Day 11: My Dream House

My Dream House has an amazing front porch.  I've dreamed about a lovely porch for as long as I can remember. A place where friends and family can gather to spend time together. The one other thing that I would want in my dream house is a gathering room that is big enough for the whole family to meet together and have the space to be comfortable.

Day 10: A Picture You Love

One of my children took this picture of my husband and me while we were on a vacation to California many years ago.  I love the beach and this picture brings back the feelings of contentment I felt of being there with my family.

Day 9: My Favorite Places to Eat

I'm not a foodie.  I'm married to one though.  My husband loves to find places to eat that have wonderful food- I'm usually fine with wherever.  Since visiting Alexandria recently though, I have to say that I love all of the different ethnic restaurants that are here.  We have eaten food from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Morocco, Germany, France, and Korea to name a few.  Some are 'holes-in-the-wall' some are more fancy but the thing I love is that they are original, non-chain restaurants.  Here are a couple of pictures.

These were what we ate most recently at the Pan-American Cafe-(Bolivia) they are like a pot pie but you pick them up and eat them with your hands.  Probably one of my favorites!

 Chicken Saltenas

This picture is from a Moroccan restaurant.  The food is served on a big tray and everyone in your group just eats from the tray.  It is wonderful tasting and you can see from the picture how authentic the restaurant atmosphere is:

Day 8: A Favorite Quote

I have loved this thought since I first read it. It has been attributed to Nelson Mandela but I understand that is not the original source. Marianne Williamson is the author.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

  It is our light, not our darkness, 

that most frightens us. 

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant,

gorgeous, talented, and fabulous. 

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. 

Your playing small doesn't serve the world.  

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are born to make manifest 

the glory of God that is within us.  

It's not just in some of us-

it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

we unconsciously give other people

permission to do the same. 

As we are liberated from our own fear,

our presence automatically liberates others.

Day 7: Favorite Movies

• .

The Color of Freedom and Invictus:  I've been reading Nelson Mandela's biography and these two movies do a great job of portraying his life.

The King's Speech: Inspired me   
• Sense and Sensibility: There's just something about the Colonel :) 
• Sleepless in Seattle: Total chic flick- I know.
• Field of Dreams: Baseball, the American dream, what's not to love?
• Slumdog Millionaire: Made me appreciate so much about life.
• City Island: Made me laugh.

This is by no means a complete list, just the ones that I can think of for now!

Day 6: A picture of the last thing I purchased.

This is a picture of a cardigan I just bought to go with a cute shirt I got. It's so new I haven't even checked to see how it will look with the shirt!  Hopefully it will work!

Day 5: My Family

The definition of My Family has changed much over my lifetime.  When I was young it was my parents and siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins.  Every birthday and major holiday was spent with this close knit group of people.  Growing up, my cousins were like siblings and my grandparents were an integral part of my life.  As we grew in numbers, we saw less of the extended family and more of just our immediate family.  We are seeing the effects of time and growth as family gatherings within our circle of siblings and their children become fewer and farther between.  I’m grateful for my mom’s efforts to keep us gathering on occasion.  Nowadays we mostly gather as parents, children and grandchildren.  It saddens me to think that the day may come that my own children will be meeting within their own families and not as a group that we are now.  I love my family and I’m grateful for the connection across the generations that we have.

Day 4: A Favorite Recipe

I've struggled with this entry all day.  I'm not at home and don't really have access to any favorite recipes.  It occurred to me though that I truly don't have some of my favorite recipes, so that's what I'll list- the recipes I want to get:
1. My mom's Chocolate Chip/Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Perfect!)
2: My mom's Peanut Butter Egg's (My kids always expect them for Easter)
3: My mom's Fruit Cake (Chuck loves it so!)
4: My mom's Fudge - the best I've EVER eaten!
5. Some of my husband's dishes.  He never writes them down though so getting a recipe could be tricky!

Day 3: A Picture and Description of How Your Day Was

Today was my husband's first day off of work in six days.  I was anxious to get out and go play so that's what we did!  Most of the day was just normal- shopping, eating and the like but we did try out something new:

My sister inspired today's adventure when she asked me if I've been to any antique shops- since I'm staying in Virginia for a few weeks. Unfortunately, we just sort of wandered about not knowing how to tell the valuable antiques from the old junk.  We did see an amazingly old sewing machine- I wish I'd taken a picture of it! 

Day 2: The Meaning Behind My Blog Name.

My first post in this blog explains my Mrs. Gumby name.  When I first read this poem, I felt that it expressed so beautifully how I feel about learning to adapt and grow with a situation.  It also puts to voice how I feel about my own children.  I chose a line from the poem as a way to help me remember what is important. 

Thirty Day Blog Challenge: Day 1 - Introduction of myself & recent photo.

I didn’t think it would be so hard to get started on this project!  Talking about myself is not my favorite thing to do, I guess I don't think I'm that interesting! But I’m so blessed, that I’ll start by sharing some of those blessings. The picture is from this morning at a local Farmer's Market.

• I have an amazing husband who continues to love and support me.  We've been married for almost 32 years!  He makes me smile and when we are not together (which is quite often lately) I feel that I'm missing a big part of my life.
• My children are my best friends.  I'm so proud of each of them and the wonderful people that they have become.  They are talented and strong and are doing a good job of making their way along in the world.
• I have the most beautiful grandchildren in the world. Period.
• My mom is my hero.  She is talented and beautiful and one of the hardest working people I know.
• As was already mentioned, I was able to recently finish my college degree- something that has been a goal for over 30 years.
• I'm proud to be an Army wife.
• I love to try my hand at craft projects, but haven't done much of it for awhile.  Now that school is over for me, maybe I'll dive back into it!
• That's all for now, but I'll come back and add more later!

Remembering

     Everyone dreams.  I rarely remember mine.  Last night I had a dream about my dad. He passed away a little over a year ago.  I've missed him so.  He was wearing his blue plaid shirt and old blue sweater and to be able to see him and hug him again was a wonderful gift.  After dad passed away his old sweater was put into a bag for charity, but I pulled it out at the last minute and have kept it.  On Mother's Day, my sweet mother presented each of us four children with a quilt that she had made for us.  The quilts were made with some of my dad's old Levi's and mine even had some squares from one of his blue plaid shirts.  Another amazing and wonderful gift.
     I'm reading a book called 'have a little faith' by Mitch Albom.  He talks about how dying is not always the thing we fear worst, but being forgotten after we are gone.  I've thought about that, how my own children don't even remember my grandparents- who were such an important part of my life, and that my grandchildren won't remember my father.  I don't know the answer, but I do believe that connecting through the generations makes us better as people.  I'm grateful for the gifts that help me remember who I am and where I came from.

Resurrecting the blog!

After graduating in December, I've been enjoying a little free time, welcomed two new beautiful grand-babies and spent some much needed time with my husband.  I've been inspired to start my blog again with a 30-day blog challenge.  I'm hoping that by the end of the 30 days, I'll have figured out the direction I want this blog to go, and maybe find some direction for my own life also!