Sweet Turned 13!

Yesterday was Sweet's 13th birthday. She enjoyed the day watching her brothers do her chores and eating the good food Dill made for her including waffles, sausage, corn bread and birthday cake! He is a good big brother.

Running low on cash we couldn't afford a big present, so she received a few small presents. Two cost $3.00 the rest cost free up to $1.00 with a final total of $13.00 plus change. Instead of packing them in a gift bag and having it be over instantly, Dill and I made up a scavenger hunt. It was fun to find hiding places and make the rhyming clues.
One of my favorite clues was this one. I didn't think she would get it in a zillion years. Not only did she get it but afterward she corrected me. Of course I didn't catch that on tape!


I love her facial expressions as she reads and figures out where the presents are located.


The scavenger hunt, though fun, was not her favorite gift. Dill not only made her breakfast AND most of supper, he also bought her a new light sabor. Darth Vadar lives and reigns once again in the pickle barrel.





A lot of great memories were created last night.  I hope she remembers it as fondly as I will.

Hippo Birdies my love!

(c) 2008-2011 Wicked Pickles-Homefrontlines

Words to Live By

Saw this on Pinterest and had to share.

As we grow up, we learn that the people that weren't supposed to ever let us down, probably will.  You'll have your heart broken and you'll break others hearts.  You'll blame a new love for things an old love did.  You'll fight with your best friend, you'll cry because time is flying by, and eventually you'll lose someone you love.  So take too many picture, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt.  Because every second you spend angry or upset, is a second of happiness you can never get back!

Card to my Husband

Today marks the day that Cool and I got married.  The wedding was nice but left a bit to be desired as our priest of was drunk.  But it created memories that just make you shake your head.  Anyway I wanted to share the card I got for him.

"You give me that loving feeling!"

"Of course, sometimes you give me that 'I want to kick you in the butt' feeling, but let's not dwell on that."

Yes, that is the kind of card I give my hubs on our anniversary.  It's the truth but I love him and he loves me. 

Happy Anniversary Cool!

"These Colors Run"

Different versions of these have been been showing up on pintrest and various blogs for the last few days. It seems to be the latest thing in homemade art. I of course, was intrigued. I had new crayons. I had foam board. I had hot glue. And I had a hair dryer. I had to try it. =D

The original plan was for Dill and Sweet to work together and make a print for my livingroom.  I thought it would be a great first of the year art project.  And indeed it was a great project but as they were picking out crayons Dill thought it would be great to make one for Gaga's birthday instead. Now, how could I say, "No, you can't make one for your 91 year old great-grandmother." So I, being the unselfish person that I am said,  "GREAT IDEA!" (I hit the dissapointment...lol)

The picklets knew that Gaga wouldn't want a huge picture to hang.  In fact they weren't sure if she would actually hang it up at all but that didn't stop them.  They planned, measured and cut a peice of foam board to a size they though was just perfect for Gaga.

They played around with the crayons, moving them around until they thought the light to dark ratio looked good.  They then played around with whether the crayons should be glued straight across or in a design.  They opted for the swag window vallence design.

It was very pleasing to the eye...at first.

Once the heat of the hair dryer started melted the wax we found it wasn't so pretty.  The wax started splattering across the room.  We had crayon wax on our hands, our shirts and in our hair.

Plus it all melted together and created not so nice colors. 

We concluded there were two reasons it turned out looking the way it did.  The first being we mixed the colors up instead of keeping like colors together and the second being the swag design.  There wasn't any barrier when the heated air melted the wax.  So, the picklets tried again.  This time they hot glued the crayons, "CRAYON" side up keeping the colors in the same color groups.

And when the colors started melting, they melted in streams, keeping the colors bright and vibrant.

It turned out gorgeous!

On the back the picklets wrote "Happy 91st Birthday Gaga.  This is an original piece of art created just for you called 'These Colors Run'  Love, Sweet and Dill."  They wrapped it up and took it to Gaga's 91st birthday party. 

She opened it and really liked it.  In fact, everyone at the table liked it.  They liked it so much that I think there might be a crayon print  making factory in the picklets future.

(c) 2008-2011 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Saying Goodbye

On July 25, exactly 15 years after we said goodbye to my Grandpa, we said goodbye to my aunt Elaine.  She was born was down syndrome.  It was recommended by the doctors that she be institutionalized.  The family was told she would never walk, talk, be potty trained, be able to care for herself...etc.  My grandparents, who were leaders in this revolution in Iowa, knew it would be BEST to keep Elaine at home.  She did walk and talk.  Learned to cook and clean.  Took care of herself to the best of her ability and became the heart of the family.  Her death is a LOSS to all of us.  She is soooo missed.

