Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Favorite Day

 

In the fall of 2009, I found out that my sister, Selena, and her husband were expecting their first son, Landry.  I was so excited about having a nephew on the way and I wanted to create something just for him; something that would be original and heartfelt and would be something he could keep forever ... And then one day the song, "Little Bullfrog," just showed up in my head.  I immediately ran to the guitar and figured out the accompaniment that I was hearing in my head and finished writing the song.  After that, I decided this song would become one of a few that I wrote for my nephew, would record before he came into the world, and would give to Selena and Brian as a shower gift. 
 
And so, I did.  It was amazing how quickly the rest of the songs came to me and I enjoyed writing each one of them for different reasons.  In addition to these 6 original songs, I also recorded the song "Octopus's Garden" (by Ringo Starr) because Selena designed her nursery around this song.
 
The mural in Landry's nursery
 
And the last recording on the album is "Jesus Loves Me" because it is just a beautiful, simple song about the love that Jesus has for us.  And I think every child should grow up knowing that song.
 
After I wrote all of the songs (and made sure I knew them like the back of my hand) I contacted an old family friend, Dick Brunning, and asked if he could help me record the songs. I didn't need anything fancy - just technology simple enough to get my voice and guitar playing on CD but technology better than the ability my laptop possessed to do this.  So, Dick and his wife, Sarah, invited Chris and I over one afternoon in March of 2010 to record all of my songs and to have dinner with them that evening.  I should have known that Dick was not just going to "record."  He is a man of many, many talents, and he not only helped me get all of the songs recorded in a space that lent itself to great acoustics, but he also added sound effects to some of the songs, encouraged me to sing harmony on "Prelude to the Sun" and overlaid that track with the original melody and guitar part, and he worked tirelessly (and until about 2:00 the next morning) to get a rough copy of each song onto CD for me to take home. Oh, and who designed the album cover and the inset?   Dick Brunning. Yep, he is amazing!
 
He worked on the tracks for a few more weeks, emailed each file to me, emailed the cover artwork to me, and told me how much fun he had doing it all.  He even fussed at me when I sent him a Trader Joe's gift card to him and Sarah as a thank you, because any kind of payment was "out of the question."  We all have family friends like this, yes?
 
The copyrighting process was actually pretty simple (what?!) and could all be done online.  The hardest part was waiting for the confirmation letter to come in the mail telling me that my songs were approved and were officially copyrighted.  That was a fun day!
 
Anyways, here is the song list: (I sang and played guitar on all of  the songs, and wrote and copyrighted the following songs that are listed in bold):
  1. Favorite Day (Mallory Even)
  2. Octopus's Garden (Ringo Starr)
  3. Waitin' on the Weather (Mallory Even)
  4. Maddie (Mallory Even)
  5. Time With You (Mallory Even)
  6. Little Bullfrog (Mallory Even)
  7. Prelude to the Sun (Mallory Even)
  8. Jesus Loves Me (Traditional)
{to all of my musician friends out there: please take a moment to appreciate the fact that I recorded the guitar and voice tracks at the same time on each song. So, if I messed up the guitar part half way through a song but had the vocals perfect, I still had to re-record the whole thing. No pressure!} :)
 
Next project?  Getting all of the songs that I have written for my twins, Parker and Reagan, out of my head and onto something more permanent.  I also have another nephew on the way in just a few weeks and would love to write some original songs for him!  The challenge?  Now that my husband and I have twins, I feel like I have less time than I used to ... 

Front Cover - Artwork by Dick Brunning
Inset - Artwork by Dick Brunning
 
(if you are interested in getting your hands on the CD, please contact me!)
 

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Why Bother? A Top Ten List ...

A Top Ten list of things I do every day as a stay-at-home mom of 16 month old twins that often make me wonder, "Why did I bother?"  {Please understand: I love my children so much and would never ever ever even for a minute trade staying at home with them.  But, I laugh at the silliness of our lives sometimes and thought you might be able to relate.  Or maybe you can just enjoy laughing at us.  So, here you go!}


Why bother …

10. Trying to be quiet?  That is inevitably when I will be the loudest. {i.e. while putting toys away during their nap ... I always drop the tambourine.  Or trip on the puzzles which then come apart all over the wood floors.  You get the picture.}

9. Making a phone call?  That is inevitably when one child will trip over a toy, fall down and bust their face on our hardwood floors - or on their sibling, which causes double-face busting.

8.  Trying to nap when they do?  I will fall asleep before they do and then have to wake up 15 minutes later to change a poopy diaper, grab another paci, shut the curtains (again), OR move one to the pack-n-play in the other room for fear that their jumping, laughing and/or other silliness will wake the twin who has already fallen asleep OR because the current sleeper will undoubtedly awake before the one who has not yet fallen asleep, who will of course wake the current non-sleeper too early from their nap.  If I opt to NOT take a nap when they do, that is when they will both sleep at the exact same time for a solid 3 hours.

7.  Putting this <--- back on it's handle?  Every day, Reagan opens the kitchen cabinet, pulls this off of our fajita skillet and leaves it in the middle of the kitchen floor.  Every day.

6.  Putting the hand towel on the oven rack?  Every day, Parker comes in the kitchen, pulls the towel off of the rack, laughs like a maniac and runs around the house with it.  It usually ends up in a wrinkly ball somewhere in the living room.  Every day.

5.  Getting in the shower?  No matter how long they have been sleeping or should be sleeping, if I want to ensure that a child (or both) will wake up and wake up loudly, all I need to do is get in the shower.  Every time.

4.  Going outside?  It usually rains after we get out.  Not before. 
{we go out all the time, and i know it is important for all of our mental health to get out. I think I just have bad luck.  Or poor planning skills?  Or bad weather-predicting skills.}

3. Cleaning up their toys?  If I clean them up while they nap, they will make a mess again in the afternoon.  If I clean them up while they are in bed for the night, they will make a mess again in the morning. {Please note: I still do clean up their toys twice a day because of my mild, undiagnosed OCD}


2. Putting on clean clothes?  That is inevitably when I will get an entire cup of milk spilled on me...Or get teddy-grahmed. {not familiar with this verb?  Come over some time, we will teach you.}


1. Showering?  I sweat all day every day chasing from these guys around, getting them in/out of the house (3 story townhouse, mind you), in/out of the car, in/out of the stroller, in/out of their highchairs, in/out of their beds, in/out of the bathtub, in/out of trouble. I have been sweating since I was pregnant with them.  I have been sweating since 2010.