Saturday evening our 2 grandsons stayed with us. My daughter and son-in-law were going out for the evening and it was going to be late, so the boys were going to spend the night. We had a whole evening planned. We were going to go to church first, come back home eat pizza and then watch movies. We had borrowed the DVD Barnyard, plus we had a large assortment of movies of our own and I had their favorite snacks on hand. We were set for the evening.
We went to church as planned, since it would be later that my daughter and son-in-law were planning to leave our daughter went to church with us and then came back to the house to have pizza with us. As we were eating the pizza the conversation turned to fishing; the warm weather that we had this week bought on an onset of “fishing fever”. My husband as always been an enthusiastic fisherman and he has passed his love of fishing on to both our children and our grandchildren. Last year our oldest grandson who was then 5 caught his first big bass. He caught it the week before Easter and it weighed in at 4lb. He hooked and reeled the bass in all by himself. This was the first fish story of the evening. The attention then switched over to our daughter, our grandson’s mother, who as a little girl was trying to help her dad bring in a 4 lb bass with the dip net. However this story’s ending was the typical fisherman’s story of how the big ones always get away. Anyway I don’t think our daughter enjoyed that story as much as our 6 year old grandson did, but she still laughed with the rest of us.
As we were setting there telling stories, the 6 year old grandson didn’t want it to end, he kept asking for more. We all were laughing and just enjoying spending time together. I also realized how important these stories were and how I need to take the time and write these stories down. I’m sure there are many stories I have already forgotten about our children growing up. Last night, myself as well as my husband and daughter were there to tell the stories. 50 years from now we probably won’t be. We have pictures of our grandson’s first big catch. You can see from his picture that if he was any prouder he would be busting the buttons off his shirt. 50 years from now, along with that picture, I want my grandson’s kids and grandkids to know how proud he was when he caught that first big bass, how he fought to reel it in, where he was at, and who was with him.
It is important to preserve these family memories
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Home
I can’t say I have anything too exciting to write about this week. It was a good week at home. Work, however, I made some pretty big changes. Wednesday was my last day with the company I had worked at for the last 16 years. Monday I’m starting a new job. I’m definitely stepping out of my comfort zone, but looking forward to a new challenge. By previous employer has been in business for 23 years. So I had been with the company the majority of the time it has been in business. I really got to learn the business from the ground up. I’m starting over with a new company and even though I will be taking my past experience with me, I will still have that learning curve that comes with any new job.
I will miss a lot of my co-workers from by previous job. Many of these individuals I would never have gotten the opportunity to meet if it had not been through work. Some I will probably never see again unless by chance meeting while others I consider good friends and will keep in touch my email, occasionally getting together for a meal out. I will take with me all the memories both good and bad and welcome this new opportunity to make new friends.
Now as I close this chapter and begin a new chapter in my life, I realize it doesn’t really matter where I work. What matters is family, good friends and home. I know I can always count on my family and friends. Home will always be there for me, with open arms giving me a place to land and to feel loved.
I will miss a lot of my co-workers from by previous job. Many of these individuals I would never have gotten the opportunity to meet if it had not been through work. Some I will probably never see again unless by chance meeting while others I consider good friends and will keep in touch my email, occasionally getting together for a meal out. I will take with me all the memories both good and bad and welcome this new opportunity to make new friends.
Now as I close this chapter and begin a new chapter in my life, I realize it doesn’t really matter where I work. What matters is family, good friends and home. I know I can always count on my family and friends. Home will always be there for me, with open arms giving me a place to land and to feel loved.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
The Power of Dessert Burgers
In case you are wondering what dessert burgers are they are homemade Suzie-Q’s. They are delicious and yes I did make the dessert burgers and sent them to my son. However I included another note with this package that read:
Son
I expect to see a diploma that reads
Son’s name, Ph.D
Love Mom
When the package arrived last Tuesday, he knew immediately what was in the package. And in the good humor that it was intended to be, he was laughing when he called me. He informed me that the dessert burgers were delicious (and yes he was sharing with his room mates) but he was also contemplating on what he was going to ask for next. Basically if I was supplying, he was buying (or taking advantage of)! I never guaranteed how long I would continue but I did hint at that if the persuasion was working I would continue influencing any way I could.
A few days later my son decided that yes he would continue his education and pursue his Ph.D. I thought YES, this was too easy but it worked, problem solved or so I thought. As a parent never forget about sibling rivalry. What you do for one child you have to do for the other. I provided goodies for one child and forgot to do so for the other. Once my daughter found out (after talking with her brother) that he had been furnished with dessert burgers and she had not, I was informed that was not fair and where was her dessert burgers. I explained how I was using the dessert burgers as bribery. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she too could be bribed! Her dessert burgers were made this morning and delivered this afternoon. My son’s Ph.D. takes 2 years, what she promised me takes 9 months……… well see in 9 months!
