Dad and his boots

This picture has to make you smile:

Not only do I love the people in the picture (my dad and his dad), I mean, just look at Grandpa's smile. He is content. I love it. Dearly.

This was taken July 4th, 1969 so my dad was  married and really getting into responsibilities of life. He probably had one or two kids (my family members can verify) thus his more somber expression (I also learn he never really had a tendency to smile in pictures).

Later, while jogging, I figured out that my oldest brother was born in 1969, July of 1969 in fact. So, my dad's serious expression might be due to the fact that his wife was ready to pop down below. He must have been worrying about her :-).

Ha ha -- do you like how I am putting my own spin on it? I will have to ask my dad about this picture, but in the meantime it is his boots that made me smile. He's wearing those big work boots. Those boots will be a part of my dad's legacy for sure. He always wears those type of boots to do his outside work: gardening, mowing, pipe-moving. Those are the big boots that showed me how to plant corn and potatoes (don't "cut and cover"). Those are the boots that I pictured stomping a hole through our living room floor when the Boston Red Sox lost a game, and finally those are the boots that I would see my dad lace up, all the way to the top to go on motorcycle rides or hunting.

And Grandpa Fuller can just keep smiling - he probably wore the same thing :-).

Another editor's update - my oldest brother was born before 1969, it was my second oldest brother who was born in 1969, and his birthday is August, so my mom was hugely pregnant and wrangling a toddler down below.

Ode to Mothers -- from a kid

Kid President's Mother's Day Message To All Moms (VIDEO)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ4Rnba85o8&feature=player_embedded#t=2s


I don't know how to paste the picture so it looks cooler but this is seriously so funny. Please watch and then watch again. I think I've listened to it three times in the last 30 minutes.

Happy Mothers Day!

Technological File

I guess I am not raising a future NBA player. When my son came home from basketball practice talking about "technological files" and how a person could earn one while playing basketball, I really knew any hope I have is dashed :-).

Of course, he asked me if I've ever earned a "technological file" and I said no. In discussing this privately, my husband and I decided of our three children, our youngest would be the most likely to earn a technical foul. She can get pretty heated up in arguments and actually just lets out a blood-curdling scream when she can't take it anymore.

Onions and Vocal Cords

Every family has their oddities, or I should say every person. Two of mine are that I worry about things like "damaging your vocal cords" and that I had bunion surgery the summer before 9th grade.

Big deal right?

I spent a lot of money learning about vocal cords back in my readin' ritin' 'rithmetic days,  so I might as well train my children to be paranoid of injuring their vocal cords :-). I can't deny that I try to enforce good vocal habits (drink lotsa water, don't make crazy sounds that will strain your voice and my ears.

It wouldn't be unusual to hear this phrase in my house, "My vocal cords are hurting." I always get a good smile about that one. I wish I could post a cool picture of vocal folds on here.

You gotta admit, that is cool isn't it? I am fascinated by it. I am always wondering about birds and whether or not they have vocal cords. Anyway . . . I am pretty sure my child had a sore throat, not sore vocal cords.

The other oddity is those bunions of mine. Again, I will find a cool picture to illustrate.

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/picture-of-bunion

I inherited my bad bunions. But, I hold no disregard for the people before me. Honest, I don't. There is still a slight scar on my feet and my children like to inspect scars. So, they've heard my story many times (about having surgery and having to wear two gigantic boots and how my friend came and played "Easy Money" with me the entire summer when I was laid up).

So, the funny thing is that my youngest daughter will look at my dainty (ha ha) little feet and say, "Mom, are those your onions?"

What kind of odd things are you passing onto your children?

My own little Stevie Wonder

Last week my daughter's eyes were dialated for an eye exam. She was given a pair of flimsy sunglasses to be worn out in the sun for the hours following the appointment. I really didn't think anything of the glasses. I saw that she didn't want to wear them into her school when I dropped her off and left it at that.

This morning, I noticed she had those glasses in her backpack still.

When I picked her up this afternoon, I saw a girl walking along the sidewalk, kind of a determined-neck-forward type look. It was none other than my own little Stevie Wonder:

I have been chuckling about this all afternoon. I guess she thinks she still needs to be wearing her special glasses. I wonder what all of the passersby were thinking about my daughter :-).