Donna’s Blog

 This is a picture of me with me my new ipod and ipod arm holder thingee.

Okay, fantasy over.

But seriously, i do have a new ipod.  Or since it’s my very first ipod, do i say “new”?  Or do i just say, “i finally have an ipod”?!

My friend L. got it for me for my birthday.

Ben and the girls got me an itunes card and that cool ipod arm band holder thingee for when i go running/walking at night.

i couldn’t wait to load up my ipod with all my favorite songs.

but that required a working computer and when mine got attacked with a nasty virus, it had to be unplugged and taken to the doctor.

so my ipod waited.  i was very sad.  i kept thinking about all the songs by my favorite artists that i wanted to download…..Billy Joel….Leanne Rimes…..Martha Munizzi……Bette Midler…..

i was so happy when the Geek Squad called and said my computer was all better and could be picked up and taken back home.

as soon as the computer was safely debugged, i downloaded the itunes program (and whenever i say “i” here, i mean Karlee), and then keyed in my itunes card number with my $25 just waiting to purchase my favorite songs.  it was so cool to shop through the itunes “store” and just highlight and song and BAM…it was on my ipod!

last night i finally got to try it out.  i figured out how to get the arm band on (and when i say “i”, i mean Ben), and got it turned on and headed out the door.

things were going well until i tried to turn the volume up.  that requires sliding this little wheel thing around, only it’s not really a wheel, you just follow the cirlce and it senses you “turning the wheel” motion and it turns up.  only somehow i changed stations instead of turning up the volume.  and i wasn’t sure how to get back to my songs.

so on my second lap around the block, i ran back into the house for Karlee to fix me.  i mean you can’t run to Billy Joel singing “don’t ask me why” and not have it up to full volume!

after she fixed it, i didn’t touch it.  i just ran. 

“C. H. Spurgeon was to nineteenth-century England what D. L Moody was to America. Although Spurgeon never attended theological school, by the age of twenty-one he was the most popular preacher in London.”

I’m just discovering Charles Spurgeon.  I have heard of him…but never personally ready anything that he’d written.

When Paige and i were in Books-a-Million the other night, i saw a devotional called “Morning by Morning”…written by Charles Spurgeon.

I glanced at a couple of pages.

I was hooked.

So please forgive me if every once in a while i have to throw out a quote that you’re probably heard before, but is new to me.

Like what i read today regarding the suffering that Jesus endured:  “Shall the head be crowned with thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon the dainty lap of ease?  Must Christ pass through seas of his own blood to win the crown, and are we to walk to heaven dryshod in silver slippers?”

Rainy Saturdays

….make me want to stay in my pajamas

….make me want to snuggle up with a good book

….make me crave homemade chocolate chip cookies (cause it was a rule when i was a stay at home mom, ANY rainy day meant it was time to find all the ingredients to make chocoloate chip cookies)

….still make me want to run out under the raindrops…umbrella free!

….brings to mind the windy, cloudy afternoons that always came right before a big Florida summer storm that i loved as a teenager

….can sometimes make me sleepy

….the louder the raindrops, the better

….always make the sun look brighter on Sundays

Friday Poetry

i shared this last weekend and now i want to share it with you….

I SAW IN LOUISIANA A LIVE-OAK GROWING

by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Adam was my favorite of the night….

They sang their hearts out tonight.  Well, for the most part.

Scott and Anoop seemed rather boring to me last night.  And i’m not sure that Michael Sarver, the cute guy who works on an oil rig, is going to make it all the way.  The judges pretty much slammed his performance and although he seems like a really nice guy, he doesn’t really stand out from the crowd–and that is what you have to do at this point to get the vote.  So i’m predicting that he will go tonight.  And Scott would be a close second.

The stand out performance for me was hands down Adam’s rendition of the Tears of a Clown.  I never even listened to those lyrics before until he sang them last night in that “unplugged” version he did.  It was a Smokey Robinson song and i know you’ve heard the happy music on the radio that accompanies that song…it just doesn’t really match the words…maybe that’s why they never impacted me before until Adam slowed it down and sang it.  And also i LOVE LOVE LOVE that he asked Smokey “what inspired you to write those lyrics?”  YES…..that’s what it is about.  KNOWING the why and KNOWING why you’re singing.

Now if there’s a smile on my face
It’s only there trying to fool the public
But when it comes down to fooling you
Now honey that’s quite a different subject

Now if I appear to be carefree
It’s only to camouflage my sadness
And honey to shield my pride I try
To cover this hurt with a show of gladness
But don’t let my show convince you
That I’ve been happy since you
‘Cause I need to go, oh I need you so
Look I’m hurt and I want you to know
For others I put on a show …

Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my surface hid
Smiling in the crowd I try
But in a lonely room I cry
The tears of a clown
When there’s no one around, oh yeah, baby baby
Now if there’s a smile on my face
Don’t let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression
Don’t let this smile I wear
Make you think that I don’t care

Saturday…

I’ve been meaning to tell you all about Saturday.  But that would require access to a computer and that is very limited right now because 1) our computer at home has a virus and 2) it’s tax season at work and that  means work is busy busy busy and 3) it’s tax season at work and whenever i get some free time to take my laptop somewhere i’m too tired.

