Did I ever tell you..?

When I lived in New York City way back (2006-2009), I started attending the renowned Brooklyn Tabernacle. The main reason? The choir! This choir has won many awards, including 6 Grammys. They’re incredible, especially if you like gospel music, and they’re amazing in person. Occasionally, they have auditions for the choir, and one year I decided to give it a shot.

The very first audition was a group one: it was 3 girls plus me, and we went in to a rehearsal room where Carol (the pastor’s wife and also choir director) sat at a piano. She started playing Amazing Grace and instructed us to sing along. We all started singing together, and then - on a whim - I decided to sing the alto part. She gave me a little nod like “that’s fine, keep going” and so I did.

A few weeks later, I was notified that I’d made it to the second stage of auditions! The second stage was one-on-one, and I do not remember much else about it, but I did make it to the third stage. The third stage was an interview with another of the choir leaders. And after that, there was the fourth stage, a group chat with Carol and the pastor. FINALLY, I found out that I’d been accepted into the choir and I got my big binder with sheet music for the upcoming season.

The only problem? My graduate school classes were the same night as the choir rehearsals, so I would have to sit out for a semester. And what did I do? I just never went back. After all that, I didn’t ever sing with the choir. I do really wish I’d found a way to make it work but there’s always a reason for everything, so I don’t fully regret it!

Projects!

The dang dinosaur mural is finally done. I made a video recap for it that I posted on all my socials, but here are links to it if you missed it and want to check it out! Instagram and TikTok

It was a long long process, and there are several things I wish I’d done differently. But for having no experience and no real idea how to get it done, I’m pretty proud of myself!

Cameron is basically done with the chicken coop - he needs to finish the run part of it, but it’s 90% complete. And just in time too - the babies have started jumping out of their inside pen (that’s in the shop). It’s hot enough outside that they should be fine. Normally we have kept them inside until they’ve reached about 2 months old, I believe! It’s also important to introduce them to the existing flock, but our current flock is just TWO birds, and they are still using the old coop! So no need to do any sort of introduction there.

Finally, this week I plan to make a vest. I think a cool vest would look really nice with the button down shirts I’m wearing all the time now. Here’s the Etsy pattern I bought and will use. As for fabric? I’m not sure. I’ve got random scraps around the house that I can use. There’s also a curtain that I think would make a nice vest… I’ll keep ya posted!

Kid chores

On top of “notice and do,” the kids have weekly chores. They each have one big one and then smaller ones throughout the week that are for them (like cleaning rooms, making beds, that sort of thing).

In the past, Annabelle’s been in charge of cleaning the bathroom sinks & counters, then vacuuming, and her new one is to clean the new bathroom (that’s sinks, counters, bath, and floor).

Alexander’s done the bath/shower, then he washed all the sheets and made up the beds, and his new one is my favorite ever: he cleans out the van. Not the outside, just the inside. But he dusts, vacuums, throws away any trash, and puts in a new trash bag. It’s been SO NICE! It’s one of those things I never thought much about, but now that it’s clean almost all the time, I can’t recommend it enough.

So if you’ve got kids and someone needs a new chore idea, give that one a shot!

NOTE: For each chore, I write up a detailed step-by-step list for them to follow and then I walk through it with them. They don’t go in blindly!

New-to-me!

I grew up in Germany until the age of 8. We had one TV, and there was one English-speaking channel. So during the day, there were morning news shows. The afternoons was Phil Donahue or Geraldo. And there’d be a short spell during each day where we could watch a handful of kid shows (Duck Tales is one that I remember!).

After moving to the States, I wasn’t allowed to watch certain things or listen to certain music. I remember listening to a few songs by The Carpenters, some country, and then Christian stations. As for movies? We watched a few on TV when they came on, but we couldn’t usually afford to go see anything in a theater.

In our little south Mississippi town, there was a movie theater that had discount days sometimes. They’d play a movie that had just left the main theaters, for a discount. I want to say it was $1 for each ticket on those days, for the out-of-date movie. That’s where we saw The Lion King in theaters!

All that to say, there are MANY movies (and songs) that are new-to-me. So those movies and songs you think everyone has seen or heard, I probably haven’t. 😄 It means I get to experience some of the classics now, as an adult, for the first time. Like I just discovered the song You’re the Inspiration by Chicago, and I just love it.

Here are some movies I’ve never seen… maybe you can weigh in and let me know which ones are worth my time!

• The Godfather

• Saving Private Ryan

• The Green Mile

• Good Will Hunting

• Braveheart

• Die Hard

• Casino

• Pan’s Labyrinth

• Catch Me If You Can

• Million Dollar Baby

Somewhat related: There’s a movie on Peacock called Drop that I liked! It was a little cheesy at the end, and the premise is ridiculous, but I still thought it was good! Basically this guy and gal go on a first date (after chatting through a dating app for a while), and someone starts to air drop things to the woman. She ignores them at first but then she starts to realize that the person has sinister motives.

Food for thought

Cam and I have been chatting about tough subjects lately, things that push us to be better people. One chat was about being uncomfortable, how we are basically comfortable, most of the time. We have A/C to keep us at a certain temperature. We have big soft mattresses and blackout curtains. But pushing yourself just slightly, to be uncomfortable, is where growth happens. It’s the idea behind cold plunges and saunas and lifting heavy weights.

Anyway, I won’t get into it too much here, but this article is very interesting, and I’d love your thoughts on it! It’s kind of lengthy, but if you take the time to read it, let me know!

Another thing I came across recently that has gotten me thinking is something called the Paper Towel Theory. Basically, if you’ve got a new roll of paper towels and you pull off one sheet, you will not be able to tell. You could tear off 10 sheets, and it will still look about the same. But you take off a few sheets a day, over the course of a week, then you’ll be able to tell that the roll is getting smaller.

In life, that looks like making a good decision. That could be saving money, walking 10k steps, reading a chapter of a book. Doing it a few times, you won’t be able to tell a difference. But if you just keep doing it, a little at a time, eventually you’ll notice a difference. I thought that was an interesting analogy!

A few more things!

Every day, Alexander and I have been doing the NY Times Spelling Bee, but I started turning it into a printable. It helps me with my screen time, and also it’s just easier to see all my words in one place. I put all the hints (from the app!) on the page too. It looks like this (below), and if you want to do it sometimes, I am trying to update THIS LINK every day. If it doesn’t update, it’s probably because I didn’t make a printable that day! I’m trying to do it most days though! ❤️ 

Today I’m sitting at a coffee shop writing this. I am sipping on a honey vanilla latte and enjoying a bacon cheese scone. 🙂 

If there’s anything specific you’d ever like to know about, let me know so I can include it in a future email!

Hope you have a great weekend ❤️ Bethany