Good Friday

Good Friday has always been a special day to me for various reasons. Our parents got married on Good Friday many years ago, and were married for 49 years. The last day that we talked and visited with our dad was on a Good Friday. He passed away the next day, the Saturday morning before Easter Sunday. While my boys were growing up, I went to Falls Creek as a sponsor for about 9 years straight on Easter weekend. I have many great memories of the sleepless nights, the shaving cream fights, the water balloons, and the shuffling of kids back and forth for athletic events somewhere. The Good Friday in 2002 was the first time that Rick and I went out together. This past Good Friday was no disappointment. It just so happened that it correlated with National Sibling Day, which just so happened that our brother is in town for his yearly visit. So the three of us plus Chad hung out together. We went to Sherman and did our Easter shopping. We visited our aunt. Then that night we went to Babe's with our family and Keelie's. It was so much fun watching them with four kids, which brought back memories of us out with our four children.

Classics

This week my cousin sent me a CD with 400 pictures of my Daddy's side of the family for my genealogy project. The picture of Daddy in his G sweater from Gunter High School is the one picture that I am the most proud of. We had never seen this. Daddy was a very good-looking kid. 

This is another picture that we had never seen. Diana and I are dressed as twins with very stylish haircuts. If you look close you can see Chad Michael and Justin in this picture.

39 Years of Loy Lake

The next 10 days are going to be very busy. Everyday is an eventful day with something major going on from Jerry coming in from China, Keylyn's second birthday party, and Redneck weekend. However, Wednesday is a very special day. Diana and I get to judge at Loy Lake. It is not the judging that makes this day so special, it is what Loy Lake means to me. I counted up that I have been involved in Loy Lake for 39 of my 51 years.

Loy Lake represents 4-H and FHA - two very important events in my life. When I was 9 years old I got to join 4-H. This was the beginning of things that became very important to me - cooking, sewing, and crafts. My mom was determined that we would learn to sew. There were several people very instrumental in teaching us how to sew - Margarete Hunter, Jackie Barrett, and Jean Norman. Margarete was also responsible for our crafts and needlework . She taught me to knit, crochet, and embroidery. Mother took care of teaching us to cook and can. Then when we got to high school, Ann Black, our homemaking teacher, continued to reinforce these valuable traits. Ruth Massey and Aurelia Holcomb were two other ladies that were very instrumental in this learning process through the 4-H club.

Now there was more to Loy Lake than just this. On Wednesday of the designated week, your projects would be entered. You would wait and wait and wait and wait to see what ribbon your projects would get. If you were really lucky, you might get a Grand Champion or Reserve Champion ribbon.  I do remember some of my projects that got the big purple rosette - an Easter Egg tree made out of blown egg shells, a set of crocheted beaded jewelry, a kerosene lamp with a flower arrangement around it, several dresses, and a suit.

Thursday was equally exciting. Jack Harris used to drive the school bus with any of the middle school through ninth grade students or older that wanted to go to Loy Lake about 5:30 in the afternoon. There would be a BBQ dinner and a horse show. This was really big. Then when you got dating age it was a big thing who would invite you to go to Loy Lake with them. Yes, I do remember who I went with my first year.

Because of the positive experiences I had through these years is the reason that I went on and got my degree in homemaking. I started teaching in Van Alstyne, and I started reliving the Loy Lake experience through my students. I was really fortunate to have great students for many years of homemaking. As a teacher, I always took many projects to Loy Lake and would have success with the projects. I took students with me to work the show and enter projects. I would spend three days out there.  Many memories were made.

After I went into another area of education, I was then given the opportunity to judge the crafts. Although I have seen many changes through the years, it is always great to go back out to Loy Lake, if nothing else just for the chance to go back down memory lane one more time.

The End of the "Done" list

Well Spring Break is officially over. It was a restful spring break that was not too eventful, but that is OK. Borrowing a line from a book I read, "I woke up each day." With this - each day is a blessing from God. We ended up the week by adding a few more things to the list.

20. Baseball games of grandchildren - Friday and Sunday.

21. Worked with Rickie on the corral.

22. Finished the front flower bed.

I have no regrets or disappointments in Spring Break 2009 by doing the "done" list instead of the "to do" list. 

 

The List goes on!

Wednesday

14. Today was my day to get a haircut and meet Miss Clairol.

15. Scanned some more of Randy's pictures.

16. Kept the grandkids. 

Everytime I keep Cade and Cali together I understand why God gives you babies when you are young, and lets you be grandparents when you are older. With Cali you have to be on constant watch, because EVERYTHING goes into her mouth. Cade is a great "big brother". He is always so eager to help with Cali.

Thursday

17. Bought sandals.

18. Took Rick for a medical procedure.

19. Bought plants for front flower bed.

Buying shoes is almost as tortuous as shopping for clothes. I refuse to try to wear any shoe that has a strap that goes between my toes and I have crooked toes from three surgeries on my feet; therefore, I have several challenges before I ever enter a shoe store. It seems that the only shoes that are left are the shoes that my mother wore. (I am my mother's daughter - which is an entire blog in itself.) I know the brands well; and they are just like a magnet - they pull me to them. After trying every possible shoe in three shoe stores, I did find a pair of sandals that got to come home with me, and they are not SAS or Striderite. 

The "Done" List Continues

Monday was a great day to get started on my Sherman list. Some of the things "done" were:

6. Renewed my passport.

7. Had the oil changed in my car.

8. Bought a Frommer's for our next trip.

9. Made cookies for the freezer

On Tuesday, I continued with my list.

10. Took my elderly aunt to the dollar store. (This is the only place that she wanted to go. I was willing to take her anywhere she wanted to go- to eat or shop. I guess at age 85, Dollar General is pretty exciting.)

11. Decorated for Easter

12. Started scanning pictures for Randy Miller's wedding video. 

13. Shopped for spring clothes.

I cannot believe something that I used to love to do, I detest so much today. Shopping for clothes used to be fun; however, the last several years it has become such a nightmare. I guess my age is showing. The clothes in the store seem to be getting uglier each year. So many off the styles are the clothes that I wore twenty-five years ago. The babydoll or princess look was cute years ago. Today it does not look as flattering on a fifty year old. The large flowered prints is another example, although I did force myself to choose one. I did get a couple of tops and a pair of capris, just in case, I do not go out again and brave the shopping torture. 

Keylyn came to see us.

Spring Break - "DONE" list

Well I was going to sit down on Friday and list everything that I wanted to get done this week. I feel like I am home alone. My sister has left me, so I have no partner in crime this week. Therefore, I had high hopes of the things that I wanted to do this. Well it is already Sunday, and that list is not made. So I decided to take another approach and report as things get done. This has been our method of doing a "to do" list these last several summers. We do it, we write it down, and then put the check beside it. So I will begin here with what has been done so far:

1. Went to the lakehouse and work on the bunk house.

2. Visited with Gregory a few minutes on Friday.

3. Cleaned my car and patio.

4. Bought seeds and planters to start our garden inside to transplant latter.

5. Chopped weeds in the yard and planted a few bulbs. 

We have already made 3 trips to Lowes and 1 trip to Home Depot.