But tonight i had to take our sick computer to the Geek Squad so i thought i’d squeeze in some laptop time at BAM.  The geeks told me by spending only $302 i can have a brand new computer in just a few days.  Yikes!

So now Paige and i have come next door to BAM to facebook enjoy the smell of coffee–because after spending $302 i don’t even have a $1 left for a cup of java–and even if i was exagerating a little because i was upset, i still wouldn’t buy a cup of coffee cause who can drink coffee at a time like this?

I tried to check my facebook page but it says that it is “temporarily unavailable”.  what does that mean?  so before i let Paige on facebook, i thought i’d just blog a second.

of course this is turning into a longer minute because i just hit some crazy key that deleted the last four paragraphs i just typed.  that has happened before on this laptop and i still haven’t figured out what little magical button i can hit that can just delete whole paragraphs.  and unfortunately, this blog doesn’t have an “undo” on the tool bar.

okay, Paige is wanting the laptop….i promise to blog tomorrow about the amazing day i had Saturday!

Friday ramblings

 this is where i went this morning at 6:55 a.m.  Every Friday morning deserves a box of these.

….at 4.55 a.m. i was delivering Paige to the bus ramp at VMS.  The band is leaving for a weekend trip to Universal Studios.  Can you call it a spring break trip when spring break isn’t until next weekend??

…. ….this is what i was on at 3:55 a.m…..because Ben has the sneezy, coughy, really loud breathing thing going on.  Guess he is trying to get a nasty cold…..which i cannot afford to catch because i leave for Jacksonville this afternoon for a speaking/singing engagement tomorrow! 

….i’m excited about meeting the women of Murray Hill Baptist Church!

….i’m excited about singing some of my songs again….it’s been a while….hope i remember the words….cause i was practicing this week and totally forgot some 

Change

What is the catalyst for change?

Does it come as a result of someone else’s words spoken into our lives?   Someone says “i think you’d be great at ______” and so you decide to try do it?

Does it come when you see change in someone else?  “She just lost 50 pounds on the ____ diet….maybe i can too”.

Does it happen when all other options are gone?…..when you are at the end of your rope? 

Can you be inspired to change by reading something?….by hearing a song?

Is it instantaneous or a slow process?

How much is attributed to God and how much do we attribute to us?  “God helps those who help themselves”…..

Is life setting you up for a change?  do you feel one coming?  or do they come out of no where?

maybe both?

How often can you wake up and say, “today, i am going to change”?  I wonder if it is more a daily prayer for the process of change.  “God, if today i can be more like you…that is all that i would ask”.

Change me.

Friday ramblings….

….get a haircut tonight.  yeah!  i think this hairstyle is fixin to be history!

….i could eat Cocoa Pebbles for breakfast every morning

….i wish i had a personal shopper who could go pick me up some new slippers and deliver them to my door!

….where is my high school yearbook?

….whoever invented rhinestones….i love you

….everyone needs a friend who makes them LAUGH OUT LOUD

….i got a gift certificate to the Crate this week—i think i wear at least one piece of clothing that i bought at the Crate, every day.

….i am reading three books at the same time and they are all good!

….i have way too much gray for someone so young :0)

….we have 8 instamatic cameras in the cabinet case they have not had the pictures developed in them.  some have been in there for……four years?…….

….Keith Urban is in concert at Wild Adventures tomorrow night.  OMS (oh my stars!)…..i am taking my chair out there as soon as the gates open!!!!!!!  do you think Nicole may be there too?

….i love it that cell phones play songs instead of ring

….my brother and i are the same age this week, until his birthday on Sunday.  i teased him mercilessly about that growing up.  “you’re not my big brother this week”!!!!

I was 2 for 2….really!!

  Last night was the results show.  I never got a chance to post all my comments on each performer (i know you were holding your breath for that), but after watching the performances on Tuesday night, i predicted that Jasmine would be going home.  She sang “I’ll Be There” and it was just too safe.  She may have a great voice, but that song didn’t showcase it and from now on, that’s what the AI competition is about.

  I also knew that Jorge was probably going home unless he had a huge voting fan base.  when he sang, he didn’t even seem interested in what he was doing, let alone keeping the audience interested.  And again…that’s part of this competition….can you reach out and grab and audience (and judge’s) attention?

The only other contestant i wondered about was Scott.  Scott played the piano and sang some Michael Jackson song i’d never even heard, “Keep the Faith”.  But Scott must have a huge fan base.  I don’t know yet if he’s getting the sympathy vote for being blind…..  But that will only carry him so far…he’s go to really show that he can be a star.  I love his simple style and easy to listen to voice, but my prediction is that he will not make it to the top 5.

And Meghan….I just like her….even with the tatoos all over her left arm.