Over the Fence

Post #937. It's not 1000, but it's the end.

2012-01-14T13:28:00.002-06:00

All things come to an end.

When I began this blog, it was with the simple intention of recording my family stories and hosting a forum where my husband's family and my own family could keep in touch with our lives, especially in the case of those far away who we rarely see.

I thought that people might write (comment) at least once in a while in response; you know to let me know they're out there, or to share some news of their life.

The surprising blessing was the friendships made along the way, with a few faithful family members whom I wouldn't have had the easy chance of getting to know if it hadn't been for the blog, and the modern-day-pen-pals that I made around the globe.

There were also connections made through mention of particular subject matter involving history that only resurfaced because of my writing about it here. Many of those contacts were only known to me, behind the scenes, through emails.

But all things come to an end.
     Romance doesn't last, love is sometimes questionable, jobs change, roles change, and...
...    sometimes one's effort comes to an end because of lack of enthusiasm either on the part of themselves or others. There will now be more time to devote to my monthly column, to see where that might lead. My photography will continue and will be shared on my Facebook page because that's where it seems to have been met with the most enjoyment.

I also have a book project that I've begun compiling.

So without further delay, I bid you fond farewell.

Remember: All of my 936 posts are
available to read on the archive
(see the bottom of this page). ☺

Post #936. God shook the glitterdome...

2012-01-13T11:22:00.002-06:00

Post #935. More snow. More art.

2012-01-12T14:14:00.002-06:00

Some stitch, crochet, scrapbook, or stamp. I draw and paint, decorate, organize, am musical, but mostly...
... I create art with my camera.
Photos should reflect art.

That's my motto.

Rarely a day goes by where I don't partake in some sort of photography. I love it. Here are my latest from today.

"Come here often?"

"Table for Two"

Humans are as individual as snowflakes, but a whole lot noisier.

Shelter from the storm. There are 3 cardinals in here (one is a female)

Snow is God's art.

Snow on Magnolia buds.

"Where's the birds?"
Winston knows this phrase. As soon as I ask it, he jumps up on the bed post and this is how he looks (the feeder is right outside the window). Yes, those are Christmas lights in the background - I've decided to leave up year-round the crystal lights on the headboard.

Some sort of a hollowed-out goard.

Snow on the blooming roses in my parents' yard.

My morning drive as the storm arrived. A lonesome stretch of road.

Post #934. Wolf Moon. Take Two.

2012-01-11T17:21:00.002-06:00

Post #933. Ornaments. 370.

2012-01-11T03:00:00.000-06:00

Meant to share this around January 2 when we took the tree down, but I was busy writing about other things and we're only a week out from the official Twelve Days of Christmas so...

I thought I had 500+ but nope.

I counted them.

For the first time ever, in all of my years of putting up and taking down a Christmas tree, I laid out all of the ornaments so that I could take a photo of them and counted them.

There were 370+ (I didn't count the few broken ones left in the box or the ones on Sarah's tree).

It's a 39-year collection thus far. I want to have at least 500, so I'll need to keep buying.

The 370 fill every outer branch of the tree, but there's still the inner branches. I like a full tree like that!

Goodbye sweet tokens of remembrance... until this next Christmas, which will be here so much sooner than we can even imagine!

My 4th grade clay ornaments

This is one of my favorite groups of ornaments - they're special to me because I bought them with my own money when I was around Sarah's age. Cheap ornaments even then, from Frank's Nursery & Crafts. But I love them just the same. They are a reminder of my simple beginnings.

This is an ornament given to me by my high school boyfriend. It was the beginning of my love of Moons and Stars....

This one was also received at that time of life from his family

I made many ornaments over the years

I really like old-world, mercury-glass ornaments from Germany and Poland and have picked up old collections over the years online. Every year my Mom will look at the tree and comment about the Santa ball ornaments because they look similar to some ornaments that she and Dad purchased when they were first married. No Mom - these are not your ornaments. I bought them on eBay.

Jim has bought me many ornaments over the years - I love anything that looks old and vintage, using old fashioned tinsel.

More moons...

The growing owl collection of course.

This Wizard Santa is another ornament that makes me smile. I bought this at a flower/gift shop on a hill near the train station where I took the train to work in Chicago each day in my twenties. My taste in ornaments runs like my taste in clothes and jewelry - they must be unusual and not ordinary.

Post #932. Happy 20th Birthday, Jennifer

2012-01-10T02:00:00.005-06:00

Dear daughter Jenny,

When I was a young girl, one of my favorite pajamas was a long, flannel nightgown inscribed with "My Heart Belongs to Daddy".

That quote is what initially comes to mind when I think of you.

You are fiercely loyal to all those you love, but especially so of your Daddy. ☺

Even when physical distance separates, you avidly make a point of bridging the miles by faithful visits, phone calls, and texts throughout the year.

You are not only beautiful, sensitive, and artistically talented, but you have a most remarkable entrepreneurial spirit that will surely take you far in life.

While your teen years are now officially over, your adult life has just begun. ♥ There are so many wonderful, joyous occasions to look forward to in the years ahead.

My hope is that you'll fully embrace each and every day that the Lord blesses you with, even if the topic of faith remains a mystery.

Life is full of mystery.

I think fondly on the night of December 10th when we were taking the long way home through my old hometown in order to kill some time since we were ahead of schedule for your sister's party, and how you, your older sister, your Dad and I were all having an interesting talk about the mysteries of life (or "religion" as it was so mentioned).

My thoughts are that it's only the most intelligent people who actually ponder these mysteries.

So many people run through life at such a rapid pace, absorbed in their own obsessions, that they truly miss out on why we're really here.

It's a wonderful blessing to know that you think on the deeper meaning of life, that you look beyond yourself and show love to others, and that you take the time for what really matters.

Happy 20th Birthday!

With much love,
your "2nd Mom"

Post #931. Wolf Moon and Roses.

2012-01-09T18:04:00.000-06:00

The January full moon is known as the Wolf Moon.

It was particularly haunting this morning as it began to set while we were leaving for work at 6:30 a.m. All I have with me is my smaller purse-size Nikon and I snapped this photo before I left the driveway. Grainy quality, but I like it just the same as it appears all spooky behind the tree branches.

There is obviously a natural climate change that has been occuring over the past many years. Our winters are not what they once were here in the north. The lakes and rivers don't completely freeze over anymore, if at all. We still normally get some very cold snaps, but they never last more than a few days and any snow cover that arrives from storms, doesn't hang around very long.

The ground is soft enough to work in, nothing is dormant, buds are on the trees, some leaves are opening, and the roses in my parents' yard are still continuing to bloom. I meant to take some pictures of them a few weeks ago when they were fresher. They are a little weary now after the last cold snap, but still are opening.

