PrompTuesday #75 - Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

Wow, it's been a long time since I've participated in a PrompTuesday, but I I couldn't pass this one up.


It was inspired by Mary over at the Mama Mary Show, and brought to you by Deb at San Diego Momma.


Here's the Prompt:

“Let’s say I am casting for a new reality tv show/web series called “Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda.” Either write or webcam your story about who you are, what you do now, and what your “woulda, coulda, shoulda” story is as your audition piece–you can post it as a comment, send it to me via email, or post it on your own blog/facebook page. And then come up with a scenario we could “play out” on the show — for example, Melanie said she would be a big time event planner caterer, so maybe her segment is partnering with Oprah’s party planner/caterer team Debi Lilly and Colin Cowie to plan a ginormous event that is her creation from start to finish.”

Okay - so here goes - I tend to be long-winded, but I'll try and make this as interesting and concise as possible. ;)

Growing up, I had a lot of dreams - doctor, lawyer, Indian Chief (okay, just kidding, that was a game we played in school). But seriously, I think my first one was to be a doctor, but that was pretty short-lived and didn't make it past my 7th or 8th birthday. Then, around 10 or 11 years old, I discovered that I really liked to write, so I thought I would be an author. This thought stuck around, and I spent a lot of time writing all throughout school, whether it was poems, stories, or journals. I had some of my poems published in our school newspaper, and my English teachers were pleased with a lot of my stories. But, I just never took it much farther than that.

Then...there was dancing...I ate, breathed, slept, drank, dreamed, about dance from the time I was 8 years old until I graduated high school. I took class after class, ballet, jazz, tap, modern, technique, African...all of it. I performed with my dance studio at state fairs, local fairs, competitions, the State Capitol...and then when I made dance company at my school, I performed at football and basketball games, took workshops at ASU and performed in spring concerts where I choreographed many of the dances I performed in. My junior year in high school, we moved from Arizona, where I had spent my 4th through 10th grade years, to Las Vegas, NV. I auditioned for a Performing Arts high school, and was accepted into their dance program. This could have been my "big break", except for the fact that I was so pissed off at my grandparents for moving me during my upper-classmen years to another state, I pretty much looked for ways to rebel. About half way through my first year there, I pitched a fit (very mature of me, I know), and demanded that I be allowed to drop out of that school and go to my 'home school' which was the high school I would have been zoned for in the area we lived. The performing arts school was in downtown Vegas, about 40 minutes away from my house, and none of my friends lived close to me (this was a lie - I had several friends that lived on my side of town, I was just being a spoiled brat). And so...I dropped out of the performing arts school, proceeded to go to my local high school, made all the WRONG friends, ditched school just about every day, failed my English class, and just barely passed in all of my other classes - this was NOT like me, as I was a straight 'A' student. I moved back to Arizona, and lived with my mom and her boyfriend my senior year...got pregnant at the end of the year, graduated, had my baby in October that year and started life in the working world. The end.

Just kidding. ;) OK - so, I had a little thread of a dream that was interwoven through all of that. It was singing. I took choir for the first time in 7th grade, and my choir director built me up to think that I could be really good. That year, we were going to perform the "Pirates of Penzance" in front of the entire school. I was selected just for a back-up role, and I was fine with that. Then, the girl who had been chosen for the lead female role, had to back out. I was chosen to fill her place. Her songs were way out of my vocal range at that time - I tried to get the choir director to lower them - he said "No". And my voice cracked extremely bad, in front of the ENTIRE school, and parents, and God and everybody. I was crushed, broken and embarrassed. From that day on, I didn't sing in front of anyone on my own until I was 24 years old. I had performed in a couple community theatre plays, but my role was more of dancing than singing - and any singing I did was 'ensemble', no solos. I used to just buy CDs, sit in my room, and sing along with them - or sing in my car - or the shower. Finally, at age 24, I had 3 children, was a single mom - and I decided, "It's now or never." If I don't do something with this, I never will.

