Janet's Smiles

We are about to embark on the A to Z Challenge for 2018 and I thought I’d take a minute to share the Reflection posts from the two prior years I have participated.  Each year music was the basic theme.

In 2016 I wrote about something to do with music for every letter of the alphabet.   Some of the topics were a little off the beaten track such as Funiculi Funicula for F and Xylorimba for X. 

This was for the letter “C” – Cowboy Jack

I was able to finish the whole challenge on time and I am pretty proud of my first abecedarium.

In 2017 I wanted to incorporate my love of scrapbooking with my love of music and so I went through the alphabet showcasing the concert album I am making of all the bands we have seen.  I did take the liberty of using some song names to cover the letters rather than the names of the bands.

This was from my letter A for Adele

I overestimated my abilities for this challenge and could not finish on time, although I did eventually do all the letters and they are linked in that recap post.

Next Monday, the 19th of March, is the big Theme Reveal for this year’s challenge.  There are already over 300 participants signed up and there will probably be many more.  You can find out all the info and sign up to participate here.

It is a really fun challenge and I have learned so many things and made so many new blogging friends through my participation.  I highly recommend it and even if you don’t want to blog, there are many interesting themes out there to explore.

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Earlier this year I wrote about getting the Sherlock Holmes Tarot cards.

The book notes on this card say:  “You possess clarity and power and from this new ideas arise.  Truth and ethics keeps you focused….”  The “keys” keys of this card are Strength and Power.  Given that we had just returned from our trip to Reno where we did the Big City Hunt and that I had an idea to make mini-scrapbook albums based on those adventures, this seemed very fitting.  I even thought about trying to collaborate with the Big City Hunt people to offer my scrapbooking services to other people who went on the hunts.  Strength and power speak to the weight loss efforts and being more focused on what I’m eating since we came back from vacation.

The next week I pulled the Peeler card from the Suit of Deduction.  This card talks about seeing things through to the end, taking pride, being patient and determined, trustworthy and methodical.  Okay, that fits with where I am wanting to go.  So far I am being methodical and finishing up some other projects and making lists of things that still need to be done.  I’m a great list maker!  I have lost a few of the pounds I gained on our trip and I am being patient and not expecting results overnight. 

Last week I pulled the Hansom Cab.  It’s legend says “Purpose and determination to move ahead in the case.  Mastery of skill or ability brings a successful outcome.  Self-confidence and self-discipline.  Navigate with a clear sense of direction.  Determination and courage.  Leap forward with your hands on the reins.  Success and fame are the rewards.  Victory.  Well, I’m not so sure about the fame part but success would be nice.  Self-confidence and self-discipline are things that I am pretty familiar with so again I’m thinking I’m on the right track.   I’m doing some research and taking some online classes to learn new techniques. 

This week I pulled the Five of Observation.  This was a strange card and talked about theft of identity, slander or loss, thwarted plans, abuse or assault.  A sense of defeat.  Cowardice.  At first I was a little apprehensive.  I checked all our bank accounts and told myself to be really careful when I was using a credit card.  I tried to make sense of this in relation to my goals.  Identity theft is all we need right now!

I’ve started to take daily walks around the neighborhood to help with getting in some exercise and I find it a great way to do some thinking.  On my walk it hit me…the card was talking about ME, not an outside force!  Words like fraud and phony started swirling around in my brain.  Cowardice!  A sense of defeat!  The card was telling me that I need to stop my “list making” and “learning new things” and actually DO some of the things on the list!  Stop talking about the plans and actually start with some action!  Stop being a coward and take the plunge!  Thinking back to last week’s card about taking the reins in my hands and leaping forward made me realize that I’ve been procrastinating on some things.  What am I afraid of?    

So, action steps this week were to add a few blocks to the walk I have been doing.  I walk a bit faster during some of it so it only takes me a little while longer.  I started making some more cards to add to the Etsy site and I am working on a travel mini-album.  That immediately made me feel more in control of the situation.

