double exposures

I have a fascination with double exposure photos. 

I have had a curious nature in the area of photography throughout my whole life, probably because my mom was an avid amateur shutterbug. I was her most frequent subject.

I have a lot to learn about cameras, photo-taking, and such. A lot I want to learn, a lot I should learn, a lot I may never learn or master, and a lot I do not care to worry about.

I just love capturing moments in everyday life and I love old photographers who did the same.

But still, I have to say that double exposure photos hold the most interest for me. I can study them for hours and revisit them over and over and still have the same thrill each time.

I need a real life, you say? Probably so.

You can find a double exposure of me in the photos in my right side margin. I am playing the child-sized piano, and it seems, rollerskating at the same time, like a clone. Pretty neat-o, since I often need to clone myself to get enough done or be in 2 places at once, as a mom.

Here is one in my collection. I don't know these people.
You may click on the photos to enlarge them for a better look.

What's fun about this one is that the double exposures are each at different placements- one at vertical or portrait, the other at horizontal or landscape. This makes the images easier to study as they are not doubled on top of one another. It makes it easier to find which arm goes with which person and so on.

So, here we go... a well dressed, pleasant enough family unit, I think you'll agree.

Of note is the  interesting toy boat in the son's hand that I have outlined on the scanner to bring into focus. As some boys did, he is wearing a sailor-type shirt. Imagine his weary mother trying to keep that bright white and crisply ironed !

Flipped the other direction... and now you see a photo which includes additional family members or friends in an area of extensive brick. It begs the question: Is the floor bricked also? Take another look at the first photo and see if the floor in the 2nd photo is an optical illusion in that it is actually the wall in the first photo? What do you think?

Of note: I have outlined on the scanner, the boy in front is holding a string in his hand that is being pulled by something outside the view of this photo; a dog, maybe? Also outlined is the fact that an adult woman is sitting in a rather un-lady-like manner with her knees spread wide, like mother always said not to sit. Maybe they should have considered that Aunt Mable couldn't join in the proposed pose due to her arthritis, huh?

Have you stopped to think that double exposures are a thing of past photographic eras with the digital camera age? I don't think it is a possibility to have this accident of the photographer happen. Then there is the topic of the delete button and how many everyday snapshots are deemed not worthy of being keepers... like those that we treasure from long ago society.

 I have other great antique and retro era double exposure photos I should share later. In the meantime, check out my photo Etsy and also Studio blog, links located in right side margin.

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.

rough diamond

Finally got N's hair cut yesterday at one of those discount hair cutting places. I had been cutting it at home for several years, since he stopped going with my friend's dad, Mr. S., to the old style barber shop.

I used to help my friend's parents with transportation. Then Mr. S. passed away and Mrs. S. moved 3 hours north into Mi. to live nearer to her daughter, my school friend. I miss them both, I miss them all.

N. has fond memories of sitting with mostly senior men at the barber shop which was like a time capsule, frozen in time. N. had history there as well, being that his very first "real hair cut" as a toddler was done there by Mr. Larry, with Mr. S. looking on. N. was concerned that this new experience would be too girly. After all, there was no smell of that tonic stuff they put on your hair or the "tickle brush" the barber whisked your neck off with. Thankfully I saw his look of relief when another gentleman walked in to wait for his cut.

N. wanted his hair to be "cool". My definition of his current look- "homeless long"- so it was time for a compromise; I would not cut it at home this time since he swears I cut it too short. I was all for "cool" but not when I could not see his blue eyes. Not when he was constantly flinging his head to get it out of his eyes. Not when he was "parting the curtains" of his bangs...that was really not a cool look, I commented incessantly. Not when I truly wondered what the teacher must think of me and my obvious neglect. That's the one that escapes a 10 year old, but not the mother.

I am happy to report the young lady did a bang-up job (haha, bang...bangs!) and my boy looks "way cool"! Maybe it is alright after all to have a young lady cut your hair instead of a stodgy old barber... or your mom.

You can borrow the photo above for your crafting pleasure. Please play nice and don't sell as is. Click to enlarge then right click and save. I love these diamond shaped cards. This one has a slight irregularity in the photo cut on one side. Adds to the charm, I think. I also like the aged grunge on the border. 

thoughts of my day revealed

It is snowing again today in northern-most Ohio. I love it. I am happy when it snows. I love winter. As long as it is cold there might as well be snow. Snow makes everything look bright and clean. I can do without the melting dirty slushy snowy left-over part of winter, though. Give me everlasting white pretty snow!! Please.

