Goodbye Aunt Lorraine,

I loved Auntie. I loved her because of the look in my father's eye, when he looked at her. I loved her because of how we looked at eachother. She was my alterego. I will miss her.

Jack Lalanne passing reminds me of my Grandma Ruth!

I do miss her, in spite of myself.
I was a little girl and my grandma was running around the house with weights and talking about living to one hundred, and...Jack Lalanne.
It is really amazing what one influential man can do.
Gram bought gadgets and juicers and every healthfood item she could find. Whatever damage she had done to her body, by the time she was 45, {when I met her}; she was intent on undoing in the rest of her life. She really did, too.
I really didn't like my grandma and was determined to stay away from her, but love made me watch her. We made peace, in the end, but she was so determined to be healthy and I think that this should be her legacy in our family {along with the use of cliches}.
Healthy habits kept my parents together in the tough times and kept Gram {a single mom with 3 growing teens}sane. Thank you Jack Lalanne, I think is in order, for the fact that Gram wasn't more cranky than she was?:)

Flu symptoms and fever?

All of that play in the snow and what was the result? A sick house. 2 of the 3 boys are down with fevers. What is a mother to do?
We are remembering the fun of last week and nursing sick children, at the same time. Oh dear:).

the snowy day

Yesterday, I made my first bagel!

Scrumptuous! If I do say so myself. I took my ordinary yeast dough, which is usually gobbled up as bread sticks or rolls and decided to form it into bagels and throw it into the egg boiling water. Yuck? I wanted to see what would happen and I was just too New York homesick to care if anybody else would want it.
2 bagels came out of the water and into the oven and into my lunch bag. I was disappointed that I had told them to use the rest of the dough. I had every intention of making more, when I tasted the samples at lunch. Well, too bad. I was the only guinea pig of the tastey treats. I can live another day away from my native, NY, as long as I can recreate the taste of a fresh baked bagel, every once in a while. It was really good. I was surprised.

Five Days into the New Year 2011

I have already eaten the chocolate, forgotten to do my situps, neglected my aerobics, forgotten to pray...etc. My resolutions are always a yearning, A goal to be consistent, BUT GOD exalts His Word above all His name. He is so consistent and so real. I am coming everyday, to start over again to do right. When I look down at my feet and they are off of the beaten path, in word and in deed, I am grateful that I can do what Ethan used to do in kindergarten. "Put me back, Lord on the path so I can start over!" I stick my arms out, like the 6th child of the 13th child knows that there is always someone who can put his coat on better than he can. God is more consistent than if you had numerous older, caring sisters and brothers to depend upon. God is greater. He nurtures us to do right, but when we mess up, we can get right back up and get on the right path again. We don't have to stay on the path of wrong. God is to be praised for that. 2011 is a reminder that "everyday is a new day in the Lord."

The clouds were pink on top and greyish underneath and looked like a swirl. It looked as though God was practicing His calligraphy, like I was last night and the swirl that He made traveled from the sunrise and finished up in the distance past where we could see in the west. It was perfectly pink and grey, as far as I could see. I know that You are that much bigger, I thought to God, but so gracious of Him to do that swirl of beauty where I could see it. What a big calligraphy pen, it seemed to be. Just a thought:}

Blessed 2011!

Across the day, into a new year. We are grateful for the provisions of the old year and the comraderies strengthened and begun. We are grateful for the memory of dear ones, who are missed.

Indeed, we pray,

"teach us, Lord to number our days, that we may apply our heart unto wisdom. Satisfy us early, with thy mercies, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days."

We are all, the newest babe to the eldest person the same age in this year. We all who entered it, enter at the same point and we are all inside the time of it that everyone else is. We welcome new people into the year as they are born and we bid goodbye to those who leave it before its end.

May the beauty of the Lord, our God, be upon us and establish Thou the works of our hands, Dear Lord.

Counting Down to New Years

Hindsight is 2020, what sight is 2010? Looking back 2020 and looking forward 2010, we make our plans for the coming decade.
Our lives have changed so drastically, over this past decade. Changes of life have brought us into midlife challenges and we are striving to live for God's glory, when our hearts and minds get so weighted with cumbrances of time travel. Where have the years gone. We were just a couple of youngsters starting life together and here we are, planning our midlife years. I'll not say that they are upon us, I will say we are suffering the early tremors of midlife onset. We will fight it for all that we are worth. Running or walking daily will be a part of my new decade, {second decade of the Millenium}. I must lose this babyfat, LOL. I can't blame this on the babies anymore. I must get rid of it. Healthy regimens and now that I have tasted the best chocolate bars from my Jo. I will keep myself for only that treasure, when I am smaller than I am now. Only for a special treat. I will make a poster of my New Years resolution. Getting some of the morning sun everyday, either before work or for the 15 minute break. God give me grace to change my ways.

The discussion on who should complete the clean up of the kitchen.

I find myself giving speeches, now to this wave of teens. I won't call them lazy, just helpfully challenged. I want them to think and do, without having to be coaxed and prodded. Until then, I give short pleadings, can we clean the kitchen now? Can we pretend that your friends are coming over?
We enjoyed a delicious meal of Lasagna and spaghetti and chocolate brownies and soda and sparkling cider and everybody was still at home. The conversation and the presence of my children with me and my husband enjoying the holidays at home is more special than anything else. We are still playing with Christmas on Monday.
But straightening for the New Year is the priority!



to the Good Old Days!

Merry Christmas to All

I got my favorite Christmas present. 2 inches of snow fell, yesterday. I was so excited. Nobody carries shovels around and no one is ever ready for the snow down here. They said in the news that this was the first white Christmas since just after WWII. It cripples our fair city, everything is stopped at this time in the morning. We ought to brave the elements to go out to church, but, I don't think we will.
The beauty of the snow accentuates the Christmas lights. My yard is all one color, instead of several colors of brown grasses, with green patches. It is still snowing and we are enjoying the seats by the fire and the presence of one another. Loving eachother, in our family. Tis the day after Christmas.
The boys got a game for their Wii and they are plugged in, most time. But, on Sunday, we don't play Wii, so I have seen them this morning, in passing. Emily and Enoch got a camera, each and are photographing everything. Evelyn is enjoying ladylike fragrances that she received. I got a potholder and a vacuum and Ben got a Frank Lloyd Wright lamp. Elyse played Santa for everybody, this year. She is adorable. We are enjoying the family dynamic. Thank God for care and love for eachother and peace and unity in our home. God bless us, everyone.