The PS3 Makes You Smart!

Well, maybe not reeeeally smart, but it taught me some history! Bear with me...

I have recently become enthralled with the beautiful music of Frederic Chopin. I have heard of him my whole life, and was actually more familiar with his music than I thought. If you are reading this from my original blog page, you should be able to hear what's on my music player right now: Chopin! I only put a few tracks of his on it, but they are ones that are pretty widely known; at least I think they are.

So how did I rediscover how great Mr. Chopin is? Well, through a game for the PS3 that my darling husband got for a Valentine's Day gift from me! (Of course, he picked it out and purchased it himself, but I was with him when he got it!) It's a game called Eternal Sonata, and I actually have just started playing through it with Landon, but I watched a lot of the story as he played along by himself in the beginning.

It's totally a fantasy game, taking place in Chopin's mind as a dream. So there's lots of magic and stuff like that, and it's really fun to play with my hubby! There aren't a lot of games like this that we both enjoy together, so he was really excited when I said I wanted to play it with him. So I should also add that the PS3 not only makes you smart (which I still haven't really explained yet), but also develops better teamwork and communication within your marriage! At least in the case of this game, anyway.

Now how does it make you smart?? Well, during the game there are "interludes" telling all about the life of Chopin, and one of his pieces plays in the background while you're reading about him. I am a nerd and like stuff like that, so I was really interested in finding out more about Mr. Chopin after playing the game for a little while. I felt like I was in school again, surfing all over the internet trying to find out all I could about his life. (Only I had to do all my research during my school years via books only-I graduated in 2000 and was not very computer savvy quite yet.) But this was fun research since nobody was making me do it!

Ok, so did that make sense? I am smarter now, since my husband got a PS3 and chose a game that invited me to investigate one of history's greatest composers. I have searched online and found a couple of books on Amazon that I want to order, plus there are numerous mp3 tracks available that showcase all of Chopin's music.

I still have no idea what in the world an etude, nocturne, impromptu, mazurka or polonaise is, though. I never got that far in my piano lessons!

I Know This Looks Bad...

Here you can see what appears to be a very sick little azalea (oh, maybe you couldn't tell that's what it is) bush. My parents, brother & sis-in-law and sister sent it to the funeral home for Landon and me when Landon's mom passed away almost two weeks ago. We love azaleas, so it was a wonderful choice; only I over watered it the first few days we had it at home, and it started to die.

Since I have stopped drowning it the leaves have quit falling off-seriously, they have! I did what you see in the picture above. I wanted it to be able to start fresh, so I got rid of all the deadness, which was actually about twice as many leaves as you see there on the table and plate.

But look below! There were a few-and only a few-little leaves that are still green, or maybe they just became green this week, and they are holding on for dear life! Of course I couldn't help but think of the spiritual analogies that could go along with this process as I worked on our sick little plant, praying that I had not really killed it.

I gently removed all the ugly leaves, thinking of how Jesus removes all the yucky and ugly things from our hearts when we let Him. It really still looks very pathetic, but I am hoping to see it become beautiful again. I went to the store today and bought one of the cheapest little pots to re-transplant it in, plus some new soil for it to grow in.

Look at the new leaves that are hanging on strong! Hopefully there will be some cool progress in the next couple of weeks. Hang in there, little plant!

The Blog is Alive with the Sound of Music

Yay! I am so excited that I figured this out all by myself!! I did not have to involve my very technologically smart husband to get a music player put on my blog page! Granted, I did a little bit of google-ing to figure out how to do it, but overall it was much easier than I thought. WooHoo! Mini wave in celebration of me! (Remember who said it/what show it's from/or even which episode?)

Anywhoo, I hope it doesn't blare out all loud on your computer speakers when you visit this page now. It seems to be set at half volume, and sounds fine to me. I have picked 10 of my favorite songs, and will probably change them up every now and then. Enjoy!

A Mother's Love

With her first son Jeremy



With her second son Matt



With her third son Landon

Very Trying Times

Here is a picture of Landon's mom, Debbie. I wish I knew when it was taken; my guess is late 70's/early 80's.


Many of you may not know that Debbie has MS (Multiple Sclerosis). MS is a terrible disease that effects each patient in different ways, but mostly it attacks the muscles. Landon's mom has been suffering with this for almost 25 years, and it has taken over nearly every part of her body. She is doing very poorly right now and is not expected to make it too much longer. I don't have the energy to go into all of it right now, but Landon and I went to see her today and she didn't know who we were. We stayed for about half an hour, and towards the end I think she finally kind of knew who he was at least. Her speech is very limited now and when she does try to talk it is very hard to understand her, and she doesn't sound at all like herself. It was really, really difficult to see her this way, especially for Landon. If anyone happens to think of us, please pray for our family as we go through this hard time. There are probably going to be some very difficult decisions coming soon, and we desperately need God's wisdom and guidance.