Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I'm posting this as part of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.  Though I may have to write the dream prompt as well.  I have a doozy that inspires me to no end of activity.




My oh-so-thoughtful sis coerced us into collaborating on a Mother's Day present for my mom.  It's perfect.  It doesn't require dusting.  It doesn't require watering or maintenance.  It won't cause her to gain weight.  It won't be thrown away or cause unnecessary pollution.  But it might make her cry.

---

On Mom and Sewing

2010

I remember coming downstairs to find mom hunched over the kitchen counter, the light above her work turned on. She was working on some flannel. It was white, with little purple flowers. She painstakingly inserted pieces of metal through the fabric and then grabbed a hammer. She pounded on the fabric, trying to get the snaps to adhere. When she cried because her wrist hurt, I felt bad and went back to bed. I hoped Dad would help her. Those jammies were that much more special to me, because despite her fatigue, Mom made me jammies.  –Suz

Pajamas. Love. –T

Mom bringing out the big white board with blue dots on it and laying it across the dining room table. The sound of scissors running across that board as they were cutting fabric for Mom's next project. Learning how to read a pattern and cut the right size. Making shorts for myself. Learning to use Aunt Alma's sewing machine alongside Mom: "Does your sewing machine have a zigzag stitch?" –Kake

The white glass egg for fixing socks and her focused on that sock-wrapped egg with needle in hand and tongue sticking out. –Nacho

The Chicklets - wearing 2 of
Grammy's creations

Mom is sewing my socks. Why is mom sewing my socks? –B

My memories with Grammy:

Sewing skirts for my dolls
Teaching me to crochet
Using the sewing machine with her
Dressing the dolls with the clothes we made –Crab

I remember that one time Grammy was helping us make clothes for our dolls and I remember that after we were done I was playing with my doll, I sat down then yelled "OUCH!!!!!", I had sat down on a needle. I also remember the time that she helped me make a hanky for my mom for a special occasion. And the last thing that I remember is the time she helped me make a cape for my Roggy and I put half of the buttons on the wrong side!! I still have that cape and my Roggy is still wearing it. –Yell

Church Shoes

Sometimes, when you're young, you feel like dressing up for church.



Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

From the mouth of...

my little Niece-ling!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kake
Date: Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 8:52 PM
Subject: Niece-ling's latest
To: Suz

We were on a walk today and passed by a porch where a couple of grandparents were sitting outside with 2 kids, one a baby.

N: "They hab a baby."

me: "They did? You like babies, don't you?"

Natalie: "Yeah. Sometimes." [pause] "You buy one?" "A real one?"

============
Kake
Writer, Editor, Proofreader

Read my latest story for Ohio Magazine, Get Out and Play, about summer events in the Dayton area.

Drama Mama!

The previously thought of light-hearted Post-It-Note Tuesday has been rescheduled due to a bit of drama at ShinesSite yesterday.

Receiving an email from Ironman threw me for a loop.  It seems while at AT (annual training) for the National Guard, his humvee was rear ended by a semi.  Um, what?!

1:10pm  What on earth was I supposed to think?  OK, so I called the hospital where he was supposed to be.  (Uh, hello, hospital? you might want to pay for a higher page ranking.  Google search found your site on PAGE 4 of the rankings!)

Um, hello, it's 2:30...no news....

Oh, no, I'm not a little tense.  Not at all.  Nope.  Not me.  It's nearly 3:30pm and I've heard NOTHING else.  *PING*  Hear that?  The sound of my nerves at the slightest disturbance!

Find some Jimmy Buffett.  Or call your sister.  Something.  Anything.

a little FYI - I finally talked semi-coherently with Ironman at 0136 this morning.

His vehicle was in the left hand lane, with turn signal on, at a complete stop.  Ironman saw the semi approaching in his mirror and was able to brace himself.  Ironman said he immediately felt 'severe pain' but got out of his vehicle and ran around the humvee to check on his driver.  His driver wasn't so lucky and was seriously affected by the impact.  She was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.  She has a worse case of whiplash than Ironman, who was diagnosed and released after about four hours.