I’m still going to keep my eye on our bank account and be careful when using credit cards, etc., but I really believe that the card was telling me to stop talking and take action.  How about you?  Ever use a tarot deck?  What do you think of my interpretations?  

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Every year for the last few years I’ve been making Vision Cards, as introduced by the wonderful Jamie Ridler.    Half the year is gone so it’s time for me to check in and see how I’m doing.  Here are the ones I made for this year:

The first has to do with self-care.  I have done pretty well with my Hungry Girl eating program and have lost about 18 pounds since January (44 total since last year).  Not a huge amount but at the same time I don’t feel like I am depriving myself or starving.  We eat out occasionally and I certainly don’t kill myself exercising but for the most part, I am happy with the way things are going.  In the last month I have really stepped up my walking, taking a walk around the neighborhood almost every day.  I have set myself some weight loss goals and so for the next six months I am going to make a more focused effort in that regard. 

Next has to do with my creative life.  My goal is to be able to increase my income by either selling the cards and mini-albums I make and/or earn some money through affiliate programs.  I haven’t really worked very hard in this area yet, although I am now an affiliate for both Blitsy (an online craft store) and Creative Live, an online education resource.  You can see both of those on the right side of this blog (if you are seeing it on Blogspot – I haven’t added them to the WordPress site yet).  I have been taking some of the free courses offered on Creative Live about how to utilize my Etsy site better and be found in search engines.  In the second half of the year I hope to put all the research I’ve been doing into practice.  I do have one craft fair scheduled in November.   

Travel and Adventure is the next card.  I think we really covered that well with the Big City Hunt that we went on last month in Reno.  We have the voucher for one in San Francisco that I want us to do now that the weather is getting nicer.  I’d still like to hit Carmel and Monterey but I’m not sure that will happen this year.  

Finances is something that is a never ending battle it seems.  Just when I think we are getting ahead, something happens to stall us.  I’m not giving up though and will continue to work toward making our retirement less stressful.

Finally, we have our home.  The makeover it got last year did wonders and I wanted to continue the trend.  We used up our financial resources for the most part so the things we do now need to be at minimal cost.  We have made a great start in the last month in two areas.  The backyard, where I have started to detangle the jungle that has grown there and the garage where my husband has really made huge improvements on cleaning out and organizing.  It is a tricky area because I can only offer my opinion when asked as the things in the garage are mostly his.  I wouldn’t want him to come and organize my craft room though, so I totally understand. 

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We have lived in our house for 21 years now as of Flag Day (June 14).  The house was built in 1955 by the original owner and he used redwood to build it so we have been told that it is very well constructed.  We are the second owners.  About a year after we moved in we were able to participate in the Airport Noise Abatement program and got all new double paned windows, sturdy doors throughout the house and insulation in the attic for free.  Living smack dab between the airport and the train, those improvements helped a lot.

Over the course of the last 21 years we admittedly did very little ourselves to the house, inside or out.  We did paint both bathrooms and all three bedrooms (the kids rooms we did a couple of times) but that was years ago.  We had a leak in the kitchen so we patched the roof over that area but other than putting new sheet rock over the bad spot on the ceiling we haven’t done anything there.

In January of 2015 we had to replace the back fence.  You can read about that here.  Last May we took the plunge and gave the outside a face lift.  You can read about that here and here.   Then in November we tackled another major hot spot, the front bathroom and went from this:

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Okay folks, here it is…the last letter in the A to Z Challenge that I skipped.

V is for Van Halen!  We had pretty good seats for this one, on the floor in the first row of the second section.  We were afraid that we weren’t going to get a chance to see them because after the tour started they cancelled a bunch of their shows because they said they overbooked themselves.  Of course there was speculation of fighting between them and/or drugs as per usual.   Fortunately, our show was not one of the ones that was cancelled.  

Kool and the Gang were the opening act and they got the crowd off to a good start.

There was a big screen behind the stage and Van Halen used it extensively.  Having the images on the screen like that makes it easier for me to get some great shots.

Eddie may be getting older but he can still play a mean guitar.

