May Your Days Be Merry & Bright

Tomorrow at 3pm we bring our Christmastime Cabaret to the stage! A portion of our proceeds will go to help homeless families at VISION HOUSE.

Here are a couple clips from years past . . .

Mother & Child Reunion

Here's a photo from Mother's Day
2013. Such fun!

We have to give TREMENDOUS thanks to our amazing fans and Renton Civic Theatre for participating in our 5th Annual Mother's Day show! 

We had some fun honoring the moms! We even had some tap-dancing mommas in the show! And, Nephew Aaron's ukelele skills were featured on the stage for the FIRST time ever.

We always try to bring something new, fun and different each time. The best part is, we were able to raise some money to give to Vision House to help homeless families! THANK YOU!!

GIVE ME LOVE (GIVE ME PEACE ON EARTH)

You know it's true, you CAN be the change you see in the world. I'm on the inter-webs a LOT and I see a lot of people angrily status updating and tweeting about all sorts of things. They seem to spend all their precious online time getting riled up about what's they see that's wrong in the world. Seems to me it gives them less bandwidth to STAND UP for what they believe in. What do you believe in? How can you help promote that? Nephew Aaron and I believe in making a difference where we see need. The way we do it is by using our show, our voices, to raise money for different non-profit organizations that we believe in: Vision House, Lifelong AIDS Alliance, Mercy Corps, Champions Foundation, The Renton Salvation Army Food Bank . . . to name a few. Where can  YOU make a difference. It doesn't have to be money, it could be volunteering your time or just lending your voice to a good cause. Tell me what YOU believe in! I believe in using the power of peace, love and rock n' roll to fund the good works that people are doing! I believe in unleashing peace, love and rock n'roll on the world!

COME ON GET HAPPY

We are SO happy today! We had a FINE time with all of the folks who joined us for our Mother's Day Cabaret to support Vision House. You are the stars of our show! It was so great to see y'all with your Mamas (and Grandmamas in some cases!) In one row we had 2 little ones, their Mama, their Mama's Mama and their Mama's Mama's Mama. That's the way Nephew Aaron and I roll, we make it fun for the entire family! We celebrated Mom's day; raised some $$ for VISION HOUSE (which works to keep homeless families together) and celebrated our friend Nicholas's birthday! Although I think I threw out my hip trying to keep up with him on the hula hoop! A grand time was  had by all! I will be busybusybusy in June. Check out the calendar to find out where you can find us!! Love to you all!!

YOUR MAMA DON'T DANCE . . .

. . . but your Aunt Dottie does! We are getting so excited for the show on Sunday! I have my new tambourine to try out, too!

Nephew Aaron is teaching me how to play. He said, "Aunt Dottie, remember to 'hit' on beat two and four in the measure." I love my Nephew for helping me out. We all need a little help from time to time keeping in the rhythm of life!

 VISION HOUSE is an organization that helps people keep in the rhythm of life.This Renton, WA organization does amazing work keeping homeless families together! We are honored to be donating a portion of our proceeds from our Mother's Day Show to this great organization!

If you want to join us & help this amazing cause; be at Renton Civic Theatre on Sunday, May 13, 2012 at 2pm. The doors open at 1:30 and we make it fun for the entire family! There are tons of great restaurants nearby, too! So you can have brunch and enjoy the show!!

MAMA DONE TOLD ME

Do you remember the advice your mama gave you?? I do. My mama always used to say, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." She also used to say other things that I cannot print here!! But, the point is - the things our mama's say tend to stick with us.

As Nephew Aaron and I  prepare for Sunday's Mother's Day show, we'd love to hear ALL of the good (or bad) advice that your mama has given you!!

We're SO excited about this show because a portion of the proceeds goes to helping the fine work they're doing at VISION HOUSE!

If you want to join us; the show starts at 2:00 pm at Renton Civic Theatre which is located at 507 S 3rd in Renton!

RED RUBBER BALL

Are you resilient, like those playground balls that seem to bounce forever? Or are you deflated; with absolutely no capacity to rise above anything that might be bothering you? I love everyone but sometimes their behavior sends me away. I’m just being honest today, friends: about the only thing that will irritate me is when someone is being completely negative. I just won’t tolerate it in others and I won’t tolerate it in myself! The other day, I caught myself griping about this, that and the other thing. When I realized what I was doing, I sat right down and set out to write a list of 10 things for which I am grateful. The list grew to about 50 things!  This little exercise always helps my mood when I see on paper all the amazing things in my world! But, I’ve known people who refuse to write a gratitude list; in fact, they refuse all attempts at looking at the positive things; they refuse to see ANY good in their life. You do that around me and I will give you a hug and send you on your way! Until you’re ready to snap out of it and get over yourself you won’t endear yourself to me (or anyone, probably!). I’m happy to talk with anyone UNLESS they are wallowing in self-pity; because it is about as productive as talking to my kitchen table. And, here’s a little tip, if you find someone willing to join your pity party, they’re probably wallowing, too! Why stir up the negative? SO much in life is out of our control but we CAN control the way we REACT to all the crazy stuff. Try it. Right now! Quickly write a list of 10 things for which you are grateful.

Today, I am grateful for . . .