Post #930. Typing 101. Life 101.

2012-01-08T22:15:00.001-06:00

I really love the typewriter key jewelry that my husband bought me for Christmas.

I'm a writer, but first and foremost a typist.

Mrs. Mulcahy's high school typing class. There was another business teacher as well but her name escapes me. I mostly remember Mrs. Mulcahy, and to this day I never rest my wrists along the bottom of the keyboard and I still type 120 wpm.

Typing has been a part of my life since I was 14 years old.

The keys on my jewelry are from the really old machines like the ones my Mom used, though I too learned on a regular old-fashioned typewriter.

Back space.
We have to do that often in life.

Nothing new to report on my husband's health issue. Will wait and see what tests reveal, if anything.

Daughter has returned from her weekend in the south at her ailing Grandpa's; thankfully did not have to wear the black dress she had packed, and they had a blessed time together, though she also spent a fair amount of time wandering alone in the woods and pastures of the vast property, taking photography, thinking, observing, talking to the animals.

While she was 8 hours away Saturday, I drove through the blackness of night on the rural country road not lit by anything other than the cloud-obscured moonlight and headlights, with Jim in wrenching pain beside me, and a thousand numb thoughts swirling through my mind. Mostly I felt scared, as he reminded me that, no matter what happened, he loved me.

None of us ever know what's around the bend. In some ways it seems like it was yesterday when I was learning to type in that high school class, and even closer in the past is Christmas morning when Jim gave me this jewelry. In other ways those times, even the near ones, seem long ago.

Sarah texted me as I sat bedside in the ER that we must have done something wrong and that God hated us, though she doesn't seem to remember those exact words now.

No. God loves us.

Yet this is part of living in the world that we live in. It's intermingled with joy and grief.

I've said and written it before and I'll do it again - a new year is just another day of living.

Post #929. Walking it out.

2012-01-07T20:25:00.003-06:00

60 degrees, sunny.
This is January 7, 2012
in the north, of all places.

Doesn't make sense.

Lots of things don't make sense.

The day should have been glorious from the beginning.

It wasn't.

But it improved...
... with a walk in the woods.

that is until around 8:00 p.m. when 2012 proved yet again to be one of the worst starts of a new year ever, with a very scary trip to the ER for Jim. All is well at the moment, but who ever knows where the next moment leads. I wish that more moments would simply lead to a relaxing walk in the woods.

Post #928. Unseen and yet revealed.

2012-01-04T19:00:00.000-06:00

It's a crooked world out there.

I become more and more disillusioned with what I see and experience in the human race all the time.

... but that's okay.

Christ is the visible image
of the invisible God.
He existed before anything
was created and is supreme
over all creation.

Colossians 1:15

No one will ever humanly have all the answers to the great mystery of faith, of life, but I will choose to believe in the unseen God all the days that I'm here, in whose glory is surely revealed all around us.

Post #927. Everyday.

2012-01-04T01:00:00.002-06:00

Today is the return to the everyday. While I like routine in fair measure, I crave something more.

Post #926. January Newspaper Column. It's home for now.

2012-01-03T14:31:00.002-06:00

Kelley: Can’t imagine living elsewhere now

By LINDA KELLEY
Rantoul Press columnist

This is my first column of 2012 and the beginning of my fifth year of writing for the Rantoul Press.

I noticed a “picture yourself in Rantoul” commercial on television one recent evening and smiled.

It was 16 years ago that we passed by the old slogan of “Make it Rantoul” on a billboard along Interstate 57 on the way to my parents’ house and cynically joked that it might be a sign from God since we were exploring different options towards a move to Central Illinois.

The joke was apparently on us, considering a job opportunity arose and we settled in this very place that I had honestly never heard of.

What this truly suburban-Chicago girl thought would be a temporary stop, a layover so to speak en route to a permanent destination, has somehow become our home, at least for now.

To quote one of my favorite childhood books, which I have a habit of doing because they obviously influenced my thought patterns, Ellen Tebbits’ best friend Austine Allen mentions repeatedly how much she misses her former state of California when she moves to the annoyingly-rainy Oregon. (“Ellen Tebbits” by Beverly Cleary)

Nothing in her new residence compares to her old hometown. Her friends patiently listen to her lament, time and time again, how much she misses her old home.

Finally, during a disagreement where so often the truth comes out, Ellen blurts out how tired she is of hearing Austine go on and on about California and that if California was so great, she should very simply move back there.

Those were hurtful words, in a fit of rage, and yet I imagine there have been moments in these past 16 years when my friends probably felt like blurting out Ellen’s response to me, because I’ve very much felt and spoke like Austine Allen, out of place, away from home.

I’ve never really felt like I belonged here, having no connection to the former Air Force base, no alumni devotion to any of the schools, having lived my history elsewhere.

And yet oddly enough, this has become home.

It’s where a chain of events occurred that diverted the course of my direction.

It’s the only hometown that our youngest daughter has known, where we moved my parents nearly seven years ago, where I returned to work and found an outlet for my writing.

While I still complain about the lack of real Chicago-style pizza and Italian beef sandwiches, and the individual butcher shops and bakeries that were so readily available in the city, I can’t imagine, at this time, living anywhere else.

Much of my connection to another place in time simply involves the memories associated with that place that can never be duplicated.

Life contains many different sets of memories within each stop along the way, and I imagine that someday, if we move from this area when our daughter has moved out and my parents have gone onto their heavenly home, I may feel the same wistful connection to something that no longer exists and will remain unattainable elsewhere.

There’s a quote at the end of one of my favorite movies, “Under the Tuscan Sun,” which is also a book by Frances Mayes, that says, “Any arbitrary turning along the way, and I would be elsewhere. I would be different.”

Somehow I believe that we each end up exactly where we’re supposed to be for a time of life and that home is where you make it and what makes you who you are.

Linda Kelley of Rantoul writes a monthly column for the Rantoul Press on life experiences and family and social issues. She also writes a blog, which can be accessed at http://my-over-the-fence.blogspot.com/

Post #925. Not-so-guilty pleasure

2012-01-03T14:09:00.003-06:00

Sitting in the antique rocking chair where my Grandmother, Grandfather, Mother, and I as a little girl, have sat while on this earth, in the warmth of the sunlight on a frigid January day, reading a collection of magazines. This is the way I spent a portion of January 3rd on my last day of Christmas vacation. Lazy moments can be good. Very good.

Post #924. Our New Year's Eve.

2012-01-03T01:00:00.004-06:00

Who would ever be ready for this to end?