I started looking around for bands that were looking for a singer, found one, auditioned, and then nothing ever came of it. One night, I decided to go to karaoke night at a local bar, and invited my grandma to come with me. She had no idea I could sing - and she raised me for 18 years. hehe. After my song, a guy came up to me and said he knew a guy named Bobby that owned a restaurant in Scottsdale where they did karaoke, but before they opened up the mic to everyone that signed up, they did a "showcase" which was pretty much a group of regulars at karaoke, that Bobby liked to have come up and do a song or two. I started going to Bobby's restaurant for karaoke on Saturday nights while my mom watched the kids. Pretty soon I was doing the showcase, and then I got asked to do the "Dinner Show" - which was from 7-8pm, with a gal named Sandie. So, it was just Sandie and I, trading off songs, for an entire hour. I was SO nervous! But Sandie became one of my best girlfriends in the process! :) We did the dinner show for awhile, then we decided to see if we could get our own band going - we did, but it was short-lived.

Then, I found a guy that was looking for someone to record a song that he wrote. So, I recorded it...and nothing ever came of that either. What is it with the music industry? hehe ;) BUT - that song did get me accepted to the Colgate Country Showdown in Prescott. That was a GREAT experience, we actually got to sing up on a big stage in the community college amphitheater. After that, I joined the band that I had auditioned for a couple years prior (the one where nothing came of it at first?? yeah, that one). We actually did quite a few performances - we did the grand opening of a Toyota dealership, a silent auction at a big church, and then we got our first gig at a country bar. This was the beginning of the end for me - as I had met my hubby by this time (we weren't married yet though) - he wasn't too keen on the idea of his future wife singing in bars until 3am. At first I thought he was being stupid, and controlling - but then I saw it from his perspective - you know, a mom of 3 kids, in a bar with a bunch of drunks until the wee hours. So, I wasn't with the band much longer after that. My very latest singing venture was singing with our church band during the 'contemporary' service at 10:30. That was a LOT of fun - and I felt like I was singing for the right reasons and in the right type of place. Then...I got pregnant (AGAIN), and started not feeling so good in the AM - so I had to step down from the church band for a little while. And here we are...present day, with 4 kids and one on the way.

I don't think I would ever want to be a "famous" singer - because I think about all the time I'd have to be away from my family if I were to ever 'hit it big'. But, my husband plays guitar, and we've talked about doing open mics or coffee house type gigs locally, and that would be a lot of fun. But sometimes I just wonder what I "woulda, coulda, shoulda' done if my voice wouldn't have cracked in the 7th grade. :)

Here's a link to the one song I recorded, in the living room of a guy named Adam Matthews' with his recording equipment. Adam wrote this song, and I'm pretty sure he had it copyrighted, I just don't know what the number is. (basically, don't steal the song, k?) And be kind if you listen to it. ;)


For This I Give You

Who Loves Blog Awards??

ME! :) And I just got one from Mary over at the Mama Mary Show! It's the Your Blog is Fabulous award and it looks like this:




(but is it just me, or does it look like she has a trail of toilet paper stuck to her high heel? That would be me - thinking I look totally awesome in my high fashion outfit, but then there's toilet paper stuck to my shoe. hehe)


So - the thing with this award/meme is to write about 5 things I'm obsessed with - I have a feeling mine aren't going to be as fascinating as some of the other bloggers that have had this honor bestowed upon them - but - here we go anyway - if I can write 100 things about me, I can come up with 5 right? :)


1. Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccinos
I know now that I'm pregnant, I'm not supposed to drink caffeine...yada yada yada...but I got hooked on these things prior to my pregnancy, and I couldn't just stop cold turkey. When I was first introduced to these, I thought they couldn't replace my love for the actual Starbucks Frappuccinos - so I tried them hesitantly when they were introduced to the office fridge. And let me tell ya - they are YUMMY and they give me just the jolt I need when I have a lot of stuff to get done at work. When I get an actual Frappuccino, I always get Caramel with Whip - but in the bottled variety, I don't like the caramel flavored one as much as I like the mocha.

