Pictures in Frames

Yesterday I started to REALLY get into the front porch boxes.  I have spent the last seven months without any family and friend pictures around the house.  Now I'm ready and began opening the boxes marked pictures.  There were 3 boxes filled with loose snapshots, notes and cards written by children and grandchildren through the years (we all have them), and programs from all the recitals, graduations, and school plays.  Then there were the boxes of framed photos.  All shapes and sizes of frames showed loved ones through the years.  I first set aside the ones that I would use "as is".  Then I began to separate the frames that I wanted to update with newer photos.  Here's when I lost time.

If you're like me, when I would put a new photo in a frame, I'd simply cover the old one.  As I began to insert the newer pictures, I took out the old ones only to find there were 3 or 4 or 5 that I had forgotten about.  There were pictures of Libby, Emily and TR when they were born.  TR is now 34 and the girls both have April birthdays when they will be 42 and 43 (how did that happen?).  I remember the "birth" days and how my life changed each time.  I remember when I was pregnant with Emily (2nd daughter), I was so worried I had given all my love to Libby.  Was there any love left for this new baby?  And then when I saw her, all the love I needed to give was there.  Then (8 years later), TR was born and there was more love to give.  I've often wondered where does that "more" love come from?  And then I saw them as they grew into toddlers, first day of kindergarten, special moments, birthdays, and high school and college graduation.  Then weddings...oh my!  (We had a couple that didn't "take"!)  I'm so proud of my children.  In spite of me, they have all become smart, successful, artistic, and absolutely wonderful adults.  HC and I were not perfect parents, but we tired very hard.  There's that old saying about when you buy a stove, it comes with instructions.  When you have children, they check you out of the hospital with a smile and a wave!

I found pictures of the grandchildren.  I was there when Daniel and Garrett were born.  When the twins were born, I was visiting Emily at college in Michigan.  When Adam was born, I was keeping Daniel and the twins.  When Grace was born, HC and I were in Louisville but left immediately to come and see her.  Those photos are priceless to me.  My heart breaks for those who survive tragedies like the recent tornadoes in Kentucky and Indiana.  They loose so much more than their homes.  What if you lost all of your pictures in frames?

Yesterday it was so cold here and very windy.  At about 11am, the power went out.  I was in the process of doing several things each requiring electricity.  I pounded my fist and stomped my foot.  Then I remembered all those tornado survivors.  Loss of electricity was the least of their worries and heartache.  So I found something else to do for the next 3 hours when the power was restored.  Pictures in frames are love I can hold in my hands.  Pictures in my heart last forever.

It snowed this morning.  No accumulation but SNOW for cryin' out loud!  But today, I also saw a forsythia bush beginning to bloom.  Blessings to each of you and all the pictures in your hearts.

           

Calgon, take me away!

Remember that slogan?  I do and it seemed so relaxing and indulgent!  Do they still sell it?  I also remember Saturdays when I would clean the house, do the laundry, maybe paint a room, take one of those Calgon refreshers, fix a great dinner and then enjoy a quiet evening (not asleep in the chair!).  Where did those days go?  Better still, where did that energy go?  Once again, I have to repeat the phrase, growing old is not for the faint of heart!

I have spent all week in my bedroom.
Monday - I pulled up old, old, old wall-to-wall carpet and pad (that crumbled in my hands), and removed the tack strip.  I kept having to move the furniture to get the job done.  TR hauled it out of the house for me.
Tuesday - Had a final walk-thru of the first floor with the contractor.  Seriously need a few touch-ups so the painters will come Thursday morning to hopefully finish that job.  Also met with another contractor about the upstairs bathrooms.  Went to Lowe's to buy the paint for the bedroom.
Wednesday - And so it begins.  Paint, paint, paint.  Got all the walls covered and they look great.  The color is apricot mist.  Love it!
Thursday - Painted all the trim bright white.  2 windows, 3 doors and the baseboards.  I hate painting trim.  My sister Linda is the Queen of trim painting.  She taught art all of her professional career and has the patience of Job.  Wish she had been here.  Had to get done and the mess cleaned up to watch the U of L game.  YES!!!!  On to the Elite 8!!!!
Friday - I have spent today painting the floor.  I so wish it wasn't so messy to sand and refinish wooden floors but I can't do that.  So, the floor is being painted black.  I have painted about 2/3 of it and am waiting for it to dry so I can move the furniture and paint the last 1/3.  Hopefully I will have it done by the time the UK game is played.  If not, the floor will wait until tomorrow.  Got to see UK BEAT IU!!!!!!  Pleeeeeeeeeeeease!!!!!  I love U of L first but I want everyone to know the state of Kentucky owns basketball!!!!!!

