What I am enjoying about summer

 

 

I am not enjoying triple digit temperatures. Not at all. Though they were a long time coming this year, I still was unprepared for them.
That's one of the downsides of summer.
But as with most things, there are definite upsides.
Take for instance, cherries. I love them. Only in the summer are they so readily available. So sweet.
I also love the time to work on projects. There is a slump in social and other obligations (perhaps due to the heat) affording me the chance to try things like the ink transfer pillows pictures above. I am making them as a housewarming gift for my niece since the "Wizard of Oz" is among her and her hubby's favorite movies.
I've also been doing quite a lot of scrapbooking and blogging. And when the heat is not too harsh for an old girl; some gardening.

 

 

 

the picture over Grandma Great's bed

 

My maternal great grandmother lived just two houses away when I was little. The only thing between her house and mine was a grocery store that just happened to belong to my great-aunt. Though Grandma great died when I was still young I have strong memories of her. One of the strongest in the photo that hung above her bed. It was a picture of a beautiful angel watching two children cross a bridge.
This angelic being was their "guardian angel" Grandma great said. She was a bitty little thing whose was so gentle that her grown children called her mommy but such a force to be reckoned with that others called her ma'am.
Her voice was so strong and certain when she spoke of Divine protection that I never  doubted her. I was as sure it was true as I was that she would give me shiny coins and a pretty handkerchief for my birthday every year.
I remained convinced of protection from heavenly beings.  That truth is borne out in the Bible. And while the form they take may vary in truth from that image hanging over the bed of my beloved great-grandmother, time and experience have cemented her belief in my own mind.
And something else, I am certain about:

Romans 8:38 New Living Translation (NLT)

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

 

baby blue dress

 

 

That's my darling grandbaby pictured here. The dress she is wearing is one I intend to save. It is special to me for several reasons.To start with, I bought it for her before she was born. Soon after we learned we were having a girl baby, I happened upon it by accident and snapped it up on sight. It's brand is Feltman Brothers, a longtime favorite of mine. It is Bishop style, which has allowed her to wear it for a long time, due to its fullness and deep hem. Its color matches her blue eyes. I have put a dress on her every time I've had a good chance since the day she was born. It has thrilled me to dress her up, especially in something smocked. But of all the dresses and of all the dressing up, this is my favorite. Besides all that, she just looks adorable in it! Don't you agree?

familyisms ... as promised!

Ready or not... here they come!
The familyisms I have promised to provide readers of this blog.

In preparation, I sent the following message to members of the family:

you are cordially invited (read urged, pleaded with, etc) to be a guest on my brilliant blog "ponderings, mullings and musings" where I am preparing to do a summer series called "familyisms." This is something I have contemplated for a long time as I want to preserve our stories the way I wish we had preserved the ones our aunts and uncles and grandparents told us. please help me with this by sending me a short (or long) missive about your favorite familyism(s). and soon. please. thank you. again

My niece Mica responded first, recollecting her own phrase from long ago when she climbed to the top of her Aunt Karen's Christmas tree and saying "it's America!" when she probably meant "miracle." We still say "It's America!"

 

 

 

My middle sister was the next to respond with the quote,  "Don't worry bout it Seth don't worry bout it."  Seth was a preschooler at the time, walked into his cousin's bathroom to find her in there and hooted "woo woo."

The reply above was born at that moment.

 

My baby sister's favorite:
When her son Grayson, who is almost nine, upon being served apply fritters sprinkled with powdered sugar at a local restaurant, asked "Are those albino hush puppies?"

She also quoted our brother-in-law's pet phrase regarding our sister, his wife of 30+. It goes like this "Karen don't love nobody but Jesus."

Our nephew Kassidy made a statement about his mom  once that we will never forget. He said "she really doesn't cuss...but when she does, she hits you too."

Not to be outdone, one of his cousins countered: "If my Dad is yelling up the stairs he's not too mad but if climbs them,  someone's getting a spanking."

Another Familyism about Dads "My dad's the boss at my house" said one cousin," My dad's the boss of the TV remote" said another.

 

My baby daughter's favorites: the time her sister a younger cousin that we'd gotten her Christmas present at Toys R Us. Said the cousin, who was about aged two, "Amy didn't go to Toys is Us did'er?"

And the baby daughter likes her own statement upon going to dinner with a sorority sister of her cousin, Kelli Ann.

