Celebrate The Small Things -- June 20

It's Friday and I'm Celebrating The Small Things!  Celebrate The Small Things is a weekly celebration where some bloggers have decided to post about something worth celebrating...no matter how big or small it is.

This week I'm celebrating having my brother and his family over for the week.  My little bro lives several states away, which equates to a 20 hour car ride, so we don't get to see each other too often.  I'm loving having him here and visiting with my adorable niece and nephew...they are too cute!

Below is a pic of my son and my nephew watching tv together...they look the same :)

I'm also celebrating good medicine.  My arthritis has been going crazy the past couple of weeks and so I've been taking my newest pain medicine, ConZip (extended release Tramadol), almost every day.  It has really helped take the edge off.

Also celebrating my orthotics...I think they may be helping a bit and I'll take anything I can get!

My brother just reminded me...celebrating old school music that makes you dance in your car like a crazy person.  We heard "The Humpty Dance" twice in three days!  Woot!  Special thanks to Sirius XM radio's 90's on 9!

What are you celebrating?

If you'd like to Celebrate The Small Things, visit our wonderful host, VikLit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author for more information.  And don't forget to check out her co-hosts:  Diana Wilder, LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge, Katie @ TheCyborgMom, and CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse

 

How To Keep Busy While Recovering: Try An Instrument

Last summer, after my first ankle surgery, I wanted to try to learn to play the piano.  The biggest challenge I had is that I couldn't sit at the keyboard too long because my foot would swell rather quickly.  I still have the keyboard in my family room, but it's currently collecting dust.

My daughter started taking guitar lessons in January, and my son joined her about six weeks later.  They would practice and I would feel left out.  I'd pick up my son's mini-strat while he was at school and try to play some chords.  I was picking up his guitar so much, that I decided that I wanted my own guitar for my birthday.  So my husband let me buy this...a few weeks before my actual birthday.

My Taylor GS Mini

I went to Guitar Center (which is a little bit of Heaven on earth) and tried a few guitars, but my Taylor was the one I fell in love with.  And it was on sale!  But it still cost a fortune.  Spending money on musical instruments is a bit more palatable than more frivolous expenses.  It's music for goodness sakes!  And music makes people feel better (which I already talked about here).  So my small fortune purchase was justifiable.  Right? :)

Plus, I can play my guitar while sitting in my recliner with my feet up.  And now I can have jam sessions with the kiddos.

Currently I can play Three Little Birds, by Bob Marley, and the intro to Wish You Were Here, by Pink Floyd.  I'm awesome.

Here's my daughter stealing playing my Taylor...

Do you play any instruments?  If you had to be on bed rest, or home recovering from surgery, do you think you would play more or less?

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For a click-able list of all 26 How to Keep Busy While Recovering posts, click here.

How To Keep Busy While Recovering: Music Soothes The Savage Beast

Music is one of those things that I believe truly speaks to my soul.  Different moods call for different music.  And like our moods affect the music we want, the music we listen to can also affect our moods.  I remember reading that it's helpful for babies to listen to calming, classical music when they are babies.  So I went out and got a Bach tape when my daughter was an infant and played it for her when she slept.  And she's an awesome kid, so obviously it worked :)

Music is an easy way to uplift your mood and help you feel better.  One of my favorite ways to listen to a variety of music according to my mood is through Pandora radio.  (I've already made small mentions of my Pandora listening here and here.)  I love how customizable it is, and that it's completely free!  I listen to it on my TV through my Roku box.  I also downloaded the app on my Kindle fire, but I don't usually use it too much on there.

Here are some of my favorite channels:

 

Bon Jovi

Plays mostly 80's bands with classic rock mixed in.  So in addition to Bon Jovi, I'll get bands like Poison, Aerosmith, Guns 'N Roses, and Queen.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Gives me classical Baroque era music.  Other than Bach, I'll get Pachelbel and Vivaldi and other composers that I am not too familiar with.  Sometimes I'll also get opera/ballet instrumentals like stuff from Carmina Burana and the Nutcracker.  I listen to this a lot as background music.  Since there are no words, I can't sing along...so I get less distracted.

John Williams

This channel was created by my son.  He loves all the orchestra music from Star Wars, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  This channel gives us a lot of classic movie instrumentals.  We like to listen to this during dinner sometimes.

Counting Crows

My newest creation is the Counting Crows channel.  My physical therapy office also plays music through Pandora.  Well, one day I commented about how good the music was that morning and asked what she had on.  It was the Counting Crows channel.   Other than Counting Crows, you'll hear Tom Petty, Bruce Sprinsteeen, U2, and Clapton.

The trick with Pandora is that when you first create a channel, you have to really sit there and do your like/dislikes.  If you do this for a couple of days, you will have the perfect channel.  I took a nice hot bath just a few weeks ago and put on my soothing, relaxing Bach channel and heard Pachelbel's Cannon in D three separate times within 45 minutes.  All different covers.  I call that a Pandora score!

Do you think music affects your mood?  What type of music soothes your soul?  What kind makes you happy? 

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For a click-able list of all 26 How to Keep Busy While Recovering posts, click here.