Fun Monday - Confessions

The host of this week's Fun Monday is the mighty Lisa of Lisa's Chaos. The photographic and photogenic Lisa is asking us to confess our quirkiness.

Well, I have a lot to confess so find a comfortable seat. First, I rather delight in being a little eccentric. One of my favorite greeting cards, proclaimed on the front that I was like apple pie; the inside punchline noted that I was a little flaky on the outside but sweet on the inside. Another favorite memory is after a friend returned from the Big Easy with presents. He commented that he was looking for a gift for someone who is a nice person but a little weird. The gift was these whimsical crawdad earrings.

Another eccentricity is that I am a transvestite in that I wear clothes designed for the opposite sex. There are two reasons for this predilection. I do not like to shop, and I am frugal. (Of course, you might think frugality and disdain for shopping to be quirky as well.) My transvestism developed when my sons were teens and about my size. I have inherited numerous shirts, jeans, and even my oldest son's eighth grade deck shoes. At this time, my frugal self discovered that I could wear some of their clothes. In this picture, I am wearing my son's suit in a parody of the The Blues Brothers with Daddy D in our Sunday school class.

Additionally, I am directionally challenged. If I manage to get from point A to point B, I have a very difficult time retracing my steps. My directional dyslexia is so severe that I will print out Map Quest directions to places that I have visited a number of times and for locations a few miles from home. Oh yes, hopefully I will not get lost on my trip and need gas as I do not pump gas. My kind husband does this for me.

This may be enough to reveal about oneself's in a day. To learn about other visit the lovely Lisa, for this Quirky Fun Monday list of participants. I am looking forward to learning more about others. Aren't you?

Round Robin Challenge: Weed Gone to Seed

Today's Round Robin challenge is to post a picture showing that, "Weeds Can Be Beautiful Too." A weed, of course, is merely a wildflower in the wrong place. Pictured here is a dandelion relative, Yellow Goatsbeard, Tragopogon pratensis, that has gone to seed.


For a list of other participants, visit Carly at Round Robin Photo Challenge.

Fun Monday - Do I Wear On You?

The Hula Girl at Growing Older But Not Up is this week's Fun Monday hostess. For our Fun Monday assignment, Hula Girl is asking us to show those pieces of clothing we just can't part with, whether we wear them or not. Last summer, we completed a similar Fun Monday task so most of the following is from last summer's post.

There are two treasures that I have kept for a very long time. This picture of me and our oldest son from 1972 shows one of Daddy D's favorite skirts. The skirt is one that I inherited from my one of my older sisters, who are 4 and 7 years older than me. They wore these skirts in high school, and my sisters graduated from high school in 1957 and 1961. I shortened the skirt to fit the hemlimes of the seventies. The skirt is still in my closet. Although the button is popped, I can squeeze into the plaid school-girl looking skirt on occasion.

The oldest vintage piece of clothing that I can locate is this vest that my mother wore in the eighth grade, which must have been in 1929. The vest used to have black star-shaped buttons with rhinestone centers. I wore the vest for many years into adulthood. But now there is too much of me to wear this lovely vest.

To view clothes that other people cannot throw away, visit the forever young Hula Girl.

Addedum: After posting my Fun Monday entry, I came across these two shirts. When our sons were young, sometimes we would create colorful t-shirts using iron-on crayons. Young Luke made both of these creations.

The Byron t-shirt he made for my Dad.

Luke must have made the dinosaur shirt at age six or seven.

On the back of the shirt, Luke included his name and this remorseful dinosaur.

Fun Monday - Do Your Walls Talk to You?

This week's Fun Monday host is the kind and creative Jan of The Prytz Family. Jan is asking the Fun Monday folks to tell about their walls.

For my Fun Monday post, I have decided to show you my bedroom walls. The paint on the walls is the neutral White Linen from Sears. When we moved in our home, this room did not exist. Our little family of three, myself, Daddy D, and one-year old Dean, fit nicely in to our two-bedroom home. Two years after arriving, we added a another member to family. Since Luke was a little boy, we stayed with two bedrooms and one bathroom until our older son reached the seventh grade. Seventh graders, as some of you may know, take the longest showers so after Dean finished the seventh grade, we decided to add another bedroom to our little home and more importantly another bathroom. The new bedroom became the master bedroom. That was a few years ago...in 1985.

