Frogs, Toads, and Pool Covers

I like frogs and toads. I like the sounds they make. I like the way they look when they "talk". I like to find toads in my garden. They are fun surprises  to suddenly spy when they hop out from under a bushy flower clump or when they think they are hiding away well enough out of sight by a damp shady corner of the foundation after the rain. 

Yes, I have even been known to talk to toads who decide to join me and keep me company for a few minutes in my weed pulling tasks, before they grow quite bored of my philosophical conversation topic and hop away. I haven't seen near as many frogs in the neighborhood as there once were, at least since the creek in the woods was diverted to storm water drainage culverts (I like nature and natural, and drainage tiles installed by humans is not the same as a fun creek winding through the shade of the tree canopies and mossy paths of the shadowy woods!)

I admit I like the way frogs and toads feel when I pick them up and gently hold them for a bit and look at them as they look back at me. I guess I never grew up in a lot of aspects when it comes to nature and its creatures since I still get a little giddy and giggly when I touch and hold some of nature's population. It is a sensory thing to interact with fuzzy brown and black caterpillars, ladybugs, earthworms, fireflies, even daddy long leg spiders. Yep, even those. I was a big hit being with my 6 nephews as an aunt and a mom to 3 since I wasn't/am not squeamish!!

Once, a long time ago, there was a huge bullfrog from the woods creek who stopped by after a thunderstorm for a visit, appearing in the driveway, he just wanted to say "Hello!". He let me pick him up and and then I set him back down to leap away, off to adventures and new places to explore, better places than the driveway. He was so big he looked like a misplaced toy sitting in the driveway.

The frogs still make their harmonious songs at night in the pool covers of the neighborhood in the late springtime each year as they tend to their pool cover nursery of tadpoles. I love that sound! Tadpoles are like magic to watch the way they transform so quickly from wiggly little specks... to swift swimming morphing beings of both tails and legs... to land and water dwellers with little strong arms and legs, in short order nearly in the blink of an eye. Thus a new season's batch of nature friends leaves the pool covers before they are drained of the murky water and leaves and removed for the human swimming season to commence.

Then we hope the toads and frogs don't jump in the pools only to find they cant get back out.

I remember specific little things certain teachers in elementary school taught me that are still retained inside my memory. Things like the difference between desert and dessert. "Dessert has more of the letter 's' than desert because everyone wants more sweet treats than hot sand!" ...and "All toads are frogs but not all frogs are toads." 

I liked learning that and let it absorb into my brain for a few minutes when she said it the day we had the overhead projector shining the images of amphibians against the wall of the darkened classroom. (It was so cool to be chosen by the teacher to be the one to pull the cord to either make the long span of heavy window drapes close or open to darken and brighten the classroom. Simple pleasures! Even more of an honor than to be chosen to flip off or flip back on the ceiling lights with all the light switches located between the wall mounted pencil sharpener and the classroom doorway.) No computers in those days. We had the very high tech forerunner of an educational website --the overhead projector, the one that probably blinds you like looking at an eclipsed sun if you look into the light bulb compartment and burns your hand as fast as Grandma's hot clothes iron if you get too close!

I have been having fun listing interesting things I am decluttering to offer to other owners through the Etsy shop. I sometimes will key in a word to the search box in my shop and see what comes up as a theme since not all items of one theme are always found inside of one specific shop section category shown as a table of contents for my shop. This time, tonight, I typed in "frog" and was amazed I had this much variety in the frog theme spanning different categories. I was spurred on to recall memories and to reminisce. Frogs and toads and pool covers (and school rooms, too!)

Etsy link is in the right margin of my blog page.

(Shown: rubber stamps, quilt pattern/instructions, 3-D stickers, cellphone case/tiny wristlet purse sewing pattern, cut/sew/stuff cloth frog toy)

Vintage photos are intriguing

Do you have a fascination with photos from times long gone by, before everything was instant gratification when it comes to a camera? I do. I study old photographs with the intensity of a chemist who seeks the answer to an elusive formula, like a botanist who located the rare flora surrounding him that no one knew grew where he now stood. You get the picture, yep, pun intended!!

