Not Always A Bad Thing

 It's an ongoing joke in my household...  
Any time someone comes over and I say, "Look how big my leeks are getting!"

Answer: "Having big leaks is not a good thing..." or "You should get that fixed asap!" or "I don't think that's something to brag about..."

It IS if you're looking forward to leeks in cream sauce!!! Just a tip - OVERCOOK the leeks.

And I DO love me some leeks in cream sauce!

As soon as it's warm enough, this is going to be what takes over my herb garden instead of those pesky oregano plants.  Well, that's my hope.  I can't tell you how many years I thought the oregano was basil and I even made pesto out of it.  SURE it was good...  but didn't I feel foolish later offering some "basil" to some friends.  They didn't take much.

Yesterday Matthew helped me work on the Sweetness and we got the hood latched successfully!!!!  WOOHOO!  Thanks BIL Greg for giving me ideas on how to fix it!!  The battery is good, the hood is good.  I just need to figure out how to fix the hood post but that's not a big deal and not a priority for this week.

Today in my spare time, I'm working on this project.

The wedding dress...

These are the huge oval pieces.

And then the basic skirt stuff under the flounces.

I hope this girl is strong...  Because that's a LOT of fabric!!!

Oh!  My local widow group met on Saturday and I brought some hardboiled eggs for us to color.  I had little cups of dye water in the kitchen, using boiling water, a splash of white vinegar and lots of food coloring.

I handed out the eggs and crayon of their choice and we doodled on the eggs while we talked.  NONE of them had ever heard of using crayons on Easter eggs before.  I told them that my kids always had and then told them the story about when just before Robb and I were married, he helped me and my sisters color eggs at my house for our Lutheran church egg hunt.  He, being a Methodist minister's kid, wrote "Become Methodist" on his egg in white crayon so we didn't see what it said until it got dyed. lol!  

Um this one got cracked... sorry Robb!  We'll have to eat this one now.

On my way home from the group, I called a sister and asked if she remembered that story.  She didn't remember THAT but did remember that day and said that Robb was the first person ever to color on Easter eggs with crayons before dyeing them.  From that point on, everyone in our family did that.  She surmised that all our eggs before that day must have been boring.

I texted Robb's sister and asked her if Robb invented it or if they'd always done that and she remembers doing that as a kid too.

Ah memories.  They get you in the feels every time.

Not always a bad thing...

Weekend Thoughts

Just something I was amused by over the weekend.

ALSO... In How the Grinch Stole Christmas, he just cut out the coat from a curtain and didn't put any seam allowance or ANYTHING!!!

On Saturday morning, Maddy, Matthew and myself went out to visit my bestie's husband.  We had a fun time! and I ate too many donuts and leftover birthday cupcakes. 

That afternoon, I watched Better Off Dead while I worked on the wedding dress. We are at a point where I need the actual fabric and get going on it.  I think the bride is getting a little anxious.

But in Better Off Dead, I had to take a pic of this scene in the movie. Robb and I LOVED this movie and can quote any line from it at any given point.

 

So in the movie, a foreign exchange girl student is living with a mother and son in L.A..  The mother is convinced that her son and the girl are made for each other and encourages them to speak the international language of love since the girl refuses to let on that she understands English.  The son gives a framed photo of himself to her for a Christmas present. lol!

So Robb had me do a photo shoot of him many years ago.  He picked the best one, framed it and sent it to his sister as a gift.  And THAT'S why there are a couple corny pics of him in that memorial video I posted last week.

:) I might frame the whole series of them for myself.

On Saturday night, I had made a crock pot full of chili and enough bread bowls for the gang.  They all came over for dinner and a D&D game night with Ryan.

Since I've been getting up around 4:30 every morning, I'm usually drained by 8pm.  So I headed upstairs instead and relaxed before getting to sleep.

On Sunday after church, I dropped Leon off at home and headed to see my bestie for a bit, then got home JUST when Maddy and Matthew pulled up to do their laundry.  They got their laundry batch in and we went for a "W" as Matthew calls them.  He doesn't dare say "walk" around his dogs and he's just in the habit.

We walked over to Meri's house and then further where he could peek into the windows of the local library.  I'm not sure if they're "rival" libraries but he should really come in some time when they're open.

We played a couple games that they brought and watched a bit of Vicar of Dibley until it was time for me to take Leon to his mom's.  

I dropped him off and then got lost in Des Moines until I FINALLY found the right road to get to the Iowa Home and Garden show.  I always begged Robb to go with me and sometimes he did.  But now I understand why he was hesitant.  It's a lot of walking and nothing to do but spend money.  When I was a kid, this was the place to collect fly swatters, match books and yard sticks...

For me with Robb, it was getting my mind all psyched up for Spring.  But yesterday it was for therapy.  I power walked the entire home show in 30 minutes.  

When I had Robb with me, we'd mosey around and dream about "what if" we had a jacuzzi or a flower bed like this?  Or if we had the space on the patio, wouldn't this be cool there?!  

But they were closing in 1.5 hours and I felt like I had no time to waste. Plus a lot of the booths were packing up their stuff.  I'll bet the fly swatters had already been packed.  

