Summers Are For Vacations...

Which led me to think about our "One and Only Zimmermann Family Vacation" growing up. When you have 7 kids, vacations are non-existent. Growing up in a neighborhood full of large families, no one took vacations. I don't ever remember a family taking off in the good ole' station wagon for a week. I don't think anyone could afford it. In fact, I never saw an ocean until I was about 28.

On to the story. We were lucky (although mom and Ruth Self might have begged to differ) that dad and
Elmer had a friend with a cabin on the Merimac River. We took off with the Self family for a weekend. Although the drive couldn't have been more than an hour---two at the most---it seemed like a long drive. Especially since we had to stop along the side of the highway so one of 13 kids could go to the bathroom---hidden between the two open car doors. With that many kids, we made several stops. The Self's had a station wagon. We had dad's fire engine red Buick Electra (his company car). 5 kids sat in back, I had the middle up front---privilege of being the oldest---Joyce on mom's lap. Cars were huge back then, no seat belts to contend with, so 5 could fit in the back. Now, my memory isn't totally clear on this. Joyce may not have been born yet which would reduce the total number of kids to 12. I think I was going in to the 7th grade which would have made me 12. I'm 13 years older than Joyce which would mean, mom was 7 or 8 months pregnant with her. That makes this trip even worse for mom.

I don't think mom and Ruth were given the full picture of how rustic this cabin was---1 bedroom with no indoor plumbing or running water. And no stove! They had to boil water on a 2 burner hot plate to wash dishes. It took forever to get the water to boil. It was hot, fly filled and there were tons of mosquitoes, but we kids had a ball. Right outside was a shallow, rocky part of the Merimac. We kids went off exploring everywhere. In those days, we were allowed to do that. Our parents never knew where we were or what we were doing. That's the year I almost drowned. To this day, I never told mom.

We kids found a deeper, wider, faster flowing section of the river. We were just playing around, skipping rocks, exploring, swimming around (we all knew how to swim)---just typical kids stuff. I got caught in the current that was pulling me downstream towards a waterfall. I wasn't panicked as I knew how to swim. But, I couldn't swim against the current. Thank God, Tim Self realized what was happening. He was able to grab hold of my arm from the edge of the current and yank me out. Disaster averted. For all I know, my siblings might have been mad at him---their only chance to get rid of bossy, me.

We continued on with our adventures. The parents were fishing for "crawdads" (crawfish) with liver tied to the end of a string. I don't remember much else about the trip but, it rained that night and the roof of the cabin leaked all over. It was one huge hassle for mom and Ruth. Maybe that's why we never got to go back. But from a kid's perspective, it was the greatest trip ever. I guess it would be since it was the ONLY trip!

What was your first vacation memory? Write it down somewhere or better yet, scrapbook it!

That Elizabeth!

Last week the Lapps' were here. It was wild and crazy and sooo much fun, but as usual, the time zoomed by. Over the course of the week, we played many games---Skipbo, Scrabble, Boggle, Racko, Dice Capades, and tons of card games---Fan Tan (taught to me by Grandma Preli when I was about 5) and Texas Hold 'em. Fan Tan is a great game for large groups and all ages. You see us below playing for pennies. When the teens are involved, we play for nickels. When Sandy and I started playing with just Victoria and Elizabeth, she made the comment that it would just be us women. Elizabeth piped up and said, "Well, technically, I'm not a woman!" You can really tell that she has older siblings---she talks like a little adult. She is fanatically in love with J.B. (as she refers to him)----Justin Beiber. While playing cards, one of his songs popped up on my iPod (yes, I love him too). It was his song "Never Say Never." E said, "this song is so overplayed." Totally cracked me up.

Then, after losing several hands, she said, "I'm seriously mad that I played this game. I don't have a big stash." She probably lost all of 15 cents.

See Victoria in the background? She's pretty quiet and such a sweet, responsible girl. Elizabeth teased her by saying, "Hey stranger, what are you doing in our game?" I laughed at the absurdity of that statement, which only encouraged her to continue---"get out of here stranger, hey stranger, etc."---Victoria started to get pretty mad which made E keep it up. Finally, Sandy told her to stop.

 When we were on our cruise, my friends and I came in 3rd for the all week trivia game. We were awarded 2nd place cheap medals---they didn't have any 3rd place ones. I put mine in my poker money container and have been somewhat obnoxious by wearing it when I play poker. I've come to think of it as my lucky medal as I "hosed" my sisters at the poker table a few weeks ago.

Of course, whenever we played anything for money, I put on my medal. One night, the whole family was playing Fan Tan in the dining room. I had just won 2 games in a row. I attributed it to my lucky medal. E was just staring at me. I said, "Elizabeth, would you like to rub my lucky medal?" She replied,
"Actually, I'd like to wear it." How could I refuse that serious little face! I handed it over. She immediately started rubbing it on her forehead---she didn't get that from me---saying, "give me luck, give  me luck..."

We're on the next hand---she's down to one card and it looks like she might win. About that time, Butch announced that he too had only one card. Elizabeth just smiled and looked pretty confident---after all, she hadn't taken her hand off that lucky medal. Butch said, "wait!" and got up from the table. A minute later, he returned with HIS lucky medal (he was on our team on the cruise, so he had one too). About that time, Elizabeth's little face dropped.

Here they are both rubbing their lucky medals. I felt so bad for her when Butch ended up winning. I told her she could keep my lucky medal. She has it in her poker purse now.

 Here you see mom's red poker purse---which I kept after disbursing her poker money. The tin is what I've used since the early '70's. As you can see, both are brimming with my winnings. I'm sure my brothers and sisters will be happy to relieve me of some of it when I visit in August.

