Oh Yeah

Where is Hero going all dressed up with that spiffy royal blue robe?

There are lots of people all around, and there are others all dressed up with that same spiffy royal blue robe.

What could they be up to? 

Here is Hero with that spiffy royal blue robe on, shaking hands with very important people at Henry Ford Community College. They are all smiling and being so proud. 

As they should be.

Hero got his degree in nursing.

Horray!

It has been a long road for Hero. He has sacrificed lots and studied for more hours than he ever thought was possible. He totally did it.

Hero's friend Corey. They have spent tons of hours together pouring over books and notes and practice tests. They are going to be great nurses.

(Hero has to finish up his last class, to be finished in August. After that, more studying for the NCLEX-RN, (National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses) in the fall.)

He has already been offered a position at Garden City Hospital, in the ER. Woo-hoo!

And maybe in January, back to school for a BSN. Oh man.

That is where Hero is going.

Color

Look at this good looking boy. This is a picture taken a few years ago on his birthday - which he just celebrated his 15th birthday yesterday - opening gifts.
Looks like it might be a Sunday, as he has his white shirt on.

And here is Liam and I playing Battleship. It looks intense, right?
Also looks like Sunday - note the white shirt.

What do these two pictures have to do with each other? Both were taken in the kitchen.
When it was blue.
Once upon a time, I had a really great idea to paint the kitchen blue. I am not sure what I had in mind, I just knew this was not it as soon as I started painting.
But stubborn that I can very rarely be, I went ahead and painted it anyway. I spent money on that paint! And I had the time set aside to get working on it at that EXACT moment.
The blue was not awful, but in my opinion it never quite meshed with the other colors in the house, which are very earthy. I tried to convince myself it was the complimentary sky color to the earth color.
Or the complimentary water color to the earth color.
Not so much.
So after four years of it, I woke up one morning and asked Hero how he would like to paint the kitchen TODAY. He had the day, I had the day. It was meant to be.
Off to Lowe's we went, deliberated over paint chips, took the top 4 choices to the kitchen section to see how they looked with the cabinets, and agreed on this color.

Here is Hero now. Happy that the kitchen is painted and everything put away.
Thanks Hero.
Strangely, the color is VERY similar to the original builder's paint, but warmer and much better quality. Feels good to have a softer, more gentle color with all the activity in this room.

And this guy. Man, is he growing up.
I love all my boys.

Bottom of the List Project

Now that I do not have pre-calculus homework most of the minutes that I am home, and after spending a few days getting caught up on current things, I moved way down my project list to this birthday banner.
I have seen lots of these banners and just love them. I really am drawn to text in artwork.
Three boys at home, so nothing girly.

I used three different black and white patterned fabrics, with black letters. And a light blue strip along the top.  I am hoping this combination will work with most any birthday we celebrate.

Here it is all pinned together. A little overlap on the triangles because the light blue strip, which is extra wide double fold bias tape (it comes in lots of colors) was only so long. It just fit!

I used a zigzag stitch to hold it all together.
Look at those cute little letters! The tutorial that I used suggested felt, which is what these are. But these have a secret. It is sticky back felt, so I just cut them out and stuck them on - Easy!
They work great for now, but I am seeing in my future they will need to be sewn on. Not sticky enough. Rats.

I got everything at Hobby Lobby. There is the Prestofelt. Nice thing about this stuff, I can use the leftovers on the bottom of my chair legs. Cheap, too!

The bias tape comes just like this, folded over and ready to work. Love this stuff. Just slide the triangle in there, pin and sew. Done.

happy birthday
Love it!

I got so carried away cutting triangles, I had enough to make another banner. Since we have graduations and other significant events in our near future, I thought this might work.

Oh, and I totally passed my pre-calculus class with a B. No more math classes for me.
I did it!

pb

This is something that I eat pretty much every day:

Seriously.

There was one summer about 8 years ago that I challenged myself to eat something other than peanut butter for lunch.

I did manage to do it.

Glad that is long in the past.

When I was a child, I was a particular eater. I ate about 5 different things willingly. One of them was peanut butter.

My mom used to buy the buckets of Velvet Peanut Butter, which was made in a factory about 2 miles from my house. Imagine - Having a peanut butter factory in your own city! I wonder if I ever went on a field trip there.

