Two years ago(!), my son and daughter-in-law gave me a StoryWorth subscription for Christmas. I have a total of 47 stories, but 11 of them I haven’t started yet! I might remove a few of them, though. I have a long way to go until completion.
Right now, I’m taking each story, editing it, and adding new information and pictures. Once the story is done, I add the name to a list, and I swear I will not go back and make any more changes.
I think it will be interesting to have all these stories in one place. I would like to do the same thing for the blog posts I’ve written at It’s All About Family. I think it would be nice to have all those stories in one place, categorized by family. Another project to work on!
Have you written your StoryWorth life story? How long did it take you?
One of my favorite books growing up was “Cheaper by the Dozen”. It was a memoir published in 1948 by the children of Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Lillian Moller Gilbreth of New Jersey and takes place from the early 1900s through 1924.
Frank and Lillian were Time and Motion Study and Efficiency experts and they worked with companies to show how employees could be more efficient in their jobs. They had 12 children (actually 11 because one daughter died from diphtheria when she was 5).
The book shares stories of growing up in such a large family with a larger than life father in Frank.
I remembered this book when I was in the shower this morning – isn’t that where we all do our best thinking? One of the scenes in the book is Frank the father, showing his children, and then a larger audience, how to efficiently take a bath! He sits in a tub, or on the floor and describes as he goes through the motion of moving the soap from one side to the other, up the arms, down the legs and everywhere in between. His children were horrified!
The title of the book came from the times they would be driving down the road in the large, custom car they had to fit all the kids (this was the 1910s-20s), and someone would yell out, “Hey mister, how come you got all those kids?” He’d reply “Because they’re Cheaper by the Dozen!”.
The book was turned into a movie two years later and starred Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy, and a sequel called, “Belles on their Toes” was published which talks of the families life after Frank dies and Lillian continues the time and motion study company.
You might only know of the 2003 remake that stars Steve Martin. I’ve never watched it and likely never will! I think I will add the two books to my “Read again” list for some pleasant reading because my heavy books.
Have you ever read either book or seen either movie?
I currently have 197 open tabs on my IPhone. I feel like that says something about me. Will I miss one of it’s gone? Will I even notice?
My IPad and laptop are not that bad. By the way, my IPad and phone are not synced. Not since I had a faulty password app and nearly lost ALL my passwords.
Anyway, my life has always been a little like that too. Keep stuff gathered around so I don’t forget them. Projects, papers, files…
If I put it away, if I close the tab, I might want it later and won’t be able to find it again. Sort of like that jacket you never wear so you give it to Goodwill and then you buy a pair of pants and realize the jacket would have been perfect for it!
Maybe December is the time to close those tabs, put those files and papers away and make a note of where they are. It’s time to tidy up for the new year.
We put our Christmas tree up this weekend and I enjoyed decorating it this year. Probably because I don’t plan on doing much else!
My tree at this moment
The tree is in the middle of the combined family room dining room, in front of the sliding door. At the top is the macaroni star our son made in daycare. I know I should replace it, but I haven’t found anything I like better. There are a variety of ornaments – from my parents collection that my sister divided up, ornaments handmade from one of my aunts, handmade by me for our son, and ornaments we’ve been purchasing in our trips. It’s a nice variety.
Mom’s collectionMade by auntMade by auntMade by mefor son and nieces and nephewMade by mefor everyone in school colorsMade by me one for their home state and other significant stateBack of the ornamentsMade by meMade by me
For the past few years, I also decorated a small 5 foot tree in the “formal” living room which used to be my only living room. I would put Wallace Silversmith silver plated balls on this tree and it had the option for white lights, colored lights, or blinking lights. I like the colored ones the best and I loved the way they shined off the silver balls. This year I’m just too lazy! It’s a chore to pack and unpack the silver plated ornaments.
The silver bellsThe 2nd treeWhen my “formal” living room was my only living room!
I still have to finish adding my son’s collection of nutcrackers that remained here, and my collection of Santa’s from over the years. My family part is on the 13th so I still have time!
