Wonderful Women

It's hard for me to think of my gramma as a young woman. These pictures show her as a woman just starting on life's journey, before she became a wife and mother. Before things got hard and she had to make difficult decision's. Eventually she was left alone to raise her three children, my mother being the oldest. I don't know very much about this woman. Her name was Helen.
I called her Little, and I loved her more than I can express. She taught me so much and was a huge influence on me. Little was the one that taught me to sew and bake. We had tea parties and played dress up. She was always" Mrs. Magilicutty". She would let us wear her dresses and beads and had big purses to keep our extra beads and gloves in. When we baked cookies it was always messy but I can't remember her getting mad about it. She liked oatmeal cookies, I liked chocolate chip.
Little taught me to crochet when I was in first grade. I remember she gave me pink yarn and a G hook. I had to make a chain of single crochet. I worked on that chain for days. She would check it and pull out the mistakes, and eventually I became pretty good at it. One morning I woke up and the pink chain had turned into a pink rug for Barbie. I was thrilled!
Little got us ready for school and packed our lunches. Sometimes she put my sandwich in a bread wrapper instead of wax paper. I was so embarrassed when she did that. I would open my sandwich in my lunch box so no one would see. She always packed us a snack, usually Hostess cupcakes, my favorite.
Sometimes she would let me sleep in her bed. I loved it!. She would rub my" piggies" until I feel asleep. She did this my whole life, even after I was married. She was the one who took care of me when I had a migrain. She would rub my head for hours.
My gramma's birthday is in March so I will be posting stories about her all month. I want to make a scrapbook about her also. I have so many good memories of her I want to share with my granddaughters. I have them call me Oma in her honor. I want to be the kind of gramma she was and live up to her example.

Happy Valentines Day

My husband went to Archivers, bought the supplies and made this card for me. Who could ask for anything else?

C'est drole.

This is funny!

A Happy Change

When I started this blog I wanted to write about my life and the things that were happening around me. I am very happy with this blog but I haven't made it personal. I didn't know if it would be interesting to anyone including me. However, I have so much I want to write about even if I am the only one who reads it.

As I am approaching my 50th birthday I am noticing a lot of changes in myself. One of the biggest ones is that I now want to surround myself with loveliness. I can't remember feeling like this before. It is a very nice feeling. I like to look at old cards and photos, they are filled with a gentle beauty. I want to add lace to everything I make. I sometimes just want to touch the lace. I keep saying I am becoming a girl and I like it. I don't know what I'll be writing about from now on but I do know I am excited about the future of this blog. I hope to add a little loveliness often.

These pictures are of an old barn in Manhattan, Il. I took these while Amanda and Brad were picking out their Christmas tree. These old buildings are so appealing to me. I love the simple color contrast of while and gray. They are actually on a public center. It is closed for the winter, but I would like to go back and learn more about the property.

A message

Monday afternoon Kylie told me she left me a message in the back of my notebook. This is what I found.

Never enough time

I do not understand people who say they are bored. This life has so much to offer. Usually at the end of the day I am sad because it has ended too soon. I run out of day before I run out of things I want to do. Today I got a lot done including spending time with my granddaughters and talking to all four of my children. But there was so much more I wanted to do. I wanted to send a note to a friend that is trying something new and encourage her on this journey. I wanted to send another friend a note to let her know I was thinking about her, we haven't seen one another in a long time.

I wanted to work on the dolls I'm making for the girls and the stuffed dogs I'm making for the orphanage. I have a hundred ideas in my head for things to make. I want to listen to more music, read another book, sew a new robe. I want to make a pot of soup. I want to learn french. Life is so full, how can anyone be bored.