The Consequences of "To Do It Right..."

We bought a fixer upper house in December and expected to finish the remodel and move in by late January. And then the deadline was the end of February. And it is now nearing the end of April. And we are still not finished with the remodel nor are we moved in. (Photo of our house as we began the remodel-Aunt Chris (who spent a day of her Christmas Vacation helping us demolish walls) and I)

As I was thinking about how the last couple months have transpired, I finally pinned down--to the sentence--the idea that got us here. Here being, living at my parents' house with paint and spackle decorating my hands. The sentence begins with, "To do it right...." and it ends differently every time.

We planned from the beginning to paint our house and tear up the flooring. The house had been just entering foreclosure and the previous owners hadn't wanted to move. So the whole house smelled like an animal restroom. And we hoped it was animal waste. Thus, we knew we'd be sealing the walls and floor.

The upstairs bedrooms and the downstairs living room were both configured weirdly. Upstairs was a whole floor of five bedrooms, the size of walk in closets, all in a line, with entrance and exits doors into each other. Very strange. (Photo-In Technicolor, you can see some of the doors two of the doors on one of the upstairs rooms)

And downstairs the living room had a bump out wall into the master bedroom that wasn't big enough or useful for anything. Just existing. So....To do it right, we decided to move a couple walls. We'd turn upstairs into two large bedrooms and a storage room, and we push a wall into the living room and make the extra space into a master walk in closet. I was excited for this. I've never had a walk in closet and I admire them. (See the photo? We're tearing down the funky wall and getting ready to build a new straight wall for the closet (my husband Theron is scraping up three layers of glued on carpet and pad))

Downstairs the master bedroom had two full master bathrooms. The first opened a door into the second, which also had a door off the hallway. And just kitty corner from the second master bathroom was a half bath, that only opened from the other side--across from the front door. Um, the first front door. The second front door opened into the living room. Obviously, the previous owners loved doors. Since one of the front doors had been kicked in by the police, I can only interpret all these doors as being bolt holes. Emergency exits for people worried about being caught with nowhere to run. Their house reveals their psyche.

To Do It Right....we decided to make the half bath into a full bath, and change the second master bathroom (I laugh every time I write that) into a nursery/guest room. The small remodel to make it livable had changed into a gutting of large portions of the house.

And that is why, on April 25th, 2007, I sit at my parents' computer and ponder how I ended up living with my parents and sister for two months (so far), with five children and a husband, and most of our stuff piled up in the great room of our unfinished house.

To Do It Right... plus While We're At It, has got me here. Good thing the house is worth it to me!

Anyone else ever had remodeling woes?
~Valerie Harmon

Putting on a Musical--Sheet Music Aids

I am directing a musical production with about 150 youths, ages 12-18. It is exhilarating and back-breaking and I mostly love it.

Since I have very little directing experience, my learning curve looks more like a straight line pointing up. Today I'm going to share with you what I have learned about music and software.

With nine songs for my young actors to learn in a few short months, with most of them inexperienced musically, and with most of the songs shortened versions of the original or with significant word changes to fit our theme, I knew I had to do two things: create sheet music that looked exactly as the actors were supposed to sing and make a Music Practice CD.

Because of time constraints, I shortened seven of the songs. And I changed words around, had a friend write several verses for another, and turned an song in Nigerian into a song with English words. I had made these changes in pencil on the actual music, but I knew I couldn't give that to my actors. It was too confusing to read my writing while trying to learn new music. I had to find a way to create actual sheet music for my versions. And it had to be FREE. Thanks to a friend's recommendation, I found Finale Music Software. I started with Finale Notepad, a free, no strings attached sheet music software that is uses about half intuition and half sweat to figure out. But it worked beautifully! I learned to input note by note and add lyrics and it looks so professional when I print it out. AND, Finale has a cool feature--I can hear how the song will sound by clicking on Play. It sounds exactly how the notes look (no human interpretation) but it was what I needed.

Finale Notepad did have two limitations that stymied me for a bit. Notepad wouldn't let me change key signatures within a song. Notepad also cannot make an audio file of the sheet music. I needed both those features, and I finally found them on Finale Songwriter (which could read Notepad, I didn't have to re-enter the music, whew).

I could only use Finale Songwriter for 30 days and be able to print and save for free, but Songwriter can change key signatures and make a great MIDI sounding audio file--and it was exactly what I needed. I made audio files of the accompaniment, and was even able to split out parts (with a bit of sweat) so my actors could hear their particular section as they practice.