The days before her death I sat in a small town hospital, along with other members of the family, taking turns holding her hand, talking to her and smiling at her.  It is a stretch to think that she knew we were there or that we brought her any comfort, BUT there is that remote chance and that is what got us through that time.  We watched her take her last breath at 12:45 am.  We stood there looking.  Tears running down all our faces.  We were frozen.  We didn't want to leave her.

Elaine had a beautiful, albeit long, Catholic mass with my grandparents good friend Fr. Ed presiding.  One of my aunts gave the readings...2Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight.  I have completed the race.  I have kept the faith."  How she managed to say it without breaking down I will never know.  Another aunt had us praying for saints and the sick.  How she managed to say it without breaking down I, again, will never know.  Fr. Ed talked about visiting grandma and grandpa and saying to Elaine, "How is my little sweetheart?"  And Elaine smiling back at him with the biggest, widest smile in the world.  He said it without tears but I swear to you there wasn't a dry eye in the pews. 

The oldest nieces/nephews from each of the families were given parts to read for Elaine's eulogy.  Isn't that a horrible word?  I stood up there reading..."Elaine Cecelia was born to....Elaine always emphasized Cecelia because....Elaine loved her big sister so much...Elaine's biggest brother was her protector while Elaine's other brother was more daring...Elaine's relationship with so and so was hard to explain but Elaine knew so and so had her back..."  Then my cousin got up, "...while it was recommended at 3 months that Elaine be institutionalized....the doctors soon realized and actually recommended that Elaine stay with the family...the strides she has made....moved to the house.....special friend Brian..."  Then another cousin, "Love is patient, love is kind....It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."  The three of us held it together while there was not a dry eye in the pews.  We walked out of the church, following Elaine's casket singing On Eagle's Wings.  We stood in the back of the church, a circle around Elaine's casket holding hands.  Not wanting to let her go.

We drove in the rain the 16 miles to the cemetery where Elaine would lay to rest beside Grandma and Grandpa. Fr. Ed gave a short but nice service.  Each of the nieces and nephews received a flower for Elaine.  One by one we laid them on her casket...our last gift to the aunt who had actually been our gift.

We all stood there looking at her casket, arms wrapped around each other, not wanting to leave her.  Somehow we managed to leave and all met up down town.  A nice glass of wine, a good meal and great company followed the hours after.  We laughed, caught up on each other and vowed to get together more.

We laid Elaine to rest on a Thursday.  We left that afternoon to go home after an exhausting week and actually felt at peace.

Yesterday while I was cleaning my purse I found a crumpled up piece of paper.  I opened it up and a flood of memories came to me.  While I was sitting there talking to Lainy-Bug, singing her songs Grandpa used to sing to us all, telling her stories of the kids, telling her how much we all love her and that it is OK to get in the car and go home and to make sure she gives grandma and grandpa a hug and kiss from me, I continually read a saying that was hanging on the wall.  It was cross stitched and beautiful.  I wrote it down and stuck it in my purse. 

"Sometimes when a light goes out of our lives
And we are left in the darkenss
And we do not know which way to go,
We must put our hand
Into the hand of God and ask Him to lead us---
And if we let our lives become
A prayer until we are strong enough
to stand under the weight of our own thoughts again,
Somehow even the most difficult hours are bearable"

And you know what?  They are.

Mother's Day 2011

I meant to post a Mother's Day wish for everyone yesterday but time got away from me. A little late but I wish you all great memories, huge hugs, lots of love and little spoilin'.

My Mother's Day started the same as any other Sunday. I got up, fought with the kids to get up and delivered papers. You woulda though they would get up without telling me they don't want to on Mother's Day, but they didn't. ;-) It turned out to be a perfect day regardless of the wretched paper delivery.

Some highlights of the day were Chicago Dogs for lunch (no picture...they went to fast!),


planting 24 tomato plants and oodles of peppers,



lettuce and spinach,

cilantro, parsley, catnip and chives

and the worlds most crooked apple trees.



We found the bleeding hearts blooming. They are about to be wiped out by the ferns so will have to be replanted soon.



The doorbell rang mid morning. Whoda thunk that FedEx delivers on Sunday but they do! Beautiful flowers from the picklets and Cool along with a box of chocolates.

They dug in and this is what is left. Happy Mother's Day??







Along with the flowers I received this picture of a bear cub from Dill, straight from curb shopping last weekend and Chip downloaded one of my favorite videos onto my iPod. Sweet says she still has something to give me but it will have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday.




