Not I.

Celebrated our "adopted daughter's" 16th Birthday. She was born just a few slight minutes past Midnight on New Year's Day. It's the only time I've ever served and ate Birthday Cake at 12:05 a.m. but we've done this two years in a row. :)

Should have taken a video of our super fantastic whistle band. Ha ha. These were in the "musical crackers".

Truth: I'm not happy unless I'm planning the next big event. Guess I better get busy.

P.S. I adore this picture of Jim and I. Truth: he would have liked for me to post the picture of him without the curl in the middle of his forehead, but truth - I like this photo better than the other one. You can see them both here in the smaller snapshots from my totally awesome Facebook albums.

When the fiddle had stopped singing Laura called out softly, "What are the days of auld lang syne, Pa?"

"They are the days of a long time ago, Laura," Pa said. "Go to sleep now."

But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa's fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods.

She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the firelight gleaming on the honey-brown fiddle. She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting.

She thought to herself, "This is now." She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa, and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.
~Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods

Post #923. Winter joy.

2012-01-02T12:28:00.002-06:00

I'm never overly optimistic

and am entirely wary
towards anything new,

but I am always
entertained by
simple, classic beauty.

Glad for a true winter morning on this January 2, a couple of more days off, and taking photos of a cardinal outside the window.

Post #922. True light.

2012-01-01T22:27:00.001-06:00

The week between Christmas and New Year's Day is very depressing for many people.

It is the case for those in our house.

Ice Skating broke the mood briefly on Friday night.

Energy resumed and we dismantled and stored all of the Christmas lights and decorations.

In a house suddenly devoid of an array of festive, artificial light, a golden light reflected along a darkened wall and caught my eye.

I ran to look out the window and this is what I saw. A reminder of all that I come from and in whose plan my life is contained.

The first sunset of the new year.

I have come into the world as a light,

so that no one who believes in me

should stay in darkness.

John 12:46

Post #921. Endings to beginnings. Skate Away.

2011-12-31T10:38:00.001-06:00

Gleam of ice, and glint of steel,

Jolly, snappy weather;

Glide on ice and joy of zeal,

All, alone, together.

Fickle Spring! Who can imprint her?

Faithless while she's captivating;

Here's to trusty Madame Winter.

You

Skating!

~ e.e. cummings

Today is the 10th Anniversary of our Engagement. :)

Last night, we went ice skating. Wish there was a river to skate away on, but none are even frozen in this lack of Winter.

Sarah went off to spend the night with her friend and Jim and I watched Midnight in Paris, which thoroughly captivated me. The storyline about a young couple forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own might be better, and the recognition that the "golden age of yesteryear" is actually the age we're living in right now, could have been written entirely for me. It has all the elements of the way I have always thought about life.

Tonight, we'll figuratively skate into the new year. Changes are on the horizon in many forms.

This blog, while it might survive existence, will take on a new much-leaner form.

However you choose to usher in the New Year, hope it's safe and joyous. Life is far too short to be caught up in past regrets. Embrace those you love tonight and think only on the present joy.

Another year passes on in the blink of an eye.

Post #920. New Year's Eve. 10 Years.

2011-12-29T12:00:00.002-06:00

I've always adored New Year's Eve.

The neighbors stopping by for drinks and treats around the bar in our family room meant my sisters and I would get all sorts of yummies like mixed nuts, seemingly-exotic crackers with names like "melba toast", cookies, candies and falling asleep to the laughter of our parents and their friends against the clink of glassware and music.
Watching Lawrence Welk and Guy Lombardo's New Year's Eve Specials and Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve, until the ball dropped in Times Square and wistfully wishing for that moment to be there.
Auld Lang Syne - easily one of my favorite songs ever. Yes, it makes me wistfully sad and yet happy at the same time, and yes, that's why I love it.
Clanking pots and pans out the opened-front door and flicking on and off the porch light at Midnight (something we still do every year, even though we're the only ones in the neighborhood making any noise).
In my late teens and twenties, small parties with friends at the home of my boyfriend, where I'd always dress very pretty in something special.
Wearing feather hats, and playing Twister with our two youngest daughters in the Living Room, until Jim fell over in one tricky Twister move, and they attacked him with hugs.
Celebrating Sarah's best friend's New Year's Day Birthday at the last strike of Midnight with a Birthday cake and presents right then.

None of my New Year's Eve memories involve driving anywhere or being out in a crowd of strangers.

All of my New Year's Eve memories involve being with those I love in a celebratory, intimate, festive setting.

For me, it's the most bittersweetly-romantic night of the year, because of its symbolic ending to another passage of time, where it can't possibly contain all of the memories of loved ones past and present so those nostalgic remembrances overflow as the champagne over the rim of a glass.

New Year's Eve and my love for this night, was made even more significant, when 10 years ago this New Year's Eve, 2011, Jim proposed to me, right before the strike of Midnight.
It doesn't get anymore romantic than that. ♥

Cheers!

Here's a photo below taken on the very night that Jim proposed.

December 31, 2001

And here's a look back at many New Year's Eves...

12-31-02

12-31-03
At my parents house when they lived further downstate, where Jenny and Sarah tried out Dad's wacky leg stimulators and a fun time was had by all. Note that this was when I had my broken elbow (from the December 26, driveway Bicycle accident - it was near 70 degrees the day after Christmas in 2003)

12-31-04

12-31-06 (don't know what happened in 2005, but must have been an exceptionally quiet New Years - no photos)

12-31-07

12-31-08

12-31-09

12-31-10

Post #919. A few favorites.

2011-12-28T16:39:00.003-06:00

In case you missed it - Post #917 on Monday, December 26th, is where I displayed a screen shot of all several hundred photos from the past week at our house. As mentioned in that post, the screen shots from my fb albums, don't show the full photos. As promised then, here's just a few enlargements of some of my personal favorites.

Baking Afternoon - 3 generations.
Even though we've lived next door to my parents for many years now, it's the first time we've ever done this Christmas Baking Afternoon. Just us girls, tea, coffee, treats, baking, talking, laughing. It was truly one of the best afternoons ever.

Girls.
We know about girls at our house. My parents have only 4 daughters, and these are 6 of their 8 Granddaughters. Hanging out at our house, on Christmas Eve, before our Noontime dinner.

Family.
Jim's December 24th Birthday was shared with the annual Family Christmas Get-together. I'm pretty sure that the last time we all got together right on Christmas Eve, Sarah was the only Grandchild and we were at my parents house when they lived farther downstate.

Sisters.
Here we are looking surprisingly close in height, even though Ann is shorter. I must have been slouching.

Nostalgic.

