Oh dear this cannot be

How can this be the last day of July already?

Where has my summer gone?

Last year by this time I had a long list of accomplishments.

I fear this year has a much shorter list.

Here goes:

I got 2 walls of my house decorated.  After 3 years in the house it was time to put holes in the wall, right?  So we did.  A wall above the computer/study table in the kitchen has been decorated, mainly to help absorb noise.  It now has a "life's lessons" quilt and two fabric covered bulletin boards.  A wall of family portraits in the dining room has been completed.  That was tough--sifting through years of family pictures to find the ones that we most wanted to put on that wall.  I am still working on smaller displayes for the stairwell--pictures of each of the girls, photos I love but couldn't make fit on the dining room wall.

I got the pull down shade installed in my middle child's bedroom.  She has had a curtain on that window for a good long while but I wanted a shade.  I finally got one and hung it with just a bit of help from my husband.  (Still need to hang one on the last remaining uncovered window on the main floor.  And maybe I should get some for the 2 windows downstairs.)

We took the girls to baseball games.  That was fun.

We spent a lot of time at the library.

We spent at least one day each week swimming.

The kids had friends over to spend the night and just hang out.

We purged kids' dressers and closets.  Young Imelda was able to pick up a number of pairs of shoes for her closet once we pulled them out of her sisters' closets.  And still we had a number of pairs of shoes to donate away.

I bought daylilies and my husband planted them for me around the yard.  Our old house had a lot of gorgeous daylilies that I wish I had dug up and brought to my new house (seeing as the current owners just kept cutting them down each year when then grew up--so sad!)

We went to the gym--a lot.  One would think I would have a decent amount of weight loss to show for that but no.  Sad but true.  On the upside,  clothes do fit better so the gym did some good.

I painted my laundry room and the upstairs hallway.  If I am lucky I will get some painting done downstairs before I have to return to work.


We built the shelves for the basement. 

Oops, those last two projects were supposed to happen already and didn't.  Darn. 

But still, that's not such a bad list after all.

Friday Night Fireworks

This past Friday we took the kids, along with four of their friends, to a baseball game.  We had friends who were going with their three kids as well.  It was all the chaos I expected and then some.  But by the end of the evening I was just overcome with emotions.

You see, they had fireworks after the game.  So of course we had to stay for those.  Took me right back to my own childhood watching fireworks after a game at that same ballpark.

And then the little ones wanted to run the bases after the game.  So we stayed for that.  The two oldest kids even decided to take part.  After that they stayed to get autographs from the players.

That was what really did me in.  It was really getting late by that time (doubleheader plus fireworks!) but those guys lined the dugout for the kids who were politely swarming around them for autographs.  Surely they just wanted to go shower and be done with the ballpark for a night.  But they smiled and joked with the little kids who had stars in their eyes. 

Best Friday night I have had in a long time.  Truly.

Can't be a child of the Vietnam Era without songs like this

It speaks entirely for itself:

On the Road Again--aka vacation with the grandparents

Working on the photo wall means reliving so many great moments in my life.  For many years my sister and I were the youngest grandchildren on my mother's side of the family.  Since my grandfather retired when I was about 5 years old, that meant we got time with them that the other grandchildren never had a chance at getting.

I remember going on more than one vacation with my grandparents.  We went to Florida.  On that trip we visited a cousin and spent time at the beach. We also took in a few historical sites.  My mother wasn't much for the heat of the beach but she tolerated it for us kids.  My grandmother wasn't much for the sand or sun so I guess she stayed in the hotel.  My grandfather loved the sand, the sun and the whole experience. 

On another trip we went to Mackinac Island and on into Canada.  I have more vivid memories of that trip.  There was the ferry ride over to the island.  We would get up in the morning and go to "The Fort" for an amazing array of breakfast foods on the buffet.  Then we would get our tickets and ride over for the day.  Riding on the top level of the ferry meant getting wet but it also meant wind in your face and so much noise you couldn't carry on a conversation.  Riding on the lower level meant that it felt damp but there was no wind and no water spraying your face; still it was so noisy you couldn't carry on a conversation.

When we got into Canada we quickly discovered that Canadian beef tasted nothing like American beef.  We determined it to be a result of how their cows were fed.  Once we navigated the "my dinner doesn't taste right" issue we moved on to the main event--a trip to Agawa Canyon to ride on the Algoma Central Railway.  It was the first time we kids had ever been on a train.  For my parents and grandparents it was like a trip back to the days of riding a train to cross the country.  It was a beautiful ride; unfortunately I dozed off during that train ride.  In my defense it was an all day trip and the rocking of the train was a bit like a cradle.

We made some other trips, smaller ones.  What stands out about all of these trips?  Well, we always prayed the Rosary as a big family.  My grandparents worked to keep us kids happy and agreed to do things they might not have wanted to do otherwise.  Each trip we took started off with someone saying "On the Road Again!" just like the Willie Nelson song.  And while each trip took a toll on the whole notion of "family togetherness" I think we all look back now and think "I'm so glad we did it."

Buried in pictures!

I have been working on a photo wall for my dining room.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would be so hard to select pictures for this wall!  I wanted a mix of family pictures. . .my side, his side, our kids.  It is not an easy task to sift through some seventy five years of photos to find just the right images for the wall.

I have made it through most of our family photos (just under twenty years--woo hoo!).  I have sifted through many of my photos from when I was a kid, going back another twenty years in history.  I have worked through many of my husband's family photos; my best guess there is that I have made it back to the 1940s.  However I have not managed to get through all of my parents' side of the family--yet.  There are pictures there dating back to World War I.  Oh dear.  That means that I have around one hundred years of photos!

Daunting task to say the least.  Do we make it a true collage with a mixture of color and black/white photos?  Turn all the color photos into black and white?  Do we make it random or matchy-neat pattern?  Should we select posed studio type pictures or random captured moments?

Decisions decisions decisions. 

I'll leave you with a taste of what might go up on the wall. . . .

He finally got a piece of the pie!

RIP Sherman Hensley.  Probably best known for his role as George Jefferson, first on All in the Family and then in his own series The Jeffersons.

Another little piece of my childhood gone.

I'm particularly partial to the write up that USA today did for Mr. Hensley.  You can read it here

Thank you Mr. Hensley for the choices you made that allowed you to enter into our homes through our TV.  May you rest in peace.

Easiest salad dressing ever!

In fact, it's so easy I have to wonder why I never thought of it for myself. 

Peel 1 avocado and remove the seed.  Smash it and stir in a couple of teaspoons of rice vinegar.  That's all there is to it!  One of my kids loves it too and one avocado makes enough dressing for the both of us. 

Good healthy salad dressing and it's super easy as well as super fresh.

Can't do better than that!