Celebrating Mom

There are two times that families come together-celebrations and funerals. The last time my siblings and I were all together, it as 2005, when my dad passed away. Having spent Saturday with my family, celebrating Mom's 80th birthday, I have to say I much prefer parties to funerals! The celebration could not have gone better.

Now, when you turn 80 and have nine kids, you can expect a LOT of photos to be taken. I took more than 189, and 94 of them were keepers, that'll tell you how much time Mom spent in this swing Saturday. But she doesn't look like she's complaining, does she?And here she is with 12 of her 20 grandkids (there are also at least that many step-grandkids, and several great grandkids who live elsewhere and couldn't make it.) I can honestly say I have never seen Mom happier than I saw her on Saturday; she was the belle of the ball all day and loved every minute of it, as you can see in these pics (and those that will follow in the coming weeks :)

She loved her album very, very much, of course. She was moved, too, by the photo montage Judy made for her and set to music... I think the hit of her day, though, was when her daughters performed for her (for a change.) First, my sisters, Mary and Geri, (both in red) took the words to In My Mother's House and changed them to be uniquely about my mom, and after some arm-twisting encouragement on their parts, Judy, Michelle, and I joined them in performing the song for Mom. The result was absolutely beautiful. (Watch the video, if you like. Again; no hurt feelings if you don't watch it. I just know that some would love to.) If you do watch it, it will help to know these things:

*My mom's name is Elsie and she collects cows; there are more cows in her house and yard than at a corporate dairy farm.
*Mom lives in a tiny house that is filled to the brim with knick-nacks. At Christmas, she puts up an angel display and has a particular place for each and every one.
*That's Mom's voice (laughing, talking, and singing) you hear in the background now and then.
*This was literally the first time my sisters and I have ever sung together. Judy, Michelle, and I sang during the chorus, mainly, as we had not sung this song before. All things considered, it turned out great.

My sister Mary also wrote an incredibly beautiful, original song that had us all (including Mary) in tears and will be a treasure for a lifetime. It's called "Jimmy Strikes Gold" and is about Mom and Dad; how they met and fell in love, and their life together. It ends with these lines:

For 56 years
He was her partner in life
Now he smiles from above,
with 80 winks for his wife!

How sweet is that?!

The party was an excellent team effort. Everyone pitched in and made it a day to remember for Mom, as well as the rest of us. I'm grateful to Mom for giving us a reason to celebrate her every day, and I'm so glad we all got together in her honor. And like Mary's song reminded us, I know that Dad was with us, too--This time, with the spotlight on his "Brown-Eyed Beauty."

Because I don't want anyone's mind turning to mush this summer....

Watch this math lesson from Ma and Pa Kettle...


P.S. If you're here for the party recap, I apologize, but it's been a long weekend, and the party was wonderful, but I don't want to just slap something together for that. Don't worry; it'll be ready before too long :)

Weekly Winners

Weekly Winners is a collection of favorite photos from the week, hosted by Lotus, at Sarcastic Mom.

The Eyes Have It (taken by Kendall)Sibling PortraitOkay, that was just a teaser; here are a few shots of the final, professional portraits! (Click on the photos to take you to the photographer's site.) If you are dying to see the whole stock of favorites, click here.
Tough to pick a fave, but for me, this is a frontrunner....It doesn't get much better than this for me....For More Weekly Winners, visit Sarcastic Mom

P.S. More pics on Monday (Mom's party recap)

Mom's Big Day!

Today is my mom's 80th Birthday! As you can see from this Friday night photo of my *sisters and me, we're busy helping make Mom's day a special one (checking out the beautiful album that Michelle made), so I leave you with this little glimpse of a little present I made for Mom (I won't be hurt if you don't watch the whole thing. I couldn't get the shortened version to save!)

P.S. Today, Mom called me to tell me she had been looking again at the gift I gave her last year; an album of all of my posts that relate to her (along with the comments). She wanted me to know again how much she loves it. Thanks for helping celebrate Mom, year after year :)
*Judy, Michelle, Geri, Me, Mary

Friday Fragments

Welcome to Friday Fragments! First-timers (and those who aren't good at following directions), please click on the above FF button to get the skinny on how you can free yourself of those miscellaneous thoughts/observations/burning questions from your week without feeling hungry, empty, or guilty in the process. Like Jen, at Laughing at Chaos says, FF are like a nice big "brain dump," (and you don't even have to take any laxatives!)