When my sisters and I were little, it was either our Aunt Mary or "Grandma McMillen" (not really our Grandma, but Aunt Mary's Mother-in-Law, who became our "adopted Grandmother" since we didn't have living Grandparents), who gave us each a little cone angel one Christmas that became part of our annual decorations. Somewhere along the way, they disappeared. I searched online this year for a similar angel because I thought it would be neat if all of the cousins could have one to share the connection. Turns out my sister Barb was also searching online for the cone angels. While neither one of us could find the exact same angels, I did find these charming, old fashioned angel ornaments, made by the sweetest lady on Etsy (a former Illinoisan who now lives in North Carolina). I bought 6 so... that each of the cousins could have to keep in their Christmas traditions year after year, to remind them of their connection to one another. I made a little "cousins tag" with a photo of all of them to connect to each angel. Here's the girls with their angel ornaments. The woman who made them was so kind - she even included an additional one for me to keep.

Table Decor.
I changed table decor for each and every December celebration. These are a few views of the December 24th tables. Between Dad and us, we have a collection of banquet tables that we move right into our tiny little house to seat all 15.

Christmas Eve Night.
The most magical night of the year. Even though we didn't have snow until Tuesday's dusting, it was a clear, cold, moonless night. Far away from the cities, we have a great view of the starry sky. Here was my quick photo off the back patio at dusk on Christmas Eve. All is calm, all is bright. Silent Night.

Cute Husband.
What can I say. I love this picture of Jim on Christmas morning and how he looks in his new cute hat, that he had just opened. It suits him with his beard.

Handmade with love.
Sarah's boyfriend Anthony (they've been together over a year which is longer than some marriages last), made her this wonderful sculpture of a Diana Camera that Sarah admired. He's such a great artist. The sculpture is accurate down to the smallest detail.

Christmas Day Night.
Just a couple of last pictures from the Christmas Day festivities.

Post #918. First Snow. First License. December 27.

2011-12-27T15:00:00.003-06:00

~ It wasn't on Christmas,
but it's still Christmas Week.

~ a reminder that the Twelve Days
of Christmas really
only begin on Christmas Day

~ It was short-lived,
all but a dusting remains,
the rest melted in the
warmth of the midday

...   but it was SNOW.   Finally. Our first real snow of the season, meager as it was.

In this case, the "early bird gets the snow pictures". I woke around 3:00 a.m. to see it falling, but went back to sleep.

Jim woke me this morning with news that it was melting quick and he knew I'd want to take photos.

So, for the first time of the season, I pulled on my favorite snow boots and ventured out, Nikon D90, two lenses in tow.

In all that I do, I aim to capture life as art, because that's what life is. Art.

Artful expression, intricities of beauty in nature's detail, God's great palette.

There is also an art to letting go.

Today - Sarah received her Driver's License.

The transaction was the easy part

      Since she had already passed the road test through her official state instructor at the high school, the visit to the DMV involved nothing more than a few signatures and the driver's license photo. Didn't even have to pay because we already paid when she received her permit.

The second part of the transaction is the hard part.

     She's out now picking up one friend to do a photo shoot in town. No more reminders from Mom in the car and I can tell you this is the terrifying part of the transaction. The art of letting go.

Post #917. The typical December 26 letdown

2011-12-27T10:00:00.001-06:00

2 milestone Birthday Celebrations that included surprises, flying in daughters, months of planning, coordinated decor, presents, wrapping, cake building, menu planning, cooking, creating.
Decorating every nook of our home and yard, adding to the outdoor display as the weeks progressed and fighting against the rain elements of the December "monsoons" to keep it lit.
4 Christmas celebrations that again included shopping, wrapping, menu planning, cooking, baking and special decor
1 special baking afternoon with three generations - Mother, daughter, granddaughter
The annual drive around town to take in the Christmas displays
Dinner at my parents
A Chemistry Christmas Magic Show at the U of I
Studying for finals, nagging about studying for finals, the very successful completion of finals and the best grades ever received during a semester of high school, at our house.
The successful completion (A+) of behind-the-wheel driver's education and passing the road test (just have to go pick up the license and we have an official 16-year-old driver)
Last minute mall shopping with daughter and her friend, lunch together
Christmas movie nights
So much time for me in the kitchen that I felt like I was on a 24-hour marathon of Food Network's Iron Chef America

... I'm sure I'm forgetting some items, but in a nutshell - this is our December.

After literally months of planning, buying, wrapping... it was all over with, just like that.

Just like I knew it would be and yet still catching me unprepared for the let down.

The let down, the afterglow of the festivities which results in the day-after-Christmas depression, hit our whole household.

How many 16-year-olds do you know who lament on their Facebook page that life goes too quickly, that Christmas is too fleeting.... ?

Ours does. All three of our daughters are sentimental and I am the Queen of sentimental sadness.

Even Jim felt the mood yesterday. We basically laid around all day. I tried to hide under a cover on the couch.

Sarah escaped for the evening to her friend's house, giving me a hug and a kiss goodbye, assuring me that she would return today and that we would have a houseful of girls tonight for a sleepover and that hey - maybe we could play some board games, or TWISTER. :)

Even Winston had simply had too much excitement.

Here's a snapshot view of my Facebook photo albums of the past week of celebrations. The snapshot view doesn't show you the complete photo and cuts off heads, etc., but you get the idea. Over the coming days, I'll feature some of my favorite photos enlarged. In the meantime...

Hold close to the ones you love,

for we will not pass this way again.

Post #916. Happy Birthday, Jim - on Christmas Eve

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Jim,

Before you, I never knew anyone that had a Birthday on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve has always been my favorite night of the year because of the inimitable magic involved in the anticipation of this night.

The sky, if cloudless, always seems clearer, the stars much brighter; or the snowflakes hold more glitter on Christmas Eve.

It seems perfectly suitable then to me, that you, the one with the most giving, selfless, spirit should be born on this perfectly special day on the eve of profound giving.

I wish I would have known you earlier in life, and yet everything comes together in timing, and so my knowledge of you only begins here...

... when we were still young, but old enough to know better. ☺

Our girls weren't babies then, but they were little girls.

It's difficult to believe that eleven years have passed since we first met.

Since I have a tendency to think back and compare, I was thinking that at 55, my Dad also had a 16-year-old daughter (me), but also twins that were age 11, and the youngest daughter at age 9 and those were some of my parents most vibrant, happy years at the Orland Park house.

You and I began much later but I hope for continued good health for both of us, so that we can enjoy these many happy years to come.

Even though you're sharing your Birthday this year with the Family Christmas Get-together, I hope that I make the day special enough for you to know that you are fully loved and appreciated.