 I have marveled over the faces of people never met. Often hundreds of years separate their life from my own. I wish their images could speak to me and tell the story of their name, what they did for happiness, where they lived and worked, their talents and interests, things they survived when they felt fearful, and all their successes. What is unknown to us today behind their moment in time that the camera shutter captured their life so that it could be a time-stand-still-for-eternity treasure.
Old photos are artifacts of society. Proof of existing. Endless fascination for me.

 I have been a seamstress since a young age, thanks to my grandma on my mom's side of the family tree teaching me and inspiring the fabric bug to spread its wings inside of my curiosity. She was the queen of mend and make do and save everything that can upcycle into new greater items. She was a creative homemaker before her time and would have been a social media sensation with her reinventing one ready to toss thing into another far better keeper, had she not lived in an orphanage as a child and on a farm as an adult and learned her ways and skills from the trenches of the depression era.

My other grandmother was from more privilege and opportunity and was busy from college age thru retirement birthing babies as a nurse, hundreds of them. She had two of her very own, one of them turned out to be my dad. She did some sewing in her busy life. In fact, I own a childhood photo of my dad and his older brother wearing corduroy fabric suits with knicker pants or knee britches (like what the mystery boy in the pictures below is wearing) and matching jackets. It must have been expensive fabric for the era and I am sure they were not allowed to play and be rough and tumble in the outfits. I am also sure by looking at the photo that the fabric was not easy to sew upon.

 When I look at these photos on this post I study the clothing and the people. I know what it took to make the design details on the dresses. Many of today's fashions have retained the same elements and we incorporate them into our modern day attire. Some sewing techniques are ageless. I find the patches on the girl's dress skirt to be interesting since they look to be not of the mended type patches, but instead a true accent which is unusual for the time period. The footwear, especially high button style shoes, are a source of interest to me as well but I would not want to be struggling in a hurry to get them on to be out the door for an appointment time deadline or other schedule necessity...yes, modern day friends, flip-flops are a person's salvation when in a hurry to 'hit the road'. I doubt people were in such a rush a hundred years ago to join the hamster wheel non-stop days' schedule like we have. Though, life of factory working before child labor laws and working a family farm for your livelihood came with its own pressures and deadlines.

 I'll bet this family was well to do as their clothing seems to give clue. Don't you often think about body language as well, with studying old photos? I do. This woman and young man seem to hold themselves with an air of confidence. The studio photographer was skilled at posing people but the people in front of the camera lens still give us clues as to how they felt being put into poses. Some people seem at ease and others seem out of their element and extremely uncomfortable. That comes through with body language and expressions on faces, whether photo developing was done in black and white, sepia, or color, regardless of the time period from which we observe the people.

 This vintage photo below is very tiny (as the wooden ruler shows for a comparison) and has foreign writing stamped on the backside. I believe it is German, though the writing is cut off a bit. I am not sure what their clothing indicates. Is it a religious order, a regional or cultural standard of dress, teachers, nurses? I am sure the standard uniform type repetition means something, without any doubt.

I continue to find photos that peak my curiosity and make me ponder many aspects of my own life and of theirs in comparing so much about the world and how each of us make a mark upon those around us. I wonder how this digital, password protected era will affect generations ahead of us when it comes to moments of ordinary days in pictures kept and pictures lost.

All of these photos are listed in my Etsy shop and you can visit them by clicking the photo Etsy area in the right margin of this blog.

Count down

 I am counting down the days till a birthday. I have found the months leading up to this event have brought many deep thoughts on life, analyzing what things mean the most to me. I mentally inventory things I have done and yet wish to accomplish and enjoy. It is the stuff that I thought I would have had opportunity to do thus far but not yet had the chance or time to that seem to most of all dominate my thoughts. I hope I can still do many of those things.

 I find I am a young-thinking person, I am younger in my imagination than the mirror shows me (although, many people swear I don't look my age. I thank them for the compliment... or the good talent of being a great liar!).

I was shopping the other day, with my daughter. I love to have one-on-one time with each of my 3 kids. She reminds me a lot of myself in many circumstances. And I swear it was just only yesterday I was her age at her same school. Really! I was on the hunt for new work shoes for me (boring, ugly ones- darn it!).  In one store we found a great dress for her. I like that she enjoys pretty clothes and pretty shoes, in addition to her fun casual wardrobe.

