Life Muses by Ro

Cool Stuff: Walking Routes for Exercising with GoogleMaps

This is a tutorial I was asked for last week on Twitter. I had mentioned that I just printed out some new walking routes with the aid of Google Maps and this interested people. It's very simple.

First I went to the Google Maps website. Then I entered my address.

I like to use the satellite view (this option is found at the top right-hand corner) because I can see the paths and parking lots, which helps me find routes that I wouldn't otherwise see. The regular maps view displays roads. The address location will be shown by a little marker.

Next, I zoomed in and used the hand-grabber tool to slide the map around until I saw some walking routes. This is the route I used last week. I didn't know it existed before because I didn't know about the country club parking lot. (Like I'm ever going to be a member of the country club? Not. It costs around $14,000! Even if I had the money, I don't golf. HA)

Next I did a copy screen (Print Scr or Alt + Print Scr). Then I opened Photoshop, created a new file, and pasted the image into the file with the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + V. (Mac users would use Command + V.) Then I cropped off the excess so that all I had was the map. I saved the image as a JPG. Then I printed the image.

Here is the cropped image. You will see that it shows the street names, parking lots, sidewalks, etc. It's very handy!

This is why I don't like the map that Google will print out for me. It only shows roads and no landmarks, etc. It doesn't work as well for this purpose.

I located four or five routes by just sliding the satellite view around.

Hope that helps!

As requested: Free downloads of some of my recorded music

I have a secret past life that a few people stumbled this week on via a Google search for my name. They found my life before Scrap Girls and before I worked for Novell. It was so long ago that it seems like a dream to me now.

I was a musician. I taught band, orchestra, general music and choir. I was a professional music theatre director in Branson, MO. I was on stage - as in acting (with wigs, costumes, the works). I was the concert mistress (first chair violin) for various orchestras.

Now, it feels like someone else did all of that.

I received a a BME (Bachelor's of Music Education) from the University of Oklahoma. I double-majored in voice and string education. For most of my life, my life was about a music, teaching, and the theatre. But there was always something else in me... something I felt... it was drawing me more than music was. Because my parents wanted me to go into music and because I'm a determined person, I went into music. I had a talent for it, so it was okay.

I liked it. But I never felt as if that was "it" for me, even though it is all I had ever done.  I always felt slightly edgy about the music thing. So when my life turned upside-down and I had to give up being a music teacher, once I had grieved the loss, I moved on.

Now, I feel like my questions are becoming answered. I see that I am a multi-facited person. I love writing. I love computers. I love art. The more I explore the other parts of me, the more I begin to feel like I'm ME.

Life lesson # 50B: Never assume you have to keep doing the things you are doing simply because you have always done them and can't imagine that you won't be doing them for the rest of your life. If you have to suddenly change course, it's okay. It's better than okay.

While I'm posting the vocal music I was asked for, I'm going to post some of my orchestrations and humorous pieces, just so you can get a frame of reference for who I used to be.

Notes:

• I wrote all of the music, lyrics, orchestrated, played the instruments, and recorded the music so I'm the copyright holder for everything you will hear. I am not a sound engineer, so I just did the best I could.
  
• I used to have a recording studio in my home. I was able to record things well enough that I enjoyed it and well enough that I was able to use it for theatrical backs, but these are not "slick Hollywood" recordings. I don't want to get your hopes up too high because my odds at getting yanked off of the Internet-sharing-stage would vastly increase if you misunderstood!
  
• I sold all of my recording equipment to get the seed money to start Scrap Girls, so I am permanently out of this business. It was worth it. I love what I am doing with Scrap Girls.
  

By the way, I haven't listened to this stuff in a long time! Putting this post together for you was a walk down memory lane.

Hope you enjoy it. (If not, please don't throw rotten eggs at your computer screens or you will just get rotten eggs on your monitors. Don't hurt those innocent monitors!)

IMPORTANT: Do yourself a HUGE favor and save these files to your computer before you try to listen to them! Right-click on the links and choose to save the files. Firefox: Save Link As. IE: Save File As.

Vocals

These are vocals in which I talk about life, God, my outlook... stuff like that.

Download RozannePaxman - Calm Waters This one is still my favorites. It's the song that people spotted on the Internet.

Download RozannePaxman - An Answered Prayer03 I still love this sentiment and it expressed something I keenly believe.

Download RozannePaxman - Give Me Your Burdens I wrote this one during a particularly difficult period of my life. I must have sang it a million times because it helped me keep going.It is a testimony of Christ and what he does for us.

Download RozannePaxman - Show Me the Way to Yesterday (Sung by a former voice student: Jenny Andrus)

Download RozannePaxman - Sunshine and Clear Skies Ahead Those of you that are alert and that actually heard those podcasts I recorded (before I realized I can't do everything I want to do), will recognize this one. I used the backs for the lead ins and fades for the podcast. This is another one I would have had time to finish. The vocal quality didn't get polished. I did this one right before I started at Novell. Oh well. At least I got this far.

Download RozannePaxman - What the Heart Knows I really wish I would have had time to finish this one. All I have is this scratch version. I was very happy to find it today. I didn't remember that I had it and I still like this song a lot. (Yes, that is me doing both of the parts.) Listen for the heart beat in it.

The next ones are purely humorous.

I write and recorded the first one for a friend of mine. It is corny as all get-out, but that's how I wanted it to be.

It still makes me crack up after all these years. Check out the steel guitar at the end of it. BWAHAHAHA (Sometimes, I'm so silly.)

