I came across this site a couple of weeks ago and have been meaning to share it. It's moving. Amazing. Inspirational. Extraordinary.
http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/
The photos and story evoke overwhelming emotion.
It makes me wonder what role I'll play in caring for my grandfather who will turn 79 in a few weeks. What role will I play in caring for my own father? It also makes me wonder if Matt, Ethan, and I will have a similar story someday.
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
40 bags in 40 days
Thanks to Lillian, I'll be joining the 40 bags in 40 days Lenten Challenge and I'm excited about it. Actually, I think Matt is even more psyched than I am. He de-clutters. I hold on to things. I think it stems from my childhood (likely excuse I know, but this reason is a reality). I had an unstable childhood, to put it briefly and kindly. We had to move often, leaving our friends and belongings behind. Once I had stability and things to hold on to ... I did. Now that I have the things to hold on to that matter (family, love, security), I don't feel the need to keep as many of the other things (material). I won't say that I'm completely transformed but I'm working on it.
In the spirit of the season of Lent, I will simplify.
This challenge couldn't have come at a better time for us. We have decided to change our guest bedroom into a play/craft/work space. We've had 3 overnight guests in that room over the past year. Three in a year. So, 362 days the room wasn't really used. Matt's clothes are in that closet, we've thrown clean laundry on the bed on occasion, and Matt has snoozed in there a few nights when I was snoring. We think we can get more use out of that room while still having room for overnight guests in our home. The next guests may be sleeping on an air mattress though. The bed is out of there and replaced with a desk/table and some toys. I'm searching for toy and craft supply storage now (any suggestions?). I'm also trying to figure out how I'll decorate the walls (suggestions also very welcome).
40 bags in 40 days:
1. bag of various junk from the guest room closet-garbage
2. television from guest room - donated
3. vcr from guest room - donated
4. old computer monitor - donated
5. large picture. I bought two for $10 at a warehouse sale. I thought I'd hang one (below) and reuse the frame from the other but I never got to that project - donated
6. box of books about wedding planning and 2 packs of printable place cards (we've been married for nearly 5 years. I have no purpose for these things.) - donated
7. old pillows - garbage
8. glass hurricane that I never really found a place for and a bag with two other wall hangings - donated
9. a queen-sized comforter and pillow shams - donated
10. a bag of outdoor Christmas bows and a wreath we hadn't used in years - donated
I'm starting off a little ahead but I plan to think about this and work on this for the next 39 days and hopefully beyond. Thinking about how uncluttered our house will become by Easter makes me happy.
As I was leaving the Salvation Army after dropping off these things this afternoon there was a second where I thought "Oh no, am I going to miss any of those things?". Then thought about how someone else will get use out of them and I felt relieved.
In the spirit of the season of Lent, I will simplify.
This challenge couldn't have come at a better time for us. We have decided to change our guest bedroom into a play/craft/work space. We've had 3 overnight guests in that room over the past year. Three in a year. So, 362 days the room wasn't really used. Matt's clothes are in that closet, we've thrown clean laundry on the bed on occasion, and Matt has snoozed in there a few nights when I was snoring. We think we can get more use out of that room while still having room for overnight guests in our home. The next guests may be sleeping on an air mattress though. The bed is out of there and replaced with a desk/table and some toys. I'm searching for toy and craft supply storage now (any suggestions?). I'm also trying to figure out how I'll decorate the walls (suggestions also very welcome).
40 bags in 40 days:
1. bag of various junk from the guest room closet-garbage
2. television from guest room - donated
3. vcr from guest room - donated
4. old computer monitor - donated
5. large picture. I bought two for $10 at a warehouse sale. I thought I'd hang one (below) and reuse the frame from the other but I never got to that project - donated
6. box of books about wedding planning and 2 packs of printable place cards (we've been married for nearly 5 years. I have no purpose for these things.) - donated
7. old pillows - garbage
8. glass hurricane that I never really found a place for and a bag with two other wall hangings - donated
9. a queen-sized comforter and pillow shams - donated
10. a bag of outdoor Christmas bows and a wreath we hadn't used in years - donated
I'm starting off a little ahead but I plan to think about this and work on this for the next 39 days and hopefully beyond. Thinking about how uncluttered our house will become by Easter makes me happy.