***Jen was full of entertaining Fragments last week, including the following:

I found out last night that I inadvertently volunteered myself to work the Cub Scout day camp next week. There were profane words involved when I discovered this. Must stock the wine rack in preparation.

Jen also shared that her dog ate a used pull-up and had to be "monitored" to make sure that it passed. This took me back...You know what's even more fun than watching your dog poop? Putting rubber gloves on to dig through your 18-month old son's poop, looking for a nickel! Ah, those were the days.... not.

Thanks, Jen, for making me laugh out loud and throw up in my mouth in the same post. You are this week's recipient of the Favorite Friday Fragment award![BTW, if you've won the FFF award in the past but don't like how ginormous it was, feel free to replace it with this smaller one.]

***Had to add an Honorable Mention Favorite Friday Fragment, which goes to Perplexin' Texan, because I absolutely LOVE this new word she found:

Chronoptimist
Function: (n)
A person who always under estimates the time necessary to do something or get somewhere.

"Hey, Sarah. You know my parents are expecting us in 20 minutes."
"No problem. I just have to wash the dishes, take a shower, do my hair, walk the dog, trim the bushes, and then I'm all good to go. See you in 15!

***I'm very, very sorry to admit this, but if you write "Not-Me Monday" posts, I do not read them. To me, they are the "fingernails on the chalkboard," for some reason; I just cannot stand them. I have no idea what my problem is; it's nothing personal. (Just thought I'd get that out there.)

***First poor Farrah and now Michael Jackson? So, so sad.

***Okay, twice in one day, people mentioned to me that "our births and deaths were written in 'The Book of Life' long before we were born" and that our day to die is already on the docket. If this is so, then why should anyone bother praying for someone's recovery from a serious illness? What difference would it make? (I'm serious.)

***Blogger's been driving me crazy this week, not posting my scheduled post as scheduled. Grrrrr.

***I could not be happier with Kyle's senior pictures, which were shot yesterday. We not only enjoyed the experience but got a great deal, too. Kathleen captured some winners of Kyle alone, but I also took advantage of the opportunity to get some brother/sister portraits, and the results almost brought tears to my eyes. I'll share a "sneak peek" in my Weekly Winners post. In the meantime, check out Kathleen Caylor's award-winning photography by clicking on the widget on my sidebar. [And let me know if you're interested in using KCP, as we can give you a coupon for $50 off your shoot!]

***In case you missed our Best Lei'd Plans video, check it out! It's guaranteed to make you smile.

Gotta give a "shout-out to Mel, of Fraase Family, who led blog stalkers to Bent Objects last week; I love it! Very whimsical, creative, and just plain fun. If you haven't seen Bent Objects, I highly recommend you visit.

And finally, see that cute pink button over in my sidebar? It's the brand-new "Faithful Follower" Award created by Kris. It's an award that goes to anyone who deserves it, so if the shoe fits, put it on! Because the award comes with no "strings" attached, I absolved Kris of my normal Award Policy. Thanks, Kris!

Speaking of following, if you have a Friday Fragments post, you are welcome to add it to Mr.Linky here so that we can find your fragmented self.

Thousand Words Thursday

Notice anything unusual about these Want Ads, which I found while cleaning out a cupboard full of junk this week? (click to enlarge)
Does the date help?
If these snapshots of WWII American homefront history don't speak a thousand words, I don't know what would.

Visit Jen at Cheaper Than Therapy for more pictures that say "A Thousand Words."

Mostly-Wordless Wednesday

Did I ever tell you....?Heehee~ (Six Flags, 1986)

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Mr.4444's grandma, Florence (a.k.a. Gram) was one of a kind. She was the "cool" grandma who let her teenage grandson drive her car up at the camp before he had a license, who habitually stayed up til 3am or later to read and slept til noon, and who once smacked a wild bear in the nose through her screen door when he came for a taste of the homemade thimbleberry jam she was cooking.

Mr.4444 and I used to sometimes find ourselves in disagreement over cribbage game rules, and we always knew we could call Gram (one timezone ahead of us) for the final decision, no matter how late it was. Mr.4444 also loved that he could always call Gram to chat late at night, when he had trouble sleeping or just missed hearing her voice. She was always glad for the phone calls, but she never complained of being lonely; she kept busy with her hundreds of books and her knitting projects.

