Entertainment – Page 2 – Susie Strauss

August 16, 2014

Listening to the Oldies

My favorite way to listen to music is with the online service called Spotify. You can use it for free, but I pay a small amount every month to get extra features. I’m not sure what the difference is, but I love Spotify and I don’t mind spending $5 a month to support this service.

Tonight I will be listening to the Oldies while I clean house and do the laundry. The weird thing is that my definition of the Oldies might be different from what you call the Oldies. There are actual Oldies radio stations, but they play really old songs, like from the 1950’s and 1960’s. That’s before most of us were even born. In my world, Oldies means the songs of the 1980’s.

The 1980’s songs were so fun for dancing and the best days of heavy metal bands. All the great Metal bands were forming their sound in the 80’s – like Metallica, Guns and Roses, Kiss, AC/DC, Alice in Chains, etc., although the genre got it’s start in the late ’60’s and 70’s. I think the 80’s were the hay day and I love the loud, upbeat music while I am busy scrubbing floors and washing dishes.

August 10, 2014

Clever Street Art

I guess that, technically, this is graffiti, but I think it is a cute example of street art that takes something ordinary, like a tiny weed, and turns it into something whimsical. Can you see ordinary things like weeds and get the inspiration to create something like this mouse watering a weed, as if it is her houseplant? I think it is so clever! And I don’t have near the talent to even draw something like this, much less come up with the idea in the first place!

I wonder if the government would get all upset if little drawings like this started showing up on the street curbs. I really think most people would enjoy them, but I bet there would be some jerk who thinks it is destruction of public property or some other stupid crime. And some people do not appreciate art at all – they like things plain, sterile and ordinary. I’m so glad that I am not one of those types!

July 4, 2014

Happy 4th of July

I sure hope you guys are having a ‘blast’ today. We have a special July 4th package deal going on where the whole house is decorated for the 4th, and we are having a huge picnic type dinner for everyone in the community too. The other local businesses like the tubing guys up river are throwing in with me and offering tubing and canoeing along with my package.

It’s kind of a bring your own fireworks type display and everyone brings a side dish too from the community. Watermelons are in the river getting good and cold and so is the beer. We always have the best time, and the house is booked solid for the whole 3 day weekend.

April 17, 2014

What Would You Do If Today Was Your Last Day?

What would you do if today was your last day to live on the earth? Would you spend all of your money on frivolous things? Would you eat high calorie food and have have seconds and thirds and not care? Would you want to be all alone to meditate in your last moments alive? Who wold you want to spend your last moments of your life with? What would your last words be and who would you say them to?

If today is your last day how are you spending it? I’m spending today with my family. We’re having a family game night and movie night. We’re making homemade pizza and everyone is decorating their own pizzas and then we’re going to play a few board games. Finally we’ll finish up the night with a movie and some popcorn followed by nice warm mugs of hot cocoa.

I love spending time with my family, and if today really is my last day I’ll be happy to be spending it with those I love and hold most dear. What are your plans for the day today? Who are you spending it with?

January 23, 2014

Online Book Club Using Audio Books

I recently thought about joining a book club. Well, now I’m thinking that would be great but it would also be great if I could listen to audio books online free. I would love to be able to the books as I’m doing other things at the same time like doing the dishes, folding laundry, or even sweeping and mopping.

I’m a busy mom and I have a lot on my plate. I’d like to be able to get in some reading and still take care of all my responsibilities. I’ll have to see what books I can find online and then maybe start a book club myself based on the books I find. I know I can’t be the only one out there that has the same dilemma that I do, and wants to be a productive mom and still get in some fun entertainment time. Audio books sound like the way to go. Pun intended.

Here’s an idea. Do any of you want to join a book club with me? We could do an online book club and check in with each other here or maybe in a Facebook group or something. Any suggestions on books we should read?

December 5, 2013

I wonder if that is true

I was reading the reviews of the fender precision bass at guitar center earlier today and saw that one of the reviewers wrote that this particular brand and make of guitar was the same one as the guitar that John Entwistle played with the Who in the glory days of 1969-70. I don’t know if that is true or not, but it piqued my interest because I have seen the Who in concert many times. I even saw them before they were famous in their own right – in fact, they were one of the opening acts for Herman’s Hermits back in the ’60s! I remember at that concert the band performed “Boris the Spider” and I LOVED it so much that when their first album went on sale in the US I went out and bought it as soon as I could.