The thing that saved them both was that the semi's bumper didn't align with the humvee's bumper.  Apparently it had a logging-type bumper that crushed the bed portion of Ironman's humvee and a large portion of the back seat.  If the bumpers had aligned...I wouldn't be posting right now.

The semi has been impounded. 

Hmmm, I don't think the federal government likes the idea of you taking out one of the people they've trained to keep peace Semi Driver.  You're going to have a small bill/lawsuit/investigation on your hands.

We're very lucky he's alive. Thank you, God, for keeping him safe!

Star Wars Trivia

From: Nacho
Date: Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 4:29 PM
Subject: Star wars
To: Kake, Suz, T, UB


JJ's star wars characters knowledge. Guess that character...

Dark mold
Open one kenoby
Luke Sty rocker

---

From: Kake

Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2010at 10:39AM

To: Nacho; Suz; T; UB

Subject: Re: Star wars

Who's Dark Mold??!

---

From: UB

Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:47:58 -0400

To: Kake

Cc: Nacho; Suz; T

Subject: Re: Star wars

So...I'm assuming that Dark Mold's sith master is Dark Vader? And futhermore, is there a Closed One Kenoby?

---

From: Suz

Date: Jul 6, 2010, 1:59 PM

To: Kake, T, UB, Nacho

Actually I assumed there was an Open Two Kenobi. And Kake, you need some lessons in Star Wars personalities :\

---

From: UB

Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:02:02 -0400

To: Kake

Cc: Nacho; Suz; T

Subject: Re: Star wars

Yeah Kake...does Scooby even know who Dark Mold is?

---

From: Kake

Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 3:12 PM

To: Nacho; Suz; T; UB

Subject: Re: Star wars

Alas, he does not. And for now, I am OK with that. Those dumba** Transformers are taking up enough space in our house right now.

---

We don't celebrate the 4th of July

My sister called me a few weeks ago.  She was at our parents' house visiting with her kids.  Apparently, in Ohio, you're not allowed to purchase fireworks. 

Shazam.

I had no idea such a thing existed!

My pyro-technic-pyromaniac brother (who shall remain nameless, but let us recall that he set fire to a tree stump in our neighbor's back yard when he was younger than seven?) would have certainly heart failure if he had to live there (or arrange for a convenient vacation in Kentucky around a certain national holiday)!

Aunt Kake was galled, appalled, astounded, and just plain stunned.  She said to my twins, before they were planning to leave that they would, "do some smoke bombs and snakes". 

Snakes were so cool.  You used a match to light this little black button, and then all of the sudden the button exploded into a long tube of charred ash, hissing all the way.

My kids' response to her statement, "What are snakes and smokebombs?"

Um, oops?

I'm apparently lacking in their childhood fireworks education.

It's not that we don't 'celebrate' the independence of our country.  We do.  Our household is patriotism personified.  For Pete's sake, my husband is a soldier!  We have red, white, & blue basket liners, bows, candles, flags.  We even had a military wedding!  Every other day of the year, we celebrate our independence, we appreciate the sacrifices made by others for our freedoms.  I even took the girls to vote with me when they were littler and stressed how important it was that we recognize the women who fought for our right to vote.  We just don't 'celebrate' the 4th of July.

I don't know how to change what we do, or even if we should, but for more years than I can remember, we've gone camping.  We avoid the whole fireworks insanity that goes on around cities. 

My father-in-law, whom I never met, died on July 4, 1989.  I never got to meet him.  He was a military guy, just like Ironman, and lived in Colorado.  He loved the outdoors and enjoyed camping, fishing, and hunting.  From pictures I've seen, Ironman looks just like him. Even though I never met him, and our children never knew him, it still pains me that my husband doesn't have his father with him anymore.

Sorry if this seems like it's preachy or self-absorbed; and I'm not trying to make Ironman's father into something more than he was.  It's about how our family works, how we cope, how we get along, and how we *don't* grieve. 

