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Friday, May 18, 2012

{this moment}

{this moment} - inspired by SouleMama

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

 

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Writer's Workshop: Fourth Grade




Mama’s Losin’ It


This weeks writing prompts from Mama Kat includes:
  • Share a story from fourth grade.
  • Describe where you were when you met a boy.
  • Write about a time you saw someone doing something kind for someone else
  • Name something you swore you'd never do when you had kids, but now find yourself doing.
  • List the songs that tell your life story (so far).

While making a list of songs that tell my life story would be awesome, I considered how long the list would be and decided instead to tell a story from fourth grade.

The summer before I started fourth grade was the year my brothers and I moved in with my father in the quaint town of Seneca Falls, New York. My father had grown up there with his 3 older brothers and parents, all of which still lived there. It was on a six month trial that we moved in with him,  granted by the judge presiding over the custody case. (I'll spoil that ending, the move became permanent after the six month trail ended)

Moving had been both an easy, and uneasy thing for me. It was great that basically all my family lived in one town. My mother, who had been adopted, had no siblings, no other local family, save her (adoptive) parents; the very cool grandparents I wrote about previously. On the other hand, I knew no one else at all, and especially no one my age.

But that isn't really isn't part of the story I am going to tell you. I am going to tell you about the teacher of my 4th grade class, Mrs Basley. Mrs Basley had a fondness for the Peanuts gang, in particularly Snoopy. I remember she was very kind to me, at a time where, even though I loved being in Seneca Falls more then Geneva, was rough.

Now, I have been called a decent student in my youth. Math and science were subjects I easily picked up and did well on. But one thing no one has ever said I've done well is spell.

I carried a low D grade for spelling in fourth grade (which brought down those A's and B's considerably). And it was with great shock to me that 1 day during a typical spelling test that my teacher bent down and told me to consider re-looking over a couple of my words. I think she may have even said the line numbers to reconsider.

I couldn't believe it! I thought she was helping me to cheat by telling me what words I had gotten wrong, before handing in my test. Looking back now, I know the difference between looking back over my work and actual cheating, but to my little 10 year old self, it blew my mind.



This post will be linked to Mama Kat's Pretty Much World Famous Writer's Workshop. Click here to check it out!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Menu Planning Monday - May 14th




Another one of those busy weeks!   I suspect it will never end as long as I have children (which I don't plan on getting rid of anytime soon, no matter how many times I threaten to sell them to gypsies!).


Monday - Crockpot Chicken Divan
Tuesday - Tacos (made in the oven)
Wednesday - Pasta with meatballs, salad
Thursday - Chicken and rice, with broccoli
Friday - "Happy Hour" dinner menu: nachos, finger foods, veggies and dip
Saturday - Pizza (deep dish style - we didn't make them last week)
Sunday - Turkey and quiona meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans

Make sure to head over to I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu planning ideas and links!

Friday, May 11, 2012

{this moment}

{this moment} - inspired by SouleMama

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

 

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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Writer's Workshop: Top Ten Summer



Mama’s Losin’ It



Summer.

How doesn't love summer? At least here in the Northeast part of the United States, summer is generally a lovely time of year. The weather is warm (though sometimes hot and humid, but nothing like the south regions deal with). The sun is bright and the days are long compared to are cold, short days of winter.

So, Today I am going to share my top ten things about summer when I was growing up. 

10: No school.
And while this may seem to be a very obvious one for any school aged child, my reasons are for more then merely avoiding school work. Growing up, I was often bullied at school. I moved to the very close knit community of Seneca Falls when I was 9 years old, and entered 4th grade. By that time, many kids were already in their own little friendship groups, and I was very much an outcast until high school. The bullying through mostly steamed from my appearance, as I was overweight and in my opinion, not particularly girly looking. I was often called "Shamoo" (as in the killer whale at sea world), even after i had developed an eating disorder and lost a massive amount of weight in a very short time. Summer was very much a relief from the daily taunts i endured during those terrible middle school years.

9: No particular set schedule.
This was more so after I turned 12 and we no longer had to be carted off to a babysitters house daily in the summer. If i wanted to read, I could read without having to move to the next class, go to gym, etc... I burned through a lot of books with summer reading growing up.

8: The Sun.
While I admit that I really dislike the heat. Even here in New York it can get rather hot, and add in humidity, and it's just terrible to me. But, I love the sun. It's not for tanning or anything like that, but just the pure simple fact that a sunny day is usually a much more pleasant day then an overcast one. Spring and autumn are often overcast and damp from the rains, and winter can be overcast, and the days are very short even for days with sun. Since we don't get a whole lot of sun light the rest of the year, so I'll take it where I can get it!

7: Money making opportunities.
For me, this meant babysitting. I often babysat for kids in the neighborhood, my cousins and family at church. While now that I am older I understand how good it was for me to have something to do, some responsibility. But as a teen, what I loved most was having a reason to act like a little kid and not be seen as "immature".
Heck, that maybe half the reason I have children, too!