2. Organization and the objects used for organizing
Awhile back, I posted about how much stuff I have, and how I want to de-clutter my house. I've taken on this task, and so far, Ikea and Target have been my stores of choice for my Organizational tools. Thus far, we have organized my children's under-bed areas with clear tubs; my "junk" table with these cute green magazine boxes from Ikea - 1 box for my actual magazines, and 1 box for all the stuff that my kids bring home that they made for me that they don't want me to throw away, but they don't have an actual place for; my "junk" drawer - with a junk drawer organizer; my workout DVD shelf in my entertainment center, the previous organization was in the small brown boxes I packed them in when I moved - and they were just piled on top of each other - so I got matching green DVD boxes also from Ikea, and voila, my DVDs are hidden away in a fashionable manner. My next task is my childrens' closets and then my own closet - as well as my oldest daughters' dresser and desk areas - these will be accomplished with some more tubs, and some cabinets with shelves.

3. The Internet
This was mentioned on my 100 things about me post - but seriously - the software we use for my job is internet-based, I pay my bills, transfer funds, look up my daughter's grades, fill my daughter's lunch account, find movie times, add movies to my netflix, perform research, monitor my bank accounts, order lunch, take classes, blog, read blogs, shop, make hotel/flight/car reservations, get directions - the list goes on and on. You name it, and I will want to do it on the internet. I'm getting to the point now where if I'm going to do business with a company, you better have a website - if you don't, then you may as well not exist. If I can interact with your company mostly via your website/email, the better for me.

4. Making my children love each other - all the time
I know this is probably a moot point, but I absolutely can NOT stand the sibling rivalry crap between all my girls. It is like one of the top 5 things that piss me off. So, I have made it one of my top priorities to teach them to respect each other, love one another, and act in a mature way toward one another. Just this weekend, I made my girls write "I will love my sister as God loves me" 100 times for my 11 yr old and 50 times for my 7 yr old (she can't write as fast). I bought a book called "Keep the siblings, lose the rivalry" and I am ready to jump in and figure out how to apply every principle as soon as possible. I never grew up with any siblings, so most people will say - "Oh, it's just what siblings do" - but I refuse to accept that...or I will die fighting it. hehe

5. Keeping my toe nails short
Okay, I know this is a weird one - but I seriously can not stand it when my toe nails get even the tiniest bit of length on them. I don't know if it has to do with growing up as a dancer and getting ingrown toenails because of all the shoes that would squish my toes together (yuck, I know!) - but I keep them trimmed super-dee-duper short all the time. One time, because I thought my obsession with this was weird and not normal, I actually got fake toe nails (yes, they make them) from the drug store that had a french manicure on them and glued them to my toe nails to see what it looked like to have a big toe nail that actually went past the tip of my big toe - I hated it. I know they look somewhat better that way, especially when you want to get pedicures - but I just can't let myself grow my toe nails out.

Now to the fun part - I get to tag my friends in the blog-o-sphere with this Award / Meme.

To all of you ladies - I think your blogs are fabulous, I love reading them, they bring joy to my day (and if I didn't tag you this time, it doesn't mean I don't love your blog, I just think it's cheating when you tag everyone on your blog roll - not to mention it takes a long time to copy and paste the links...hehe):

Angela at Viva CookeVegas

Melissa at Green Girl in Wisconsin

Danielle at Don't Touch the Cactus

Kerri at I'm Just Sayin'


Have a great day!

Here it Goes...My 100th Post

So here it is folks...my 100th post. I've read some other blogger's 100th posts for some inspiration. Here goes:

1. I was born Crystal Leigh Mathews
2. On April 22nd, 1980
3. In the city of Orange, CA at St. Josephs Hospital
4. My mom and dad were 19 and 20
5. Ultimately, I ended up being my mom's only child - my dad remarried and had another daughter, Annaka - I think she's 18 or 19 now
6. I have 4 daughters, with a 5th child on the way in February
7. My favorite color is blue, although I rarely wear anything blue
8. I have 2 inside cats, and 6 outside cats that I care for - yes, I am the "Cat Lady"
9. My mom was adopted, and just a few years ago found out her biological mom's middle name was Crystal
10. All my life I went without any Aunts, Uncles or Cousins until my mom found out she had 4 brothers
11. I met my best friend in the 4th grade, but we didn't become best friends until 6th grade
12. We were going to live together in New York, and she was going to act and I was going to sing - that didn't happen obviously
13. But, aforementioned best friend and I did perform in many community theater plays together as kids
14. I'm afraid of spiders
15. I bite my fingernails and crack my knuckles, and have since I was a kid
16. I have 4 tattoos - and plan to remove all but one of them.
17. My belly button was pierced - now there's just a hole
18. Speaking of belly buttons, my belly button looks like it is smirking at the bottom since I had my gall bladder removed earlier this year.
19. As soon as I paid off my very first car, I had to buy a new one because my family grew.
20. I got into my career field from a job I got through a temp agency when I was 17 and pregnant.
21. I was raised by my grandparents.
22. I grew up in a really sheltered town - when we moved to Vegas when I was 15 I was severely culture shocked
23. My first job was a busser at an Italian restaurant, at age 14, in the really sheltered town
24. I used to read books under my grandparents' dining room table
25. My toenails are rarely ever painted - gross I know
26. Most of my underwear are granny panties (TMI but whatever)
27. I love Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and Karamel Sutra ice cream
28. My favorite book is Anne of Green Gables
29. My favorite movie for the longest time was Steel Magnolias - I don't think I have one now.
30. But I do like pretty much every movie with Kate Hudson or Jennifer Lopez in it
31. I wish I was Faith Hill's friend
32. I hate going to crowded places with my children, it stresses me out.
33. Actually going anywhere with my children stresses me out, I'm trying to get over it
34. #32 & 33 are because of safety reasons, not due to their behavior in public. hehe
35. I wish I could live near my dad - I never have.
36. The ocean is my favorite place.
37. I'm addicted to doing everything on the internet - shopping, paying bills, reading news
38. I have a gym membership, and haven't gone in close to a year.
39. I still subconsciously choose Sprite as my soda of choice from having a Mormon upbringing
40. I can't stand horror movies, they give me the heebie jeebies
41. My favorite cookie is a soft sugar cookie
42. My favorite dessert is fried ice cream from Ajo Al's restaurant
43. I've been in a couple country-western bands and competed in the Colgate Country Showdown
44. My grandma built my foundation of faith, even though she doesn't think so
45. I wish my husband was more like my grandpa sometimes, but am glad he is who he is most of the time
46. I'm too independent for my own good occasionally
47. I started using some serious anti-aging skin care products this year
48. I wish I could get back into dancing somehow, but I can barely touch my toes now
49. My oldest being in middle school scares the poo out of me.
50. Everyone who makes me upset in traffic gets called a stupuh-dass
51. Child abuse really bothers me - I can hardly stand to read or hear about it on the news
52. I never went to college
53. I've only lived in 3 states - California, Arizona and Nevada and haven't visited many more than that.
54. Skiing freaks the be-jeesus out of me - my husband says I'm the only person he knows that can ski uphill
55. I also thought there was a right ski and a left ski when I couldn't get my boots to snap in
56. My husband is a patient man, hehe
57. I didn't really know much about keeping house until just a few years ago.
58. Now I'm somewhat of a freak about it
59. Recycling is about as 'green' as I get at this point in my life
60. I've entertained a gajillion business ideas since I was in my early 20's - but I've finally settled on one - more on that to come real soon.
61. I'm still waiting to be independently wealthy though.
62. I am very afraid of the day that one of my grandparents passes away - very afraid
63. Singing in the car is one of my favorite things to do
64. My creative side is being crushed by my analytical side - trying to find a balance
65. I've had two of my children with anesthesia and two without - this last baby will also be born without
66. I have a fairly high tolerance for pain
67. I learned how to ride a dirtbike on Valentine's Day this year
68. Two months later was my birthday, and my husband bought me brand new really cute riding gear - the next month, I found out I was pregnant - no more riding for me.
69. My grandma always made me take a bath using a washcloth - I never use one now.
70. I own a guitar, and don't know how to play it.
71. Joining the PTA takes courage - I did it for the first time last year
72. All of my girls have different personalities, I'm trying to find the pieces of me in each one of them
73. Naps are my favorite
74. I sneak sweet stuff when my husband isn't around
75. Since I moved out on my own, I've moved to a different house/city at least every 2 years - I've been in this house for 3 and I'm itching.
76. I have a magazine addiction - I'm in recovery and have cancelled many of my subscriptions because I had a stack going back to December last year that I hadn't read yet (but I just totally subscribed to 2 more magazines because that's the only thing they had on my daughter's fundraiser this year).
77. I hate fundraisers
78. Christmas has lost its magic for me, I'm hoping I can find it again
79. Our family tradition is to eat spaghetti on Christmas Eve
80. I have 5 books on top of my night stand and 3 more on the shelf underneath that I'm trying to read at the same time - I also have 2 more on my bookshelf in the other room that I'd like to re-read (maybe what I have is actually a reading addiction not limited to magazines)
81. I've had my hair long, short, dark, light, curly, straight - you name it, I've done it to my hair (except for a mohawk, or a beehive - OK, I guess there's still lots of stuff I haven't done to it yet)
82. For some reason, I desire change a lot - hence the moving, the changing of the hair, and the tattoos - psychoanalyze that one
83. I'm really glad I started blogging - writing is a really good outlet - and I've made some great bloggy friends :)
84. I listen to all types of music - the only genre I really stay away from is rap - I used to like some rap, but now it's just gone way overboard.
85. I wanted to be one of Janet Jackson's backup dancers when I was a teenager
86. I think it's dumb that they came out with another version of 90210 and Melrose Place - I mean seriously, are we out of ideas people?
87. Only 13 more, I think I can make it
88. OK, #87 was cheating - the last concert I went to was Weezer, and it was awesome
89. Or maybe it was Martina McBride, and she was awesome too
90. I would like to learn how to surf sometime in the next couple of years
91. I get majorly pissed off when I've spent hours cleaning the house, and someone makes a mess in an area I just cleaned
92. I'm making headway in my de-cluttering project
93. I discovered the best time to go to Ikea is on a weeknight, about 2 hours before they close
94. My black thumb is getting greener by the year - I've now kept a plant in my office alive since Janaury
95. People sometimes mistake my shyness for being conceited - I'm an outgoing introvert, if that's even possible
96. I try to see people I don't like through God's eyes, but it's really really hard, I tell ya.
97. My husband's boat freaks the crap out of me, and I scream at him when he goes too fast
98. I wish I could stay at home with baby #5
99. It makes me have a mini internal freakout at the thought of me having 5 kids
100. I pray I continue to learn and grow, and be even farther along in my journey when I get to my 200th post. :)

