One of our nephews seemed to like to spend time at our house during Easter/holiday vacations.
This particular time he started to get sick and run a fever along with a rash. I quickly got my handy "Dr Spock book" out to see if I could determine what was wrong with him. I looked in his mouth and thought he had a spot in the back of his throat as this book described to look for when one has measles. Since I wasn't really sure what was wrong, I took him to our "trusty" Pediatrician.
I made the mistake of telling her what I thought he had. Wrong approach to a doctor since they want to tell you what is wrong.
She diagnosed him as having Scarlet fever. Well, since this was quite a serious disease and I thought it best if his parents knew about it. I proceeded to drive him back to his home.
When we took him home, his mother said that the school was clear full of measles and she thought perhaps I was right in my diagnosis. After all, aren't I known as Doc Neumo?
That should account for something!!!!
To this day, I do not know if it was Scarlet Fever or Measles. My suspicions are that he had the Measles since so many from his school had the Measles.
Wisdom--When you take a child to the doctor, let the doctor tell you what is wrong and not the other way around. I think I ruffled her feathers a bit that day and she was out to prove me wrong. She still was a fantastic doctor for our children, however.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
DRESS MATERIAL!!
As I have stated before, I sewed the girls clothes a lot during those early years. This particular time they had a specific material and style they wanted and I tried to get the color, kind of material that they wanted. My younger daughter had one other request to this dress. I was not to get the material at this "Soup to Nuts" store I spoke of earlier.
My older daughter went with me to select the material. We went to every fabric store and could not find what her sister wanted. We found what my older daughter requested at the well known fabric store. There was only one store that possibly could have this particular fabric and color. You guessed it! It was this "Soup to Nuts" forbidden store. We had only one recourse left, could they, should we, dare we go look? Well we did go look there and SURE ENOUGH they had the exact material and color she was asking for. The quality of the material was A+ and should we buy it?
I came up with a plan. Since it was just what she wanted and good material, why would she have to know that it came from this "Soup to Nuts" store? I told my older daughter that we could just exchange bags that we purchased that day. Put Mary's material in this well known fabric store bag and Carol's in this other bag. Our younger daughter would not know the difference.
We got home and Mary was so pleased with our selection and noticed that we had not purchased it from this off limit store. All went just as planned!!! She loved her dress that I had made for her and it was time to mark the hem of the dress.
She put the dress on and as I was marking the hem, she kinda sniffed at the dress and said, "ARE YOU SURE YOU DIDN'T GET THIS FROM THE SOUP TO NUTS STORE?" I just couldn't contain myself. I burst out laughing so hard, that she knew I had deceived her. The cat was out of the bag, BIG TIME! One of those moments in time that is unforgettable and so funny yet to all of us.
Mary had a sensitive nose and she thought that "Soup to Nuts" store didn't smell the way most store should smell. This is why she didn't want to buy anything in that store.
Wisdom--Number 32:23b--ye have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out!! Indeed, my deception was brought into the light and was found out! To this day, I am not very good at lying, it is written all over my face.
My older daughter went with me to select the material. We went to every fabric store and could not find what her sister wanted. We found what my older daughter requested at the well known fabric store. There was only one store that possibly could have this particular fabric and color. You guessed it! It was this "Soup to Nuts" forbidden store. We had only one recourse left, could they, should we, dare we go look? Well we did go look there and SURE ENOUGH they had the exact material and color she was asking for. The quality of the material was A+ and should we buy it?
I came up with a plan. Since it was just what she wanted and good material, why would she have to know that it came from this "Soup to Nuts" store? I told my older daughter that we could just exchange bags that we purchased that day. Put Mary's material in this well known fabric store bag and Carol's in this other bag. Our younger daughter would not know the difference.
We got home and Mary was so pleased with our selection and noticed that we had not purchased it from this off limit store. All went just as planned!!! She loved her dress that I had made for her and it was time to mark the hem of the dress.
She put the dress on and as I was marking the hem, she kinda sniffed at the dress and said, "ARE YOU SURE YOU DIDN'T GET THIS FROM THE SOUP TO NUTS STORE?" I just couldn't contain myself. I burst out laughing so hard, that she knew I had deceived her. The cat was out of the bag, BIG TIME! One of those moments in time that is unforgettable and so funny yet to all of us.
Mary had a sensitive nose and she thought that "Soup to Nuts" store didn't smell the way most store should smell. This is why she didn't want to buy anything in that store.
Wisdom--Number 32:23b--ye have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out!! Indeed, my deception was brought into the light and was found out! To this day, I am not very good at lying, it is written all over my face.
Monday, July 27, 2009
LUCILE!!!
I wanted to tell you about an unforgettable person named Lucile. Our girls were in grade school/junior high age and a new family came to our city and our church. He was an engineer and transferred to a manufacturing business that was located in our town.