Emily:" oh my goodness I'm so full (after eating 1 chicken strip)"
The baby daughter says she replied " girl, pass that on down cause we eat in this family and this isn't even a holiday."

 

Kelli Ann says that her Granny always putting put kids inside buckets to play when they were babies.
She once asked her son,  Reid if he'd had a good time visit his great-grandmother. His response " it was tun tun tun!"
Maybe you can tell by these stories that we have a ton of fun when we are together.

 

Precious in-laws

I have so many good memories that involve my mother-in-law and father-in-law. We had lots of fun with them. We spent lots of time with them.

The Hub and I were very young when we married.  We had our own little house but we spent more time at their house than we did at ours/

In the four years between the time we married and when we had our first child, we travelled with them whenever it was possible.

My father-in-law tried to make a golfer of me. It wasn't pretty. He was heard to shout "Fore" and "play on through" to others on the course more than once. I was finally relegated to driving the cart for he and my husband but I more than made up for it when he took us skeet shooting. After that he could brag that his daughter-in-law was a "better shot than most men" he'd hunted with.  I was as proud of myself as he was of me when I excelled at anything he considered important. It was the same with my mother-in-law. Once, I repeated to her that in a job interview I'd been asked what my worth was as salary was negotiated. "I hope you told them they cannot possibly pay you what you are worth" she said. They were huge supporters and encouragers to me.

When the kids arrived, they found themselves often in the company of the best grandparents they could have asked for. To say they were doting doesn't begin to describe how they felt about my babies.

The adoration went both ways. So much so that my mother-in-law once described their relationships as "mutual admiration" societies.

They were well travelled but their favorite trips involved their children and grandchildren.

I was paged once in the grocery store, in days before cell phones, to the manager's office where the cord had to be stretched far across from where the phone was mounted to the customer service. The voice on the other end of the line wanted to know about what color I wanted for the girls' Christmas dresses. It was my mother-in-law who was in a children's shop in Shreveport, La. with the holidays on her mind. That it was just September did not phase her. She wanted an answer, right then on the holiday attire for her two grandgirls. We discussed and decided then and there. Such was her attention and devotion to her grandchildren and her involvement with them to the smallest detail.

She often told of a  total four hour trip to watch a stage struck little girl in a dance recital where she "might have moved one leg one time!"

If they were acolytes, flower girls, behind the plate at a tee ball game, had

pine wood derby competitions, gymnastics. they were there.

If there was a school or church program, they were there.

They participated in activities and events also within our homes and theirs... whether a board game or a holiday pantomime, they were involved.

So many good memories. I hope my children hold them as dearly as I do.

Grandma Blue and Katie Pink

There is a particular shade of blue that we call "Grandma Blue."
Why she favored it I do not know.
I just know that her car and the shutters on her house, her pajamas and more than one of her church dresses were that shade of blue.
I once went to the paint store with a chip of color she wanted to match. I am not sure the poor sales clerk ever satisfied her matching the color but if not it wasn't for lack of trying.
It was her signature color. We decided that the first time we watched "Steel Magnolias" and heard the Julia Roberts character say that the colors she used in her wedding "blush and bashful" were her signature colors.
My baby  daughter has a signature color, too.  We call it "Katie pink."
It is not a pale,, baby pink. It is  vibrant like she is. It's not really hot pink though it is rather bold.
We know it when we see it; like Grandma blue.
Two of my favorite colors.

three little girls and their dad

 

My Dad had no sons. He was an avid outdoorsman. We liked to follow along behind him.
And so we: hunted, fished. We climbed trees. We swung from them  on tire swings and board swings and ski ropes.
We gigged frogs. We rode in and sometimes drove dune buggies.
We baited trotlines and own hooks. We seined bait.
We water skied until we were made to give someone else a turn.
We drove boats and paddled them. We could back a trailer and/or pull a boat onto it well before any of us were in junior high. He taught us all to drive a standard automobile.
We are all good shots, whether with a gun or a bow and arrow. My archery talents were noted one summer at Camp Secola when I won the camp outstanding archer award. I was so proud to bring my award home to show Daddy.
We all liked making him proud which is why we strived to excel at those things he liked to do.
We loved it when Daddy let us help him reload shot gun shells.  We loved doing whatever he liked to do. It was fun to us.
We could be girly girls/ We had tea parties under a certain mimosa tree 
and played wedding dress up wearing Mama's old formals.
But not when daddy was around.
When Daddy was around we were rough and tumble. A lot of the skills we developed following him around the garden and the lake and the sand dunes and the river banks and the deer woods have served us well even as adults.
.