The most swag I found was a pen from a sewer sucking service. 

I stopped at a couple booths to get info on concrete repair and then stopped for a guy to squirt aloe lotion on my hand.  As he proceeded to rub it into my hand, I stepped back.  Um I can do that thanks... 

*do you also have hand sanitizer??!*

Then at another booth, a guy asked to clean my glasses for me.  Yeoookay...  As he cleaned them, he asked if I had precious gem stones or guns in my home.

Yikes!  There is NO need for you to know that!  I replied with "I don't feel comfortable telling you that information!"

Suddenly he handed my glasses to a co-worker and excused himself for a phone call. *which I didn't see him take... he just walked to another table...* :) I must have offended him or he didn't know how to take me.  But the co-worker was great so I'm glad he handed me off.  She finished my glasses and asked to polish up my wedding rings.  Sure... But I've eaten salt today and couldn't get them off.

No problem.  She smeared some cream on them and started polishing them right on my finger.  I couldn't believe the black tarnish that she pulled off of that!  My wedding rings looked so sparkling and new that tears started flowing.

I asked if she could do my husband's ring too and she said SURE!  So I took my necklace off and she polished it up too.  It looks so pretty and sparkly!

And I got sucked into spending $50...

Oh well, my rings look good!

I got home in time for Meri and Ryan (bf) to stop by for some more D&D time with Ryan.  Meri gave me the patterns for the bridesmaid dresses today and I'm looking forward to getting to work on the actual dresses for her friend's wedding!

Not that the wedding dress itself wasn't the actual dress...  But up to now it's been samples.  Let's get rolling!!!

And don't you just hate it when one of your favorite authors posts something like this on Instagram and you're suddenly excited that a new book is out finally?!!!

Turns out it's just one you've already read but in German or Portuguese or something...

uGG..  Oh well, I'll keep waiting....

And FYI: I've been praying a LOT for Ukraine this weekend.  

And a lot more prayers to come.

Valentine events

I spent Valentine's late afternoon playing with Maddy's dogs, then that evening with all my children. They brought fixing for salads, chicken cacciatore and cheesecake and then we played board games.   My kids are so sweet to give up time with their significant other to spend it along with them AND me on such a romantic holiday.

Then yesterday, I woke up at 5am and while still in bed, started hunting down a song for Robb's video.  I started looking through songs from the 80s. nope.  Then all our favorite Celtic songs, then branched into Lord of the Dance and was suddenly inspired by Ronin Hardiman's Anthem album, finding the song Heaven.  It made me ugly cry and I felt like they wrote it specifically with me in mind...  I transferred the memorial slideshow to a different computer so Ryan could attach the song to it.  Then I spent the rest of the day doing mundane things and binge watching more Modern Family.  I took a total of 3 Aleve, ate a lot of junk and laid on my bed.

No one at work contacted me AT ALL!  I'm proud of them for not calling, even though all hell broke loose while I was out.  That ALWAYS happens on my days off...  It wasn't my fault but clients do things randomly that can screw things up.  Clients just plan it for when I'm out I guess... I just got off the phone with my boss and I have a list of stuff to work through today.  He was bound and determined not to let anyone call me yesterday.  He's great.

Late in the afternoon, I picked up Meri and we went over to Maddy's apartment, played with her dogs and watched old home movies on her tv. Chromecast is so handy.  Then headed back to my house where they picked up pizza for supper.  After supper, we played some Jackbox with everyone for a bit, reminisced for a bit and then the girls stayed overnight with me.  We got up at 5 and enjoyed some cappuccinos and breakfast with Ryan before the girls left to start their days.  I'm glad they stayed over.

Anyway, that was my day.  I'm so relieved that God kept us in such good care all last year and that the kids and I have become so much closer in all ways.  Robb would have loved this.

DONE WITH QUARANTINE!!! I'M OUT OF HERE!!!

 Well, not out of here as quickly as you'd think...  I DO work from home.

BUT!!!!  I have a booster shot this afternoon and if all goes well, my bestie's birthday tomorrow.

I thought for sure my quarantine would last until Saturday but then was on a DUO call with Maddy last night and she asked how Bible study was. Ummmm ...  MOM!!!  IT'S DONE! and YAY!

and to think... If I'd only known a couple hours earlier I wouldn't have turned down a supper invite with a couple friends. sigh.  Oh well.  I got some sewing in last night and am ALMOST ready to show you what it looks like.

In the meanwhile... I finally got around to do my mid-month bills yesterday and when I got done with that I was feeling all powerful (poor but powerful) and started sorting off the many many things that got stacked on my desk in the last several months.  

There are days when I work remotely from my telecommuting desktop and don't see my office for weeks at a time.  And when I do, I wonder why I even work out there in the cold office off the garage.  SURE there's a heater, but it's downright cold until it warms things up.  and it contains a bulk of my fabric stash.  Sluggy knows that...  

So yesterday was THE day.  For at least making a start.

LOOK what I found!!!