Thankfully, Kyle and Kendall also got to know Gram 4444 before her passing, in 2002. They shared a special relationship with Florence. I've told you about how they always had a race when she visited. They also loved to visit her house, because she had a tiny, narrow stairway that led up to the bedrooms, and her linoleum floor in the living room made an excellent skating rink. She's the great grandma who handed Kyle a small hatchet and let him go at a piece of wood in the back yard, the grandma who knitted everyone sweaters, and who always said, "Love me-Love my stink!" if anyone produced and offensive odor (not me, of course, only her grandchildren.)

Gram was a real character, who spent her whole life in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where the snow is measured in feet, instead of inches, and she could go for months stuck inside the house, because the snow often covered the windows from late fall to spring. We didn't see her often but always wanted to make sure she knew we loved her, especially when it came to gifts. I've already shared one idea for The Best Gift to give a grandma when the best present to give is really your presence. Today, while cleaning a cupboard, I found a different gift that we made for Gram 4444 many years ago. It's one of those gifts that doesn't just go in the trash after the recipient has passed away, because it's not just some knickknack; it's love in a tangible form.

I bought an inexpensive container... and grabbed some pretty, one-sided paper, cutting it into strips. Then, we each sat down and made these....

I wrote most of Kendall's for her, since she was only three at the time. Mr.4444 wrote the ones that you can see the most easily in the pics.

"Grandma, you snore like a bear, but we love you anyway!" Love, Kyle and Kendall

"Thank you for the driving lesson." (Mr.4444)

"Thank you for letting me chop wood!" Kyle

"Remember Dad in a diaper?!" (Bob had many years prior dressed as a New Years Baby and, yes, wore nothing but a baby bonnet and a diaper.)

I wrote about how much we laughed that night at the wedding and how beautiful she looked, among other things.

We gave the gift to Gram for Christmas, instructing her to read one each day, but of course, she read them all at once and then put them back in the jar and took them out, savoring each one whenever she felt like it. She loved the gift, and the best part about it was that each one of us played a role in its creation. She knew we had each spent time thinking of her as we made the gift, and really, what better gift is there?

Today, we miss Gram, and although she is no longer with us, the special gift that we gave to her can now give back to us....

because love lasts forever.

Monday Mumblings

Apparently, my recent Friday Fragments post just didn't cut it for me. I've got more ramblings...

***I want to know which teacher's have somehow begun to teach that every plural word that end's in "s" need's a apostrophe! Seriously; this drive's me buggy. I've seen it at school many time's in the past few year's, and today I saw it here. (Thanks, Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks, for the unnecessary apostrophe!) ***I thought I would never see Grandpa4444 again (he passed away in 2003). What a treat it was to "see" him in the VHS tape we found yesterday. Kyle and I got pretty choked up to hear his voice again and his goofy sayings ("Holy Schmudpuckers!"). When Kyle climbed into his lap to hear, "I love you, Kid," it pushed us both over the edge. What a treasure... Anyone know the best place to have VHS tapes turned into DVD's?

***Guess what?! Remember my accident? The investigator for my insurance company took a statement from me and concluded that it was my fault. I asked, "Why??" She said the other driver had the right-of-way and was in the path before I pulled out. I told her that she was not, and I asked if she had seen the photos I sent. She had not, but when she found them, she said, "Ohhh. I see now. The picture does show that you were well out of the parking space when she made contact." So, the fact that I thought to take pics (immediately after pulling forward about three feet, to disengage from her car) might just have saved me my $750 deductible.

***If you didn't see our video, Best Lei'd Plans, you really should; it's sure to make you laugh. And speaking of funny videos, on the one I mentioned seeing earlier, we have a clip of a newly-walking Kendall smacking right into a wall after losing her balance in the hallway. We LOAO, and Kendall has given her blessing for turning it into America's Funniest Home Videos. (Keep your fingers crossed!)

***Molly is on her way to Milwaukee, where a pulmonary specialist will be performing Molly's third or fourth (I've lost count) surgery in the past month. You know the drill...

Here's hoping your week is GREAT!

Weekly Winners

Weekly Winners is a Sunday treat hosted by Sarcastic Mom.

Happy Fathers Day to all of you dads out there! And, if you lost your dad this year (or just miss him), my heart goes out to you; you're in my prayers today.

