Sunday Souvenir - Haircuts

Sunday Souvenir

Once again, my haircut memories are with Aunt Helen - because she was our hairdresser!  She did all of our hair (mine & my brothers).  I always had the same hair cut growing up - bangs and long.  I do remember one special time though - I had Helen cut it short.  I don't know if she suggested or if I suggested it.  I do remember Mom did not know.  For some reason, I think she was in the hospital after we had a car accident so I was around 5.

Helen saved my hair and I presented it to Mom.  This is probably gross, but I still have my hair.  It's still in the box and wrapped with a bow.  I'm thinking I should take it to my hairdresser and say - THIS is the color my hair should be.  Just because she thinks my hair should be really dark.

Sunday Souvenir - Christmas Traditions

Sunday Souvenir

You'll see a lot of my memories are with my Aunt Helen.  She was a big part of my life growing up.  She was like the matriarch of the family and I'll just say it - I was her favorite.

Anyway, all holidays were at Aunt Helen's.  Christmas Eve was always the traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner, but I found out that our dinner had a Caprarulo (our family name) twist.  I'm not sure why certain dishes were different than the traditional dishes.

After dinner, we would open presents & stockings.  When I was young, I used to believe that Santa came to Helen's house early.  We would all then go to church for Christmas Eve service.

I would still get presents on Christmas morning at our house and we would go over to Aunt Helen's during the day for leftovers.

We still continue the Christmas Eve tradition.  Dan knows that it is important to me and he had the best teacher on how to make the dinner (Aunt Helen).  We are luck that Aunt Helen wrote down all the recipes.  We have put the Wentz twist on things since we don't eat seafood, but basically everything else is the same.

When Helen went into the nursing home, we started a new tradition.  Chinese on Christmas Day.  It began out of necessity.  There was nothing else open in my hometown and we didn't have leftovers to eat since everything was at my brother's and they spend time with my sister-in-law's family on Christmas Day.  We still continue the Chinese on Christmas Day.

Sunday Souvenir - First Words & Childhold Scrapbook

Sunday Souvenir

Stephanie's entry is about first words and childhood scrapbook.  Unfortunately, I have no idea what my first words were and I don't have a childhood scrapbook.  Which now that I think about it is amazing since my mom was an artist at heart.

Right now, most of my stuff is in boxes but since I know have my scrapbook room, I look forward to organizing EVERYTHING.  Seriously - everything.  The things I do have - a school memories book which has a bunch of report cards and stuff that I did in school.

One of my projects I have planned is to create a school memories book for myself & for Dan.  Unfortunately, I don't think a lot of Dan's stuff was saved. :(

One of the things I was amazed to find (I think I still have them) was when I was cleaning out my aunt's house.  I found ALL of the congratulations cards from when I was born.  Seriously.  Just all bound together.  This was like in 2000.  That was the first time I had ever seen the cards.

I'm sure once I start going through boxes, I'll find a lot of memories.  Those two are just ones that really come to mind.

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir

Better late than never!  Stephanie posted a tweet on her entry "Could this be why I'm a vegetarian?"  I responded that my entry would be "Could this be why I am fat?" LOL.  Stephanie had told us about her food experiences while growing up.  Boy do we come from two extremes.

Thanksgiving....this is my favorite holiday.  Why?  Because of the food.  I love turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, gravy, corn, and apple pie.  Carbs, carbs, & more carbs....I am in heaven.  I don't think I have ever had cranberry sauce and I have tried stuffing before, but I'd rather stick with pototoes.

Growing up we always had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Helen's (all holidays were at Aunt Helen's, along with (every) Sunday dinner after church).  I don't really remember anything special about Thanksgiving, except sometimes we would have it early or later depending on my brother & SIL's holiday schedule (to go to her parent's house or even work).

One Thanksgiving (late 70s?), I do remember that my mom & I were staying at Aunt Helen's (not sure why), but I remember my mom not wanting turkey because of smelling it all night (back in the day when it took HOURS to cook a turkey).  I don't know if it was also that same holiday or another one, but I remember my cat, Blackie, being there and Helen feeding turkey to him.  Now, Blackie being at Helen's house in and of itself shows how much I was Helen's favorite since she did NOT like pets.

Of course, what's my Sunday Souvenir without Kim & Karen?  So also in their family is Ted (their dad), Ginny (their mom) and their sister, Kris (who is 5 years younger than me).

I don't remember going to the Johnson's growing up for Thanksgiving, but I definitely remember coming home to visit in my 20's, eating at Helen's with my family and then heading to the Johnson's for dinner.  WHAT A SPREAD Ted would make - turkey AND ham!  Ginny would make different pies and I remember one year, Krissy didn't move the pies while she was doing laundry (where the pies were cooling off on the dryer), the washer was a major shaker and the pies ended up on the floor.

Through the years, Dan and I have gone to Ohio to visit his grandmother & family there, but lately we just stay home.  As Stephanie mentioned in her blog, the last couple of years, we have purchased a turkey dinner from Giant and gotten together.  Can't beat the price that includes EVERYTHING and it's easy for the cooks (My Dan and Stephanie's Dan)!

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir

Stephanie picked a great theme this week - favorite childhood television shows.  I have quite a few stories/memories based on TV, but I'll limit it to two.

Once again, this week will include my friends/neighbors, Kim & Karen.  Like I said last week, we were together ALL THE TIME.  Back in the day, playing included using your imagination and some were based on the shows we watched.

One of the games that Karen & I used to play was "The Magic Garden".  I can remember playing this under the apple tree in my front yard (no swing) and of course, the hosts had the same color hair as we did, so I would be Paula (dark hair) and Karen would be Carole (blonde hair).

When I was researching the links and pictures for this entry, what did I find, but Carole & Paula are still performing!  Who knew?!

Now, of course, when the three of us were together - what else would 3 girls play......

 

That's right - Charlie's Angels!  I would always be Kelly, Kim would always be Sabrina, and Karen would always be Jill (and then Kris when Farrah Fawcett left and Cheryl Ladd came in).  I can remember that Karen would always complain that she had to be Jill or Kris.

I haven't seen either shows in forever.  I refuse to watch the remakes because it ruins he memories.  I'm sure it wouldn't be the same, but someday, I will watch them.  

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir

Stephanie picked another great topic this week - childhood toys/stuffed animals.  Believe it or not, I still have a LOT of my toys.  At first, it was to pass them onto my kids.  Of course, we never had any.  Then I started thinking about passing them onto my nephew and nieces, but I realized that the toys wouldn't last long.  So my toys have been in one of my hope chests.  Below are some pictures of a few of my toys and stories behind them.

This is me and Pinkie.  Gee, imagine me with a stuffed animal cat!  I don't know who gave me this, but I still have it.  I am about 2 in this picture.  Don't you love the old school stroller?  Looks more like a shopping cart!

Here I am at my neighbor's house with my Hello Dottie doll.  I'm probably 4 here.  Growing up, everyday, and I mean everyday, I was with my neighbors, Kim and Karen.  I do not remember a time in my life without them.  I still consider them my sisters.  And as sisters, we fought - probably every day, but when it came to gifts, obviously our moms were pretty smart because to keep the peace.......

We got the same gifts!  At least Kim (on the right) & I did.  I'm sure Karen (on the left) played with them.  Yes, I still have my Hello Dottie and it still works.

I don't know what I will do with my toys, but it's still fun going through them and remembering.

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir

I'm two days behind on this, but I'm still doing the entry!

Stephanie's theme - photos - old photos to be exact.  Man, do I have plenty of them!  But, Stephanie's entries has gotten me remembering pictures that I have looked at many, many times.  I understand Stephanie's wonder at the old pics because no matter how many times I look at the family pictures, I feel the same as she does.  It's a glimpse into your family and its history.  You might have been there, you might have not been.

Since Monday is Halloween, I figure I'd pull some old Halloween pictures.  I remembered this one of me in my cat suit and my brothers.  Unfortunately, I knew it was in my Aunt Helen's album, but I had no idea where it was last night.  So, last night, after handing out candy, I am searching for the albums.  I have pictures and albums EVERYWHERE!  Upstairs in the office (future scrapbooking room), in the guest room closet, in the basement storage - EVERYWHERE!  The old pictures are still in boxes that they came into the house in.  Anyway, looking upstairs, pulling everything out of the closet - not there.  Next downstairs to Helen's boxes from the nursing home.  Luckily, it was in the 2nd album I opened up!

And - here they are!

These were taken at Aunt Helen's house.  Left to right, me, Brett & Vincent.  Brett must have been a Planet of the Apes character and Vincent was a Chicken Leg from Red Barn (an OLD restaurant).  The writing on the pictures are also Aunt Helen's.

There I am!  My mom made my costume.  I remember it was an orange cat (gee, imagine that!), but the fabric was itchy (because of the sparkly material).  I know I have some other pictures of this same year with my nieghbors - who knows where though!

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir

Stephanie was right on target on what I wanted to blog about this week.

This weekend, I was at a scrapbooking retreat at Girls Night Inn.  One of the projects I wanted to do was transfer pictures from an old album (my mom's) that is the one page sticky back.  These albums are bad for pictures because they deteriate the picture.  I figured since I was transfering the pictures, I would scan them first.

I didn't end up changing albums (the albums I brought with me didn't work the way I wanted), but was able to scan in a lot of the old color pictures that I could tell were fading.

These albums have been in our family as long as I can remember.  Two albums are of family trips (the flower one on the left) and family pictures (the red one on the right).  I have looked at them many times and it is hard for me to take them apart and throw them away.  I plan on making scrapbook pages of the family trips and include the index page that my mom wrote. 

One album (the middle one) was dedicated to our (my brothers' and mine) weddings.  Of course, my wedding pictures weren't in there.  It never really hit me until I started taking the album apart that my mom planned on being at my wedding and adding the pictures to that album.

I had a lot of fun scanning the old pictures in.  I want to send a cd or e-mail a lot of the pics to my brothers.  I spoke with my oldest brother, Vincent, on Monday after going through all the pictures and mentioned that one of the trips had "CNE Marina" written on it by Dad & he knew exactly what the trip was!  I was only 3 at the time (1973), so he would have been about 14.

Some of the pics that I love include my very first picture that I ever took (on our trip to Florida).  I can kind of remember taking it too.  My mom was waving in the picture so I would focus the camera towards her (and my brother Brett & Grandpa).  There were so many pictures of me and Bootsie (and it's one of many Bootsies).  It looks like I'm about 3, so it's probably one of the first Bootsies (I had about 5 of them - all male orange tabbies).

I also sorted a bunch of pictures.  I have generations of pictures.  I have mine, my parents, my aunt's (Mom's family), and my grandparent's (Dad's side).  I am lucky that either Grandma or Grandpa Clark wrote on the back of the majority of the pictures so I have a date and who is in the picture (mostly of my Dad).  One GREAT find was hidden behind a picture of my Dad and Uncle Victor.  I think it's of my grandmother.  On the back of it, it has Bert Crandall written on it (which is my great-grandfather). 

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir

Staying with Stephanie's theme again!  Thanks for the good picks on the themes Steph!  This is definitely what I wanted my blog for - to remember those things that I've almost forgotten!

Not sure how different our classes were to other schools, but thinking back, we had a lot of different art classes.  In middle school, it was required to take wood shop and metal shop.  I don't remember what I made in wood shop, but I do know that in metal shop I made a "toolbox" (more like a metal box/basket) that I gave to Aunt Helen.  She had it until she moved to the nursing home and then it became my toolbox - until hubby decided he didn't like digging for tools out of it and bought me a real toolbox (for Christmas or my birthday no less).  Given the choice in middle school, I wouldn't have taken either wood or metal shop.

In high school, I had the majority of my credits done by junior year, so I was able to take some "fun" courses.  I took photography, an art class, and ceramics.  I'm not sure how many schools have ceramics for a course today (or even back then).  I still have projects from all three of these classes. 

I don't even remember the name of the teacher who taught ceramics, but remember her face.  She was a young teacher and the boys always tried to get away with things (acting up).  I remember there was a day I didn't feel well and she brought me home.  I must have been a sophmore at the time since I didn't have my license or a car.

The item that first came to my mind from my ceramics class was a little cat figurine I created that I still have.  It was based on my cat at the time - Blackie.

Here's a picture of Blackie.  We were having a yard sale and he jumped in the grab bag box that I made which made a great picture.  He was worth more than 10 cents to me. : )

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir

I'm going to stick with Stephanie's theme this week (and get back into this since we've been on vacationthe last 2 Sundays!).

Even though we don't have kids, I have one book that was one of my favorites when I was little -  The B Book .  I really don't remember how old I was, but I can remember memorizing the book.  To this day, I can still recite the majority of it.

Big Brown Bear Blue Bull Beautiful Baboon Blowing Bubbles Biking Backwards Bump

The book has sat in my hope chest for awhile.  Hubby, on the other hand, had to purchase his favorite book - Sam and the Firefly

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir

STILL in the dining room - all of our dining room furniture matches - it also matches our bedroom furniture.  The furniture was my parents and they bought it when they first got married in the early 1950s.  I still really like it.  It's classic shaker style. 

The manufacturer is Sligh furniture.  They now make mostly office furniture, but back in the day, they made everything.  A few years back, I e-mailed the company to see if I could get more information on it.  The president e-mailed me back saying that what I was describing was the "Cross Country" line.

The bedframe that we have is full size - we now have a king size bed, so we don't use that.  I would really like to get a matching headboard or frame.  I don't know if I will ever find a 1950's original, but I bet I could get something made that would be close to the grayish tint.

You'll see that a lot of my stuff is handed down from family.  I think I finally realize the "worth" of it.  Not just money-wise, but memory-wise.

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir



Still staying in the dining room of our house - in our china cabinet (that will be next week), I have a large collection of dog figurines.  All made with different materials, all from different places, and the majority of them are OLD.  I mean old like antiques. 

For some reason, my mom collected dog figurines.  These figurines were never on display at our house so I think it was a collection from before she got married.  I never asked.

As long as I can remember, they were in an old long box (I think a wholesale pasta box)  and stored at my aunt's house.  I can remember on Sundays my Aunt Helen taking upstairs and showing me all of the different dogs.  Taking them out of the box, looking at them, and the putting them away.

There is only one that was my Aunt Helen's - a Boston Terrier (made out of wax?) with a (plastic, full size) fly on it.  I can remember it always being in her china cabinet and asking to take it out to look at it.  Mind you, it was never "played with" - it was just handled and touched with care - hence why it's still in one piece.

It was always a given that they were going to be mine.  When I bought my first (town)house and had the china cabinet, that's what I put in there.  I can remember a few broke on the move from NY to VA or from the townhouse to our current house - there were a couple that were really small and made of glass.

Someday, I will have to look up the figurines, see where/when they were made, and how much they cost.

Sunday Souvenir

Sunday Souvenir

On my organ, I have several aloe vera plants.

Through the years, there have been larger plants, more plants, and sometimes less plants.  How long have I had this "plant"?  I've had it more than 13 years.  How old is this plant? More than 22 years old. 

The original owner of this plant was my mom.  She didn't have much of a green thumb, but she was able to keep the aloe alive because it was so easy to take care of.

When she passed, my Aunt took it and it grew like crazy.  Aunt Helen had it in a window edge pot and it was overflowing.  When Aunt Helen went into the nursing home in 1998, I took it. 

 

This plant has been given to co-workers, friends and family.  Some have survived, some not so much.  I also have offsprings in my office.  Sometimes they do well, sometimes they don't.

There were years that I almost killed it, but then I think, I CAN'T let this plant die!  This is a part of my mom, that I have and will not let die.

Sunday Souvenir

This was started by my friend and neighbor - this is the first edition of:

Sunday Souvenir

I have an organ in my dining room.  It is currently used as a dust collector and a plant holder (that will be next week).  Whenever someone new comes over, the first question is "do you play?"  Then comes the explanation.

The organ was my Aunt Helen's.  She was the organist at our church forever.  She had a piano and the story goes that I talked her into getting this organ.  This is also the organ I learned how to play piano on - I know totally backwards.

I don't remember how old I was when Aunt Helen go the organ, but I do know that I was in 4th grade when I took piano lessons.  The reason I took piano lessons - I didn't make it into (school) band.  I did make it into band when I was in 5th grade and played clarinet (my second choice) until I graduated from high school.

I did take piano lessons again in about 9th grade and once again practiced on this organ. 

So, this organ has a lot of history.  It still plays well, but the pedals don't work well and now have dog teeth marks on them.  It does get used when my SIL comes to visit because she is currently taking piano lessons.

Every once in awhile I think about getting rid of it.  There are so many memories that when I do get rid of it, it will be hard.