Me and my violin...

     After watching this video... my life was forever changed.

Nothing will ever change unless I get up and do something about it. It will not be easy. I repeat: It will not be easy. All it takes is willingness and dedication. And, well, time.
     I decided to do something for myself. For no one else. Just me. It won't go on a resume, its just something I have always admired and dreamed about doing. I want to learn to play the violin.

Step 1: Youtube a million videos about beginners and try to figure out how long I will need to practice before I sound "good."
Step 2: Accept the fact that the answer is 1 year... Do it anyway.
Step 3: Find a teacher.

     I contacted 2 people off craigslist and went with my current instructor simply based on location. He lives close to me, so its easy for him to travel to my house for lessons. I'm glad I did, because he is a cool guy and a good instructor. He recommended a music shop close by that has a rent-to-own program, so I eagerly went and picked out my own brand new violin. Its gorgeous.
     I would like to point out that I am an absolute beginner. Other than playing jingle bells with 1 finger on a piano when I was 10, I have ZERO music knowledge or skill. So... this is a bit extra challenging for me.
     1. I am learning to read music. Quite honestly, I know the space between bars spells FACE and I just use context clues to figure the other notes out.
     2. I am learning finger placement. Luckily beginners are allowed to place marking tape on their instruments, which makes this much easier. Also, the series of songs I am learning are all done in C sharp, etc, so I can be rather consistent in my lessons. Your fingers learn to curl appropriately eventually and I keep my nails trimmed extra short on one hand only. LOL.
     3. I am learning to bow. This is harder than one would think. Too little pressure and you squeak, too much pressure and you risk accidentally playing 2 strings at once. You have to have a certain posture (yes, I use a shoulder rest) and my arm gets tired.
     4. Lastly, I am learning to keep time. This is pretty tricky as well. Luckily, with today's technology, I simply downloaded a metronome app on my phone and I can speed it up accordingly. But still, you have to know how to read a quarter note, half note, and whole...and play it accordingly. Right now, we ignore sixteenth notes since I can't play that fast anyways.

YES. All four of those things all at once, jammed packed into my 30 minute lesson each week. Whew!

Honestly, I love it. Its so hard and I get so frustrated, but I practice every day. And truth be told, it gets easier. I sound better. I can actually play a few songs. Yesterday was my 5th lesson and I signed up for 3 more.
    I told my sister-in-law about what I was doing, and she got me sheet music on Lord of the Rings, which is my ultimate goal. Currently I can only play the first 3 bars of 1 song, but it sounds bad-ass nonetheless.
     Today is the first day of a new year and I can only look forward to my skill to come. Wish me luck!

DIY cakepop display

I've been meaning to write this instructional post for a while now. This DIY cakepop stand is super easy and only costs about $5 to make. Level of difficulty: Beginner.

Supply list:
Wooden plaque ($3 after coupon @ Michaels)
Pen / pencil / sharpie
Drill
Drill bit(s)
Ping pong ball
Paper
Blue tape
Powerade bottle cap

First thing is first, gather your supplies.

After that, it requires a bit of planning. Since I have made cakepops several times before, I know approximately how big they are. This is important when planning out your design, because you want enough space so that cakepops don't touch.

In order to do this, I had to find something approximately the same size (hence the ping pong ball).

Well, it was too difficult to trace the ping pong ball, so I ended up using a Powerade bottle cap instead. I folded my piece of paper in half and then half again several times and traced the Powerade cap circle. This way, I only had to cut once and got several appropriately sized circles to then play around with.

I rearranged for a while until I found a design that I liked. I wanted them to be in a sort of pattern that can make several different shapes, depending on the quantity. I could do up and down rows.... middle diamond shape.... or even 9 cakepops in a sqaure. It was perfect.

Once all circles were in place, I pressed firmly with my pen in the very center of each circle. The wooden plaque is very soft wood, so my pen was able to dent it ever so slightly. I then removed all the paper circles and used my sharpie to make the center circle dents little black dots. These dots are where I was going to drill my holes.

Drilling holes.... that is kind of a tricky thing.

I didn't want to drill all the way through the plaque, because then my cakepops would fall straight through too. Instead, I wanted to stop drilling approximately 2/3 through the plaque (see photo).

In order to do this, I read that you should tape off your drill bit with blue tape. That way, you can see how far you have drilled into the wood.

