and they are wed

My beautiful niece, Amy married the love of her life, Ron, this afternoon. It was beautiful ceremony, surrounded by those who love both of them, at their home in Spencer, Ohio.

I have to be totally honest here . . . Amy holds a special place in my heart. She always has and always will. Amy is one of my older sister's youngest daughter. There are times when I can still see her, in mind's eye, as a little girl. The cute little red-head with a load of curls and joyous laughter. I remember taking her Cedar Point and having her do cart-wheels and hand-stands all around the park . . . in fact someone asked us if she was part of the entertainment!

Last summer, in fact, she was doing cart-wheels and hand-stands in my back yard. Still with the red curls bouncing and her laughter bubbling over.

In any event today is the day that Amy was wed. They wrote their own vows and shared their love for each other with each other and all of us who were blessed to witness the ceremony. Now, given the description above, you may think that Amy is still a child. However, she will be 37 in two weeks. Her husband, Ron, just turned 50. It was each of their first marriage. They have both been in other relationships (which is a good thing or everyone would have thought them odd). And, they both have children from those relationships.

However, to see them with each other and especially today, as they joined hands and expressed their love and joy in each other, accepting and recognizing the truth of their foibles and faults and announcing their intentions to love each other forever and always, it was easy to see why they both waited and knew that someday they would meet, recognize and love their soulmates.

Congratulations! I love you both because you are special people. God bless you and keep you safe and cherished together for many years.

p.s. And while I didn't need to wear my grey shawl at all during the day (the temps hovered at around 80 degrees, this evening after the wedding and party, some of the members of my family and friends, came to my home and as the evening progressed and cooled down, I was glad to have the shawl to toss casually over my shoulders.

Lindsey sans braces

Lindsey sans braces
Originally uploaded by mlj1954ohio

Lindsey had her braces removed (after almost two years) on June 11. It is good to see her smile and it is truly amazing how much happier she is without "metal mouth." Strangely enough, even her acne is clearing up. Hmmm.

Grey Shawl with beads

Grey Shawl with beads
Originally uploaded by mlj1954ohio

It is done. Finally. It is blocked and if you look closely at this pic, you will see the beads. It could have been longer, except that I ran out of yarn, which was a good thing because the idea of knitting one more row of this thing was enough to make me want to scream. I would have had to end anyway since I was down to eight beads.

Truth be told, I'm not sure I even like the silly thing.

Friday Fill In - June 19, 2009

1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting them to drop something (dishes, a "bomb," etc.)

2. Show me a good loser and I will show you a someone who screams in a shower.

3. Making and eating good bread with real butter is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time.

4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy doing stupid things and ignoring the wishes of their constituents.

5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine driving someplace and asking for directions.

6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without garlic or chocolate in it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching "the Boy in the Stripe Pajamas," tomorrow my plans include Zachariah's softball game and Sunday, I want to do nothing!

Friday Fill In - June 12, 2009

1. I grew up thinking that my parents only kissed on holidays. I caught them "necking" on a Thanksgiving morning and then went "looking" on Christmas and caught them again.

2. Robynn's Ravings was the last website I was at before coming here.

3. Why don't you get a cup of tea and your knitting and sit down for a spell?

4. My knitting and a nice cup of tea helps me relax.

5. Thanks for reading my blog.

6. I find perfumes and colognes very off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching Australia, tomorrow my plans include going to a meeting with Lindsey for Engineering Camp and Sunday, I want to do nothing!

I << heart >> reading

I really do love to read. Just about anything. Although, I have to admit that as I have gotten older, books that don't grab my attention quickly are often delegated to the "gee, maybe if I have nothing else to read" pile.

This past week, I have finished The Ice House by Minette Walters. While many in my WhoDuKnit reading group did not like The Ice House, I definitely did. I loved the quirky sense of humor in some of the characters, despised the negativeness in others and appreciated the creativity of some of the secondary story lines and the characters involved.

I also started reading The Taking by Dean Koontz and then decided that I really did not want to read another story about aliens and weirdness. So, it went back to the Library.

Also, our library has started a new audio program called "Playaway." For whatever reason, Blogger isn't allowing me to direct link titles to websites . . . therefore if you want to learn about Playaway, go to http://www.playaway.com/. The cool thing about Playaway, is that you can get current titles on a pre-loaded player. You don't have to have a CD Player or the weight of a CD Player in your knitting bag. You don't get frustrated because the batteries died half-way through your knitting (or the story). You don't have to load a story onto your Ipod or MP3 player and then try to remember how to get it off when you are done. I am currently "reading" True Evil by Greg Isles and thoroughly enjoying the portability of the thing.

