The Meaning of Home

I inherited my home from my parents.
While it was under construction nearly 50 years ago..we referred to it as 'the house'..but it became so much more
Over the years the colors inside and out changed, furniture was replaced..but it was home My father grew tons of strawberries in the backyard, built shelves and a work bench in the garage with a neighbor and worked with neighbors on other projects He let me mow the lawn and taught me to drive.....and told me I could do anything
Many people passed through our home over the years, some to visit, some stayed for a while....
my friends for sleep overs, spending many hours playing guitars and drums, and recording awful songs (...my father shut the porch doors ) grand parents and aunts and uncles, cousins, long time family friends from New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were welcomed into our home

I did live away here and there..college dorms, shared apartments, mobile homes and even a house. But sooner or later I came home, here. My children have lived here for many of their young years, and my granddaughter visits often.

Neighbors never stopped at the property line when mowing their lawns......If it started raining neighbors would roll up your car windows, neighbors watched out for all the neighborhood children, collected mail and newspapers, watered plants, and watched over your home when on vacation

5 decades of home...friends, relatives, parents, grandparents, grandchildren and now a great grandchild > to my parents Celebrations of graduations, birthdays, weddings, and births throughout the years

In every year there are 525,600 minutes, use them wisely, time lost is never regained

Spring Cleaning

I am starting early..where did all this stuff come from? Are my genes set to shop?
Was I in a trance powered by the store's sixties music and the grinding of the one irritating wheel that refused to roll while strolling down aisles and tossing items in the cart.

I find the best way to clear out is to follow Clean Sweep - piles for Keep, Sell and Donate

Donate is the biggest pile....the local resale shop accepts items without comment

If I have eliminated so much stuff-how come what's left will not fit back in where everything was? I need to check on the laws of physics.

Once I tried on a dress that looked so ridiculous on me that I laughed so hard I cried and staggered laughing out of the dressing room, handed the dress to the attendant with a brief comment about it being too big.

My granddaughter stayed with me last weekend. I put on the Christmas Lights and we played with Play dough for 3 hours making people and shapes with all the colours. Time worth spent.

Art Linkletter was right-kids say the darndist things.

Relief

The presents are all unwrapped, the tree is packed away.
There is always a few forgotten decorations....but I don't mind..they keep the Christmas spirit going all year.

I leave lights up inside the house all year around. My granddaughter is fascinated with the multicoloured lights.
It took two trips to move all the presents she received to her house.

Next round of celebrations will be family and friends birthdays.

Have a safe New Year

Ready For Christmas

Today was my last shopping trip for Christmas. We were excused from work early....at 3:30..... the roads were already packed with vehicles speeding, tailgating and changing lanes to get ahead by one car or beating everyone to the red light. Many drivers ignored the red lights and sailed into intersections that were totally dead locked by vehicles caught in the light changes.
I was so happy to get in and out of the store quickly and took back roads home with only one vehicle trying to occupy the same space my vehicle was in. Apparently the driver knows nothing about physics.

All the gifts are wrapped. Cards in the mail. Somewhere I forgot something that I will discover at sometime next year. It never fails.

Peace & Love to All

Another Time

The list of Boomer's toys and activities-No Batteries-No Electricity needed

Slinky (made of real metal)
Jump rope (piece of old laundry clothes line)
Board games (manual exertion required)
Scooters(no motors!)
Bicycles with big fat tires (no gears)
Pick up Sticks
Mouse Trap
Card games
Red Rover
Swing sets/Tree swings/tire swings (built on site by family)
Barbie, GI Joe, and baby dolls
Hula Hoops
Roller Skates(metal) with keys to adjust to shoes
Doll houses/Play houses (built by parents or other family members)
Kick ball/dodge ball/catch
Tag
Hide and seek
Jacks
Four Square (chalk, a ball and a couple of bottle caps)
Hop Scotch
Reading(yes libraries did exist)
Lincoln Logs
Tinker Toys
Boxes..big and small Oh so many things could be created from a box with some scissors, crayons, tape, and some string
Steady Eddie
Tops
YoYos
Stick Horses
Horse shoes

Today

Almost everything needs batteries, electrical connections,

or chargers. I have a whole drawer full of every type of battery,

chargers, and cords to a plethora of items that require one of the above frequently in order to stay in touch, take photographs, play games, and find my way when I am lost.

Black Friday

It's been years since I ventured out on Black Friday.. the rush of shoppers, the rage, the pushing, and shoving just wasn't worth the stress to save a few dollars. The sales generally continued up to Christmas Eve with a few special door busters (always with limited amounts) and I felt no urgency to join the ruckus.
My daughter and I joined the crowd of early shoppers this year. Not at midnight or 4 am but at the more reasonable hour of 6 am. We had searched all the ads in Thursday's paper and created an itinerary and shopping list for Friday morning. Best Buy and all similar stores were a no no...people had been camping at their doors since Wednesday to get one of the limited sale items. The parking lots of the shopping center where Toys R Us resides were totally full at 5 am. We did go there later in the day and were successful in finding the items we wanted. The mall....well it was hopeless to find a parking space.

Most of the stores we visited had plenty of the sale items advertized. There was no rush to snatch up items; the check out lines were controlled and moved quickly.
There were lots of people to talk with while hunting for our items and we exchanged information on other stores.
Of course as my granddaughter grows, so do the size of the toys and it is not as easy to hide them. Toy assembly will follow in a few weeks.

Will I go again next year?
Probably Maybe - I have a year to consider it. Happy Shopping!

Seeking Safety for All

For many months toys have been disappearing from the shelves of the popular stores such as Wal Mart, K Mart, and Toys R US.
Many of the toys were related to the popular television shows for children under six years old and removed due to their lead content.

In the next few weeks I will be searching through stores for alternate toys for my granddaughter. Luckily there is a plethora of 'Princess" related items that are available.
There are also some new company names emerging on the shelves.

With the rising recalls of toys, other recalls such as food and drugs, have appeared daily in newspapers and on the Internet.

Who and Where are the people that are supposed to watch over imported items and our own manufacturers? Is somebody watching over E Bay to ensure none of these recalled items are being offered for sale?

Yes I will be out in shopping land the day after Thankgiving