One time when the bucket was empty, my mom thought it would be a great idea to use the clean bucket for a lunch pail. I could not do it. I was not that confident in my obsession of peanut butter in front of my peers. I must have known it was a little unusual.

When I visited my grandparents, I was served a lot of peanut butter. I am sure my parents had many conversations with them, something like this:

grandparents: She won't eat anything.

parents: give her peanut butter.

After Thanksgiving, I would have turkey sandwiches in my lunch. I was always happy to get back to the peanut butter.

As a child, my mom put butter on my peanut butter sandwiches. I think she was trying anything she could to get a few extra calories in me. She also put on a pretty thick layer of the peanut butter, like 1/4 inch thick. I have since dropped the butter, but still use the same amount of peanut  butter. I do not understand a thin smear.

I go through phases of jelly/no jelly. Right now, I only like jelly on toasted peanut butter sandwiches.

The very best way to eat a toasted peanut butter sandwich, however, is with m & m's. The fun-size pack is the perfect amount. So many good things going on with this combination:

melty peanut butter

little crunch of candy coating

melty chocolate

fun colors

Whatever variation I enjoy a peanut butter sandwich, I always eat the crust first. By the time I am to the last bite, the peanut butter is oozing out.

The bread is really just a carrier.

Peanut butter sandwiches are the perfect traveling food. No refrigeration needed (that would be all wrong). You can just throw it in a bag and go. Keeps you filled up for a long time, too, especially with the amount I use.

On a spoon, ice cream, pretzels or a sandwich - Yum.

In cookies, brownies or any sweet treat (with or without chocolate) - Yum.

Jif is the best brand. (They have not made Velvet in a very long time.) I have about 8 jars at my house right now. Food storage, but not a full year's supply.

I'll have to get more.

So I can keep eating it every day.

25 Short Years

I remember being 25. I had a handsome husband and two cute little daughters. In 25 short years, I had grown up to be what I had always wanted to be - A wife and a mom.

I remember having had my drivers liscense for 25 years. I was 41. In 25 years I had become an accomplished driver with very few accidents or tickets. (Good for me.)

Not so long ago I had been graduated from high school for 25 years. Since high school, I had gotten a college degree. I remember all that.

A new 25 just happened. Hero and I have been married 25 years.

Wow.

25 years can seem so long sometimes. Not with this one.

How could I not have been married to Hero forever? (I mean this in a good way.)

We celebrated like we always do. Dinner at home with the kids banished keeping themselves busy somewhere. They are pretty great kids.

Dinner is a colabrative effort. We traditionally have shrimp cocktail, salad, grilled steak, yum potatoes, yum bread and yum dessert (the "yum" means a variation of said "yumness" - we change things up sometimes.)

This year we had dinner by the fireplace. Valentine's Day is consistently a pretty cold day. Fireplaces are warm. And romantic.

One year for our anniversary, Hero made a pretend fireplace, complete with pictures on the mantle. It was one of the most romantic gifts I have ever received. And one of the best. Love that Hero.

Table for two.

(This is our new table.)

We had agreed that we would not buy eachother a gift this year, as we are in the final months of nursing school on a pretty tight budget. I knew this would be hard for Hero. He loves to give gifts. He did make a small purchase to commemorate our silver anniversary - 2 place settings of antique silver. So cute. And cheap. That made it okay.

While Hero was at work, I spent the evening before cutting out paper hearts and hanging them in the great room. They were so fun to watch fluttering around. Everyone loved them. They lingered for about a week.

This 25 years does not seem so long. In fact, I have a pretty hard time remembering life without Hero.

I am convinced that he and I have been together for much longer than that, like eternity long. Like infinity. Like a lot a lot.

Snow Day

On a recent winter day, when feet of snow were predicted and schools were closed the day before the actual snow event, we had an infestation in our yard.

These critters moved right in. They burrowed deep in the piles of snow. We were unaware of the great lengths they were going to to make a home in our hills of ice and snow. They used whatever they could to set up residence for the long haul.

We thought it might be a good idea to feed them out there, so they would not come into our home and ransack our cupboards. They were all snowy and would probably make a big mess.

