Where Did All This Creativity Come From??

As I was trying to figure out how to set up a studio in my garage to help me organize and work on the many projects and ideas and crafts I want to do, the thought came to me.
WHY?? Why do feel such a need to create??
I remember mom, years ago, bringing home the huge cones of jute and doing the beautiful art of macrame. She made curtains, plant pot holders, room dividers...you name it!
And she taught any one of us who wanted to learn. I still search for jute, but alas, macrame seems to be a dying art.
That sparked a memory even older of watching mom make wonderful plaques with decoupage. She wouldn't just slap a picture on a piece of wood and call it good. Oh, no. I remember she would buy 3 cards, all the same card. One was the backround. The other two were cut up to give the card dimension. The effect was amazing!
I remember her moving her passion to create spoons! Yes, spoons. She would create 'scenes' on spoons! I don't rememeber all the details but I know she would fill the spoon with a kind of clay and use miniture figures to create different scenes.
Of course, there was her sewing. She could be found on her sewing machine making just about whatever she wanted.
Momma could dance!! She had a very creative side for entertaining.
We would paint statuary.
Mom could create the most unique gardens using all kinds of thrift store finds. Who will ever forget her bedpan gardens? She would even paint pretty flowers on the bedpans!
I could go on but the point is, she shared her creativity with her children. We would sit with her and she would teach us as we made our own creations.
Where did all this creativity come from?? I think I got it from my mom.
Thanks mom, tho I'm not sure if it is a blessing or a curse! I got a lot of creative projects in my head, all over my house, and builiding up in our garage!

The Disaster Weekend...

Okay, here it goes...

We were all stressed out for different reasons. We thought it would be nice to get away for a weekend. Nana's friend Shirley had a cabin in Big Bear and she said we could use it. It was a hot summer day and we all packed into the "tuna boat" station wagon. We all were...Nana, Sandy, Deanna, Me, Donna, Denise, Janet, and her brother (I'm sorry, I don't remember his name, Evan?). Anyway, we were so happy and singing along the way. Halfway up the mountain the car decided to break down. Everyone got hot and irritable. Sandy was gorgeous and decided to hitch hike to the nearest phone to call a tow truck. Sure enough, the next person to come by just happened to be a young guy on a motorcycle. He took her to a phone, then brought her back to us. When the tow truck finally arrived, he hooked the car up to the truck backwards. Sandy, and I don't remember who, maybe Denise, got to ride in the truck and the rest of us stayed in the car. It was kinda fun riding backwards. We waved to everyone along the way.

We finally got to the cabin. Sandy and Nana went for a walk down the road to a phone booth to try to call Danny to pick us up. Meanwhile, Deanna and I made dinner. We were all tired and the younger kids were driving us crazy (no offense, but you were). We thought "At least we'll have a good dinner". We made spaghetti sauce with penne noodles instead of spaghetti noodles. It was awful!! We didn't allow for the altitude and the noodles were so sticky and gummy it was nearly impossible to swallow. So much for a good meal. Sandy and Nana were unable to reach Danny, so we decided to relax and macrame to keep our minds off of everything so far. Notice I said "so far".

Deanna and I went to the phone to call. No answer. Nana and Sandy went to call. No answer. We did see some wild donkeys running around. That was pretty exciting. Dee and I called. No answer. Nana and Sandy called. Again, no answer. By this time it was about 12am. Dee and I called. Yippee! Finally Danny answered. He and Don were on their way with the Tully Steak meat van they used for work. All we had to do now was wait for them to get there.

We watched some TV. I remember watching "The Legend of Lizzie Bordon". I don't know why it stands out in my mind, but it does. Every time I here anything having to do with Lizzie Bordon, I think of this weekend.

Just after 1am they arrived. The large freezer in the van had stopped working for some reason, so they had to plug it into the cabin for about half an hour to recharge it so the steaks wouldn't thaw.

Finally, we woke up the kids, packed everyone in around the freezer and were on our way. About fifteen minutes into the drive Janet gets car sick and throws up in the carpet bagget purse. We switch her up to the front with Danny and Don, clean things up a little, try to ignore the horrible smell and we're back on the road. "Yes, we'll soon be home sleeping in a comfortable bed" we thought. Not so.

Halfway down the mountain..."Uh, Oh" said Danny "We're out of gas". We came to a stop not too far from a house that happened to be part of a gas station. At 2am it was closed, of course. So what do we do? What else? We send Sandy to knock on the door of the house to plead for gas. And of course, they see her and open up. "Okay, we have enough gas to get home, now we'll be there and in bed soon". Not so.