We also included a visit into a rather off-beat store that sells everything from pin-back buttons to novelty t-shirts to dresses to funky jewelry. It was at my request. I love almost every item in there and told her if I were 20 years younger I would buy nearly one of everything!!.... and she said "Wow Mom!, I would never guess you like the stuff in this store!" She did not say it in a way that she was shocked, but rather that she was happy I liked it!

She bought a dress, very unique and perfect for her.  I bought a dress for myself (which I wore already last night for a birthday dinner out) that is basic, pretty, and age appropriate in style for any young-thinking girl. I think dresses are a super wonderful part of a closet collection, especially when they can be worn for varied occasions. I love empire waist, hemline above the knee-styles.

 I ended up finding some (ugly) perfect for work shoes-- non-slip bottoms, comfortable to wear 9 hrs-on your feet, moving constantly --kind of a deal. My new job of about 6 wks' time has been a learning experience and fun too. I am back to full time work after not having that since last June. What an ordeal that was to live through. Finding you are wa-a-a-y older than your co-workers, and even your bosses too, is a sobering revelation. Middle age has its advantages. I have discovered many. What I have decided is this-- having accumulated more life experience helps me more greatly understand responsibility, prioritizing, and understand what is important and what really isn't, whether on the job or in every day life.

The resume/job search world has changed since my first days in the workforce. The days of face to face meetings and firm handshakes and a well appointed paper resume offered in person seem only an event that occurred in past history, now frequently replaced with fill in their online formatted one size fits all resume and see if a computer program decides to let you be worthy of further consideration or be dumped in the "sorry, no go" bin. My opinion is that many programs of weeding out inappropriate candidates only prove to weed out a certain amount of very worthy ones as well. Real life setting problem solving, strategizing, organizing, and budgeting is acquired through years of first hand experiences. That degree comes only with age, and some failure, and learning day by day to be better, and learn from mistakes. Some online resume applications do not lend themselves to showing complete attributes of one's skills and talents.

My blog used to be a place to sort out my thoughts and review my dreams for days and years ahead. I fell away from that for a time, many times over the years, since my blog started. Maybe this week I will (try to) get back to that, as I do my count down.

I found these ads for products I've used and loved at one time or another. I am a scent-driven person, and I can recall in my memory the way these items all fed that sense. The F.O. shampoo/conditioner was one of my all-time favorites and I used it on my long blonde hair until the product could no longer be found on store shelves. Wish it could come back like some of the retro soda pop brands that have made their returns for nostalgia. I would love that, I would buy a case worth!!

on to new partying

The new year is here and the celebrating is done for the holidays... but at our house the partying continues with A.'s birthday. She will be 17. I wish I could have stayed eternally age 17.

I love this image above. It speaks to me somehow. I enjoy vintage images-- and black and white is special in photos like it was in television. I think kids now miss out a lot on using imagination. They don't need to. They don't have time to.

Watch an old movie or TV show on DVD and see how your brain turns the images into color without even trying.... that's why we were so good at using imagination. We also played outside EVERY day-- it was not an event, it was life. Playing outside meant using your imagination. The things we did and played with rarely used batteries, and never used electricity. It was all powered by imagination, an endless power supply!!

What have I finished?

• sorted more books(fiction and non-fiction) and magazines to send other places to live
• moved the TV to a new location within the family room-- it seems to be a hit with everyone
• reorganizing the pantry, and finding I am shopping even more carefully than ever before

What do I need to do?

• find the top of my desk, it is suffocating under paperwork
• use the ham bone for a batch of homemade bean soup-- I never know how to make just a small pot of soup
• make some apple crisp to use up the apples before they go bad

What do I want to do?

• paint my lamps in my bedroom to be gloss black, the lampshades will be perfect
• have lunch with a friend I have not seen in 10 years or more, it may be soon if we can mesh schedules
• hang a big mirror in a spot I have been plotting out

changes

I have been looking through my old posts about my home and collections.
I think it is a good thing to chronicle the every day things in one's life, it gives perspective.
I have changed.
A lot.
My priorities.
My tastes.
My interests.
My expectations.
Looking at past snapshots of my home tells me a lot more than what is seen in the photos.
It reveals a lot about me... to me!