My favorite weather spans from any month it starts to snow {which around here can be anytime after late October} until any month it stops snowing {which around here is usually around late March but has been known to happen as late as early May!} I know I am in the minority in my love of cold and snowy days.
I don't ever get cabin fever...although I don't stay inside "the cabin" ever...I go out in the snow! 'Cuz I love snow!
I don't get cold outside. It has to be below 20 degrees for me to wear a coat. People who know me and see me wear a coat say, "It must officially be cold, Amy's finally wearing a coat."
I never wear a coat/hat/gloves unless A) I am going sledding or building a snowman or B) if it is below 20 degrees. Honest. To just go away anywhere in the car or run errands I don't wear a coat, just a sweatshirt or a couple layers of long sleeve shirts.
It would be heaven to me if I lived somewhere that never went above 70 degrees.

Here's my definition of hot weather, at least here in Ohio: 1. humidity, 2. gross soggy clothes, 3. mosquito bites. YUK. YUK. Super YUK!

I was hoping to drive to my favorite recycling scrap art store today. Ran short on time after all my other tasks. To drive there in the snow would have taken longer than the usual 20 minutes or so and they would have been ready to close up shop 10 minutes after my estimated time of arrival. That's no fun! I need to lose all track of time when I am in there digging around, not keep track of time. Hello!, that's the whole point of getting lost in there, thinking up things to make with unusual stuff, while escaping the outside world.
They have more arts/crafts/sewing stuff there than I could ever list. You can fill a plastic bag slightly smaller than a grocery sack for $5. Yipee! I limit the purchase to just 1 bag and I try to stick with a rule that I take at least 1 bag of stuff to donate to help the cause, the "only bring home same/less than you take out" philosophy.
PS- my mom mobile is just slightly newer than these in the above illustration.

When I did finally arrive home, deciding the rest of my running around out on the snow/ice covered streets would wait until another day, I was met with something that I hate when it goes on and on and on. Barking dogs. My barking dogs. I hate barking dogs, especially when they are mine. Barking for a purpose is ok I guess. Barking just to bark is so annoying to my ears I find I want to crawl out of my skin!! UGH! The dogs were put in their kennels. Ahhh. No more barking! I can stay calmly inside my skin. *deep breath*

PS- don't call anyone to report me. They had shelter and water and food. They bark endlessly year round despite the weather and temperature, just to try to "separate me from my skin"...and sanity!

A night ahead will look almost like this when my dear husband comes home from a long day of working way too hard for his adoring family. He doesn't usually have a suit and dress shoes on to lounge in the chair, though. He is more likely found in a pair of sweats and flannel shirt and socks. Oh, and we only get the Sunday paper. He finds lots of other things to read during the week. He is a sitcom junkie too. He says laughing at silly shows helps him wind down from a day of work.

I, myself, hate sitcoms that have laugh tracks (or canned laughter, as some people call it). Have you ever really listened to a laugh track? It is crazy dumb sounding. Remember when shows like I love Lucy were filmed in front of a LIVE audience? The people in the TV studio inserted the REAL laughter at the right times. After live audiences were a thing of the past they decided they needed to have laugh tracks since the home viewing audience might not be suave enough to know where to insert their own laughter without prompting. UGH! Go ahead and close your eyes while watching a sitcom sometime and see what I mean about it sounding crazy dumb. Almost as bad a barking dogs making you want to climb out of your skin, but not quite as bad. *insert laughter here*

Oh, and the toys scattered on the floor are true to our home scene. Always.

I do enjoy sitting by the fire which burns at our house from about October through April (see above reference to snow-month-spans in northern-most Ohio). I however do not wear a dress and high heels to lounge. My jammies would be more like it. Any chance I get. Usually right after dinner. N. would not be wearing shorts in front of the fire either. But he would be found among a pile of Legos on a regular basis. Have you ever stepped on a small stray Lego with shoeless feet? Go borrow some Legos if you have to and try that one for a treat. *insert sarcasm laugh track here*

PS- don't you love to look at old illustrations and compare your present day life to the life-style that once was?

Wanted? and Wanted...

FIRST-THE WANTED?

I have these 2 pink adorable Pyrex bowls and have had them displayed rather than using them. I don't bake, you see. I know, I know...I could use them for other purposes as well. I have chosen to just use them for display with my other pink thrifty things on my hutch. It was time to change the display {and besides it was wayyy past time to dust!} so I have moved these into a box. I wonder if anyone out there would like to buy them and have them at their home? As you can see, the larger of the 2 is more faded and has some less than perfect areas. Must have been used more by the owner before me than was the smaller sized bowl which is brighter and in better condition.
Let me know if you have any interest.
Update: they have been sold and have found a new home!

NEXT-THE WANTED
Now on to the next photo below... every year about this time I become nostalgic to the point of frantically surfing the internet to find a few of these elves that I can actually afford. 