Over our big brass bed that I inherited from my parents, hang these three floral prints. The prints come from a collection of loose prints in a hard bound cover titled House & Garden's Flower Prints, which also belonged to my parents. This is the kind of document that the experts on the Antique Road Show would say, that in perfect condition, the collection would bring five to six thousand dollars, but with these staple holes in the corners of some of the prints, the collection is worth $2.59. In any event, since there are several prints, sometimes I rotate the selections.

Over a small bookcase, hang pictures of little Budgee (Daddy D's childhood name) and little Molly.
On either side of our closet hang the next two pictures. The first is a cross-stitch picture that my mother embroidered as a young woman. Featured in the stitching are women doing various household chores. Even though the cross-stitch portrays women in a domestic light, my mother was quite a feminist and worked outside the home for much of her adult years.


On the other side of the closet is a framed magazine cover of the February 1914 edition of Woman's Home Companion.

The oval frame is displaying dried flowers from Austria.

I won this framed Footprints of God at a state education meeting.

Finally, every time I see the picture of the big brass bed or when I say the words,"big brass bed," I remember this famous song by the great Bob Dylan. You might be humming the tune yourself.

Listen and then scurry on to visit our other Fun Monday particpants. See the list of good people at Jan's The Prytz Family.

Huge Announcement

Frema of What're you looking at and Luke of Useless Clutter are going to be parents to their second child in the early part of 2009. Of course, that means that Daddy D and I are going to be grandparents for the third time. Frema, our daughter-in-law, and our youngest son, Luke, are parents to our second granddaughter Kara Leigh. Some of you might remember that the winsome Kara was born in December of 2007. When Luke and Frema were expecting Kara, they told both sets of grandparents with a lovely card, delightful Easter basket, and a board book by one of my favorite illustrators, Sandra Boynton.

Luke and Frema's first child, Kara, investigating the friendly ducks on her feet.

This time, we officially knew about the new grandbaby on May 30th. However, Luke and Frema thought that a new baby might be on the way earlier in May. Like most modern couples, Luke and Frema, rely home pregnancy tests to ascertain the news about impending births. In fact, for Frema's pregnancy with Kara, she tested for positive results six times. Verification of this baby has been more elusive. You can read about the young couple's adventure of family growth by reading posts on Frema's personal blog and on her professional blog, Parental Discretion Advised, that she writes for Parents magazine. You should read some of the entries about this new baby; our daughter-in-law is a passionate writer. But, if you do not check out any of the other links, read about Luke's adventure to buy a home pregnancy test kit. You will not be sorry. This is a very funny and heart-warming story.

This Mother's Day, which is also the second wedding anniversary of the happy couple, I received basket full of lovely scents and the Willow Tree Grandmother figurine from the quickly growing family of Luke, Frema, and Kara. This thoughtful gift may be symbolic of my present status of grandmotherhood to my current grandchildren and to my next grandbaby. Stay tuned for more adventures in being a grandparent.

Fun Monday Update

Good news, the lovely and creative Jan of Prytz and Family has agreed to host Fun Monday adventure for June 16th. Jan already has posted her challenge. Visit Jan to sign-up for the next Fun Monday excursion.

Fun Monday - Up, Up and Away

I am excited and honored to host this week's Fun Monday. For your assignment, I would like you to describe a happy memory from your childhood. If possible, include pictures with your reminiscing. Perhaps, for some us remembering the past may bring back some unhappy times too. But, for today, let us remember the good times.

Like others, there were some dark memories from my youth. However, I do have happy memories of my childhood as well. Some of my joyful times were spent at my friends' house. Down the street, exactly one block from my home, lived my friends, Gwenie and Susan Kay*. To me, the girls and their little brother, Kim were the luckiest kids ever. Their extended family owned a toy store. Can you imagine that? The family seemed to have everything in the days when my family did not own a car. As I remember, I would wake up in the morning and head straight for the Kay's house and spend much of the day there at the good times house.