1. My health
2. My husband, Leonard
3. My Nephew Aaron & Niece Rachel
4. The rain that watered my droopy plants
5. They sight of the beautiful eagle that flew over my house
6. The breakfast my husband made for me
7. The music on the radio
8. Our little garden
9. Our little house
10. All of YOU!

GRATITUDE

What are YOU grateful for? Is it hard to express gratitude? I think it is even harder to ACCEPT it sometimes! I do my best every day to let people know how grateful I am to have them in my life. But, often I slip and let too much time pass. I don't want to do that today. I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere THANKS to ALL the fine folks who came out to our Mother's Day show yesterday! You were an amazing audience. You have NO idea how beautiful and handsome you all look from our vantage point on the stage. Your smiling faces! The sound of you singing along! The dancing you did! I hope you know how much JOY you sent out into the world yesterday by raising your voices in song! I am ever-so-grateful! And, I'm especially grateful that, thanks to YOU, we will be sending a nice check to VISION HOUSE with a portion of the proceeds from yesterday's show! I also send love and thanks to Renton Civic Theater for being such gracious hosts and providing us a gorgeous space to spend time with you! Well, it's time for my Kung Fu lesson, so I must be off! Sending you gratitude, love and blessings today! ~Aunt Dottie

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful ladies! I wish I could send you ALL flowers! Thank you for the very difficult job you do! An extra special thank you to the mothers who "mother" children not their own. My mother isn't with us any longer but I am eternally grateful to all the ladies who have filled that "mom" role in my life. Sometimes "family" goes beyond the one you are born to and expands far beyond! Today I am honored to be entertaining folks in our Mother's Day Show AND help out a good cause! A portion of the proceeds from this show will go to VISION HOUSE which helps keep homeless Mamas and their children together. I send you love today, friends! ~Aunt Dottie

VISION HOUSE




Please join us!

 I love it when people are making a positive difference in our world!! Since 1990 Vision House, located in Renton, Washington, has successfully provided transitional housing & support services to homeless mothers & children. I first learned about them when I went to their "No Homeless Kid's" luncheon about a year ago. I am so impressed and humbled by the work they do. Nephew Aaron & I are trying to fill the world with as much peace, love & rock n' roll as we can so we are donating a portion of our proceeds from our Mother's Day Show to help this amazing organization as they postively impact our community. ~Aunt Dottie

YOU CAN "LIKE" US

I feel a little like Sally Field that one year when she kept saying to the Oscar audience, "You like me! You really like me!" Hee hee! Nephew Aaron & I now have our very own Facebook page! Click HERE to see it and once you're there, if you have a facebook account, you can click "LIKE" to "like" it. All of this confuses me a little bit, but Nephew Aaron assures me that THIS is what the cool kids do; they have a fancy Facebook page! You know me, just like my beloved City of Renton, I like to be ahead of the curve! So, thanks to Nephew Aaron, we have a Facebook Page. Hee hee!

Haven't you been enjoying this rainy, sunny, snowy, hailing, thunder-and-lightning-y SPRING? What the heck?? I will say that I'm hopeful that "April showers brings May flowers" is true because I have been getting a little homesick for the tropical breezes of the cruise ships. Just when I think I cannot take another moment, then the sun bursts out and all is well again. Phew!

I really DO want sunny May flowers, especially on MOTHER'S DAY! That is when we have our next show and I'm SO excited because for this show, we are designating a portion of the proceeds to go to VISION HOUSE! This makes my heart very happy because Vision House's motto is "No Homeless Kids". It has been around since 1990 and Vision House and is located right HERE in Renton, Washington! One of the things they do is provide transitional housing and support services to homeless mothers and children. See why we want to help them?

And you can help them, too, just by coming out to our Mother's Day show!!

2:00pm
Renton Civic Theatre
507 S. 3rd St

$10 Students/Senior
$15 Adults
Call 425-226-5529 or email boxoffice@rentoncivictheatre.org to get your tickets!!

I hope you have a LOVELY day! I'm wishing you SUNSHINE along with my usual peace, love & rock n' roll! ~Aunt Dottie

APRIL LOVE

How can it already be the month of April? Time flies! I was just in Rhode Island, visiting my brother, Detroit, and didn't get a chance to properly THANK all of the fine fans and folks who were at our show on Sunday, March 27th! What FUN we had! What a GREAT audience you were! Oh my word! We had lots of volunteers singing and dancing and I cannot quite say what that whole thing about "Free Bird" was. Let's just say that we had someone VERY enthusiastic who came up and sang "Free Bird" for us. Another of those, "you had to be there" moments! I'll say it again: you NEVER know what is going to happen at one of our shows and that's just the way I like it! (Uh huh, uh huh!)

Nephew Aaron and I were so honored to be able to give a portion of the proceeds from that show to our friends at Champions Foundation! In fact, it made us SO happy that for our Mother's Day show on May 8th we are going to give a portion of the proceeds to VISION HOUSE in Renton, WA. The mission of Vision House is "No Homeless Kids" and they work tirelessly to keep Moms and Kids together. That is why it seemed perfect and appropriate to help them out on Mother's Day!

I love you my sweets and hope that you have a marvelous day!