Cole Thomas Baker, an original

My nephew Cole T. Baker is an original. He always, always marched to his own tune. Always.
I got to spend some time with him albeit unexpectedly, not long ago. It was fabulous. Time with him always is.
My sisters and I had gone to Natchez, Mississippi for our annual sisters trip.
We posted pix of a Sty. Patrick's parade that he thought was in New Orleans. He saw the pix and posed a response that warned that if I was within driving distance and did not call I was on his bad list.
I could not afford to ignore the warning as I was already on his bad list, kind of...
We missed a family reunion last fall. The Hub said he told said nephew that the one weekend he could not attend was the weekend it was set.
Still, I know that the locale is hard to book during the fall pilgrimage and is a popular place for weddings, etc. Cole was frustrated and not a little disappointed. He had used his substantial clout to get it at all together. We are trying again this summer to attend a reunion with the same folk at the same place. I couldn't risk his wrath. We called him. He met us.
For now I am forgiven.
We planned to meet up at one of my favorite places in all the world "Grandmother's Buttons" in St. Francisville, Louisiana. He drove up from Baton Rouge and was to call me when he arrived.
Delayed by my middle sister's fervent attempts to decide upon an Easter dress for her granddaughter, we were not yet at our agreed meeting spot when he arrived.
The middle sister had used up all the battery on her phone sending pictures and text messages back and forth to the grandbaby's mama seeking approval for a dress. She nabbed my phone to use for the same endeavor, leaving me incommunicado.
As I say pouting curbside outside the shop where my sister and my phone were I saw a rather tall, dapper dude walking  down that street toward us.
It took a minute for it to register that I what I was seeing was one of my favorite people in all the world in one of my favorite places in all the world.  My heart flipped over.
I am certain I looked ridiculous running toward him yelling "my baby" to a grown man well over six feet tall. But you see, I carried him on my hip until his feet drug the ground. He is the youngest of my handsome Louisiana nephews and he, like the other two of them, occupies a special place in his auntie's heart. We had a fabulous time. I always do with him.I am reminded as I write this one another fabulous time. He picked me up one December day near Christmas and drove me around to finish up my shopping. He arrived with the car all toasty warm. An Aretha Franklin CD was playing, there was a Starbuck's hot chocolate in the cup holder for me.
A faux fur throw was folded on my seat. It was marvelous. He knew all the right things to do and have and places to go.
He still does. In St. Francisville it seemed  was known wherever we went. At one of the homes we toured, photos were produced of him at a design symposium held her.
I talked him while we lunched in St. Francisville about some of his design projects. In particular, I wanted to know about a spindle bed that he designed. I saw the plans the last time we visited Baton Rouge on the way to the beach.
The plans came to fruition, told me. The bed was built according to his  original design.
I like that he does original designs. It seems fitting, him being such an original.

Maxie

My mother-in-law has been on my mind quite a lot lately. Probably because my youngest child reminds me so much of her. Or maybe it is because my eldest child misses her so much and talks about her constantly when we are together.
She was one of a kind.
A force to be reckoned with.
She was a mother badger. She was fiercely protective of her children and grandchildren.
Much like her son.
Like other of our family, she had some great one-liners. Some were original to her and some were Southern phrases she collected throughout her life.
Maxie-isms is what I call them.
I asked some friends and family to share their favorite of her phrases recently.
Here is what I got.
"spit and swallow it" is my sister-in-law's favorite. Her Mama would said this most often when we were traveling and someone said they were hungry before she deemed it time to stop and eat.
"you can give your heart to God because your behind is mine" was her most dire threat. Several family members, including her grandson Cole and niece Carolyn, cited this one as their favorite.
My personal favorite "a little paint helps anything... old cars, old barns, old women."
I've heard her repeat that phrase more times than I can count.
There was a stool in the master bedroom closet/dressing area where my father-in-law sat to put on his shoes. I often sat there while she put on her makeup and we visited. She never failed to use that phrase as she stood there looking in the mirror dressing for the day or some event.
These days I think of that phrase almost every time I stand looking in the mirror as I am getting ready to go out into the world.
She was right. It fits.
Like most everything else she ever said.