And there you have it folks.

Intimidated

OK - So today is my 99th post - so that means the next one I do will be my 100th (yes, I can do math, yay me!). And I have read lots of other blogs where people have done really cool things for their 100th blog post, like write 100 things about them, or, ummmm...uhhhh...actually mostly people write 100 things about them. :) I don't know if I could do that, I might get to 30 - I just honestly don't know if there are 100 little tidbits of info that the general public would like to know about me. So, as soon as I hit "Save" on this post - I'm going to be dreading my next one - maybe no one would have ever known it was my 100th post - but I would have known. Every time I go to my little dashboard, I would see that I was getting ready to create my 100th post - or if I decided to be dishonest and skip it, I would see that I was past 100 and would never get that one back. I mean, how cool is it to say, "This is my 113th post"? Definitely not as cool as 100th. OK - that was a lot of paragraph dedicated to something not quite so important. :)

Take a look at my little baby in a bubble in my left sidebar - isn't he or she getting so big!! After this week, I am officially at the half-way mark. Woo hoo! I'm feeling a lot more movement, it's pretty nifty. It's strong enough that my hubby can feel it now too. My little Baby Pants talks to the baby, even though I'm not sure she really understands what she's doing - she will point to her belly and say "Baby?" too - so I think she probably thinks everyone has a baby in their belly at this age. But she hugs my belly and kisses it and everything, and it's really freakin' cute. And she says "Hi Baby" in her cute little toddler voice. I totally need to videotape her singing her ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star because it's so darn sweet.