Here's the rest of the family's poker money---various bags, cups and purses. The pink one is Elizabeth's.

One last thing about E. Butch was in the pool one afternoon and told her she could get in. She said, "well, did you ask my mom?" She's such a good little girl.

That's my Elizabeth report for today.

I Said it Before...

...and I'll say it again---when kids come home, they do become kids again. Today, Mindy and I met at Curves---as usual when she's in town---Steph---not so much. After, as Mindy was having breakfast and making her lunch, she asked for 75 cents. I said, jokingly, "milk money?" She said, "well, Coke money." Deja vu....which leads me to the next thing.

Why is it that "kids" today don't carry ANY cash? I've discussed this with my friends and it seems that none of them do. I've asked my girls what do they do when they need cash? They say, "like when?" Then I can't really come up with anything except "tipping"---which, let's face it---my girls aren't really living a lifestyle that requires tips. Now I have one more thing to add---"what if you want to buy a Coke from a machine?" Got 'em!!

Oh, and Jeanne, Mindy LOVES the BeeGees. How could anyone NOT!!!

AYM

The topic this month was"5 Things I Love and 5 Things I Hate Right Now"

The layouts below are from last month. The topic was "Sibling Rivalry." Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my layouts. I'll post them next month with the August layouts.

TSRCC

The challenge this month was to make and use flowers on the page. Here are the results. Unfortunately---not really a bad thing---there are so many people in our group that I cannot always remember who made what.

Besides the flowers on this page, Kathy hand-stitched lines between all the pictures. Fabulous layout.

 A few of the girls who were absent last month, brought their projects. The challenge then was to use a vintage item on your layout or card. Jann made this lovely card using a vintage buckle.

 For these cards, she made a flower from torn circles. On the right, she made a zipper flower.

 Jann also made this book in memory ofher daughter. Below is just a couple pages from the inside.

 Tanya made a card box (not shown) full of these cards---using all types of flower techniques.

 This is an extra layout that I brought to show. The guys AYM topic this month was to list 5 things they loved and hated right now. I liked the idea so much that I wanted to do it for myself to.

For my challenge this month, I started with naked chipboard flowers. I painted them green, then masked them and painted cream over the top. When all that dried, I added glitter glue to make them sparkle. To the middle, I added silver buttons.

Sandy made ribbon roses for her layout.

Sandy made accordion flowers for this dance layout. More ribbon roses below.

Another accordion and torn flower

This is Pam's layout---I love the color combination. When we were at our annual spring "farm crop", I taught a flower making class. This was one of them. You punch circles from double sided paper, fold in two sides, then line up in a circle. Add a button to the center for the cutest flower ever.

Lola has taught several flower-making classes. She brought an assortment of flowers that she's made.

Here is a "fascinator" that she made. (My sister scoffed at these, but fascinators have been around here for awhile. In fact, Mindy bought her first one at Christmas Village last November. They just became even more popular after the Royal Wedding.)

Lola had a huge box full of these flowers. Below is a handmade flower on the lid of this hand made box.

The challenge for next month is to use squares on a game related layout. That will be easy for me since our family plays so many games----I have tons of pictures.

That Green Eyed Monster!

This past weekend, Butch and I decided that it was a good idea to get all the boxes of the girls "stuff" out of the attic. Turns out that most of it was Stephanie's New Kids on the Block stuff---about 4 or 5 boxes worth. It was a nasty, dirty job, but we did manage to find a few treasures. I was so excited to "find" this. It was in a box of Sandy's keepsakes. I had this St. Aloysius pennant since I was a little girl. Since Sandy went to St. Aloysius in Peewee Valley, KY for 1st and half of 2nd grade, I had given it to her. I completely forgot all about it---until I saw it in Jeanne's scrapbook room. I remember thinking, that I was sure that she had my pennant since we shared a room growing up. I was pretty jealous that she had something so cool from our childhood. Then all of a sudden, I wasn't quite so sure that Jeanne had this after all. I called her and she confirmed that all she has is the St. Aloysius "patch" from her volleyball uniform. Yet, I would have sworn that she had this pennant. And I even built up this whole jealousy thing in my mind. 

Although Jeanne and I laughed about it, I am seriously concerned about my mind! To completely fabricate something---and actually have the emotions to go along with the fabrication---that's bad! Really bad!

The only good thing to come out of all of this besides the pennant, is that we have moved out at least a dozen boxes from the attic. Can't wait to get up there and vacuum!

AYM

It's been awhile---things have been crazy around here. First, the sisters visit, then our farm crop----came home on Friday just is time for the Lapps family to arrive. They will be here all week.  I have a lot to blog about, just not enough time to do it right now. In the meantime, here are the layouts for this month's A Year of Memories/2. Their assignment this month was to complete the phrase: "Happiness is..." They were also to pay attention to the advertising around them and pick something as an inspiration piece.

Kim used a page out of the Dick's Sporting Goods catalog to make her page.

The flower takes the place of the underwear clad torso above.

Suzanne used this Cheerios box as her layout inspiration.

It's a little hard to see in the picture, but she frayed the ends of the placemat under her pot of soup. Really clever.

Sally used this cookbook as her inspiration.

If you look close, you can even see the stitching. She is planning to add 6 photos and some journaling. She wants to take some interior shots of their cabin the next time they are out there.

I'm really enjoying seeing what these gals come up with every month. Even if their families don't always "get it", by the end of the year, they will have an album filled with little glimpses of their life---what they love, what's important to them and what makes them happy. That's what it's all about! Did anyone say "hokey pokey?"