kelboisms

My brother-in-law, who we call Kelbo, is rather famous for his sayings.
He is one of the quickest witted people I know.  He is also brilliant. And insightful. and more than a little ingenius; so much so that we also call him "McGuyver." He can out figure and out do even a fictional character sometimes.
He is an oil man and a successful one. That is not surprise give the above noted attributes. He is also one of the hardest working folk you could find. Add all of that together, and you have the makings of a reality television series that would rival anything currently on any of the bazillion channels where reality tv is a big hit.
My nephew Kassidy already has the plot written in his head. We have discussed it and we all agree it would be a run away hit.
He has a name for the sitcom. There is material far beyond a pilot episode and well into a second series.
His famous phrases, let's call these one liner's "Kelboisms" are not just the stuff of familyisms, they are the stuff of legend.
Here are some of my favorites:
In response to certain circumstances he often responds, "it ain't no good thing."
When my great nephew was born, my niece wondered what would happen if there were a mix up at the hospital and she ended up with the wrong baby. Responded her Dad/Kelbo "if that's not yours its still the one you want."
In reference to his son, Kassidy, the eventual writer of the tv series about his dad, he has said "the only thing wrong with Bubba is that he wasn't twins."
The last two of these are just plain sweet. He means them.

what will get you kilt

My baby sister grew up in a time when idle threats were permissible. Back then no one locked doors or worried much about the things that have become our daily reality.
This is how I shall explain her political incorrectness on some occasions.
Specifically, she has always used a phrase that I quite certain is politicially incorrect. This day and time it could even get her in  trouble. Still she uses it.
I am blogging about it because it is funny when she uses it and funny that she doesn't care.
"Don't you mean some sthing that will get you hurt?" I asked.
"No," she answered back. "I am talking about things that will get you kilt."
I think it is spelled "k-i-l-t."

Here is just a portion of  her list:

taking someone's french fries

talking about someone's mama

messing with someone's kids

messing with someone's money

and especially, messing with someone's kids and money.

If I don't get "kilt" for writing this, I might add some more of her list later.

an affinity for Avon

Ding dong, Avon calling? In my world, that means my mother is calling. My mother is my Avon lady.
It's kind of cool to be able to order stuff and have it delivered plus get a visit in. It's rather like two birds with one stone.
It's not just lipstick samples and Skin-so-Soft, anymore. They have shoes and children's clothes. They have scarves and other accessories. I often find gifts and stocking stuffers, Easter basket stuff, etc.I have a black bag that I call my travel sling. I got it from Avon years ago. It is very well traveled, having been to Europe and many states. It has the perfect number of zippered pockets and pouches and it is made of parachute material so it is water resistant.
I love my sling. I love that it came from Avon. I love that I can brag to my mom about how its products hold up.
Another bonus: I can make my Mama and my Avon lady proud at the same time.

Craft camp

Every year during the holidays I wish I had spent time making tags and gifts when there is no time crunch.
I did manage to make wreaths with my youngest nephew last year but we ran out of time before we ran out of people to make them for.
 How to get that done is always the problem. I have come up with what I think will be a remedy.
Together with Cousins Camp, I am thinking of combining arts and crafts. I can let my darlings stamp and print and color and paint to their little hearts' content and then use their work for the holidays.
I am also thinking of taking pictures of them to use for ornaments.
I am gathering up materials and printing out ideas. It's the whole two birds with one stone thing again: fun with my darlings and a jump on the holidays.

Touch down, Oklahoma

Today is Father's Day so I am going to blog about the only fella who fills the paternal spot in my world. It is about his best contribution to our familyisms.
We live in a state where sports is a really big deal. Especially football.  Even the most important  of events events are planned around college football games.
To describe many if not most oklahomans as rabid sports fans would be a gross understatement.
And then there is my Pop Buzz.
He is like a walking sports page. He knows all the stats. He stays game ready. Even his phone has a team based ring tone. It plays "Boomer Sooner."
He has always been great about attending family events with my Mom. If one of the children has a recital or ballgame, you can usually find him in the audience. Same with graduations or awards ceremonies and other school functions.
If the particular function coincides with a ballgame, you can count on Pop Buzz wearing headphones. He can listen to a sporting event and watch a kid get an award or participate in some sport at the same time.
That is the setting for the familyism he is most famous for.
He was with the fam and about a gazillion other people in a gymnasium for the state cheerleading competition. It was noisy as announcements were being made but then, the speaker called for a moment of silence in observance of a member of one squad who'd recently died in a car accident.
With his head phones on, Pop Buzz had no idea that a moment of silence was being observed when he shouted "Touchdown, Oklahoma!" Had the gym been as quiet then as it was when he put on his headphones, no one might have heard his shout. As it was, everyone did. All eyes turned on him.
He had no idea why.
Some of us wanted to curl up under the bleachers and hide. Others of us were rolling in the aisles.
My baby daughter, who was competing with her squad found no humor in the incident at all.
Years later when she and her classmates together, one of them recollected "that time Katie's grandpa yelled 'touchdown, Oklahoma! during the moment of silence." She cringed still.
My mom tells of a wedding when something similar happened. I am not sure if he gave voice to his excitement about points on the OU scoreboard as the bride was walking down the aisle, when vows were being exchanged or at some other time. Mother said she was shocked and not a little embarrassed.
It happened again last month at my nephew's Baccalaureate. This was a spring rather than fall event so Pop Buzz wasn't listened to a football game. He did, however, forget to turn the ringer on his phone down. When it went off, no one cringed or looked shocked.
My graduating nephew said that he and a classmate started clapping along with the tune, until Pop Buzz managed to get the sound muted.
It seems the kiddos in the family and their friends rather expect this to happen by now.
Besides, my nephew said, we are going to OU in the fall, so it kind of seems appropriate.