In the interest of preserving a little bit of respect for the date (rather than the holiday), we go camping.  We spend family time together.  We cook outside (er, Ironman cooks, I decorate a chair), we hike, we go swimming, we play full-contact B.S., we laugh, we ride bikes, we play Monkey-in-the-Middle (which is wickedly funny when you surprise the 'monkey' by rebounding the ball off of her forehead).  We enjoy enormously rewarding family time together.

And while our children aren't learning about the finer points of pyrotechnics or the smell of burning explosives, they appreciate that their dad works hard for our country, they know he sacrifices to be away from us, and they enjoy our time together.  And if it keeps them 'close' to us a little longer, so be it.

For us, it's the perfect way to celebrate our nation's independence.

From the mouth of...Aunt Kake

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

---

From: Kate H

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:40:17 -0700 (PDT)

To: Susan H

Subject: I miss the girls!!!

That's all.

============
Kate H
Writer, Editor, Proofreader
www.kateharold.com
Read my latest story for Ohio Magazine, Get Out and Play, about summer events in the Dayton area.

From the mouth of...Scooby

"Aunt Suz, when you're finished making your coffee, can I have the grounds for my composter?"

Guest Post: How not to tow an RV

Sent via BlackBerry

June 10 was my dad's birthday.  It's fairly common knowledge that he enjoys 'tinkering' with machinery, tools, wood, cars, etc.  It's also fairly common knowledge that he will invariably 'find' a project when left to his own devices.  Below is his tale of yet another 'project' that fell into his lap.  Thanks for sharing, Pop!  

---

From: Dick Harrold 

Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:07:46 -0400

To: Kids5

Subject: How not to tow an RV

Guys -

Uncle B___ and Aunt M___ arrived last night in their petite four door diesel duely (from Suz: sp? dually? duelly? dual-ie? dual-y? help people!) 350 Ford truck pulling a block long fifth-wheel RV! Of course the first order of business was to get the "rig" backed into our driveway and next to the shop during 5 o'clock traffic.  We had traffic backed up for a quarter mile in each direction while Benny fought the truck's steering wheel, I gave directions standing out in the middle of the street, Mary ran from side to side to see what he would hit next and mom worried about the grass and flowers.  

To say that it looked a lot like a three ring circus gone bad is an understatement.  I finally took the wheel of the truck and managed to get it all stuffed into the drive and spotted next to the shop.  You ever drive one of those things?  Interesting.  Especially with a massive semi trailer on the back.  And it backs differently than that of a normal trailer on the rear of a pickup.  

Anyway, we finally ate supper and settled in front of the TV to drift off now and then while attempting to get caught up on the family news.  The three dogs collapsed after a couple hours of playing and found soft spots to nestle down in.  

We all felt much better this morning after a good night's sleep.  Breakfast was one of mom's best and filled us to the brim.  

For the past two weeks we have been expecting some guys to arrive and seal coat our driveway.  You guessed it.  They arrived today!  

The first order of business was to get any vehicles we might want to drive in the next two days parked on the grass out front and off the driveway.  Since Uncle B____'s truck was on the drive, we'd have to disconnect it from the fifth-wheel RV and move it to safer ground.  

I watched as B___ prepared the rig to be supported by the two on-board jacks -- allowing the tow vehicle to be removed and parked elsewhere.  He disconnected the heavy electric cord that goes between the two vehicles that operates the running lights, brakes, etc.  

Next he got in the truck and eased it forward and out from under the RV.  Everything went well.  Once the truck was clear, he accelerated slightly.  The electric cord stretched out, flipped around and hung up on the rear bumper of the truck.  Despite the electric cord being maybe an inch in diameter, it wasn't up to pulling the RV!  The stress on it pulled off the plug and ripped the cord out of the camper!  Needless to say, the RV didn't move one inch.  

We spent the next two hours making repairs.  

So, how did you spend your last birthday?

I bought my first car, a Model T Ford Coupe, 57 years ago.  We've owned a Tudor for 49 years.  

Dick H

N, IN USA

The Third Day Comes to an End...

Today contained several more exciting events including more swimming, a board meeting, a water balloon fight, shopping, tennis lessons, and buckets more!!!! 

