Lost and Found

 

This is one of my favorite things.  It is an 18k gold Elgin lady's pocket watch that belonged to my great grandmother, Amalia. She immigrated from Poland, met her Polish husband in Kansas, and lived the American Dream.  My grandfather carried this watch when my dad was a little boy.  But one day he lost it.  It was missing for a long time.  Months. And then a child was kicking the leaves along the edge of the sidewalk in their little town and he found it.  Being a little town, everyone knew my grandad had been searching and searching for this watch and of course it was returned to him.  He promptly placed it in his safety deposit box at the bank and never again took it out.  At some point he went in there and put it in a small manilla envelope and wrote my name on it.  He gave it to me.

Now, I love old things.  I actually walk into antique stores and look at all the stuff and wonder why in the world people would get rid of it.  I know it's weird.  But I do.  So anyway, I really love this watch.

We travel alot and I often hide the few little valuable things I have in an unlikely place around the house so if, by chance, a thief came, they would never find it.  Problem is....I have more than once hid it so well that I can't find it.  For a long time.  Twice I've been convinced that I would never see it again.  My family absolutely could not believe that I had done it again.  But I did.  This last time it was actually with a few other pieces that belonged to my grandmother.  I felt so stupid.  Tore the house apart. Finally gave up.

Last week my son was looking for his dad's old guitar tuner.  He couldn't find it anywhere.  He looked and looked.  He walked up to me, held out a small jewelry box and said, "Is this what you've been looking for?  It was on top of Dad's bookcase!"

The watch is now in my safety deposit box at the bank.

Tears

As you know my eldest is eighteen years old. A senior in high school. Such an exciting time in life. Such possibilities. Such plans. Such aching in a mother's heart. I'm proud of him and happy for him and I can't wait to see where he ends up next year. I want him to go to college. Of course I do. But the thought of packing him up and dropping him off. Well, let's just say tears are never far away these days.

But last night we were all taken by surprise. He got a new guitar amp and he was playing guitar and letting his little brother (13) play too. They were having fun. Enjoying each other. Sister was in her room doing homework. DH and I were downstairs. We walked up the stairs and Little Brother was standing in the hallway, his face twisted up, his eyes closed. DH said, "Buddy, you've got to get to bed. You're exhausted." And then the tears came. Not just sniffles, Sobs. We wondered what in the world was wrong. Everything was so jolly a minute ago. But then he said, "I was just in Big Brother's room, playing guitar, and we were having fun together. And then I realized he's leaving soon!" Oh my. Much crying (I of course had to join him!) and many hugs later he went to bed. Big Brother responded very well, saying things like, "Oh we have a long time before I leave" and "But I'll be home to visit alot." But the reality settled down on our house like a cold fog. This distant future event that we all knew would someday come is upon us. This is Big Brother's last year at home.

Here's a picture of the kids as we were saying goodbye to Big Brother this summer before a mission trip. It was only 6 weeks. And yes, Little Brother had been crying then too.

Eighteen

How in the world did this boy get to be 18?  He seriously was born just a few years ago! He now towers over me, a mature, funny, smart, responsible young man.  His sister and some friends threw him a surprise party tonight and I marveled at these great kids who are all now seniors in high school.  It sounds so cliche....but seriously, enjoy those babies while you can!  They grow up fast!

Look What I Did!

OK, so I've gotten off to a slow start with this blogging thing.  But I've been really really busy.  Doing this....  It's not grouted yet, and obviously we will have electrical outlet covers, but I just couldn't wait to show it to you!  It's travertine 3x8 subway tile with an inset of 2x3 subway tile in a herringbone pattern set on the diagonal over the cooktop. 

This should rightfully be titled, "Look What WE Did" since my DH rented and set up the tile saw, cut a whole lot of tile, mixed mortar for me, and cheered me on.  I laid ALL the tile myself though.  Can you tell I'm very impressed with myself??

We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with our kitchen remodel.  After grouting and sealing the backsplash we just need to order the cabinet doors, paint and install them and paint the walls and trim and BE DONE!  Oh, did I mention wiping the gritty dust out of all the cabinets and drawers?  Yeah, that could take awhile!

MamaDog

Grandma's Bookcase

Ok, so I got off to sort of a slow start with the blogging thing.  But I've been very very busy.  I had a sweet little bookshelf that used to sit on the back porch of my grandparents' house. The last few years it's been in the garage, collecting dust and assorted junk.  I wouldn't let my DH get rid of it, but I admit it was looking pretty sad.  But I have a bunch of children's books that are way too young for my dear ones, but that I wanted to keep for little ones that come over, for my daughter to use when she babysits, or for, I don't know, the grandchildren I hope to welcome some day far far in the future!

 It started out like this.

But now it looks like this.

I smile every time I walk up the stairs and see it in my hallway!

66 Dogs

A couple of years ago animal control officers were called to a house in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.  In this one home they found 66 greyhounds, starving, neglected, mostly in cages. The officer interviewed on the news stated that they were not bringing charges against the couple.  They were apparently well-meaning folks who adopted the animals to rescue them. Somewhere along the way they just got overwhelmed.  They couldn't take care of the dogs they had, but they kept taking more in.

I was relating this story to my book club and we asked the question, "How many dogs is too many?"  We didn't come up with a firm answer but agreed that somewhere between 3 and 66 there is a line which should not be crossed by one couple or family.  But then, we reflected, "Isn't life just like that?"  We add one little dog, and then another, and then one more.  Pretty soon we have too many dogs!  How many of you can relate to this?  The kids play soccer, we say we'll be the PTA treasurer, bake bread for our church welcome center, be in charge of the fall fling.....you get the picture.  We can wake up one day with 66 "dogs" in our house!

My book club named ourselves 66 Dogs, and we often rebuke one another when we're taking on too many "dogs" or we'll comment, "Now that's a Really Big Dog!"

I've often thought that running a home and family is a constant striving for balance.  A continual evaluation of how we budget our time, energy, money, and other resources. Figuring out if we're about to, or have already, added one to many dogs to the mix.  So as I put my toe into the blogging world the name that kept coming to mind was 66 Dogs. I'm just hoping this blog doesn't become dog #67.....