tea with chien

 

The grandbaby has been  talking about dressing up the dogs and having a tea party for a while now. I convinced her to wait until her aunts were home so as to include them. She was convinced to wait but there was no question at all regarding whether or not the dog tea party was happening this weekend since but aunties were here.
Why she so wanted to have dog biscuits on the table with the tea biscuits, I am not sure, but she was.  The pooches were good sports about wearing scarves and flowered collars.
The humans are Scottish shortbread cookies and homemade brownies. The chien munched on kibble. Or was it the other way around?!

favorites

I've often wondered why people like the things they like. We were talking about favorites this weekend while riding in the car. Between the Hub, the grandbaby, my two daughters and me, there was only one overlap in our favorite things. We discussed our ice cream preferences, Disney movies, snacks, smells for the better part of an hour. In all that time, only twice did anyone have a favorite in common.
With that in mind I decided to post pictures of some of my favorite things. It is pretty random. But so  am I, much of the time.

finials: especially pine cone or
artichoke

 

Lamps shining through the window

 

 

leopard prints

 

carousels
 

 

 

 

cheese straws and julep cups
 

 

 



Mackenzie Childs everything


 

 

 

Nordic Sweaters

 

plaid, especially together with leopard print
 

 

The most amazing woman/women on the planet

I have two sisters.
One of them is gregarious, engaging, witty and very, very social.
The other is reserved, fairly quiet much of the time,  studious and cerebral.
I have often said if I want to know where my children are on any given issue, I determine which of their aunts they go to.
If it is to the one sister, they need someone to lay it right out for them. If it is to the other sister, the need someone to listen and console, it is the other.
One of them is the spice in our family. The other is the sugar. I like both. Sugar and spice. And I love both of my sisters immensely.
If I could be like either of them I would be like both at the same time.
If you were to put my sisters in a paper bag and shake it up, what you would pour out would be a perfect woman.  I am certain of it. They are each so close to that already that if you were to combine them: there she's be, the most amazing woman on the planet.

some more things I like

 

Here are so some of my favorites.
They include:
cherries
oriental rugs
my sister's chicken and dumplings
scented oils in a warmer
fresh flowers in my bathroom
mayhaw jelly
the swan boats at the zoo
Audubon prints
topiaries
and my new key card/coin purse pouch.

I love the  woman/child logo that personifies the pioneer spirit.
I love the pearls strung on fishnets strings I got in Venice.
I like that there is keyless entry into my house and workplace.
 

finishing what i've started

I am still working on my summer bucket list.
We are 12 days into June so, once again, I am running behind.
One thing I intend to accomplish is finishing certain projects I have in various stages of completion.

A border around my little kitchen garden is at the top of the list. I also need to plant some day lilies and peonies that have been sitting in the same place for too long. I went ahead and put my Grandbaby's garden boots and gloves out where I could see them so I would be cued when she is over to visit next to have her help me with these tasks.

 I've got quilts cut out and ready to be sewn together that just need some quiet evenings when the grandbaby is not there to "help." I am thinking I might watch Seasons 2 & 3 of Downton Abbey while I sew.
There are a ton of photos that need to be sorted and organized to use in scrapbook projects.

There will still be certain chores to do. Among them:
sorting through my email inboxes
deleting photos not useful for much of anything
laminating newspaper clippings and notes other memorabilia

but if I had these projects complete, my outlook (not to mention my craft room) would certainly look better.

