Quotations -- Page 4

 

1. I hardly know what to write about this. This is from a book written in the 1950s, it was collected in the early 2000s. Nowadays, this sentiment would be considered archaic since sexual activity is so normal from teenager years on with just about anybody and the idea of monogamous faithfulness forever and no sex before marriage no longer inspires any respect. 

I still believe it's true.

1. I had an "open door" policy for my kids. Their door stays open when they have company. 

I always had food available to anyone that was here. If their friends were here at meal time, they ate with us. A welcoming home keeps people home.

2. Back in the day, I saw plenty of people get married early and then find out they made a mistake because the person they married isn't who they thought they were, or they grew up into a different person with new goals. I've seen people marry without really knowing the person. Finding out who you are and what you want out of life helps you make decisions that make a better life

1. I wanted a simple wedding, and I had one. It was at home with no decorations. My bridesmaid's dress could be worn again in places other a formal party. The reception was very simply decorated and I made my dress. My mom and her friends prepared the lunch. I had friends take snapshots 

and make the cake for their gifts.

The total spent was about $300 in 1987 money which wouldn't even be $1000 today. 

2. I love this, because if only people, girls especially, could separate themselves from what everybody thinks they should look like how much better life would be.

1. I have no idea anymore what "going steady" looks like in 2024. In my school days in the 70s-80s it was exchanging class rings and "going together". Somewhere after 2000 I think the term was "talking". The names get sillier as the years go by, but my underlying thought about choosing exclusively a boy/girl friend or even dating at all, is that you should never date someone who doesn't have the values you would like to marry some day.

Quotations -- Page 3

1. What more do you need than the basics? 

Want what you have and you'll have what you want.

1. Everybody IS all right and it's time we realized that. 

2. When I collected these quotes, social media was not a thing and now we are inundated with admonitions to "take care of yourself", "reduce your stress by being aware of your surroundings."

It has always been important to waste a little time on something beautiful.

3. This is the ultimate way to live, "holding fast to truth and courtesy and kindness". This was my goal, but I don't think I've made much progress over the years.

1. This is very true, there were a few names I never liked in elementary school because they belonged to mean girls. Julie was one and Carol another. Those names are changed to me, because Juli is a friend and Carole is the middle name of several in our family.

2. Having a good character and keeping it so makes a better life for yourself and others around you. 

1. Self-discipline seems to be out of fashion these days. Is anything held sacred anymore?

2. I don't know if this idea was given to me by my parents or if I learned it by experience and watching. Of course, these days, there aren't so very many "stay-at-home" moms.

3. Yes!

 

Quotations -- Page 2

1. Another Anne quote. The longer you know people, the better you know them. 

2. I had one of these summers. It was 1983. A larger crowd that usual of friends, we met often, to talk and eat and play games. It was a hard summer for me because I was taking summer classes. Studying and playing meant some late nights. 

3. I was taught responsibility at a young age. With four kids and one income, my folks were frugal with money. I didn't realize how tight some times were until I was well into my teens. I had a job delivering papers and with that money I bought things that Mom wouldn't buy for me, like special shampoo and store-bought clothes. (She would buy all the material we wanted to sew clothes, and we made most of them.) I worked my way through college and paid for my own wedding with very little help from them. I felt it was my responsibility to do what I could to make it easier on them.

1. See above: # 3.

2. There is a saying about doing hard things right away and getting them over with.

"If you have to swallow a frog, do it first thing in the morning."

And then later, 

"If you have to swallow two frogs swallow the biggest one first."

 

3. This is a lesson I taught my kids. Some are friends for now and some for later, 

some for a little while and some for all time. 

1. Some of these are self-explanatory. Without self-discipline we won't enjoy our life 

and others won't enjoy ours either. 

2. Positivity and kindness go a long way.

3. I grew up in the days when more women stayed at home with their children 

than worked outside the home.

My parents believed the essence of this saying. 

 

Quotations From Books -- Tim's Birthday

A very long time ago when Lynette was young, I enrolled her in a crafting club that mailed crafts to her every month. She enjoyed most of them, and the few she didn't I made. One was this, and I used for some very special quotations printed on scrapbook paper in various fonts.

I found this after remembering I posted some of these pages years ago:

April 7, 2017

"Once upon another time, about 12 years go, Lynette belonged to a craft club, and every month she got a new craft to do. One craft was this cute button decorated journal. Lynette being inflicted (I wonder if it should have been afflicted), with the same mentality that I have, and not wanting to use it for just any old thing, it was never used. 

Eventually, it ended up my property and I made it into a little journal using quotes I saved form some of my favorite books."

