Today I get to celebrate two of my favorite people’s birthdays. My grandson Andrew turns fourteen today. I can’t believe the years have passed so quickly. I tend to still think of him as a little boy. He certainly is growing into a fine young man. His mother, however, isn’t always convinced. She’s in the teenage shock years.
I chuckle and tell her he is just like you. To that, she asks how I ever put up with her. I simplify my answer by just saying it was illegal to murder your kids and my reward for not doing so is my grandchildren. 🙂
The other birthday is that of my youngest granddaughter, Isabella. She turns two today. She has turned into a toddler who is smart, funny and simply one of the brightest lights of my life. Unfortunately, she lives far away and my only visit with her will be via facetime. I am not really complaining, just wishing I could be with her in person.
Tomorrow all the family with the exception of my son’s family will be going out to dinner to celebrate Andrew’s birthday. I am blessed to have him living close.I hope we can also get Isabella on the phone so we can celebrate a little with her too.
This modern world with cell phones that allow visits across miles is wonderful. What a great time we live in. I remember the show the Jetsons. It was an animated futuristic show that had picture phones they used. Who would have thought that they would become a reality that everyone used?
Today I will be spending the day at my granddaughter Alannah’s dance competition. The kick off of her season is today and thankfully it is being held at the local community college.
Since I have moved over to WordPress I have endeavoured to participate in the daily prompts & challenges offered. I haven’t always been successful. I mean I had gotten so busy with life I posted little of anything in the recent past. Well, I am attempting to change that.
I have begun to get back into the blog challenges that I enjoyed taking part in. Even enrolled in some of the self-help offerings that WordPress makes available to improve my meagre blog offerings. So permit me to apologize to you at the beginning of this post if they have fallen short in any way.
We are all creatures of habit. Without realizing it, we gravitate to what is comfortable to us. Before we know it, what we think of as our style is actually only the limits our comfort zones impose on us. It is now and has been since I began this journey into the blogosphere with Cookies & Moo to venture outside my comfort zone. Sometimes I am successful and those are the posts I am most proud of.
I will tell you that my photography has improved with the photo challenges. So much so that I started a sister site Wanda’s Photography. If you haven’t seen it, take a look and please by all means let me know what you think. I love constructive criticism. I found some very generous bloggers who share tips and tricks about photography and I am so very grateful for their generosity.
I also created Wanda’s Reviews where I post my reviews of the books I have read. My reading has slowed down a bit over the past year, but look for that to pick up again soon. Again, your input is welcomed.
Last summer I had written a post in the form of a short story. I sent it to my daughter (she’s talented and brilliant) who at my request edited it for me and gave me her input. I decided not to publish it because I thought about turning it into a series of children’s books. I used to love to write when I was young, but life became so busy with family and career that I gave it up. But now, I think the time might be right for me to explore moving forward with the series.
I guess my point is that this silly blog has pulled me from what I have become so comfortable doing into exploring other possibilities. I have met (well communicated with through this vehicle we call blogging) so many wonderful supportive people who have shared their time, talent, and trials most generously. I am very grateful for their example and it is their example which is pushing me to stretch my blogging abilities.
Many of you know, those who follow my blog at least, I have been sorting through all of my belongings since my husband died. I have been profuselypuzzled that I am not getting very far with this daunting task. But, I think I have discovered the reason.
I have a few hobbies, quilting, photography, reading, blogging… For the last two weeks, I have attended my Sit and Stitch group on Tuesdays. One of the girls brought in some patterns and wool for applique. It was so kind of her to share her talents and fabric with us. However, I think she has created a bit of a monster. I decided that for my center block on the Red Robin quilt I am starting should be wool applique. So…
I had filled my van with a lot of my doll and cow collection articles for donation to Goodwill. I finally got there to donate what I had and could not just leave after the very nice gentleman helped me unload the van. So, I moved the car down to the entrance to the resale store.