There is always some closet or drawer that needs cleaned out at my house. These kind of things I refuse to put on my bucket list as they can never really be crossed off.

Then there are the outdoor projects- some sprucing up and painting long over due. Tidying the shed.
Oh, and proof reading/editing this blog. Some lists are never complete.

Technological advantages

One of the things on my bucket list for summer is to master the use of some of the equipment I own.
I have blogged about my technological challenges. My husband is an electrical engineer and computer genius, so I have been able to afford to be backward in this area. I also have been surrounded with folks at work and among my friends and acquaintances who are "scientific."
A friend recommended a tape machine that dispenses great rolls of archival tape that should/could make scrapbooking easier and more fun. The hub bought one for me three or so years ago. I use it all the time.  I have yet to learn how to load it.
My manicurist  recommended a sticker maker. Somebody got me one of those after I put it on my wish list. I got the small, manual version thinking I could operate it with ease. I still can't after many tries.
So that I no longer have to worry about the house catching on fire and burning up all my pictures, I decided to scan them into the computer for of site storage. It hasn't happened yet.
It amazing to me how the kids I know just jump right in.
They will tinker with it until they conquer it.
I am always afraid i will mess something up.
One of my besties is like a raccoon. She will work on something until she figures it out if she has to stay up all night.
I need to take lessons.
By the end of the summer, I hope to no longer have to get my husband or baby daughter to make a bobbin for me.
I hope to be able to load my tape dispenser gun, operate my sticker maker and my die cut machine.
I intend to get my photos scanned in to the computer.
I am putting no more gadgets on my wish lists until I master the ones I already have.
Who knows, by summer's end, I might even be printing labels!

wednesday nights this summer

Last Wednesday night my Grandbaby wanted to eat spaghetti on a tray in my bed and I let her. Spoiling children is what grandmothers are supposed to do, after all.
She says that spaghetti makes her heart happy. Watching Disney movies with her makes my heart happy. We have settled into a summer Wednesday night tradition. Disney classics and a menu that matches the film du jour.
Next week I am thinking "Tangled" and angel hair pasta. I want her little heart to be happy as often as possible. From there, our imaginations might just run wild.
I am thinking:
Cinderella and pumpkin muffins
Mulan and moo goo gai pan
Bambi and a spring salad

I am more than a little excited at the prospects. I'll be posting pictures as our plans come to be!

how to build a monster

I've seen them. up close and personal.
They are scary:  these beasts of rage and immaturity.
You have seen them, too. I am certain of it.
 I am not talking about creatures from a movie or on a video game.
I am talking about real live creatures who turn into monsters at the first "no!"
I am talking about the beasts who defy all authority and lack respect for themselves and anyone else.
How are these beasts created? I have wondered this often.
How do you build a monster?
I have been paying attention and I think I have some ideas.


You start with at least one enabler. This would be someone who buys whatever the beast sells. They don't have to be family, though I think that helps. They don't have to be gullible or naïve; though they often are.
Next you add someone who gives to the beast with both hands and expects nothing in return. This does not have to be a person. This could be some entity or organization. As long as the beast wants it, believes they are entitled to it, and get it, the particulars don't matter so much.
If the beast is well coddled, he will grow. If the beast's ego is stroked insincerely, it will grow, as well.
That's as much as I have figured out though I am intent on learning more.
I have identified some folks who seem to experts.
At some point, I hope to author (or at least edit) a book on the subject.
I aleady have a title. It's the same as this blog post, "How to Build a Monster."
I think I will invited to some of those who seem particularly good at it to guest write chapters.
I am predicting it to be a runaway best seller.

cousins camp

When my daughter and her boys cousins who are close in age were in elementary school
I hosted an event for them we called Cousins Camp.
I let them swim around in the pool for a while, I fed them, and then we got down to business: the business of manners and deportment.
You see, I had watched the Cousins Camp participants' older sibling and their friends.
It appeared a majority of them had no idea that they should hold doors and pull out chairs and stand when a lady who was their elder entered the room (and I dont mean me, here.)
I've always thought that manners mattered.
Maybe it's because I spent a goodly amount of time living in the deep South. Maybe it's because I married a southern gentleman. Maybe it's because of the influence of my Southern mother-in-law and her generation of friends and relatives. Maybe it is because I am was a long time girl scout leader. Whatever the reason, people, with good manners impress me. Polite children impress me.
I wanted the children in my family to be polite; thus cousins camp was born.
Fast forward to last weekend.
My baby sister sent me a message about one of my handsome nephews and the impact she believes Cousins Camp made upon him. It seems that before he traveled to Chicago and got down on one knee to propose to the girl, he went and asked her father for permission.
Baby Sis allows that those manners and deportment sessions made an impact on her boy. She wants a similar impact made on his younger brother, who is not quite nine, as I write this.
The result: Cousins Camp is about to be resurrection. Just last night we set a date for Cousins Camp 2013. I hope it will be big fun for the young participants.
I know I am having big fun, already, planning it!