During my search for helpful software, I came across Sibelius music software. My Regional Music Director swears it is better than Finale, but I didn't like it. Mainly because it wouldn't allow me to try it out for 30 days with printing and saving abilities. All I could do was look at it. Very Disappointing.

A software that I spent a lot of time mad at was Voyetra Record Producer AudioSurgeon. They let me try their product freely, for 30 days, able to save, but it wasn't very intuitive. It did help me take percussion from a recording and add it to my Nigerian song. But it was very limited. I'm sure there's a better mixing/cut and paste software out there, but I don't know it. Anyone know a good mixing/splicing software?

I had a friend who used Cakewalk (not free software) to record her voice to the songs (such a nice friend!!), and April 18th my actors received their Music Practice CD.

Putting the sheet music and practice cd together was tough work, but I was beyond glad to find Finale and use it for my production.

~Valerie Harmon

Putting on a Musical-The Value of Google!

I am currently directing a short church youth production with around 150 youth ages 12-14. I've learned a lot, something I want to put into a separate blog, but today I want to sing the praises of two Google products: GoogleGroups and Google Video.

My actors have 6 songs to memorize in just 10 practices, spread over a couple months. Many of them don't have musical experience, and they need to hear the music and get it into their heads. I put together a Practice Cd, but knowing that some of them will lose it, I wanted to upload the songs somewhere online. I tried to upload it onto this blog--but Blogspot no longer uploads MP3s. A bit discouraged, I discovered the ease and flexibility of GoogleGroups (disclaimer: I am in no way connected to the Google company and don't make a dime off this "Ode").

GoogleGroups makes it possible to combine a website-type homepage, a discussion area, a file upload area (up to 100 mb)and a collaborative document area. For Free. You can imagine my enthusiasm. If you want to check out what I've done on our Youth Production Googlegroup, goto: Youth Production GoogleGroup

Because so many of my actors don't know what a musical production is like, I knew I needed to put together a visual picture for them. I combined video footage from a Newport Beach Youth Celebration with our songs to make a music video of sorts. Having put the hours in to make it (I like the movie making software Pinnacle Studio, but a couple times it deleted parts of my work or froze, so it took many hours, yuck!) I wanted the actors to have it, but I didn't want to burn individual dvds. I wanted to post it online somewhere and link it to my Google Group.

I first tried YouTube, but they only allow an upload of 100mb or less. And no matter how I changed the format, I couldn't get it below 100mb and still have it look good. Then I discovered Google Video. They have an "above 100mb" option. Free. It worked and now my GoogleGroup links to the "music video" I made AND some YouTube video footage of a Youth Celebration in Sacramento that I found while figuring this all out. AND I linked to a video of the 2006 Portland Dance Festival--who are lending us our costumes.

So my GoogleGroup has turned into a great place for information on our youth production. And the teaser lines of "costume sneak peek" might just bring them to the site. I don't expect it to be my only information outlet, but I consider it another way to help our communication.

I'm so excited about these technologies that I just had to share.

Anyone else tried them?

~Valerie

Review-Art-Painting A Day

I just came across what I think is the best art idea I've ever seen. Duane Keiser is an artist who started a movement within the art world that I think will change the way artists and galleries connect to their clients.

Keiser calls it "Painting A Day." He paints a postcard sized painting every day, and posts a photo of it on his blog with a link to its auction on eBay. Their prices start at $100 and Peter Togel of ArtByUs.com says, "The consumers of the art are people who have white walls and midsized incomes, who could never pay for a painting in a gallery but don't want to go to Wal-Mart to buy a poster." I couldn't agree more. Many more artists have joined in the movement and suddenly owning and collecting original art is not just for the rich!

What I love about the idea is how technology connects the buyer directly to the artist. Art is so much more meaningful when I know the artist, and know the story behind the painting.

I know one artist very well. While studying English at BYU, I bought a couple original paintings from my twin sister, Jennifer Vranes, at college student pricing. She has gone on to be a very successful artist, selling all the paintings she creates, but that success means I can no longer afford her art. Unless she draws my name for Christmas, and between my seven sisters and one brother the odds are against me.

