Chuck Lee Banjos In Action

After creating the last blog, I saw a video of 3 Chuck Lee Banjos in action. The players are Mary Z Cox, Judy Muldawer, and Wayne Shrubsall. The lady on the left is Mary. She is fantastic. I have a few of her books and cds, and I think she is awesome. Hearing her play Snowdrop is what made me realize I love clawhammer. I haven't heard of Judy although I bet she is also a great player. I am new to the scene so I am still learning the legends. The last guy, Wayne Shrubsall, is one of the best teachers that I have had. 2 years ago, I attended Camp Bluegrass in Leveland, TX. He taught me on the bluegrass style. He is a multitalented teacher and plays both styles, bluegrass and clawhammer.

Enjoy!

Chuck Lee Banjo Company

My dream banjo will come from Chuck Lee. This banjo builder is awesome. He creates some of the best openback banjos around and is located in Ovilla, TX. I have only been playing openback for close to a year so I couldn't justify a purchase like that yet. Sometime in the next year, I would love to order a custom banjo from him. I could go to his shop and pick out the exact piece of wood and have it custom to fit me and my hands. I can't even begin to tell you about the sound and the way it feels when you play it.

I met him at the Acoustic Music Camp last year in Arlington, TX. He is one of the coolest guys in the banjo world. You tend to find really unique openback banjo enthusiasts. I am going back this year again so I can take more training from Dan Levenson. He is one of the best clawhammer players in my opinion.

The one banjo I have kind of had my eye on is this one called the Ovilla. I believe this is one that was similar to the one I got to play on at camp. His daughter was using one of his to play at camp and we all got to take turns trying it out.

Baby Blanket for Jourdan

I created this baby blanket for my friend and coworker, Jourdan. I didn't realize how hard this pattern would be, but it ended up taking me 4 months of continuous work and twice as much yarn as the pattern called for. My stiches may now have been tight as the person who created the pattern. It was made with a G hook. This pattern was actually 4 pattern rows that repeated. You can see that there weren't many easy stitches in this one to keep it going fast. But, in the end, this is the most intense baby blanket I have made yet. It is very soft and has a metallic thread running through to keep it shining. Congratulations Jonny and Jourdan on your new bundle of joy - Hayden.


You can see it looks like alternating diamonds. This was a constant counting of stitches.


Here it is folder in quarters. It turned out 45x54 or something like that.


I have seen it in their baby pictures already with Hayden. That makes it all worth it. Now, I am crocheting for myself.

If anybody is interested in attacking this project, I would be happy to scan the pattern and send it to you.

ScreenShots on iPhone

I accidentally found out how to do this last night. You can take screenshots on your iPhone. Scared the mess out of me because my phone had froze up because a side button had got stuck down. I thought it was flipping out.

How to: While phone is on, hold the Home button down (round button at bottom) and then press the Power/Sleep button (top right). If you haven't changed your settings, you will hear the camera sound.

Here is what my background looks like before I unlock it. By the way, this is the original painting of the back tattoo I am getting. It is from shoulder to waist. I will be postponing the last 4 sessions since I am now pregnant.

It's Two Lines

Okay, some of you know that after 7 years of being married to Danny, we just now decided we would try to have a child together. I already had 2 which are 15 and 11. We didn't think we wanted anymore children, but now that we are older and more patient and have more room, we changed our minds. So, we have been trying for about 3-4 months. I took the test last night and then again this morning because I was wondering if it was really yes. Yep! I am definitely Prego! Woohoo.

This weekend, was a wild one. I got my eyebrow pierced again on Saturday. By Saturday night, my eye was black from the clamp being put on a blood vessel or whatever. Then, Grace's friend brought a cold or sickness with her this weekend. So, I ended up sick and had fever this morning.

Weekend summary: eyebrow ring, black eye, really good Italian food, lots of shopping, got sick, and found out I am Pregnant!

Now, the next step is to find a card that says this so I can send to my mother who has not talked to me in around 2 years. Hallmark says alot, we'll see.

Stumbled on some Farm Fresh Eggs

Went to look at the house we are renovating for my inlaws yesterday, and I mentioned that I needed to stop and get some eggs. It was Grace's bday, and I needed to make a cake. I heard that the lady across the road, Mrs. Hill, has some fresh eggs. I thought, Heck, I will do that and not have to go to the store. So, I bought my dozen farm fresh eggs for 2 dollars. Woohoo! These brown eggs were beautiful and the yolks looked great. I have decided that I will keep going to her and leave the store bought eggs for someone else. I got to see her chicken pen which was super clean. My husband told me that chickens are cannibals and will eat anything including other dead chickens. I can't imagine chickens in the big commercial farms grazing on dead chickens and other things and then hatching out eggs. Kind of seems gross to me.

After pizza and cake and the party stuff, I went to workout after 9 oclock last night. I love Anytime Fitness, because it doesn't matter what time it is. Oh yeah!

Birth of a new Hypochondriac

Now with the internet, there is a new breed of Hypochondriacs, they are called Cyberchondriacs. These are people who study conditions on the internet for self-treatment. These people will go against advice of their doctor because of something they read on the internet. Some people want to have the biggest and baddest disease or condition when in fact, it may be nothing at all. Lookout WebMD, you may be need to start up a support group for your visitors who are addicted to your site.

Amazing Workout Machine - Elliptical Crosstrainer

This machine was just kicking my tail. I didn't realize the impact of 15 minutes on this for me. I'm a beginner and can bike 3 miles in 20 minutes,but this elliptical crosstrainer was killing me in about 2 minutes. I suffered it out and it took me 15 minutes to do a mile. The incline really helps you get the maximum workout. One mile on this thing burned 100 calories. I noticed if you didn't want the upperbody workout, you could just hold on. I have always drifted towards recumbent bikes in the past, but I think I will go for these kind in the future. Really cool!

Official Anytime Fitness member now

So, I did it yesterday. I joined this great gym that is open 24/7. Website I tried out their free trial a few times and decided that I really liked it. My favorite is the TVs on every cardio machine. That is pretty sweet. It is not a big deal to jump on for a bit and pump out 3 miles. My daughter joined with me. Aweee! How sweet! I read about this great gym on a friend of a friend's page: My Journey to Beautiful Blog. Thank you Kasey!

Seventh Void's first CD

Seventh Void's first CD will be released very soon.

If you pre-order this CD, you can get an autographed CD booklet. A guy from Type O Negative has helped start this band. They have a different sound. This band is not intended on replacing Type O Negative. It is running parallel.

Get it at Newbury Comics.

Grace did photoshoot

This is some of my daughter's work. My daughter, Grace, is turning 15 in a week. Her boyfriend, Ryan, is in a band, Zeropoint. She did a photoshoot for them because she is interested in photography. This is one my favorite shots she did of them. Zeropoint is a Christian Metal band. You can hear them on their Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/0pointrocks. I have seen them perform and they definitely rock.