FRESH...

I went to a viewing of this last evening and found it quite interesting. I intend to spend more of our disposable income on local growers and local businesses; they are what is great about America after all.

Sustainable gardening has been on my mind. This movie has motivated me to consider planting a small garden for the boys and I to tend to. It's always fun to see the fruits of one's labor.

Recycling, reusing + repurposing has also been on my mind a lot more frequently in the past few years and even more so in the past few months.

Cleaning house this am and then off to tennis. Excited to have some family time with no major commitments to anything (except fun). A nice reprieve from the hectic, frustrating week I've had filled with teenage angst and drama. Ah coaching...the good, the bad, and the ugly! LOL

Facing the Giants

Well, apparently this movie was out in stores in 2007 but I recently saw a YouTube clip of it and thought it was great. So Mick brought it home last night and all of us sat down as a family + watched and discussed it together. I only wish there were more inspiring, clean movies out there for the boys to watch...and me too.

The Elusive Rainbow Polaroid...

..has finally found a home upon my shelf!!!

An Idea for our next Small Group Study

Mick and I watched the movie Fireproof awhile back and thought it was pretty good. The Love Dare was utilized throughout. NTS: Bring it up as topic for discussion at next meeting.

A little Happy Mail...

...arrived today! I won some digital templates off of Donna Downey's blog from Patty at the Digital Scrapbook Teacher. Thanks to both of them for the opportunity to win and the great digi stuff! I can't wait to play with the templates. (But, I guess, sadly, I'll have to wait a little bit as we're out of milk and I need to run to Wally-World for some groceries!)

Also, picked up some fun at Lexi's today. Some new papers and goodies from

Cosmo Cricket. Getting geared up for an upcoming Ya-Ya Weekend soon. Woohoo!!

When helping a neighbor goes awry...

...this is what can happen. And yes, that is the prop and lower portion of our less than 3-month old Sea Ray boat.

Let's just say that windy days + rocks +new boats don't = happy, memorable moments on the lake...

And let's just say my DH is one merciful hubby.

I tried to tell my hubby I am not:

"Grace Under Pressure."

...Nor am I "Cool, Calm and Collected Cathy."

...I'm more like "Spastic Suz."

You'd think after 14 years of marriage he'd know that by now, but apparently he's really good at blocking out all of my previous spastic episodes. (Or maybe...just better than me at forgiving and forgetting).

Yesterday was definitely a day where I knew my DH was fulfilling his marital vows in "for better or for worse."

Ahem.

90 years of coming together...

...to celebrate family. This past weekend we made the trip to my parents' hometown for our 90th family reunion. It was a gorgeous day and a very memorable weekend. SO good to see the cousins, the generations, the history, the ancestry. There was even a half page write-up in the local paper. Pretty cool. Over 200 family members were in attendance. Gma K would have been so happy and proud of it all. She especially would've loved the skit complete with our ancestors trek across the pond to their newfound homeland and FREEDOM. I wonder how happy or how sad they would be at all of the progress and all of the steps backwards that have occurred since they first set foot on American soil?

Makes me very reflective. Makes me want to know more about my ancestors. Their struggles and their successes. One thing is for sure...they were successful in leaving a legacy of people who care about their, country, their families, their community, their history.

A Great Giveaway...

is going on today at a friend's blog. you can click here to check it out. Good luck!

Happy 100th Birthday Angel Gpa C

I can't believe you've been gone 7 years now. Even though you lived a long and full life of 92.5 years, I still miss:

• your smile
• your laughter
• your humor
• your voice
• your snore
• watching you come back from a walk downtown after having coffee with your classic "Gramps" hat and newspaper
• the smell of your Old Spice after shave
• golfing with you and looking alongside the fairway for lost (&found!) balls
• walking to the library and checking out books with you
• going to the farm and picking strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus
• being treated to dinner out at the Chanticleer with their awesome string onions and Shirley Temples
• watching golf and boxing (while you shuffle your feet along with the boxers trying to avoid the next punch) together while snacking on one of our favorites: Nestle Crunch ice cream bars
• your ability to energize a room with your charisma
• your abilityto make sure everyone was having a good time
• your larger than life presence in a room filled with people
• your life-long interest in learning something new all the time ( I still remember the first time you sent me an email in your late eighties) including skateboarding
• the time you took me to Bambi at the movie theater in Washington
• the time you took me bowling
• all of the times you treated me to Sunday Brunch at Sun-N-Fun
• I miss hearing all of the stories of your life as a child and a young adult and how things have progressed and changed (Some for the better and some for the worst) since then
• sharing happy hour snack time with you--complete with Grandma's "Etta Dip" and Pringles, Fritos and braunschweiger
• listening to you talk of your younger days of "fast driving" in your fast cars!
• tinkering in your garage
• hearing about all of your ole' fishin' stories

I just simply...

miss you...

but...

I am ever so grateful that I had you in my life for so,

so many years.

Happy Birthday Gramps! Hope you're rockin' it in heaven. Tell Grams and all the others hello!

Hugs,

Your Southpaw Suz