Do you ever wake up early on the weekends, decide it’s too early to get up and you’ll “get up in 15 minutes”, and find yourself falling back to sleep for another 2 hours?
I do! It usually happens on Saturday, like this morning. I was wide awake at 5 am – 45 minutes earlier than my weekday morning time and thought I’ll lay here until 5:30, then get up. Then I fell asleep and woke up again at 7am.
These second sleeps are usually filled with crazy dreams about people I haven’t seen in years, and I’m usually traveling somewhere. This morning I was at a baby shower for a friend’s daughter and they live in California. I live in Connecticut so I don’t know where we were, but I drove somewhere, and then had to come back home for a baby stroller. I remember popping the truck of my car. Weird. But at the baby shower, I was there early, like I was one of the hostesses, but then I ended up in one of the bedrooms, and during the shower. I kept hearing a machine-like noise, and finally turned around to see a woman vacuuming in the bedroom.
Later, I was in a room with my husband, sister, and niece and someone I didn’t recognize. I couldn’t hear my niece’s conversation but she was implying she didn’t have any money for food. Then we were driving to a store for my husband and I to pick up food, but she was flying, so I offered her the bottle of MIO I had in my pocketbook, and, for what it’s worth, I did have a bottle of MIO in my pocketbook the other day to bring to my office!
When I wake up from these sleeps, I’m usually so groggy, I would like to just fall back to sleep and capture the thread of the dream. When I was in my teens and 20s, I usually would just wake and sleep until Noon! Ah, those were the days!
If you’ve read this far, thanks for hanging in with this stream of consciousness post. I looked it up, it’s a thing, and I’m here for it.
Have you ever experienced this second sleep and what do you think about it?
Unless you are obsessive like I can be about things like goals.
I downloaded an app called Streak because it was recommended by a (real life) friend whom I admire. I decided to try it because I want to focus on keeping myself mentally and physically active.
With Streak, you create goals and select how often they need to be completed. Multiple times a day, every day, a few times a week, and so on.
My goals were 5 20 oz water a day, 7,000 steps a day, write blog post every day, take vitamins every day, leave for the office by 9am, and post a picture to Facebook every day. Some are simple like the water and vitamins, and the Facebook post. Getting my steps in is a little more difficult because I work in a very small office. I incorporated walking around our complex during my lunchtime for a half hour. However, I still have to get additional steps in during the day to hit that 7,000. Leaving for work by 9 is a struggle! Writing every day is a struggle!
After a week, I changed the office time to getting there by 9:30, because honestly, I like my morning time at home and, since I’m the boss, I guess it’s ok to set my own hours. I changed the writing to 3 times a week because I needed time to research and write for my family blog.
I guess that represents growth within me that instead of saying “this isn’t going to work!”, I make some simple adjustments.
My niece’s wedding is over and we are back home. Although the venue was an hour 20 minutes away, for old folks like us, we’d rather stay over than drive home in the dark.
It was held in the area of Connecticut I love most, the northeast corner for the state, better known as “the quiet corner”. It happens to be the area where my college was located before it closed in 1980, so no wonder I love it!
We drove up to the hotel in Dayville, a Comfort Inn & Suites which was a very nice hotel and 10 minutes from the venue, checked in and headed off to Putnam to join my family from Maine at lunch. Putnam has gone from a New England mill town, to a rundown town with a K-Mart when I was there, to a destination for antique shopping, biking, hiking, and leaf peeping. There are 5 or 6 restaurants to choose from right in the main area of town, and plenty of parking, and the lots were filled when we arrive at 1pm!
After lunch we all headed back to the hotel to get ready. I had showered in the morning and had my hairdresser wash and dry my hair at her salon. That isn’t something I normally do, but I thought about it far enough in advance and she had time to do it.
We left for the venue – Pinecroft Estate with plenty of time to spare. They wanted everyone there at 3:30 to have everyone gather in the heated tent and proceed to the outdoor area for the ceremony. Being mid-November in Northern Connecticut it was chilly, and I was glad I had my coat!
