My dad would have been 74 today.

It seems that I don't say too much about him. Not because I have nothing to say but because he is a difficult person to explain. There is always a caveat to his description. And if I am truly honest, then I would have to include those caveats. So I did but that post became too lengthy and bottom line, it doesn't matter.


Sometimes, despite what we want our reality to be, it is a different reality and you have to accept it and move on or continue to wish for things to have been different and let that keep us from progressing and be the excuse for the way we are. My siblings and I learned that early on and I am so glad we did or we could have wasted years and would not have had such carefree days growing up.

I'm not trying to be preachy, it was just the process through which we had to go.

So we accepted my dad's faults, highlighted his gifts, loved him and thanked him for all that he did for us. I understand so much better now, the weight of raising a family, especially on a father's shoulders, and am so appreciative of his foresight which financially sustained my mother in her later years.

He was charismatic and funny, light-hearted and kind. He probably never knew that he actually did have influence in our lives because so much of our raising was done by our mother. But he did and his role in that was important.



When I was five years old, I would get him coffee and cookies, scalding myself as I carried it from the kitchen to him in his leather recliner. Pausing in the dining room, I would steal a cookie and dip it in his coffee to enjoy the taste. Upon looking into his cup, he would say, "Wow. For some reason your mom always makes my coffee with crumbs in it. I don't get it." and I would giggle thinking I was so sneaky.

Even though he was gone a lot, we relished the time he was home. There was always much laughter and memories which have buoyed me.

Despite years of wishing he would spend more time with us, living so separate from us in many ways, we understood. It was certainly not a full understanding but accepting of him nonetheless.

And even now, having been so long since he passed away, I still miss him.

Happy birthday dad. Love you.

Friday night fire

A beautiful Friday night called for the first campfire of the season.

It beckoned a few neighbor kids to come and enjoy a chocolaty smore and play yard games in the dark.
The kids found 3 baby Fireflies and excitedly watched them light up.

I took that as a sign to the beginning of a great weekend.

I hope yours was good too.

Cart wars

If you click on the picture, you'll get a better idea of her cute-ness.

Yesterday Blair and I headed out to do a little shopping together. I told her as we got out of the car not to ask for anything. These kids think I am made of money.

Anyway, as we got out, I looked to make sure we were in the clear in the parking lot. Blair took a step ahead of me but since there were no cars, I just bridged the gap a little and didn't ask her to hold my hand.
We were right in the middle of crossing when the wind kicked up and blew my hair right into my face. I turned my face toward the wind so my hair would blow back and just then I saw a car come barreling right into the parking lot, directly at us.

She turned in from the street and was cutting across so she came through at an angle cutting the corner. I quickly took Blair's hand and pulled her back, watching the girl pass right in front of me, just mindlessly driving, not bothering to slow down even a little or rather, stop for a pedestrian.

As she passed by she looked at me as if I were the one who was in her way. I just shook my head and told Blair to watch out for people like that. "People like what?" she said.
"People who think they own the road and will run you over to get to where they're going."

(That could be a metaphor for other things, come to think of it.)

After 15 minutes of perusing a few aisles in the store, I stopped to look at something and noticed someone coming down the aisle toward me. I moved my cart over to where I was looking because I hate it when people park their cart on one side and then move themselves to the other side of the aisle, essentially blocking the whole row.

So I made sure I wasn't in any one's way and kept one side of the aisle open.

The person kept coming toward me and stopped at the front of my cart. I assumed she was looking at something on the shelf too and didn't pay much attention.

In my peripheral vision, I could see she was just standing there so I looked over and recognized her as the oblivious, barreling car driver. She gave me a slight smile. I went back to looking toward the shelf and she continued to just stand there. I looked back at her again and realized she was waiting for me to get out of her way. Blair, waiting for me to catch up, was standing near this person.

I never rush people. If I'm in a store and notice someone taking a long time looking or know that they don't see me, I'll turn around in the aisle and come up the other end so I don't rush them.

Or at a stop light, if the driver in front of me doesn't notice the light turned green, I'll wait to see when they figure it out. They will eventually and already feel stupid that they weren't paying attention, so no need for me to lay on the horn and make them feel even more dumb. I don't like that.

So as I was hesitating to move, hoping she would just go around where there was plenty of room, Blair said, "Come over here mom, you're gonna get run over so she can get to where she goes."

Oh snap.

Subject to change

phone photo - little shopper.

