Goodbyes

I have a lot of stories and a lot to say about goodbyes.

But, not now.  If ever.  It's probably more of a conversation to be had than a blog post to be written.

But, I'd like to give you these words and this photo for now.

"We live our lives knowing that our goodbyes are lived in a good life and kind words."

These words came to me in a text to my older children when we were losing my Mom.

Now, one of our extended families is grieving a great and sudden loss, the second such loss for this side of our extended family in five months.  Today, I am reminded of these words.  And, they are so very true.

What To Do With These?

I've been doing some sorting and washing and storing of things since my Mom gave up her house about 8 months ago and there has been more again now since she passed away.

These dressers were always in the storeroom in the basement and the only one I remember playing with a little bit was the white one on the right.  I believe they were all Mom's from when she was little.  They are in really rough shape as you can see.  I've scrubbed them and they are ready for something...what?

The obvious would be to paint them and let my little girls use them with their dolls.  I may do that with one of them, as they have one that is similar that I picked up at a garage sale for them.

I also think they would make wonderful jewelry chests.  Or great storage for jewelry and beading supplies.

I'm also pondering how to paint and decorate them.  I  definitely can see using patterned paper and/or fabric to line the drawers or back of the little kitchen cupboard.  Maybe collage papers and words on the dressers themselves?  

So much reflecting (so sorry for the metaphoric photo!) going on as I go through these things.  Stories remembered, some faces remembered, and some names forgotten as I look through pictures.  Seeing life a tiny bit through they eyes of my mother at 19 as I read her diary. She stayed out late!--Often.

~::~

I hope your weekend is nice.  Ours finds us hanging out day 4 with my youngest sick.  At times she feels great, then then it cycles again. 

This you.

From my cereal box to you.

♥

How to "Tie" Up a Plant

Thursday I had some time to work on a project and wanted to do an easy macrame plant hanger for this window in our bathroom. 

As I dug out some left over rope from a previous project, I saw all the ties I had just laundered that I had brought back from my Mom's.  She had made us all small tie quilts and had oodles of ties left over.  My one sister and I divided them up.

It was one of those wonderful moments of "I bet this will work!!"  And, it did. :)

I was amazed at how much I enjoyed working with the ties.  I pressed them and then they were really resilient to being tied, untied, and tied again as I figured out how I wanted to make the hanger.

I debated quite awhile how to do the loop at the top and when I just did an overhand knot only pulling the loop partly through, I realized that was perfect.  The ends of the ties hanging and flopping like ties looks really cool.

I gathered the bottom and wrapped another piece of a tie around it so it looks like...a tied tie!!

I was craving some green...you can tell it's spring time!  But, can you see the little snow skiers on the red tie??

The gist of how to make one yourself:

►6 men's ties: preferably not super wide ones at the bottom, the longer the better

►Gather them at the bottom and tie with twine or string.

►Divide the six ties into 3 groups of two and tie square knots, adjusting as needed to make them even

►Regroup the ties into three new groups of two, and again tie a square knot adjusting to make them even.

►Place your chosen pot in the hanger you've created and adjust again as necessary.  You may find you have to retie and lower or raise the knots.  Don't worry the ties stay nice and it doesn't take long.

►Once the pot fits to your liking, gather all six ties together again and make a overhand knot but stop short of pulling the loop all the way through.  TIGHTEN so it doesn't slip, adjusting to let the ties end flop as you like.  Again, make sure it's SUPER TIGHT so your plant doesn't end up on the floor.

►Make a "bead" out of a piece of another tie, (basically hand stitch a strip of tie) and slip it up from the bottom to neatly cover the string/twine you used to tie the ties up at the bottom.

It may seem strange that we divided up my Mom's belongings so quickly after she passed away, but she was in assisted living at the nursing home and her apartment had to be emptied. She had already given up her home about 6 months ago.  We had to take care of things right away while all of us kids were there.

Spring Hankie Wreath

I have quite a few sweet handkerchiefs from auctions and garage sales over the years so have been looking for a project to use some of them in. This is a great way to use those vintage handkerchiefs we rarely use as intended now!  It's also non destructive so you can still take it apart and use them another way when you so desire.

I used a 9" embroidery hoop and 24 hankies. Just tie them on! I played around a bit to decide how short to tie them, just experiment to see what you like with the size of hankies you use. It would be a great idea to starch them first.  I did not have any spray starch so if hung the other way, some of them want to flop down.  Today, I picked up some more starch, but we'll see if I ever go back to starch them...

The colors are spring like, summery, and cheery. :)

If  you don't have a large stash of hankies,  flea market and garage sale season is upon us! (I'm excited about that.)

Scene and Story

Last month we helped my son in law celebrate his 30th birthday.  My daughter had bought some sparkler candles to put on his cake. Just my daughter lighting them wasn't going very well and pretty soon there were four candle lighters!  

Then we sat and watched the little candles sparkle and fitz about---really pretty fun. :)

When going through the pictures I just loved all the "story" going on here.  There are parts of my son in law's parents in view, Bonnie's hands and phone, and my granddaughter hoping to have a piece of cake on her plate soon.  Normally, these are all the things you would avoid in a photo or crop out if you could, but what is going on in the periphery is certainly part of the story here.

I am joining Sarah again this month for her Scene and Story link up party.

Just Shy of 90 Years

My Mom died last week on March 3rd.  It's been a full couple of weeks of visiting her in the hospital, the visitation, the funeral, and spending time with our family. I posted a couple of memories on Instagram here and here. (My Dad died 20 years ago.)

She died almost 40 years to the hour of her mother passing.  About a 4 hour difference.  I was thinking about that time and realized that Mom was younger than I am now when her mother died.  I try often to think about someone's age at different life events and then connect it to my age and how I perceive myself at a particular age and how I perceived them.  Like when my Grandma died, well, my Mom was old too...so I thought.  Apparently, she wasn't.

The above photo is of her Mother's Ring, which I now have. 

Seven children, one died at one day old, one died at 33 years old and the other 5 of us are still here.  This ring represents so much.

♥

My Aunt, mom's only sibling is 95 and is confused most of the time.  But, Tuesday she was brought to the funeral and completely knew what was going on and was sad.  For some reason that meant a lot to me and it was nice to share a hug with her.

Through it all the predominant thought has been Gratitude.  So very much to be grateful for in my parents' lives and in the past two weeks.