I started looking around and found a whole wrack with wool jackets. Wow! They were only $4.59 a piece. I was on cloud nine with excitement. I chose four jackets to take home for deconstruction and use with my wool applique.
When I walked in the door at home clutching my treasures, I was brought down from cloud nine with the site of more boxes and bins to be sorted and loaded into the van for donation. A light bulb went off in my head. I realized that my dear husband was not the only one who just couldn’t say no to temptation when he saw a good buy. I had to admit that I too am a bit of a saver of stuff.
No wonder I am not getting anywhere with the purging. I have decided that I am not going to beat my self up over my hobbies and the “stuff” I need to enjoy them anymore, and that treading water is much better than drowning. It may not be as good as safely reaching the shore, but tomorrow is another day. 🙂
According to Merriam-Webster, study is the application of the mental faculties to the acquisition of knowledge.
Does this look familiar? I remember sitting just like this preparing for tests in school. But not always. My earliest memories of going to school and studying are from first grade. I would run in the house after school anxious to do my homework. Usually spelling. I loved spelling. It came easily to me. I remember we had a desk in the hallway where I happily sat every day writing my spelling words.
As I grew older and progressed through elementary school, things didn’t come quite so easily to me. But, I still loved school and usually got right to the studying at home for the numerous tests that Sister seemed to give almost daily. I didn’t quite have the same admiration for the study work I had once had, but I knew that if I didn’t do it I would spend the rest of the year in trouble. So, I studied.
Then high school hit. Wow! What was I thinking? I finally realized how easy elementary school was. Studying then was a piece of cake. Now I had totally new concepts to learn. Biology, Algebra, Math Analysis! I still don’t understand what Math Analysis is. I did figure out that I could expand my social life by belonging to study groups. A definite plus to studying. Unfortunately, you actually have to study to get the benefit from belonging to one. Oops!
It was at this time that I really began to dislike school. Well, that’s not exactly right. I loved school, just not the studying part of it. I did, however, trudge along and did graduate with a decent GPA and was accepted to college.
I didn’t want to go to college right away. I wanted to experience the world a little bit first. My parents didn’t see things the same way that I did. So, come August off I went to Community College. OMG! What a rude awakening.
Needless to say, I was not successful. I felt ill prepared for navigating through the copious amount of work needed to succeed. As I look back at it now, I realize that my perspective was skewed. I lasted about a year in college then dropped out. My parents were not very happy. So off to the workforce I went. I worked for Bell Telephone as a Directory Assistant. Talk about a boring job.
My success or lack of it had nothing to do with intelligence. It had more to do with my thinking. I looked at school, studying, as work. Not as an opportunity to obtain knowledge for knowledge’s sake. I had not yet learned that knowledge is power.
I married, had a family then decided I needed more. All of a sudden studying wasn’t such an obstacle for me. I attended nursing school. I soared. I realized that studying was a means for me to accomplish my dreams. I worked very hard. I ran study groups. I inspired younger students to work hard. I was having fun.
Throughout my career in nursing, I studied constantly. In medicine, there is always something new to learn. I couldn’t get enough. I guess you could say I was a late bloomer. I honestly think that maturity had more to do with my success than anything else. I honestly believe that all students should have to work a year before going to college. I think it brings a perspective that having an education handed to you does not. At least it would have for me. You can’t appreciate what you can have if you never go without it.
I continue to study. I read every day. Fiction, non-fiction, history, religion. I like to say that I never met a book I didn’t like. The difference now is that I look at study as a pleasure not work. Some days I am as giddy as that little first grader running into the house anxious to write my spelling words.
I have always loved this time of year. The leaves begin to change to the beautiful colors of autumn. Earth tones are my favorite. I decorate with them. I wear them. I don’t think there is anything richer than those earth tones of fall.
I can remember sitting in my family room watching the different colored leaves float to the ground. The golds, rusts, maroons, purples, and greens. What a beautiful blanket they made on my lawn.
