Don't you love to get mail? I mean real mail, not junk mail, the kind that is a card or a letter with personal messages written in someone's real handwriting? I am not just saying this because my husband is a postal worker. The letters above are letters I have received from my mother in recent years. I have mentioned in previous posts that she is 93 years old, so her letters and handwriting are becoming more and more precious to me. I have always thought that descendants of famous actors and singers of the past are very blessed to have recordings and movies of their deceased parents or grandparents. With today's technology, it is easier for all of us to save moments like that, but there is something so beautiful and special to me about a person's handwriting. Personality comes out in their words and thoughts and in the way they form their letters. Perhaps I feel this way because I tend to be able to express myself better through writing than by simply talking. I take time to think before I write and not necessarily so much before I speak. (Place chagrined emoji here.) Some of the things I read from my mother make me believe that it is the same for her, even though now arthritis sometimes makes writing difficult for her. These feelings about handwriting and my mom's letters are what has sparked an idea I have been working on and I am excited to share it with you. I saw something on Pinterest that was a technique using wood burning to transfer old recipes onto bread boards. I thought, what a great idea for preserving my mom's handwriting from old recipes she has written me. But, I don't have a lot of room for hanging things in my kitchen, so I pondered this idea further. Then, I thought, what if I copied old handwriting off of the backs of pictures and and wood burned them onto the front of the wooden frame, thus showing the handwriting and who was in the photo at the same time. I even bought a wood burner and started to practice. It is a lot of work copying someone's handwriting precisely, which makes me glad that I didn't try an entire recipe! Then I saw this idea and that is when it all came together! I decided that I can take my mom's letters and use the printing on wax paper transfer method to put her words onto my frames. As I said, this is a new technique for me, but I have learned a few things so far and I couldn't wait any longer to share them with you. Click the read more link below to learn how I did it.
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I never thought I would hear myself say this, but I have to get rid of some books. I don't know if you can understand how much I love books, to hold them, read them, think about them, hug them, look at them, and yes, I will admit it, when I really love a good book I will pet the page that I am loving. When I don't have something to read, I feel at a loss. I blame my love of books on my mother who instilled in me a love for good literature and poetry. She would suggest things for me to read by saying, "Oh Helen, you will love this book!" and she would read me a passage or a poem that would get me hooked. She encouraged me to memorize poetry. At the age of 93, she still is an avid reader and belongs to a book club. She would take me to the library, but the problem was I never wanted to give the books back. (Of course she forced me to!) But, when I really love something I have read, it becomes a part of me and I want to keep it and re-read it. When I was around 10 years old, my mom bought me a membership into a Reader's Digest Book Club that published these books: The copyright date on them is 1967-68. I still have most of them. Reader's Digest does a very good, hardly noticeable job of condensing books, and these gave me a good start at real classical literature. So, you can see why getting rid of books is a problem for me. Right now, as I am redecorating my living room and wanting to give it more of a library feel, with sort of a British Colonial look, I am deciding on bookcases. I know that I have way too many books to fit into the number of bookcases that I can afford. Thus, I have made the decision that it is time to go through my books and only keep those that I love so much that I would read them again and pet them and recommend them to my children and grandchildren. If they are forgettable, and I have to review the cover to recall what is in them, I can probably give them away. (But, I will review and make the final decision.) There are many categories of books, so today I am going to focus on the books adults would read, and save the children's books for later. Here are my top books that I would read(and have read) again and again!
#4: So, of course, the Hunger Games Series falls into that category! Good job keeping me glued to a book, Suzanne Collins. And let me put a plug in here for reading the books before seeing the movie. My husband was a little lost when the first movie came out because he hadn't read the books. The book is always better, even though I enjoyed the movies. #5: I would be remiss if I didn't list the Harry Potter books by J.K Rowling. Love these! If you haven't read them, as my son would say, "How are you even human?" JK (pun intended.) I really adore fantasy. #6: I don't have a photo of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, or of The Hobbit, but these are absolute must reads. When the movies were first coming out, I reread them all, and I am glad I did because I had forgotten a lot! They are masterpieces. In this case, I do have to say that Orlando Bloom as Legolas may have stolen my heart away from the books a little bit.
#8: Anything by Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I have loved these from my youth. When I was a sophomore at Fresno State, CA, my Literature Professor hated Twain. I thought my professor was crazy. I did my final paper on Twain anyway. (I received a "B". That stinker!) #9: Little Women and other books by Louisa Mae Alcott. This is kind of a young girl's book, but I still love it. I have even visited the Alcott House in Concord, Mass. It was like living out a childhood dream! #10: Speaking of places I would love to visit, how about Prince Edward Island where all of the Anne of Green Gables stories took place? These are my top 10 books that come to mind right now. Of course, I haven't finished going through all of the books yet, so I may add some to the list at a future date. I also have some favorites that I own on Kindle that has the potential to be an entirely different post. Then, the children's books! I have so many of those! Do you have any books that you would add to this list that you have read and read again? Please leave a comment and let me know. I am always looking for something else to read!
