Happy Mother’s Day to me!

Posted on by

I’m a lucky girl.  My family makes me happy every time I’m with them.  The kids all came on Mother’s Day – all four of them since Mark and I call them all “our kids” now – with great deference to their own “real” parents.  We made homemade pizza (a family favorite) for lunch.  The guys played baseball while Danielle and I played on iPhones and watched the men and laughed at them.  Corey taught Justin how to play baseball and Justin picked it up right away – he’s very good at sports.

baseball

Keith changed oil in the Jeep and van.  This is Corey helping – under a tarp because it started to rain.

oil-change

Mark made me a cake – awwwww.

mothers-day-cake

Corey and Danielle gave me this beautiful plant.  It is a gloxinia.  We don’t have plants because we have cats who like to eat plants.  Corey volunteered to keep the flower at his house – nice boy 🙂  It’s safely where Carrie and Chloe can’t get to it but they’ve tried their darndest.

mothers-day-1

Keith and Justin got us a big flat panel monitor for the computer for multiple holidays.  We had a small one but this is really cool.  Nice!!!  We think of them every time we’re on the computer.

We then all went to Corey and Danielle’s house and took the leftovers with us and had dinner there.  It was so nice and Stripes and Louie were entertaining as usual.

stripes-and-louie

It was a beautiful day.

Corey, the foot model (Pair #32)

Posted on by

corey-camoDoesn’t Corey make a lovely foot model?  These are Corey’s newest socks, although these are from March 6, so I’m wayyyyyy behind on posting.  The socks Corey got for Christmas were not a perfect fit so I made him these to his specifications (mental note – Sock Wizard doesn’t work for everybody).

**Regia Stretch Nordic Oslo 124**

Corey and Danielle

Posted on by

corey-and-danielleCorey and Danielle have set a date to get married – September 25, 2010 October 17, 2009.  We love Danielle like our own so we are ecstatic to have her “officially” in our family.  Corey proposed and gave her the engagement ring on November 7, 2008.  We look forward to their future together.  Corey……you did good!!!  Danielle……we’d like to humbly say we think you did too!!!  We love you both.

A beautiful fence materializes in two days

Posted on by

fence1This is Corey and Danielle when we were leaving Menards with a whole bunch of fence.  This was the second load.  Corey and Danielle had already picked up the concrete, posts, screws, etc.  On the back of the truck, you can see we answered the age-old question “Where’s Waldo?”.  Who knew he was hiding on the back of a Menards truck.

fence2This is Mark and Corey working on the front corner.

fence3This is the first beautiful section finished.  The whole fence is finished now.  It took two days of working in wind and rain and cold.  Don’t let the beautiful sunshine in the picture fool you.  It was cold and Danielle and I both have fierce windburns on our faces.  All that is left to finish is the gates, which is the easy part.  We all agreed the worst part was setting the posts.  We also had our first sleepover at Corey and Danielle’s.  Since they only live forty minutes away, we have never spent the night there.  It was a fun and very productive weekend.

Sushi anyone?

Posted on by

sushi2Keith, Justin, Mark and myself went to this Japanese restaurant last weekend.  The tables were each in “pits” where you sit on cushions on the floor and your legs and the table are in the pit.  As is tradition, you also take your shoes off before you go to your table.  We had a blast, especially watching Justin with his wasabi.  His face would turn beet red with every bite.  When Keith suggested avoiding the wasabi, Justin said no, he liked the feeling when it got to his stomach.  Keith, Mark and I got the tempura chicken (typical Americans).  Justin ordered this beautiful plate of sushi.

sushi1Myself, I like sushi but not the kind with raw fish.  I’m not a seafood fan so I’ve actually never even tried the ones with raw fish.  I did it this night because Justin asked and I usually try whatever the food is that I haven’t tried yet unless it still has eyes in it or repulses me, i.e. squid and roe.  For the record, the brighter orange item on this plate is roe.  Wiki defines roe as “the fully ripe internal ovaries or egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins”.  Wiki describes eggs as “usually chicken eggs, but also those of other birds and turtles, as well as those of fish”.  It even seems the Wiki definition is trying to scare me, even though an egg should just be an egg.

I ate a piece of the green sushi, which was cucumber.  Mark also tried that one and didn’t like it.  His palate is not adventurous.  He likes a good burger or some lasagna.  I also tried the raw fish one.  It’s not for me – it’s hard enough for me to eat cooked seafood let alone raw.  Keith had already tried the raw previously and is o.k. with it if you can get past the texture.  All in all though, we had a great time.

Keith and Grandpa

Posted on by

keith-letterThat is a copy of a letter written to Grandpa from Keith and Justin (click to enlarge).  Keith and Justin bought Grandpa a new screwdriver set and a pair of pliers.  The reference to the holes being punched is because Grandpa had a leather punch and he used to punch holes in Keith and Corey’s new belts to make them just the right size for Keith and Corey ever since they were old enough to wear belts.  If they grew and needed more holes, they’d go see Grandpa.  Maybe we should get Grandpa a new leather punch too.