I have fond memories of raking leaves with my kids just so they could jump into the pile and start all over again. I was always ready for fall after the hot summer. It was like a breath of fresh air to me. The only complaint I have about fall is that it ends into winter. Brrr! I am not a fan of the cold weather.
Several years ago we moved down south to coastal North Carolina. Where we are there isn’t much fall foliage. That is the only thing I miss. Pennsylvania has some awesome color this time of year. For me to see anything like it I would have to go to the western part of North Carolina. I choose not to travel out there so I will just have to be happy with looking at the pictures online.
I have been going through all of the school papers I kept from when my kids were in school. I found one project from my son. It is a beautiful maroon leaf that is pressed between two pieces of plastic. It made me smile. I loved all of those little handmade projects my kids made for gifts for me.
My youngest is 34 years old now. It’s time I let these things go. I have asked them if they want them back, but they just look at me like I am crazy. Apparently, I don’t have a sentimental one in the bunch. They have all commented that they can’t believe I moved down here with all of it. Let’s just see how they are with their children’s handmade gifts.
It’s true, holding onto things is really silly. Memories are not kept in things, but in our hearts.
Since my return from Florida a week ago Saturday, I have been at my daughter’s home. My three grandchildren started school this week and I had not seen them all summer so they wanted me to stay with them until school started. I have really enjoyed being here with them, but I have to tell you, three kids 9, 11, and 13 can be exhausting. Especially when you are with them 24/7. Now I understand why God gives you children when you are young and foolish. 🙂
They are sweet kids. But, there is no rhyme or reason why they can go from happy and getting along to miserable and fighting in no time at all. It’s mind boggling. I don’t remember my kids doing that. Then I remember that between my first two there are 10 years. So, by the time the next two came along I had a built in nanny. I also worked the whole time my kids were growing up. It was necessary and to be honest, I would have worked anyway. I loved what I did.
I also loved being a mom. I just loved it in small increments. I can remember one time my youngest daughter said to me, “Why can’t you be a regular mother?” She was basing my type of motherhood on her best friend’s mother who was a stay at home mom who could be the homeroom mother at school and go on field trips with them.
I did go through episodes of guilt at times. But to be honest, if I had been home 24/7 I would have been a terrible mom. I needed to work. It kept me sane. It gave me perspective.
My kids get it now. Truth be told, they got it then too. I can remember one time when I was out of work for a longer period of time than my usual vacation, I heard them talking upstairs saying they couldn’t wait until I went back to work. They were not too happy about how I solved their boredom. I could always find a chore for them to do. 🙂
So probably tomorrow I will finally be home. I am looking forward to getting things at home back on track, and to be able to enjoy my blogging again.
Durning the summer when we celebrate our independence on the 4th of July, I often think of the many men who gave so much for us to be free. I also wonder what it was like the first time our flag was unfurled and the feelings it evoked. I can only imagine the feelings of relief that the struggle was over and the pride in a country that was new and had so much history to be written.
In the beginning, God played a large part of our lives and Christian beliefs fed our Constitution and laws. This country was blessed with many natural resources which gave way to industry and wealth. As in all countries, our road to freedom for all has not always been easy or paved evenly across all of our citizens. Race, religion, ethnicity have been sources of prejudice during our struggle to become a leading nation in the world. Our treatment of Native Americans was atrocious. Slavery was evil.
Today things are far from how they should be. Sadly prejudice remains. We still have poor in our country. We have veterans who do without after risking everything for our continued freedom. God is being placed in the background of our governments, schools, and neighborhoods. Abuse of natural resources continues. Rudeness, selfishness, and disregard for the property of others are the norm. Our elderly can barely exist on social security that has been raped by politicians in the past and the new word for it has become an entitlement. Big business continues to rip off the American public. This saddens me.