I am very excited about Lindsey's summer reading for her AP Government class. They have to read one of three books or, preferably, all three books. Liberty's Daughters (about women of the Revolution) by Mary Beth Norton, All Too Human (about Bill Clinton) by George Stephanopolous and Team of Rivals (about Abraham Lincoln) by Doris Kearns Goodwin. We did get these books at the library. I can hardly wait until she is done so that I can read each of these books, well, maybe not All Too Human. I can't stand Bill Clinton and hate to give him any of my time.

The Dangers of Sexting

The Dangers of Sexting

Shared via AddThis

Yarntopia . . . Another contest . . . super FAB!!!

YARNTOPIA TREASURES FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY

Yarntopia Treasures has been kind enough to give ONE lucky winner 4 diffrent yarns YES 4 different yarns and these yarns are fabulous. Seriously, check them out!!! You need to go to Ohio Girl Talks to learn all about how to enter and for the links to Yarntopia!

Although, if you don't enter, that will leave me with a greater opportunity to win!

Simple Woman - June 1, 2009

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
—Helen Keller

FOR TODAY
Outside my Window... the sun is shining, the sky is blue and, of course, since it is Monday, I am at work . . . sigh.
I am thinking... that there are times when I am jealous of my husband's schedule. He is a teacher and in a week or so, he will be done until mid-August.
I am thankful for... my husband, who over the summer, does all the yard work and takes the kids to their various appointments.
From the kitchen... nothing. I'm not eating.
I am creating... the gray shawl. Still. Almost done, though.
I am going... all over the place this week.
I am wearing... brown slacks, green t-shirt and print sweater
I am reading... "Interred with their bones"
I am hoping... to finish "Interred" by Wednesday or Thursday
I am hearing... the radio and people arriving at work
Around the house... we weren't home most of the weekend. The house looks like it. Things get dropped and tossed everywhere.
One of my favorite things... visiting with friends and family
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... work today (and training for new jobs), more training and WW tomorrow and time with Zachariah and I in the evening as Dave and Lindsey won't be home, Wednesday a meeting at SJA with Lindsey for the AP classes she is taking, Thursday we have the managers meeting (or is that Wednesday?) and a swim team meeting Thursday evening, Friday Dave is scoring in the evening so it will be Lindsey, Zachariah and I and we will finish the laundry.

What a weekend

This past weekend was so jam packed, it will be good to get to work just to slow down a tad.

We had a funeral to attend on Saturday morning. After a long illness, my sister-in-law's sister passed away a week ago. She had been in the hospital for two months but has suffered with Crohn's and diabetes for years. She was 50.

After we got home, Dave and I went to a local grower's green house to get our garden plants. We got 36 regular tomato plants (beefsteak and another kind), 18 roma and 18 grape tomato plants. We also purchased 18 eggplant and 18 cabbage, 36 regular sweet peppers, 18 Hungarian yellow and 18 Jalapeno peppers. After Dave had finished preparing the beds on Sunday (alternating between the two rotatillers), we planted. Besides the seadlings we had purchased, we also planted a bed of zucchini and yellow squash and another entire bed (although a smaller one) of green string beans. Seriously.

On Sunday, Lindsey and I joined my sister, Peg and her daughter, Amy, and grand-daughter, Allyson and we went to the Great Lakes Fiber Fest in Wooster, Ohio. It was FABULOUS. Of course, Lindsey and Allyson only went because they didn't want to get stuck having to do work around the house.

Anyway, I showed tremendous amounts of restraint and limited my purchases to one skein of Briar Rose's Grandma's Blessing yarn (1200 yards), two skeins of Trekking sock yarn, and a couple of patterns XOXO (hat and scarf) and Boxleaf Wrap and another scarf pattern from Briar Rose.

My sister spins, so except for one skein of sock yarn, she only bought fiber (some alpaca and alpaca blends and, her absolute favorite, buffalo).

After we got home, Lindsey was horribly disappointed to find out that Dave had not yet started planting. Remember, the whole goal of going to the Fiber Fest was to get out of the garden planting. However, since he had spent so much time getting it all ready, we easily planted everything within about 90 minutes. It was incredible. And, you know what, it doesn't matter if we spend an entire day or 90 minutes, my back and legs are killing me today.