So, I must not have put the buttons on after all. 

Some time after that, when I was telling my brother Tim about this project and sent him some samples, he said he would like me to write down why I liked them. I have posted a few of the pages years ago, and if I have written my feelings about them, they are long gone.  Some of these are more easily felt and will be hard to write about.

So...as a tribute to Tim and my own enjoyment of writing, I'm making a new start.

1. There is a quote about spanking further in this book. I can think of a few lessons I've learned not from spanking but from other kicks life has given me. 

I remember when Zane was a very little boy, under two I believe, I told him countless times to stop pulling the piano key cover down. He didn't stop until it landed on his fingers. 

Any children that I have looked after have learned that the fireplace glass is hot, by trying it out. I kept due diligence on them when it was too hot, because they were always wanting to touch it. When it wouldn't burn them I was lax, and they learned themselves to keep away. 

2. I collected this quote a good 15 years ago, if not more. Even before social media was a thing, I knew that life would be better if I didn't let what others say about me affect me. It has been a struggle.

3. I love the "Anne" books. I was about 16 when we discovered them in our library. What a treasure! I have read them many, many times. The words of wisdom, such as these, written in those books, I have hoped are a part of me. 

 

I Say

The English language is an interesting one and depending on where you live and who raised you, it can have entirely different ways of saying things. So, over the last several months, I've been collecting more "ways of saying things" and idioms.

There is a chance that some may be already in my collection, but those lists are so long already, I don't feel inclined to check them out. So, here we go. 

Clear as mud

Didn't bat an eye

Don't get your tail in a knot

Get off scot-free

Get the short end of the stick

Giving the cold shoulder

Got up on the wrong side of the bed

Grasping at straws

If the shoe fits, wear it

Jump at the chance

Muddy the waters

Nit-picking

Pipe down

Rain on my parade

Sticks in my craw

The straw that broke the camel's back

Thin as a rail

Wait for the other shoe to drop

What's bred in the bone, comes out in the flesh

Use your head to save your heels

It's All About The Floor

It's been a year now, since we started redoing the floors and replacing the fireplace. 

Jim doesn't have time in the summer to spend on in-house projects, there is too much to do outside. 

During the fall he spent a little time in the evenings chiseling the bark off the slab we plan to use for the mantel. After sanding and experimenting with different colors of stains, he installed the metal plate he will hung the mantel on. It is called a floating bracket.

Look closely at the 4th picture down. 

I sure thought I took a picture after it was installed, but I can't find it so I took one today. 

Over the summer, while we enjoyed our new plank flooring in the kitchen and dining room and not enjoying the worn out and dirty carpet in the living room, we thought about replacing the carpet. 

Eventually, we decided that we liked the plank flooring so much, that we would continue into the living room and forget carpet altogether. 

Because this is an add-on project, rather than a continuation, Jim had to take the planking out of the closet and entry way.  The way the planking fits together, makes this a necessity. Each piece connects to the previous one very tightly to made a watertight, no gap seal, so you just can't insert a piece in the middle. It all has to be worked one way. Jim marked the entry way pieces so he could put them back in the same way without cutting new ones. Some worked, some didn't and he could use some of the other pieces elsewhere. 

Another nail-biting issue was if the house was square and Jim's work was square so the planking would meet up to the planking in the entry. It did, to a half-inch, which was wiggled around and hidden under the trim. I have no idea what we would have done if it didn't match up. 

Getting ready to start

Matching up

Progress

Nearly Done

 

"It's So Good To Be Home"

I'm sitting in Lynette's house on Lynette's couch looking over some photos of the last couple of months. Lynette and Calla made a visit to our house in September while Anthony and his dad went out to Idaho elk hunting. No elks were harmed in the process. 

Since Calla is numero uno around here, we just about had to take numbers. We held her, played with her and spoiled her. 

 We had family dinner and we spent the evening outside, doting on Calla. We've taken a lot of photos our our front stoop, but this time we forgot to take into account the shadows. We have to be judicious in these cases. The older the cousins get, the fewer photos they want to sit for. k

That's a kitty.

Here is a better photo of the grands, but not as nice a setting.

We gave this pound-a-ball toy to Lorene on her first "gotcha day". It has seen hard use with all the kids that have gone through our house. Calla figured it out pretty quickly, push a ball in and it comes out.

I took photos of all our kids looking out the front door waiting for Daddy to come home. I don't have a picture of all of the grands, but here's Calla. 