Our country needs to come together. It needs to stop the waste of money over politics. It needs to take care of the citizens who elected our leaders. The worst waste of money in recent history is the nonsense going on in our government fighting the election of President Trump. He won. Move on and stop this outrageous spending to prove otherwise. In four years there will be another election. I believe our congressmen and senators would be less anxious to spend our money if they received the same benefits as we do in insurance and retirement and didn’t have the luxury of voting themselves a raise each year.
The worst invention in our recent past is cable TV which has opened the door to 24 hours a day news programming. Unfortunately, to fill the time news is created and defined for us rather than reported. So much for journalistic integrity.
If we wish to remain a leader in the world, we need to act like a leader. We need to remain the USA and not an off shoot of other countries. We need to expect and demand assimilation to our country, not force our citizenship to assimilate to immigrants ways. Never in history has this been the way immigration has been handled. Immigrants were welcomed legally with a specific set of requirements. In my mind, this is not an unreasonable requirement.
When the Stars and Stripes are unfurled and hoisted up the flagpole it is a symbol of the United States. It is what we pledge our allegiance to under God. It is my home and I am tired of people showing it disrespect.
When my grandmother died I found a large box of pictures. It was so sad to me because most of the pictures were grainy and I couldn’t tell who was in the pictures. What a shame that part of my history was lost as most of them, I am sure were old family pictures.
When Mom(I called my grandmother Mom) was alive, we did go through some pictures she had kept willy-nilly in a box and of course, there was nothing written on the back of them to identify who was in them. I am so grateful that we took the time to go through that box of pictures then. Even she had trouble remembering some of the people from her past.
In an age when pictures are taken so often to memorialize events, it is a shame that we don’t take the time to make notations about the subject matter and the date taken. Today we are fortunate enough to have digital photography. The benefit of it is that we don’t have to have the film developed. But, we become even laxer about notations on our photos.
I have already taken pictures of my grandchildren and if I do not upload them to my computer in individual files I lose details about the events. I have been working really hard to correct this. For one thing, I have set my camera to keep the date for each photo but not put it on the photo itself. I have found this to be a great help. Then I just rename the file on my computer to whatever the event was. It works for me.
I realize that many of you out in Blogsville already knew this, but since I have just figured it out I thought maybe someone else was having the same issue.
I spent the weekend in Miami visiting with my son, daughter in law and my 18-month old granddaughter. I had a wonderful time. Isabella just loves to walk around the building they live in. I walked about five miles just inside the building my son’s condo is in.
I drove over on Friday evening getting there about 5 PM. Although I face time with Isabella all the time, she was acting shy with me. I quickly learned that if I took her for a walk in the building and let her go on the elevator she would warm up to me in a jiffy.
On Saturday we went to the Children’s Museum of Miami. What a wonderful place. The museum is hands on for the children. Right now there is a Dinosaur exhibit for them. With the cutest display of moving dinos and a lot of things for the kids to play with to learn about the animals. Carnival Cruise Lines sponsored a huge area that is like the ship’s decks. There are a bank and an emergency room and hospital too. So much for the children to play with while they learn about their world.
The food store chain, Publix, has a huge grocery store where the kids can shop for all kinds of food and then go through a checkout. There are little green vests for the kids to wear just like the real Publix. Here’s a picture of my little Isabella sitting on the cow in Publix with her daddy.
Some of the food in the food store at the museum gave me a prickly sensation when I touched it. Didn’t bother the kids though. It was so funny to watch all of the kids shopping and sharing the food on the shelves. Once all of the food was off the shelves, the workers at the museum and some of the parents began organizing the area again. Isabella loved putting the stuff from her little shopping cart back onto the shelves.
We had a wonderful time at the museum. Last time I was in Miami we went to the Miami Zoo. It was way too hot to go there over the weekend this time. On Sunday we went to church and just hung around the house. We had a wonderful Peruvian supper that was delivered to the house by a near by restaurant. I headed back to Orlando around 5 PM. I hated to leave that baby. She is growing up so quickly.
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