I am back.

I am back!  I have returned to my Blog after a long break.

I didn't intend to take such a break, it just seemed like Facebook stole my blog.  Then as human nature would have it, once some considerable time passed, I lost my account info.

A lot has changed in the seven years since my last post.  

My Artist is in college working on his multi-media production degree.

My Bookworm is finishing up her senior year in high school and will be leaving the nest this fall to study chemical engineering.

My father passed away last year a few months after celebrating his 100th birthday.

My love and I keep carrying on, working in the vineyard and working at our jobs.

I will once again try to capture the moments of our lives and work on the craft of writing.

Bookworm and Artist

Lights...Camera...Action

A fashion themed birthday bash for my bookworm's tenth birthday!

Nine guests + the birthday girl makes ten. Fun outside with the sunflower house and the swing set.

A Fashion Photo Shoot.

We hung a sheet as a backdrop and used fans and lighting for the before and after photos.

Lots of props.... beads, gloves, fans and make up.

A chocolate fountain rounded out the fun.

My own version of Design on a Dime

Last weekend, I felt as if I was the star in my own design on a dime special.

My Bookworm is turning ten and we are redoing her room for her birthday.

I unloaded the contents of my daughters room into the hallway and got ready for my very talented friend to come over and paint.

Meanwhile the phone rings and this same friend was at a special antique show that had come to town. She encouraged me to come check out a vanity she thought would work in the room. Our plan was to ditch the dresser, put more clothes in her closet, and refinish an old armoire. My love and I both wanted to add a vanity to the furniture, but hadn't found one yet.

My friend's find was awesome, so I bargained a little and got a very good price and purchased it. We ran to her house, got her truck, loaded it up and headed home. I went in to town for dinner and paint supplies. While in town, I dashed in Ross to look for a small seat, but found a black wire dress form instead. After a little stewing and some phone calls for advice, I went back and bought it. I had already purchased the black wire Eiffel Tower. Still more to do, but the room is well on it's way.

Now the rest of the house doesn't look so hot. Of course I have done no laundry and very few dishes. My son is running out of clean clothes and the piles are piling up. I will get caught up somehow, after the flurry of creativity dies down.

Paint 24.99... Wire Mannequin 34.99.....Antique Vanity...125.00... Eiffel Tower 19.99

The look on my daughter's face...... priceless.

My Bookworm on a Photo Safari

Today I was running to town to take my Artist to a Birthday Party. I left my Bookworm home with My Love. Sometimes when Dad is busy working on the property, he hands our girl the camera so she can entertain herself. She started surprising us a couple of years ago with some really great shots. This is a sample of the best of what she captured today.

My Kids Thoughts on my Bloggy Hobby Revealed

On the way to a friend's house...

...an interesting traffic jam presented itself that was making us a little late.
As I tried to take this photo, my children started in...

14 year old Artist, "Why are you taking a photo, Is this for your blog?"

9 year old Bookworm, "Hey she needs to prove why we are late."

Bookworm, "Why don't you like her blog it is just a way for her to remember good things in our life, like the turtle." "Do you remember the turtle?"

Artist, "What turtle?"

Bookworm, "See you don't remember it, but her blog has it all remembered."

Artist, "oh whatever."

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek For more photo story friday posts click here.

Tuesday Tales - A Beautiful Feast

I am guest posting again at AVT Coach with a Tuesday Tale.
The holiday season is upon us and with many feasts planned I was reminded of this book.

A Beautiful Feast for a Big King Cat is written by John Archambault and Bill Martin JR. The beautiful illustrations are by Bruce Degen.

I love children's literature, and I have many favorites about cats. This is certainly due to the influence of my Bookworm who is a cat lover. She loved cats at a very young age and now her love of cats has grown to include leopards, tigers and lions. She and the Artist are both animal planet junkies.

I found this book many years ago in a scholastic book form and ordered it for my then three year old cat lover. She loved the rhythm of the language and as time went by we could explore the more complex lessons and the moral found in this book.

For the full review hop on over to AVT Coach.

The story involves a litte mouse who teases a cat and learns it is a dangerous game. In the end the mouse gets himself out of trouble by using his imagination.You will miss the magic of this book if you only read it a few times! As the child anticipates the story and memorizes the text they will join in with the rhythmic rhyming verse. We read this story at least 100 times before my daughter could read and then again we enjoyed it as she was learning to read. A true gem.

I will finish this post with a quote from one of the author's Bill Martin Jr. who incidentally didn't read until he was in college and became an expert at hiding his own illiteracy.