But on the surface, and as far as what is in the photos, this is what I find--
I have eliminated lots of things in my life mostly by choice, but a tiny few by other circumstances.
For example:
1. Two ugly blue plaid love seats (always hated those), gone. Same for ugly red and blue plaid couch from other room, gone. Both were inherited and they provided a place to sit and no more than that as an attribute.
2. Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and related paraphernalia, also gone for the most part and what is left (about 5% of the original collection), packed away.

3. Dishes, dishes, and more dishes... all inherited and some dragged in the house by other means. Now given away, or donated to charity. Out of my life.

4. Teddy Bears and dolls, but SO much more to get rid of by a variety of means. Always hated the inherited Teddy Bears. Sorry. The dolls, well, way too many. and besides, the girls don't want all those when they are out on their own anyway. Both Teddies and dolls have a lot of emotional guilt attached to them as far as feeling obligated to retain. No more. The guilt curse must be broken. Saying is way more easy than doing. So much guilt of the money that was spent (not by me) on such a non-useful item.

5. Why is it that people ( some direct person in my family tree) felt that spending money on certain things was to be considered an investment for when the stuff came to be mine? I say it was foolish wasteful use of funds. There, I said it. The economy may have been different once upon a time, but I have 2 sayings to conclude this point.
First-- What things are supposedly worth and what people are willing to pay for them are two VERY different points of reality.
Secondly-- Having a lot of useless "valuable" things means you just have to leave more behind when you are homeless.
Don't get me wrong, I am not planning on being homeless. Just sayin'. Think about it, and I think you will agree. In the height of the foreclosure era do you ever drive through an unfamiliar neighborhood and see empty houses and lots of stuff out at the curb? Did they choose to move out of a rental situation and simply did not want all that to follow them to their new destination? Or was it that a well settled family who went through unforeseen unfortunate times and a home foreclosure and had to leave stuff they had (like the 4 kids' favorite games and trophies or family heirlooms from 3 generations ago) because they had just so long to pack what they could fit into their cousins' basement who was kindly enough to take in the family under their crowded roof until something better comes along? I think of this stuff. A lot of my kids' friends have faced this. It's sad.

6. In general, as I look at the past photos of my home, I see that I have lightened the load of thinking that everything that comes into my life, by means other than my choice, does NOT have to stay in my life...or home. I have begun to look at purchasing ANYTHING with a different mindset. I continue to struggle with lightening the load even more. Time is the main factor in this. Sorting is the process. Things need different categories, you know the drill... sell, donate, give away, keep, trash it. Sometimes I think it is easier to just bring in a dumpster like the ones they use when you get a new roof and grab a snow shovel and open a window, start scooping and chuck it all out. YES I AM EXAGGERATING... yet, you get my point.

7. There are many more specifics regarding changes about which items have been used, displayed, or stored within my environment, but the conclusion is... at this stage of my life, less is more. I am utterly and completely comfortable in other people's homes that have lots of furniture and knick-knacks (chatchkies), or paper build up (I will never be free from that myself!), or a lived in slightly untidy cluttered (yet clean) atmosphere. I am absolutely and completely 100% comfortable with that at other people's homes....just not mine...because to me it represents my own expectations with myself and what I want to accomplish for my life.

My family and friends all live somewhere in the middle between an episode of hoarders vs. a sterile surfaced, temperature controlled, air filtered bubble. I don't know anyone personally at either extreme end of that scale. I could never be comfortable anywhere that is an ultra minimalist-type home. I could never live that way nor could I feel cozy to sit for 5 minutes at a home that does live that way. You know the kind... 1)where there are no pictures anywhere, 2) no mail or bills sitting about needing attention, 3)no kid art gracing, maybe, the front of the refrigerator or displayed proudly somewhere prominently, 4) no blanket tossed over the end of the couch, 5) no dish or two waiting to be washed after Sunday brunch ( but if they sit one minute too long I go crazy), 6) no laundry waiting to be done, or 7)no trace of dust (temporarily!!)somewhere near the wood burning fireplace to write your name in along side a smiley face, or..... you get the idea, right?

