Four Things

Morgan sent me this so blame her if you couldn't care less!

Things you may or may not have known about me in no particular order.

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Piano Teacher
2. Lab Technician, yes they actually trusted me with chemicals that could cause explosions.
3. Pizza Tosser (yes I really can slap a pizza in the air)
4. Cook (which is why I don't cook now)

B) Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Princess Bride
2. The Mummy
3. The Matrix
4. Lake Placid

C) Four places you have lived:
1. Prospect, PA
2. Sandusky, OH
3. Indiana, PA
4. Delavan, WI

D) Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Neat
2. Super Nanny
3. (I don't get to watch too much TV since I work evenings but that's ok with me)
4.

E) Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Carribean Cruise
2. Toronto, CAN
3. European tour
4. Italy (I'm not sure this was a vacation...I was actually there for a semester studying ceramics but I didn't know if it qualified as places I've lived)

F) Websites you visit daily
1. Friends blogs
2. Baby Center
3. Wondertime
4. Yahoo

G) Four of my favourite foods
1. Cheese
2. Cheese
3. Cheese
4. Bread

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Alone on a beach
2. Alone in the woods
3. Alone at my own house (anyone sensing a pattern?)
4. Visiting Morgan

Stunt Rider in the Making

Stunt Rider

Pedaling in Reverse

Maya's legs are finally long enough to reach the pedals, and she has the concept of making it "go". But she still prefers going in reverse and practicing tricks. One day we may all be watching her try to jump the grand canyon, hopefully in a less tacky outfit than Robbie Knievel. The funny thing is, she never went forward in her walker either...she just scooted around backwards slamming into tables and chairs and laughing hysterically. Hmmm should I ponder this?

Not a monarch, but cool none the less

Butterfly

This is a shot of one my butterfly bushes (aptly named because the butterflies love them). Usually it's covered with Monarchs, but since I sat and waited for one to appear, of course none did. I did grab this nice shot of a tiger swallowtail though. In addition to butterflies we have seen, humming birds, bumble bees, hummingbird moths and any number of small whizzing things that generally move to fast to be identified. Hopefully I'll get a picture of a Monarch before the season is through.

Giant Hosta, Little Maya 

It's a surprise...for now

We went to the Dr's today for our "big" ultrasound. The one where they take all the measurements and make an educated guess at the sex. Well, this one is even more stubborn that Maya was and the poor tech couldn't even get all the mesurements let alone determine the sex. So for now it's a surprise. At least we got a good profile shot because the baby was laying on it's side the whole time and would not roll over. We are scheduled to go back Sept. 12th to finish the measurements and hopefully the baby will be more co-operative then. I'm in trouble if I have two kids as stubborn as me!

Why Are Sticks So Much Fun?

Stick in the Pool

Stick as a Spear

Stick in a Bucket

Stick as a Spyglass

I Drew you a Heart Mommy...With a Tail

Drawing intently

Close up

Heart with a Tail

Goofy look

Horse Trading Days

Pony ride

Zelienople's 43 Annual Horse Trading Days - A Family Tradition

A Doll Story

Suze and Jenny 1980

Maya, Mandy and Jenny 2006

Playing with Dolls

If you look closely, you will see that the doll I am holding (top photo - Yes that's me when I was 5 ) and the doll Maya is holding (middle photo) are the same. They were part of the Fisher Price My Friend Doll Collection. I have Mandy, Jenny, Mickey and Becky. I also found the "new" Jenny when I was in college, and of course I bought her on the spot. I have held on to them all these years out of pure sentimentality. I, in general, am not a sentimental kind of person. I'm more the toss it if you're not using it kind of person, but these dolls have a very special story.

When I was about Maya's age, my mom was diagnosed with bone cancer. It was a large tumor, and it nearly killed her. For anyone who knows me, they know my mother is still alive and kicking, so obviously this story has a happy ending. Her recovery was long and hard, and she spent a lot of time in the hospital, and then even more time recovering at home. My brothers and I spent a lot of time with relatives and friends so that my Dad could work and visit my Mom at the hospital. One of these people was my Aunt Sibyl, a wonderful, wise woman who could do anything. She was also a fantastic seamstress.

Aunt Sibyl was a very good friend of my mother's and was deeply worried about her while she was sick. She told me much later (in my late twenties) that she felt very helpless and whenever she thought of my mom and didn't know what to do, she would sew me another outfit for my dolls. I didn't realize the enormity of what she had done for me as a child, until I began sewing doll clothes for my niece a few years ago. Each outfit is more time consuming and labor intensive than one for a full sized adult, and each piece takes hours to assemble from start to finish. Now when I look at the collection of clothes, well over 50 outfits, I realize that she spent hundreds of hours just to make a little girl feel better about her mom. And now the most wonderful part is, that I get to pass these on to my own daughter and tell her the story of how much I was loved and how much I love her.