Plans for tomorrow - get my bedroom back in order, hang pictures, add wingback chairs, lamps, clean linens, and sleep there tomorrow night.  (I need a wonderful rug so maybe tomorrow night...shopping!)
I have been sleeping in the front guest room and for those of you coming to visit, those mattresses are fabulous!  My friend Christy said it's a beautiful room to wake up in and it is!  It has 3 windows so there's a different view out each of them.  And it's my quilt room.  Old quilts on the beds, at the foot of the beds, on a quilt rack, and framed quilt squares hanging on the wall.  I love that room.  Once my bedroom is done, on to the front porch!  Can't wait!  And once the front porch is done...I'm getting a MANICURE!!!!!!

But for tonight, UK and Bath & Body Works version of Calgon!  Oh, and Ibuprofen!!!!!

     

The Front Porch

The high temperature today was...64!!!!!  I spent the day on our wonderful front porch.  In case you've forgotten, that's where everything without a home was stashed.  And since the porch is not heated, it's been a while since I reviewed "what all" was out there.  I emptied 6 boxes and found all sorts of very special things.

I discovered a box of missing crystal including a Waterford bowl and was so grateful the cold hadn't cracked it.  Found my silver punch bowl and wondered what my guests will think when it appears on my dining room table with a "special" punch!

I found the photo albums.  I spent several hours with those sweet memories.  It truly seems as if only a moment has passed since the children were born.  And then the grandchildren!  Photos of HC Baker sometimes even with me in the photo too!  Isn't it funny how all family albums have photos showing one parent in each family picture because the other one is taking it?  It's a nice surprise when HC and I are in the same picture.  If I knew how to scan a photo there is one I would show you immediately!  HC and I are in Bermuda (our all-time favorite place) and I look FABULOUS...exactly like a movie star!  HC looks pretty good too!  I think we were celebrating my 35th birthday!  Now that was a while back.

I found several framed Ray Harm bird prints that had been in a crate for years!  Since our new home was built in 1854, they definitely belong in the front guest room.  Quite a few more framed things were found and I have just the perfect place for them!

Oh, I also found 2 mounted deer heads, a stuffed pheasant, and a variety of antlers!  How wonderful!  (The basement is already full!)

I can't wait until tomorrow and see what else I can find on the front porch!        

TV?????

I know it's late but I have painted furniture all day which allowed me to paint and sit and paint and sit.  I'm doing some decorative things (copying actually) I saw last summer at an antique show.  It's fun and I think will look pretty cool!  So during my "sit" periods, I had the opportunity to see 3 things on TV I had never seen before.

2 Kenyon Guys (and I saw 2 episodes/1/2 hour each)
This was kinda' cool IF it was the real thing.  Two warriors from a village in Kenya came to New York so that one of them could run in the NY Marathon.  The elders in their village wanted them to see and learn new things and bring that information back to the village.  The first half hour was spent in New York City and they were quite surprised at the sights.  The second half hour was spent in Texas and I found this episode more interesting.  They visited a ranch with goats - very funny, went to a Texas
bar-b-que - meat, meat, meat, and then learned how to lasso a steer at a rodeo - successfully!  If you see this show on your guide, check it out.  I so hope it's REAL!

Fashion Star
What was that?  Unknown designers created 3 outfits that were modeled for 3 mentors who included Jessica Simpson (didn't recognize her), Nicole Richie (eat something), and some man I had no idea as to his identity.  They were the fashion authorities????????  Then there were 3 people each representing Macy's, Saks, and H&M or M&H (?).  The store representatives would decide if they would purchase the items designed by the unknowns for selling in their stores.  They would make an offer of money to buy the designs if they felt they could sell them.  At the end of the show, one of the "not chosen" unknown designers was sent packing!  It's another version of Project Runway and several other similar shows.  Are we that bored?

Now for the good show!  Quite by accident I watched WKU commit 28 turnovers and then turn around and beat a Mississippi team in the last minute!  It was wonderful.  HC Baker would be so proud.  The commentators talked about the 1971 team that included Clem Haskins and I think if I heard correctly, the coach of the losing team.  HC was at that game and I believe it was played in Iowa.  HC was in the pep band and he always talked about what a game that was.  I'm happy for WKU and their next game is against UK!  Oh boy!
*Note - One thing I thought was interesting, the President was there and he didn't seem very happy that WKU won.  Did he think they were all republicans????????

So that's my day!  And I get to do it again tomorrow.  I love being retired and doing the things I want to do.  The weather warmed up today to 43!  It's supposed to continue the warm weather the rest of the week.  I know 43 doesn't sound very warm, but when it's been in the teens and twenties, 43 is great.  I am so grateful for my many blessings.  God is good!    

Middle School Lock-in!

It's one of my favorite things when my adult children ask for my help!  So...yesterday was the Cheboygan MIddle School lock-in and Emily asked for my help.  Unlike lock-in's I am used to, this one lasted only until midnight.  (I guess after a day in the classroom, the teachers cannot spend the night with their middle-schoolers without thoughts of killing them!)