On Monday, Sarah and Kyle came over, along with Lindsey's friend, Andrew. I made macaroni salad, potato salad, cole slaw (I guess I was having a salad kind of day) and stuffed hamburgers (cook and crumble bacon, saute onions and mushrooms in bacon fat, drain well; I then flatten half of the package of ground meat into a large rectangle, spread the bacon mixture on top of the meat, add slices of American cheese, top with another layer of ground meat and cut into about 4" squares, grill and serve . . . . yummy).

Later, Zachariah and I "balled" some of the yarn, including the Grandma's blessing (1200 yards is a lot of yarn). He also was going through my stash and found some Lorna's Laces in Black Watch and asked if I would make him mittens and a hat. We then wound that yarn too, along with another skein of KnitPicks bare wool.

I am exhausted.

I had an X-ray done today. They found you in my heart.
The doctor said that if they took you out I would die,

because I could not live without you as an on-line friend!
Feel free to send this heart along to all of your on-line friends

that you could not live without!

I want to share a heart that was sent my way by Jane! As Jane mentioned, we met awhile ago, way back when One Skein Wonders first came out and we joined a swap. Over that time, we have gotten to know each other through our blogs, an online book club (Whoduknit) and through sharing our family and friends.

Isn't it amazing how small the internet has made the world?

While my middlest child was working on a project for school, I was going through some old papers of my parents. I "inherited" quite a bit of the paperwork. My Mom had named me as her executrix and even though she has been gone for over ten years, I still have much of her stuff around.

I have a copy of my Mom's parents wedding certificate. They both came to Cleveland from Ireland. When they left their family homes, they knew that there was little chance that they would ever see their homes and parents again. My Gram knew that she would see her sisters (there were 11 all told). A couple had left before she did and the reason that she decided to go to Cleveland was because her sisters were here.

While my Gramps never made it home, my Gram returned to Ireland in 1964, shortly before she retired. One of her sisters still lived in the family home and many cousins and other relatives still lived in the village of her birth.

But can you imagine, packing it all up, knowing that chances were slim that you would ever see the ones you love? I don't think I could.

One of the things I found this evening was a copy of her baptismal certificate. I cannot tell you how many times I have handled this piece of paper. I always laugh because she wrote a shopping list on the back of it. For the first time, however, I noticed that she had changed the year of her birth on it. She was born in 1927 but the year on this certificate was 1924.

I then looked at when it was issued and realized that it was the year that her Dad made her drop out of school and get a job to help support the family. She was 15. She loved that school. She had just finished tenth grade and absolutely thought it was the best thing that ever happened to her. The funny thing is that both of my daughters have attended the same school. Sarah graduated in 2004 and Lindsey is, strangely enough 15 and just now finishing tenth grade.

Again, I just cannot imagine telling Lindsey that she has to drop out of school so that she can work to help the family. Although I have to do have to admit that there are times when I get totally ticked at her and hold the privilege of going to an all girls Catholic High School over her head. It is always because she isn't doing her best or at least trying to do her best. We discuss the entire this is a privilege not an entitlement. Sigh.

I think my Mom would be even more fascinated with the internet and all the technology available today. She was one of the smartest women I know. Even before she died, she had her internet friends for her knitting and quilting and rug hooking. She was fascinated with the knowledge that was readily available to her, even at 2:00 a.m.!! I always loved starting my day with an email from Mom (and often knew, after looking at the time it was sent, that an early morning phone call was out of the question).

So take a moment and thank your internet friends for their time and kindness and friendship. We do only pass through this world but once!

Have a wonderful day!

More Zachariah and Thunder

Simple Woman - May 18, 2009

Kindness is the golden chain

by which society is bound together.
Goethe

FOR TODAY - Monday, May 18, 2009

Outside my Window... it is cold (we broke the record) but the skies are blue and it will be warm when I leave work
I am thinking... it is good to be back at work
I am thankful for... that I have a job
From the kitchen... nothing much for me (Yogurt, tea, Cream of Wheat)
I am creating... the stupid shawl
I am going... to a meeting tonight at Lindsey's school. It should be interesting.
I am wearing... navy blue slacks, white t-shirt and red sweater
I am reading... The First Family
I am hoping... to go for a walk after I get home from my meeting
I am hearing... people arriving for work
Around the house... nothing much is happening
One of my favorite things... sleeping in . . . oh, yeah, I went to work today so THAT didn't happen.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... meeting tonight, meeting Wednesday evening, followed by knitting, meeting Thursday morning, Zachariah's concert Thursday afternoon
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you . . . see the previous posts . . . lots of pics there!

Zachariah and Thunder

The best of both worlds.