He and his wife started attending our Sunday School class. We were in a new church building at the time and we had a class room that was quite unusual. Most rooms are square or rectangular, but this room was neither one of these. One of the walls was a mismatch of windows, etc. They asked for volunteers to work on what to do about these crazy windows and some semblance of continuity. Since I sewed a lot, I volunteered. Lucile said she would work on this project, also.
We got our heads together and started dreaming up things that we could do. She thought it would be wise to treat the wall as one large unit and make drapes for that wall. It would cost a lot of money to buy drapery fabric for this long wall. The only place I knew that wouldn't break our budget was to go to a store that sold "soup to nuts". They purchased things from stores that were going out of business. You could find everything in there, but you really had to be careful in your selection.
I asked her if she knew about this store. She said, "I sure do! Let's go see what they have in the way of drapery material." She was one positive lady and a gal after my own heart! They had Antique Satin material in bundles of different lengths. We purchased a batch of these bundles of fabric (enough that we thought would cover the wall). We unwrapped the bundles at my house and proceeded to sew drapes. I can still see her yet taking out these lengths of fabric (all different lengths) and saying, "When you are doing God's work, it will all fit together", as she was laying these panels over the doors until we had just the right panels that fit like a puzzle. We had just the right amount of fabric to cover the entire wall and the unusual windows looked like they belonged together.
The class wanted to reimburse us for the material (since it was obvious a lot of material). We told them that it was PAID FOR. The entire cost of this project came to $7.00. We stretched that dollar to the ultimate. We laughed about this many times.
We became friends for life! She was artistic and her home reflected her personality. In one of her bedrooms she had a family tree painted with her family pictures on the tree. She painted in one of her bathrooms a Murial free hand. Coming into her home was a foyer and steps leading to her basement. She had needle pointed each step depicting her husband and their life together. One step was double rings, another step was one of their homes, another step was the church, and memories of their past, and on down the steps it went. She was quite creative and she always did this on a limited budget. For instance, she needed a table between two chairs. She took an old suitcase that needed storing and made a round wood piece and sewed a tablecloth for it and Presto, she stored her suitcase and it became useful as a table when not in use.
Her heritage was Swedish and she created the most Divine goodies that ever was put in your mouth all on a faction of what these would cost if purchased at a bakery. Her spiritual gift was "Hospitality". She would invite people (no matter who) always to her home.
This was so true at Christmas time. Her picture window was decorated with "WISE MEN STILL SEEK CHRIST".
They are the family we visited 18 years ago back in Portland, Oregon. I will speak more about her and her family in some of my writings in the future.
Wisdom--WISE MEN STILL SEEK CHRIST!!!!! Oh how true this statement is!!! Seek your spiritual gifts and let God show Himself through you.
He and his wife started attending our Sunday School class. We were in a new church building at the time and we had a class room that was quite unusual. Most rooms are square or rectangular, but this room was neither one of these. One of the walls was a mismatch of windows, etc. They asked for volunteers to work on what to do about these crazy windows and some semblance of continuity. Since I sewed a lot, I volunteered. Lucile said she would work on this project, also.
We got our heads together and started dreaming up things that we could do. She thought it would be wise to treat the wall as one large unit and make drapes for that wall. It would cost a lot of money to buy drapery fabric for this long wall. The only place I knew that wouldn't break our budget was to go to a store that sold "soup to nuts". They purchased things from stores that were going out of business. You could find everything in there, but you really had to be careful in your selection.
I asked her if she knew about this store. She said, "I sure do! Let's go see what they have in the way of drapery material." She was one positive lady and a gal after my own heart! They had Antique Satin material in bundles of different lengths. We purchased a batch of these bundles of fabric (enough that we thought would cover the wall). We unwrapped the bundles at my house and proceeded to sew drapes. I can still see her yet taking out these lengths of fabric (all different lengths) and saying, "When you are doing God's work, it will all fit together", as she was laying these panels over the doors until we had just the right panels that fit like a puzzle. We had just the right amount of fabric to cover the entire wall and the unusual windows looked like they belonged together.
The class wanted to reimburse us for the material (since it was obvious a lot of material). We told them that it was PAID FOR. The entire cost of this project came to $7.00. We stretched that dollar to the ultimate. We laughed about this many times.
We became friends for life! She was artistic and her home reflected her personality. In one of her bedrooms she had a family tree painted with her family pictures on the tree. She painted in one of her bathrooms a Murial free hand. Coming into her home was a foyer and steps leading to her basement. She had needle pointed each step depicting her husband and their life together. One step was double rings, another step was one of their homes, another step was the church, and memories of their past, and on down the steps it went. She was quite creative and she always did this on a limited budget. For instance, she needed a table between two chairs. She took an old suitcase that needed storing and made a round wood piece and sewed a tablecloth for it and Presto, she stored her suitcase and it became useful as a table when not in use.