December 5, 2013

Considering Joining A Book Club

I’ve been considering joining a book club. I used to always be reading something new. I haven’t picked up a new book in some time. I think it would be a lot of fun to get back into my daily reading habit. I always used to read before bed. It helps me relax and feel calm before heading to sleep.

Although, some times it would keep me up longer when I was reading a good book. It would be difficult to put it down. I would tell myself I’ll stop at the end of this chapter in order to avoid it getting really out of hand.

The reason why I’m thinking of joining a book club is because I would love to have someone to share and discuss what I think about the book. I love chit chatting about what I watch on television with my friends so why not do the same thing with the books I read. I think it it would be lots of fun to talk about what what the characters are doing and why they are doing it.

Digging deeper into the meaning of books is really exciting. I know it would be neat to hear the perspectives of others on the same book I’m reading. Perhaps they caught something I didn’t or view something in a total different way that I had never thought about.

November 3, 2013

The Best Birthday Presents To Get and Give

What is the best birthday present you have ever received? Was it some elaborate and expensive gift or was it a service that some one provided for you?

I think the best gifts are those that tell me that the person giving me the gift really took the time to think about what I would like. I enjoy gifts that people give from the heart and of themselves. I love it when someone decided that they want spend time with me instead of just tossing a gift card in a car and calling it a day. Don’t get me wrong I love gift cards because I can pick out what ever I want to get for myself, but some times I would rather just spend an afternoon with some one and or maybe share a meal together.

I love date nights for gifts too! These usually involve a gift from more than one person too. My hubby of course and then who ever volunteers to watch our kids while we go out and enjoy ourselves. Babysitting is a fantastic gift, it gives me a chance to have some alone time to get out of the house to be an adult or run errands. I’ve also used baby sitting to just catch up on sleep.

You know when you have those really long weeks and you don’t get more than 5 hours a night for a few days in a row. Those are the times when I cash in those coupons that my friends make for me for a night of free baby sitting. My friends come pick up the kids and then I can go back to bed and I love it! If I’m smart I’ll try to plan ahead and see if the kids can do a sleep over so I can sleep in.

So I guess date nights and baby sitting are my top gifts. What is the best gift you could receive or have received?

September 5, 2013

Listen To Pandora For All Of Your Music Needs

Pandora is one of my all time favorite sites to go to to listen to music. I usually always have it on in the background of whatever I am doing. I like that I can type in a song, artist, or keyword and it will create a station based just on that. I think it’s wonderful. Of course there are stations you can choose from but I usually just type in something I’d like to listen to and go with that for the day.

I always have about 5 channels on my account. I do remove channels through the year and based on my mood. For example, I’m not quite ready to remove my Christmas music station. I think I might leave it on there until the end of next week and then get serious about putting all of the Christmas stuff away.

Do you use Pandora to listen to music online? If you do, do you have any favorite channels that you like to listen to? Are there any groups or artists that you have found since listening in on Pandora that you didn’t know about before you started using Pandora? I know I’ve come across quite a few artists that I didn’t know about since I started listening to music with Pandora and it’s been a true blessing.

August 12, 2013

Where is the sax?

Saturday at the street dance and concert that my kids and I went to, the band was playing a song about how much they love the saxophone, and I could swear that I heard the saxophone playing, but darn if I could see anything that looked like a saxophone anywhere on the stage! This perturbed me greatly, as my uncle used to play a mean sax, and I was thinking about talking to him later about the concert and the song about the saxophone! It wasn’t until my brother was telling me about the cheap buy used yamaha wx5 sale at guitar center event that I realized that there are other instruments being used in this day and age that can mimic the sound of the saxophone, and the trumpet, and other wind instruments.

I felt amazed, and yet cheated, at the same time. Isn’t modern technology amazing? And how sad for the many talented musicians that are now out of jobs because machines can mimic what they took years and years to learn how to do! I think that I would prefer to see the genuine saxophone musician wailing on his sax – it provides a much better theatrical performance!