My mom had a set of them -maybe 6 or 8 when the set was new- from the 1950's. They were made in Japan by Napco or Napcoware and are called spaghetti trim figurines. I grew up in the 1960's and 70's seeing these decorate our home every Christmas time. I loved to unwrap them from their newspaper cocoon one by one out of the big carton box and try to guess or be surprised by which one it would be based on the shape inside the paper. Then I would spend the next few weeks rearranging them {probably to the point of my mom wanting to tie my hands behind my back!}.
I have found them but not in my price range and when they are in my price range I do not win the bid. Amazing how nostalgia can drive up prices of dime-store Japan stuff that seemed cheesy when new long ago. Just sayin'. I search and search. So I have also put the word out on my blog several times over the past few years to see if anyone has any they would like to sell, one piece or a whole set.
Let me know.
Do you ever long to replace something you grew up with? Tell me what it is...maybe I have it sitting unloved in a box and it would be happier at your place.
Stranger things have happened!!

10 things....me, and the floor waxer...

1. I ran away from home recently one late night. You read it right. I did.

2. Sometimes I do this. Sometimes I need this.

3. Sometimes no one notices. Darn. I hate that part!

4. Where to go that late? What is still open? I ended up at one of those "big box" stores.

5. Not many places are open all night. It was me and the floor waxer. Well, and a lonely cashier and some semi-truckers out in the parking lot -asleep- waiting for morning, to make their deliveries.

6. I walked around for about 2 hours. Truth be told, the music is pretty good in the middle of the night and the noise of hundreds of shoppers is missing. There were lots of clearance racks filled with summer stuff and great deals, you know, since they have to make room for the back to school and even the Halloween stuff- ALREADY!!!

7. I should have shopped for myself, not the family. I was trying to run away, after all. I bought a few things and went home.

8. I wondered the whole time if anyone would question me the moment I got in the back door or the next morning.

Nope.

Everyone was asleep and never knew I was even missing.

Nothing was ever said.

9. No one even thought to ask, "Where did this new stuff you bought for me come from?"

Nothing. No comment.

I ended up returning most of what I bought. Wrong size, didn't like, etc, etc.

10. Morale of the story:

•  make sure everyone KNOWS you're running away(but only if you WANT them to know or care)
•  shop for yourself
•  maybe the floor waxer man has a few good stories to share and could become a new friend

be sure to have a well lit clothesline area at night....

I love the smell of laundry dried on the line...

The other day, after doing a long stretch of many loads of laundry in between my phone "ringing off the hook", as the saying goes, I remembered that I still had one more load still out on the line. It was now after dark.
I was tired and ready for the comfort of my pajamas and a few chapters read in my current library book.
I surrendered to the fact that the maid wasn't going to go out and pull the stuff off the line since she has never done that in my whole lifetime. (As a matter of fact she is quite invisible!!)
Out I went in my bare feet to retrieve the laundry from the clothesline. I was just taking the last few items down and tossing them into my laundry basket when under my foot something went squisssssshhhhhhhh. Yuck. Double YUCK!

will that be paper or glass?

Maybe I should be like this retro Dixie Cup mom in this ad, instead...

I do drink out of fancy glass glasses and eat off fancy glass plates all from thrifty buys so they can be broken (which they inevitably are! ) without any big financial loss. That way I can say, with hoity toity attitude, to the family as I wield the broom and dustpan, "I can't have anything nice with you kids around here!"

They just reply, "Mom needs to go hunt down more cheap pretty glassware!"

Do you think they have caught on to the fact that I actually enjoy the opportunity to hunt and gather pretty things on the cheap????

It is funny when my kids take a shine to one certain cup or bowl in the thrifty mix and claim it as their own. When that piece gets broken it is a whole different story.

Time

I am a wife, a mother, an advocate, a helper, a speaker, a friend, a volunteer, a caregiver, and other titles which do not come with a full benefit package, and all mean I spend a lot of my days and time doing for others.

I will continue to do all those things. It is what I am made of.

Lately however, I find I am feeling somewhat resentful of time slipping away and the feeling that I am not able to do the things I want to do and the things I need to do for me. Sometimes I even want to have a block of time to do nothing. I never get that.

I have tried going on strike but I am a cog in a lot of wheels- some that come to a complete halt in my absence.

I do not mean this is a vain way only that there are people in need who need me. I find my brain does not shut off and as a result I do not rest even if I do sleep.

Do you ever feel starved for time to yourself? Some days I am not able to breathe a sigh of being "done" until 19 hours have passed by.