Colin, Liam and their friend Tyler spent all day outside, literally hours. It was awesome.

And their igloo was pretty awesome, too. They had the front entrance (with a sled for a door) and an escape hatch in the back(with another sled for a door). It was huge inside - all three fit in there pretty comfy.

They wanted to make dinner out there, so Hero sent out a tub filled with pancake mix, syrup, pan, plates, forks and spatula to make pancakes on the little camp stove. They loved it. And they cleaned up, too.

And I was loving it, too. I love that they can spend hours working hard together in a united effort. They had time to enjoy their labors. They had a great time. They did not need any electronics to make this happen. They made it happen.

Lots of lessons here.

Sadly, the magic did wear off. After that first long day, it was abandoned. It looked a little more shrunken each time I saw it, until it disappeared in the 50 degree weather.

The evidence of the infestation was gone, but I am sure the memories will last forever.

We still have the critters though. Good thing we like that kind.

T-Bone

Solo and Ensemble Festival for Middle Schools 2011

This was a first for me. Yet I have done it bunches of times. The first part for me was the instrument. All of Liam's siblings that have participated in S&E were string players.

Liam paved his own way by choosing the trombone. Liam paves his own way a lot - it is not easy being the youngest of five. I think "paving his own way" sounds better than "stubborn".

Anyway, Liam was not sure that he even wanted to play in the school band this year. I think what finally convinced him was the band teacher. Michael Rais is so cool, and he is excited about music (not to mention young - only about 6 years older than Alex!) He makes music fun. After meeting with him, Liam decided to give it a try.

When he started in the fall, Liam could play about 3 notes. I am not surprised - That trombone is tricky! It is all about the lips. At first, Liam tried and tried to make the notes, but could not quite get them, and relied on the rest of the section to sound good.

But, after lots of practice (not at home though), he was stringing different notes together that sounded like music. We could recognize stuff! Very exciting.

Registration for S&E came around in November. Liam was really not on board for this at all, but with some convincing from Colin and I (and most likely Mr. Rais), he agreed to participate. Once he had Rachel Clawson as an accompanist, he was actually pretty excited.

Until he got his music. And then had to learn it. And then had to practice it. And then had to go to the recital. And then had to actually go perform.

That kid.

(Liam performing with Rachel Clawson accompanying on the piano. What a good friend!)

The escort came for Liam a little early, but he was as ready as he would ever be, so he jumped at the chance to get it over with. She was very friendly and helpful, making sure Liam had everything ready and was tuned to the piano. It all came down to that moment.

And he performed. He did stop in the middle, as he lost his place (many of the measures look the same), but he got right back to it.

And then it was over.

Breathe.

The judge was wonderful. First appearances may have been deceiving, but Liam could not have asked for a more compassionate judge. He talked with Liam, gave him counsel and pointed out all the great things he was doing. Told him he should hang out with trombone players and jam. Very good experience all around.

Made his mom so pleased. May have shed a few tears pleased.

Waiting for the score can be stressful for most musicians, but Liam did not seem to concerned. But when the escort brought out the music book and score, there were big smiles. Liam had medaled with a score of 2 (1 being the top score). We packed up and got the award. Lots of good feelings at that point.

Even the next day, when the Bishop gave a lesson in Liam's class about trials and hard things, and overcoming and succeeding, Liam totally made the connection with this difficult thing he had done. He was very pleased with himself that he had succeeded. I was, too. I figured this would clinch things for next year in the band (which I was hoping he would do).

Last week, Liam brought home his schedule request for next year.

No band.

Seriously? No matter what approach I took, I could not guilt him into convince him to change his mind. No band next year. No band in high school. No marching band in high school. No more band concerts or performances. No more fundraising (OK, I will definitely be good with out the fundraising!) Bummer.

But, although Liam is stubborn, he knows what he wants. He gets to decide. I have to be okay with that.

Who knows what direction Liam will go. Next year, he has lots of different electives on his schedule. He may discover something really great that he loves.

Here he goes, paving his own way.

UPDATE:

Liam has changed his mind! He is going to play in the band next year, and most likely play forever. A friend at school convinced Liam to keep on playing.

We pretended we were not thrilled.

But really we are.