Our Kasman

My nephew Kassidy turns 22 today. He is another of my handsome nephews. Readers of this blog already know how I love to blog about my nephews.
This one is kind. He is compassionate. He is brilliant. I've already said handsome. But I did not go on to say, he is handsome inside and out. He has, and always has had, the sweetest spirit.
If I were to record his academic and other accomplishments, you might think I was making them up, so accomplished is he.
They have been recorded elsewhere. His name is under glass in more than one place.
Instead, I am going to record a statement he made recently that reminded me of what a special guy he really is.
Kassidy's sister posted a picture of her 5 year old with a fish he caught. The caption on the photo said something about this little boy's daddy doing a fine job teaching him to fish. The little boy's Uncle Kassidy posted a comment about the same little boy being taught to be a "fisher of me."


I've been in love with this boy since
the first time I laid eyes on him.

I have no doubt he will be. I have no doubt that "Uncle Kassidy" will help his sister and brother-in-law teach this little boy, my great-nephew (and also handsome and brilliant) to be a "fisher of men."
That little five-year-old boy and his three-year-old sister really couldn't ask for a better uncle. Their mother couldn't ask for a better brother. If you asked them, they would tell you the same. As would his cousins, and parents, and grandparents and uncles and aunts.
I am telling you, my nephew Kassidy is something special.
And I hope he has the happiest birthday in the history of birthdays today!

 

a trike, it's rider and passenger

 

The grandbaby is way long  overdue for a two wheeled bicycle. Her trike has served her well but her legs have grown so long she can't comfortably ride it. Her faithful passenger, Bella by name, may have to run along side the new bike as I doubt we can find one with a compartment for her to ride in.
Picking it out ought to be fun. I think she should have a basket and bell but we'll see if I can sell that.

marry me?

 

It is about time I added some romance to this blog.

My nephew Jon-Michael has given me the perfect opportunity.
Yesterday, on a trip to Chicago, he got down on one knee and proposed  in the middle of a public square to his sweetheart of a dozen or so years.
We'd all been sworn to secrecy. My sister let me in on the secret some days ago. She, my brother-in-law and youngest nephew drove all night with the mother of the bride to be in tow to be present, albeit inconspicuously, for the proposal.
It was supposed to take place around 3 o'clock  p.m. Chicago time. When were still waiting for word that she'd said "yes" some four hours later, I began to get antsy. I texted my niece. "Any word?"
I knew she'd know if anyone would. "Nope" came the answer. My Mom hadn't heard. My other sister had not heard. the suspense was killing us.
The mother of the would-be groom finally texted us a picture of her and the father of the would-be groom with the caption, "we are waiting and we are cold."
I left them alone after that but time surely crawled until the picture above came across the screen.
It was followed by one showing pure bliss on their faces. She's waited a long time for the question.
We are all thrilled she answer in the affirmative.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Lost things

At any given time, I could be looking for calendar or my wallet or my keys or my Kindle. One of the ways I know my stress level needs to decrease is that I began to lose things.

Those kinds of things I usually always find. Some things, I have not.
My lost things include:
a certain navy blue pea coat with toggle buttons, lost while trick-or-treating on a cold Halloween night sometime in the late1960's.
Books I have loaned out and never gotten back.
More single shoes than I can count. I am not really sure how that happens.
What is worse than losing things, though, is having them stolen.
Our house was burglarized some years ago and all the hunting rifles and other guns handed down from my dad and my husbands dad, and our grandfathers were stolen.
All of my jewelry was taken, including a beautiful amethyst  ring set in platinum that my mother-in-law had made for me. My girls' add-a-pearl necklaces, given to them as babies, were taken, as were their charm bracelets. We had collected charms on every vacation taken and most every special occasion. The losses were sad, Though these things are indeed just things, they had a lot of memories attached to them and value derived more from those who gave them to us than anything else.
I have this thought, often, that somehow these things will make their way back to us. I wonder if we might not find them, sometime, we way I find my keys or calendar.
I am no longer stressed about the loss but I am courage by the thought of them coming back into my possession. All except the blue pea coat. I seriously doubt it would still fit me.