An ice scraper wedding favor from a college friends wedding in 2004.  hmm..  I suppose that means more snow is coming.  I also just heard she's retiring after this school year.  We're too young for that!

I also found THIS in my mom's handwriting!

My mom sewed so many things but it must have been after I went to bed.  I don't remember her sewing during the days...  It was for my youngest sister and was SO cute on her!

I can't find a picture of her wearing it so here is the next best thing.  She's the youngest.  I'm the one on the far right holding up a book.

Anyway, back to work.  Have to figure out a few miracles before the end of the day IF I survive my booster...

Journeys in my garage and beyond

 Under the gun now...  My siblings-in-law and my girls have organized a day to sort out all of my MILs things that we've stored in the garage for the last 13 years.  

While I'm GLAD...  I'm wondering how much of our stuff was thrown on top of her stack.  When we asked her to move in with us and Robb and I bought this house to fit us all, we put all her years of "many times moved" baggage into a storage unit nearby.  We had to visit the unit several times following that to find old taxes, various things and a few bits of furniture that she needed.  But it sat in that storage unit for 9 years.  

If you do the math, we realized that if we weren't paying for that unit every month, we could have bought a car for Ryan when he turned 16...  hmmm  Like we would have saved the money for that???  It makes you think about things though when you put it into perspective.  Robb always had a knack for putting things into perspective.  So Robb and I moved it all to our garage and we've parked in the driveway ever since.

No big.  We have ice scrapers...

She started going through the boxes at the beginning but while sorting, reminiscing and rubbing her eyes because of the memories, she got an eye infection from all the gook on the items AND she wanted to save everything.  So it all got put on hold.  again and again.  and then it became "out of sight, out of mind."

So after Meri and my first workout in just over 3 weeks, I spent about 45 minutes sorting some boxes of my own. Pulling my MIL's things off my shelves and getting mine put on them.  I'm trying to get all her things in the one area.  

In the process, I'll downsize my stuff.  I guess I needed a kick in the butt to do this.  I've got about 1.5 weeks and Maddy will be coming this weekend for the next week to help. Yay!  She can go through her college things!  maybe.

So far, I've found a couple pictures that I hadn't seen in so many years.  That's Robb and Ryan.

  They must have been pulled out of a box at some point and left on the shelf for me to find at such a time as this.

I KNEW I had a picture of the Calvin and Hobbs wall in our last house somewhere.  It pains me to know that the buyers later painted over it...  Shoot.  It was SO cool in Ryan's room.  My BIL painted it for us the weekend we moved in.

Robb and I knew that our kid would be just like Calvin and we weren't far off.

Meri and I started our first Griefshare support group meeting last night.  I think this is going to be good for us.  However now I have homework...  shoot...  I thought once I graduated college, all that would be behind me.  nope.  

And it's homework that will make me cry...  So just like college! :)

So the journey through the shadow of death continues.

Cherished & Glad

 It's been a whirlwind.   The girls talk to me each morning at 5:30.  Maddy on DUO while she gets ready for her school day and Meri in my kitchen making sure I eat a good breakfast before she heads back home for her day.  Then each night, we're enjoying food from our church ladies this week.  The other food from the prior weeks are either eaten already and leftovers frozen.  

The turkey that Meri made the day or so after Robb's death, had been de-boned by another one of my sisters that weekend and then stuck in the freezer until I was ready to make bone broth from it this past weekend.

Look what I found inside of it when I pulled it from the freezer to stick in a couple Instant Pots!  

I was WONDERING where that knife went!  Joking of course.  And the bone broth turned out amazing!  It made about 12 baggies (2 cups each) of frozen gold for the deep freezer.

Another sister organized the funeral dinner with some of Meri's friends as volunteer servers.  A lot of family donated money to the dinner and I really have no idea who gave...  But the servers made sure all the food was out and ready to start serving for us as soon as we arrived at the hall and they cleaned up afterwards...  What wonderful family and friends God blessed us with!!

The day after Robb died, two of my sisters that live within 3 hours away came here together with one of their daughters and as soon as they walked in the door and after hugging me fiercely, crying, they asked what they could do for me. Um clean my house??!

and they did...!

They hummed around, vacuuming, dusting, washing dishes, sweeping, sorting toys with Leon.  I was astonished and warmed by their love.  Margaret sat and watched them buzz around and asked me privately if she could pay them to vacuum her living room downstairs.  How about we just do that in about 30 minutes?...  No need to pay.  I "helped" them by walking into one room, clearly with a purpose and then staring around in a daze and then carrying a sock into the other room, repeatedly. Probably the same sock...

After they finished the main floor, we all took a break and everyone took pictures of pictures in photo albums to send to a nephew and brother-in-law who were putting together a slideshow of Robb's life then we tackled my mother-in-laws area.  Her living room took all of 20 minutes and we were back to the photo albums before they had to leave town and go home again.

Whew...  I'm so glad I was into scrapbooking!

I'm so glad I was able to gather up Robb's recipes for our family cookbook this Christmas!

