My Dad and the Things He Used to Say

My dad

Just after Mother's Day, I posted about things my mother taught me, and so, on this Father's Day, it seems only fair to dedicate a blog post to my dad. Dad taught me a lot of things, too, and I remember many of them in the form of little sayings that he repeated so many times that I'd never be able to forget them even if I wanted to.  In fact, my siblings and I find ourselves repeating these "dad-isms" to each other and to our family members on a regular basis. 1.  "You can always get more, but you can't put it back."   This one was most often spoken at meal times and could pertain … [Read more...]

Three Things My Mother Taught Me

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After reading lots of moving tributes to mothers yesterday on Facebook, I was thinking of my own mother and how grateful I am for all that she taught me.  My mother was a wise woman who raised six children who love her and love each other.  She's gone now, but her life lessons live on. I'd like to share just three of the many things I learned from my mother: 1.  Housework isn't all that important.  With six kids, Mom certainly did her share of housework, but it was not her top priority.  Our home was clean enough to be safe and messy enough to be comfortable.   I remember … [Read more...]

The Day Before Easter with the Family

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March 30, 2013, marked the second annual gathering of Grandpa's side of the family at our house for an Easter celebration.  After last year's gathering, I evaluated the event, and determined to make a few changes.  For the most part, I changed the things that I wanted to change and kept the things that worked so well last year. Let me share the highlights of this year's events with you. 1.  Beautiful weather After a winter and spring filled with cold, snowy weather, we enjoyed a dry, sunny day for our gathering.  Praise the Lord for His blessing of sunshine on our family time!  I … [Read more...]

How I Celebrated My 55th Birthday

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I'll bet you all were wondering what I was going to do to celebrate this momentous day when I became eligible for a senior discount at Burger King. Here's what I did today: 1.  Had decaf coffee this morning since we were out of regular. 2.  Rode to State College, Pennsylvania, with Jack on this beautiful cold but sunny winter day. 3.  Shopped at Goodwill where we bought a whole cart full of clothes for Jack at .39 per item.  Eleven items of clothing for $4.29. And that's without a senior discount which Goodwill gives on Sundays and Tuesdays. 4.  Visited the new Trader … [Read more...]

When Love Shows Up

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Sometimes love shows up in a fancy red Valentine or a heart shaped box of chocolates.   And sometimes love shows up in a heart shaped mud puddle in the middle of the road. I so much wanted to write a profound post about love and heart shaped mud puddles, but I'm coming up empty! You'll have to admit that the heart shaped, snow-covered puddle is pretty cool.  I'm going to let it speak for itself today. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!         … [Read more...]