Below is a picture of Keith’s first bicycle.  It was an antique Schwinn.  Keith didn’t have room to save it when he moved so Grandpa took it.  Grandpa was going to just use the tires to build a cart or a wagon or something but then it was so nice, he was going to put it in the landscaping in his front yard with a sign that said “Keith’s bike”.  Somehow, it managed to stay beautifully upright through the fire, right where Grandpa had stored it.  I think it’s symbolic of life going on.

keith-bike

The last picture is Dad’s toolbox.  Dad has been a mechanic forever.  He used to work on buses, tractors, cars, trucks, mowers – everything!  It was a fun childhood.  We used to get to get in whatever he was working on and “press the brakes” or “start the car” – just fun times if you were a kid.  There was a pop machine in his shop with the old glass bottles – we would get to count the change or fill the machine.  If I were really lucky, Dad would ask me to make a new sign and I’d get to use the big markers in his drawer and get creative.  The history in that shed is HUGE.  It’s sad to look at it all but there’s always that upside – nobody was hurt.

dad-toolbox

Shed Fire – 03/21/09

Posted on by

shed-fireOn top of everything else going on in our lives right now, this happened Saturday at my parents’ home.  ~~NOBODY WAS INJURED~~

Click here for more pics:    http://picasaweb.google.com/tmcknit/ShedFire032109#.  Below is the story of what happened.

Mark and I were in our backyard.  I went in to make us a sandwich and when I came back outside, I saw smoke at my parents’ shed.  I said to Mark “is that smoke coming from Dad’s shed?”  Mark started to walk and then ran like hell over there.  He yelled back to me “call 911”.

Dad had been working outside all day.  We had watched him, waved at him, etc. but now we couldn’t find him.  While I was on the phone with 911, Mark ran into this burning shed, filled with smoke and flames, windows exploding, to try to find my Dad.  My phone call with 911 started at 2:06 p.m. and by 2:09 p.m., the shed was fully engulfed.  911 stayed on the phone until Mark found Dad, who had just one or two minutes earlier drove his riding mower next-door to my brother’s house – thank goodness!!!

Roger heard screams – he didn’t know who was screaming or what I was screaming – it was me screaming “Dad”, then telling 911 “we can’t find my Dad” – then saying “I’m sorry” to 911 – then screaming for Dad again – 911 was very nice and said it was o.k.  I tried to stay calm – I knew I had to calmly give the address and our township and “what is your emergency” – but after that I just wanted my Dad and Mark safe.  Roger later asked who was screaming – I told him me – he said “man, you’ve got a loud scream on you”.

When Roger heard the screams, he looked and saw what was happening and came running (with a little fire extinguisher – somehow, later that was an LOL for us all).  It was all too late.  In those few minutes it was already over.  Dad was safe, Mark was safe, our world forever changed.  I couldn’t sleep just thinking that I could have lost them both.  If Dad were in there, he would have fallen trying to get out – he’s not as steady as he used to be.  If Mark had heard Dad in there, I know Mark would have tried to rescue him – that’s my Mark.

So today is a new day – it’s an ugly mess but nobody got hurt.  Something that took my parents over fifty years to build, was gone in minutes.  They will rebuild and life will go on – that’s the blessing – life will go on.

And last but absolutely not least, the firefighters were amazing.  I think there were four departments there – Noble, Kingsford-Union, Hanna and Washington Townships.  This pic is of Richard (left) and his little brother.  Richard works with Mark and these two were just all smiles and cute as could be.  Thanks to all the fire departments and the ambulances for a quick response.  It seemed like forever but looking at the time on the pics, it was twelve minutes from the start of my call to the arrival of the first fire truck.  In rural America, that’s pretty darn good.  More good news – the firefighters were able to save my parents’ home.  It has the obvious damage you will see in the pictures – melted siding, broken windows, but only the outside pane of the double-pane windows broke from the heat of the fire, so there is no interior damage to their home.  Thank you thank you thank you to them all.

richard

Pretty and practical

Posted on by

ornaments

We took our tree down on New Year’s Day (just so you don’t think we are those people who still have lights up in May), but since I haven’t been able to get my pics off the camera, this post is a little late.  This is a good way to store Christmas ornaments.  We have a small tree, which translates to small ornaments.  I’m sure I didn’t invent this idea, but I thought I’d share since it was a new idea to me.  The ornaments also look really pretty in the egg cartons.

Corey……..this one’s for you

Posted on by

Corey:  Remember when you told me I had to get rid of this picture in the bathroom?  You said it reminded you of the old wallpaper that we got rid of and that wallpaper was ugly and this picture reminded you of it?

bathroom-picture-old

Below is the replacement picture.  I used a page from my 2008 wall calendar and I think it’s really cute (girl term).  Hope you approve.

bathroom-picture-new