I'm so glad I sat on the bed with Robb visiting all Sunday afternoon and we were together all day on that Monday.  It's like God gives me little nudges sometimes.  If I suddenly feel the need to clean off the dining room table and pick up scattered shoes, I DON'T FIGHT IT! Someone usually stops by unannounced and it's like, "Oh yeah... I see what you did there God!"  

I had felt the urge to just hang out with my sweetheart and now it's like, "Oh yeah...  THAT'S why! Thank you God!"

I'm so glad Maddy called that night and just talked about her day with him. 
Her FB post later that week.

"Yesterday evening I called my dad and shared with him a story from school.  One of my kindergartners had said, "Let's get down to the bottom of this WHOLE trinity thing."  Dad and I both shared a big chuckle.  A few hours later, Dad joined Jesus in heaven and understands the mystery of the trinity."

I met with our vacancy pastor last night while Leon watched youtube videos in the Sunday School room.  It was a REALLY good meeting and lasted longer than I'd budgeted for, but that's ok.

That's been the kids and my motto lately.

"And that's ok!"

I might have to make a plaque.

Anyway, more memories and events of the last two weeks of my life later, but I don't want to forget anything!  Sorry it's so discombobulated...  

But that's the story of our lives.  and that's ok.

Remembering Grandma

I was reminded over the weekend that it's been exactly 40 years ago on Sunday that my Grandma Gertrude died.  She was my mom's mother and I was 13 years old.

She had breast cancer.  I remember how weak Grandma was after the cancer treatments that she fainted during church once.

My mom got into cancer victims and friends groups during that era of my life and I attended several with her.  It was later that the group decided to change their name to something more positive.  Cancer victors and friends.  The group met in the basement of a bank and was all about health and how to build up the strength you need for the cancer treatments that they did back then.  And foods on how to fight cancer holistically if you were opted to NOT do cancer treatments.  It mostly leaned towards that.

Did you know that there is arsenic in the little seed inside the pits of peaches and that it can fight the cancer cells?  It can also kill you if you eat too many...

Later, while in college and attending some of these with Mom, I saw my college freshmen Algebra teacher there.  His wife had cancer.  It was so weird seeing him outside of campus!

I remember that Grandma's sister came up from Arizona for the funeral and for a while afterwards, taking care of the family and my grandpa.  She looked and sounded SO much like Grandma, it was uncanny.  like Grandma never left.

Ruth Ann remembered a cookie jar that Grandma used to have snacks in ALL the time for the grandkids.  I can vaguely remember it, but not as well as she did.  She must have snacked a lot... ;)

She found a pic of it on Pinterest.

I remember helping Mom clean out the house afterwards since Grandpa was moving to the church parsonage now.  He was our pastor.  

Towards the last few years of her life, Grandma would buy a bag of sugar, thinking they were out.  When she got home, she'd see that she already had plenty and would hide the bag in the attic so Grandpa wouldn't see that her mind was slipping.  We found so many bags of petrified sugar up in that hot little attic!  

Also SO many stacks of plastic containers from yogurt or cottage cheese.

We also found old purses with tons of change in them.  So many were so old that they were truly worth something, so they were saved away a different way after that.  I guess people of that generation didn't trust banks.

There was an auction of all the belongings on the grounds surrounding the parsonage and church that Grandpa didn't need.  One sister remembers strangers pawing through the boxes like they were nothing.  Looking back now, I wish I'd have had money to bid on something to remember her by.

But I do have this.  I treasure it.

Cracking walnuts with Grandma.

That was me!

My brother bought their old house and is a great construction worker.  He can fix and remodel anything.  So anytime I want to revisit Grandma and Grandpa's place, I can go see him.  Of course, they didn't have a koi fish pond in the yard... 

And Mark filled in the little peanut shaped pond they had on the hill.  It was always filled with tadpoles and tiny frogs.  A regular biology class any time you wanted.  I can't tell you how many tadpoles I'd take home and watch them grow legs and mature.

And my house is surrounded by lilacs and peonies, just like Grandma and Grandpa's was.  Some days when the lilacs are in bloom and my yard is a little shaggy, I sit on the bench on the front porch and reminisce about days and loved ones gone by.

I guess it's going to be one of those days... 

Forced to Blast from the Past

Looks to be a busy weekend...  

If it wasn't, you'd be asking me, "Who are you? and what have you done with McVal?"

We got a phone call at 5pm yesterday that the hospital had been expecting my MIL to be admitted that afternoon.  ???  ummm, I'm pretty sure she's downstairs playing with her little dog and watching Hallmark movies at the top volume...  

Apparently her blood work from the previous day came back abnormal and the clinic called the hospital to get her admitted but failed to call and let US know...  until the hospital nurses were wondering where we were and called.  Robb wasn't available, so I ran her down and got her settled into her room.   

I brought along a shirt I'd made the other day because the sleeves needed the hem hand sewn in.  And then I realized that I'd already machine stitched it!  Wow, I'd matched that thread really well!!  So I spent three hours going through my personal data on my computer.  I'm a telecommuter so I am mobile when I work and can look at my computer from anywhere, anytime.  Deleted several gig of junk stuff that I should have done years ago.  I sorted the files by size and started reviewing the largest first.

