Monday, November 24, 2014

Thanks for the Memories!


 
Wow! Where has the year gone? I cannot believe how it has flown by and now we are approaching Thanksgiving. This time of year always bring the fondest of memories shared with my family. When I think of the things I am most thankful for I guess it is those memories that come to the front of my mind. The one thing great about memories and traditions; you can share them and build on them to make new ones.
The memory I have of the Thanksgiving holiday involves the smell of Mom's pumpkin pies, and coconut cake baking in the oven, and watching/helping her make her amazing cranberry relish. 
She would pull out her old crank-handle meat grinder and set up the giant bowl on the counter. We would begin by washing all of the fresh fruit (cranberries, oranges (navels), and apples. She would start chopping apples and oranges into small enough pieces to go through the opening of the grinder. . Mmmmmm all of those fruity smells would fill the kitchen. That smell can send me back through the years in a flash. Then we would start grinding. This was the fun, but tiring part. As the years went by I was allowed to do more and more until one day I made the whole batch myself. I can remember feeling like I was finally grown up. Oh Mom was still right there chit chatting or correcting me on this or that (lol even if I felt I had devised a much better method! :) ), but the time spent together I would not trade for the world. Now that Mom has passed away, I still have her crank grinder, but it sits on the shelf while I use my Kitchen Aid grinder attachment!
We have hit that "all grown up" milestone with my daughter Goo this year. She washed cut and grinded all of the ingredients, then finished off with sugar, crushed pineapple, and chopped nuts. When she was finished she pumped her arms in the air and said "yes! I did it all myself!"  A tear came to my eye (and for those of you that know me, that is a very powerful moment for me.)  I thought how proud I was, how proud Mom would be of her. I thought about the memories we were making. Years from now when she is making cranberry relish with her children, she will tell them how she learned to make it and how "Mom" didn't always want to do it her way but how special the time was together just sharing the same air space and loving each other. When I'm sad and I miss those I love I can hold on to those loving memories with all my might.
So if there is a bigger point to this blog...... Make Memories with those you love every chance you get. We are not guaranteed tonight much less tomorrow or Thursday. If you were gone tomorrow what memories would you leave behind? How many hours of overtime you worked? How much money you made? How clean your house was? I'm guilty of all of these mistakes myself. However, one crystal glass filled with a beautiful memory reminded me what I was forgetting. So I'm passing the reminder on to you!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Snap Crackle PRINT!!!!

Tonight I took my very first photography class. It was a beginners class (and boy is this chick a beginner!) I assumed that when I got in there I would feel very uneducated and photographically challenged. In some ways my assumptions were correct, in others I was pleasantly surprised to understand the explanations coming from the professional teaching the class. I love pictures. Not just the say "cheese kind", but those candid unforgettable moments that are preserved for a lifetime that we treasure. You know what I mean..... the moment your child opens up the perfect Christmas gift that they knew for sure he or she would never get, or the sunset that was so beautiful it made you want to cry. I've tried to take pictures like these only to realize that what I saw didn't come through the camera so great.
Well, now I know what the buttons and gadgets can do on the camera.
 Not all of them, but many. I was also reminded that the best way to preserve pictures is to have them printed and put in albums like "back in the day." Did you know that while individuals take more photos than every before that less than 10% of the pictures taken are ever printed? The instructor pointed out that this mean our grandchildren and great grandchildren will never find that shoebox full of old family pictures like we may have. Sure we save them on computers, thumb drives, and CDs, but these devices will be obsolete some day and we run the risk of loosing the ability to retrieve the photos. As he said this I was thinking of going back through my blog posts and looking pictures of
Goo that I have taken, and true to form, few are printed. I kept thinking, "Wow! She was so little," or "I forgot about these!" No more. From now on my goal is to print as much as I can to capture and preserve memories for her in a way that she can enjoy when I am long gone from this earth.

Oh and BTW, tomorrow night is the ADVANCED CLASS!!!! Yikes!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

I'm BAAAAACCKK!!!!

Hello Readers, all the rumors about me being dead are NOT true. I simply took a looonnnggg vacation from blogging. My BFF is always telling me I need to blog again, so after filtering all of the "where have you been!???" computer stuff I'm back and here goes!!!!

Since my last post several years ago..... I know... don't judge me, please, I have completed an Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and a Master's degree in Psychology. In addition I have become a homeschool mom for my wonderful 11-year-old daughter, and Origami Owl independent designer
         
 
 and partner in a corn hole construction business with my he-man honey.

                                                                                                        I don't have enough space to catch anyone up on everything at once but I have returned to the land of the blogging, and will fill you in little by little.   Glad to be back!!!!!