Creative Homemaker

Is this what I'm not doing? I thought that I held loosely to what was in my hand. Apparantly, I have not. I guess if it feels as if part of me has been ripped away, I was clinging pretty tightly to it. I'll try Lord. My hands are open Lord. I'm letting loose. Take what you want.

I've been sorting through oodles and gobs of pictures. (ha ha, my mother used to say that!) Anyway, a lot! Been trying to edit, crop, identify pictures to go in a memorial album for my brother Clarence's family. I think we are up to 24 copies so far. I'm doing them digitally with a great program from Creative Memories called Storyook Creator Plus. It makes me look like I'm a graphic designer, which clearly, I'm not! But anyway, it's great. I came across this funny picture of my Daddy and brothers. Thought I'd post it here. Clarence is on the right standing next to Dad. I guess they were playingping pong. Although I don't remember that there was a ping pong table in that room? Hmmm, maybe they were just being weird, which is tipical behavior for the men in my family.

While we were away at my brother's funeral in Idaho, Bear and I drove to the house I lived in for the first 14 years of my life. It is a very old (120 years?) home in Meridian Idaho. It was called the Wireless Ranch, there was a wireless radio tower on the property when it was first built. I loved the home. My dad had done so many great improvements, there were built in cabinets, drawers, shelves, special display shelves for my brothers' model cars, drop down desks, etc. Dad and my brothers built this huge drop down train table with pipe legs that screwed on when it was down. There was always something fun going on, and I loved living there. Bear and I drove up to the home to take some pictures. Bear drove up the driveway and I started snapping pictures. Mr. Todd Owner, (not his real name...) came out of the house. ”May I help you?” he said somewhat reservedly. I told him who I was and that we once lived here. He remembered us from a few years ago when we had driven by a...

My brother Clarence was a keeper. Those of you who knew him well know that he was also a pack rat, but I’m not talking about that. He was a word-keeper, a memory-keeper, a journal-keeper. He was faithful in writing in his journal for most of his adult life, at least from the time he went on his mission. I remember when I was younger, we stayed overnight at his house, it may have been in Twin Falls or Rigby, I don’t remember which, but when I went into the bathroom there were volumes on journal on the back of the toilet. I guess most people use that as a reading room, Clarence used it as a writing room. Clarence told me to keep writing when he found out I had started a blog. He encouraged me to submit a few of my stories to an online newsletter, Heroic Stories. It was with his help that I became published. I cherish the history of my father, and my children have read it too. It is a great legacy to leave behind for family members. Because Clarence has set such a good example for me, I...

My heart hurts tonight. I can barely even express my thoughts. My dear eldest brother was in an accident and died this evening. The details are few, and too painful to even express. My immediate family, nearly 60 of us, are in deep sorrow. It is tragic. It is painful. The remembering hurts and makes new tears surface where I thought none existed. My dear brother once told me he thought my writing was pretty good and that I should keep it up. He encouraged me to submit a few stories to newspapers for publication. I write from the heart, how I feel usually comes out on the paper. Not tonight. I may be silent for a while. We may be travelling to a funeral. Oh, how I hurt just now... Please pray, he leaves a wife, 6 children and several grandchildren, 6 brothers and sisters, his mother. Oh, he was dear to me. I can't believe he is gone.

Many years ago I made a lovely "coat of many colors;" a quilted jacket made from many strips of fabric from various quilting projects and homemade clothing. It is warm, comfortable, but getting worn and raggedy. Bear forbade me to wear it any longer. So, I took it apart and made a pattern out of the pieces. I'm going to make another one with strips, crumbs and strings I've collected in the past 20 years. I'm looking forward to the finished project. I found a flannel sheet at the thrift store for 25 cents that will serve as the filling. It is quite toasty with the lining and fabric on the outside. It will be such a thrifty, yet beautiful jacket when it is finished. But what do I do with the old one now? It is in six pieces, two sleeves, two fronts, the back and collar. The sleeves and front are sort of worn through in places and the collar is probably heading for the trash, but any ideas what to use the good quilted pieces for? Any ideas are welcome.

At Thanksgiving we had company, good company, the kind of company that doesn't FEEL like company, but more like family. We love them. We are uninhibited when they are around. We sometimes let it all hang out. While they were here, Bear walked down the stairs and drug his hand absently along the wall as he turned the corner and knocked the candle out of the sconce on the wall. He exasperatedly hung it back in its place and told me if it happens again he would rip the sconce off the wall. Later that day, our friends and I were sitting in the family room, chatting, enjoying each other's company when Bear came down the stairs a second time, and again knocked the candle out of the sconce. After a Bear-like growl, he ripped the sconce, candle and screws out of the wall. We all sat there dumbfounded and looked at him with jaws dropped and saucer eyes. "I told you I was going to rip it off." He calmly replied. So, I told him, I would have to make a quilt to go in that spot, b...