Found lots of copies of the ASG (my sewing group) newsletters from when I was editor.  DON'T need those anymore!  Whew!   

Found the prelim copies of when Ryan did his Hamlet puppet show.  I kept the final one and got rid of the little pieces.  It was already on Youtube also.  I also found several chunks of when he and friends made their own version of Lord of the Rings.  It was so dark, I couldn't make it out, but it was fun hearing his younger voice.

I found my Poe album!  I don't know why the download was in there but yay!  Her voice and music is both haunting and fun.  and I feel somewhat rebellious listening to her.

Heading back to work from the hospital again this morning for a while.  Not sure when they're going to let her leave so we'll see.

Someday when I have more "kill some time" time, I'll clean up some other files.  Robb would be so proud of me. :)  

The Worst Nightmare

When my brother's oldest son was about 3 years old, they got him all ready for trick or treat night.

He was dressed in just whatever he was wearing.  They put black paint on one side of his face and white on the other with no clear line down the middle.  I think some random blotches here or there.

When you asked what he was, he was instructed to say, "Your worse nightmare!"

And he truly was!  For just that night anyway.  Poor Thane...  lol!  What a great costume that was.

Fast forward to Leon's current costume box.

He keeps it in a special box... :)

Can you even guess what it is?  He wears it fairly often since it arrived, so it's all wadded up.  

He has created two totally different looks from just one costume and plans to use them both starting with a down town trick or treat night today.  

Tune in tomorrow!

Nuking Memories

Ah to be entertained so easily!...

I bought a microwave volcano from some kid that came to the door with a fundraiser booklet.  You fill it part way with vinegar and part way with water and then microwave for 6 minutes.  

It blows bubbles on the top and looks like Vesuvius about to blow.  Other than that, it doesn't do much else.  I'm probably just as well to just squirt the bleachy cleanser in and microwave for 30 seconds before wiping out, as I typically do WHEN I clean the thing.  And it needs to be bad.

When I was a kid, I could NOT imagine standing this close to the microwave while it was on.

Possible radiation leakage.  

Not sure how much that happened in real life or if it just a threat from my parents so they could see the action too...

Of course, I remember when microwaves first came out.  My dad's company was one of the distributors for them and of course he brought one home.  

We discovered early on what we could and could NOT do with that microwave.

For example, do not hard boil eggs in it.  It WILL blow the door off.  Like a grenade!

We had egg bits all over the kitchen and paint inside the microwave was peeling off.  Dad ran to the store and bought us a second one and it took a few days for Mom to notice. :)

I remember going to my dad's office with him one Saturday and folding hundreds if not thousands of fliers and stuffing envelopes for mailings to sell more of them.  Fun times!!!  I think he bought us either ice cream, donuts or popcorn on the way home as payment.  I'm banking on popcorn.

Anyway, back to work.  It's lining up to be a very busy day!  

With any luck, I might get some sewing in later!

Two Weddings and My Funeral

Last night, I took Leon down to see his dad at the escape room and I worked for an hour or so touching up paint.  I spilled some yellow paint on the plastic tarp they had all around and Ryan's boss said that that must be where Ryan gets it...  really...?...

My hands have paint bits all over, even after my shower.  They remind me of my mom's hands.  And that's not a bad thing.  She was always painting, staining and varnishing things that her nails always told a story of her latest creations.  

I'm sure I told you part of this before...  I have two older sisters that got married a month apart from each other.  THE two sisters that got married that summer and with them took all my clothes that I always borrowed...  I got heavy into sewing for myself that fall!

Those two will kill me, but I do love their Glamour Shots!!!

My mom was given (or asked) for the job to refinish all the pews in our church in preparation for the big events.  We had a smallish church with maybe 20 pews.  

That spring and summer, my mom and the rest of us stripped old white paint off all of them, sanded, stained, varnished and polished all of those pews.  We did it in sections so that the congregation could still have something to sit in during church...  

You can see just the bits of the pews in this one of Teresa's wedding.  I wasn't in this one and I couldn't find pics of Ruth Ann's wedding.

Knowing my life as you do, the project was probably completed three hours before the first wedding took place...  I kid...  It was at least a week.  Plus my mom made their wedding gowns.

So if something is hereditary, I think I'd rather have the gene pool lean towards the creativity than the klutzy-ness...

Feeling Artzy

My niece Brooke found these old sketches of mine SOMEWHERE in their house...  Don't know where.  My sister and her family live in my old family acreage and she just came upon these.  They probably got shoved in a file or something from my mom's stuff.

These are from when I was a junior in high school.  1983.  So they're vintage!

I guess I am too...

SOMEDAY they'll be worth a TON of money!!!

Like those Beanie Babies we all have at least 40 of...

I loved to draw then.  I still do I guess, but my creativity comes out sporadically in other ways now.

and only as needed.

So my sister IMed these to me yesterday.  Wow, does this bring back memories!  I don't know why I drew a paper sack...  But I guess I was practicing shading.

This reminds me of why I was an art minor in college for a whole semester...

My plans changed along with my dreams.

That happens.