Her heritage was Swedish and she created the most Divine goodies that ever was put in your mouth all on a faction of what these would cost if purchased at a bakery. Her spiritual gift was "Hospitality". She would invite people (no matter who) always to her home.
This was so true at Christmas time. Her picture window was decorated with "WISE MEN STILL SEEK CHRIST".
They are the family we visited 18 years ago back in Portland, Oregon. I will speak more about her and her family in some of my writings in the future.
Wisdom--WISE MEN STILL SEEK CHRIST!!!!! Oh how true this statement is!!! Seek your spiritual gifts and let God show Himself through you.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
CANADIAN ROCKIES!
I'm getting ahead of myself a little here, but thought since I was writing about traveling, I might as well tell you about a trip we took about 18 years ago.
We tried to do something special for each of our grandchildren, and Our oldest grandchild was just the right age to go on a month long trip with us to the Canadian Rockies and then on to Vancouver Island and then back through Oregon and the southern route home.
We tried to pick campgrounds that a boy about 12 would enjoy. Those included movies, swimming pools, small race cars and games that a 12 year old would enjoy. Most of these were at the campsites we chose. We attended a rodeo while on the trip. We tried to pack his favorite foods, as we didn't know what kind of stores we would run into in Canada and how far in the back country we were headed for.
Jamie (Our VIYB--very important young boy) was really the right age to enjoy such a trip. Today he tells us that he remembers everything about the trip and he too thinks it was just an ideal age. We weren't so lucky to be able to take our other grandchildren on this kind of an extended trip, due to activities they were involved in.
Back 18 years ago we or he didn't have a cell phone that he could call his parents or friends any time he wanted. We would make a point in letting him call home once a week. We thought this would keep him from getting homesick. He told us later, he only got homesick, after he had just finished talking with them on the phone.
He truly was a good little traveler, as he would get out and wash our windows when we stopped for gas, etc. He seemed to be a "happy camper".
As you well know, the Canadian Rockies are spectacular! Vancouver Island was great, also. We went to Waterton Lakes, Lake Louise, Banff National Park and then on to Vancouver Island. We got to visit close friends in Portland, Oregon. Jamie enjoyed the stories that were told while there.
Wisdom--We think it is wise to do something special for each grandchild. Sometimes it seems kinda hard, when the kids are in so many activities. Later, I will tell you more about our grandchildren, but thought it appropriate to tell about this trip now.
We tried to do something special for each of our grandchildren, and Our oldest grandchild was just the right age to go on a month long trip with us to the Canadian Rockies and then on to Vancouver Island and then back through Oregon and the southern route home.
We tried to pick campgrounds that a boy about 12 would enjoy. Those included movies, swimming pools, small race cars and games that a 12 year old would enjoy. Most of these were at the campsites we chose. We attended a rodeo while on the trip. We tried to pack his favorite foods, as we didn't know what kind of stores we would run into in Canada and how far in the back country we were headed for.
Jamie (Our VIYB--very important young boy) was really the right age to enjoy such a trip. Today he tells us that he remembers everything about the trip and he too thinks it was just an ideal age. We weren't so lucky to be able to take our other grandchildren on this kind of an extended trip, due to activities they were involved in.
Back 18 years ago we or he didn't have a cell phone that he could call his parents or friends any time he wanted. We would make a point in letting him call home once a week. We thought this would keep him from getting homesick. He told us later, he only got homesick, after he had just finished talking with them on the phone.
He truly was a good little traveler, as he would get out and wash our windows when we stopped for gas, etc. He seemed to be a "happy camper".
As you well know, the Canadian Rockies are spectacular! Vancouver Island was great, also. We went to Waterton Lakes, Lake Louise, Banff National Park and then on to Vancouver Island. We got to visit close friends in Portland, Oregon. Jamie enjoyed the stories that were told while there.
Wisdom--We think it is wise to do something special for each grandchild. Sometimes it seems kinda hard, when the kids are in so many activities. Later, I will tell you more about our grandchildren, but thought it appropriate to tell about this trip now.
Friday, July 24, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC
Our girls were studying about our government the year we went to Washington DC. Now this trip was one that I didn't want to take, but they so wanted to go see the White House, House of Representatives, etc. I think I wasn't too keen on going because of the traffic we would face and thought it might be a boring trip.
Well I was out-numbered and we went on a camping trip to Washington, DC. BORING IT WASN'T! I can truthfully say, it was the BEST trip we had ever gone on. Our older daughter planned out each day to the maximum. There were so much to see and so much history involved in our daily activities. We went to Mount Vernon and where Kennedy was buried (this was before they made the updated grave site). At that time there was the eternal flame by a simple grave.
The Smithsonian Institute is so interesting.