Like Father, Like SonThat's Mr4444 and Kyle, on Saturday morning, in the "big man's" chair, which we all love. These two sit together several times a week, watching TV, yes, but also just talking. My kids could not have a better dad; I look forward to celebrating him today :)

And on a more random note, the biggest smiles I ever see on Kyle are almost always when he is looking at old cars. I took him to a local guy's garage this week, just to see this completely-restored 1969 Boss 302 Mustang. To say he was thrilled would be an understatement.
That's it for pics, but I'm also adding a different kind of Weekly Winner this week; a post that moved me greatly. It's from Charrette, and it's of a sensitive nature, so if you don't want to feel sad, if you don't want to cry, if your heart is tender right now, don't read it; but if you want to be touched (deeply) read Fathers: Shaping Life and Death.

Have a wonderful week! :)

Best Lei'd Plans

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about the TIKI® Brand Presents - Dance Video Contest. It didn't seem like it would be too difficult: dance, Tiki-themed music, 45 seconds max. Kendall agreed to help me, and we thought it would be fun to make a video with Cooper wearing a grass skirt and lei. I had this vision of one of us getting him to "dance," but beyond that, we had no plan. Kendall and her friend M had some time to kill tonight, and even though it was 85 degrees outside (with 90% humidity), they agreed to dance. Here it is; our one-and-only take.

(We were laughing too hard to make another one.) Turn your sound up!

It's not too late to make your video! What are you waiting for??

P.S. I must give credit for the title to the ever-witty Mr.4444.

P.P.S. The song is called Polynesian Swing, by Rudie Wairata and De Kilima Hawaiians

Friday Fragments

I'm simply loaded with fragments this week; lots of miscellaneous thoughts/observations/questions swimming in my head (I guess it's the summer vacation :) I love having Friday Fragments to unload them. Thanks for joining me!

***Dear Seven Other Toads (in the grass when I was mowing),
There is a limit to my compassion. That limit is one, sorry. (Guess that means I shouldn't bother applying to work at PETA.)

***Hey, just so you know, if you start your post by telling me it is boring, stupid, or lame, I stop reading. As Dr. Phil would say, "When people tell you what their posts are like, believe them." (I'm just sayin'...)

***On Wednesday, I took a walk down "Memory Lane" in the hiking journal I referred to in my post. Here's one gem:

July 20th-Mt. Baker
....We also found a terrific restaurant/bar willing to serve us (the only customers) dinner at 10:00 at night! The food at Fuego's "transcends genres," according to the bandana'd waiter with the diaper-pin earring! Other than the pubic hair in Molly's fajita, the experience was wonderful!

***I go to Awkward Family Photos once per week and laugh til I cry.

***Sometimes, I wish I had a Rated R blog, so that I could post some of the HILARIOUSly witty things Mr.4444 says to me now and then. (Mr.4444, thanks for cracking me up today.)

***I'm leaving for BlogHer on Thursday, July 23rd, around noon, from the Green Bay area. Any females interested in carpooling? Chevy is offering a free vehicle to borrow for the trip for groups of three or more....

***Don't you HATE when you push "Publish Post" prematurely? Dang, it makes me crazy when I do that.

***Michelle, at Just Eat It, was my Favorite Friday Fragmenter from last week! Here's the one that did it for me:

I am Oz the Great and Powerful, who are you?

So after the landscaper guy down the block twice hawked at me 'what about those hedges?' I got to it. Why pay him when I can do it myself? I don't need a man. I can handle power tools. I built my own chicken coop. I am woman hear me roar. Armed with my power hedge clipper I proceeded to clipper right through the extension cord, sustaining a lovely 1oo amp jolt. Fine, I've got another cord. Clippered right thru that one too. Ouch. hmmpf... didn't want to shape my hedges anyway...

She also had this one...

Mrs.4444 wrote about saving rocks. How about body parts? I have 27 teeth hidden in my jewelry box, and 3 shriveled umbilical stumps that look like they should be sprinkled on my morning cereal or baked into muffins or something.
What have you saved?

So, Michelle, congratulations! Yes, you have won the "coveted" award this week. Thanks!

***Sometimes, being bored in a waiting room is a good thing. Look what I found in my purse while waiting at the vet's office last week:It was supposed to be my lunch on the last day of school; nice, whole grain bread for PB toast. (Time to get a smaller purse, I guess.)

THIS JUST IN: Momie Jamie is having a blogiversary Giveaway! Today's the last day to enter to win fabulous prizes!! Check it out here.