I know, I know...I just blogged about a vacation not long ago. But you mothers will agree that sometimes a vacation can be tougher than staying home and you need a vacation from vacation. I always say that I wish I could just get in a car with that "and away we go" attitude. There is so much little detail stuff, endless in fact, that needs to go into packing 5 people into a small car to travel almost 30 hours and be away for a week. Then there is the getting caught back up when you return. Whoa! That is even worse. I am still trying to get caught up.
I think I am just TIRED!!

thrifting

This is what I got when I went thrifting for myself the other day.
This little cream pitcher with no chips or cracks and it has snowflakes on it!!!

These little polka dotted etched glasses in 2 different sizes. There are 10 of them!!! If all 10 end up getting broken (which I hope they don't 'cause they're so cute) at least they were cheap. Glasses don't seem to be eternally lasting in our house.

This little hankie which is so thin you can see the piece of sheet music through it. The flowers are so sweet and it reminds me of my Grandma's purse which always smelled like Wrigley's gum when you opened the fancy clasp and was sure to have a powder compact and lipstick tucked inside too.

All this thrifty loveliness came home to live with me for a grand total of $1.65.

10 or more thoughts...

in no particular order...

(Our babies from a few springtimes ago.

Just a random cute photo to go with a random post)

1. I am looking forward to a trip coming up soon.

2. I have so much to do before upcoming trip.

3. The slush and piles of dirty snow are slowly disappearing, as the air smells like springtime.

4. I love fresh white snow covering everything.

5. I also like the smell of springtime.

6. I am going to eat a BMT. This is my boy N's coined abbreviation for bacon, mayonnaise and toast.

7. I should probably skip the heart clogging bacon, heart clogging mayonnaise, oh- and the toast too. But then I would have no fun heart clogging flavor to savor. At least the bread is whole grain wheat, give me some credit. The tomato was beyond saving and the lettuce has had better days.

8. Note to self: buy a fresh tomato and some non-wilted lettuce.

9. Do you ever write on the bathroom mirror in the foggy steam after your shower? I yell at the kids for the streaks after it dries when they do it, but boy is it fun to do anyway. Maybe I'll do that today. Write on the mirror, not the yelling at the kids part.(Yes, then I wash it!)

10. Oh did I just admit I have been known to yell at my kids? So sue me! They sometimes "forget" to pick up after themselves either. See, I knew you'd be on my side.

11. I read to N. the other night while we were cuddling on the couch. He got very quiet and I read 2 more chapters before I realized he was sound asleep.I read one more chapter to myself after that.

12. We finished the book last night - after I back tracked to find the paragraph in which chapter he actually recalled last hearing.

13. I will miss the times when N. wants to cuddle and be read to.

14. I know I am not supposed to end a sentence with the word to.

15. I am going thrifting today in my window of opportunity. Translation: The shop is along the route from one place I have to be to the next place I have to be...with 40 minutes in between the two location responsibilities. How 'bout that for a relaxing session of browsing? Sometimes you have to take what you can get. My budget is $2.00.

16. Those bunnies we raised, shown in the photo above, were so cute (and so fun to dress in Barbie doll crowns), but I am actually happy to say "Been there, done that."

17. Random thoughts can be fun to record.

my apparent cake curse

Flamingos and snowflakes?

Man, those northern-most Ohio people

are a little cuckoo!

I know that's what you must be thinking.

A. has always fancied flamingos since she was a toddler. It's one of those mysteries of parenthood, trying to decide where these attractions come from that your kids latch on to. We obviously have no live flamingos in Ohio, not even at our zoo! A. even collects flamingo Christmas ornaments.

I am endlessly amazed by how many different flamingo Christmas ornaments there are out in the world. Her attraction to these pink birds with backwards knees is even funnier because she likes to often pair them with her birthday which is in January. In OHIO!

Two days before her birthday this last week, A. made this cake. She likes to bake. I do not. Sorry, I just don't. I teased that she was baking herself a birthday cake. I half teased.
The night before her birthday as we were running around in the Mom taxi from this stop to that activity and all around town, I said we would stop at the local small grocery that has a nice bakery and A. could pick out any cake she wanted. She chose one with nice flowers and lots of pink. Surprise, surprise. Gee, I think that would go nicely with a flamingo or 2.

Silly Mom suggested that we make it more personal (and what else says "personal" than a store bought cake chosen from the slim selection on hand at 7:00 pm, bought in haste between scurrying around town, the night before a birthday?) by asking at the bakery counter if they could write her name in icing under the plastic pink "Happy Birthday" trinket.


Here is where my birthday cake curse started to take shape. I had this old feeling before, with N's last store bought "personal" cake, last August (from a different store).