And that is why I am so enthusiastic about this a Painting A Day concept. Jennifer just started her own version of the idea at www.painting-a-day.com and suddenly her art is in my budget range again. Her first 6x6 painting is a window sill surrounded by a thick paint-textured brick wall. I love the vibrant color!

Which is good, because she didn't get my name for Christmas last month.

Do you care about more about originals than prints? Had you heard of this "Painting A Day" idea before? What do you think?

Advice-Christmas Card Connections

I love getting Christmas cards. Well, I love getting mail. But knowing it's Christmas letter season has me running out to the mailbox to see who loved me enough to write me and send a picture.

As I review the years and the Christmas letters and photos I've read, I have created a list of Do's:

At the top of the list is: Put your contact information on every piece of mail--your name, mailing address, email address and phone number.

If the whole purpose of Christmas cards is to stay in touch, then contact information is actually the most important part of the letter. Some people put their mailing address as a return address on the envelope and that is it. If the envelope gets separated from the letter then contact may be broken. If you finish your letter with your name, addresses, and phone number, then your recipient can throw away the envelope and your contact info remains intact.

Next idea: The Christmas photo is important--if you can get it together enough to have one. Part of the idea of staying in touch is being able to recognize your friends next time you see them. Adults don't change as much as children, so I think a photo is particularly important for children.

There is room for a short greeting on the Christmas photo. Instead of merely wishing your friend a Merry Christmas, see you if you can also include your contact information.

This year I added our contact information to our photo. I used an online photo company, Winkflash, and one of their stock designs had room for a "Merry Christmas", all our names (and we are seven) and four lines of contact information--as well as three photos. I was very pleased with the result.

The only problem is not Winkflash's fault. We're closing on a house next week and when we move in January, my photo will have an obsolete mailing address. While I had prepared the photos early, I had not foreseen a new address on our horizon. The good news is my email address and phone number will remain the same, and they are on the photo as well.

Third: Send Something. Some people don't like to write a Christmas letter. They worry they have to be funny or creative and so decide to send nothing at all. Send something. If you want to keep in touch with the friends of your past, then send them something. Send a photo all by itself. If it has contact information, then you have accomplished your goal. You have visually updated your friends and let them know where you are.


Fourth: Reference your Blog. If you include your blog in the Christmas letter, then those who really want to know what you're doing and what's on your mind, will read your blog. Just make sure you post often enough to keep them looking.

Fifth: Use Labels. If you take the time one year (try to do it early in the year, not right before the holidays when time gets busier) to put your addresses in Excel, then you will be happy come Christmas card time.

Print out your Excel list and as Christmas letters come in, check the accuracy of your list with the incoming address. If I get a Christmas card from someone not my list, I can add them easily.

I also keep my Friends and Family list by my calendar and throughout the year I am updating it in pencil, and can input the information when I have time.

Once the initial information is in Excel, it is easy to update. And when it is time for your Christmas mailing, just put the addresses on labels. Print out your return address on labels too. No one minds if each envelope is hand addressed. These are your friends. They are just glad to hear from you. And they are really glad to get your contact information. :)

What do you think? Do you have any more suggestions for making Christmas Card Connections easier and better?

MyLife-The Warning Cough and a Christmas Tree

Today's topic is the warning cough that proceeds vomiting. So you are warned.

I am feeling grateful for the warning cough that proceeds vomiting because I have been listening for it day and night for the last 36 hours as the flu makes its way through my family.

It started with my 7 year old who caught the flu bug at night. He had one vomiting episode that night and two the next day. The warning huffing cough helped me keep the mess at a minimum.

Then my 10 year old caught it. She's good at catching her own messes, so I was mere moral support.

With that night spent uneventfully, I decided we were going to the mountains to cut our Christmas tree. My husband had to work, so I enlisted his Mom and two brothers and sister to come with us, and my youngest sister as well. We had planned to leave at 10 a.m., but like all travel with more than one person, we left late. After filling up our cars with gas and tires with air and finishing the other loose ends that seem to unravel a schedule, it was 11:30 a.m. by the time we were pulling out of Central Point, Oregon, headed for a treed area outside of Prospect, Oregon. All of us were enjoying just being together (in other words, no one was stressed out by the late departure) and I had reason to be grateful for the relaxed air of the group.

By the time we'd reached Prospect, I'd pulled to the side of the road three times to the sound of that warning cough that signaled a food expulsion. My 18 month old and 3 year old had both caught the flu.

