I love that man...

That man would be my husband. I really do love him. We rarely keep track of anniversaries, other than the big one that happens once a year (which we have actually been known to forget-how bad is that?) but I have been thinking about it a lot lately as we approach our 21st year together.

What do I love most about him? Probably the fact that as hard as I am to live with he keeps on making the effort. Whenever he makes me bat-shit crazy I try to remember to stop and think about the fact that for every weird thing he does I have my own weird thing that drives him nuts. Somehow we have mostly been able to overlook those things.

And we are not some Pollyana couple who thinks we are immune to any sort of difficulty or heartbreak. It's just that neither one of us has the time or the energy to be worrying about bad things that "might" happen. Our philosophy has always been that we trust each other until we give the other a reason not to trust.

I actually did have a boyfriend before I met C. and while I was really just a child and very naive I thought I loved that boy. He had me convinced that love was demeaning, belittling, violent, heartbreaking. In fairness to him he was just a child too and must have grown up with that. However, even as a teenager C. was completely different from this boy.

C. has ALWAYS encouraged me to be my own person. He didn't want an appendage, he wanted a partner. He wanted me to be strong and independent and always encouraged me to have my own friends. He never wanted my world to revolve solely around him. And it's not as if this man grew up with a perfect parenting model. For those of you who know his story it's amazing he is even half the man that he has turned out to be.

So yeah, I love him. I am glad that I will be celebrating my 14th year of marriage to him this year and our 21st year as a couple. I wouldn't want it any other way. We don't have all the answers and most of the time we don't even know the questions but we keep on trying. Day in, day out.

I love you, C. Thank you for being mine.
Shana Marie

Glass, Twilight, Crafting

I have a lot to talk about but I think this is going to be a short post. As with everyone else, life is busy right now.


I was at a work conference last week in Tacoma. I wanted to go to the Museum of Glass but it wasn't open during the hours I was free so I only got to walk through the Bridge of Glass but WOW, was it awesome. Look at this gorgeousness!!!








After that the family headed to Vancouver to visit relatives. We went to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. It was really neat. Brandon knew about almost every plane in there. He is so into military history, it's almost scary. This is the museum's website. It is home to the Spruce Goose. Quite a large plane. I wish I could have gotten a photo of it but it is just too big to fit into one frame.



The next day we went boating in the Columbia River. Talk about beautiful. Here's a photo:





And another:



We were all exhausted when we got home but it was a nice way to end the summer. As if we are actually done with summer. I think I will have to go back to work to actually get any rest from our run-run-run lifestyle.



Now on to the good stuff. Twilight. Have you read it? It's by Stephinie Meyer. It's about vampires. It's great. I read the first 3 books in the series in the past week. I want to start the 4th book but I don't have it yet and figure I better take a bit of a break so I am reading Middlemarch by George Eliot. I really recommend it (Twilight, that is-although Middlemarch is good too). It's supposed to be for Young Adults and I am sure it is (and there is a refreshing lack of sex, although it is very sexy) but it reads well for Old Adults too.



Finally, I must point everyone in the direction of a wonderful artist. She lives near Tri-Cities and she has the CUTEST stuff in the world. Crabapple Hills Studio resides here. If you look for Hocuspocusville you can see what I am going to work on next. Well, a modified version anyway. I'm not ready for quilting yet.

No knitting going on at the moment. I finished a burp rag and need to start another but I am in a reading mode, not a knitting mode. Enjoy the rest of summer. I'm off to work on some dishes.

Celebration of Life and Family Reunion

We had our family reunion this weekend but before we met at the park to do that we met at the cemetery to bury my grandmother's ashes. It was a beautiful service. Very touching and the pastor did a wonderful job. He even wore a pink shirt under his suit jacket because he knew that Grandma was so colorful.

I would like to share the remembrance that I wrote and read at the ceremony.

My Grandma

As I am sure all of you do, I have a lot of memories of Grandma and I just wanted to share some of those today.

Grandma had so much personality. Could there be a grandma with a more colorful wardrobe? Or bigger, wilder costume jewelry? Or a better sense of humor? I know that in my life she was definitely one of a kind.

I remember when Grandma lived on Viola with her awful dog, Ratfink (and was there ever another dog as mean, nasty and ugly as that one?). Yet Grandma loved that mutt so we just steered clear of him.

Her little house was always full of stuff. As a child I had no concept of wealth and I must have thought Grandma was surely rich with all of her little "things". She always had something new to show you that she had just picked up at a yard sale and she always had to tell you about the great price she paid.

And Grandma was always such a child at heart. She was forever buying dolls or stuffed animals or little toys. And you had to be careful because if you admired a toy there was a good chance she would end up sending it home with you.

I remember her white wigs. Even as a child I wondered why she would wear a white wig when she had perfectly good brown hair.

I remember she had weird peppermint liquid soap. She claimed you could use it for EVERYTHING-even for brushing your teeth. I think that may have been a joke because of course I had to taste it once and it was GROSS! But maybe it wasn't a joke?

Grandma liked to tease that she could probably take my husband, C., in a fight. She was definitely feisty. And she loved my boys so very much.

And that was another thing-maybe the best thing-about Grandma. She accepted people warts and all. You didn't have to be perfect to be in her "family". All the people who called her Ma. She could find something good to say about every one of them. I would like to be like that.

I miss her but I like to think that wherever she is now she's dressing flashy and eating dessert first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other people shared their memories too and it was just lovely. Afterwards we met at the park and my aunt shared some of Grandma's journal writings. To read them just made my heart soar. I never knew what a wonderful writer my grandmother was. She had such an intelligence that shined through in her words and her stories could sure make you laugh.

She wrote one little note about my dad and it was very touching. It said (and I am sure I will get a few things wrong) "D. has taken on the role of father to the other children. He has brought dignity to this family. He is such a generous person." I made Dad read it and I think he was quite touched by it too.

It was a very nice reunion. We sang Happy Birthday to Grandma and released balloons and we will all miss her. I hope that the family can continue to carry on with reunions now that she is gone. I worry about that.

I love you Grandma. Be good.