6: Grandma and Grandpa's house.
My brothers and I spent a lot of time at our maternal grandparent's house growing up. My grandmother was the one who taught me to crochet and cross stitch by the age of 10. She tried to teach me to knit as well, but it took another 20 years for it to finally stick. Our grandfather would take us on walks and hikes around the local area. We would spend hours fishing in nearby streams and fishing holes, travel to some pretty awesome, yet far away playgrounds. We would walk to the neighbors house to swim with their kids on particularly hot days. He taught my brother Terry how to use a pocket knife, and would do simple wood working projects with both of us. He taught me how to walk on stilts. He would read books (upon books) to any of us that would sit in his lap (my baby brother Matthew in particular loved this). Big Sunday brunches and evening cookouts... there was almost no better house to be at in the summer time.

5: Wheels, wheels, and more wheels.
Weather it was my younger beginnings on roller skates, my teen years spent on roller blades or the constant bicycle that I rode seemingly everywhere, summer riding around was a lot more fun (and a lot easier without the spring snow melting or the wet clumps of fall leaves!)

4: Fresh blackberries.
Our backyard growing up was fenced in on 3 sides. The western side of the fence was home to blackberry bushes. The first week or so of July always brought around a lovely harvest of blackberries. We would pick the berries on our side of the fence, and our neighbors got a good share of berries on their side too. The berries never last long, so they were never made into pie or jam... berries were best eating by the hand fulls (and often right off the branch!)

3: Sleep overs.
There was a time in my teens where almost every night of summer it seemed like I had friends over to spend the night, or I was off spending the nights at my friends homes. Living in a home with just my dad and brothers, I really valued the girly time I got to have with my girl friends.

2: Sleeping in!
Self explanatory, no? As a night owl, watching at the crack of dawn has never been my strong suit (which is why I've always tried to have evenings or overnight jobs). I'm just not wired that way to be up with the birds. Summer time sleeping in was also the best.

1: Time spent at Vince's Park.
Growing up my dad would often take my brothers and I to spend our late afternoon and evenings swimming at the park the company he worked for own. It had a huge pool, with lap lanes, a diving section and a kiddie area. I would live in that pool as much as I could in the summer. I'm a regular fish out of water. Maybe it's the Pisces in me. Then there was also a snack bar with all the summer favorites (hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, slushies, soda, popcorn, etc..). There was a mini golf course, and a small playground. Baseball fields and covered pavilions. The park was host to the annual company picnic (also a good day there!) and one week a summer there was swim lessons for the kids. I couldn't think of a single place I spent more time at during the summer as a kid growing up.
The company no longer owns the park, it is a town park open to all town residents now, but it's still holds a special place in my heart.


This post will be linked to Mama Kat's Pretty Much World Famous Writer's Workshop. Click here to check it out!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Keep Calm, Craft On





What started out as an innocent little knit horse for my daughter may soon turn into a stable full of horse, each looking in particularly like ones at the stables she takes riding lessons from.


Here we have Nutmeg... who will finally have a finished mane and tail tonight as I was able to wrangle this back from said daughter to work on while I'm wide awake overnight.


And this would be Buzz, in the making.


And I'm still plugging away at that first sweater of mine. Last week I had just started the placket, and now I am half way done with the hood! About 6 more inches of knitting, and all I'll need to do is seam the hood and the 2 underarm area (and a big of weaving in ends). The seaming is done with the kitchener stitch, something I haven't done yet. Maybe that is why I am dragging my feet to finish this...

Linking up for Keep Calm, Craft on with Nicole over at Frontier Dreams.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Menu Planning Monday - May 7th




Another Monday - so here we are, with another menu!

It's a crazy week with a Jazz band concert, girl scout planning meeting, handbell practice, youth group, 1 home game for lacrosse, work, T-ball, horse riding AND mother's day! I know it must be close to the end of the school year as our calendar is rapidly filling up with all the year end stuff too!

Monday - Subs/sandwiches and chips
Tuesday - Pasta night
Wednesday - "fend for yourself" night
Thursday - Homemade mac and cheese, with broccoli
Friday - Tacos
Saturday - Homemade pizza night (deep dish style)
Sunday - Mother's Day! I get to choose and at this time, I'm not sure what I want (that i don't have to cook and my husband and kids can manage)

Linking up over at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Friday, May 4, 2012

{this moment}

{this moment} - inspired by SouleMama

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.




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Thursday, May 3, 2012

Keep Calm, Craft On









Progress on my first every knit sweater is coming along smoothly now. About 2 weeks ago I had just started the placket and didn't pick up my knitting for awhile (and before that, I hadn't touched it since before Christmas!). Now, we've made the split in the placket and are nearing the neck before moving onto the hood.

I have high hopes I may finish this before his birthday yet!!

I used a  keep-calm-o-matic to make the logo at the top of this post - if you are interested in doing one yourself. 

Linking up with Nicole over at Frontier Dreams.