 

and then I said to myself...

I am thankful that no one is there to hear or record the conversations I have with myself as I get dressed in the morning. The Hub, a lifelong early riser, has long departed by that time of day. The maltipoos who reside with us are used to me and pay me know attention, really. And if they are, they aren't talking.
I am thinking maybe I picked up the habit from my Grandmother. She talked, not only to herself but also to the television. The conversations she had with herself were quite intelligent. Mine= not so much so, most of the time.
Often the topic of conversation is lost things. Now, where are my keys? Is this the day I am supposed to...
I think, like blogging, that talking to myself and my pets might just be therapeutic.

an early arrival

Though my mother vehemently denies this, I am pretty sure they pulled me before I was ripe.
Here is why:
I was born the day before leap year on a year that was a leap year. Had I been born just hours later, I would only be a teenager at this point. Sometimes I wish that were true. Sometimes not. Even the few hours between my natal day and leap year the next day might have made a difference in some things.
Like my metabolism. Or the lack thereof. What I mean is, I have no metabolism. At all. Whatsoever. I am certain it would have developed had they left me in the oven a while longer.

And my height. I am not quite five feet tall.  I am a good half a foot shorter than either of my parents and shorter even still than both my sisters. I used to get hand-me-ups. When they would outgrow something, it would be altered (read: hemmed up) to fit me. I am three years older than one sister and five years older than the other. They both were able to ride the mouse trap ride at a nearby amusement park before I was tall enough.
This is a true story. I am not even going to go into the sad story of how I was able to ride the sky ride, it being without height requirements but I lost a new penny loafer into the lake below on a last of summer/back to school trip to the amusement park and have never quite gotten over it!
I might not be so sensitive if I had a longer gestation period.
Little wonder that I have endeavored not to arrive early anywhere since birth.

song lyrics

Way more than half the time, in any given conversation or occasion, my reaction or response, to most anything, will be the words from a song. I am not sure why. It is just how my mind works.  Always has.
Sometimes it drives the Hub crazy. A friend of mine has asked before. "does everything remind you of a song." Answer: "Yes, pretty much."

storm prep

  The beautiful girl pictured here sleeping is my eldest daughter.  The look on her face reflects the anxiety she went to sleep with. Having nearly gotten blown away (her words) by a series of tornados, she was relieved to be home with us for the weekend, safe and sound. Little did she (or any of us) know, before she even got here, yet another round of bad weather including the sighting of funnel clouds covered the area.
We were celebrating her sister's second successful semester of law school/and birthday at a favorite restaurant  when our waitress appeared to advise us that the guests and staff alike were being sent home due to weather. Our desserts were boxed up to go and we headed home as quickly as we could get the bill paid and buckled in our seats in the car. As we drove, the weather grew worse. By the time we arrived at home it was pretty clear we might need to take shelter. It was too late by then to opt for a run to a cellar or other storm shelter.

Fortunately, I'd done some serious reading about storm preparations after the tornado devastation of the past week just a few miles away.
 I found a handy list of things to do.
I put body pillows in the tub along with my purse and her medicine.
I put the mattress off from the twin bed in the nursery nearby so we could grab it quickly. The instructions I read said make sure and have feet and as much of one's body covered as possible, as many people are injured when flying debris makes contact with exposed skin. I put one terry cloth and one chenille robe: one for each of us. I put water shoes in the tub with our other gear, A flash light and extra batteries went in. Bottles of water and a big bag of peanuts in the shell went in.
The more we prepared, the calmer she became. She never became completely calm, but she did settle down a lot. As a resident of Oklahoma, she is used to changing weather but what we've had recently would be unsettling to most anyone.
We left the mattress our the whole weekend. She slept on it beside me bed and was quite happy to be there.
 

bedtime

 

 

 

 

 

We have long since settled into a routine when the grandbaby spends the night. Bath is taken, hair is washed, teeth are brushed, story(ies) read, sleep balm applied behind little ears. Then we say prayers.
It's the same every time yet it still makes me so happy to watch and participate in the process. These times, like her babyhood, will soon be just memories. But while they last, I am savoring ever one.