There are about 530 students in the school and when the end of the day bell rang at 3:10, they could choose to participate in over 15 different activities.  The activities repeated every 50 minutes.  There was a DJ in the cafeteria, pizza for dinner, bottled water (no sodas!), a room showing continuous movies, art projects in the art room (paint a clay pot which I suggested was a great way to have your Mother's Day gift ready in plenty of time!), and lots, lots more.  It was very well organized.  Emily was leading 3 separate sessions.  Remember last week when she had the spanish project of cooking those elephant ear things with a spanish name (still haven't got that in my mind yet)?  Well, the kids loved it so much, we did that for 2 hours.  She had prepared 100 dough balls and had to make 2 more batches.  We ended up FRYING over 200 of those!  Then for the 3rd hour, the wonderful lunchroom ladies had baked 48 DOZEN sugar cookies and we spent our final hour helping the kids ice and decorate those cookies.  Between the elephant ears and iced sugar cookies those kids won't sleep for the next 3 days.

From 2pm until 6:30pm, I was in the Life Skills room (the old Home Ec) with middle schoolers!  There are posters all over the walls and I was able to read most of them during my "incarceration"!  Here are a few of my favorites.

"Stand up for what is right even if you're standing alone."

"A good angle to approach any problem is the TRYangle."

"Don't eat any meatloaf but your Mom's."

"Never sell your teddy bear, letter sweater or high school year book at a garage sale.  You'll regret it later."

I had a great time.  Several of the children told me I talked funny.  I so love my children and the adults they have become.  They're all very good people!

Remember my snow pictures?  Well, Wednesday it warmed up to almost 50 degrees and on Thursday, I saw my driveway for the first time in over 2 months.  Today when I looked outside, the driveway was once again covered in snow!  I knew I should have photographed that asphalt!

Happy Big East Conference, Happy SEC Conference and Happy all those other conferences.  Go CARDS!  Go CATS!  And all the rest of you, GO Safely into this world.



    

Broken Leg Cake!

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Emily's broken leg.  Last year on March 1, she slipped on ice at school and broke her leg in about 5 places.  She now has great difficulty getting through the scanner at airports.  She has a steel rod, a steel plate, and about 7 screws.

Yesterday since there was no school, Gracie came over and we baked a cake, cut it out to resemble the bottom part of a leg, iced it and it was their breakfast today!  Can't remember what they had for breakfast last year but next year, they'll remember what they had today.  After baking and cooling the cake, when I inverted it, it fell and broke into 4 pieces.  So we had a broken cake for a broken leg party!  (Icing held it all together!  No steel for us!)  After being gone for several weeks, Grace and I had a great time together.  We had a lot to catch up on.

It began to snow Tuesday as I returned from Louisville.  It snowed most of the night and again in the morning.  Got about 6 inches (on top of what was left on the ground).  Weather forecast for the weekend is predicting 8-12 more inches beginning Friday late afternoon with 1-2 inch accumulation per hour.  Can't wait!  (Went to the grocery today!)

I spent several hours at Emily's school today helping with Terrific Thursday.  It was the last day of the grading period and all students had the opportunity to choose an activity for their last hour.  Some chose playing in the gym, painting in the art room, etc.  Emily teaches math but also one hour of Spanish.  Her activity for those who chose to was having each child make a tortilla.  She had made dough balls, so each child had to roll it out and then Emily or I put it in the fry pan.  Once it was done the children could cover it with cinnamon sugar.  We used the Family Life room (the old Home Ec) and had 6 rolling stations and six skillets going.  There were 40 students very excited to eat their creations.  It tasted like an elephant ear but was called a mexican word I can't remember.  We heard over and over again, "I've never used a rolling pin," "I've never cooked anything."  These are middle schoolers!!!!  Does everything they eat pop in and out of a microwave?  Anyway, they had a good time.  We're repeating this next Thursday 3-6pm to kick-off an 8th grade lock-in ('til midnight).  We could have 100+ creative cookers!!!  I'd better take my vitamins!

Can't remember if I told you but I got a new phone while in Louisville.  It's an LG My Touch.  It does everything.  I can read e-mails, check FB, it's a GPS, it tells me where the closest anything is, and lots more.  What it doesn't do is continue working after it's been dropped.  And I can't call for answers because it won't work.  What to do?  I'm waiting for TR Baker to get home from work and tell me how to fix it.  It won't help that he told me I needed a cover before I dropped it and it broke!!!!!!!!  Oh my!

So...March 1...already.  Does the time totally fly by for you or is it just me?  And is it really a symptom of getting older or are our lives so busy our days all run together?  Should I get up earlier to have more quiet time or will I fill that time with more things to do?  I've tried keeping a schedule but I put it down somewhere and find it 5 hours later.  I definitely need to make a new plan (Stan - ha-ha).  I'll keep you posted!

Happy March!

(Wore a new bra today.  Felt very glamourous!)