♥ Happy Birthday, Jim ♥

I love you,
Linda

Post #915. Birthday Week.

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

It's all very calm now.

Seems there's always a last something to pick up at the store, but two little half days and my paid work has ended for 2011, and I'm very much looking forward to simply being off.

I have to run Sarah to the mall, probably on Wednesday, because she wants to pick up another pine-scented candle for her room, and needs to buy one last-minute gift. Other than that, we plan on watching a ton of Christmas movies, which I've compiled in a DVD folder, doing a little baking, and preparing for Jim's Birthday which is on Saturday, December 24.

No one with December birthdays is slighted at our house. He has a bunch of Birthday presents and they're all wrapped in a really cool, holographic birthday wrap.

Just finished up a banner and will work on his cake at the end of the week.

Today, Sarah is taking her final exam for Driver's Ed/Behind the Wheel.

Oh yeah, and for the first time in many years on Christmas Eve, my sisters and their families are driving down from Chicago to celebrate our family Christmas on Jim's Birthday at Noontime.

I think it's actually cool that he celebrates his Birthday on the holiday when we celebrate our Savior's Birth and it's even more appropriate that Jim with his very giving spirit, is connected with a holiday of giving.

All is Calm

All is bright

Post #914. Cash Cab.

2011-12-16T07:00:00.001-06:00

It could have easily been a "cash cab" for us.
In order for this video/sound clip to make sense, you would have had to have read the entire segment of Birthday posts from earlier this week. (They're always available by clicking back through the posts at the end of this blog page)

This was just one of the numerous people who approached our orange van after the concert and I only thought to record this little segment. The reason you can't really see anything is because I didn't want to hold the camera in the guy's face and I was still laughing so hard that this was happening, so I just sort of held the camera inside the van.

Listen to it carefully a couple of times and you'll see how crazy fun that experience was.

Jim: "We're waiting for Eric Clapton"

Background: "Is this a cab?"

... too much.

Post #913. Blue.

2011-12-15T17:35:00.003-06:00

I was always all about white lights only.

In my first marriage I never even allowed a blue light anywhere.

People change.

I love our Christmas display. This isn't even half of all we could have put out. I was raised by the best, the master of outdoor displays.

Dad won the local contests year after year. I've wrote about it here on the blog before.

Every year, no matter how well Jim tapes up all of the plug openings, shortly before Christmas, the December Monsoon season rolls in.

Didn't know we had monsoons in Illinois? Well, that's because we don't.

But pouring rain that goes on for a day or two in December is nutty, yet, it happens every year. We rarely have a white Christmas and it's a misconception that Chicago, 2 hours to the north, is any different. The heavy snows normally wait until January or February.

So, when the heavy rains rolled in a day ago, in typical fashion, the safety breaker clicked and there went the lights.

Thankfully, this was a short-lived "monsoon", until the next one that will probably roll in just in time for Christmas Eve. That seems to be the norm and it drives me nuts every time.

Jim will try to retape some of the openings. In the meantime, I'm very happy that it got COLD again today. Out with the odd 60 degree weather. I don't want it in December, thank you very much.

It's colder, the rain left, and the lights are on.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, but alas.... the long range forecast itsn't looking promising. So, the photo edits will have to do.

Post #912. Santa.

2011-12-15T07:00:00.002-06:00

In the wee hours of Christmas morn (more like Midnight), well past the age of true believing, Santa still makes his annual visit.

Yes, it's true, my sisters and I still received Santa gifts and stockings even as we grew older. I've continued to do this for Sarah and hey, I received my green bicycle from Santa just a few adult Christmases ago.

This probably isn't surprising considering I've always lived in a world of my imagination and that firmly entrenched on my list of forever-Christmas favorites, are childhood songs and animated specials.

Yet this year, I thought for a moment that I might just wrap all of the gifts. Santa never wraps gifts - not at our house, instead they are just magically displayed, often set up out of their packages around the room. Santa is economical when it comes to gift wrap. ☺ But this year, I thought there might be no need to buy two sets of gifts - the wrapped and the Santa gifts.

I would still do the stockings of course, which have become one of my favorite things about Christmas at our house, as I don't just stuff them with fruit and orange tic-tacs like we used to receive as kids. No, at our house, all sorts of unusual and great things arrive in the stocking.

So, when I approached the idea to Sarah around a month ago when I was wrapping all of the gifts, I expected that she wouldn't really care if the Santa gifts were simply out there around the tree or wrapped, but the slightly-distraught look on her face said it all.

The age of believing has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with a tender hearted soul. Some of us will always believe in Santa who is as my Mom always said - the spirit of giving.

So, Santa will still make his annual visit and I'll remind our 16 year-old to stay in bed around midnight, while the two Santas fill stockings and set up presents around the room. They will then toast in Christmas, or more likely - just go to sleep. ☺

I'm so glad and fortunate to have these three photos from my childhood. The Santa above with me, from around 1966, reminds me of the old images of "Father Christmas". Oh, and I DO remember that coat and mittens - the texture, the feel and look of them. Me and clothes - we connect in memory.

The photo below would have been around the late 1960s and it was taken in a "Santa House", one of those sweet little, usually-temporary houses (like a playhouse/decorated shed) that used to be installed in shopping plaza parking lots or downtown squares. They are still used in some towns but not very common anymore. There was something so charming about waiting outside in the cold to go into the little house where Santa was waiting.

You can see that I was deep in thought about my lengthy list. Some things never change, right Jim?

This photo was taken just inside the living room of our home in Orland Park, in the Villa West subdivision, where each December, someone from the neighborhood Homeowners Association dressed up as Santa and paid a visit to the houses that signed up. As you can see, he always brought us one of those plastic stockings filled with candies. That's my sister Barb in the wig, Angie on Santa's lap, my sister Ann (twins with Barb) and me in the back of course. Good times. Good memories.

Post #911. Dreamy.

2011-12-14T08:36:00.006-06:00

All that we see or seem
is but a dream within a dream.
~Edgar Allan Poe

~ My photography from a recent beautiful campus dawn. ~

As for the quote, I overheard Sarah and her friends discussing the writings of Edgar Allan Poe on our drive back home from last week's University of Illinois, Chemistry Science Holiday Magic Show. I've said it before and I'll say it again - these are not what you might think of typical teenagers. ☺ Anyway, it stirred my own interest in his writings again and in the mystery surrounding Poe and I love this quote. It reminds me of something similar my Mom has said to me all of her life - that life is truly like a dream. It's only here for a little while and all things that have happened seem to be almost dreamlike. No time of the year better than Christmas and the end of the year, does this seem ever more apparent.

