Jinxed

CDs
I don’t think CD players like me.

Maybe I’m jinxed or something – but this is getting kind of crazy.

I like to have a CD player in the kitchen so I can listen to music while I work. Sounds simple – right? Ha!

Things started to go wrong when we were still living in the hovel. I had left my windows open one Sunday when we went to church and a freak rain storm blew in.

Of course my CD player was sitting right under the open window. It was history.

My wonderful sister Sandy got me a new one for Christmas and I greatly enjoyed having music to work by – for a while – until one of the kids ran through the kitchen really fast and knocked it down. It, too, was history.

Things didn’t get any better in the new house. My sweet husband got me a wonderful new one. It was all silver with a sleek modern design – really nice! It worked pretty well, too.

Well – at least most of the time.

But then one day I went to switch on the radio and it wasn’t there. The whole player had simply vanished. I found it later in one of the kid’s rooms. Their CD player had broken and they just couldn’t go to sleep without listening to Adventures in Odyssey or Jonathon Parks – so they borrowed mine. Long term.

My dear husband felt sorry for me and offered to share one of the CD players he had in the shop. I don’t even want to know how many layers of dust he had to remove to make it presentable! I took one look at that behemoth and said, “We’ve got us a Boom Box!”

This thing is old it still has a cassette player. Remember cassettes? They’re those square plastic things that you have to rewind to listen to. Oh yeah – it’s old.

It’s also a monster. The speakers alone as a big as dinner plates!

I smiled. This thing wasn’t just gonna play music – no – it was going to blast music!

There was just one problem. It didn’t like me.

Jan put a CD in and it played beautifully. A few nights later I put a CD in and that monstrosity wouldn’t even turn on. So I asked Dagmar to fix it for me. She simple walks in the room and the silly thing lights up.

She laughing says, “Wow, all I have to do is walk in the room and it works!”

I laughed too. But it wasn’t really funny.

I push the buttons to start the first song – nothing.

Jan walks in the room – pushes the same button and the room is full of music.

He walks out of the room and it stops.

Seriously people. It stopped. I am not kidding.

It doesn’t like me. It seems the only way I can listen to music is if Dagmar or Jan are standing in the room beside it!

This just isn’t fair.

So – if any of my dear and wonderful children are actually reading Mommy’s blog post – please know that all I really want for Christmas is a new CD player for my kitchen. With a radio. And a clock. Maybe an under counter model. And if it could remind me to water the plants or put sugar on the grocery list that would be even better! 🙂

Okay – who am I kidding. With my luck the whole thing will explode – or not pick up any radio stations unless you stand in a certain way with one foot touching the south window and the other one over your head.

Maybe all I really want is my fancy silver CD player back. At least it played music on Tuesdays, Thursdays and every other Sunday.

I’m jinxed – I tell you. Jinxed.

(Did I ever tell you about the set of three cordless phones I got for Christmas that got zapped in a freak lightening storm? It was about 2 AM…)

In the Palm of Your Hand

CDs It all started with a comment made in a sermon a few weeks ago.

That comment made my my husband think of a certain Keith Green song.

That lead to the inevitable – “Honey, do you know where the Keith Green CD’s are?”

Um – that would be no. Since moving – the CD’s have ended up in several random locations around the house and have never been organized. I could – however – tell you where it was for the last ten years at the other house!

Ahh… the joys of moving! 🙂

Fast forward a week. We’re in the big city at our favorite thrift store when an Allison Krauss song begins to play.

I turn to my husband and ask the inevidible “Honey, do you know where the Allison Krauss CD’s are?”

Umm…that would be no. He could – however – tell me where they were for the last ten years in the other house.

Fast forward one more week.

The kids are at Grandma’s for the evening and my husband and I have a “date night”. We were spending the evening cleaning out and caulking the bathroom closet to prepare it for painting.

(I know – we have some really romantic dates around here! 🙂 But we have found – if we’re going to take a bathroom out of commission – it’s much easier with the five kids gone!)

So – with Jan prepping the closet – I set out to search for CD’s.

I found some forgotten treasures! The rest of the evening was spent with Jan in contortions caulking the closet while I held the light for him and changed the CD’s.

What sweet memories we relived through that music.

This Allison Krauss song in particular – really touched me.

I leave you with the words….

“In The Palm Of Your Hand”

If I could have the world and all it owns
A thousand kingdoms, a thousand thrones
If all the earth were mine to hold
With wealth my only goal

I’d spend my gold on selfish things
Without the love that Your life brings
Just a little bit more is all I’d need
‘Til life was torn from me

I’d rather be in the palm of Your hand
Though rich or poor I may be
Faith can see right through the circumstance
Sees the forest in spite of the trees
Your grace provides for me

If I should walk the streets no place to sleep
No faith in promises You keep
I’d have no way to buy my bread
With a bottle for my bed

But if I trust the One who died for me
Who shed His blood to set me free
If I live my life to trust in You
Your grace will see me through

I’d rather be in the palm of Your hand
Though rich or poor I may be
Faith can see right through the circumstance
Sees the forest in spite of the trees

If I could have the world
If I could have the world and all it owns …

The Year the Music Disappeared…

CDs

I remember the conversation very clearly.

My oldest son had been rolling his eyes as he heard the opening beats of my favorite Ricky Skaggs CD.

I stopped him and patiently explained that I wanted all of my children to have an appreciation for all types of music – from classical to bluegrass. They didn’t have to like it or even choose to listen to it on their own time, but they needed to be able to listen with a good attitude.

That began the year where I went out of my way to introduce them to many styles of music.

We enjoyed concerts on our public television station – from John Tesh to the Three Tenors. We took our children to hear live music; they heard everything from the 4 part harmony of southern gospel to the rousing marches of John Philip Sousa.

When we visited grandma’s house we pulled out the old albums and listened to Jim Reeves, The Browns, and even The Smother’s Brothers.

We had sock hops with the cousins listening to Nana’s At the Hop records. (They invented the coolest dance moves to the “The Lion Sleeps Tonight!”)

Every Friday we listened to our local Christian station play “Love Songs for Christian Couples”. (Alright – I’ll admit- that one didn’t go over so good, but at least they have a working knowledge of the love songs from the 60’s and 70’s!)

I didn’t know if it was working until I noticed that my music was disappearing.

John Denver was the first to go. He was taken by the 7 year old who loved “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”.

As I walked upstairs to bed one evening I heard some beautiful Celtic harmonies and followed them right to Dagmar’s room. She had all of my Loreena McKennitt CD’s.

I also noticed my oldest son listening to John Michael Talbot while he was doing school one morning.

But I knew I had them hooked when the Sons of the San Joachim were on Public TV and one of my sons said, “Sweet- that’s one show we really need to tape!”

I’m glad to report that my kids now have a respect, if not an appreciation, for many different kinds of music.

But it does come with a cost. I may need to carefully search their CD collections before they leave home.

By the way, has anyone seen my Don Fransisco Best Hits CD?