Holiday Cheer

What Have I Been Up To?

• Trying to secure a job that fits. (failing miserably)
• Trying to tidy (3 kids, remember) and decorate the house. (failing miserably)
• Trying to maintain a smile so everyone can see the me they want to see. (failing?)
• Trying to put myself first on the list for a change. (or anywhere on the list, number 1,001 would be even acceptable)

What Do I Need To Do?

• Prepare, serve and hostess a dinner for family and friends.
• Be a wonderful wife, mother, and all the rest.
• Make it through another holiday season.

What do I Want To Do?

• Bask in the joy of observing anyone other than me, today, clean a toilet (or anything else) around here.
• Disappear for 24 hrs and see if anyone notices.
• Relax for any amount of time, do nothing for more than 30 seconds, not look at a calendar for a day, have no appointments for 24 hours...... in other words, BE SELFISH.

another day in a string of bliss

What have I been up to?

• having to accept that some things just happen as they will, no matter how much planning you do in life (a tough realization sometimes, for me that is!)
• adjusting lifestyle to 1 paycheck after finally being pretty gosh darn comfy with 2 ( I am worth so much more, but have to be humble in securing that a paycheck is again at least steadily received)
• enjoying little moments with family and friends ( not saying I have oodles and oodles of friends more than you, but why is there never enough time for all the fun that beckons to be had with those you treasure?)

What have I completed?

• painted a thrifted desk that has been patiently awaiting my attention for FAR too long. It is now semi-gloss black with sleek silver metal drawer pulls and a decoupaged top featuring gobs of clock face images sealed off with plenty of clear coat (to protect precious "time")
• taking the 1st big step to changing a kitchen that has been asking for a make-over for nearly 58 yrs (will be a slow process... due to second point above)
• sorting through and eliminating scads of magazines (did you know that if you only save the pages you really are interested in, you can make the compressed foundation of your house rise a few inches?)

What do I need to do?

• clean my closet (what the heck is in the back anyway?)
• dig out the favorite Christmas decor and chuck the rest to the goodwill (the kids probably don't want that stuff one thinks they do when they move out some day. Someday seems a  l o n  g way off !)
• write some Thank You notes ( to show I have some upbringing, after-all)

What do I want to do?

• disassemble the dog pen before the snow flies so I can see more of the pines coated in frosty white sparkles (or at least stop looking at the eyesore as it is now)
• tackle the file cabinet so my new year will start fresh (Geez, I hate ugly paperwork build-up)
• put more photos in black frames, new and vintage (writing on the backs would be a bonus too)

day for accomplishments

Hoping to get something really done and crossed off the list(s) today !
Everyone's fridge looks like this one... IF they dress in an apron and heels (and maybe a string of pearls), that is.

What's new?
* the kids ALL woke up (and got up) early this morning
* we will not get to play with my great nephew. change of plans, last minute
* weed and feed on the front lawn is not weeding or feeding !

Things I like today:
* antique photos
* a clean floor
* throwing things out (yes, I recycle too)
* seeing my uncle's RED roses, yesterday, all aburst (made that word up, I think)
* '96 Firebird, t - top, sweet interior

Things I want to do:
* pack up a lot of kid stuffed animals that are not played with but still loved
* put some old pictures in frames
* decide what to wear for "date night", which these days functions more like a household business meeting

Things I need to do:
* buy a new sprinkler
* plan for neighborhood pot luck
* figure out when to sleep tomorrow (full calendar. SURPRISE !)
* buy daughter a new bathing suit
* buy son a new boy scout shirt

checking in

I have had a time of trying to find time for everything (mostly daytime sleep), with working my 3rd shift job (which I love !!!). Time is always a theme with me. Ongoing.
Lately, finding myself daydreaming of years gone by when the kids were young and we used to have blanket picnics in the yard and read books under the shade trees and blow bubbles and eat watermelon slices and watch the clouds move across the blue skies. *sigh*

What's new?
school is done for the summer for 2 of the kids
a 16 year old now with an official driver's license
an almost 20 year old with 2 jobs
an 11 year old with big plans for summer camp.