The Memory Bowl

I want to go see my mom and dad this weekend!!  Meri is coming with me.  

IF she feels better.  She came home from work sick yesterday.  Those daycare kids spread the WORST illnesses...  

So if I don't come down with it, (I avoided her like the plague...) and she's better, then we'll go.  I pretty much threw the over-the-counter meds to her along with the 7-UP and ginger ale and said, "GET BETTER!"  

Mama!  (She calls me that lately) won't you cuddle with me??  

nope.

I was talking to someone the other day and felt like they were cutting me down.  

"I don't take pictures because I want to live in the moment and remember how it was in real life."  

said they.

Well, GOOD for them! :\

  I didn't justify myself at the time because when someone acts holier-than-thou, I get kind of floored and stunned a bit.

And three days later, I'm able to come up with a response...

I guess I take pictures, because my mom has dementia and can't remember those two months when I moved into the garage attic for my freshman year at college because I wanted the "live away from home" experience.  I moved back into the house when it got too cold and after I discovered that bats liked it up there too.

She gets mixed up as to who lived in which house.  I was born when we lived in the blue house with the basement Dad dug out from under it, while we were still living in it.  And when he smoked. and the tree in the back yard where Mark built a treehouse and the branches made a little sink which was perfect for mudpie creations where they forked.  And the made for the toboggan hill in the back!  And we had Lassa, the dog, that got hit by a car.  And the swimming pool that had the big wooden spool for a deck and we would make the current go so fast and then one day we pushed the side over and flooded the yard.  And playing Duck When Cars Come in the ditch.

Mom doesn't remember much of those things.

And now I can't remember who told me that little braggadocios bit the other day,  

so I'm taking pictures, darn it!

Someday, likely, I won't be able to remember those big or little things either.  And photos will be all I'll have to remember the various events of my life and those of the ones I love.  

If you didn't capture it on film, it didn't happen.

No wonder Mom kept multiple baskets of photos tucked under her bed and around the house.

Oh dear... *sob* I better get to work on those scrap books!

AND make more of these blog posts into a book.

2009 is done so far...

Rampant Nostalgia

I'm getting sick of modern day tv programming and movies.  Anyone else with me?  Sure it's slick, trendy and well made with grandiose plots, but it seems to me, it's getting super duper preachy and telling me what to think.  

NOPE - not all of it's for me...  I can deal with zombies however, so don't take the Walking Dead away just yet. 

So I got nostalgic yesterday over lunch.  While I worked on my super huge salad that probably had as many calories than a big Mac, I worked with my Alexa firestick and asked her to find me "tv series in the 70s".  

"Hmm, I can't seem to find that."

sigh.  I'm not giving up.

"tv in the 70s"

"Here you go."

That search didn't bring any old ones besides a lot of nostalgic flash back clippy shows, that 70's Show and then finally the Waltons.  

I wasn't in the mood for goody two shoes tv, but I picked it anyway to see what other people chose in addition to the Waltons and hit the jackpot.  Woohoo!  Rockford Files?  Yes please!

Dang, James Garner just died a few years ago...  

His suits were total SWANK!...

I don't even think the Goodwill sells them anymore.

I watched the first episode during lunch, sewing and early this morning.  Here's what I noticed that is so different than today.

1) no multiple or too deep underlying plots, in addition to the main mystery, to keep my mind scattered in all directions.  No wonder there's so much ADHD these days... ;)

2) no cell phones.  But the main character can get tracked down anywhere he goes anyway.  My mom could do that too.  I could be stopping at Dominic's grocery for a candy bar on my way home from college and my name would get paged to bring home a gallon of milk...  

3) the killers are pretty dumb.  Flashy dressers, but not very bright in the head.  And they drove flashy cars and weren't very good at tailing someone.  This guy wore snazzy red pants and shiny black platform shoes.  Yep, that guy HAS to be the killer!!

4) The women's clothes are fascinating!

I noticed that I was watching it for the fashion that Lindsay Wagner wore.  Neato cape style blouse!  How can I make THAT?!  I figured it out in my head and will file it away for future reference.. .  It's not the one from the photo above.  

It's just comfortable to watch something that brought back my younger days so vividly.  Am I getting old?  Probably, but not in MY head.  At least I'm not NEARLY as old as my sister who has found that she enjoys watching Matlock!  I guess I have 1.5 years before I have to do that.  But I was never really a Matlock fan, so you'll have to force me to watch it.

I'll stick with the 70s for at least the next decade.  If only I could find the original Starsky & Hutch!

Bus Stop Blues

Anyone remember that song, Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say, Please share my umbrella.

A friend of mine got that mix tape from her husband when they first started dating.

So romantic... :)

I got a mix tape from a former boyfriend with a song performed by the Monkees...

Valerie

While SOMEWHAT romantic, that little romance fizzled out quick.  I happen to think he had LOTS of mix tapes with various women's names on them for such occasions.