Waiting for the ceremony to begin
It was a beautiful, and short, ceremony. My sister and her husband escorted my niece down the aisle and her sister was her matron of honor. We all got teary-eyed.
After the ceremony, the photographer had everyone, wedding party and approximately 90 guest, stand in front of the barn for a group picture. I stuck my head next to my sister so we look like conjoined twins in the picture!
Everything about the reception was perfect. The tent, connected to the reception barn, was beautifully heated and, of course, had sides to it. Inside was a couch and chairs, metal outdoor tables and chairs, and one of two bars. The hors-d’oeuvres table was here along with servers passing food.
Pre-wedding photo
Once we got into the barn, the festivities began! The wedding party and parents were introduced, the first dance was danced, and the speeches completed.
The efficiency of the staff was incredible. The servers blended in and were never in the way. The food was prepared in the house next to the barn and delivered 4 or 6 plates at a time. My husband and I had pumpkin raviolis in Sage butter sauce.
The wedding cake was a small one that the bride and groom cut, but for the guests there was a cookie table along with coffee and tea.
Once the dancing started, my son, his wife, and my nieces and nephews never left the dance floor! I don’t know how they do it! We especially enjoy watching my niece and her husband and told her it’s evident where her 6 year old daughter gets her theatrical nature.
We were there from 4pm to 9:30pm and we couldn’t believe how it felt so much longer! But the end rolled around and we got our coats and left. Some family members continued on in the hotel lobby, but my husband and I headed to our room.
We saw most of the family in the lobby for our hotel continental breakfast before we all headed home. It was so nice to be together and we will see most of them again at our family Christmas party next month.
Family photo taken while family photo was being taken!
I have no problem coming up with a lunch to pack Monday through Friday, but come the weekend and I’m opening and shutting cabinet doors like a hungry child.
During the week it will usually be leftovers or I will microwave Tyson oven roasted diced chicken breast and toss it in with a salad. Somehow a salad doesn’t appeal to me those 2 days, and more often than not, Friday night is “breakfast night” or an “order and bring home meal”.
It helps/doesn’t help that I have breakfast an hour, sometimes 2 hours later than a weekday. All routine is tossed out the window! So then the question is, when do I eat, or want to eat, lunch? If my husband proposes something, I might still be full from breakfast. Too late, and I won’t be hungry for dinner.
I usually resort to an apple with peanut butter which will fill my stomach, but not too much if I have it later and if I have it too early, there’s always a snack. And that’s just SATURDAY!
On Sunday, I get around a little earlier and spend most of my day at the table researching for my It’s All About Family blog. Yes, shameless plug and that link will bring you to the first post in January of 2016. So much I thought I knew back then.
Sunday lunch during the summer is usually a ride for ice cream or if we’re on the boat, we’ll have something packed.
My husband does the grocery shopping on Thursdays so, you’d think by now, we might plan for those two days of the week.
Last Sunday we decided to order in grilled cheese sandwiches from this delicious cheese shop in town. Usually, I try to stay away from sandwiches and take out on the weekends for lunch is very unusual.
Any suggestions for weekend lunches? What’s your “go to” lunch?
My first born niece is getting married today. The last of the five cousins to marry. There is only a 2 year span between the five, split between mine (1 boy), my twin (2 girls, one being the bride), and our 18 month older sister (1 girl, 1 boy).
My sisters had their first born daughters only 7 months apart. The last three are steps on a ladder with my son born in July, my niece born in August, and my nephew born in September all in the same year.
It’s been fun that they are so close in age, they all get along very well, and their spouses fit right in.
My sister was four months pregnant when I moved to California in 1987. The first time I met my niece was when my husband and I came back to Connecticut to get married in May of 1988 and she was 3 months old. It was love at first sight.
I’ll be thinking of that first meeting as she walks down the aisle!
Thoughts From The Passenger Seat 