Battle of the Bands for 5.1.15, and getting caught up on the rest of the week.

I apologize, yet again for my lack of response to comments in my Music Monday post, and lack of return visits. You know, sometimes I just doubt my commitment to Sparkle Motion blogging. But my internet has been extremely slow, spotty and intermittent for a while now and has only gotten worse, an issue which isn't being checked out by a Mediacom tech till this Monday. This week has also been otherwise absolutely crazy, what with leaving town today and having worked two back-to-back double shifts previous to this (the last one being particularly stressful). All I could do yesterday was de-stress and de-compress. And watch lots and lots of Friday Night Lights.

But I digress, because I am here today with a brand new Battle of the Bands! First, I wanted to share the incredible news that last week's #ThriftScoreThursday - the retro flamingo barware set - was featured in Trisha's Thrift Score Thursday post over at Black and White Obsession. I was so, so happy!

#MusicMonday: Music to get happy to.

How has everybody been? I'm still in the holding pattern with the weight loss. Holding at a loss of eight pounds so far (the ten I lost, plus the three I put back on, minus another that I lost just in time for last weigh-in), and I had better see improvement this week. And that's all I've got to say about that! I've also potentially made my first Etsy sale, and I don't even have my Shoppe up and running yet! Isn't that great? It's NOT set in stone, but someone did inquire about the adorable flamingo barware set I showed off during last Thursday's Thrift Score Thursday post, and I gave them price and they want the items at that price! They can't get it just yet, but that's okay....I have a tentative launch date of May 15 for the Etsy Shoppe, and will be listing it there if the first potential buyer is unable to take it off my hands. Now, if only the rest of my vintage stuff could sell that quickly, I'd be doing great!

Today's "Monday's Music Moves Me" theme is "Music that picks you up when you're feeling down".

Progress: I am making it. And Battle of the Bands winner for 4.21.15

Good morning and good Tuesday to ya. It is sunny and bright (though cool), and I am hoping for the kind of productive day I've needed for months now. I am getting closer to figuring out what all to list on Etsy, and today is the first good light I've had on a day off since....I don't know when! I also hope we get the yard started, at least, and that maybe - just maybe - I can get outside and get caught up on some spray painting projects!

Battle of the Bands for April 15

On tax deadline day, no less! Not much (superficially, at least) makes people feel more ragey and battle-worn than that annual rush to get taxes done. Hopefully, you've already done yours by now! If not, best of luck to you. But I doubt you're out perusing blogs if that task is still in the works. I may be a master procrastinator (HEY! I rhymed! Sort of.) about many, many things. Just about everything. But not taxes. Taxes and FAFSA paperwork are two things not even I will put off till later.

So yeah. It's time for another Battle. What is Battle of the Bands? I am so glad you asked. Every month on the 1st and 15th, I will put two covers of a song up on the blog for you to listen to (or listen to enough of to get a "feel" for the song). I will also ask that you cast a vote for your favorite version, or least disliked as some of them have gone. Six days later, on the 7th and 21st, I will come back to cast my own vote and declare a winner.

Oh...just a few favorite things!

Today over at Time Out For Mom, the Coffee Chat theme is "Favourite things. What are you loving these days?"

Well, for starters I am pretty excited about my recent seven pound weight loss. I have plateaued at the end of my second week, which I am NOT loving, but I'm trying to find creative ways to get the pounds falling off once again, because I really loved stepping on the scale and seeing the number move in a favorable direction. And I do NOT want to be caught at the same (or greater) number at the end of week three.

But that's not all!

Back in the saddle again - I think

It seems like every time I think I'm ready to ride again, more stuff comes up and I end up on an unintentional hiatus for a while. That's what happened these past few weeks, and is bound to happen again. But at the moment? I'm just happy to have a few free minutes to type a few paragraphs out, share some music, and a sneak peek of something else that I'm really, REALLY excited about. Like....SO excited! You don't even know. But you will Thursday, if you come back for my #ThriftScoreThursday post.

In the meantime, it's #MusicMonday!

Time is on my side

I know (like everyone else, I assume) I sometimes get wistful for days gone by, and yes, I sometimes even wish I could go back to the days of my youth. Really, who doesn't? Most of us grew up in a time where things were much simpler - for example, I grew up in the weird and wonderful 80s. Even though that was an extremely excessive decade, things were still simpler - at least for kids. At least for me.

Today's Tuesday Coffee Chat subject is " 17 Again! If you could be any age again, for one week, what age would you be?"

Road Trip Random #MusicMonday + BotB Winner for 3.21.15

As is my usual custom here of late, I am off to a bit of a late start on Music Monday, and certainly off to a late start on announcing a winner for the Battle of the Bands for 3.15.15. But I just got back from a quick trip back home to visit the folks and hopefully start getting a feel for my future home (more on that another time), and prior to that worked seven days in a row, the last two of which were doubles. I am beginning to think my schedule may always be something like this, but I'm not going to complain. I need every cent I can earn from my job! So first up will be the BotB winner...

Battle of the Bands for 3.15.15

Hello, good folks! Did we all survive last Sunday's Daylight Savings Time? I have to say it's been a great week full of lots of work, lots of thrifting (which means lots of vintage treasures, yay!), warmer temps, and binge-watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which you should totally be watching if you're a Netflix subscriber! It's also time for another Battle of the Bands, and I am pretty excited about this one!

#MusicMonday for 3.9.15

Ah....if only I had time to turn music on and the world off...