... by the way - this is post #11 from the past 3 days in case you missed any. ☺

Post #910. I'm partial.

2011-12-14T07:00:00.001-06:00

I've never liked the squirrels in our neighborhood. They dig in my plants and in our neatly-manicured grass. They eat the seeds that I plant in the vegetable garden. They cause power outages because of gnawing on electrical lines. They've been known to chew through metal and wood to get into attic spaces.

They are nuisances.

But...

Enter "Suzy the Squirrel"...

High above the street level, along my office window.

I can't actually tell... Suzy might be a Steven.

But in my book - she's Suzy the Squirrel.

And yes, I feed her my apple scraps.

I thought about bringing in some peanuts for a Christmas treat, but then I remembered when I once placed Peanut Suet in our backyard for the - a'hem - birds.

It had been out there less than 10 minutes when I looked out the window:

Every squirrel in the neighborhood was in our yard - at least 20. They were sitting everywhere, along the fence, in the grass, on Sarah's swings; all eating peanut suet.

Maybe no peanuts then.

Just apple scraps. For Suzy.

(By the way, in case you've been away - this is my 10th post in the last 3 days)

Post #909. The best cat ever. Winston.

2011-12-13T16:00:00.003-06:00

"You foolish humans.
I intend to report my findings
to the mothership."

Post #908. Give it away.

2011-12-13T12:00:00.002-06:00

When you freely give,
simply for the joy of giving,
the blessings come back to you
more than a thousand folds.

That's been my experience in life.

In the midst of lovingly working hard on coordinating all of THE Birthday Party materials, I took time to participate in a contest on one of my favorite blogs, Pea's Corner, where if you click the link on the blog title, you will see that I won her annual Chocolate and Ornament Giveaway by making the closest guess of the gumdrops! ☺

She is an AMAZING baker!! Just look at some of her Christmas creations!! - Click here
Frankly, she's amazing at everything she does and gives so freely of her time to bring happiness to others.

Yesterday, the package arrived, in only a few day's time, from Canada. It was so sweetly packaged, so evident of Pea's sweet giving spirit. May the blessings return to you, Pea.

Delicious goodies

Charming Ornaments

Here's a Christmas song that Sarah and I enjoy that goes right along with the spirit of this post:

Post #907. Sarah's A-mazing Birthday Weekend - Christmas!

2011-12-12T17:00:00.000-06:00

Determined to finish off this segment today... this is my 7th and last post of today (12/12).

The question is how much celebrating can someone fit into one weekend?

The answer is - A LOT.

We went from Friday and Saturday surprises to the Sunday surprise (for Sarah at least - since Jenny and Laura were obviously already aware of this), that Sunday, December 11, would be our Christmas with our three daughters, including the Grandparents and the boyfriend.

Actually we will have our normal Christmas celebration as well on Christmas, but this was our chance to celebrate with Jenny and Laura.

So, celebrate we did.

Despite a frig full of leftovers from the Saturday night party, I made a whole separate Christmas meal of Ham, Scalloped Potatoes & Carrots, Tomatoes & Basil Green Beans, and a very special Christmas treat, thanks to another great Etsy shop. I wanted a treat for the girls that would really delight them and these chocolate covered marshmallows with peppermint - really did.

None of my efforts to focus on sweet details, went unnoticed. I felt very appreciated all weekend long and it just brings me a lot of joy to know that everyone had a good time.

At one point before my parents arrived for dinner, Jim and the girls were hanging out in the 3rd bedroom and it made me think of a scene in one of my favorite movies "It's Complicated" where the grown children are hanging out together on a bed after a very confusing incident involving their divorced parents, and the Mom (Meryl Streep) comes in and hugs them all and refers to them as her little ones.

At that moment in the movie, even though they're grown ups, their animated mannerism is indicative of little children and it makes perfect sense to me when I've heard other parents refer to their grown children as "always their babies" - because really - they are.

After dinner, presents, drinks, dessert, after my parents and Anthony went home, the three girls hung out in the bedroom, talking and laughing, while Jim and I sat on the couch - he sleeping and me writing.

Every so often, I'd stop the click of my keyboard and just listen to their funny comments and laughter.

It reminded me of my sisters and I being together. It reminded me of the fact that while we're a blended family and have overcome great adversity, we have become what I always hoped for. I always wanted daughters. One is great - one is awesome. Three together, filling the house with laughter is outstanding.

The hours ticked by all too quickly and it was after Midnight and on a school night with finals at the end of this week. Every few minutes, Jim and I would call out that they needed to stop the party so Sarah could get to bed, but when Sarah walked out in her footie pajamas in tears, because her sisters were here from far away and would be leaving in the morning, this Mom who sends her kid to school even if she isn't feeling well, did something totally out of character.

I told her that she could stay home from school today and that she should just go back in there and visit. They stayed up until at least 3:00 a.m. (probably longer).

Us four girls sat together in that same bedroom this morning, while Jim prepared to take them back to O'Hare for their flight back to Canada. All four of us in tears. Sarah and Jenny were curled up on the bed next to each other. Laura sat nearby. Sarah didn't look 16. She looked to be about 9 years old. None of them looked anything like adult children at that moment. All of them looked like the little girls that they'll always be - to me.

Post #906. Sarah's A-mazing Birthday Weekend - Sweet Sixteen - Night

2011-12-12T15:00:00.000-06:00

If you're reading along - this is my 6th post of today. If I would have posted the entire Birthday weekend segment in one, there would have been well over 200 photos in one post.

Sarah originally said that she didn't want a Sweet Sixteen party because she didn't have a gigantic number of friends to invite. Some people have these huge affairs, at rented halls, for a couple hundred people, with limo service. Someone she knows at school, had something like this for her 13th Birthday.

We're not those kind of people. While I may pay attention to detail and try my hardest to make everything nearly perfect, we don't have hundreds of friends or family that would attend anything.

Turns out, Sarah is pretty much like me, like Jim, and like a lot of people; with a few very close friends and lots of acquaintances.

Nothing wrong with that and it's never stopped us from hosting parties because a party doesn't have to be huge to be GREAT.

While we kept the arrival of Sarah's sisters underwraps from most everyone, I of course had to let the closest friends in on the party details and all were involved in the "Snow Shower of Cards".

Every single one of the teenagers, including her sisters who are not teenagers, were wonderful and kept the secret to themselves. Sarah had no clue about any of it.

However, there were at least 5 instances of adults blabbing who will remain unnamed, but they know who they are. *wink*

Luckily, she didn't catch on or didn't hear them. I was frankly surprised that I never let anything slip.