As learned today, tolerance of shopping with two little ones proves difficult. We visited the mall today and only managed to fit in two stores before the whine-fest began. Hunger, sleepiness, and boredom was indeed too much to handle, so we had to go home. 

The water balloon fight was spectacular as we splashed our way through war and tossing the balloons.  All of the activities for today were discussed with our board members, Aunt Kake as our president, Scooby as our VP, Yell as our secretary, and me as our coordinator and recorder!  

As usual, swimming was a blast and full to bursting with fun as we splashed and soaked up the sun.  Scooby did excellently at his tennis lesson! (bravo!!) In all, our day was just as much fun as the last few days and I hope that we can have lots more before our fantastic trip comes to an end!!! Stay tuned! =D

And Camp Kake Begins!

So far, we (Crab n Yell) have done many things here in Cincinnati, including riding electric scooters, throwing tantrums, babysitting, playing with play doh, tie dying, and trampoline jumping!  The kids (Scooby & Niece-ling) were so enthusiastic that they made a list of things that they would like to do such as kayaking, fishing, painting the sidewalk, and more.  As you can obviously tell, many of these things are not possible.  We did however, enjoy making tie dye tee shirts, swimming, and visiting with friends! As for the exciting events of tomorrow, stay tuned to learn more about our splendiforous days at the relatives house!

An Ode to my Race Fans

The day before Memorial Day (in my family) is Race Day. It is for most of Indianapolis. But Race Day, for us, is an awesome day of laughing, racing, hanging out with family and friends, and enjoying the spectacle that is the Indy 500.

I grew up in a family of Race Fans. I knew the standard names. Foyt, Andretti, Unser, Mears, Rahal.  My 'uncle' John would come in town the day before Race Day, in his little MG convertible (I love that car)(I sigh just thinking about it), and we'd cook out in the back yard. I don't remember where Uncle John slept, but he must have spent the night. They'd pack a lunch the night before and would outfit themselves with hats, sunglasses, a newspaper, binoculars, and a thermos of iced tea. They would leave before we woke up. We wouldn't see Dad and Uncle John until later in the afternoon, but we'd get to hear 'the race' on the radio in the garage. I don't remember how or why the radio was turned on, but we would 'hang out' in the back yard on Race Day, just so we could hear the cars, Tom Carnegie, and the patter about the drivers.

At some point Dad and Uncle John stopped going to the race. Maybe it was about the time the Snake Pit got out of control? Or when the infield was redesigned? But the year Ironman and I got married, my siblings  and I purchased tickets together for the first time.

We've spent many memorable years at the track since then. There was the year Andre professed his love for Little Debbie, "The only woman who's never let me down." And the year a 'rookie' Race Fan was stunned to find out that plumber's crack was indeed a reality.  The year Patti explained rationale by way of "I wore velcro shoes as a child." And the year a Race Fan professed that The Race is "The Greatest Spectacle in Life!" The year the evil "blue poncho" (an anti-race-fan who expressed her distaste for our race excitement) was spotted in the Indianapolis airport (post-race) and we got the absurd idea she was stalking our cousin. There's the ever-present and completely adored Cousin Tommy who treks annually from the southwest just to spend the night on my parents' or brother's floor and then hikes with us to our seats to bake in the sun and listen to the roar of the engines.  The year Helmet showed up 14 hours after a wedding -- on a bicycle -- after having driven his car as close to the track as he could get and then riding his bike to get to our parking area.  The year my sister-in-law wore a goofy picture of her husband (yes, my brother) on her pregnant belly.

We've added race fans, temporarily lost them to childbirth (welcome to the world, Niece-ling) and weddings (Shannoan's brother in Hawaii of all places?!), exulted in poor footwear choices (high heels to walk from 30th street to the track, hello?! welcome to idiocy?!!), spotted what we suspected were aliens (from another planet, not the Arizona-type), and convinced ourselves of the technological worth of grapes vs gummibears as projectiles.

I LOVE the memories we've made at the track.

Sleeping Beauties

My beautiful little girl (I still think of her as a little girl, even though she's only about 4 inches shorter than me) has a job as a mother's helper this summer.

