Amorita

My sister and I make this pilgrimage every year when we go down to Amorita for memorial Day and my Dad's reunion dinner. This is the farm house where I lived until I was ten. My dad rented the land and the house and farmed until my parents decided that life was better working a regular job in Wichita at an aircraft plant. Life was better, and I have never regretted moving away from Oklahoma. The house was tiny, it was built right after the Cherokee Strip was run and the barn was dismantled from a farm in Kansas and brought down and rebuilt right after the land was homesteaded. It makes me sad to see it collapsed and in ruins. The house will be following the barn in the next few years. People have been taking boards off the house, and part of the roof has collapsed as well. Sadly, this isn't the only old abandoned farm down there.

We always go down the Saturday before Memorial Day because the Amorita High School has a reunion. My Dad graduated in 1938, so it has been 82 years since he graduated from high school The school was closed in 1957 so all the attendees at the reunion are elderly except for the children, a lot of them are my age or older, so we aren't young either and grandchildren. I would say that there won't be any more reunions ten years from now, and the little town will finally die.

My Aunt Meta and Uncle Bill were there and were the only other family members to attend this year. My aunt isn't doing really well, and my sister and I are so grateful that my Dad and Jaunita are as healthy as they are.

I don't mind getting older, but I really don't like seeing my Dad and other relative doing the same thing. But we just keep on going. I like going down with my sister, we have the same interests and it is a lot of fun.

I guess summer has finally arrived

I took the kids to the water park over by the swimming pool today. I really love living near the park because we can do so many different things without having to get in the car and drive. We just load up the stuff in the back of Wyatt little jeep and off we go. I don't mind not having to push a stroller at all. Wyatt took to the water right away. He was running and playing just like the rest of the children there. I was surprised that Andrea wasn't interested, but she was already tired when we got over there. She spent the whole time sitting with me on the bench. Both of them took good naps after we got back home.

To the Park

I took the kids to Central Riverside Park today. It is the oldest park in Wichita. My family used to take us there for picnics and to the zoo, There is a lot of new and very nice play equipment there which Wyatt was excited to play on. The old space ship has been in the park since I was a child. However, it has been deemed to dangerous for children and now is only a landmark. As a matter of fact, there was a major community action to save the spaceship when the city was going to demolish it for the new park.

The goslings were a lot of fun too. We went over to watch a family who was feeding them on the way back to the car. The father was kind enough to give Wyatt a piece of bread to feed the geese too. All was good until one of the mother geese took the last piece right out of Wyatt's hand. It was a slick move and I think she had probably perfected it on other little boys. Wyatt shrieked, but she didn't do more than startle him. He told me his hand was wet though. I told him it was goose spit and he thought that was pretty neat.

Fou Fou Socks

This is a picture of one of the simple things in life that makes me happy. These are ultra soft socks, I bought them at Sam's today. These blue beauties are part of a set of four equally brightly colored socks. I love my fou fou socks. They are comfortable for running and working out. They cheer me up to look at them. I wanted to have the picture of my feet making Pilates feet, but it was out of focus and I didn't want to have to take another picture. However, let me assure you that fou fou socks help me make beautiful Pilates feet and that my legs are straight in the air when I took the picture. Magical aren't they?

The new and improved

I have to admit it. I really do like sketches. I have been like the child who wouldn't try something because they KNEW they wouldn't like it. Then when coaxed into a taste, love, love, loves it. This my fourth try on a sketch from Sketches by Tamara. I also did this at the same time that Scrapbooks Etc, posted a call for this type of page. I have a number of friends who are trying new things, putting themselves out there. Maybe I should try the same.