Sharing a car with vomiting children normally would have had me heading back for home. The stink alone could do that! But I was set on cutting my own Christmas tree. My years of childhood "wild tree cutting tradition" wanted me to share the good times with my children. So I pushed on. My 18 year old brother-in-law stuck some AireMaster bars into the vents of my car (my in-laws own an
Airmaster franchise) and we continued on toward Prospect to the smell of apple cider with an underlying, but easily ignored, smell of vomit.

This is a photo of me with my 18 month old--the snow suit hides the smell and mess.

We cut our Christmas trees out of douglas fir. A douglas fir tree does not look like the bushy evergreens sold on tree lots. At least not if they are cut wild from a mountain. Their boughs are more widely spaced--perfect for showing off ornaments. I like a tree that acts like a display shelf for the ornaments, rather than like an I spy game of hide and seek. And a wild grown tree lasts until the new year before dropping lots of needles. And the tag only costs $5.00. If you ignore the cost of gas and a day of work (if your days of work are paid for in money), then cutting a wild tree for Christmas is a good deal. And even if it doesn't pencil out entirely, the experience of taking my suburban children into the snow and beauty of the mountains to find the best Christmas tree ever (it's the best every year) is priceless. And no flu will keep me from giving that experience to my children. And of course, they WILL enjoy it.

This is a photo of my 15 year old BIL holding a douglas fir Christmas tree.

So now you're wondering if the experience was worth it. It was. The sick children forgot their ills for most of the time we were there. We took happy pictures, which always defines how we remember the event. True, I spent yesterday sick and today my 3 year old is still sick. So I am still listening for the warning cough (which sounded its warning in the car after I dropped the rest of the family off at church). But we have a Christmas tree leaning up against my roof ready to be fit into its stand and decorated tomorrow for our Family Night.

And it's the best Christmas tree ever! Or do you think yours is?

MyLife-When I Got A Paycheck

With my husband's support, I have been a stay at home Mom for 9 years. My eldest will be turning 10 next month, so you can see that for most of her life, she's had the quantity time as well as the quality time. During that almost decade, however, I have earned a paycheck twice, for 2 months each time.

The first time was for American Promotions, Inc.. American Promotions is an advertising specialties company. That means they sell and have logoed any product you can imagine. Most companies want mugs or pens or t-shirts. Think about how many times you opened an account at a bank or attended a conference--most of the freebies were one of those three, right? Well, that is what most companies seemed to want. But if a company wanted a product outside the box, well, AP had six filing cabinets with catalogs from companies who did far more than mugs.

One of my favorite products was a zippable coconut. It was a real coconut, with a zipper around the middle that you could open and shut and thus use the inside as a container. Who would ever throw that away! And that is, of course the whole point of advertising specialties--for a company to keep its name in front of you so when you want what they sell, you'll think of them first. Of course, a coconut might not be thrown away, but people won't wear it, write with it or drink with it (well, maybe that last one is possible). And that's why pens, mugs and t-shirts remain such a popular choice. Because they get used (and keep the company name in front of customer's faces). I still like the zippered coconut though. I would keep my jewelry in it!

My husband, Theron, was the President of American Promotions, and needed my skills temporarily, so I obliged. I enjoyed it, knowing it was temporary, and then returned back home ready to work where my heart is, even if it's without a paycheck.

The second job I had in the last 9 years was for two months as a legislative aide to my Oregon State Representative, Dennis Richardson. He's also my dad, and so, knowing it was temporary, I bridged his gap between aides.

I loved it. Not everyone would like to be a Number Two guy--but I do. I liked organizing his office, scheduling his day, and anticipating his needs. I liked having him ask me about a paper, and knowing right where it was. I liked having him call me en route to a meeting and asking for the best route to get there. Maybe because I like controlling and organizing things, and his office stayed in control and organized far better than a household with five children. Or maybe because I like making a difference, and Representative Richardson's work made a visible difference in people's lives. I had never before met a politician so concerned with answering constituent's problems--and actually finding answers, not just commiserating.

Ironically though, my current and constant "job" of the last 9 years has been making a huge difference in people's lives. Particularly the lives of one man and (now) five children. I cannot control or organize as consistently as I can in an office. But I make more of a difference in those six people's lives than any person can in any other job. So, after a great two months with Rep. Richardson, I again left paid work for the unpaid kind (thanks to the support of my husband).

Are you making the same choices? Why or why not?