I must admit that although there are a lot of songs I like, I was not a very big Van Halen fan in my younger days.  To be honest, I don’t even know if I can tell the difference between the songs that David Lee Roth sings from the ones that Sammy Hagar sings.  Given that, I thought they put on a pretty good show.  My husband, being a bigger fan, was a little disappointed.  I know that we both were not thrilled with the little tidbits that David Lee Roth put out there about his old girlfriends and his dog.  Sing the songs, don’t give me your personal history.  He did his twirling of the microphone and some leg kicking but I don’t think he was nearly as acrobatic — but he is getting older!

A huge cloud of red and black confetti spread over the crowd and I managed to get a few pieces to include here.  I included a shot of the area seating and marked where our seats were in this layout.  

There were also two reviews of the show in the local papers and I have included those with the scrapbook as well.

So, there it is.  I can finally say I really finished the A to Z Challenge.  Looking back on it now, I realized that I had originally intended to tell a bit more about my scrapbooking process and explain different techniques I used and the supplies, etc.  However, as I got farther and farther into it, I realized that I didn’t leave myself enough time to do that and the pages that I had done a while ago I could not remember the different names of paper styles, etc.

I also realized that I TAKE A LOT OF PICTURES AT CONCERTS!  I have come to the conclusion that I don’t need to keep every single picture I take and that I need to be more selective and edit them before I print them.  I was getting free prints from Shutterfly because my son worked for them and that was one of his perks.  Since he doesn’t take pictures he let me have them.  I had a lot of pictures printed that way.  Now that he no longer works there, I have been trying to take advantage of their sales and giveaways and be more careful about the pictures I have printed.  I’ll still take a lot of pictures at the concerts because you never know when something special is going to happen, but I don’t have to keep them all!

Now it’s time to start thinking about what I can do for next year’s A to Z!  Hope you have enjoyed reliving my concerts with me.  Love to hear any comments!  

Even though the challenge is over now, you can still click over to the main A to Z Challenge page to see what other participants have come up with for this letter if you are so inclined.

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It has been quite a while since I added any of the pictures I’ve been taking.  Here are a few of my recent ones:

#169 – In honor of Father’s Day I picked this one of my dad helping me blow out the candles on the occasion of my first birthday.  Somewhere I have one of him holding me but I couldn’t find it now (of course – which leads me to add sorting photographs to my current to-do list!)  My dad passed away about 35 years ago so he didn’t get to meet my husband or our kids, a fact that I’m a little sad about.  I know he can see from heaven, but I am pretty sure my kids would have gotten a kick out of him.  Wasn’t I a cute kid?  There is a sparkly thing on my left hand which I am pretty sure is a ring given to me by my godparents.  Who in their right mind would let a little kid have a choke magnet like that?  

#168 – Tuesday’s With Morrie was a quick read so here is book #11.  This is based on a true story of a Holocaust surviving family.  It is one of the “mystery books” that Bill brought home from Oregon.

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If you pay attention to the dates on the blog then you’ll know this is seriously past due for the A to Z challenge.  I made it one of my goals, though, to finish the letters so here is my letter “S.”

Sade is one of those singers like Adele, who does not tour very often.  When she came out with her “Soldier of Love” CD we were hoping she would do a show near us.

John Legend was the opening act, which was a pleasant surprise.  His first song was a cover of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep!”  We had some real Legend fans around us who kept shouting, “Sing it, John!”  “That’s right!”

Sade took FOREVER to come out.  We had heard rumors that she was slow to start her shows but we were beginning to get frustrated.  All that changed, however, when the first beats of “Soldier of Love” started and she rose from underneath the stage.

She sang songs from the new album and also lots of her hits from other albums.  She had a really good backup band.  When she came out for her last few songs after a costume change, she wasn’t wearing shoes!  I thought that was pretty funny.

Unfortunately, because she was so late in starting the show, we had to leave before the encore or we would miss the last BART train home.  Still, it was a great show and she has not done a big tour since then so I’m glad we went.

Even though the challenge was over a month ago, you can still click over to the main A to Z Challenge page to see what other participants have come up with for this letter.