I took Leon to the bus stop this morning and a little boy, his sister and grandma in jams walked over to wait with us.  Second day in a row.  Leon was thrilled until the little boy didn't want to do the same game they played yesterday, putting their hands on the cold street sign pole to see who took their hands off first.  So Leon got all quiet and fake weepy.  They both got over it by the time the bus came along. Yeah - two minutes later.

boys...

These photos are from Leon and my "Adventure walk" the other day.  In the above picture, this was JUST before I sat on the other side of this seesaw and almost catapulted him across the playground.  Seriously... I'm at least 3 times heavier than he is...  My butt was on the gravel...

But anyway, the bus stop friend reminded me of the many times I waited at the end of our driveway for the bus as a kid.  The neighbor girl would come over and wait with me most days whether I wanted her to or not.  Some times she was my best friend, other times not. 

In fifth grade, she and I worked out a dance routine to the tune of Hitchin' a Ride and performed it in front of the class...  Little did I realize, that talent scouts were not recruiting from Mrs. Barrow's class room that day.  And just because you and she could do the circle hands moves in perfect  synchronous motions, did not mean you'd hit the big time.  or become popular.  

I guess I was kind of a shy weirdo...

Leave me alone, I'd rather draw. or write. or sew.

I met up with Suzy on Facebook a few years back and she is just as zany now as she was then.  I must have posted or said something to upset her, because she dropped me as a FB friend a year or so later.

Wouldn't be the first time....

Anyway, where was I going with this?  Oh yeah, I've been there!  That little boy will be the worst/best friend of Leon's young life.  

We all need at least one of those.

I've had two! or more...

For local people. maybe

I tried to think of foods that you only get in the mid-west and southerners would think were silly, but can't really unless you talk about fair food...  But then, most fair food is just over the top and silly.  I mean...  Deep fried butter on a stick?  The lines were always too long for me to get one.  I've heard it tastes a bit like french toast.

So, Iowa food... 

There is the pork tenderloin sandwich, which just got out of hand in Iowa...  Each place trying to make the biggest sandwich.  While they ARE delicious, yikes.  Any ma and pa type restaurant will serve them and there are plenty around. yay!

Iowa chops, which are super thick cut pork chops from corn fed hogs.  Fresh grilled.  Yummm...

And that brings me to sweet corn sold on the street corners.  I grew up on a hobby farm.  My parents purchased 14 acres just before I was in 2nd grade because my older brother wanted to be a farmer and Dad jumped at the chance to help Mark fulfill that dream.  Dad had grown up on a dairy farm and loved being back on a farm and able to tinker with tractors in his free time.  Home was just a few miles from the nearest Shopko, so all was good.  

During the summers, Dad planted corn or alfalfa in the two small fields the farm provided.  My sisters and I would sit on the back ledge of the tractor when Dad plowed and we'd jump off and yank out milk weeds whenever we saw one.  I can still feel the soft warm dirt as my feet were dragged through it. mmmm....

I learned how to drive a tractor before I could drive a car.  Stick shift?  No PROBLEM!!!  Well, after the first several hops of the car, no problem...  I figured it out.  Cars ARE a little different than tractors.  

But Dad would need someone to drive the tractor while he picked up the bales of hay after the baler had been there and we all fought for the chance to do the driving instead of picking up bales.

And the worse part of baling hay is finding half a snake.  yuck.  Actually the very worse part would be to find a whole live snake...  and there were several of those on the farm.  

When I was a little older, my sisters and I would camp out on top of the hay bale stack.  Spread out some sleeping bags and talk under the stars.  It never lasted very long into the night though.  

Oh back to the corn.  My mom was a school teacher so she had the summers off.  EARLY on a weekday morning, she would wake us up and head us out to the corn field to pick the corn.  I remember walking through the wet corn leaves and filling a five gallon bucket with ears of corn and then emptying it in either the back end of the station wagon or the trunk of sedan.  Once it was full, we would pick up paper sacks at a local grocery store, then sit at a corner somewhere in my home city, sort the corn, pull off smut and sell the sweetcorn during the rest of the world's lunch hour and into the afternoon until it was all gone.

If it wasn't gone by supper time, I remember us filling a dozen per bag and selling it discounted door to door, asking people if they would like some sweet corn to go with their dinner.

Then we'd go home and eat sweet corn for supper ourselves.

If our field was just doing alfalfa, then my uncle would hire us to help him with his corn field and sell his sweetcorn.  Never a dull summer!

Another thing that you just don't do outside of the midwest.  Detassel.  Every summer, a crew foreman would get together a group of young kids, roughly the age of 14 when they don't know any better and hire them for, usually, a three week stint of detasseling or walking beans.

Detasseling - is where you walk through a certain number of rows of field corn (not to be confused with sweet corn!!  Because field corn is mainly feed for cattle or made into corn oil, and other corn based products) but you pull off the top tassels.  

Then skip two rows and then the next set of rows get detasseled.  If you've seen fields of corn, one row can go on for a mile.  It's a hike and you WILL wreck whatever shoes you're wearing.  As well as the shirt, so wear an old long sleeved shirt because the corn whip will make your arms sting for days.  Your parents will drop you off at the break of dawn by a Piggly Wiggly where the foreman will pick you up in his borrowed school bus.  Bring a small cooler for your lunch and drink!  Then he'd bring you back by a certain time and your folks would pick you up.  I was only able to hack it as a 14 year old for a few days, if that.  SO miserable!!!  BUT it paid well!  Each of my kids did it and could make around 800 for three weeks of work if you don't skip days.