Love Birds

This is a portrait of Nick and Nicole they had taken while we were on the cruise in February. The page is my effort for the recipe by Sketches by Tamara. The recipe for this page was masking, alphabets and using the color yellow. This was harder than I expected; I only used one sheet of paper, I had had the masks since last summer and this was the first time I had used them, and once I had the page basics decided, it was very difficult for me to decide on the embellishments. I finally settled on the flowers highlighted by stickles and the chipboard swirl spritzed with glimmer mist. I tried some Smooch on the doves eyes, that was a mistake, but I decided to leave it. All in all not one of my favorites, but interesting in that it made me do some different things.

A page from a sketch

I made this made yesterday using a sketch from the blog Sketches by Tamara. http://sketchesbytamara.blogspot.com My friend Donna Norris is on the design team and she inspired me to start working with sketches. In the past, I have mostly used visual cues from magazines to do my layouts and have felt that I could not create a page using only a sketch. I have decided that I was wrong. This page is the second sketch I have used from the blog and I am truly happy with both of them. This sketch was in the challenge posted May 1. I used the Marmalade paper by Sassafras. The colors are so springy and appropriate for this page. Off to do another sketch.

What a difference a year makes.

I look at the picture of me a year ago in the striped pants and go "AAACCCKKKK!" This picture is what inspired me to get serious about losing weight. To be honest, I had reached the conclusion that I was not going to be able to lose the weight I had been accumulating again at my age. But that picture is probably the most unflattering photo I have ever had taken of me. So realizing how bad I looked and that I had gained so much weight my feet hurt, I finally got motivated.

I used Weight Watchers on line for the diet. I eat real food, I just have portion control which is a big issue for me. For the first time I also seriously started exercising and have found that I really enjoy it. I have lost fifty pounds and work out and run five days a week. The exercise has made the weight loss easier than it has ever been in the past.

Now I face the real challenge, learning how to keep it off. I have been successful in the past, so I want to stay with Weight Watchers and be able to be happy with how I look into the future.

Happy Dance

I can now wear size 8 pants. That is all.

Miss Andi and me

Another picture of Andi and her Grandma. She is such a sweetie and has such a great personality. Alas, though, I am losing out once again in the "favorites" contest to Papa.

Happy Birthday Nicole

Sunday was my baby girl Nicole's 28th birthday. She thinks she feels old. As many of you know we are blessed that every year she does have a birthday. It was also Mother's Day, and Nicole was a Mother's Day baby. Nick ordered her a birthday cake, but apparently the bakery was so fixated on Mother's Day, this is what he got. If you look carefully, you will see Happy Birthday Nicole along the front side as a fix to the situation. One does have to laugh at this.

Nick had the kids make hand prints for a gift although Andrea was not cooperative and only Wyatt made one to give. The stepping stones was a hit, so she had a great day.

Graphic 45 class project

This class hasn't been scheduled at Scrapbook Garden yet. I really enjoyed this kit a lot. The kit was done in conjunction with a book by Pinecone Press. There are several projects, recipe album, recipe cards, scrapbook pages, cards and a recipe card holder. There are enough materials for a large project and a small one. I think that the recipe book, and recipe cards will be the projects we do in class, and if there is time and scraps left over, a card could be made too. I am going to put some "old" recipes of my mother's in this book and give it as a gift at a wedding shower.

Making Mother's Day Gifts

I always wanted some stepping stones made by my children. For whatever reason, I never got any. So last week when Michael's had the kits on sale, I ran myself out and got two for Wyatt and Andrea to make for their mother. It is so easy and Wyatt got a real kick out of putting the marbles and glass into the cement. Andrea was not so helpful, Ray came home in the middle of the project and helped out immensely by holding her until Wyatt and I could finish. Nicole liked the finished stones a lot. They are going in their front garden.

A couple of projects

Here are a couple of projects I have done for classes at Scrapbook Garden. The canvas is of my grandniece for her First Communion. The class canvas is larger, but the design is essentially the the same. I am going to make a couple more of these using photos of Ray's mom and dad.

The second project is a canvas board book mini album. The colors are wonderful and there is a small accordion book that will be made with this class as well.