She loves her job.

The chix went to the zoo this morning with 'their boys'.  ('Their boys' are 26-month-old twins and their 5-month-old singleton brother.)  Apparently it was a bit exhausting.  The big boys did nap on the way home from the zoo, but they didn't nap for the rest of the day.

And the result?  Crab grabbed a little nap with Ironman when we all got home.  Sleeping beauties.

Fw: Scooby bit Niece-ling this morning...

From: Aunt Kake

Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 07:58:14 -0700 (PDT)

To: Schoon

Subject: Scooby bit Niece-ling this morning...

...so hard that now she has two lip-shaped bruises on her cheek. Just another fun day in the land of parenthood...

============
Aunt Kake

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Introducing Niece-ling.

This little girl was born with a ton-o-hair.  Can you tell?

In these pictures, she's only a few weeks old.  I think it was 4 or 5.  But see that look on her little face?  She was telling me, "Hey, you're *not* my mom."  She's very opinionated.

And oh, my gosh, how sweet is it that her hair CURLED when it was washed oh so long ago?

Little love bug, cute little nakey baby, it was all I could do not to eat her up!

Today, this cute little bugger is 3 years old.  I'm in awe.  She has such a sweet nature, and reminds me of my sister in all the nicest ways (though she also has her stubbornness)(and dislike of waking up)(I'll stop with the similarities now).  I love that she willingly spends the night at my house without her mommy.  I love that she has her own name for me -- Schoon -- melt!  I love that she adores her 'big' cousins, but still prefers to cuddle on my lap during church.  I love that she's entering her 'girly' phase and prefers dresses and 'clip-clop' shoes to shorts and t-shirts.  I love her enthusiasm for anything crafty and how much she *adores* books.  Best of all, I love that she pretends to call "Schoon" on her toy cell phone when driving in the car!

Being an aunt is the absolute BEST!

Happy birthday, Niece-ling! Come for a sleep over soon, 'kay?

From the mouth of...

Scooby (at home with Aunt Kake and Uncle Helmet)

---

Last week Helmet was talking to me at dinner about Obama's economic stimulus package.

Scooby, ever the listener, piped in saying, "Nu-rock Obama?" (for that is what he thinks his name is).


"He got a package?"

not for the faint of heart

Our spring break was relatively calm. Aside from a whirlwind camping trip with the M family, we did a lot of nothing. Sounds boring you say? Whatever!

our epic list of things accomplished Mar 19-Mar 28, 2010

1. emptied car
2. hiked in Brown County
3. outdoor laser tag
4. water gun fights
5. overturned a kayak
6. served at church
7. played video games and air hockey at Jillian's
8. enjoyed walking in downtown Indy on a pleasant spring evening
9. cleaned out Chix' closet
10. emptied Chix' dressers
11. found Chix' bedroom floor (anyone sensing a trend?)
12. volunteered at SSPOM sale
13. worked on Chix' new beds
14. washed, dried, and folded roughly 12 loads of laundry
15. went to the library
16. swept garage
17. played basketball in driveway
18. practiced volleyball against the garage door
19. found gardening gloves
20. had lots of playtime with Dixie-the-Wonder-Pup
21. cleared yard of winter debris
22. burned winter debris
23. made s'mores
24. roasted hot dogs
25. planned garden
26. went to Rascal's Fun Zone and drove go-carts

At Rascal's?  Both Chicklets are too short to drive on the outdoor track, but were thrilled to have Sapper at the wheel.  Crab was ecstatic to have him wreck into another dual cart (the driver had turned perpendicular to the wall while going uphill).  We did find that Yell has no concept of how to steer a vehicle.  She'd wait until the middle of a turn before yanking the wheel sharply to the left or right.  I wasn't too surprised when both girls complained of muscle aches the next morning.  On the indoor track, both Chix could drive the 'junior carts' but Crab had to be accompanied by Yell or Sapper on the larger carts.  Somewhat disappointing, but still an incredibly cheap way to spend a cold spring afternoon together.  