We get to the freeway and "BOOM!!". You guessed it...a flat tire. Now it's about 2:30am and we are stuck on the freeway with a flat tire. Danny and Don get out the spare. A huh, it's flat too. They take the tire off and roll it down the off ramp hoping to find an open gas station that will fix the flat. Amazingly enough, there was one not too far down the road. They get the tire fixed, roll it back up the ramp and put it back on the van. We got back in the van. This time Danny, me, Janet, Dee and Don were in the front. (At that time there were no seat belt laws). Guess what happens next?

Yippee, Yahoo!!!!!!!!! We dropped Sandy and her kids off and finally at about 4:30am we pulled into the driveway. We didn't even take the stuff out of the van. We went straight up to bed. I think we slept until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. What an adventure! The whole time we were saying to ourselves, "Some day, we'll all look back at this and laugh". I don't know if anyone is laughing. I think we are all in disbelief that it all really happened. It sounds like a crazy story someone made up. But, I promise...it happened!

(I tried to write everything I could remember. If anyone remembers anything else, please feel free to add to it).

The Meat Truck!

Heather's memory reminded me of the Meat Truck incident. Forgive me, I know I don't remember all the details I was young but this is what I do remember...

We went up to or tired to get to some cabin, I think in Big Bear, and literally got snowed in. Then when we were trying to get home Nana's car wouldn't start, or maybe it just got stuck in the snow. Danny ended up coming to get us, but the only vehicle he had was his work truck. He delivered frozen meat somewhere. So there was a big freezer in the back. We all piled in the front and the back. I don't even remember just how many of us there were, but there were a few of us. We really didn't fit, but we had to make the best of it. The back had no windows, now that I'm thinking about it, it probably was a cargo van, not a truck.

Anyway, I just remember it was a very long, bumpy ride and Janet said she was going to throw up, with not much warning. Nana was emptying her bag, Sandy was trying to contain it in her hands. As she was throwing up in the bag, the rest of us were yelling at Danny to stop and let us out. The smell was absolutely horrible, as you probably well know.

I remember Nana having to get back into her bag because there was a small zipper pocket she didn't empty before she let Janet do her thing in it. She definitely didn't want to keep it after that!! So if this is the same bag, Heather, No it didn't survive this incident!! Thanks for the memory, it's funny now, but sure wasn't at the time!!

Let's Take a Blast from the Past!

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Nana's purse...

Okay, it's been too many days without a new memory or something, so...

I was remembering this purse that Nana had when they lived in the house on Apache. It was made out of tapestry fabric. One day I looked at it and said, "That purse reminds me of 'Gone With the Wind' and the bags the carpet baggers would carry around." Nana looked at it and said, "It does. I guess this is now my carpet bagget purse." I said, "Don't you mean carpet bagger?" She said, "No, carpet bagget." Then we just laughed. From then on we always called it that. I don't know if she had it much longer. During our "Disaster Weekend" (which is a whole other story I'll write about later when I have more time. Unless someone wants to write about it) her carpet bagget purse became Janet's throw up bag in the back of a meat van. I'm not sure if it survived that. Love to all!!!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a fun get together for Independence Day! Gina and Jenn and their families decided to come spend it with us! Charlotte came too. Nana was doing pretty good, as far as Nana goes. These days she can't seem to wake up very good before 6pm. She was able to sit up and visit with who ever came in and out of her room. We even got her out on the porch for a group picture! I'm not sure why it turned out blurry, but here it is anyway.

She was able to watch the fireworks from her window.

For more details on the day, you can visit my blog, there's more pics over there too!!

Sleeping Like A Baby...

I posted this on my blog and thought I'd share it with you!

Sunday was a nice day. I started out taking the girls Nana-sitting with me. Katie actually was really excited to come. Little did I know that she actually wanted to go to church. After she picked out a pretty dress and wanted me to do her hair I figured it out. So she actually didn't Nana-sit, she went to church so it was just CC and me.

Ciara and I were sitting in the living room playing when suddenly Nana came stumbling out of the bathroom with a frantic look on her face! I was shocked to see her! I didn't hear her at all! I felt so bad!! She said that she had been calling me and I didn't even hear her! I am so sorry Nana!

After she calmed down a bit and started to relax she let me take care of her. Soon, we were back in her room and she was finishing up her breakfast and taking her medicine.

Ciara was a good girl for the most part...but very clingy. And very tired. And so was Nana. Next thing I knew, both Ciara and Nana were fast asleep! It was so sweet!