So, when we pulled into the driveway of our house, with the usual timed outdoor Christmas lights, and everyone's cars parked farther away down the street or at my parents, Sarah had no clue that anyone was inside.

That's not to say she didn't know we were celebrating her Birthday. Obviously, she had seen part of the decorations and the presents that I had wrapped, but probably she just thought people might be coming over later after we arrived home.

Instead....

she walked in first.

Her friends jumped out of the darkness and screamed so loud - "SURPRISE"

It was priceless.

Sarah jumped back, thoroughly surprised and laughing. When you have a house of girls, there is always so much giggling and laughter. I love it.

Everything was a huge success. She read every card and passed them around in a circle through the crowd. I hadn't really thought that through, because there were some lengthy touching messages in the cards, but everything worked out so well. Everyone seemed to have a great time and I received so many compliments on the decorations and the food.

True enough - I have notes on everything that I carry with me. But it pays off in the end.

More to come.....

Post #905. Sarah's A-mazing Birthday Weekend - Sweet 16 - Day

2011-12-12T13:00:00.000-06:00

Started off the day with a delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel and Sarah opened one gift that I brought with.

Passed by the Elks of Elk Grove Village.

While I don't like malls, the kids do, and I enjoy going to Woodfield Mall at Christmas because at the point that Jim and I normally go there, I'm entirely done shopping and am therefore content to just stroll along taking my time, so long as the crowd will allow it. Of course, two minutes into the mall, and some old guy about shoved me over. This is when I normally say to myself "plan ahead and you won't have to rush at Christmas time", but that's not what this is about.... :)

This is about the kids having fun shopping.

Here are a couple of phone photos right at the end of our visit before we were getting ready to leave for Sarah's Birthday Lunch.

Then it was onward to Maggiano's/Schaumburg for Sarah's Birthday Lunch where they send you home with free duplicate meals all packaged up for your next serving. We're having those tonight (12/12) for dinner! Yum.

After Maggianos and with a special-amount of time allotted so that we would arrive home by 6:15 for the Surprise Party, we drove back downtown where I snapped a few photos. Laura admired the Seward Johnson, Marilyn Monroe sculpture in Pioneer Court (North Michigan Avenue), which receives mixed and often horrid reviews, but to each his or her own. It was a fun photo opportunity. Here's Sarah and Laura...

On the drive home, the December "Long-Night's" Full Moon was rising - not quite as orange as our "cash cab" van, but very cool against the bare trees.

At home... a houseful of people awaited Sarah's arrival.
More to come...

Post #904. Sarah's A-mazing Birthday Weekend - Beginning of Surprises

2011-12-12T11:12:00.004-06:00

Remember that Sarah didn't request a party. Originally she requested travel (New York City or Hawaii) which we agreed we would save for a future time.

Instead, when one of her artistic friends invited her to attend a Bon Iver concert in Chicago on Friday, December 9, and Sarah asked if she could go, I knew this would be most 16-year-old's idea of a great Birthday - going to a concert with a friend, without the parents.

There are a lot of factors that come into play with such a request (a trustworthy friend, a safe form of transportation to and from the concert, the venue itself, and the maturity level of the teenager); all of which were favorable in this case, and so we allowed her this request and I paid her friend for the concert ticket back in October.

In the meantime, we planned behind the scenes how we could further make her Birthday weekend -
A-mazing...

Almost immediately - Jim and I thought of....

... her sisters whom she loves so dearly. Jenny, the younger of the two, visits every year, but Laura, our eldest, hasn't been here to our home for many years. For one thing, she needed a passport, which she didn't have. But that was only a small stumbling block at best.

Jim proposed the idea and both girls were immediately on board.

We would keep it a complete surprise, not telling anyone in close proximity, and definitely NOT telling Sarah, who only figured she'd be seeing Jenny around Christmas time.

Weeks later, passport received, plane tickets bought, the plans were fully coming together.

Sarah would get out of school early on Friday, December 9 and I would drop her off at her friend's house at 1:30 p.m. They would travel with her friend's parents to Chicago to walk around downtown, sightsee/do their photography, have dinner, and be dropped off by friend's parents at the concert.

In the meantime, I would bake a birthday cake, fairy-wands (brownies on cookie sticks), finish all of the decorating, pack for overnight, pick up Anthony (the boyfriend) after school. While all this was going on, Jim was going to Champaign to pick up the rental van (since we don't have a car that can fit all of these people), and to pick up the sandwich platter and other grocery items for the party.

This is Sarah before she left with Alisa for the concert. She also snapped a photo of me standing in her doorway - I look content and yet exhausted. It's exhausting putting together these parties, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Shortly after 4:00, Jim, Anthony and I started off for Chicago in an orange van, deemed by the rental company as "Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach" headed to pick up the princess for the ball.

Three tries and we were out of town (forgetting something at the house 3 times, having to turn back and start again).

Finally, we were on the road north to Chicago where the nearly-full moon was rising...

... and the lower horizon matched the orange of our van.

While we were on our way to O'Hare Airport, where a steady stream of jet traffic made it obvious why it's officially one of the world's busiest airports, Sarah was downtown Chicago, walking around with Alisa and her parents in the suddenly-frigid cold, taking pictures.

Photo Credit on the next several photos: Sarah

In their truly artistic style, they stopped into a record store...

Photographed the "Bean" sculpture at night...

Ice Skaters at Millenium Park.

Around this time, we had circled the arrivals pickup area at O'Hare a few times, in touch via text and phone (can't imagine not having texting/mobile phone ability at times like this when it really comes in handy), and connected with Jenny and Laura at the curbside pickup, who arrived smoothly.

Meanwhile, Sarah was texting every so often, wondering what we were up to and Anthony who by this time had been made aware of everything, played it cooly, as he did for the entire month and a half that he knew what was going on.

One thing I learned through this process:

Teenagers actually CAN keep really great secrets. All of ours did a great job!!!
Adults, on the other hand, are blabbers. More on that later.

While Sarah was out with Alisa and her parents enjoying Giordanos for dinner...

... and heading to the UIC Pavilion (University of Illinois/Chicago campus - where I started my working career) for the concert....

The girls - our daughters - Jim, Anthony and I were enjoying Chicago pizza as well at a suburban Ginos where you're encouraged to write on the walls (if you bring your own marker - we'll have to remember that next time).

The funniest part of the evening was about to occur.
That would be -
The Pickup.

We weren't really sure how this was all going to work. I had envisioned in my mind, pulling up in the van in a parking lot, Sarah opening the door being surprised by her sisters, and me taking the perfect photo or video to capture the moment.