Okay, your turn. If you have a FRIDAY FRAGMENTS post, do link up! [Sorry, non-FF links will be deleted. For FF how-to's, click on the green button at the top of the post.]

Thousand Words Thursday

Jen, at Cheaper Than Therapy, is the mastermind of Thousand Words Thursday, for which we post photos that fit the bill. This week, I have a few, thanks to Mr.4444, who thought to take pics of Kendall and me as we lay/lie? out on the lawn Sunday afternoon...

Please excuse the picture quality; they were taken by an amateur dear Mr.4444, who was using an unfamiliar camera, taking pics through a window (not too close; didn't want us to notice him) and facing into the sun. All things considered, I love these shots...

Oh, and P.S. Kendall wants me to apologize for her poor posture. Please don't say anything, as she is already tired of me harping on her about it all the time. Besides, the pictures already say "a thousand words."

For more TWT posts, visit Cheaper Than Therapy :)

Adventures of the Mountainous Variety

Tonight, I dug out the hiking journal that Molly and I started for recording our adventures in hiking Washington State. (We've loved it so much, we've gone out there four years.) In 2003, we tackled Mt. St. Helens. I wrote a post about it last spring. If you like stories of adventure, endurance, and perseverance (or just don't believe that I did it), check it out!

Adventures in Window Washing

You've heard of Tom Sawyer, right? He's the guy who turned a fence-painting chore into opportunity to get someone else to do it. Am I saying that was my plan when I set out to clean the windows outside? (I plead the fifth.) That is how it worked out, though.

I've been a BzzAgent for about a year now. As a BzzAgent, I check out websites and offer reviews on them. Now and then, I also get free products to try, with the agreement that I will talk about what I think of the product with other people. It's basic word-of-mouth advertising. (Honesty is an important part of being a BzzAgent.) Because Mr.4444 and I really loved this product, I'm posting about it today. Don't whine, now...I promise it will be interesting. You'll get to see the inside and outside of our house (and you know you're curious.)


So, I got this Windex All-in-One Outdoor Window Cleaning Kit from BzzAgent and decide that it's something Mr.4444 could use, since he's a big advocate for "old school" methods of window cleaning. I set the box on the table next to his chair in the livingroom, thinking it would inspire him, and there it sat (for a week.) I couldn't take it any more come Saturday. I mean, look at the filth on this patio window!

From the inside...

And the outside...I mentioned that I was going to "try out this new window cleaning thingy," and I took it outside. It's a gadget; you attach the pad to the wand that's provided and follow these three, SIMPLE steps.

Get the window wet...Scrub the window with the pad...Rinse!Here's the end result:At this point, Mr.4444 came out on the deck and took the scrubbing thing from me. (I pretended to be offended.) Cooper stayed on the lookout for squirrels. See, it's the Tom Sawyer Effect in action; he's a man who saw a gadget that looked like fun, and he wanted in on it!Before I knew it, Mr.4444 was "going to town" on the outside windows, which meant I could tackle the inside (that's our deal, actually; he does the outside, I do the inside.) Can you tell which window I cleaned in this group? (Of course you can. Disgusting, I know.)Now, that's what I'm talkin' about!By the way, the box says that you can do 20 windows, but Mr.4444 did more than 30 and said it still had more in it, so we saved it for next time. He even did this glass-top patio table:Cooper lent his support, of course.I did the inside windows with Nature's Best (another Windex product) and am really happy with the results. Here's the result of our combined efforts.You can't see it in this pic, but these windows are sparkling clean and streak free! I included this pic for two reasons; so you can see the hideous painting chore ahead of me (it's been "builder's white" for nine years. I'm stuck on choosing a color. I'm thinking a deep cinnamon color. What do you think? Also, see that monstrosity in the corner? I want you to appreciate that I also wiped every single leaf on that baby clean on Saturday. Yeah, it's hideous, but we can't let it go; I got it for my dad's funeral when it was just a few feet tall. It is a happy, if asymmetrical, thing, and it's staying.

When we were talking about it later, I said, "I'm not sure what it costs..." and we both said, "But who cares?! It's worth it to cut window cleaning time in half and have such excellent results. I just did some homework and learned that it's actually about $15 for the starter kit with the wand and $5 for 2 pad refills. Considering that the wand should last forever, I think this product will more than pay for itself within a year or two, especially considering the labor time it cuts. And that's the best part,

because I have a fence that needs painting...