We asked two very fine friendly looking young gentlemen behind the bakery/deli counter if they could simply add the name to this cake to make it complete. "It is her 14th birthday tomorrow!", I added cheerfully. The immediate invisible tension in the air made me wonder if A. wanted to shrink behind the nearby endcap display of toilet tissue to escape her hopelessly embarrassing Mom! Can you imagine? Honestly!

One young man responded truthfully, "I can't do that. I don't do that."

The other young man chimed in quickly, "I can do it. I have done it lots of times. See, the bakery girls leave at 3:30 for the day and then it's just us. We are meat cutters."

Oh dear, this is where I should have cut bait and ran to the checkout line with the cake as is, good 'nuf! But no! I let it all play out like some Saturday Night Live skit, in the presence of my extremely embarrassed almost 14 year old daughter.

The "meat cutter" says, "How about pink like the flowers?"

I respond, "Yes, perfect!" I am enthusiastically nodding my head and so is A. This could turn out just fine after all. Have a little faith, would ya!

After too much time has elapsed he proudly emerges from behind the scenes of the bakery/deli department and presents A. with the cake, again all enclosed in it's clear plastic clam shell domed lid. As he transfers it from his hands to hers he says,

~~[get ready, brace yourself]~~

"There. I did pink AND BLUE. BLUE like your coat!!!!"

We gazed at the top of the cake and our faces fell into a strange expression as we studied the name written first in pink and then over-written in blue.

WHAT?????????????????

There is no BLUE ANYWHERE, ANYWHERE else on that cake. Does he want her to wear her BLUE coat while she is blowing out her candles???????????????????

In his defense he did give me a HUGE hint of events to come when I handed over the very "personal" cake to him to alter. Remember? He did say, "We are meat cutters."

I only have myself to blame.

I should just bake. Simple. Done. I should JUST BAKE!

Here is why I have a store bought cake curse cast upon me from some karma devil. This has happened before. Before, I tell ya!

Last August, the night before N's 9th birthday I found time to run to a different store in our town to chose a "personal" cake for my one and only son. I had plenty of time. The store wasn't closing for another 20 minutes, after all. This will work.

I scanned the case of cakes waiting to be taken home to various parties by Mom's who dearly love their offspring, but apparently not enough to bake for them on their one day each year which bonds a Mother and child.

No no! Not one masculine looking cake of any size shape or flavor. Nothing without flowers. Nothing!

I explained in detail my dilemma--I inquired of the very nice looking friendly young man (with the hair net over his beard) if he could possibly write "Happy Birthday N." in icing on the top of any of these cakes and I could scrape off the flowers when I get home and smooth out the frosting. I was sure I could handle THAT! Come on, I'm not a total loser. I could even add a Hot Wheels monster truck or a macho guy action figure or something to "guy it up".

Mr. hair-netted-beard-man said yes, and so I eenie meanie minie moe'd one of the cakes and handed it off to him.

I had faith. He could do this. I could come through with a cake for N. that would be acceptable.

Well, after way too much time had elapsed (was he multi-tasking back there and sweeping up the floor? After all, it was getting closer to closing time) he emerged from behind the scenes clutching the cake in his proud little hands, handing it to me just as the voice that comes from the ceiling speakers announced, "Please take all your final selections to the check out lines as the store will close in 5 minutes."

I looked at the cake and my expression melted quicker than ice cream in August. Yes, he had skillfully written "Happy Birthday N."
....right next to the NEW BLUE FLOWERS he had painstakingly created in the same spot where he had scraped off the purple flowers.
UGGGH!!!!
Cake curse. Bad cake karma.
At least I was still N's hero because he was surprised by a new (nearly new hand me down) shiny red bike for his birthday.

Happy birthday A., my love. Your own flamingo cake was a masterpiece.
And besides, you have decided to have your party with friends in February. Maybe I have learned my lesson on store bought altered creations, and will bake for you.
Stay tuned for that one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

another year

(My collection of vintage record album covers with wonderful happy idyllic family scenes)

Another year of Christmas hullabaloo is done. Don't get me wrong, I am sure many new memories were made and all had fun. It's just that since I have been a grown up, and even more so since I've been a mom, it is all so different at Christmas time. Now I am the one in charge of the magic making. The one behind the curtain, like the great Oz. I admit sometimes it's tough. I want to be the kid again, observing the magic and believing.

I long for the feeling of being a child at Christmas time to rush over me again. That feeling is worth more than gold. When you're a kid you take it for granted or you do not even know you have it. But you do!


Yes, I enjoy the process of making memories for my own kids. I just miss the old days. That's allowed. That is why I surround myself with things and images that make me feel comfort, like these silly record album covers. They just speak to me.