And as a Mother's Day gift to myself I started deep cleaning the kitchen.

I scrubbed the insides and outsides of the cabinets,



I threw things away,



and organized.



I only got three cabinets done though. I really think I have adult onset ADHD. I just couldn't finish something without getting distracted.

For supper we had chicken on the grill, grilled asparagus and Yukon gold potatoes with onions. It was so nice to spend the time at home being productive. We don't get enough of that anymore.

I hope your day was just as delightful as ours was!

(c) 2008-2011 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Iowa Capitol Building

I am still going through pictures from vacation.  Unfortunately my camera was not feeling well during the trip and in return most of the pictures were blurry.  I cleaned the lens and it helped a bit but I think a new camera is in my NEAR future.



After we left our hotel we drove the three blocks to the Capitol building.  This may seem odd but we had to pay for parking at the hotel and since we were leaving right after our tour, the free parking at the capitol seemed a wise choice. 


On the way there we saw this statue.  I had to snap a picture of it.  It spoke to me...lol.


The picklets in front of the capitol.  This statue had no plate to tell me what it was.  I have a map of the monuments and memorials and I *think* it is called "Pioneer Statuary Group/Buffalo Fountain".  I was more interested in knowing who was depicted for historical purposes but oh well.


This is the view from where the picklets were standing.


This is a sundial and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the whole thing in my picture.  I must have 20 of these...lol.


After walking through the metal detectors and having Chip's pocket knife confiscated, we walked to the steps and looked up.  WOW!  Looking from the basement up it is still huge.  This is the Grand Army of the Republic emblem.  A replica of the original pained by Joseph Czizek.  It is there as a reminder of Iowa's efforts to preserve the Union during the Civil War.


On the first floor we saw a replica of the USS Iowa.  It is about 18 feet long and weighs over 1300 pounds. 


Into the Iowa Secretary of State's office.  Inside the office is the original Iowa Constitution.


Down the hall was the Capitol Supreme Court Chamber.  It is no longer being used as the Supreme Court but meetings are held in there.  It is gorgeous with hand carved benches.


This is a collection of first lady dolls.  Iowa First Lady's that is.  The outfits some of the dolls had on were gorgeous.


This is a picture that hangs above the First Lady Dolls.  It is of the 42nd Rainbow Division, 168th Infantry in 1919.


Dill liked this mural so much he bought a replica of it in the gift shop.  It is called Westward, painted by Edward H. Blashfield in 1904.  It is 40 feet wide and 14 feet high.


These mosaics, made in Italy, hang above the Westward mural.  They were made in Italy and represent different branches of the government; defense, charity, executive, legislative, judiciary and education.


The House of Representatives Chamber and the Senate took up most of the room on the 2nd floor.  This is the House of Rep Chamber.  The Senate is very similar to it.


This is the State Library is also on the 2nd floor.  Sweet really wanted to climb these steps but the signs said only library staff were allowed to climb them.



The picklets were somewhat fascinated by this phone booth.  They had never seen one before.


As we were leaving I snapped this shot.  It says, "Where Law Ends Tyranny Begins."

We opted for the self led tour instead of the guided tour.  We were told we could join any of the groups of 50 5th graders going through.  Now you know why we chose self led.  I'm glad we did though.  It gave us time to thoroughly enjoy and learn. 

Happy Monday

Hope everyone had a great Easter!  We had a day filled with friends, family and lots of love.  Can't beat that.  My God-daughter was confirmed yesterday morning.  It was a beautiful sunrise service.  She had me in tears when she mouthed "I love you." to me while she stood in the front of the church.  I do love that girl!

After the second church service we headed to my aunts house for dinner.  We spent a lovely afternoon with Gaga and ate way too much!  Shark surprised Chip with a birthday cake with a tank on it.  Everyone knows how he likes CAP.  While cutting the cake Chip realized the tank was actually a transformer.  Everyone had fun taking turns playing with it.

Tomorrow is Chip's 17th birthday.  Since tomorrow is a very busy day for us we have cancelled all activities for today and are celebrating instead.  Omelets for breakfast, nachos for dinner and beef stew for supper.  His requests are reasonable and easy to fulfill...except for the iPad he requested.  He isn't getting that...sorry babe!  Guess I shouldn't call my 17 year old son babe anymore...sorry bud!  I will give you the day off school tomorrow instead.  I am reasonable after all.

Better get going...gonna be a busy day.  I have yogurt in the crock pot and need to get cracking on the beef stew and strawberry cake and laundry and dusting and every other thing I can possibly fit into a day at home! 

Wishing you a great Monday.

Happy trails~~~