Glogg...it does a body good

Yes, it is freezing!  We luckily have not had the snow in Massachusetts that other places have gotten, but it is freaking freezing!  On days like this, there is only one thing to do and that is drink and I love to drink Glogg.  It is the Swede in me.  It connects me to my family.  The recipe was handed down to me from my grandfather.  It is the sure thing to send you off for a nice winter's nap and it doesn't hurt that it is so yummy!

I down loaded the app A Beautiful Mess

and turned the above picture of my Glogg into this...

Love!

back on the blog... and a question of "Sponge worthy"

It has been a long time, but I am back.  I have thought a bunch of times about jumping back into blogging, but where to start, what to say? Blog the good? Blog the bad?  I again thought about this last night while playing pitch in only the crazy rowdy way my family plays cards.  There were 12 of us.  It gets a little loud and gets a little crazy! Since it is still the holidays, my mother had this table cloth out on display.

It reminded me that life is all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly (along with a many other adjectives, but you get the point)

This table cloth was started by my grandmother in 1953 and continued by my mother after my grandmother passed.  Christmas and New Years my grandmother would have family and friends sign it.  Then she would embroider over the signature.  Immediate family included pets names as well(obviously).  There are our young signatures as kids and our adult signatures all grown up and some with our married last names.  Our children have shown up once they were old enough to sign it.  They are the great grandchildren of the woman who started it all.   After 60 years the table cloth has seen many changes with people who have come in and out of the lives of our family members.  There are the ex-wives and ex-girlfriends of my cousin and uncle.  There are friends so dear and some friends not so much.

The conversation over cards then turned to 'Who is signature worthy?' and it reminded me of Seinfield and Elaine's classification of men.  Either they were 'sponge worth' or they were not.

Now,  I know there are a few signatures I would rather not remember but, we all came to the same conclusion.  The table cloth is a true history of us.  The ex's, the friends not as dear as they once were and then the treasure trove of signatures of all the special family, friends and pets who have touched us and left their imprint on our hearts and souls.  

My grandmother didn't judge who was signature worthy, she just had them sign and thankfully so as we are left with a true family treasure and a unique view of our history.  In blogging or scrapbooking,  you can omit and overlook things you would rather not recall.  Remembering the not so good can be just as important as remembering the good.  It tells you where you have been and shows you where you are going.

Happy New Year!

Happy Mother's Day...

to me! (and you too!)

some cheese and crackers and my favorite wine~ Apothic Red.

If you like red wine, try it!

It is a blend and just so yummy!
I am totally let my 10 year old sit next to me and eat Oreo's for dinner. 

I have some Ben and Jerry's half baked froyo for later to

enjoy with my latest obsession~ Downton Abbey.

I made brunch for my mom and MIL this morning so

the afternoon and evening have been my time.

I like time better than most gifts though I would never

 turn my nose up at a little sparkle or something from Coach.

My husband tried to give me a 'present' this morning but

I told him there is no re-gifting on Mother's Day.

Enjoy!

P.S. I am so giving my two notice tomorrow! Yippppppeeeee! This is

almost turning into a 'Friend's Don't Let Friend's Blog Bluzzed' post.

Before it does, I am out of here.

I'mmmmm baaaaccckkk and I'm Thankful...

Happy Thanksgiving!  I can't believe it has been almost a month since I have been in the land of the blog. I am thankful for the emails checking in on me.  I have not been in my chicken coop all this time, but there sure has been a lot of action in the coop. (more on that later)

I am thankful for so much, but right now and in no particular order...

I am thankful for the cup of glogg I am enjoying while I type this.

I am thankful for cinnamon rolls and the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

I am thankful for my favorite Christmas decorations, even though you can see our

 fall decorations out the window.

I am thankful for the beautiful little brown egg we found in our coop this week.

I am thankful for the little reminders of my grandparents I have when I put out my Christmas decorations.

I am thankful for family traditions and

my family to share them with.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just Say No...and see what happens.

Small miracles happen... like this hydrangea...it was buried under 6' of snow after our New England winter snowfall, then getting all the snow from the snow blower.  I didn't think I would see one bloom...it had other plans(thankfully)

Anywho...back to the blog...

The slogan as I remember it was "Just say no." Well I did.

I said "no" to my mother in law.

To clarify I said "no"to my husband about my MIL coming for the weekend.

I just couldn't do it again...she would be here from Friday afternoon through Tuesday.

Keeping in mind that from Sunday to Monday we have no children at home.

My husband is the baby of 6. When he was 8 his mom "checked out" for a while. He doesn't talk about it, I hear bits and pieces about it from his family, including his mother.  Being the youngest I think made it really difficult.  He missed out on the things that made his family the family they were(for better or worse).  I think that early experience had a big effect on him, how could it not.  

