided to pass on that.

Yeah, I send tweets to people I don’t know on Twitter. I do that all the time. Even respond to tweets from people I don’t know. Is that so terrible? Not that I even HAVE as much time to be on Twitter, as it is. But I’m on there sometimes. Or make it a point to be on there.

ANYWAY!

Recently, I read an article on strange things people do with ice cream. It mentioned the Ben & Jerry's flavor "Late Night Snack," which has chocolate covered potato chips in it. When I shared that article on Facebook, I noted that I wanted to try it. Happened to see it at the store the other day and it is REALLY good! Who knew that chocolate-covered potato chips in ice cream could be yummy?? Jesse was the only one brave enough to taste it and he likes it, too. So he and I are the only ones in this house who like it. (Jennifer won't go near it!) The ice cream is very soothing to my sore throat. Ah, that is one good thing about having a sore throat. You have an excuse to eat ice cream!

And just for the record, that TV show Good Luck, Charlie rocks! I love that show. I was excited to find out today that there will be a new episode on the 15th. Yay!! The little girl who plays Charlie is ADORABLE. And the new baby is soo cute!!

Personal note to Jennifer: I liked that song "Don't Run Away" too. Well, as far as the lyrics go! And I forgot to tell you that I have a poem in a book called "Run Away." But it's about domestic abuse. So when that book comes out and after you read the poem "Run Away," you can listen to that song "Don't Run Away." Ha!

Have a happy and safe 4th, peoples. Peace out!