friday finish up.

my may is like most people's december, full of activities and "stuff to do". i will be doing a post recapping what i affectionately refer to as "may madness". for now, here is the last project in my knitting bag-the completed clapotis in lace. i wanted to finish it before our family gathering this weekend, and i'll complete the antique block challenge on the drive up (just a smidge to do on it).  my knitting bag is now full of perspective projects- 2 sweaters and 2 shawls and yarn to swatch a 3rd sweater. hope to make lots of headway on the sweaters since i'll have a lot of knitting time, and with freshman orientation coming up the goal (loafty as it may be) will be to have 2 of the sweateres finished by mid-June.  other goals for june include-cleaning up, putting away and organizing my craft area, organizing the stamp accouterments, seeing what i can get rid of in the "storage warehouse", straightening the office, some gardening, help danielle with parking, help kathy set up a blog for her preschool class, and best of all spending some time with family and friends. love ending the month of may with so many things accomplished-happy memorial day weekend and many thanks to those who sacrificed and continue to sacrifice for our freedom.

remembering

friday we had a memorial service for my nana- winifred walker-at least 50 people attended~~ DBE and our church to help us honor her. we couldn't be in england with the rest of our family, so our church family came together to help us put together a memorial service; which began within an hour of the uk one starting- how bout that- here are a few photos- it really was a special time

wedding photo and flowers at the alter

the luncheon table


just the right amount of flowers~~~~~

dads

this may be a tough post to do, but here goes ----was thinking about my dad the other day and had a good cry. he's been gone for 8 years, and i do miss him. i know i'm not alone when i say that there are many occasions in life when we wished we'd said certain things. . . or spent more time together doing . . . or whatever----that's where i'm at right now. i'm just hoping that maybe there's a portal in heaven, and he can see this post, and he will know how much i love and miss him. there are many things i admire about my dad, but never told him, and even in a very strange sort of way i want to wish him a

"happy father's day"


there really wasn't much my dad couldn't do, in my eyes at least- he wasn't highly educated, but had a "smarts" about him that comes from life experiences:


he drove stock/race cars-was a life guard-could fish, hunt, camp,and boat-was a bartender, met howard cosell, jerry lee lewis, roy orbison, and probably many others during his bar days in atlanta. he could build, repair and remodel anything, when home depot opening he was a happy camper indeed. golfed, loved sports. landscapedlike a pro. and gardened like a farmer. pinstripe a car with precision, was a shade tree mechanic--loved cars-drove a motorcycle-with all three of the kids on it!, he was in cuba, on a boat in the water, during the missle crisis-- really wish i had learned more about this. loved God and country and his family in his own way really loved his children. so with all that . . . . happy father's day, daddy
On a happy note . . .
i have a wonderful father in law, so to roy i'll say a very special happy father's day to you, i'm sure mary will have a wonderful post wishing you a happy father's day as well

All boxed up . . .

as promised, here's the dish on my Memory boxes. I've been doing this for about 5 years (consistently that is, I had to get caught up so there are a few boxes that are multi year)
I used to throw away cards, movie tickets, and other "mementos" that as teenagers we probably saved like they were gold. Then I read the Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood. the scenes where the daughter is looking through the scrapbook changed my whole perspective on what to "save", now I save programs from concerts, movie tickets, balloons, and other momentos that don't fit neatly into a photo scrapbook, yea I know I could xerox and color copy stuff, but there's a certain something about actually holding a memory.

totally love my box I found for 2008, which is one of Mary's favorite phrases . . .









and the first few things that go into it for 2008 is wonderful letter that Mary sent through snail mail, thanks Mary some very kinds words indeed, and loved getting a letter this way! It included a photo of Katie and I from Christmas. . . thinking that'll go in a frame for my desk, now I just need photos of the other "girls" in my life- maybe at next b.day dinner?!

So here's alll the memory boxes . . .


one of my many sourveniers from the book signing at the Margaret Mitchell House-











in another box there's a newspaper article about the teenager in our church who was seriously injured in a car accident, and made a remarkable recovery. my program from the Nutcracker Ballet at the Fabulous Fox! 2nd row center seats- awesome!





more bits, buttons made from the baseball pictures (PJ and Andrew) a "flower" made by Andrew, and on and on.


grant it these are things that "I" treasure, but I hope at some point the boys will pull things out, and remember some of the things we did together, and perhaps get a better glimpse of the "person" i was, wouldn't it be cool to share these with my grandchildren?! here's the lyrics to a funny song that goes along with this, sort of, it's about boys finding a box of photos of their mama in her "younger" days! thanks for letting me share!

Talking Christmas trees

. . . . no it's not the latest thing for decorating your home. i was pondering on my early morning walk last Sunday, as i admired the neighborhood decorations, and the lack of them on my house. . . what our Christmas trees "say" about us-
♥a single color or perhaps two in various forms throughout the decorations- "i like things simple and orderly, and not over the top", or "these are my most favorite colors", or i'm a control freak so don't touch my tree!!!
♥twinkling lights- "i'm fun and festive", or hyperactive!
♥themed decoration-ie NASCAR cars or racers; Disney or movie characters, etc."i'm so into this, and can't get enough"of course sometimes people have this stuff all over their house throughout the year!

there are times when i like themed trees the best; especially if they feature birds, dolls, things in nature, etc., but you can get carried away with the whole thing-as stated above!
also, i like the trees that go beyond just the shaped balls, and garland, but incorporate springs of holly, or feathers, anything unsual and different.


so I was thinking about what my tree(s) say about me and my family. nearly every ornament on the tree was given to us, some we've been using for almost 18 years, as they were the ornaments Steve's mom put together for him when he had his own place. most of them are homemade which makes them extra special; some of our were made by Steve's Grandmother (GG), my mom and the boys.








it wasn't until i came across the knitting basket that I realized how much of our family is reflected in our tree each year- i've been putting this on the tree for years and never gave it a second thought. someone may need to help me out on this one- did GG make this? it's totally cute with nails as knitting needles, and small balls of yarn!

I purchased this the one from recently from Starbucks-- these are just a few of my favorite year round things!










our smaller tree above the foyer has the Wizard of Oz characters, and the Disney ornaments that my in-laws sent to us each year for the boys. The itty bitty in the powder room has the Ga Tech ornaments, hope to do more with this one. another tree in the foyer has blue jasperware Wedgewood ornaments, most signed by Lord Wedgewood himself! a couple sent from Amsterdam, and other bits of white and blue. even Andrew has one that has sports ornaments and some of his favorites.

i now have a new perspective on the ornaments we have- gifts from family travels, characters from our favorite movies, from family abroad, and the homemade creations- nearly each one has its own story.

there will come a day when i have to divide these ornaments between the boys, and i hope they come to value and treasure them as i have, and will pass along the stories that go with them.

what does your tree say about you? . . .

TTFN