For years my husband has worked graveyards or night shift. For us to go on dates, Saturday has always been our only available night. Recently he started new hours that bring him home every night by 7:00 pm! We just realized that we can actually have a Friday Night Date! Whoot! Sooo......
At my daughter's Bridal Shower, one of the things we had her guests do was to write a date idea on a Popsicle stick with their name on the back. We pulled a couple out and gave out door prizes to those people. But, best of all, now Lindsey has a jar full of fun date ideas to do with her husband. Well, after realizing that Glen and I can go on more dates, I decided to read through them while they are still at my house. Lindsey is on her honeymoon, I don't think she will mind. Besides, Glen and I have been married almost 37 years, we need some fresh ideas. Guess what! After 37 years, we still love doing things together and having fun! We still make each other laugh and love to be with each other more than anyone else. So, I looked through the ideas, picked out the ones I thought we would enjoy, and put them into categories! Here goes: Ideas That Involve Eating: *Iron Chef or Cupcake wars (I think this sounds like fun, not so sure about my husband though, maybe just decorating a cupcake for him.) I read this to him, he says he would eat a cupcake. *Rent-a-Car and go on a Progressive Dinner (We probably wouldn't rent a car, we are too cheap.) *Have an Eating Contest (Who can drink down a glass of beverage the fastest, Who can stuff their mouth with crackers and then whistle first...you get the idea.) *Go out to eat at the Costco Food Court (or mall, a progressive dinner there would be fun.) *Take Sushi and go eat it while watching the sunset. *Picnic at the Park (Not in the summer!) *Set up a candlelit dinner with a chocolate dessert. *Order in and eat in bed (I have a teenager at home, so this one will have to be on hold I think. Plus, my husband hates to eat in bed. But, I can see the possibilities.) Ideas for Movie Watching: *Soft Sofa Movie Date with popcorn and a movie, or make carmel popcorn first. *What to watch? -old movie (My husband loves westerns. Butch and Sundance comes to mind.) -Lord of the Rings Marathon -Harry Potter Marathon -Hunger Games Marathon -The First Movie You Went to see on a Date. (for us it was Monte Python and the Holy Grail.) -etc. (The marathon idea would last us for weeks, there is no way we would watch more than 1 movie a night, 2 at the most, and we would probably be asleep before it was over.) Dates Involving Creativity: *Put together a puzzle. *Pumpkin carving (roast the seeds) *Paint portraits of each other. *Splatter paint or do some other type of art or painting *Paint ceramics (If you don't have paints, you can order them here or go buy them here, as well as things to paint. or canvas.) Get out of the House Ideas: *Horseback riding *Take a bike ride *Go to the temple or church together *Library scavenger hunt (make each other a list) *Plant something together (my youngest granddaughter suggests a pumpkin!) I Love These Service Ideas: *Bake cookies together and deliver them to friends and neighbors. *Visit someone who could use a visit. Finally, Some Ideas that will Lead to Other Ideas: *Give each other manicures or pedicures. *Give each other facials and massages. *Fill a wading pool with hot water and have a spa night. (hmm!) I left off the ideas you may have thought of on your own, such as movies, theater, symphony and museums. I think that the best idea of all came from my almost 8 year old granddaughter. She said, "Spend time together!" That is definitely what all of these ideas are all about. You may be wondering how we survived an outdoor summer wedding here in one of the hottest places on earth! I am not sure exactly how hot it was on that day, but the forecasts were between 105-108 degrees. We worried over it the entire time we were planning. We not only worried about the heat, but about the monsoon that could have blown through. Luckily, we were blessed with clear skies, but the heat remained in full force. The wedding was in the morning, indoors, so that was great! Pictures outside were a bit uncomfortable, but we made it through as quickly as we could! The reception was held in our friend's backyard, beginning at 7:00 in the evening. They have a beautiful yard with lots of shade and a misting system. They also have a portable cooler and we borrowed 2 more, plus the groom rented another one that was giant! These really helped! All of the food was on ice. Then, for a little bit of fun, and something that actually really helped everyone stand the heat, Madalynn came up with the great idea of giving out fans as favors! I loved it! So, we found some nice ones on Oriental Trading (affiliate link).. We may have purchased all of this style that we used! But they have many choices in many colors, and some that can be personalized. Remember, this is the last day to get free shipping on any size order! This is what we did with our fans: We had our little flower girls (Lindsey's 3 young nieces) handing out the fans from baskets. They had so much fun. I had thought that only the women would take them, but I saw a few males sporting a fan here and there as well! Trust me! Everyone loved them. When my granddaughter's basket was empty, she told me that she had "sold" them all! Ha Ha! I wish I had thought of that! (I don't think she really got any tips!) I can't wait to show you how beautiful these girl's looked when the pictures come in!
Here is one more shot of our last fan, resting on my new couch! |
Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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