There were a couple of more things unearthed among Mom and Dad's belongings that I forgot to mention in my post yesterday. Here is a copy of the hospital bill from when Steve was born.
And here is a copy of the paper that the doctor gave as proof that Steve was vaccinated. I believe this would have been before he started kindergarten.
It's kind of fun to find these old documents. I'm not quite sure what to do with them, but now that I've posted them on my blog, I guess they will be preserved for as long as my blog lasts. It makes me wonder what kind of things I have saved that my children will find interesting after I am gone. I am not much of a saver, but I imagine there will be a few things that will surface that they will find fascinating.
The other thing that all the children received was a wedding picture of Mom and Dad. Of course we have seen it before, but I like to look at it and imagine them in their youth when they were just newly married.
Life is short, time is fast. No replay, no rewind. Enjoy every moment as it comes and thank God for the beautiful life that He has given to you.
This is the second time in my life that I have helped to empty a house of possessions that had been accumulating for approximately sixty years. (Not the house for 60 years, but the possessions for 60 years.) The first one was my parents house and now this one was Steve's parents house. His mother has decided that the house should be sold so she and her children and their spouses got together on Saturday to sort through everything that was her and Dad's belongings. Mom kept a few things for her rooms at her daughters' houses (for the near future she is alternating staying with each of them). The children and spouses chose the things they wanted. The grandchildren weren't there but each told their parents one item that they would appreciate having as a keepsake and for the most part were able to get their first choices. The family is planning another day when grandchildren and great-grandchildren can physically come and see what is there and they can take as many treasures as they would like. Probably most of what is left after that will be offered to a reuzit shop and maybe some refugee families. One way or another, everything will disappear. Just like that, what took sixty some years to accumulate will be gone in a matter of weeks. In some ways this is sad but I have learned through the years, that whenever there is an ending there is also a new beginning. It is hard to think that we will never again pull into the driveway of the house on Troy Drive to visit Steve's parents as we did our entire married life. However, someone will buy that house and be so excited for the new beginning that it gives to them. For those people, I am happy. It is a new beginning and adjustment for all of us, especially Mom, but can we manage to face it with some excitement? I hope so.
It was interesting to see the choices that the children and grandchildren made of things they wanted from what was once Mom and Dad's.
Here is our pickup truck laden with our goodies. As you can see, we got a riding mower and desk among some other things. (And we didn't think we needed anything!)
Our children's picks were even more interesting. There were some bigger items to choose from but all four of my children decided to go with smaller things for their first choice.
Shawn chose this train for Awstin who loves trains.
Jay chose a tractor and loader that Mark liked to play with when he visited Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma.
Josh chose this huge metal fork and spoon that Mom and Dad had hanging on their wall for as long as Josh can remember.
And Megan chose this: See video below for what it does.
In case you can't understand it, it says, "quack, quack, you missed me!"
I'm sure our children will probably choose a few other items when they walk through the house, but these are the things they chose first.
Along with the hard work of going through everything, we had some fun. Any idea who this man is looking in the closet with Mom?
Yup, it is Steve. Here he is with the wig still on and this time he added one of Dad's coats to his costume.
And so we begin a new journey. We are left with plenty of memories and while looking back is fine and good, it is also important to look forward and to embrace the new beginning that is here for all of us.
I'm looking forward to the future and feeling grateful for the past ~ Mike Rowe
Jay and Kristen spent this past weekend at a cabin with three other couples and so their four children spent that time with grandparents. Kristen's parents kept Mark and Hannah and we had Alexis and Lydia. On Friday afternoon, Alexis told me, "I've been looking forward to this weekend for so long. I could hardly wait and I can't believe it's finally here!" A grandparent loves to hear that. I know that there will probably come a day when Grandma's house isn't so exciting and I want to make every effort to enjoy this time and make memories with them that they will look back on fondly when they get older.
We had a wonderful weekend. Since the girls love my American Girl dolls I decided to surprise them and buy one new dress for each of the dolls. I bought one wedding dress and one beautiful purple dress that could either be for a bridesmaid or for any dress up occasion. The girls were absolutely delighted!
We also enjoyed several tea parties. The girls were ecstatic when I served them real food. We even made the water a little warm in the teapot and we all drank it and declared it was delicious tea.
On Saturday evening, our church had a Valentine's Banquet that we attended. This isn't the best of pictures, but if you look close you can see that Alexis is holding Samantha. Both girls took their dolls along and they got just about as much attention as the girls did!