My future son-in-law bought my daughter a puppy for her birthday. Thunder, which is too huge a name for such a little scrapper, is a chocolate lab (I know, he will get bigger), seven weeks old and great fun.

Zachariah's big disappointment was when we put the pup back in its kennel so it could catch some zzzzzz's.

Okay, here is the best part. The dog doesn't live with us. So, I told Sarah and Kyle that this is totally cool. They can bring the dog every Sunday or whenever else they come over. Zachariah can get the experience of having a puppy and we don't have to deal with it!

Phat Fiber Box

I scored a phatfiber sampler box this morning. Woo hoo!!! For those of you who don't know about phatfiber, you should go here. The theme for May is "Showers and Flowers". Each box contains a minimum of 20 samples from over 65 different artisans! A sampler box chock full of indie dyed yarn, roving, batts, stitch markers, patterns, coupon codes and much more!


The Phat Fiber Sampler box is a way for independent fiber, yarn and related needlecraft companies and artisans to promote their products through a tactile goodie box that goes on sale once monthly. PhatFiber's contributors get exposure while those of us lucky to score a box get to handle and experiment with products before making larger purchases. If you want to contribute to the boxes, you should go to the PhatFiber website and contact Jessie.

And, the only reason that I was able to score a box today was because I am not fully functional yet and my range of motion currently is limited to my keyboard. Even knitting hurts and the pain meds make me soooooo sleepy.

Amy's Shower

Last Saturday, we had my niece's shower. Amy is getting married for the first time on June 27. We had great fun planning the shower and, while some people didn't bother to RSVP and I was a little disappointed in those who hadn't bothered to show up or call, I decided it was their loss. We had a great time. AND lots of food. We had made chicken salad on croissants and fruit salad. My sisters and I all made pastries and rather than having a cake, we put plates of pastries out on each table.

Here are some of the pics that I took at the shower. Hopefully, the text will go along with the pics but Blogger sometimes does its own thing.

Mary and Cheyenne were concerned that the only presents Amy was getting were things for the kitchen . . . we laughed and said that someday they will understand the great toys that adults get. Amy was so happy. She loves cooking and baking. My younger sisters got her a Kitchen-Aid mixer (we all have one) and she was just dumb-founded.

Colleen is Peg's oldest child and Amy's sister.

Heather (Colleen's daughter), Allyson (Amy's daughter), Amy and Mary (Jacquie's daughter)

Lindsey, Sarah, Ron's Aunt Lil and his Mom.

The woman all the way on the right is my youngest sister, Jeanne.

Amy and her daughter, Allyson.

Heather, Allyson and Amy.

Jeanne, Jacquie and Lindsey.

Friday Fill In - May 8, 2009

"My mother is a poem

I'll never be able to write,

though everything I write is

a poem to my mother."
—Sharon Doubiago

1. Apples are to oranges as cheese is to crackers.

2. I am going to knit a sock next week . . . and that's all I have to say about that.

3. I think I hear the end of the week creeping up on me.

4. Display the flag.

5. Do what you want to do, but be honest about it.

6. He was walking along without a care in the world and behind him was a Radio Flyer wagon; in fthe wagon was a bucket filled with mud.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to my sister and niece's arrival, making kolacky and Danish pastry, tomorrow my plans include my niece's shower and spending time with my sisters and Sunday, I want to recover!

And here is yet another contest

Georgi is having a 200th post contest. The Knit Kit is the first prize. So go on over. Tell her I sent you and maybe we will both win. You can click here too, but if that doesn't work, copy this link:

http://toknitandwrite.blogspot.com/2009/04/contest.html

Friday Fill In - May 1, 2009

Happy May, Happy May, Happy May!!!!

1. The first rule of working in an office and getting along is not stinking it up with obnoxious foods or perfumes or smoke.

2. I love fried clams.

3. When I think of carnivals I think of unsafe rides.

4. Tulips are my favorite spring flower.

5. Things on my desk include pics of the family, adding machine, lamp, tape measure, hand lotion.

6. Crying makes me wanna cry.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending time with Zachariah, tomorrow my plans include not much, but does include 4:30 Youth Liturgy Mass and Sunday, I want to sleep in!

And yet another contest!

Okay, so Aunt Kathy sent me to Darcy's blog who sent me to Patt's Etsy . . . and the purpose is because Darcy and Patt have combined to do a contest. You can find out the details at Darcy's blog. There are several ways to enter AND awesome prizes (Patt's project bags AND stitch markers).


SOOOOOO, what are you still doing here??? You need to go Darcy's blog and enter. Now. Although, if you don't, it increases my chances of winning!