As I was leaving the Salvation Army after dropping off these things this afternoon there was a second where I thought "Oh no, am I going to miss any of those things?". Then thought about how someone else will get use out of them and I felt relieved.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The party details
I'm not usually much of a theme person but I thought the idea of a Winter ONE-derland theme was pretty cute. This was the photo we used for his invitations:
I was excited when I came across the idea to have a hot chocolate bar. I made homemade marshmallows for it using this recipe and let me tell you, that recipe results in DELICIOUS marshmallows!
I'll be making another batch for Valentine's photo props (picture my sweet Ethan taste testing a heart shaped marshmallow popsicle -- IF he'll let me take the pictures).
We had crushed candy canes, soft candy canes (some dipped in chocolate), white chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, whipped cream, vanilla wafer cookie sticks, and fudge and caramel toppings as 'fixings' for the hot cocoa bar. The restaurant where we held the party let us use these carafes. If they had not offered I planned to use a crock pot to keep the hot cocoa warm and a ladle for serving. I used this recipe for the hot cocoa. It's similar to the recipe on the Hershey's Cocoa container.
{What you can't see in this pic is that the ribbon wrapped around the topping bottles and glasses holding the cookies say Let it snow and Winter Wonderland!}
The beverage table with the favors to the left:
The favors came from another idea that I read about online...Hot Chocolate on a Stick. The Giver's Log has the recipe here. I decided to follow Sprinkles Bakes idea of using the brownie pan.
I was very, very tempted to also copy her idea of using those birchware spoons but I stuck with cookie sticks to save a few bucks and so that they were still Hot Chocolate on a Stick b/c I like the name.
I wanted to make them prettier on top so I tried a powdered sugar and water combo to create icing. I also tried melted white chocolate on the tops but wasn't thrilled with how either looked. I attempted a not so successful snowflake design using the icing too. I only made a few of those because, let's face it, it took time and my time was limited due to a certain someone. I had a lot of other projects that I wanted to accomplish.
I ended up facing them down anyway and topping them with two homemade marshmallows since the recipe made SO many.
Ethan's daycare teachers transformed their room into a winter wonderland and they were kind enough to share how they made these amazing 3D snowflakes. I thought they would be perfect for Ethan's party. I thought they looked difficult to make but they were a breeze.
I loved how they looked in the windows. Thanks to Charlene for hanging all of them!
I wish my photo of the banner I made had turned out better. Thanks to Charlene for hanging this too!
The dessert table which included chocolate & sprinkle dipped marshmallows on a stick, vanilla cupcakes using this recipe, chocolate cupcakes using this recipe, Ethan's giant cupcake using this recipe and this frosting, and cookie/candy that tasted like Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies (so I hear), which I did not make. Initially I was just going to have the vanilla cupcakes but when I was finished making them I feared that I did not have enough so I googled a chocolate cupcake recipe and randomly chose one. It sounds like I chose a good one because I heard they were really good. I look forward to trying the recipe when I can eat them, someday. I have a feeling it will be my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe since it was very, very easy.
Monthly photo display
O-N-E collage that I put together. Ethan was done putting up with my photo taking by the time we got to the E.
I made cupcake toppers with a snowflake stamp, circle punches, and toothpicks. The snowflake cupcake wraps were part of a Wilton kit I bought after Christmas on clearance at Target.
We brought a bunch of Ethan's toys to the party to help entertain the little ones. I loved looking back there, seeing the babies playing, and parents chatting.
Friends brought a projector and speakers to hook up to our laptop so that we could play Ethan's first year slide show at his party. Ethan danced to the music while the slide show played :)
Edited to add that we asked our guests to write a message to Ethan in the book On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman.
I didn't get a picture of the good food. The appetizer was called Tuscan Sun and it seemed like it was a tray of breadsticks with dipping sauce. Pizza was for lunch. This was my lunch:
Ethan and his lunch:
Ethan and his cupcake:
This party was a lot of fun for me to plan. I spent time reminiscing about the past year and being thankful for our blessings.
Of course, no event goes off perfectly but we're fortunate to have friends who help save those moments of chaos. For example, Charlene and Steven graciously offered to arrive early to help me set up. I'm sure they were surprised to find me 3/4 of the way dressed, my hair 3/4 of the way blow dried, two gallons of hot chocolate yet to be made, and two car loads of stuff waiting to be loaded and transported to the party.