It truly was one of the most interesting trips we have taken and so much to see and learn.
I would not recommend camping close to the city now, but we did way back then. We camped in Alexandria, Va. in a private campground. We since have gone there, and didn't camp very close to DC.
Wisdom--Have an open mind and the things that you think might be boring, might truly surprise you and be the most exciting.
Well I was out-numbered and we went on a camping trip to Washington, DC. BORING IT WASN'T! I can truthfully say, it was the BEST trip we had ever gone on. Our older daughter planned out each day to the maximum. There were so much to see and so much history involved in our daily activities. We went to Mount Vernon and where Kennedy was buried (this was before they made the updated grave site). At that time there was the eternal flame by a simple grave.
The Smithsonian Institute is so interesting.
It truly was one of the most interesting trips we have taken and so much to see and learn.
I would not recommend camping close to the city now, but we did way back then. We camped in Alexandria, Va. in a private campground. We since have gone there, and didn't camp very close to DC.
Wisdom--Have an open mind and the things that you think might be boring, might truly surprise you and be the most exciting.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
BIG THOMPSON CANYON!
It seems to me there is a Red Rock Canyon close to the Rocky Mountains as you are coming into the mountains. I am not sure the exact location, but I know it has a rocky steam running through the Canyon and the highway follows the stream. I'm not sure if that is the name of the Canyon stream or not. We have slide pictures of this beautiful Canyon.
Well, we camped in a camp ground that was located right along this stream. I just am foggy on the year, as we were at the Rocky Mountains a lot. It is one of our favorite vacation spots.
The year that I remember the most was when we had camped there and days later there was a huge "gully washer" in the mountains. All the water that poured in the mountains came rushing down the side of the mountain and right into this stream. The campground was flooded and the steam was in flood stage within minutes. I'm just grateful that we weren't camping there when this happened. The evening news told about the peril of these campers. One does really have to think of the possibilities when you set up camp.
Thought--"All creation is an outstretched finger pointing toward God." From Our Daily Bread.
Well, we camped in a camp ground that was located right along this stream. I just am foggy on the year, as we were at the Rocky Mountains a lot. It is one of our favorite vacation spots.
The year that I remember the most was when we had camped there and days later there was a huge "gully washer" in the mountains. All the water that poured in the mountains came rushing down the side of the mountain and right into this stream. The campground was flooded and the steam was in flood stage within minutes. I'm just grateful that we weren't camping there when this happened. The evening news told about the peril of these campers. One does really have to think of the possibilities when you set up camp.
Thought--"All creation is an outstretched finger pointing toward God." From Our Daily Bread.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
THAT SHIRT!!!
Have you ever seen something and it lingers in your head and when you see it again, you instantly recognize it?
Well, this was the case when we were driving back from a vacation. I was driving the car and a car was coming in the opposite direction. The man in the car had the window open and had his arm resting on the open window. As I was passing, I thought, THAT SHIRT! I KNOW THAT SHIRT! Funny, such an object of a shirt would attract your attention. Immediately, I knew who was driving. It was my brother and his family going on vacation to see our sister.
Now you might think I would recognize their car, but no they had purchased a new car and no way did I know the color or the make of the car. But, Oh that SHIRT! There was no other shirt in the world to compare it with. Nobody, but nobody could have a shirt as wild as that shirt, so that shirt belonged only to my brother. I slowed down and laid my hand on the horn in hopes that they would stop. This was a long shot, since they were traveling in the opposite direction. I guess, they recognized our car and us, also. We both stopped along the road and visited for awhile. This highway was no where near where we live and in another state. Just a chance meeting.
Wisdom--People are like that shirt, you leave an indelible impression on people. Make sure that the impression you are leaving is the one you want to make! We are not an island to ourselves!
Well, this was the case when we were driving back from a vacation. I was driving the car and a car was coming in the opposite direction. The man in the car had the window open and had his arm resting on the open window. As I was passing, I thought, THAT SHIRT! I KNOW THAT SHIRT! Funny, such an object of a shirt would attract your attention. Immediately, I knew who was driving. It was my brother and his family going on vacation to see our sister.
Now you might think I would recognize their car, but no they had purchased a new car and no way did I know the color or the make of the car. But, Oh that SHIRT! There was no other shirt in the world to compare it with. Nobody, but nobody could have a shirt as wild as that shirt, so that shirt belonged only to my brother. I slowed down and laid my hand on the horn in hopes that they would stop. This was a long shot, since they were traveling in the opposite direction. I guess, they recognized our car and us, also. We both stopped along the road and visited for awhile. This highway was no where near where we live and in another state. Just a chance meeting.
Wisdom--People are like that shirt, you leave an indelible impression on people. Make sure that the impression you are leaving is the one you want to make! We are not an island to ourselves!
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