What I want to do:
* ride my bicycle even more
* rearrange my bedroom
* porch needs attention for the summer
* organize those papers on the computer desk that I don't want to have to look at but still need to retain and corral. Luckily it can be done with a great storage box covered with colored pencil looking bird art images on them that I found for $2 a few days ago. I do love bird art, especially when just $2

What I need to do:
* figure out why all my flowers I just planted are dying already
* repaint the mailbox
* take more clothes that are too big (yep, too big) to the Goodwill

Back....finally!

[ love this photo I took of my daughter and a surprising gourd from our garden ]

My computer, it seems, is somewhat of a senior citizen in the technology world. I could no longer blog as I once did. I could not install the needed updates that Blogger required to play on my own blog. Sad, really.

I had a lot to say. I wasn't sure what to do. When in doubt, and you are of a certain middle age, what should you do?....Ask the advice of a teenage offspring, that's what!!

Now it is all fixed and well, and now I am back. With a lot to say.

[ my stack of antiques travel cases filled with special keepsakes, I have since this photo ditched the one in the middle with no handle. ]

Things I have Been Up To:

* I lost 50 lbs in 5 months, my first goal, and so far a total of 54lbs

* loving my new job of about 7 months!!

* not getting much of anything done around the house

* learning to say "no" to things and people

* severing the umbilical cords to my children so they can become more independent

* surviving somehow on less than 5 hours of sleep every 24

* enjoying my new car

* trying to enjoy every minute of every day, as life seems to be racing past

* reading an interesting book

* celebrating another birthday

* feeding a bit of shoe lust with some purchases, I was very long overdue for a turn (life of a mom)...usually the kids get all the new shoes!

Things I want To Do:

* work in my gardens

* rearrange the furniture in my bedroom

* paint in watercolors

* draw my favorite birds in colored pencils

* achieve my next weight loss goal by August

* get rid of "material things" around the house with emotional guilt attachments

Things I Need To Do:

* sort through stuff around the house

* redo my filing cabinet

* detail the inside of my cars

* clean out my closet, lots of things are WAY too big to fit anymore!

* take stuff to the Goodwill

* take donations of books and videos to school

still around...

Betcha wondered what became of me? Maybe not?
I am still here.
Life is busy. Busier every year.
I am enjoying the ride but wish some days it all went at a slower pace.
Any ideas how to slow the spin of the Earth?
Looking forward to Christmas. How 'bout you?
I have been reading blogs... far more often than writing on my own.
That's obvious.
I have some great new (vintage) photos to list as digital scan purchase. Hope to get to those SOON!

Life takes me along

I have been so very busy that I find I have been away from the blog for almost a complete month. I needed to stop in and type up some words.

Some days I feel like this....
A stick in a stream being pulled along and trying desperately to avoid the rapids and rocks.

I thought of this example in the car one day when I was being the usual family taxi service, a responsibility I seem to be sentenced to for now. Don't get me wrong, I want to transport my children to the places they need to be and also want them to do some fun things too. I just feel like I am always last on the list of priorities.

I am my (now adult) special needs daughter's transportation when she cannot utilize the county's para-transport system bus. I hope to someday find a reliable person to take my place in this, if not all the time at least some of the time. It is a real tie down to my schedule and life. Please don't think I do not absolutely love her. Any parent of a special needs child knows what I mean.
Transportation is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to responsibilities of managing her day to day life. It all takes dedication of a lot of time to run an organized life of a special needs child, no matter their age or stage of life.

Lots of my so called friends have proved to be "fair weather friends" and have decided they just can't understand what it is like to be in my shoes. I don't ask that. I just ask for them to listen, as I listen to their joys as well as challenges and sorrows with their own children and their own lives too.


Lots has been going on in my own life and in our house too.
I have gone on strike (again) with some household duties--I am only one person, after all-- but most of them seem to be un-noticed anyway.
We have had to do a major home improvement project- not by voluntary choice, I may add, and the timing is pretty bad.
I have been without my job since July 31st, since my boss suddenly died.
I have been without my uncle since he died. He was my boss.
I cared for him 5-7 days per week in his home for 5 years, also including being his driver and companion for all his transportation needs, and doing all his shopping runs by myself, alone.
I will tell you this: It is hard to have a relative as an employer too.
My only other uncle died just 5 weeks after my boss uncle.
I spent some treasured quality time with him in his last few weeks.
I miss them both so much more than I had ever expected.