These moments help to create some laughs and memories though, right?
I had forgotten to order balloons. Ethan fell in love with balloons at the parties the prior two weekends so we HAD to have balloons. Matt made two trips across town to order, then pickup the balloons.
How many Tablespoons are in 1 Cup? See the hot cocoa recipe above. We followed that recipe x32, twice, to make sure we had enough hot chocolate (we had about a gallon too much).
We used nearly 2 containers of cocoa to make the carafes of hot cocoa. I had planned to make a mug for me using So Delicous Vanilla Coconut milk (which Ethan has NOT reacted to, btw). When we realized we had used all of the cocoa, Steven was sweet enough to scrape together what probably would have been enough for me in the bottom of the Hershey's Cocoa container. I turned around to use it and accidentally dumped it in the sink.
We arrived at the restaurant and discovered that we needed more ice for the beverage tins. Joe offered to go get some more. We later learned that Joe walked several blocks, bought 4 bags of ice, lost one on the run back to the party (I still laugh picturing this) and saved our ice dilemma. We thought he drove down the street!
I saw friends ask the waitress for things while setting up, to make sure we had everything that we needed. I saw Charlene, Steven, Jen, and Joe helping to hang all of the decorations and set everything up. Other friends joined in to help set up the dessert table. Wow, we have wonderful friends. Thank you all!
I'm sure Matt will be happy to have our house back in non-party planning mode. Some pics... too bad I didn't take any of the HUGE kitchen messes I created while preparing the favors and cupcakes.
Previous post with pics of the party.
I was excited when I came across the idea to have a hot chocolate bar. I made homemade marshmallows for it using this recipe and let me tell you, that recipe results in DELICIOUS marshmallows!
I'll be making another batch for Valentine's photo props (picture my sweet Ethan taste testing a heart shaped marshmallow popsicle -- IF he'll let me take the pictures).
We had crushed candy canes, soft candy canes (some dipped in chocolate), white chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, whipped cream, vanilla wafer cookie sticks, and fudge and caramel toppings as 'fixings' for the hot cocoa bar. The restaurant where we held the party let us use these carafes. If they had not offered I planned to use a crock pot to keep the hot cocoa warm and a ladle for serving. I used this recipe for the hot cocoa. It's similar to the recipe on the Hershey's Cocoa container.
{What you can't see in this pic is that the ribbon wrapped around the topping bottles and glasses holding the cookies say Let it snow and Winter Wonderland!}
The beverage table with the favors to the left:
The favors came from another idea that I read about online...Hot Chocolate on a Stick. The Giver's Log has the recipe here. I decided to follow Sprinkles Bakes idea of using the brownie pan.
I was very, very tempted to also copy her idea of using those birchware spoons but I stuck with cookie sticks to save a few bucks and so that they were still Hot Chocolate on a Stick b/c I like the name.
I wanted to make them prettier on top so I tried a powdered sugar and water combo to create icing. I also tried melted white chocolate on the tops but wasn't thrilled with how either looked. I attempted a not so successful snowflake design using the icing too. I only made a few of those because, let's face it, it took time and my time was limited due to a certain someone. I had a lot of other projects that I wanted to accomplish.
I ended up facing them down anyway and topping them with two homemade marshmallows since the recipe made SO many.
Ethan's daycare teachers transformed their room into a winter wonderland and they were kind enough to share how they made these amazing 3D snowflakes. I thought they would be perfect for Ethan's party. I thought they looked difficult to make but they were a breeze.
I loved how they looked in the windows. Thanks to Charlene for hanging all of them!
I wish my photo of the banner I made had turned out better. Thanks to Charlene for hanging this too!
The dessert table which included chocolate & sprinkle dipped marshmallows on a stick, vanilla cupcakes using this recipe, chocolate cupcakes using this recipe, Ethan's giant cupcake using this recipe and this frosting, and cookie/candy that tasted like Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies (so I hear), which I did not make. Initially I was just going to have the vanilla cupcakes but when I was finished making them I feared that I did not have enough so I googled a chocolate cupcake recipe and randomly chose one. It sounds like I chose a good one because I heard they were really good. I look forward to trying the recipe when I can eat them, someday. I have a feeling it will be my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe since it was very, very easy.