Road Trip and More

A couple of weeks ago, Jim and I took off across Nebraska into Colorado to pick up a trailer to make it into a boring trailer, which hauls a boring machine and a mix system. Since it was a 4-hour drive, Jim likes me to come along. It makes the drive more interesting and helps him stay awake. 

Several years ago before we became empty nesters, Jim and I started to do a few more things together. It made easier the transition from having a houseful to just the two of us. 

It also helped that Lynette went college in Kearney so for those years she was in and out. Also, our other two kids live close enough to see often. 

The trailer dealership was right next to the sale barn in Brush, Colorado, so after we inspected the trailer (Jim) and paid the check (me), we asked for recommendations for a good place to eat. 

We were told the sale barn cafe was as good as any and better than most, so we went and enjoyed our meal very much. So much, in fact, a couple days ago, Jim was wishing to go back. A bit far, of course, but perhaps there's a plain ol' cafe closer, that sells good ordinary food. 

The decor was metal signs over the whole of it. These were by our table, and I would have loved to go around and read and photograph them all, but that wasn't practical. 

I read the first one to Jim in the way a woman would say it and, well, all my women friends will likely understand why I liked the other. 

On the way home, an hour away, I guess, we overtook or were overtaken by a rainstorm. It rained so hard we couldn't see and everyone on the interstate had slowed down using flashers. Then everyone started moving on to the shoulder. It was a bit surreal to see vehicles lined up on the shoulder, lights on and flashers going and no traffic. Then it started to hail, so we sat while the thumping went on overhead. The largest hailstone I saw was walnut sized. As if things weren't bad enough, I got a tornado warning on my phone. Well, what to do now? Can't get in the ditch, might drown. Too rainy to drive away. So, we sat. I felt a curious sort of calm come over me.  There wasn't anything I could do about the situation I was in and I knew it. 

After a bit, the rain let up and all the traffic started up again. We drove along watching the weather radar on our phones and realizing in less than a half hour we were going to meet up with another storm and sure enough, same song, second verse. We waited again by the side of the road. Not as long this time. and when we got to the shop to drop off the trailer it started raining. We only got .80" at our place.

It took us an hour to drive the last 20 minutes.

These next photos have nothing to do with Colorado, cafes, or storms.

Barry got a bearded dragon lizard for his birthday. It's cute now. I'm not sure how "cute" they are when they are 2 ft. long. 

This really is the same person, Barry just had a haircut in betwen.

 One thing Jim likes to do is go 4-wheeling at the farm. We spent an hour roaming about and being bounced to death over hill and dale and creek crossings. At least, I was. I was very ready to be off and back in the pickup. I don't know why it seemed worse bouncing than usual this time. 

Old News Made New

Family resemblances aren't everything. 

Families are made in a multitude of ways and a multitude of looks, but when resemblances do happen, it's very interesting.

Top: Lynette, Bottom: Calla

Uncle Lowell

Lynette and Calla as babies look very much alike.

I always thought Uncle Lowell's head shape is like both of theirs.

Resemblances change as babies change into toddlers, then little kids, then big kids.

I have a photo of Zane at 3 where he looks just like Lorene at that age. 

 

Reading--It's Made Me Who I Am

 Someday I would like to write a post about how certain beloved books have defined the way I think about things. Two that come to mind are the "Little House" books and the "Anne" books. That would take the time that I haven't had or prioritized this summer.

I just finished reading "The Questions That Matter Most", by Jane Smiley, or rather most of it. 

This Jane Smiley has written loads of novels and I have never heard of her. I mostly read non-fiction and this one was in the new non-fiction shelf in the library. It's a book of 'essays', and the ones I enjoyed where of authors or books that I knew. I didn't read the ones that I had never heard of. 

There are a few pieces of the book that resonate with my feelings of books and I want to keep them...

Quotes from "The Questions That Matter Most": 

Page 232..."The moments are what come to mind when I think about thee books I like best --moments that stick in my mind as pictures. When you're deep into reading a book that you're very fond of, the images pass through your mind and leave a permanent impression."

Page 233..."The reader has to have images to feel oriented in the world of the novel....Your images may not be the same as my images--different readers will perceive a novel's world differently depending on what they notice and respond to in the descriptions--..."

Page 238..."To read a book is...an act of freedom--at any point I could say, I'm done with (whatever book I'm reading), I'm moving on to (another one). As long as you're reading you're there voluntarily." 

There is another piece of this book that I liked on page 74, but not because of what is written down. The paragraph is about the author's take on the difference between movies and books.

I don't make a habit of watching movies, and after the few I have seen about some favorite books that don't match up with what I have in my head, I'm not interested in seeing anymore of those.