Now that the frost is covering the neighborhood each morning, I realize that I did not even have time to use my clothesline this summer. Now it's time to stack the firewood closer to the house. The clothesline will be there next summer, waiting.

I find I am not such a fun person these days. I think of all the creative thoughts I had and things I did.
I will get back to all that some day soon.
Just not now.
Life is taking me for a ride down that stream, at a very fast clip.

Flash Back-simple memories

Now that Summer is getting closer to its end and changing looks, grass grows more slowly and the crickets and cicadas are being extra noisy especially at night, I find myself being reminiscent of times when I was a young girl.

--getting on the bus the first day back to school, deciding where to sit
--new stiff shoes, maybe with a (grown-up feeling) 1/2 inch heel
--the smell of a new box of crayons
--weekend slumber parties with friends, playing board games until way past a normal bedtime
--doodling in spiral notebooks using lots of different colored pens or markers, while listening to the radio
--flowered cotton pajamas, sweet smelling from the laundry line
--playing outside using imagination for hours, without a care in the world
-- lying on the floor next to the sleeping cat in the patch of sun shining through the window, wondering how she makes that purr sound

Memories are such a strong therapy when grown-up-ness gets too hard.

times and other things...they are a changin'

I enjoy a good vintage ad.
Don't you?
Let's look at this one here, shall we?
Let's take a closer look. This looks like an attractive enough woman in the year 1963.
Agree?

Let's take an even closer look. Apparently standards in body image or clothing sizes --or maybe simply just vocabulary--have changed in that many years. Their catalog says "fashions for larger women".

Really?

Did they accidentally use the wrong models' photo shoot for this cover?

Ok.

Let's go in for some details here. Maybe I am just a little confused. Little. Maybe I should say slight.... er, maybe tiny. Oh crap. Let's get on with it.

38-60.

Are they talking about their tablecloth measurements for their dining room table? They certainly aren't talking about these models.

Ok stop, to be fair, the hourglass silhouette that girdles and bullet bras gave these women may have a disillusioning effect on the over-all look of a dress. But still--I think this represents models with 38 as the high end measurement category.

False representation? Cause to starve yourself to compete?

You decide.

Also, does anyone ever still use the vocabulary word= hose? My grandma did. Vocabulary certainly changes over time and through eras of society.

Sorry, the time has expired (a few decades or so) to send for your free style booklet.

" for STOUT Women" !!!

dreams

I have the tea ready to pour into beautiful, hand painted mismatched cups, a hand embroidered linen cloth on the table, a dainty crystal plate of School Boy chocolate dipped cookies (I'm not a baker) and there is a yummy apple cinnamon pie scented candle burning. Soothing low volume music drifting though the air. For sale: original art by me and some talented people I love. One area displays wonderful old vernacular photography of people from a hundred years or more ago along with vintage unique handbags/pocket books/purses and vintage soft cotton petticoats-you know the kind- with pin tucks, lace and white on white embroidery. No velcro in sight (no sir-ee), just the tiniest little mother of pearl buttons as closures. That's what I would do if I could have a dream brick and mortar shop!

Vintage roses and simple joys

I am overwhelmed. Busy. Appointments. Meetings. Deadlines. Needing to clone myself. I say "no" to a lot of things but there are things now that can't be said "no" to. (Yep, I know, don't ever end a sentence with the word to.) Anxiously awaiting time for the "fun" me to be able to do things again. Right now it is the "mom on a mission" me trudging through the days on the calendar, yet they seem to go by much too rapidly.

These beautiful roses are a vintage scrap I am sharing with you. Make something beautiful with them. I will live through your artfulness until I find time for my own.

