I've finally been bitten by the Spring Cleaning bug...now that it's almost May!! Emily and I spent several hours yesterday and today giving the kitchen a really good cleaning. We moved some stuff around and got rid of some things in an effort to clean and get rid of clutter. I still have a few more things to do in there before I can officially say that the kitchen is "Done" but we're close!! Next up will be the dining room!
We had yet another storm tonight and yet another power outage! I had about an hour before it was time to leave for church so I used the time to finish the book we started in our Women's Prayer Circle at church.
Due to flooding in the cellar, taxes, and a migraine, I'm a day late in this post!!
hair and the slightest little up-turned nose. She was so cute!
And that was only FRIDAY!! I try to see the bright side on days like these and in comparison, my problems could be a whole lot worse!!
I have scrapbooked in one form or another since I was in 5th grade (about 30 years!!) My earliest ones were purchased at a dime store like Woolworths. I kept things like birthday cards, postcards from trips, school programs, special letters, wrapping paper from gifts, party decorations, newspaper clippings, school awards, and all sorts of other things. They are too high up in a closet to get down and photograph. Some of the scotch tape has lost it's stickiness, the pages have yellowed, but they are still special reminders of my childhood.
These days I scrapbook some of the same stuff but I don't use scotch tape anymore. This shelf in my bedroom holds some of my scrapbooks. It's a collection of my kids' lives and accomplishments, our life as a family, special moments, etc. I have more plans for future scrapbooks than I have time!!
While I was photographing some of my pages, our power went out. So I'm only showing some pages from 2 books tonight. Sometime in the future I'll show more.
These two pages are from an album of my favorite pictures. A friend came & took pictures of my daughters & neices in victorian clothing. My sister just happened to have a roll of black & white film. I LOVED how
these pictures came out!
These remaining pages are from an album I made for Josh for Christmas 2 years ago. It's pretty much everything he did in high school. This is one big album!!!! It came out incredible, though. He didn't want to risk keeping it in the dorms so I get to keep it here for a few more years.
We've all been hit with cold/allergy symptoms...you know, sniffles, stuffy/runny noses, coughs and scratchy throats. Both Jacob & Emily came home from school totally wilted and dragging. They are both running low-grade temperatures and look awful. Emily walked in the front door, went right to my bed and slept for 4 1/2 hours!! I just finished a round of night-time (help-you-sleep) medicine and sent them to bed. Hopefully they'll be feeling better in the morning, although Jacob wouldn't mind being just sick enough to stay home from school.
Last Sunday, I posted here about sharing a musical opportunity with my oldest daughter, here. Yesterday, it was my oldest son's turn.
There are many musical opportunities at Josh's college. No matter how you sing or what you play, they make a place for you. This choir a 44 voice concert choir and for this particular choir, you have to audition to get in. (I remember last year, Josh was so nervous about his audition to this choir.) They sing on campus and also travel around to various churches and venues and sing and perform. Every year during spring break, this choir travels extensively. This year they went north. They started in North Dakota, went up into Canada, back into Minneapolis, through Nebraska, and then back home last night for their final concert of the tour.
The choir is amazing. They are so well rehearsed and have such energy and harmony. Josh is also in a men's octect and I knew they would sing also. They were so good!! But then, to my surprise and absolute delight, Josh and a girl from the choir sang a duet, "The Prayer." He didn't tell me!! They sang so beautifully!! When they were done, the audience response was overwhelming and it was all I could do to not jump up out of my seat and yell, "That's MY kid, that's MY kid!!" I mean it, I literally had to FORCE MYSELF to stay in my seat!!!!!!! Gosh, I was so proud!!!!!!!
After the concert, we were able to spend a little time with him over dinner and it was so nice to have our entire family together again. I cherish these times so much because they are becoming far and few between. Josh won't be home again until probably Christmas and for me, it's such a bittersweet thing. I love him, I want him around. I like having him around but at the same time, I'm so glad he's independant and making his own life.
Thanks for letting me gush all about my son today. I've been flying high since last night!!
Last summer, I worked on a video for a woman who lives just up the road from me. I had to go to her home on several occasions to meet with her. While in her home, I noticed several vintage lunch boxes and was quickly caught up in looking at them. They brought up so many memories from when I was a kid. Well, it seems that the lunch boxes I could see around her kitchen were only scratching the surface. She took me to her upstairs landing and it was wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling lunch boxes! I could have stood there for hours looking at them. They were just so fun! Then we went down to the basement where 4 more display cases were set up, full of lunch boxes. They were just such happy things that brought up happy memories.
From my childhood, I have one lunch box. The only rea
son it survived, I believe, is that it is a Barbie vinyl lunchbox that I used to hold my Barbie clothes. It's pretty beat up and stored high up in my closet. I can't reach it to photograph it so I found this one on the web that is similiar in style. Mine is Barbie pink. I remember having one the style of the Snoopy one above. I also had this green Peanuts lunchbox (got it for Christmas one year) and the classic red plaid (didn't everyone have this one once?)
I am showing two items from my walls for today's Show & Tell. This picture hangs in my dining room. I gave it to my Grandpa Adrian for his 75th birthday. We drove from Florida to Kansas (a 24-hour drive) and back over 
a long weekend for this party. We were so exhausted! Grandpa was so happy we had made the trip! What do you give a man who either has everything he wants or could easily go and buy anything? I decided to go with memories. I wrote how much I ad
mired him, included a picture of both he and I, matted and framed it. He seemed happy to receive it and it hung in his bedroom until he died. When my dad asked what I'd like as a keepsake of Grandpa's, I knew right away I wanted this picture. I was thrilled to recieve it back and hang it in my home. I look at it now and kind of chuckle to myself. This was done in the early 90's. I was so computer illiterate. I'd never heard of fonts or processing programs. I used such a large font because I had no idea what I was doing! I probably centered the title by using the old typwriter method of backspacing for every two letters!! Remember that?
This picture hangs in my bedroom. It belonged to Cliff's Granny. The last time we saw her she was in a nursing home, recouperating so she could go home. She was in her late 80's. During that visit, she told me that the Christmas card I had sent her the previous Christmas was the prettiest card she thought she had ever received. She loved that little card so much, she took it and framed it. I was so touched by that! When she passed away a few months later, Cliff's brother asked if there would be anything of Granny's that we'd like as a keepsake. The only thing I could think of was that little card. Once again, I was so glad to receive this, just as she had framed it. 
It has been cold, rainy, gray, and gloomy today. It's the kind of weather that makes me want to wrap up, stay warm and watch and old movie or read a good book. These kinds of days I struggle to be productive.
My parents are leaving tomorrow to head to GA to see my sister and FL to see my brother. I'm a little envious!! I'd love to get in the car and head to the warm south!! I'm so anxious to see my family and our newest nephew. By the time I get ahold of him, he'll be 5 months old!
Bill seems to be holding his own. There's a possibility he may get to go home tomorrow. His days are drawing to an end on this earth. It's so sad to watch him go through this but once again, it is not without hope. Soon he will be free from pain and sickness and welcomed into the arms of his Savior.