For some reason the girls wanted their hair braided. I don't think I have ever seen it braided and I'm not sure what put that idea in their head except that I was braiding the dolls hair so maybe they wanted theirs braided too. They usually don't like me to touch their hair and I'm lucky if I get a brush through it. They both sat beautifully and I did the best I could, which wasn't that great, but they liked it so much and wanted to keep it in for the banquet.
They both like crafts--Alexis especially, so we spent a lot of time at the "craft" table. They loved making valentines and designing pictures with fake glitter. That stuff is amazing! It looks like real glitter but leaves no mess. Whoever designed that was a genius.
This was the coldest weekend of the year, so playing outside wasn't really an option. However, the girls got plenty of exercise on our exercise bike. This apparatus that isn't much fun for Steve or I provided loads of entertainment for these two girls!
Steve was outnumbered this weekend with all of us girls but he did his part by buying me the beautiful roses pictured above and he even bought some flowers for the girls (which I neglected to get a picture of). They were so happy! What girl doesn't love when a man brings her flowers?!?!
Several months ago, I noticed that our bathtub faucet was leaking. Somehow, Steve never noticed until I pointed it out to him several times.J
Finally, he made the necessary trip to Lowes and got a replacement part. I was delighted when he took the old part out, put the new one in and declared it a success. No more dripping faucet!
The next morning when I got in the shower and turned the knob, I was puzzled that there was no hot water. After fiddling with the knob for a little bit, I discovered that there was indeed hot water but the knob was on backwards! I have lived with Steve for almost 36 years so I knew that it would be a little while until he got around to correcting the problem so I didn't say anything but got somewhat used to turning the knob the "wrong" way to get hot water. Eventually Steve did change the knob so that the hot water came out when we turned it to the left and the cold water when we turned it to the right, BUT, the faucet leaked again! I was disappointed and Steve was disgusted.
Several days later (or maybe it was a week) Steve returned to Lowes and got the same new part again (sorry, I am challenged with plumbing so have no idea what it is actually called). This new part sat in our bathroom for quite a few days until finally, when we were expecting some guests the next day and I mentioned it would be nice not to hear that constant drip, Steve installed the new one. You guessed it! It continued to drip. (It is times like these that I really miss my father-in-law. Anytime I had plumbing issues I always called him and he was happy to come and fix it for me.)
Well, Steve had had about enough of this dripping faucet (and his complaining wife) so the next day he stopped at Home Depot and got the same new replacement part. I guess he thought maybe a different store would improve his luck. He took a little more time and cleaned out some rust and dirt from the pipes before installing this one. He put it on and we both held our breaths as he turned the faucet on and off. NO DRIP!!!
As of this writing, there is still no leaking coming from the faucet so I am cautiously optimistic. I'm not sure if Steve is happier about the fact that the faucet no longer drips or that his wife is no longer nagging him to fix it. As the saying goes, "happy wife, happy life!"
A couple of years ago, I began making soup one day a week during the winter months. I have continued doing this and although I didn't get started this year until after Josh & Julissa's wedding I am currently serving soup every Wednesday evening when the family comes for supper. I plan to continue this at least through February and probably part of March as well. Our table on Wednesday evening usually includes around seven of us and I think we all look forward to this time of eating together and catching up with each others lives. It is wonderful to have Josh & Julissa join us regularly now, too, since they are settled into married life and don't have to run from one end of the county to the other to see each other.
Some of my favorites soups to make are chicken corn, vegetable beef, taco, broccoli cheese, and chili. None of us like our food too spicy (except Jeremy) so I usually err on the side of caution and don't put a whole lot of zing in my soups. I have always loved chili, but I am hesitant to buy it at a restaurant because I find it is usually too hot (spicy) for my palate. This recipe that I have for chili has a secret ingredient in that I don't think you will find in most chili recipes. I first tasted it years ago when my friend (and boss at the time) Ginger brought some in to work. She mentioned that she was known for her chili and people often requested her to make it. I loved it! Of course I asked her for the recipe and I have been making it ever since. It is definitely not spicy but of course one can add more chili powder or other spices to please their own taste buds. I also usually add a few more beans and additional liquid to it as well, either tomato juice or v-8 juice--whatever I have on hand. If you follow the recipe exactly it is a pretty condensed soup.
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup Kellogg's All-Bran cereal or Bran Buds cereal
1 can (16 oz) red kidney beans, undrained
1 can (16 oz) peeled tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
In large saucepan, brown ground beef, onion and green pepper. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover. Cook over low heat about 1 hour or in a crock pot on low for six hours. Stir occasionally. Yield: 6 servings. Delicious on its own or served with tortilla chips and grated cheese.