A little list of things that bring joy:

*pretty pink flowered vintage cotton pillow cases, all soft and nice from hundreds of washings

*my favorite perfume softly lingering many hours after being applied

*very old and extra tattered books in a pile that is not a neatly lined up stack

*a beautiful milk glass bowl with lacy edge that cost just 25 cents filled with brightly colored oranges

promises to keep for tomorrow

Yesterday was a day when my serious face had to keep telling my smiling face to emerge. A very long meeting about all things "special needs adult child" with 11 people around the table and 2-3 others popping in at different times. The kind of meeting that takes a day or maybe even two for any one's brain to digest. Mental films of what everyone offered to the mix replaying through my memory and questions now thought of after the fact. That's the way with these things, I suppose.
The possible job interview process for E. moved along with another phone call yesterday and the promise of another phone call today. Seems they are trying to coordinate at their end.

We had lots more beautiful snow and the weatherman says 2-3 more inches before Saturday. I see, in our weekend ahead, some fun sledding on the big hill.

Picked up my 2 brothers at the airport. They had just spent a week at dad's. My brother said, "What a difference a 5 hour flight makes.", as we drove through the white-out conditions and the snow blew and swirled across the highway before us.

Finished the day with a little escape out to a restaurant with a good friend for a delicious sandwich (Which I ate without the bun. Too much bun! The inside stuff is the good stuff anyway!) and cup of chili. Amazed at how much snow had covered the car in only the time we ate. As everyone else around us grumbled about the cold and snow, I ventured out into it with a warm smile. I love the snow.

So, 5 days crossed off the calendar for this busy week and 2 more to go. Today, phone calls and paperwork to do along with buckets of other things to get done. One thing to figure out is what to do with the bathroom door. The original 56 year old knob has been remachined several times and we were told has lost its "future fix potential". No easy trip to the hardware section as the placement on the door is apparently unique, therefore modern knobs will not function properly and blah blah blah...so, maybe a new door? The duck tape we put on this morning doesn't look good, that's for sure. The joys of home ownership, right? I ask you, where are the guys from that public television home improvement show that fix everything start to finish, neat and tidy, inside of 30 minutes?

Tomorrow, maybe some sledding...oh, and that Greek food I promised myself.

smoothing my ruffled feathers...

...so as to not be like this little birdie in my colored pencil and ink art. Once again, my day was filled with back to back action. Mid day, my meeting with my mentor of all things "special needs adult child" was changed from a meeting to a phone call instead. She succeeded in calming my frazzled worried mom soul and soothed my mind of the many scattered thoughts of the future unknowns. Again. She saves me more than she could ever know. She "gets it".
Later I was thrilled to have a phone message for a job interview opportunity for my daughter. The timing was like serendipity. Please pray or cross your fingers, or both. So hard in this economy for a young adult to get work when there are family heads looking for jobs below their qualifications if only to remain the proud bread-winner in some capacity. It is much more so a difficult task to land a job as a special needs young adult.

So, I cross off the 4th day of the week. 3 more to go. Smiling on the outside and the inside today. I keep reminding myself: Worrying about tomorrow only takes today's peace.

hanging in there

I'm still hanging in there...kinda like the spider in my watercolor and ink art shown here. My special mentor in all things "special needs adult child" is like the lady bug, all balanced and poised. The door is like the unknown that lies beyond today. I am hopeful the door will open to wonderful opportunities.

Yesterday went well with meetings and paperwork and such. 3 days crossed off the calendar for this busy week. I am still smiling, that's a good thing. Today should be ok. Tomorrow...well let's just say tomorrow will take care of itself and I will be glad to have come out the other side!

I might just have a treat this weekend to celebrate wading through it all. My treat, you ask? Nope- not an alcoholic beverage , I am not a drinker. Nope- not ice cream or candy. My treat is Greek food. Yup! I really like Greek food. It is my comfort food. 

a string of pearls might help the process along

A crazy, ugly, busy week ahead. Sunday and Monday crossed off--5 more days to go and then I will celebrate-- living through this hard week anyway! All the endless paperwork, red tape, hoop jumping and denial/rejection letters that are part of the required mess to prepare a special needs adult child for life past the 13th grade. June is getting closer on my calendar pages. Have to get my ducks in a row. In the meantime I will wear a smile and take it one day at a time. Maybe if I don some pearls it will all work out somehow. Everything is better when wearing pearls. At least it always seemed to work for those old time TV moms. Couldn't hurt.