"A blessed thing happened to me. I had a teacher who read to me." Bill Martin Jr.

This thermos and that's all I need...

My Bookworm has discovered the amazing properties of a thermos.

While working in the vineyard with dad she was truly amazed that the old Aladdin thermos kept water ice cold in very hot weather for hours. Ever since her discovery we hear the familiar squeak of the thermos top every where we turn; in the car, at the table, in her room, in the family room.

She is busily fixing it up and getting herself drinks out of her new discovery.

Remember the movie The Jerk and the Thermos Song.

She just loves it and apparently it is all she needs!

Wait till we tell her it keeps things hot in cold weather too.

Pressing the Wine

Watching the wine be pressed is oh so fun !

Now it will go into a barrel for approximately 24 months.

I am playing Wordless Wednesday at five minutes for mom.

Check out other Wednesday posts.

Golden Nuggets, Caution Slips and The Free Market Economy of the Fourth Grade

Last night at dinner, my bookworm made a surprising announcement.

"I am buying a blank caution slip from my friend for four golden nuggets."


(Caution slips are given to children when they are in big trouble and usually involves a trip to the principal's office)

She proceeded to explain how a friend of hers was given a blank caution slip and now apparently the fourth graders in room 12 decided it was a very valuable commodity. The bidding began, with one student offering to loan the child a favorite pen while others offered favors. With many children attempting to gain possession of the slip, the bidding switched to a more specific currency, golden nuggets. Golden nuggets are a paper ticket given out for good behavior to be used at the class store for prizes. My daughter informed me that she had won the auction and she and her friend shook on it.

I was still shocked and feeling like I should reprimand my child. I was thinking of warning her that she could get in big trouble, but her uncle and father beat me to the punch. They proceeded to shower her with praise and encouragement for this recent endeavor.

Before giving my lecture, I decided to dig deeper and ask her why she wanted the caution slip. Her eyes lit up as she explained how she wanted to have it so she could give it out to some ill behaved student if needed. The glint in her eye revealed how she relished the power she would wield as the possessor of the blank caution slip. I could barely keep a straight face as the look in her eye reminded me of the power the ring had over Frodo in Tolkien's recent cinematic tale.

Ah the desire for power, so intoxicating and undeniably strong, perhaps this is what happened on Wall Street. One too many souls getting that glazed over look and letting power and greed take the wheel. Quick grab a blank caution slip.

What did you learn on the first day of school?

Interview in hand
Questions put upon the page
Answers from the heart .

Famous for one day?
Teen stars dressed beyond their years
Happy to be me

It is Haiku Friday at A Mommy Story


Wednesday was the first day of school for my kids. My bookworm who is always ready to roll wasted no time getting started on her homework in the car.

She was asked to fill out an interview, so the teacher could get to know her better. She read the interview questions out loud and would announce her answers as she wrote them down on her paper. The questions consisted of the usual; favorite color, favorite past times, and favorite foods. No surprises there, until she reached question number eight.

Question #8 - "If you could be a famous person who would you like to be?"

Her initial answer - "I just want to be myself."

I almost swerved off the road, could it be that my daughter is that content with herself?

I blurted out, "Write that down."

My daughter protested, "No Mom that is not answering the question."

I pleaded, "Please write that down, it is the best answer in the world."

"No I can't, it doesn't answer the question. How about if I write..

Shawn Johnson, but I really just want to be myself."

I replied, "Great, that is the perfect answer. Write that down."

I just loved it. I couldn't wipe the smile of my face. In the time of Botox, dolled up teen stars and the media it's an uphill battle for girls to feel good about themselves. I am so thankful that my daughter is content to be herself. A great discovery for me on the first day of school.

Healthy Snacks

I was serving the bookworm and her buddy some healthy snacks at our friend's pool. They ate most of the veggies, but found a different use for the cucumbers.





I am not big on spa treatments, don't know where she picked this one up.

She is a Brave One

My girl, the bookworm is like me in many ways.

To list a few ...

*She looks like I did when I was young and we still share a striking resemblance. It is not uncommon for people to approach me in stores and say; " Are you the mom of ....?"

*We have the same reaction to shopping for clothes, quickly getting "out of the mood to buy anything" - saves my love lots of $$.

* We share a similar temperament and attitude about life.

Now this picture demonstrates one BIG way we are different.

Her love of animals includes big scary reptiles and she is brave. She used her "special money" at the fair for the chance to pet this alligator and gladly gave up ice cream and the climbing wall. She loved every minute of it.

As far as I am concerned, you could not pay me enough "special money" to pet the alligator...no thank you. See ya later alligator.