I have one more letter left, “V,” and then I really will have finished the A to Z!

from Blogger http://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2017/06/april-2017-atozchallenge-suddenly-s.html
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Interestingly, I was nominated for another Mystery Blogger Award!  Since I have already participated once (read that here) I decided not to go ahead and do the full list of requirements, but I will answer the questions posed by the person who nominated me, Miss Andi.

Miss Andi is one of the bloggers I ran into during the A to Z challenge.  She talked about living courageously, something we all need to do!

Miss Andi asked the following questions:

1.  Why do you blog?  Do you have any specific goals?  Have you reached any yet?

• I blog because I think I secretly want to be a writer.  Or maybe I just like to talk and no one around me listens?  Originally I started blogging hoping to get some increased traffic to my Etsy site.  That is still one of my goals.  Also, I’d love to be able to supplement my income by making some money blogging.  That is something I am investigating now, since my transcription business is diminishing.

My Agatha Christie Collection

• My favorite writer has to be Agatha Christie.  I fell in love with her mystery stories at a young age.  As far as bloggers, I ran into quite a few good ones during the A to Z.  See my list in my reflection post.

4.  Do you think blogging will stick around in the era of podcasts, videos, Snapchat, etc?

• That is a really tough question.  I moved out on my own at age 21.  I had three children without anesthesia of any kind.  I started my own transcription/secretarial service 16 years ago.  I have participated in a couple of craft fairs to try to sell the cards and things I make.  All of those things took a lot of courage (at least to me).  

+1.  If you could be an animal for a day, what would you choose and why?

• Definitely a cat.  I watch our cat lay around in the sun all day and do nothing and it just looks so inviting.  Not a care in the world!  

So, there are the answers to the questions posed by Miss Andi, another deserving Mystery Blogger Award winner 🙂

How about you?  What animal would you like to be for a day?  Done anything that took a lot of courage?  Love to hear from you!  

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Each year for the past few years I have chosen a word of the year.  In 2014 it was “Courage” and in 2015 it was “Change.”  In 2016 it was “Focus” and this year it is “Believe.”  Throughout the year I try to incorporate that word into my life in lots of different ways.  Some are obvious, some not so much.  I wear it in a locket around my neck and I have little notes in different spots on my planners and things.

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For our recent trip to Reno, since we were going to be there for four nights and there was no way we could afford to gamble all that time, I looked for other things that we could do.  I got us tickets to see the Reno Aces play the Sacramento Rivercats (the San Francisco AAA baseball team) for one of their night games and we were going to see a friend of ours play in a softball game as well.  I wanted to do something else and I remembered that I had gotten us a Big City Hunt Scavenger Hunt to do in San Francisco but we hadn’t had a chance to do it yet.  I looked to see if they had one in Reno and sure enough they did, and they were having a sale so it was only $22 for the two of us.  I figured it was a good way for me to incorporate some exercise into our trip since I was giving myself permission to relax a bit on my healthy eating program.  The Scavenger Hunt is a walking tour but it is self-directed so I knew we could take our time and not be under any pressure.

I must admit we did not begin very well as I started us off in the wrong direction.  Much to my husband’s credit, he did not get too upset or give up on the excursion just because of that.  I did get to take a few cool pictures:

Good luck message to start the walk.

Huge butterfly.

Stars on a star

Some kind of accident happened here!

Looks like an ice castle.

Love this winged horse.

I love this mystic Indian

Just in case you decide to take this hunt, I’m not going to give away the answers or tell all the specific locations…

Next was an outdoor amphitheater and then came a church.  My husband went around the side to see if we could actually enter the church and got some pictures for me.

This old typewriter was one of my favorites.

Definitely a San Francisco sports fan!

Interestingly, the bartender did not know that the bar was part of the scavenger hunt.  We told him about it in case they got credit for people who make it there, but since he never heard of it, I guess that’s not part of the game.  Still, as I said, we felt right at home!

Some beautiful clouds in the sky!

This is called The Eddy and has lots of different games to play.

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