Saturday, May 26, 2012

Six Word Saturday



Image from Google Images

Mom's say the darndest things too.


I'm sure that as mom's we have all said things that we never thought would come out of our mouths.....no I don't mean those kinds of things, I mean the funny kind of things. My daughter-in-law. Leah,  included these entries in her list on FB of "Things I Never Thought I'd say before 8 a.m.":

No more lip gloss on the wall, honey.

I'm not playing baseball with anyone who's not wearing pants.

One of her friends added:

I'm sorry that I threw carrots at you this morning.

And a couple of my all time favorites:

It's really not a good idea to lick the trash can.

No, that really is a worm, not a noodle, so take it out of your mouth.

What have you said as a mom or a grandmom that you never thought you'd say?



Monday, May 21, 2012

Birthdays, A Purple Hat and Duct Tape

We celebrated the last of my family's May birthdays with cake and ice cream for my daughter, Joanna, and her daughter, Hope, who have birthdays a day apart this week. Hope, who is now 10, apparently really likes the sparkly purple hat she got for her birthday. She wore it through all of last night's activities.......




and still had it on this morning for her (very small) birthday breakfast. 

Another gift Hope got was Duct Tape. Lots of Duct Tape. Lots of fancy Duct Tape.

This was news to me, but apparently Duct Tape is all the rage for making crafts these days. Here are a few examples I found.  Who knew?

Key chains

Wallets

Furniture

Jewelry
Images from Google Images

I will be interested to see what Hope creates with all that Duct Tape. I just hope she sticks to jewelry and purses and stays away from the couch.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Running, Partying, Playing and a Birthday Cake


I started Mother's Day early at the baseball stadium at the Rockies Home Run for the Homeless with some of my kids and grandkids. No, I didn't do the race, but I went down with my son-in-law to cheer the racers on and help corral the little kids before their fun run around the baseball field. It was a cold but fun morning.


Hope (9) and Jared (11) both did great in the 5k race. Jared ran with his Aunt Joanna and they finished in about 26 minutes. Hope did the race with her Aunt Jill and they ran some and walked some and finished in about 42 minutes. They have both now decided that they are runners and are looking for the next race to run, in spite of the fact that Hope somehow hurt her shoulder and Jared thought he might throw up right after the race. 

Justin (8) did the fun run around the field. He was a little unhappy about not doing the 5k race with the older kids, but decided it was all good when he got a prize for the kids race.

The weather improved a lot by the time the whole family got together in the evening at my son's house to celebrate Mother's Day and some birthdays. Beck (20 months) had great fun in the park.

Wil (6) always makes sure the bigger kids and dads get to play some baseball.

The big birthday celebration was for Anna (now 4).

EJ (4) was ready to help just in case Anna couldn't get that last candle out. 

It was a great day and I had a lot to be thankful for this Mother's Day.


Friday, May 11, 2012

My Mother Was A "Pretty Girl" and A Feminist



This is a post that I wrote a few years ago, but it has come back to my mind this year as Mother's Day approaches. My mother died too young 47 years ago, but I still appreciate the things I learned from her.


8 Pretty Girls
But You Can't Marry

That was the headline for the article which included this picture which was published in the Daily Oklahoman on Sunday April 3, 1938. My mother is the "pretty girl" on the left in the picture.



She was 24 years old and had made the decision to be a self-supporting, unmarried, working woman. In 1938, that was an unusual  and remarkable lifestyle. She and seven other working women lived together  in a large home in an upscale neighborhood. The newspaper article about these independent women was written in a tone that would raise both eyebrows and hackles in today's world. Here are some excerpts:


At 1608 Classen Boulevard is a large Spanish type house. It has the same distinguishing elegance of line that is characteristic of the houses in the block-those of a bone specialist, a city minister, a corporation lawyer, an architecht and some of the city's business and professional leaders.

But this house is a fairy tale palace without a prince charming and royal treasury. Without even a butcher, baker or candelabra maker to provide a monthly paycheck.
But there are eight young girls and fair, who live their lives in peace and harmony. Last winter these eight girls decided that eight hours work for each or the 64 they worked collectively each day was no excuse for a lack of home life. So they banded together and rented the house.

When and if slight differences arise, they are ironed out within the cloistered walls lest someone outside the organization should shake a knowing head. The tradition that two women can not live in the same house is being broken four times over.

About house rules. There aren't many. There's a standing rule against inviting large groups of people in to make noise. It would disturb the neighbors and the clever girls know that there are those who would welcome a chance to critisize a group of batchelor girls living alone.

Not a description that today's feminists would likely appreciate.

My mother did eventually get married and have a family, but at a far later time in her life than was common at the time this article was written.  She continued to be an independent thinker throughout her life and had very feminist views before "feminism" was culturally popular. .


Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I Think I'll Just Start Saying I'm Going To Write A Book


Image from Bing Images



When people learn that I will soon no longer be working full time (I can't quite yet use the word retirement) they almost always ask what my plans are. Plans? Yes, it seems like I am expected to have a plan for the additional free time I will soon have, but the truth is that I don't and this seems to disappoint people. I think I'll just start saying that I am going to write a book.

I'm pretty sure that I don't actually have a book in me, but it seems like the perfect answer. If I said I was going to become something like a gardener or a painter people would expect some kind of results pretty fast. If  I say I am going to spend my time reading books and blogs people will just think I am lazy. If I say I am writing a book, I could throw in a few months of writer's block here and there it could be quite a while before any actual results would be expected. 

Okay, before anyone gets all serious on me, I'm not really going to lie to anyone and I am not minimizing the efforts of someone who really does write a book. It just seems like a good answer to the inevitable question until I actually come up with a real "plan".

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Too Many T-Shirts



Doc brought a T-shirt home the other day that he had gotten as a giveaway at some event. After I washed it I was putting it away on a shelf with lots of other T-shirts and I realized that I have way too many T-shirts. I'm not talking about a nice T-shirt that you would put on with a pair of jeans and sandals to run to the grocery store. I'm talking about the kind of T-shirts that have big pictures and logos and lots of writing on them. As I started to go through the shelf of T-shirts with the plan of eliminating a few, I realized that at least some of them, with their big pictures and logos and writing also have lots of memories. 


I found about 8 very patriotic shirts from when I volunteered for years at our town's annual 4th of July Celebration, until our town ran out of money to have an annual 4th of July Celebration.


There were a few from the time when my son-in law was playing for the Washington Nationals baseball team.

There were a couple of others from festivals our town used to have but no longer does in such a big way.

I had totally forgotten about this one. It is from a cruise Doc and I went on in, well, 1998. We got to be friends on the cruise with a group of people from Minnesota who had made up these T-shirts for their group before the cruise. After the cruise they had shirts made for Doc and I and sent them to us.

I think this shirt probably comes with some memories that I might be better off forgetting. 


I did get rid of a few T-shirts, but I kept lots of others that I will probably rarely wear. You can have too many T-shirts, but you can never have too many memories.