This week, me and Cita (7 yr old) and Monkey (4 yr old) came down with the sickies for 2 days. We stayed home and drank DanActiv Immunity booster, and ate chicken noodle soup and sprayed Lysol everywhere! And the little buggy only stuck around for 2 days - we have residual cough but it's at least tolerable. I hate being sick - and I especially hate being sick and pregnant. Not a fun combo.

But needless to say, I should be working and not blogging - so I better run. Hope everyone has a great day!

So Much To Blog...So Little Willpower

I am amazed at the swiftness with which time is passing me by...seriously, WTH? I blinked and it was September - not only September, but just one hour away from being September 10th!! That's like almost half-way through, people!! So, I hate to do it but....dun dun dunnnnn...BULLETS!!

• The ultrasound on 09/01/09 went well - I didn't cave and find out the sex, so as far as we know we're having a healthy baby something-or -other. :) My placenta is low (I know, TMI, right?) - for now it just means they have to watch it and make sure it moves up as the baby gets bigger, if not, it means a c-section for me, which I do not find awesome at all.
• My girls are in full swing of school, they've got the routine down, and it's pretty cool. (totally didn't mean to make that rhyme, it just happened that way, I swear)
• I've been having some really cool 'aha' moments with my relationship with God, and in turn my relationships with other people. The first one I'll mention was more about my personal relationship with God - I became awe-struck last week at the thought that God, the Creator of the Universe, truly desires a one-on-one relationship with EACH one of us, and He and only He is capable of having that. How many people do you know that can have one-on-one relationships with the population of the world? Yeah, none. AND - not only that, but His relationship with each of us is completely different than anyone elses - He know ME, and how I relate to things, and that's different than how you relate to things. This got WAY deeper, but if I keep going, this won't really classify as a bullet point and I still have one other one to talk about. The other was having God reveal marriage to me from a dude's point of view, except I actually understood it...probably because my husband drives the comparable concept home all the time - and that is Marriage is like a car - in order for it to keep running, it requires constant maintenance. If you don't take care of your marriage, thinking that it's running just fine, you are likely to end up with a huge mess on your hands in not too long of a while. So, just like you have to change the oil, rotate the tires, get your 30,000 mile service, and wash your car - you have to maintain your marriage as well - don't just assume things are going okay and then have your engine drop through the floor onto the freeway.
• I am starting a new business venture - yay! More on this to come - I know, I hate when other people do that to me, and now I'm one of "them". It will be running in conjunction with my full-time job, so I'm not quitting or anything. (just in case my bosses are reading - they're not though)
• We went camping as a family for the first time over Labor Day weekend (just one night) - we did it 'tentless' (which I will never do again) - and it involved critters (read: raccoons and skunks, oh my)
• I'm volunteering for the AWANA program at church - it's basically a fun Bible-verse memory program held at a local church - they work through books, recite verses, and get little prizes. My girls participated for the first time last year, they had a blast! I'll be working with 3rd through 6th grade girls - and strangely enough, none of my girls currently fall into that age group. My oldest moved up to the Middle School program this year (waaaah), and my younger 2 are in 2nd and Kindergarten - so my 7 yr old just missed having her mom as her teacher - phew that was a close one!
• I got my kids all signed up for extra-curricular activities - Cita is currently taking karate through a program they offer afterschool once a week. SAM is signed up for volleyball and Monkey is signed up for soccer - both of those sports are through the same recreational program, and they start up in October.
• I need a massage badly.
• I'm hungry (what's new?)
• My BFF in the whole wide world is moving back to AZ from Germany while her husband is deployed to Afghanistan for 6 months. You have no idea how EXCITED I am about this!

OK - end bullets. :) I feel somewhat better now that I've caught you up on most of my life - but I'm still extremely behind in reading your blogs...I'll catch up, maybe not on ALL of the posts I missed, but on the last few days at least...I promise!! :)

Good night!