I think I used a 1/16th drill bit, or maybe bigger.

I'm not sure. Grab a cakepop stick and just compare until you find a drill bit about the same size. NOTE: choose a slightly smaller size to start. You can always grab a bigger bit and re-drill, but what has been drilled cannot be un-done.

If you use too big of a bit, the cakepops will wobble around and not stand straight. That would be bad. Also, try to drill straight up and down. Don't drill at an angle, or again, the cakepops will wobble.

Go ahead and drill all of your marked holes.

Now would be a good time to est and see if a cakepop stick will fit. I it doesn't slide in smoothly, grab the next size larger drill bit an re-drill the holes (I had to re-drill the holes 3 times, so don't feel bad if it doesn't fit the first time). Also, you can wiggle the cakepop sticks around a bit while in the whole to smooth away splinters and allow for

easier assembly.

I have found that cakepop sticks vary in size, depending if you buy paper or plastic, so try to be consistent when purchasing sticks from now on.

Once all the holes have been successfully drilled into the plaque, its time to paint it! I chose to stain it light grey, because I liked the wood look. After two coats of stain, I also added a coat of high gloss poly. This way, if any frosting spills, I can easily just wipe it off with water and a paper towel. That's it. Enjoy! Feel free to make a few for family or neighbors and hand them out around the holidays (filled with cakepops, of course!)

Free Nightstand

Our downstairs neighbor puts trash, kitty litter, and broken furtinure outside her door for about a week before finally hauling it to the dumpster. Last month she had a broken wooden kitchen chair. I wanted to rescue it, but it would have been too much work. Well, earlier this week she put out a nightstand with a broken foot. The foot was still attached, just kind of bent and broken to the side, screws splitting out of the wood.

I know from when I was looking when we first moved in that a good nightstand is $50-$100 easily! Those bad boys are not cheap. If I could fix it I would and if all else fails, I'd sell it at the garage sale we were going to have on Saturday and make $15 bucks from something free. I decided to keep my eye on it, and secretly assess the damage with a quick walk-by everyday.

Two days ago, the sprinklers were hitting it and for fear of damage, I told Tim we had to go snag it. It was now or never! So, at around 11pm we snuck down, picked it up, and hauled it back upstairs... while in our pajammas, lol. When we brought it inside, there was a snail on it, which I promptly asked Tim to remove. He squished it in the paper towel :(

This tiny fact (snail) helped ease my hesitant mind as to whether or not she was really getting rid of it. For a bit I thought maybe a friend was coming see it or something, but I don't think so.

Once the nightstand was bug free, we wanted to give it a once-over and see what we were dealing with. When Tim tried to close the drawer, it was stuck and wouldn't push in all the way. Bummer! Nothing's worse than a broken drawer because that's definitely not a quick fix. It seemed to be sliding ok, but it wouldn't close or pull all the way out. We got a flashlight and tried to peek along the wood and see if a roller was broken or even a piece of wood was bent or broken. Nothing.

At the bottom of the drawer Tim found a little latch. Its actually quite useful because it prevents the drawer from falling out if you pull it too hard. Lifting the latch, the drawer still wouldn't pull out. At this point, Tim gave up and started watching tv again. Me, the stubborn person that I am, made this a mission.

I lifted the latch and yanked! The drawer came out no problem.  ;)

I grabbed the flashlight (for fear of snails) and peeked inside.
There, in the back of the cubby, was a pink dildo and a DVD.

At the gasp of my "Oh My God!" Tim came over. He reached in and grabbed the DVD.
Yep, it was porn. "Fully Tattooed Naughty Girls" to be exact.

I was in shock for about the next half an hour. I have a stranger's used dildo in my living room.

Tim asked if I wanted to watch the porn. *sigh*

Now what?
I asked Tim if we should put them both in a target bag and hang it from her door knob. He said we should just throw them away. I texted a friend and she said we should put the nightstand back on my neighbor's doorstep with a crucifix and a bible in the drawer.

... I now have reservations about keeping the nightstand. I've lysol wiped the whole thing down twice, but you can't really wipe away images of naked tattooed chicks. The leg was super easy to fix and the nightstand is as good as new (minus some wear and scratches). So, I'm a little lost.

Has this taught me a lesson about second hand goods? no! lol, but it will always make me think twice about picking up used bedroom furniture.