Of course, after that outing Crab waved her little pinkie in Sapper's direction and got to go to Coldstone for a consolation treat.  She's such a punk.

In addition, I went to work every day after watching movies with the fam until 11:00 or so? Myassasdragon indeed.

Spring Break (on a budget)

Geez, you'd think we never feed these kids.

Turtles!

Sapper

YellyBird

Crabbycat

We had a very peaceful (if short) spring break, courtesy of friends from church.

Fave memories include:

• trying on hats at a toy store in Nashville, Indiana
• eating a Lenten Friday dinner at Harvest Moon Pizza
• listening to and watching birds on Cordry Lake
• reading books in the marvelously pleasant weather
• hiking in Brown County State Park
• drying off Yell after she overturned her kayak and fell in the lake
• watching kids chase each other with water guns
• just being with friends

Thanks M family!

Junior Stole My Heart

Junior
Originally uploaded by crabnyell

Oh my gosh, look at THOSE EYES! This little guy came to visit us a little over 2 months ago. He's small, silly, sweet, and loves cars. And he loves Cars. He personally asked Santa for "Fwo an Doc an Wamone" not just once, but twice.

He lives far away from us -- with his parents as it should be -- but having him here overnight was the best Christmas present I could have had.

Yell drew his name in our 'cousins gift exchange'. She knew he 'loved Cars.' She also knew that she had to stick to the $ limit. I think God smiled on her the day we went to the store. She found not just Doc, but also Wamone and Fwo for just UNDER the limit.

And as soon as he opened his Cars, he was the happiest little boy in the whole world. Fwo an Doc an Wamone didn't leave his sight the entire 24 hours he stayed at our house.

At the tender age of 3, he hadn't spent the night at anyone's house without his parents. God smiled on me that night. His younger cousin, Nallie, had a wretched cough that kept me from sleeping much. Junior snuggled down into his Lightning McQueen sleeping bag (thanks Uncle Ralph!), between his two 'big cousins,' and was asleep before 9:30. Yes, I know that's a really late night for such a little guy, but geez, he doesn't see his cousins that often, he lives all the way across the country, and I was trying to soothe the cough of a 2-yr-old who was crying for her mommy, so just give me a small break!

In the morning I managed to get all six kids (yes, I tripled the number of kids I normally get out the door for church on Sunday) to church BEFORE mass started -- GO ME!!! Two 11-yr-olds, two 5-yr-olds, a 3-yr-old, and a 2-yr-old. Whew.

The one thing he requested was if we could go to Grammy's so he could "play with my Papa."

::sniff::

My little nephew loves his Papa. Hearing him say that was quite a gift.

But having my little Junior for his first overnight was quite possibly the best gift I could have. Thanks for trusting me Nacho & Carnie. I miss you all -- but especially the beautiful eyes on this little man of yours.

(I call do-overs!)

Old Henry

1927 Model T Ford
Originally uploaded by crabnyell

When I was little, we lived in Broad Ripple, a neighborhood on the Indianapolis northside. We had a large garage by BR standards. It held 3 cars and as many bikes as you can imagine a family of seven would have.

When we went into the barn, we had to 'be careful of Old Henry'. This shell of a car had no tires, no wheels, no windows, no top. But we had to 'be careful' around it. We knew if we touched it, Dad would know.

When I was 10 years old, somehow Dad got wheels on the car. He got tires. It was a very big deal. We still had to 'be careful' around Old Henry, but this was even more exciting. He was going to come OUT of the garage!

Our neighbors came from down the alley with their Polaroid camera. Mr. Hazel brought some beer. And Dad rolled the car out of the green double barn doors. We were breathless with anticipation. It was too exciting to be believed. There was no glass in the windows, no top, no spare tire, no SEATS to be had. We stood in the back of Old Henry, and Dad sat in a lawn chair. Mom sat on a wooden stool Dad had made for us to use in the playroom.

But we were so excited we made up a song about bumping down the road in Old Henry without seats, windows, or rear view mirror.

Congratulations on winning the photo contest, Dad; bigger congrats on restoring such a beautiful old car. And thanks for raising us to appreciate such a treasure.