A picture of me back in those college days. I have a watercolor assignment behind me that consisted of strips of the beach. I was definitely a “beach nut.”

Last Tuesday when I went to my voice lesson, my cold had already begun. Peaches was not thrilled that I came to my lesson with a cold. I pulled my chair back far away from her. She said, “Would you also mind turning your face in that direction?”

I pray I did not get her sick. I realize now that my voice has vanished, but it is not my livelihood. The effect of something as simple as the common cold on someone who sings for a living did not escape me.

When I hear the croaking noise escape my lips, I wonder when I’ll actually be able to sing again!

I decided that having a cold was definitely a reminder to me that I am not super human. Lately, I’ve felt a little too powerful – I needed some appreciation. It was challenging waking up with nostrils so clogged that I felt like there was a vise on my sinuses. It wasn’t so exciting to face my day with that feeling.

I’m grinning because it was. I love my life and everything I’m doing. I wasn’t about to let a cold get me down!

I might not have been able to sing this weekend as I had planned, but I still strummed my guitar and thought about song possibilities.

I have very much enjoyed listening to my recordings, and have many ideas of improvements to all of them. This is not about my vocals. That is certainly something I will be doing. However, I understand a lot more now about arrangements and instrumentation. I have many ideas for my songs!

I hardly ever mention much about my former career, which was one as an illustrator. Writing about my art career has been another venture I’ve enjoyed very much.

My art blog is at: http://foodartist.wordpress.com/

Since I had more time this weekend, I decided to update my art blog. I decided I’d write about the experience of illustrating Beechnut baby food. For all of art blog posts, I utilize puns for the titles. I sent out a request to Sam, my ex-boyfriend from high school to help me come up with a better title. He was always very good with puns.

On Feb 6, 2011, Judy wrote:

Hi Sam,

I indulged myself to work on an art blog post – I wrote about my illustrations for Beechnut baby food. So, I’d love to hear what you might come up with for a title on this one.

The ones I’ve thought of so far are pretty lame. Here they are:

“This assignment was my baby.”

“I was jarred when I received this big project”

‘I was a nut for Beechnut”

Judy

I have a special group of friends whom I email regularly. I share all of my emails. Carol, my friend whom Sam helped reconnect me with after thirty years is part of my group. Carol and Sam were engaged a long time ago. Carol jumped in with her idea:

On Feb 6, 2011, Carol wrote:

“This assignment was easy to swallow?”

Oh Carol! I like that one! It’s better than my lame choices. However, it also could be geriatric – that fits into my life well!

It will be interesting to see what Sam comes up with!

Judy

Sam did get back to me after the Super Bowl.

On Feb 6, 2011, Sam wrote:

“Beseeched by Beechnut.”

“My days as a Beech Baby.”

“Beech Baby, Beech Baby, all done by hand.”

It was so hard for me to choose a title, that I had to come up with something completely different! (To find out, you’ll have to check out my art blog!)

When I first began writing my blog, I wrote a lot about my family life. I haven’t really had much time or inclination to do that for many months.

However, tonight I felt like I had to. I decided to approach this as a creative writing assignment – something fun!

I had a dog (Teddy), so I knew if was only fair for my kids to have one.

5:00 p.m.

“Crap!” I said to myself. I had five more scans left to finish on my post about baby food. However, my poor family was getting hungry, so I would have to finish later. I noticed the pile of tissues next to my computer was smaller than before – perhaps that nasty cold was retreating?

Of course, when I answered any of my children my voice came out raspy. This was definitely not my voice – I was inhabited by Rod Stewart!

My oldest son looked forlorn. He came into my room shirtless to inform me his fever was back. How could he have another cold? He was just sick a few weeks ago. This “bug” was definitely traveling through our house. I stopped what I was doing. I had to fill another pitcher of tea, and give him more medicine.

In between doing that, I called in the food order. It was decided that “The Habit” would fit the bill for our family dinner tonight. Since there was plenty of leftover chicken, I ordered only a salad for myself. I could manage with leftovers even if no one else could.

I was ready to disengage from my computer now because I realized I was getting hungry. I put on my iPod. Sweet music caused my soul to soar, and I was very happy to go pick up the food. I hadn’t been outside all day and needed to hear music.

Everything went so smoothly. I came home and started to take out all the bags. Everyone had something different. I took out my leftover chicken and stuck it on a plate. Then I noticed. My youngest son’s burger wasn’t there – it was left off the order.

I felt annoyance, but nothing phased me.

I called the restaurant. They told me to come back and they’d make it up to me by adding some french fries to the order. Although I was starving – I figured it wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t bother me to get back in my car, because I put the music back on and felt happy.

I ran into the Habit, smiled, and thanked the cashier for fixing my order. I was almost home when my cell phone rang. I knew it! My family was wondering where their food was.

My daughter said, “MOM! You left the food on the table and Killer had a great time eating everything!!”

I gasped. Life was definitely getting more challenging!

6:00 p.m.

I came into the house. I could see my husband was surveying the damage. It seemed that our Chihuahua, Killer, had only eaten my leftover chicken. Thankfully the other food was spared – however, my daughter still thought it was possible he had licked everything.

I gave the dog my despicable glare, knowing full well my husband had already forgiven him. It was all my fault!

Thankfully, there was more leftover chicken in the refrigerator for me. I felt relief. All was well!

Everyone sat down and started gobbling their food. Life was good again. I had already forgotten about the cat vomit I had cleaned up before dinner.

Then my husband said, “Hey, there’s an extra burger here. Whose it for?”

They look so innocent in this picture! How dare they add to my workload!

Our cat, Sky, is saying in this picture, “Please forgive me for messing up the carpet – don’t worry the dog will eat it!”

© Judy Unger and http://www.myjourneysinsight.com 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Judy Unger with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.