Category: Family

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Ballerina Dreams

I remember being a little girl and being in the parent waiting area with my mom while my sister took ballet lessons. We could watch through a big, one-way mirror to see what the class was doing. I loved to watch my sister’s teacher dance to show the students how they needed to do the different moves. She was so graceful and so disciplined. I wish I could have taken ballet lessons.

I have this weird thing about my joints. It is especially noticeable in my elbows. Everything bends out way more than other people’s joints. Because of this, which I was born with and can’t do anything about it, the dance teacher told my mom that I could never be a ballerina. The way my elbows let my arms over-extend is not attractive or graceful. In ballet, the arms are almost as important as the feet.

It was humiliating to be told I was too ugly to dance. That hurt my feelings and self esteem for a very long time. But my sister doesn’t have this same problem with her joints, and she took ballet lessons for many years. She was very good at it. I wonder if she ever thinks about that and has has happy memories about dancing?

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Utility Trailers

My Uncle Carl has several utility trailers at his place. He uses them to haul all kinds of things, from yard waste to motorcycles. So when I started thinking about getting a small trailer to use with my Mazda SUV, I figured he would be the one to ask for advice on what to look for and where to buy one at a fair price. Well, he invited me out to his house to look around and have a talk, which is always nice. He is a very cool guy and I was grateful to be invited over.

After we walked around the farm and talked for while, he told me that I don’t really need to buy my own utility trailer. Since he lives only about 15 minutes – 20, with traffic or school buses – away from me, he said that any time I need to need one for me to just come on over to his place and get one of his. He said that as long as I didn’t keep it for more than a day or two, that it should never be a problem for him. So, I am going to take him up on his offer and not buy my own. That’s so sweet of him!

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Cooking from Scratch

This morning we have a lot of cooking to do, as we are all expected at my mother’s house for a family gathering. September is a big month for family birthdays, so a few years ago we decided to have one huge family party at my mother’s and each birthday person gets their own cake to blow out candles and we all pitch in to give each one a nice present that is opened in front of the whole crowd.

The big deal about the gathering, besides celebrating birthdays, is that everyone has to bring food with them and the food has to be prepared from scratch. No deli-bought potato salad and no store bought breads or frozen vegetables. I have to get to the store and buy some things and get busy in the kitchen.

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Happy Fathers Day, Dad

dad

My dad is a great guy. He works too much and plays hard. I’m glad that I “take after” him, except for the work too much part. I should back off a little from those long hours and make more time for family and friends.

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Baby Blog

One of my girlfriends is expecting a baby in August and I want to buy her some baby gifts. It is getting harder and harder to find unique baby gifts that will be useful and appreciated. But I am still searching.

Jenny started writing a blog and although it is not a day by day accounting of her pregnancy, it is a nice journal that she will be able to look back on and read, years down the road. I think that is really cool. I hope she keeps writing and adds some pictures of the baby after she is born. I think you can even export everything you’ve written and print it out as a scrapbook or diary. That would be unique!

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Hoppy Easter

I hope you have a Hoppy Easter, today. If the Easter Bunny finds your house, save some candy for me! I miss having little kids around to hunt for Easter Eggs and share their candies.

easterbunnyarch

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Happy Birthday, Billy

Today is Billy’s birthday. It’s a big one – the number of years ends with an 0.

It seems like just yesterday Billy was riding his skateboard down the sidewalk and jumping the curb. And breaking his arm.

We used to worry about Billy – what would he do to earn a living? Obviously he’s not destined to be a pro skate boarder – and that about broke his heart! Turns out he likes running wire and cable and is a mighty fine electrician.

Happy Birthday, Billy!

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Two Days of Thrills

With my boss out of town this week, no one will miss me much if I take off a couple days of personal leave and go do something fun. I’m not planning an official vacation this year. I thought I’d have more fun if I just tacked an extra day or two onto a weekend here and there.

So I invited my sister and my nephew to go to Atlanta with me for two days of roller coaster thrills at Six Flags. My nephew doesn’t really like a lot of the scarey rides – he’s just 4 years old anyways. But they have a great little kiddie park area with trains and planes and carousels. She can stay and watch him and I’ll head off for the roller coasters – they are my favorite.

I got a special price online that get the three of us in the park for half price, so we can go for two days for the price of one. That way we can stay overnight and not have to rush back the same night after being hot and tired from the rides and crowds. Of course, her husband is being an ass about her being away overnight. But he can’t get off from work and for goodness sake, she’s with me, sharing a cheap room for convenience. And safety. And we’re taking her kid. It’s not like we’re going to leave a 4 year old in the hotel room by himself and go out drinking or anything. And she sure as hell isn’t going to leave me in the room watching her kid so she can go out drinking. I mean, get real!

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Thinking About A Scooter

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my car. I bought my Malibu brand new, off the lot, with everything I wanted in it except for leather seats, and I was able to talk the dealership into having aftermarket leather seatcovers put on it – at no extra charge!

But with the cost of gas going up and up, I’m starting to wonder if I really need to drive this car every day and every where. Since my house is only 5-6 minutes from the office, it’s a little too far to walk (especially in the summer heat) but it’s close enough that I’m thinking that a quick scooter ride to work might be fun and it will save a bunch on gas.

I’ve seen a couple really nice Vespa scooters and they don’t cost very much. They get really great gas mileage – I’d only have to fill it up once or twice a month, and it’s a tiny gas tank! Of course, my Dad will freak out – he hates motorcycles. But its not like I’m turning into a Harley rider or anything.