(N.'s collection of nutcrackers, and E.'s hand made Mandela type snowflakes)

N. has always had a fascination with nutcrackers. He has received all these as gifts throughout the years. On Christmas day I took my Santas out of my red cupboard and put his collection and the little tree with his nutcracker ornaments on it up on top. He was so thrilled to see his collection displayed in a new place and the smile on his face as he stood there, and each time he walked by, said it all. I had just made a memory for him!! That's what it's all about.

(Japan elves, my hand quilled snowflakes, and a silk hankie with a perfect winter couple)

My Grandma had made in Japan elves like these. To look at them in my home makes me recall the cozy days at her house during the holidays. She did not decorate every inch of the house as many people seem to do in my generation. She decorated the living room. The room where it all happened. Everything. She had no family room or den. The living room was the place. It was decorated with an aluminum tree and color wheel, items along the fireplace mantle and on top of the big console TV cabinet. The cabinet was big, not the TV itself.

The decorations were perfect. Perfectly enough. I never thought to question, "Why isn't there more?"

(my kids decorate the doll house each year)

This December involves weeding out many of the decor items as we sort through it all --giving some away and donating some. I have decided to have the kids do more of the decorating next year, not just being in charge of the doll house. They will decide what is enough. The kids will make it their own and decide what to love.

( the kitchen window sill )

I also changed the window sill display on Christmas day. I do a lot of thinking at the sink in the kitchen in front of this window. I needed a change. I get bored with it quickly and easily. I was suddenly struck by the fact that I needed it to be Winter instead of Christmas in that spot. So some milk glass was moved here from another area. It feels better now. I can't explain why.

(vintage game boxes)

I am a big fan of games that families play together that require no batteries or electricity to enjoy, thus the fascination I have always held for vintage games. That and the fact that the color on the packaging and game boards is just different, bright and fun. The photo is a group that's sitting atop my corner cupboard. But I keep some of my kids' board games out of the game closet at all times, sitting ready for play, often rotating some out for new choices. A spontaneous game of Chutes and Ladders can bring a smile to me any time. I have found that if I open the box they will come!! They, meaning one of my kids or 2 or 3. More memory making and laughter.

( house ornaments)

My Mom was a collector of these house ornaments. Each one has the year marked somewhere on the house. On the back you can look inside to the 3 dimensional rooms. After she died I continued to buy one each year, often going without something in order to fit it's purchase into the budget. They are not horribly expensive but still a luxury, in my opinion. I did not buy one this year. Maybe someday I will be able to find one on line, since this is the first year I have missed one. N. looks forward to unpacking them and carefully taking the protective box inserts apart to reveal each one. He put them on the window sill in the living room this year. And yes, those are all my paper snowflakes I have cut by hand with no patterns. Some have been hung on the windows every year for 17 years!!

So another year of Christmas has come and gone. We have new memories and the comfort of decor from years before. We had a Christmas without spending money. B was off work for 8 weeks and we were without his regular pay. Every dollar I had squirreled away for emergency times like this had to be spent just before his surgery to put a new engine in my car. Talk about an unexpected expense! We make every penny count at our house and to be without regular pay you find ways to survive somehow. We were blessed to have many good friends and neighbors who helped to make the Christmas season one of fun for the kids. They brought gifts from Santa and seemingly unending deliveries of trays of home baked sweets and other food. We were even given a turkey for Christmas dinner.

Friends, family and memories. That's what it's all about.

Flash Back- kindergarten delinquent

(me at age 5, 1968)