Let's just say in that case, I'd probably still have the world turned off. It's been kind of a stressful week. We had our ice storm Thursday, I had to be late to work because of it Friday, then worked a longer day than I had expected Saturday and it was SO BUSY! I am grateful, but tired. I was so stressed out I thrift shopped on the way home, and did not come out of the store empty-handed. I found the most perfect little beaded vintage evening bags from the 60s. So far, I haven't managed to get a good photo of them, but as soon as I do, it will be up here and on IG!

Coffee Chat - Confessional Edition

I missed last week's Coffee Chat, but am so happy to be back today! And what an exciting theme for the week: Random Confession. It's good for the soul!

This is so true. I used to be the one who couldn't wait to vent and share. But believe me, I've gotten a LOT better at not sharing over the years (a few different experiences where I thought I was welcome as a friend to vent or share ended up biting me you know where, so now I am VERY selective with whom I share and what I share when I do.), but if it's among genuine friends, sharing, confessing, is indeed good for the soul!

Battle of the Bands and #MusicMonday for 3.1.15

Howdy, folks! I'm terribly sorry to be combining posts like this again, but hopefully life levels out some and I get a bit of down time to prepare things a bit better in the next month. (No promises for this one yet-it's getting real up in here and I have to start doing things like pricing electricians, contractors and storage units, and taking care of some personal business to be sure I'm doing the right thing with this house.) So far, work and being sick seem to have sucked February right out of my life. But here's to getting better! And music...

#MusicMonday and Battle of the Bands Winner

I feel I need to apologize for my tardiness in announcing the Battle of the Bands winner for the February 15 battle. Time is getting away from me a lot here lately, and it seems all I want to do is sleep when I have a free minute!

Battle of the Bands for February 15

So my last Battle of the Bands was a real miss on a hit-or-miss scale. Why, I may never throw Gordon Lightfoot covers into the ring again! And I certainly won't be using so many - at least not all at once.

Now the time has come for a brand-new, shiny battle, and I will try to cleanse your collective palates of the bad taste left behind after the Lightfoot covers of which there were too many. In this battle, I will be breaking a rule of mine (which is not putting the original up for voting. Or, if the original isn't the one that made the song famous, then putting the best-known version of the song up for battle) by posting both the original AND the most popular version of a certain song for your consideration. But I promise they're both really good! On with the show...

Weekend musings, #MusicMonday and #TuesdayCoffeeChat on Wednesday

I went to visit my family this past weekend. This was a planned visit, so I had hoped I would leave the blog a bit better prepared than I did, but due to an exhausting work schedule and an incredible amount of things to tend to before leaving, that obviously never happened. I am still playing catch-up. I've also fallen into the deep end of Pinterest again, but FINALLY I am pinning with a purpose because those big changes I've been talking about for years (the past two years, in fact)? Those changes are set to begin at last.

BotB winner and a few favorite things

Well, that was interesting! In my first Battle of the Bands of February, I pitted not two but FOUR covers of Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" against one another. Aside from the rookie (well, I'm blaming it on being a rookie, anyway) mistake of throwing so many choices up - or maybe because of it - it's been the most controversial battle I've posted. I chose covers by Claw Hammer, Elwood, Dwight Yoakam and Toby Keith because I thought they all brought something worthwhile and something different from one another to the table. Even though Dwight and Toby are both country artists, their stylizing of this song couldn't be more different to my ears.

With V-Day approaching, it's time for a Cupid Shuffle. Of sorts.

A.K.A. the Mix Tape Shuffle for February: #LoveSongs edition, natch. This should be interesting, since I just don't do love songs. Even when I've been in relationships, I've never been part of a couple that had an "our song". But as it turns out, there are a few "romantic" tunes (well, romantic according to me, so make of that what you will!) up my sleeve for you to ejoy. Shhhh....don't tell anyone!

Super Bowled-over but ready to start the work week

That pic over on the left? (Which I actually saw on another blogger's page today and had to go do a search for it so I could have it for myself - and now I can't find that blog so I can do a proper shout-out) Really says it all. This can be evidenced in the hornet's nest I stirred up with the first of this month's Battle of the Bands installments. I knew I'd eventually find some covers basically only I like, haha! (Feel free to go give any of the covers a listen and vote, if you have the time/inclination.)

Inspired by the weather

This past week it was pretty cold. But just pretty cold; not unbearably cold. Thank goodness! My whole world seems to shut down when it gets unbearably cold. I'll barricade myself in my bedroom under my covers, which is wonderful for my reading and getting caught up on tv, but pretty bad for blogging and bloghopping and returning social media messages and emails. I tend to avoid the computer when I'm in my little sanctuary, even though I have it with me in there.

That's the spirit!

And no, I don't mean the yummy, intoxicating beverage kind, though there could be some of that by the time it's over!

Today is the day (fingers crossed) to get stuff done in the house. I have the day off, and there is much to be done if the temperatures cooperate. Meaning, it's cold here and our central is iffy and our electrical outlets in the main room (kitchen/living/dining) of the house are too iffy to plug in room heaters. So if it's not at least 60 degrees in the main part of the house, I'm very likely only going to come out of my cozy bedroom to work out. Or maybe I will do that in the bedroom as well. I don't deal well with cold weather. But I do hope to get a start on my spring cleaning, as I am working toward listing my home in the spring. But more on that later.

Today is also the 15th, and that means it's time for a new Battle of the Bands!