His mother was remarried and her husband became very sick.  She cared for him for 10 years until he passed this last November.  After that time, we didn't want her to be alone and wanted to help her through the holidays.  She stayed with us every weekend from before Thanksgiving through New Years.  I didn't mind at all.  It was wonderful to have her and share the season with her as she found her way in a new life alone. 

The visits slowed, but didn't stop and then picked up speed again. I do love my MIL, but she can be tough.  There is always a comment for something and she does know everything.  Just an example...I struggle with my weight and so do members of my family.  When my son was a baby and I was breastfeeding, he was a plump little one.  She said to me,"I breastfeed some of my babies but they never were like that, but they didn't have the fat gene." I swear I didn't even know what to say at the time.  It wasn't the first time and not the last of her comments.  She is also one that seems uncomfortable with silence and will fill quiet with her constant chatter.

So as I blogged earlier, work is not good and it isn't getting better.  I really needed this 3 day weekend to recover.  My man for the first time in a long time was not only on a different page, but a different chapter.  I asked him that his mother not come.  He had been upset about it since.  He isn't a mamma's boy, he is the fixer.  In my opinion(in a non-trained layman's analysis) he has been trying to fix things since they fell apart when he was 8. I think he wants to show what a family should be.

I worry when we have fundamental differences like this.  It shakes me to the core.  We have always been such a strong team, together 20 years.  We had a conversation, it wasn't pretty.  I held my ground, I had to. After about an hour of weeding the garden he came back in and apologized, thankfully.

It wasn't so much the apology I needed...I needed to know that we are back one the page, that we are good...and we are.

It is days like this that I am very happy to have an anonymous blog...

My grandmother's piano ~ becoming my piano

My grandmother got this piano in 1936...

It is a Gulbransen, made in Chicago.

She was about 16 when her parents bought this for her.

She was a blessed girl with what seemed to be a fairly charmed life.

She did move a lot, but with in the same area as her dad flipped houses

before they made TV shows about it.

She was an only child, she played the harp and she had a

pet monkey Jerry.

Jerry was her best friend until she went away and spent the summer on Martha's Vineyard.  When she got home he was very mad at her... their relationship never recovered and as her mother explained, Jerry needed to go live with the other monkeys.

That life changed dramatically with the death of her mother, followed by the death of her father before she was 21.  She married my grandfather.  They fell in love in school.  She often said it didn't hurt that he would carry her harp to orchestra practice.  My grandfather was like that, such a good guy.

My grandmother learned after her father passed away that she had been adopted.  She had no one left to ask about this, her parents were gone and there were only a few distant relatives and one crazy cousin.

When I was pregnant for my first she told me how it was for her. No mother to ask questions, no "What to Expect When Your Expecting" and just her crazy cousin who had a bunch of kids and a bunch of crazy nightmare stories about birthing babies.

At that time I hadn't known that my grandmother was adopted. 

I don't think she ever knew that some of us knew.  She was guarded about somethings for her own reasons.

I can only imagine...

I look at this piano, a constant in her life.  I remember how her fingers looked as she played, so soft and graceful.  I loved to watch her play. 

I remember sitting at that piano, I was 5.  I just started Kindergarten, I knew the alphabet

but couldn't read yet.

That was good enough to learn to read music and my lessons began.  Every Tuesday night until 8th grade.  My sister and I went to piano lessons at our grandparents. She was a much better student than I. 

My grandparents would have their afternoon cocktail with some tidbits.  A martini for grandpa and Manhattan for gram. 

We would watch candle pin bowling, have our lesson followed by dinner, usually Hamburger Helper (it makes a great meal, at least that was what I thought when I was a kid) then a little desert, usually coffee ice cream yummy!

I was a rebellious kid and often clashed with convention in my younger and teen years.  My grandparents were all about convention and our relationship was strained.  It wasn't until I started having children and making a life as an adult that I realized how much I am like my grandmother.  I am blessed that she was able to see that before she passed away 7 years ago. 

When we were building our house 12 years ago, she gave me her piano.  I told her I would take it when we were ready for it.  We built our house with the piano in mind, even putting a light in the ceiling in one corner to shine over it. 

I never felt right moving it to my house and I didn't, until now.  It would have left such a big empty space

in their home without it. 

My grandfather passed away in February and the house is being sold, closing this weekend.

It was time.

This week it was moved and has taken it's place in my home and at some point has become mine.

My summer project, restore it to it's natural mahogany beauty.  It had been painted white and antiqued at one time and then painted brown in the 70's.  The piano movers couldn't believe what good condition it is in considering its age.  They gave me some great info on refurbishing it.

I can hear my grandmother say my name when I sit there.  She would say "Kristine" followed by a few tips or pointers, or sometimes she wouldn't say anything and just be there with me.

I miss her so much but I feel so blessed that I will always feel the connection to her through our piano,

the keys her fingers graced and the music we made.