As you can tell, I have no method to my postings. And sometimes the pictures have nothing to do with the post. I'm a fly by the seat of my pants type. It's really not a good thing to be all the time, I know, but it's where I am.

So when the mood strikes, I write. But I decided to have a bit of a schedule. That is subject to change though because I have a rule, I don't blog unless the household duties are completed...mostly completed.

Just like I don't like coming home to a messy kitchen, I don't like coming upstairs to one if I am on the computer too long. So that comes first and, of course, the kids too and then I can type away.

Mondays and Tuesday's will be anything goes - short stories or stories about growing up on a little farm, current home life, funny things my kids say, my run-ins with those "interesting" people I seem to attract, pictures or snippets from childhood and all the magic that was my youth. It was magical for the most part. I even had a pony. A real live rootin' tootin' one.

Wednesday's you'll find me workin' around the house - updates on the light remodeling projects or lack of them. Light being the operative word.

Thursday's will be the What I'm thinking series - quotes on life, observations, happenings as I travel around town - some serious, some funny. Something that will give you/me a little lift in the day or may make us want to go kick someone - take your pick.

Friday's will be my Friday finds - adventures in flea markets, thrifty goods, and other fun finds/inspirations and uses from the week before.

And maybe that will help me stay on track, but still reserving the time when I can switch it up. That's a given, right?

Coupla things

I'm thankful for...

Freecycle.

Jon and I spent the 1000 degree early afternoon of Memorial Day, standing in waist high grass, dismantling a swing set. It was courtesy of a Freecycler. It was more like he dismantled and I was the assistant. "Wrench...wrench. Scalpel...scalpel." sort of thing. I just happened to see the ad come across my e-mail and snatched it up. With a little TLC and a can (or two) of spray paint, it'll be all freshened up.

Shade trees.

I love them.
"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they will never sit." (Greek proverb as quoted by Gordon B. Hinckley)

My husband's job.

He is giving away Hersheypark (the amusement park) tickets if you "like" them and the giveaway post on their Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/ComfortInnatthePark
I'm excluded - what a bummer. But you're not! Go check them out.

You would think I'd get some perks...

People who let me follow them around and take pictures like the Paparazzi.

I love it.

Have a good day!

Corner of happy and free

When I spied this little table in Texas, I knew right away that it would hang out on the deck. It just needed a few plants and some drinks to hold to make it my little corner of happy. That and some new deck furniture...

I bought some pots at Garden Ridge and pulled out the vintage Bamboo patterned McCoy piece I got for $1.99 at the thrift shop. Then I needed to find some plants.

Enter my favorite 2 mile walk and a generous person.

While huffing it up a hill, I noticed a sign by a little stoop that read, "FREE plants, take as many as you want."

Someone had taken time to gather starts from her spider plants and re pot them in old coffee cans, half cut milk gallons and other plastic bins. How nice, I thought. There are still good people out there.
While I was looking them over, the woman came out of her house and I told her that I would feel better paying so I would come back. Pointing up to her window, she said that I would actually be doing her a favor by just taking them off her hands. The massive plants I saw, just from a glance, looked to be invading her house. "I have bunches," she said.

So she helped me pick out a few which gave my arms a good workout on the 2 mile walk back. No need for arm weights that day.

And now they sit waiting for us to enjoy some fresh lemonade in good old mason jars. And they'll be even better when these lids arrive in my mailbox. The cute factor just went way up. I hope the taste factor does too.

photo courtesy of Brides magazine

Have a great weekend.

Foreign film

[In California]

Annie Hall (Diane Keaton): It's so clean out here

Alvy Singer (Woody Allen): That's because they don't throw their garbage away, they turn it into television shows.

It seems that the only time I have a minute to sit and watch the tv is in the late evening. So the other night after running through the channels and seeing the line-up of nothing but "Reality" television shows, I was quickly reminded why I soured on most of them and then that famous line came to mind (although I've never seen the movie.)

Figuratively speaking, I felt my brain go to mush.

In the 15 minutes that I surfed the channels, I think I dropped a few IQ points. I dropped a few more just watching the promos for a few shows - housewives screaming (which are more like silent movies since you can't hear anything but the *bleep, bleepity bleep** sound) pageant kids getting their eyebrows waxed - which understandably led to more screaming, bachelorette's bawling...already. And you know it's really bad when subtitles come on and you're not watching a foreign film.

Then again, maybe I was.

At any rate, I think Alvy was right.