A Great Saturday!

Yay, my garage is usable! When we moved to Winnipeg, we had the piano packaged in a big box and moved out here. The movers unpacked the piano and put it in our living room and left the box in our garage. We kept meaning to dismantle it, but never got around to it. Then it got cold, and it was too cold to do it.
Well today we finally got around to doing it. Well, we didn't fully dismantle it, but we did make the garage usable for the first time since moving in! Yay us. So one car is now in the garage, and the other is parked outside. They will rotate depending on the timing of us getting home, but it will be nice.

I also got winter boots today! This means Mama Bean and I can go for walks and such, which is exciting. Now to slim down so I can fit into my snow pants, and I'll be set! Good times!

We also bought a futon today! (it was a good day if you can't tell) We've been married over a year and a half and still don't have a couch. We had a futon from Jo's parents, but it wasn't very comfy. This one is much nicer, and will make watching TV enjoyable (when I hook it up that is). We only have electricity on one wall in the basement, the opposite one from the TV. So I'm going to have to run an extension cord across the room as well as run a ground cable to that outlet. I'm excited about the futon, it's really nice, and they've made technological advancements in futon mattresses so now they don't flatten out where you sit like the old ones. We also have a futon mattress from Jo's cousin so we have a spare/backup.

Right now I'm sitting here listening so some funky Motown hits. Last week I watched Standing in the Shadows of Motown, a documentary about the Funk Brothers; the musicians behind the hits. The lack of recognition that these guys got is so sad. And I'm not working my way through Standing in the Shadows of Motown: The James Jamerson story, a book I got for Christmas. James Jamerson is THE original bassist. He's arguably the best bassist to ever pick up a bass and lay down a groove and has played on more number one hits than anyone, all with no recognition. It's such a sad story, but I'm learning so much. And I'm LOVING this music. I've always enjoyed it, but now I just get sucked into the bass lines, and will just sit here and lose myself in the funk. The book is also full of bass line transcriptions from the songs, as well as two CDs with many modern bass players covering James' old hits, with the bass line being prominent on the recording. It's beautiful. And with the smell of fresh baked bread from our bread maker. It's a good evening.

And as I'm sitting here listening to the music, I'm looking up a lot of the bass lines so I can learn them.