immediate family
Blood makes you related, loyalty makes you family.
Storytime at 820 Clausen Avenue
My mother always read bedtime stories and there were many. I do not remember everyone, and it is even difficult to remember some of them at times. When she did not have a book handy, then she would tell a story. Stories she heard growing up. She talked about the Gaga. She never said it was a man. It was always described as more of a monster, although she never said that either. Once the story was told, it was easy to say, make sure you are home before dark or gaga will get you. Or stay in bed or gaga will get you. Most of the stories she told had a lesson. A moral or value involved, and many were not given a beginning, middle and end as stories are written and told now. It was up to the listener to figure out the end to the story especially. To figure out what was meant by the story. My mother was living when my children were told about the Gaga. They would get home before dark, and they would stay in bed once they went to bed. I was thinking how unnecessary and still they both love scary stories and movies. So maybe it was just me that did not like that as I do not like watching scary movies and have not as a child or as an adult woman.
By Denise E Lindquist5 years ago in Families
Yarn Meditation
In the middle of the night, I pulled out my knitting needles and started to knit. I was only 10 years old but I wanted to make a hat. I started to knit but ones knows if you knit it makes a problem if to miss a stitch. I had to try again. I had one elderly lady who lived close by. I would go to her house and listen to her stories, and she taught me how to quilt. The blankets she made were very beautiful and I learned so much. As I found my peace and learned to quilt, I felt as if there was nothing I could not do. I was taught to knit with a goal in my mind to pay attention as I made worked. Yarn as so many uses, I made crocheted place mats to sit on the table. All the moments I spent crafting made my heart rejoice. The second thing I made was for my cousins’ horse who she kept in the stables. I bought some pillow and then I ask myself, what color yard to I want to add my initials. Another relaxing project is decorating your pillows. Oh yes, I had to make sure I had the right size needles, this project was needle point. Then my cat had some baby cats. Every time I pulled out the yarn the cat started playing and jumping. I went to the local fabric store, and I got a pattern for a cat sweater. I followed all the instructions carefully. I order some music for stress relief and played it as I crocheted. I fell to sleep with the crochet needle I my hand. When I was in high school, we had a competition, and it was embroidering beautiful art. Once you pick your photo than you picked the yarn you wanted to use. To make the experience more relaxing they had a fountain that ran during the whole competition. I like to do my knitting as well when I am on vacation. It is a way to relax the mind and it can also be colorful. For instance, I designed and knitted covering for the toilet and made a mat to mat for the cabinet. Also, I did a full embroidery on all the trims on the curtains in my first house. That was a big job making curtains for very large windows but when I added the embroidery that eased the task. My last project was a set of baby booties. So many little one has been born during this pandemic. So, when I a baby is on the way I get the yard and start working. One thing about needle work it keep my mind calm and collect. Sometime the time moves so fast when I knit or crochet. It moves quickly when I am quilting as well. That is a skill I never regret learning. Time moves fast and relaxation follows. The calming music also keep the soul satisfied.
By Wanda B Henry5 years ago in Families
My Why.
What fulfills me and why people should support my passion is summed up in my photo, my why. I don’t need between 600 and 5,000 words to say what you can see and feel from the photo of my son, husband and I. It’s simple, family. My family drives my passions and desires because all I want to do is make a better life for us. They are why I’m currently working my derrière off: full-time job as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, adjunct university instructor, self-published author/co-owner of an indie publishing company, future Doctor of Social Work. It’s my ultimate goal in life to create generational wealth and true passive income for my family. I want to be able to leave my son and future generations to come something more than debt and heartache.
By LaTia Russell5 years ago in Families
Fruit From Her Garden
Cooking has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember, as I’m sure is the case for most people with passions that run to the very depths of their souls. For me, the idea of being able to take these ingredients, these things that come from the earth and sea, and create something delicious is simply magical. There are few things that bring me more joy than watching the face of a loved one when I make them something they will go on to favor and adore all of their own.
By Charneice Myria 5 years ago in Families
I'm THAT Mom
I love my kid. I love my kid unlike anyone else could ever love her. I took part in creating her. I carried her in my womb for nine months and birthed her after twenty-two hours of labor. I whispered promises and dreams into her ear while holding her tiny infant fingers and have celebrated each and every milestone that she has achieved.
By Tekia Lampkin5 years ago in Families
Country Strong
It's early Saturday morning and I am wide eyed and willingly rise at 6 a.m. Every Saturday morning my dad and I go into the town of Ruggs to meet at the Morrow County Grain Growers, whom he does all of his business with. My dad is a wheat rancher, and we live on a ranch of 6,000 acres in Heppner Oregon. I love driving into town with my dad, my hero that drives his combine tirelessly through those endless fields of grain. I jumped out from under the covers and out of my pajamas throwing on a pair of dirty jeans, a hand me down sweatshirt and of course a Morrow County Grain Growers hat (my dad was never without one). He was already waiting for me, in the old red and white pickup truck, the paint all faded from the long hours in the dust and sun.
By Tiffani Sumner5 years ago in Families
When It's Your Time To Go, It's Your Time To Go
We were all doomed, and my mother knew it for sure. “When it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go,” she would say. The first time I heard it from her was around 1980, when we watched the movie Meteor, which was about the certain destruction of the entire planet. It had Sean Connery in it. He and his team worked around the clock to find ways to divert a meteor the size of Texas that was mere days away from pulverizing our cute little civilization. Mom just shook her head while she watched.
By Stacey Roberts5 years ago in Families
The Perfection of Parents
When I was a child, I saw my parents as something akin to perfection. I can vividly recall sitting at recess in year 4. One of my closest friends was complaining about how strict her mother was; another jumped in on the action and decidedly stated her mother was worse for having the audacity to not let her go to a sleepover that Friday. I remained silent. In my mind, I was thinking about how lucky I was. I had a mum who was strict but fair, and a father who was loving and kind. In that moment, my brain painted my family in idyllic brush strokes. A piece of art for all to see.
By Keely Galvin5 years ago in Families