Son
I expect to see a diploma that reads
Son’s name, Ph.D
Love Mom
When the package arrived last Tuesday, he knew immediately what was in the package. And in the good humor that it was intended to be, he was laughing when he called me. He informed me that the dessert burgers were delicious (and yes he was sharing with his room mates) but he was also contemplating on what he was going to ask for next. Basically if I was supplying, he was buying (or taking advantage of)! I never guaranteed how long I would continue but I did hint at that if the persuasion was working I would continue influencing any way I could.
A few days later my son decided that yes he would continue his education and pursue his Ph.D. I thought YES, this was too easy but it worked, problem solved or so I thought. As a parent never forget about sibling rivalry. What you do for one child you have to do for the other. I provided goodies for one child and forgot to do so for the other. Once my daughter found out (after talking with her brother) that he had been furnished with dessert burgers and she had not, I was informed that was not fair and where was her dessert burgers. I explained how I was using the dessert burgers as bribery. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she too could be bribed! Her dessert burgers were made this morning and delivered this afternoon. My son’s Ph.D. takes 2 years, what she promised me takes 9 months……… well see in 9 months!
Saturday, February 3, 2007
We'll See Who Gets The Last Word (or Cookie)
Last week I sent my son who is at college, cookies, his favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. Now I did have an ulterior motive…. Bribery!
He has been a student at Rolla University for the past 6 years, first he received his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and he is currently working on his Masters. Recently he was approached by his professor who was encouraging him to continue his education and work toward his Doctorate. His Masters was funded through a Fellowship Grant and his Doctorate would also be funded through a Fellowship Grant. So this is quite an opportunity for him, one that I THINK he really needs to strongly consider. But I also understand after 6 years of college you might be a little burned out, and ready to get a job, which I do understand, but like I said this is quite an opportunity for him. So I started presenting arguments to him as to why he needs to do this. I thought I was giving thoughtful, logical argument as to why he should pursue his Doctorate until he told me I sounded just like his professor. It was then that I decided I needed another approach, COOKIES!
I made a batch of cookies, his favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, boxed them up and mailed them to him. However, I also included one extra thing, a typed document that stated “This is a legal binding contract. No signatures required, however, taking one bite of these cookies obligates you to pursue your education and receive your PHD” and signed it Love Mom. He gets the cookies the next day, right at lunch time. Perfect timing right, wrong, he won’t eat them! I’m on line so he chats me and asks if I counted the cookies before I sent them to him. I guess he was going to try and sneak one and send the rest back. I replied no, I did not count them, but I knew how tightly I had packed them. If you try and sneak one and send the rest back I will know. I couldn’t believe that he was resisting this temptation, but he decided he wouldn’t eat the cookies.
Finally I call him and say “look I really want you to get your PHD, but the cookies were suppose to be lighthearted gesture, EAT THE COOKIES”, which he did.
So today I get a package in the mail, it’s the same size box that I originally sent the cookies in and it is from my son, but it’s awfully light weight. I thought surely he did not send me back the empty container. Wrong he did, still had the cookie crumbs in it, but it also contained a note which read:
Mom….
Maybe DESSERT BURGERS will help me make up my mind on whether or not to stay and get my doctorate
Love Me
This story will be continued!
He has been a student at Rolla University for the past 6 years, first he received his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and he is currently working on his Masters. Recently he was approached by his professor who was encouraging him to continue his education and work toward his Doctorate. His Masters was funded through a Fellowship Grant and his Doctorate would also be funded through a Fellowship Grant. So this is quite an opportunity for him, one that I THINK he really needs to strongly consider. But I also understand after 6 years of college you might be a little burned out, and ready to get a job, which I do understand, but like I said this is quite an opportunity for him. So I started presenting arguments to him as to why he needs to do this. I thought I was giving thoughtful, logical argument as to why he should pursue his Doctorate until he told me I sounded just like his professor. It was then that I decided I needed another approach, COOKIES!
I made a batch of cookies, his favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, boxed them up and mailed them to him. However, I also included one extra thing, a typed document that stated “This is a legal binding contract. No signatures required, however, taking one bite of these cookies obligates you to pursue your education and receive your PHD” and signed it Love Mom. He gets the cookies the next day, right at lunch time. Perfect timing right, wrong, he won’t eat them! I’m on line so he chats me and asks if I counted the cookies before I sent them to him. I guess he was going to try and sneak one and send the rest back. I replied no, I did not count them, but I knew how tightly I had packed them. If you try and sneak one and send the rest back I will know. I couldn’t believe that he was resisting this temptation, but he decided he wouldn’t eat the cookies.
Finally I call him and say “look I really want you to get your PHD, but the cookies were suppose to be lighthearted gesture, EAT THE COOKIES”, which he did.
So today I get a package in the mail, it’s the same size box that I originally sent the cookies in and it is from my son, but it’s awfully light weight. I thought surely he did not send me back the empty container. Wrong he did, still had the cookie crumbs in it, but it also contained a note which read:
Mom….
Maybe DESSERT BURGERS will help me make up my mind on whether or not to stay and get my doctorate
Love Me
This story will be continued!
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