If you are middle-aged or above, you have GOT to listen to it. (If you're not yet, you have this to look forward to.)

Download RozannePaxman - USDA Aged to Perfection

This one is an ode to the fact that I always get lost while driving. Anyone that knows me well knows that I am seriously directionally challenged. This song is as silly as can the name and topic sounds. Intentional. Who can take a song like this one seirously? Huh? Huh? (HAHAHAHA)

Download RozannePaxman - Short-cut Shorty

If you have a yen for Polka music, this one's for you. (BWAHAHA). But for what it is - Polka music - it's not bad at all. It is another one that I wrote as a joke. It makes me roar. I still remember dancing around my living room after I finished it. My kids thought I'd lost my mind.

I guess all of those years in band finally got to me.

Download RozannePaxman - Popcorn Polka

Orchestrations

(Pure instrumental music. Some it was written for musicals. You will be able to which ones right away because they sounds theatrical. )

Download RozannePaxman - Cedar Springs

Download RozannePaxman - Come Home To Your Shepherd Reprise04

Download RozannePaxman - Dance the Dance of the Unborn Children This one makes me feel melancholy. I wrote it in memory of the three babies I lost before they were born.I almost didn't share it with you, but finally decided that I would so that you would understand that all of us have untold stories. Even me.

Download RozannePaxman - Fairytale - Come Near My Love

I really wish I would have recorded the vocals for this last one because they are hysterical. The name kind of says it though. It is Shop 'Til You Drop. You'll hear the cash register ding off and on. (It is meant to be sung by three women - former cheerleaders - that are singing about their shopping adventures.) The part in the middle where it is all "beautiful", the girls are singing things like, "But then there's Walmart... Walmart... Bargains galore..." or "Nordstorms... Norstroms..."They talk about wanting to be buried in the aisles - stuff like that.

Download RozannePaxman - Shop til You Drop

If I ever locate the book where the lyrics for this one are found, I'll post them. They are classics and you guys will laugh, I think.

(P.S. Sorry that this being the third post today. I just wanted to get it off of my list as soon as possible. That's what you get when I made a promise like this. My OCD kicks in.)

Rush headlong into joy

Happiness is when we forget the seriousness of life and rush, headlong, into the joy of the moment. (Rozanne Paxman)

Today I am happy.

I am happy because a difficult decision I made relieved me of a great burden. I am happy because I acted on my decision. I am happy because my decision caused me to turn around and see that the only person that holds me back is myself. I am happy because I allowed myself to see that I have been holding myself back. I am happy because I decided not to hold myself back anymore.

• I have danced while I walked into the sun shining over a hill.
• I have pushed up the hill so that I could experience the joy of making it to the top.
• I have smiled as I saw male ducks circling a female duck, as she sat on her nest protecting her eggs.
• I have walked to the beat of my MaMa Mia CD as it blasted in my ears from my iPod.
• I have caught my breath as I discovered that a prayer I did not dare whisper out loud has been answered with the discovery of an amazing walking path just down the street.

My arms have gone over my head as I shouted to the heavens, "I am here. Thank you!"

I used Syndee's ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Dreamy Photos 6301 Mini to make this image look like the sun felt as I walked straight into it. (The sun was like that.)

(The photos were all taken with the aid of my BlackBerry's camera.)

Chocolate Review: Astor Milk Chocolate Gianduja Hazelnut Bar

 

Gianduja chocolate is made with a hazelnut paste and Astor's version is delightful. It is smooth, creamy and the hazelnut flavor is subtle. When you take a bite of the chocolate and hold it on your tongue so that it can melt, you wonder what that wonderful edge to the chocolate is. It's the hazelnut paste.

This chocolate is just rich enough that it feels decadent while not being overwhelmingly rich. The bar will last me quite awhile because a few small pieces of it are enough to satisfy. Since the serving size is half a bar (10 little pieces) and 2 did it for me, the calorie intake will be reasonble. Half of a bar is 230 calories with 15 g of fat, so I don't think I'll be eating half a bar - unless I have some crisis that overwhelms me with a desire to eat a lot of chocolate. HA!

I highly recommend this chocolate!

What a relief it was to taste something nice after last week's disaster...

I picked this one up when I was on my chocolate search in San Francisco, but it can be purchased on line here.

What's for Supper? Feather Light Biscuits

When I decided to go back to having just one blog, I promised that I would continue the homemaking discussions, including cooking. I'm going to move the information we were gathering over here (someday), but for now, I'll just pretend like I've always been discussing what we have for supper in this blog. It shouldn't be a big stretch, since I talk about food in general (especially chocolate) so often..

This recipe for biscuits is truly amazing. I've been making them for about 20 years now. Since I'm not a fan of heavy biscuits, this one solved a problem I had before its discovery.

FEATHER LIGHT BISCUITS

Dissolve 1 pkg dry yeast in 2 tablespoons of warm water. Set aside.

Now, in a separate bowl, combine the following ingredients:

• 5 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cut in 2 tablespoons shortening. This means that you keep going over the mixture with your implement of shortening-torture until the shortening is dispersed as well as possible. (I do this with a pastry cutter. Some people use a food processor. A fork works, as well.)

Add 2 cups buttermilk and yeast mixture.  Mix well.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 1 to 2 minutes.

Roll dough 1/2 inch thick and cut with cutter. I used the lid from my spray can of PAM on this particular occasion. It worked wonderfully. I want to remember to do this again, because I didn't have to climb up and get the cutters down from the top shelf. Score!

Place on baking sheet and brush tops with melted butter.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes (at least) 2 dozen biscuits.

Enjoy!