You've heard, "Everything I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten"?
When I was in kindergarten I was so excited about the prospect of learning how to cut with scissors with precision [ a skill that would lead me to cutting paper snowflakes to be used for a photo shoot at St. Jude's Hospital 40 years later].
I learned how to share toys willingly with everyone [ I was the baby by 8 years and only girl in my family so my toys were usually MY TOYS!].
And how to pay attention when someone was speaking [ I am my Uncle's helper and I now wait very patiently while he sometimes struggles to get a complete sentence out in a hurry].
There was one day in kindergarten that I learned a lesson that engraved a memory into my brain that remains as fresh today as it was in 1968!!
Near the end of a school day, we were all gathered sitting on the floor, my classmates and I, near the upright piano that was probably out of tune. Miss Payment was playing a song- I don't remember the song- and singing along. We were supposed to be singing along. No doubt it was an educational song. Duh! Of course it wouldn't be a Beatles' song for goodness sake!! Anyway, I was not singing along. Nope. Not I. I was socializing. Or as Miss Payment probably stated= not following directions or interfering with my classmates education or being a kindergarten delinquent!!! Surely if this was not nipped in the bud I would follow aimlessly down a path of destruction in my educational career!!
I was taken out of the mix of vocalizing song birds and marched over to the corner. The CORNER! The DREADED CORNER! Yep. I had seen others marched over to the CORNER. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be a child of 5 years so badly behaved that I would be marched over to the CORNER!!
There I was to remain in solitary confinement for the rest of the class time which was no doubt maybe 15 minutes tops. At least this form of cruel and unusual punishment was lessened with the facts that I was allowed a chair and had already eaten my snack at snack time. But oh the humiliation! The stigma of being labeled " a corner sitter"! The agony and stress of those minutes slowly ticking away as I imagined Miss Payment forgetting ME when it came time to line up all my classmates to walk from our detached kindergarten building to where the buses all sat waiting to take home the kindergarten students and all the big students in the main building. I was sure I would have to stay there on the chair in the CORNER all night alone. I would starve! I would not be able to go potty! I would not see my Mom! But Miss Payment would be sorry when she came in the next morning and found me there suffering!! Wouldn't she??
After much angst I was gratefully given a parole. I was allowed to line up with my classmates and go home on the bus. As I obediently stood in line, red faced and teary eyed I was handed my construction paper art project done that day. A giant toothbrush. The bristles were cut in fringy strips with rounded nose scissors. The conditions of my parole= I was not to socialize during song time again.
"Yes Miss Payment, I promise!!"
I know I never did socialize again during song time. Thank goodness the only teacher that ever had a piano in the classroom in any grade was Miss Payment. That would have proved a hard commitment had all my other teachers done educational sing-a-longs on out of tune pianos!!

But then again there was of course Mrs. Hoover the music teacher. She was about 99 years old and had flab under her arms that would swing to and fro when she would clap the rhythmic patterns to teach us music note timing. She always seemed to wear sleeveless dresses - the kind that have a skinny belt made of the same gaudy fabric as the dress. Maybe her girdle was so tight it forced the fat to squeeze up to her arms!...She had a piano...but that's a story for another time!

take time to color

I have a million things to do before tomorrow night's dinner.

I am ready for as few as 8 and as many as 13. No one seems to be able to pin down an RSVP to me this year. That's ok. I will still cook the same amount of food- a lot- because that's the only way I know to cook. I love to cook. Hate to bake. Know what? That's alright too. There are always plenty of bakers among our gang of friends and neighbors. Everyone has their own interests and talents to share.

The million things on the to-do list I have yet to do includes striving to create the magic of the Christmases I remember fondly from my youth. Oh yeah!...and cleaning the house. My favorite saying is "Trying to keep a house clean while the kids are still living at home is like trying to staple Jell-O to a tree!" I wholeheartedly agree. As I often say...my house is clean but rarely tidy. This week it looks like a winter tornado has gone through, what with the boots dripping melting snow and ice in big puddles, the wet mittens hats and scarves strewn along the hearth drying before the fire (FYI N., for the umpteenth time, gloves do not dry when you pull them off inside out with the fingers all bunched up!! Ugh!), coats that no one seems to know how to hang up...and do not even get me started on the toys everywhere. Wanna know a secret? I am actually giving N. a box of toys he hasn't seen for months since I packed them away and put them in "Time OUT" for not picking them up. I have wrapped the box up in Christmas paper. He keeps asking what is in that big box. "Must be something really cool" , he keeps saying!

{ my art}

Then there is all the stuff that came out of A's room months ago so we could repaint and redo her bedroom. The goal was to have it done and back together before Thanksgiving. I told her I would help her if she helped me. Well, when you are a few breaths away from 13 and active in EVERYTHING at school you just do not have time for silly things like doing something you promised your Mother!! So, here it is, past Thanksgiving and a breath away from Christmas and the things are still sitting (all over) in the family room, and on the glassed porch...

Honestly I am tempted to just leave the mess and let the guests (family and friends) see how we really live every day and not just how the house looks when Mom shoves everything in her bedroom at the last minute and declares that room off limits to guests! I told the kids my idea today and they just looked blankly at me and their brain gears were thinking, "Mom wouldn't really do THAT!"- I know because I am good at reading their minds, it's one of those instinctive Mom skills you acquire when they are each born.

{N's art -which I think is much better than mine!}

So what does all this have to do with my title to this post?

Well, in the midst of all my mental preparing to stage the house and make it look right for impending guests, N. asked me if I would color with colored pencils with him. I can not resist the call of my colored pencils

no matter how untidy the house may be.

So what did I do? What could I do?

I colored!

{The inside of N's card. Don't you love his "font"?}

We scanned N's art and made it into a card for my Uncle. This was what he did inside the card. I am Uncle's weekly and year 'round personal shopper. N. tagged along this time since he was off school for winter break. So, added to everything else, which was tugging at my time and hovering deadline, was doing Uncle's regular household shopping. Driving in the holiday traffic on icy roads in single digit temperatures and waiting in check out lines so long you wonder if you've aged while standing still for so long.