Monthly photo display
O-N-E collage that I put together. Ethan was done putting up with my photo taking by the time we got to the E.
I made cupcake toppers with a snowflake stamp, circle punches, and toothpicks. The snowflake cupcake wraps were part of a Wilton kit I bought after Christmas on clearance at Target.
We brought a bunch of Ethan's toys to the party to help entertain the little ones. I loved looking back there, seeing the babies playing, and parents chatting.
Friends brought a projector and speakers to hook up to our laptop so that we could play Ethan's first year slide show at his party. Ethan danced to the music while the slide show played :)
Edited to add that we asked our guests to write a message to Ethan in the book On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman.
I didn't get a picture of the good food. The appetizer was called Tuscan Sun and it seemed like it was a tray of breadsticks with dipping sauce. Pizza was for lunch. This was my lunch:
Ethan and his lunch:
Ethan and his cupcake:
This party was a lot of fun for me to plan. I spent time reminiscing about the past year and being thankful for our blessings.
Of course, no event goes off perfectly but we're fortunate to have friends who help save those moments of chaos. For example, Charlene and Steven graciously offered to arrive early to help me set up. I'm sure they were surprised to find me 3/4 of the way dressed, my hair 3/4 of the way blow dried, two gallons of hot chocolate yet to be made, and two car loads of stuff waiting to be loaded and transported to the party.
These moments help to create some laughs and memories though, right?
I had forgotten to order balloons. Ethan fell in love with balloons at the parties the prior two weekends so we HAD to have balloons. Matt made two trips across town to order, then pickup the balloons.
How many Tablespoons are in 1 Cup? See the hot cocoa recipe above. We followed that recipe x32, twice, to make sure we had enough hot chocolate (we had about a gallon too much).
We used nearly 2 containers of cocoa to make the carafes of hot cocoa. I had planned to make a mug for me using So Delicous Vanilla Coconut milk (which Ethan has NOT reacted to, btw). When we realized we had used all of the cocoa, Steven was sweet enough to scrape together what probably would have been enough for me in the bottom of the Hershey's Cocoa container. I turned around to use it and accidentally dumped it in the sink.
We arrived at the restaurant and discovered that we needed more ice for the beverage tins. Joe offered to go get some more. We later learned that Joe walked several blocks, bought 4 bags of ice, lost one on the run back to the party (I still laugh picturing this) and saved our ice dilemma. We thought he drove down the street!
I saw friends ask the waitress for things while setting up, to make sure we had everything that we needed. I saw Charlene, Steven, Jen, and Joe helping to hang all of the decorations and set everything up. Other friends joined in to help set up the dessert table. Wow, we have wonderful friends. Thank you all!
I'm sure Matt will be happy to have our house back in non-party planning mode. Some pics... too bad I didn't take any of the HUGE kitchen messes I created while preparing the favors and cupcakes.
Previous post with pics of the party.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Saving her baby
Have you read this blog post?
WOW. What an inspiration. A mother who was so strong. She made decisions based on her intuition, ignored the criticism of others, and fought to help her daughter.
WOW. What an inspiration. A mother who was so strong. She made decisions based on her intuition, ignored the criticism of others, and fought to help her daughter.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Professional photos
We had our photos taken by Elaine Gates a few weeks ago and she posted a few of them on her blog.
It was hot and E was tired so he's giving his scowl in most but she managed to get some great ones of him smiling.
I'd highly recommend her if you are local.
Also... I read this blog and tried her recipe for fruit roll-ups since Matt's mother brought over some peaches. They turned out great. Matt said that if I hadn't told him they were 'home made' he would have thought I had gone out and bought fruit roll-ups. I thought they were better than store-bought but I was biased ;) Super easy and you know exactly what's in them!!
It was hot and E was tired so he's giving his scowl in most but she managed to get some great ones of him smiling.
I'd highly recommend her if you are local.
Also... I read this blog and tried her recipe for fruit roll-ups since Matt's mother brought over some peaches. They turned out great. Matt said that if I hadn't told him they were 'home made' he would have thought I had gone out and bought fruit roll-ups. I thought they were better than store-bought but I was biased ;) Super easy and you know exactly what's in them!!
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