The Chicken Pox? But We had the Shot!

These were the words, I was telling my doctor on Tuesday afternoon.

Yes, my Bookworm has the chicken pox and yes she was vaccinated.

I hadn't even considered this when she had a fever Monday and woke up with many bug bites spots in the night.

I became convinced we had a flea infestation from our cats and dog. I proceeded to evacuate the house and set off flea bombs in our living space. My behavior was a little nuts, because our pets are not indoor pets.

My doctor explained that she is not giving the booster shot as much any more because she is questioning the outcome of this vaccination series. I love my pediatrician and totally respect her judgement. I found research regarding breakthrough cases, outbreaks in highly immunized school children between the ages of nine and eleven, and questions about long term effectiveness. While my brain fully appreciated her reasoning, my heart was so mad at her, as I watched my child writhe in pain and cry all night long.

Now, she is much better and she slept though the night. She is still sleeping and we weathered the storm. My son the artist was immunized twice, so hopefully he will not fall prey to the pox at this point. Oh, and as an added bonus we are protected from fleas, that we didn't have.

I will end this post with a quote from my bookworm, " Well one thing mom, having the chicken pox and going through something like that makes you feel like being comfortable is a privilege. It makes you more thankful."

From the mouth of babes. It is so true, I always have a skip in my step the few days following an illness, a temporary appreciation for the feeling of well being.

One on One - no not basketball

Last night, my husband and son had to journey out to see the new Indiana Jones flick. Still too scary for my daughter, we all agreed.

So we girls went out to dinner. As I sat across from my bookworm, it was with pure joy that we ate, talked and hung out. It occurred to me, as it always does that one on one time with people is so pure and precious to me.

Being the youngest of ten, I can easily be the life of a party, but what I really crave is one on one time with individuals. Groups have never been my thing, maybe because I was raised in a large group (ten kids). I absolutely love my big family, and am so thankful for my upbringing. It has always made me value one on one time as a blessing. As a child I did not care to join the girl scouts or any other organized group. Today I am in a mom's group that goes out to dinner once a month. Although, I enjoy all the women there is a part of me that is always wanting to quit. I would prefer to go out to dinner with these women one at a time, through out the year.

So what a treat to be with my daughter and listen to her ideas about PE, favorite super hero powers, kids at school, funny teachers and the rest. I did not allow her to bring in her book from the car, or it would have been like eating dinner alone. At age nine her ultimate list of super powers include (not in order of importance):

*ability to fly.

*ability to talk to animals (including tigers without the tigers eating you).

*ability to transform into things.

*ability to transport (like we could have gone to Hawaii for dinner).

*being able to control the weather including making it snow, which of course would cancel school.

*having a magical car with a center console - you could type in anything you wanted and it would be provided ( her example was a new kitten or an iguana for her brother).

*to own a time machine ( this was a big desire when she was younger and would get hurt, she would lament "I wish I had a time machine!").

I was warned as we left the restaurant this list was not complete yet. As we drove home I was aware that if we all went to dinner, I may have not been provided with this list. I encourage all you moms of multiple children to carve out one on one time with each child now and again, it is so fun to get to know your kids individually.

The Bookworm

My daughter is a total bookworm. I like to read, but she gets this intense love of reading from her Dad. She started out slow and has gained momentum over the years. Now, in the third grade we can't find novels fast enough. She has been known to read up to 200 pages a day. At her school there is a weekly reading log for recording the minutes they read. I don't actually want to record the real time she reads, because it looks too crazy. She reads on car rides, while I work out at the gym, and tries to read every where we go. I have to hang on to her so she won't run into the wall or a cart in the grocery store. A few weeks ago, she told me what reading does for her.... " Mom..when I read, I am transported into another world and I am there in the story and it is like so fun!"

Last year the school librarian held a reading contest. For the next week the bookworm read for hours at a time, meticulously recording every minute on scraps of paper. She insisted I staple all the sheets and scraps of paper together to turn into the librarian. The Librarian was a little flustered that the bookworm had read so many minutes in the first week..oops. She hadn't even given out the reading record forms yet.. double oops. I received a note that was slightly tense and telling, stating that I had to use the required forms to record the minutes or they would not be counted, and that it was not fair to the other children. Did I already say..oops?

Later I found out the librarian had contacted my daughter's teacher slightly upset that someone had read all the minutes in the first week. The teacher vouched for her stating she really was a bookworm and gently reminded the librarian that the goal was for children to read. Needless to say she won the contest, and I was relieved when it was over.

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." ~Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 August 1991