The purpose of detasseling is not just to give young people haunting dreams of their youth, but mostly for making hybrid corn.  You're basically helping the corn with reproduction.  ewwww...  There are a lot of seed companies in Iowa and other midwestern states.  It's big money.

Walking beans - is basically what it says.  A crew is hired to walk the thousands of rows of beans and cut down any weeds you see.  

Some kids get machetes, so THAT'S cool!  That's actually how Robb got a scar above one of his knees.  He was pretending it was a lightsaber and a friend was throwing dirt clods at him.  *thunk*

Some farms have money and will have a trailer where kids with umbrellas over them sit and spray the weeds.  SOME farms skip the kids entirely and use machines to zap any weed that is taller than the bean plants.  But back in the day, 35 years ago, those machines didn't exist or you didn't see them often.

So.  Those are some items that you might never have heard of if you didn't live in the midwest.  

YOUR turn!  Tell about something that is in your part of the country that no one outside of that region would have any idea of what you're talking about.

Affected by the past

On Saturday, two of my sisters and myself sorted the last of my Dad's stash of photos and miscellaneous from their old house.  It was amazing to waltz through the past and see photos I'd never seen before.

Since an aunt had asked for a lot of the old family photos on my Mom's side, I took a snap shot with my camera to save them for us.  So a LOT of the photos below are just of my Mom's side of the family.  I'm sure my paternal cousins were wondering, HEY!  on FB.  

I'll scan some in of that side of the family soon.

This is my mother's father and aunt when they were just kids.  Weren't they sweet?

Again, them a little older.  My grandpa looks so much like my cousin's sons...

Here is my grandmother at fourteen years old with her god child.

Then a little while later at nursing school.

I did find some great pics of my dad as a child.  Besides the one that I SO love when he was accosted as a baby in front of these very bushes, here he is with my other grandmother at probably age 3-4.

My maternal grandma, a little while older on her wedding day with the little boy from the first photo.

From what I've been told their reception was a bunch of watermelon on the lawn of the church.

SIMPLE yet memorable.

Here she is some years later.

This is my dad and a brother that died too early.  I can't remember if this is the brother that died while swimming and getting caught in underwater weeds or died of a brain embolism on a hot summer morning. 

But I love the smile on Dad's face! I love to hear him laugh too.

Then my mom as a young girl with her siblings.  She's the second from the right. Second oldest.

LOVE these stair step photos of the kids.  She's second from the left.

Then the whole family a while later.  The family resemblances of my aunts and uncles and their kids are uncanny.

And especially in the more casual shots!

Is that my aunt Dorcas wearing JEANS???! Scandalous!

Then that mysterious family.  I reread the back last night with Maddy (YES SHE'S HOME FOR THE WEEK!!! YAY!!).  My mom wrote that this was a minister and a few of his kids.  Family friends of her family and how one of these kids ATE her ex-lax during a visit.  

Not sure how much, but yikes...

Lock your medicine cabinets!

And then when Mom was probably twenty or so on a family vacation.  Grandma must be taking the picture.  The kid on the bumper could EASILY be confused with my cousin Danny, but it's his dad as a teen.

Then Mom on her wedding day.  My sister said that back in the day, brides would get their photos taken professionally ahead of the wedding, then give these as gifts to their new husband on the wedding day itself.  Sad how it transformed into modern day boudior sessions...

 

Then after the first baby!  My sister Tammy.

Then a couple MORE kids! I love how dad was wrestling with them!  I don't remember rough housing much with dad.  The older ones must have worn him out and he passed that responsibility off onto the older kids and wow were they good at it!!!

And my Grandpa!!!  Dad's father.  He divorced from Dad's mom when Dad was just a baby.  He came back into Dad's life later and I'm so glad.  I have fond memories of him.

This is Dad's great grandmother on her 100th birthday in 1956.  Wow...  We've got some longevity in our blood!!!

My grandparents and their kids and and a few grandkids.    I think my older sister is being held by my dad in this one.  I'm probably not born yet. I recognize the pointy hat coat from previous pics I've seen of her.

But here I am in the middle.  As always...  One of my siblings, probably Teresa, made this for 4H.  She's the face on the bottom.  I remember it hanging in our living room for a LOT of years.  I think my youngest sister, the top face, wants it, so I may give it to her.  It could sure use some restoration, huh?

 And last but not least, my maternal grandma again.  What a sweet kind woman!  She and Grandpa lived just a few miles from us growing up and Grandpa was our minister until he couldn't anymore.  So we got to see and know them really well. 

Grandma Gertrude had several bushes of peonies next to the front stoop at their parsonage.  And I planted several next to my porch in memory of her.  She passed away when I was 12 or so.

And even now, I'm getting teary eyed typing about her...

Anyway, off to another day!  You have a good one!!!