But, the toys were only part of the fascination of the luckiest family ever. Their home was a mecca for the neighborhood children. The sisters always were planning fun events for the rest of the neighbors. We had parades and talent shows. We sold lemonade to raise money for Korean children. We spent hot summer afternoons in a wading pool. We attended glorious parties. We pretended to make cement and to dig to the center of the Earth. Maybe pretended is not quite the right word, we (or at least I at age four) thought that we could actually dig to the center of the Earth or perhaps all the way to China.

Another strange pastime that I remember is "Going to Arcadia. " My friends had been to a vacation spot called Arcadia. Susan and Gwenie described Arcadia to be like paradise. The rest of the neighborhood children wanted to visit the perfect vacation spot, and the sisters were anxious to return to this wondrous resort. Now, how would preschool children take such a trip. The answer is simple to imaginative children. We would all pile in a glider swing, close our eyes, rock the glider, and wish with all our might that the swing would magically transport us to Arcadia, the Vacation Wonderland. Of course, we never quite made it to Arcadia, but we did have a fine time trying.

Pictured Me, Susan, Gwenie, and Linda -probably planning some adventure

To read about other happy memories, look for the list of participants in the Mr. Linky list in the following post. If you would like to retell a fond memory of your childhood, sign-up with Mr. Linky. Would you like to be the next Fun Monday host? Let me know in the comments. Chris B of Ms Cellania graciously lists the upcoming host, and Robin at Pensieve thoughtfully maintains a history of past Fun Monday assignments.

* Name changed to protect identities.

Update: The Mr. Linky link to Judy's post does not work. But you can read her Fun Monday happy childhood memories at her blog, Grand Life.

Plus, we are still looking for a volunteer to host next week's Fun Monday on June 16th. Let me know in the comments if you would like to be next week's host.

Fun Monday Assignment - June 9

I have the great honor of hosting Fun Monday this coming Monday, June 9th. For your assignment tell us about a happy memory from your childhood. If you have pictures, please show us your pictures. If would like to participate in this reminiscing, please sign-up with Mr. Linky. I am looking forward to reading about your happy childhood memories. The kind Karisma and the sophisticated Swampwitch have already committed themselves. How about you?

Fun Monday - Making It Myself (Sorta)

The lovely, talented, and witty Karisma of Karisma and Kids is this week's Fun Monday hostess. Our topic for this week is "I made it myself." Although growing up in a family of artists, marrying an artist, and being mother to an artist/cartoonist, I am not particularly artistic or adept at creating crafts. Both of my parents earned scholarships to an art school, and my father was offered a four year scholarship. My sister won several awards and ribbons for her works of art during her school years. Our son, Luke, had a cartoon published in his college newspaper, The Purdue Exponent. My husband had his name on his high school art cup for two years, which is usually an honor reserved only for seniors. On the other hand, my grade in art was usually a C or a B if the teacher was generous. My grade in home economics was a B-, a grade reserved for incompetent students, who tried. My artistic genes seem to be woefully lacking.

Thus, for this week's display, I am showing something that I made with the aid of my computer and with a little help from Daddy D. For some reason, I have inherited or claimed the task of making bulletin boards at our church. For the bulletin boards, I choose non-fading background paper, a theme, and a font for the letters. The letters are computer-generated, and Daddy D, the craftsman, cuts them with his Exacto blade.

This first bulletin board is actually a big wedding invitation. The pastor and his bride were married on St. Patrick's Day 2006, and they wished to invite the entire congregation to the festivities. Smaller take home invitations were available in the box.

This next display is an advertisement for our church website ComeGrowInGrace.Org, which was brand new at the time. Fellow blogger, Gawilli, is the webmaster.

Our current theme at church is "Light up the Darkness, which is based on the Bob Marley quote. "The people, who were trying to make this world worse... are not taking a day off.
How can I? Light up the darkness." Here is my attempt at interpreting that concept.

Even though my displays are modest and not exotic, I do enjoy creating each bulletin board and updating the board with the various activities and ministries of our church. To see other handmade, homemade creations and actually talented folks visit Karisma for a list of participants.