Instead, the UIC Pavilion is located along a busy thoroughfare and the police kept the traffic moving along the main area. Sarah had texted that the concert was ending and we were still downtown Chicago stuck in some traffic.

By the time we made it over to the Pavilion, thousands of fans were emerging (entirely caucasian, mostly-college-aged, artsy in appearance - girls in stylish dresses and cute coats - tons of guys with beards, almost everyone appeared to be lighting up a cigarette on their emergence into the night air), and we made a couple of drives around the Pavilion block, scanning the crowd for Sarah and Alisa, texting as to their whereabouts. Anthony offered to jump out and find them at one point, to which we said no, because then we would have lost him in the crowd. I think seriously - he just wanted to be out there in the action.

It was an exceptionally lively crowd with so much excitement in the air.

Adding to the excitement for me, was the fact that we were about to surprise Sarah with her sisters.

Finally we saw Sarah and her friend. We drive up, ready for the big moment.

The sliding door on the van should open to reveal her sisters,

here it comes,

ready,

Ooops. We're not used to these vans. The door only opens when it's in park. A police man is telling Jim that he can't park there and we have to move.

I snap a picture of Sarah and Alisa from my opened window. She didn't even see her sisters in the van.

We drive around the full block length of the building again.

Past the crowd of artsy souls smoking cigarettes.

We're able to "park" along the curb on the west side of the building, where Anthony jumps out to go stand with Sarah and Alisa along the front curb of the building, waiting for Alisa's parents to arrive, so that Sarah can also pick up her camera (aka - MY camera) and her larger bag from the trunk of their vehicle.

While we're waiting and anytime we open a window or the sliding door on the van, people try to get into our van thinking it's a CAB.

While I'm looking out the opened window at Sarah and Alisa who are both still oblivious to the fact that Sarah's sisters are in the van, a friendly guy is in my face asking if he and his friends can share the cab ride to the second bar/second stop. I should have been filming the entire crazy scene, but we were laughing so hard as we were trying to convey to this guy that we're not a taxi. When Jim said that "we are a private vehicle", the guy (obviously feeling no pain after the concert), says in a laid-back, surfer-like tone "Privatized!" "That's cool".

This scene was repeated several times and at one point when I got out of the van to see how much longer Alisa's parents were going to be, I could see people in the crowd pointing at our van and heard the word "Taxi" throughout the crowd.

Jim could have seriously made a ton of money that night.

Have no clue why there were no obvious taxis nearby, but ours could have very well been the "Cash Cab".

A few moments later, Alisa's parents arrived, and while Sarah opened the van door to put some items inside, she glanced from the face of Jenny to Laura in the back seat and let out a squeel of delight.

It was really the greatest surprise ever.

Well. One of the greatest surprises ever because there were more to come...

There were no really great photos of the moment. I was so excited that I could barely snap these two blurry ones but at least it's something.

We then all headed back to the usual place that we stay when we're in the Chicago area - The Sheraton Suites in Elk Grove Village, right next to where Jim works when he's at the office.

Shortly after Midnight, Anthony surprised Sarah with her birthday gift, a beautiful bracelet and adorable card that he made.

... more to come.

Post #903. Sarah's A-mazing Birthday Weekend - The Decorations

2011-12-12T10:48:00.003-06:00

Wanting to create something entirely precious that she could carry with her in adulthood memory, I started thinking about Sarah's 16th Birthday (Sweet Sixteen) way back in August.

As already mentioned, the early planning is typical for me every year for our Fall/Winter Birthdays and Christmas, but this time I was initially a bit stumped as to how to create a magical Sweet Sixteen experience.

Sweet Sixteen parties for girls in the United States, typically mark a coming of age, where most teens are looking towards getting their driver's license and there are various degrees of ceremonies surrounding this tradition.

Little by little, the plans came together.

Sarah was born on a very cold, snowy Sunday on December 10. We had to drive home nearly 40 minutes from the hospital in blizzardy conditions and I remember my sister Ann riding in the back seat with Sarah.

Even though it's technically not winter each year until around December 21st or 22nd, it's obviously winter weather here as early as November. So, somewhere in my planning, a theme developed.

Winter Frost or Frosty Winter.

Think pearlized pale blue, silver, white, pink. Think sparkly snowflakes and clear starry nights.

I spent numerous hours researching online sources for ideas, putting together just the right color scheme and focusing on the smallest details.

The first thing I bought (online - almost everything was online), were the pearlized ornament napkins. The color scheme and theme were inspired by those napkins.

While I bought many items, I also made many items myself.

I wanted the food to be as whimsical and appealing as the decor.
I found these amazing Strawberry Fusion Marshmallows on Etsy. Everything is on Etsy, including the most wonderful baked goods, as so I'm finding out. :) The marshmallows did not come like this. Instead, they were wrapped as larger squares. I cut each into smaller squares, stuck them on the end of skewers, printed labels - "Strawberry Fusion Marshmallow", and tied the labels on with ribbon to make a charming "bouquet". They were just one of many hits of the party.

The charming burlap pennant banner was custom made from a talented Etsyian.

Sarah has adored penguins for years now, so I special ordered penguin wrap and when Papersource ran out of the first variety, I ordered a second which features all of the "Penguin Publishing" books.

Somewhere along the way, I read about "Card Showers". These typically occur on a monumental Birthday or Anniversary. Basically, you send out an invitation (in this case - I used the Facebook contacts to email), asking everyone to send a Birthday card (either store-bought OR handmade OR just a note), by such and such a date, and then you present all of the cards to the recipient, hopefully overwhelming them with the abundance of greetings.

I decided that in Sarah's case this would be a "Snow Shower of Greetings" and attached the cards to paper snowflakes suspended from the ceiling. Punched a hole in one end, attaching them with invisible fishing line, and a hole in the other end, attaching the card with ribbon that could be untied or cut off, leaving the snowflake attached to the ceiling but releasing the cards.

It took me two days, with Jim's help, to get all of the decor ready.

We first revealed the Card Shower to Sarah on Thursday evening. The remainder of the decorations remained hidden until her Surprise Party on Saturday night, but more on that later.

Next post will be about the Friday surprises...

Post #902. Catch Up from December 2 weekend

2011-12-12T05:00:00.005-06:00

This is post #2 of December 12th.... leading up to the huge post about Sarah's A-mazing 16th Birthday weekend.

Like most Bloggers, I always have several posts in the edit stage. This is a post that I began last week, just to show some of the additional decorations around the house, a few photos from Sarah's performance last weekend in the local theater group's latest production, our "blue trees" that Jim worked so hard on completing (individually wrapped branches), and a visit next door at my parents' house on the same weekend of Sarah's theater performance.