Ear Candy #2

During my flight home from the great state of Oklahoma, I decided I’d listen to some tunes rather than read from a book. This is when I rediscovered a few artists I rarely get to listen to because I’m either listening to children’s songs or to road travel songs that both the hubby and I can enjoy together!

First up, Madeleine Peyroux.

The first time I heard the lilting voice of Madeleine was in a Vegas Starbucks coffee shop. Her CD Careless Love was one of their choices on display and the barista asked if it was annoying or enjoyable to those of us standing in line. I was shocked he could even ask such a question! It was absolutely enjoyable to me, though now I can understand his question a bit better as I can’t play her songs for too long when Hubs is in the car.

Ear Candy #1

I love music. I’ve been playing the piano since my first lesson in the 7th grade. I used to play with various singing groups and bands at the various churches I’ve been a part of. I’ve played in weddings, for competition, and for my kids.

At some point in my future, I’d love to go back to playing in front of a crowd. It’s one of the most challenging things for me to do because of the level of fear and nervousness that come with it, especially when I am backing up a vocalist. But the reward is always the same: a feeling of accomplishment, a sense of purpose because I am using a gift graciously given to me by God, and the camaraderie that comes with being amongst other musicians.

I also love listening to music. While I love living in a small(er) town, there is a downside: I don’t have nearly as many opportunities to listen to the radio in the car, which used to be a consistent way for me to hear some new tunes now and then. We don’t have a stereo of any kind in the house (shocker, I know), and I avoid turning on the house computer during the day to minimize my time in front of a screen while the boys are awake. It usually becomes a huge distraction for me as well, so it benefits us both. I do have an iPod, but since I no longer have a gym membership and I haven’t quite figured out how to implement an exercise routine into my week, then I’m really only listening to it when traveling.

Sing me a solution

This was the first-ever music CD I bought. Not sure why I remember that, and more importantly, I’m really not sure why I chose Seal as my first choice of artists. I’m willing to admit it could have to do with that “rose” song. It’s my only album by Seal and I can’t remember the last time I listened to it.

This one is the first CD I bought while at a Starbucks. It happened to be what was playing on their sound system at the time and it’s still a great album to listen to on a road trip.

And this one Hubbs bought for me because I kept mentioning how much I like this song. Still do, and we also like playing this CD on road trips.

Why am I walking down Memory Lane with my CD’s? Because I have a small home and everything in it has “real estate” value. We have an average-size collection of music and a smattering of videos, but nothing out of the ordinary. However, the space they take up is annoying, and now I’m on a storage solution rampage with the CD’s.

Now that we have the new bookcases, there’s even less room to keep everything we had on the old bookcase – go figure. Not a real “problem” to have, I’m not complaining. I mean, it’s just “stuff” and there was a considerable amount of purging done. So for the items that remained, I needed a solution and a quick one.

Enter the newest piece of plastic to take up residence in our home:

I went through all of our CD’s, pulled the papers out and what used to take up scads of space because of all of those plastic cases is now all housed in this beautiful $3.50 little box.

The bigger chore is the time it will take to get them all on iTunes.

Oh.Joy.