{ Quiet Sunday }

Good afternoon friends, come on in and sit with me a bit.  I have coffee and a delicious Date and Nut Loaf we can share :)

It's been a very quiet Sunday, actually one of reminiscing and looking back through the years.

I have a few boxes that contain office stuff, paperwork, old picture, kid's school stuff etc.  They've been sitting in the office, unpacked, since we moved to Texas.  Normally I would never do that, but let's just chuck it all up to the past two years being a blur, shall we?

One of the thing on my to do list this week, is to get all my paperwork together, filed and in order, and yes I'll do a post on that so you can follow me along.

As I started pulling through the boxes, I was met with so many things that brought back amazing memories, things I didn't even know I still had but for which I'm so grateful to have held on to.

I vividly remember sitting at the kitchen table with my greatgrandma.  We chose the recipes, I cut them out, and she helped me tie a piece of kitchen twine around them.  It was one of my most treasured possessions.

I smile when I look at the handwriting, my 13 year old self all proud of it.  When we made this together, we were talking about homemaking and cooking and being a good wife.  She talked about what to do, what not to do, when to have dinner ready, how to clean this and that and what meals to cook, what to do when I had children and how to dress them, what to give them if they were sick and so on.

I listened intently, this was a woman who everyone looked up to, the family matriarch, what she said was golden and to be followed.

For a while I couldn't find these recipes and my heart was broken, I couldn't believe that I had been so careless as to lose something so important to me.  Little did I realize that I had them in a folder neatly packed away in a box.  If *only* I had opened those boxes earlier.

Along with those much looked for recipes, I also found pictures from my children's days in public school, I found pictures they drew, old school worksheets with their little handwriting all crooked and curved.  It made me want to cry.

I also came across the copy of my medical records when my husband retired.  I sifted through every page, a huge stack about 2 inches wide.  Every hospital visitation, my miscarriages including sonograms, my blood work, the notes from the doctor referring to my D&C, and my abnormal pap and the coloscopy etc.

There were notes from my deliveries, my weight, my babies weights, pediatrician appointments and so on.  Now those made me cry.  There is a lifetime recorded on those pages, the good, the bad, the heartbreaking and the moments that brought me the most joy in my life.

All right there, in black and white.  Some of those memories brought back hurt, but overall it made me so happy to have a record of all these things and it reminded me again that time is so precious, so fleeting, and that it's never guaranteed.

I'm sorry, I am feeling a little nostalgic today, partly due to those old mementos, and partly because I just had a conversation with my daughter about when she's moving out, UHAUL trucks, when she is going to college and what she is doing in the meantime. 

It's all coming at me so fast, and I almost find myself grasping around me, trying to just slow it all down, to make life give me more time with her.  This year is going to be so hard, but I plan on blogging all through it, every moment, so that one day I can go back and read it to my grandchildren. 

But right now I'm going to get cracking on my planner and the upcoming week, I need to make sure I don't forget anything.

 
And I'll drown my sorrows in some sour gummy worms.

Don't you just love the Happy Planners?  The little hearts on the binder are adorable :)

This little mister is 5 months old today.  He has brought us so much joy over the past few months and he's helped me deal with the loss of my Lola, though I miss her so much still, I can't look at a photo of her without crying.  I don't know if I'll ever get to that point where I can think of her and not get a lump in my throat, but for now, it's still very fresh for me. 

Marley though, he is the polar opposite of Lola, in every sense of the word, and he's kept us on our toes, amazed us with some of his quirky personality traits and filled our hearts with love.

A couple of you asked about Bella the other day, she is still around, though very old and spends most of her days in the Office, sleeping.  She is still walking, albeit slowly, still chugging along at 16 years old.  She amazes us constantly.

And that my friends, has been my Sunday.  I finally have more yarn in and can get back on track with my Mandala Madness, I'm itching to keep going, so that's what I have planned for this afternoon.....well....in between laundry, and cooking.

I'm making a right on Sunday Roast for dinner, including Yorkshire puddings and all that shebang.  Can't wait :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I'll see you bright and early tomorrow for a Happy Homemaker Monday :)