Music at Luckyhill and a YUMMY pasta dinner

Sometimes I have so much I want to write, I have to stop and ask myself, "Okay...is that a JOURNAL entry type of thing, or something to put on a BLOG?" I laugh at myself.

Today, I have a couple of things to say, but I will try and be brief.

I have taken music lessons since the beginning of time...not really, but it seems like it. I just LOVE music SOOOOOO MUCH! I have taken private vocal lessons since I was eight years old. I absolutely LOVE singing! I keep thinking that my love of music is something I need to share when I go to Ghana. However, I repeatedly tell myself I am CRAZY for thinking this! African's already LOVE music! By nature, they have music and rhythm talent and a love of music already. Music is part of their culture! What could I possibly teach or show them about loving music that they don't already know? Today, when I was at my singing lesson, my WONDERFUL teacher (she is a wonderful person AND a wonderful musician, having trained with the best of the best around the world!) expressed that she really things I need to share my music with the people of Africa when I go there. I was taken aback! We spent a lot of today's lesson talking about what I can do to bring music to Luckyhill. I prayed inside, asking Heavenly Father if this is something I should be thinking about. I felt that it was! So, I am preparing music and ideas and bringing supplies to bring music to musical people! It seems so strange to me that we would both feel strongly about this, but I will trust in The Lord and do what we both feel I should do! I have learned that God knows best! So, I should just follow Him. That is what I plan to do in this situation, too. It doesn't make any logical sense, but I will do it! One thing my teacher said to me today is that music, more than anything, brings people together. It softens people's hearts. Maybe I am just supposed to use the music I bring to soften someone's heart, or to reach out to someone with whom I would not otherwise be able to connect . I don't know for sure, but I DO know that I need to prepare to share my love of music, and I also KNOW that what my teacher said is right! Music speaks to the heart.

So, today was our "day off" work. Ryan had to go to work to meet people (wait, didn't I just say it was our day off?! HA! What a joke!) and didn't want to be there alone (I understand that!), so Bryttan and Taiger went with him while I was in my singing lesson. After my lesson, I knew no one would be home so I ran to the store. What a fiasco! There is a FUNNY story about that, but I won't share it now. I bought things to cook dinner tonight! Then, I raced home and CLEANED like mad to have the house nice before everyone got home. It was so nice to have some time with an empty house! I got the living room and kitchen CLEAN, floors swept and mopped (gotta love hardwood floors! SO NICE to keep CLEAN!) and started dinner. When everyone else arrived home, Bryttan helped me finish getting dinner ready. Then, we actually had a SIT-DOWN DINNER! YES! I am TOTALLY serious! Bryttan set the table and the four of us ate like a "real" family! It was great! Everyone LOVED the dinner I cooked, too! We had salad, carrots, grapes (for Taiger), fried Polska Kielbaska (is that even how you spell it?!) (also for Taiger...he LOVES that stuff!) French bread and tomato pasta (a family fave!) Much to every one's chagrin, I took some pictures with my Mom's cell phone. Although they are completely uninteresting, I will be posting them with this entry.

Taiger LOVES eating with his hands! Whenever anyone asks why I don't MAKE him eat with a fork (which he does, if he is in the mood, it's not like he doesn't know how...he just doesn't LIKE to!) I tell them that in Ghana they eat with their hands! Since Taiger will be in Ghana in a few months, I am just letting him get used to it! If that doesn't stop the comments, I say that since he is part Ghanaian, maybe it is in his genetic make up to WANT to eat with his hands! Okay, so it is a LOOOOONG shot...But I can't get the kid to use a fork! As a Mother, I have to have SOME arguement as to WHY my child won't use a fork! Besides, I also add, his Aunt BeQin eats with chop-sticks! Maybe the poor kid is confused! HA HA HA!

Want the recipe for Tomato Pasta? SO EASY! Cook one pack of angel hair pasta as normal. Drain water and leave noodles in colander for now. In the now empty pot, put a little butter and some crushed garlic...I used about one and a half teaspoons. Add a dash or two of crushed Basil leaves. Let that cook for a second to get the garlic cooked some and the butter all good and garlicy. Add half of a LARGE CAN of diced tomatoes. Stir it all up. Add the cooked noodles. Pour the rest of the can of tomato over the noodles. With forks, mix noodles so the sauce you made in the bottom of the pot coats all of the noodles. Add some grated Italian cheese (whatever you like...sometimes we use Parmesan, tonight we used an "Italian Cheese Blend" because it was on sale at Albertson's!) and a little basil and stir up. To look nice, I added some more cheese and basil just to make it look "finished". NOTE: The noodles should not be all red like spaghetti, so don't panic! You used enough tomato...trust me! Try it and see! Yummy, huh?!
It will look like THIS!:

Okay, so that blog entry was anything BUT the "brief" I said I would try and be. There are some other topics about which I want to write, but this is LONG ENOUGH! HA!

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog!