Picture ofhe Day-Thursday

Guess who this is? Nina Bear at 6 months old. She is too cute. Don't you just love the dress and matching shoes. Well there will be tears on my keyboard by the time I am done with this story. My mom bought this dress for Nina and I thought it would be perfect to have her picture made in. Got her some little white tights and cute red shoes (I still have the shoes). When I started to put the dress on Nina - she started to scream and cry. I am not the most patient person in the world and I could not figure out what was wrong. I just wanted her to shut up and let me get her dressed. Her dad said the dress must be too small but I knew that wasn't it. Finally got her dressed although she stopped screaming, she was still crying. Went to the local Sears and she actually stopped crying long enough for this picture to be taken. When we got home, I started to get her undressed and as I took the dress off, I noticed scratches on her arms and thought "what in the world?" After I got the dress off Nina, I started to look at it and realized that the dress had pins in it. MY GOD, what kind of friggen idiot would put pins in baby clothes. I was shocked and horrified and at the time it just reiterated that I was an awful momma. Now the tears come, I love you Bear and I'm sorry.

Here is the picture for Wed. Don't know what happened to the other one. Sorry.

Picture of the Day-Wednesday

Yes it is another "chalk drawn" picture. This time it is me & Ricky and it is December of 1976. Ricky comes in my bedroom and tells me to "get up" and since I am not a morning (or afternoon) person, this was not received very well. Especially when he wouldn't tell me where we were going - just "get up and get dressed". Even I know that you don't tell Ricky "no" so I got up and got dressed. Off to Knotts Berry Farm we went. No fun, no rides, just have this picture done. I remember when we brought it home, we unrolled it and looked real close at it noticing little things that the artist caught. Now personally, I love this picture. Ricky hates it. Can you tell I'm a bit "pudgy". I was the heaviest - oh ok - the fattest I had ever been. I blame it on Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts and Whole Milk. If you could have seen me six months previous to this - wow!! The summer of 1976 I was as close to "hot" as I have ever been. Went to the beach nearly every day, had a nice tan, long blonde hair and NO GLASSES - I got contacts that year. But I still love this picture and it will hang in my house one day.

Picture of the day - Tuesday

Can you believe that is me? Well it is, and I was 14 years old. This is a chalk drawing done at Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park California. We had company - My aunt Lois (who was my moms sister) came to visit from Northern California with a couple of her kids-Jeannie and Danny. My aunt Mae came by to visit and she brought her daughter Vernie. So us kids decided to go to Knotts Berry Farm (which is an amusement park) to kill some time and have some fun. My mom told the big kids (everyone but me) to make sure I got my picture done at some point while we were there. I don't remember everything, but I know we had a blast and by the time we remembered to go get my picture done, I was a mess. I remember telling the guy that was doing the drawing that my hair couldn't look this bad in the picture (no one had thought to bring a comb or brush). I think he did a good job. Ricky had his done a year or so earlier so now my mom had one of each of us. They were framed and hung on the wall. I love them. This one now hangs in my daddy's bedroom.

OH YEAH - HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINA BEAR. YOU ARE A WHOPPING 24 YEARS OLD TODAY AND I LOVE YOU! ! ! ! ! !

Picture of the day-Monday

The summer of '71 - Corona California. It was the summer my mom bleached my hair platinum blonde (I was 11 years old), It was the summer I learned how to milk a cow and it was the summer I went to Arkansas and back TWICE. But those are stories for another time. On July 4, 1971 our cat had kittens. I was in Arkansas - my mom called and told me that the cat had kittens but not to expect them to still be there by the time I got home. I freaked and asked if I could come home. Let me back up a little. My Aunt Lois and Aunt Mae decided to take a road trip to Arkansas that summer and it was decided that Ricky & I would go with them, along with my cousins Danny, Jeannie, Larry & Vernie. 6 kids and two wonderful ladies. The cars were packed and Ricky's motorcycle was on the bumper of aunt Lois's car. We made it to Arkansas and all kind of went different ways. Midway through the summer, Aunt Mae was going home. Vernie, Danny & I went with her. That was the wildest road trip I have ever been on (but again, a story for another time). When I got home the kittens were still there but soon after the momma disappeared. I fed the kittens baby food and they survived. There were 4 kittens, 2 girls and 2 boys. The only one that made it as a pet was the one pictured above. The cat with no name. He was beautiful, dark gray, long hair and he loved to play rough. He loved my daddy. He knew when dad was supposed to get home from work and he waited in the driveway for him almost every day. He moved from Corona to Fullerton with us. He was a fighter and loved to get into it with the neighbor cats (my daddy would actually run outside in the middle of the night in his underwear to stop the fights).

My mom got the idea to have his "portrait" painted by a friend of hers. So we went to the store and got the brandy snifter and the goldfish, put them on the coffee table and waited with camera in hand. We took 36 pictures of the cat checking out the fish, had them developed then sent them to mom's friend. This is what she painted from those pictures. It hangs in my dads living room. The cat made the move from California to Arkansas - mom & dad shipped him ahead and Ricky took care of him til mom & dad got here. I know he was still around when Nina was a year old (1986) but at some point after that, he just got old and took himself off to the woods never to be seen from again.

Thanks for letting me share and reminisce. See you tomorrow...........

Dads Place

So we cleaned out the "attic" on Saturday. Through away a truckload of junk but kept the record collection. And what a collection it is. Dozens and dozens of albums and 45's. As I went through the 45's (looking for a specific one Ricky wanted) I couldn't help but sing the songs. While I was there, I went in the house and took some pictures. I'll be sharing those pictures with you this week - one per day. The pictures are actually of other pictures hanging on the walls in my dads house. Each of the pictures has a story so I'll be sharing that as well.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day. Nina, next year will be better. I'd love to hear about everyone else's Valentines Day, leave a comment and tell me how it was.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day Everyone (yes I know it's a day early). These are the flowers I sent to Norman. I am really disappointed because this doesnt look anything like the picture from the Teleflora ad. But since it is Friday and I have a 3 day weekend ahead, I will let it go. I am going out to my dads house this weekend to clean out the attic. Well, it isn't really an "attic", it is one of those places where you have a pull down ladder in the garage and you just start throwing things up there. Anyway, daddy and Ricky will be there and you know I will have my camera. Planning something special for the blog next week - hopefully nothing messes with my plan.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND EVERYONE !!!