Hey wait!, that reminds me. I still have my own shopping to finish for tomorrow night's dinner!

Well, the coloring was fun, anyway!!

We have to seize these opportunities to make magical Christmas memories when ever we can.

Brother for sale...

A. is selling her brother. Cheap, too! Maybe even free. Heck, she may even pay YOU to take him.

Yesterday was Mother's day. A day to take the day off from cooking duties for the family. I had a great idea to get up and go to a quick breakfast at 7:00am, without the kids as they would still be asleep on a Sunday morning. Not a place with crisp white tablecloths or sparkly chandeliers, but a place where the wait staff all have matching aprons and wear name tags with the restaurant's name on them too. No bother. At least I didn't have to cook; and the food was good.

I tried to wake him up until 8:00 and then gave up.

At about 11:00am when he woke up he said, [you guessed it] "Why didn't you wake me up?" We went (all 5 of us) to have a breakfast buffet at a different restaurant.
We all decided on ordering the buffet...all except N. He insisted that he order the kid's portion of his carved in stone favorite--chicken and fries. After finishing his food and practically licking the plate clean ~~because he has the chronological age of 7 but the appetite of a 16 year old and won't stop growing taller (like the Sequoia trees I saw in California)~~ he announced that he wanted to have the breakfast buffet too!!

I braced myself for the reaction. He hates having a meal out with all the kids. If it were up to him, our kids would all enter into adulthood without having ever stepped foot into a restaurant. I, on the other hand, was raised having dinner out just about every Saturday night. Nice dinners. And eating out at lunch with coupons.
I have always taken the kids out to places on my own where they offer free kids meals all day Monday or kids eat for 99 cents with the purchase of an adult meal. Occasionally they have graced the interior of crisp white tablecloth fancy restaurants too.

He told N. that he was out of luck, he had made his choice to initially decline the buffet. So N. did the normal 7 year old thing...he whined through the rest of the time we were there. A. wanted to sell him then for ruining Mom's big time out.

Later, A. baked a cake for me. Chocolate butter fudge. It was on the counter top cooling when N. went into the cupboard above to get out a glass.

CRASH. SHATTER!!!
(A. screaming) "N.!! Way to go! I hope Mom will like her glass cake!!!! "

A small glass had tumbled out of the cupboard onto the counter top and pieces of glass shards flew in every direction but mostly on top of the Chocolate butter fudge cake. The cake was dumped in the trash to avoid a Mother's day trip to the emergency room.

It was at that point I was surprised A. was not setting her brother on the curb with a "FREE to good home(cross that out) ANY HOME!" sign upon him.

Did I mention I had a great Mother's day? And you?

Back to reality

Well, I'm back... and the time sand is running through the hour glass so quickly as I find myself right back into the old routine of sick kids (2 of them!), groceries to buy, laundry to do, homework to keep check of, bills to pay, phone calls to return, a senior citizen who demands to monopolize my time (since the apparent perception is I have nothing else in my life that needs my time), and..................on and on and on.

The best thing is, I can't wait to tell you all about my trip and all about what's new with me.

Meanwhile, my vacation pictures are being held hostage inside my dead battery camera. I am hoping to buy a new battery today while I am out dragging one of the sick kids around with me to do shopping for said senior citizen and maybe sneak in a teensie bit of my own shopping at the same time.

This morning within the first 24 hours of being home everything had settled back into seeming like I had never even left! *sigh*

I have my memories of my time away to escape to in my mind when the stress builds again.

Let me tell you, I am beginning that hike up the stress mountain already!

Hopefully I will be back today to show and tell about my California adventures!! I met someone very fun!!!!!!!!!

No Batteries Required

Here is N. with one of his endless creations done with Lincoln Logs. He likes to call them linking logs! This day he added some green army guys to the mix!

At our house we have lots of old time toys. Wooden building blocks, jacks, dominoes, Spirograph,

Etch-A-Sketch, marbles, jump ropes and other things...

things that don't require batteries or electricity.

I think toys that let a child use his imagination are so much more of a thrill than a game or toy that plays the kid!!! You know what I'm talking about.

In this world where kids are forced to grow up much too fast, why not allow them the chance to just be a kid. My kids are encouraged to spend time lying on their back in the grass to gaze up into the clouds against a magical blue sky, to build forts from salvaged wood odds & ends, to build fairy houses from sticks and bark and moss. They are encouraged to use their imagination and creativity.

Is anyone else out there on the same page with this subject?