World War II Memory. A very personal story.

My Dad was in the Army in World War II.

He was in the infantry and combat and had some stories to tell. Many of them involved weapons and mortar shells and fox holes and death and harsh living conditions. I'm positive that the things he saw stayed with him until the very end of his life in December 2010 at age 89. I could tell by some of the things he was talking about that those memories were alive and well and never too far from the surface of his mind. 

But in 1944 my Dad received this telegram from the Red Cross.

It's old and crumpled as you can see. 

I'm sure it was wadded up and thrown across the room. 

 I can also see him punching the guy that had the unfortunate 

task of handing it to him.

 I know he did that. What else can you do with 

that anguish when it's handed to you.

I'm sure he then picked up the telegram, smoothed it out and 

carried it home with him and cried over it. I'm sure a DNA test would
find salty tears imbedded in the fibers.

In case you can't read it, here's what it said:

Dr states wifes diagnosis eclampsia.

Caesarean section Dec. 19

Twins. One Dead.

Wife oxygen tent. Prognosis guarded.

Urges presence.

No other problem.

Well....both twins died. 

I'd say there WAS another problem. 

Two boys that would have been my older brothers died.

Boys that already had names picked out. 

My Mother came close to death as well. 

(But I'm happy to report that she is still alive and although grieving heavily for the loss of my Dad this last December, she is surviving and continuing the journey.)

My Dad got to come home from the vicious war and 

was allowed to stay for just a brief time. 

Then he had to go back to the war.

As the years passed and they both reflected on this terribly sad time in their lives, they looked at it as an event that very possibly spared my Dad's life. Where he was at that particular time when he received this telegram was a very dangerous place. 

There were many lives lost.

It may very well be so. 

I personally believe that our lives are more 

planned out than we are aware of. 

We are just living our story. 

That's how I look at it.

Maybe one of those twins finally made it down here. I know I finally got a brother 3 years after I was "baby boomed" into this world after the war was over.

I think it's special that my Dad saved this piece of our family history. He put it in a frame with a V-mail love letter that he wrote to my Mom and that she had saved. 

 (This photo was taken shortly after

my Dad and Mom married in the early 1940's.)

My AWARD for Best Party SHOE Centerpieces & other crazy shoes

What is it about shoes....and especially HIGH HEEL SHOES....
that are just so much darn fun?

 There's lots of analysis on the internet about why

people are so in love with shoes so I won't rehash that information.

What I am going to do is give you my opinion of 

BEST SHOES!

I'll start with 

BEST PARTY CENTERPIECE SHOES 

and give that award to Stacey and I. 

I can do that because this 

is my Blog and I made the rules about an hour ago 

for this awards ceremony. 

But if someone comes along and shows me something

cuter, well.....I may re-consider. But until then...Tah DAH!

Not only are they so dang cute, they were

 fun to make.

These shoes were made from foamcore and

totally unwearable because they are one 

dimensional. But nobody plans on wearing them 

because they were to sit on a dinner table at 

an event with the theme Dancing in the Street.

Now...it could have been for a fashion themed party

or a Sweet 16 or a girly Bat Mitzvah instead. 

One time....years ago....

we did a party called "A.J.'s got sole" and it had

shoes as a theme. Not quite the same as these though and

my pictures of it aren't very good because it was so long

ago that I didn't have a digital camera and didn't know

my pictures weren't so good until they got developed.

But I digress.

Here's some other award winners:

BEST FUNNY SHOE

BEST TOY SHOE

BEST "I COULD MAKE THAT" SHOE

BEST SELF DEFENSE SHOE

BEST DOG SHOE

BEST HALF-A-SHOE

 

BEST JUST TOO HIGH  SHOE

BEST TOILET BOWL SHOE

BEST LONG SHOE

BEST BAREFOOT SHOE

BEST SHOE MOSTLY LIKELY TO FALL ON YOUR FACE IN

BEST SHOE TO NEVER BUY EVER

BEST ROLLING STONES SHOE

BEST SHOE FOR TARANTULA LOVERS

BEST SHOE AS ART FOR THE WALL

BEST SHOE TO MAKE YOU ENJOY SNAKES

BEST TATTOO SHOE....OUCH!!

BEST SHOE TO MAKE ME FEEL NOSTALGIC

Again...I give myself another award.

Yes...my bronzed baby shoe.  Ahhhhh.

I keep it in my fairy themed powder room and

inside it I plunked a hand painted rock with

a baby chicken on it. Don't ask me why. I'm weird like that.

I'm my own room service

A fantasy of mine is to check in a hotel for a week or so and have room service bring me all my meals and take the time to take loads of tutorials on Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Uninterrupted.

On a full belly.

Hidden away and just focusing.

And learning.

Well...it isn't happening.

But I can make it almost happen. I can make the food myself and bring it up to my computer and set up my ipad next to my computer.

I received 6 months of tutorials to "Lynda.com" for my birthday from my family. I love that site. I'm soaking up the information whenever I can grab a moment.

I'm making my own room service. Nothing too fancy. After all...that's not where I want to spend my time. Not like what I might order from REAL room service.

But, hey, it's food. It will fill me up.

All I have to do afterwards is shake the crumbs out of my keyboard or wipe the spaghetti sauce or jelly off the keys.

Marlyss I Am

You might think with a name like "Marlyss" I am the only one.

Not so.

There's plenty of us. Enough to have a "Marlys Club" that anyone with a variation of the name can join for $5. I haven't joined. They are in Minnesota and I'd never make a meeting.  In fact, I find it hard to believe myself that there are enough Marlyss's in Minnesota to have more than a couple people meet for coffee at Starbucks. But it looks like they had a crowd. Maybe it's because they posted this following notice on their website and they got a good response. No...I'm not kidding 'ya.

Maybe you won't believe this next piece of information either.

There is a ROCK BAND named MARLYSS. 

Oh yes....really.

They own the domain name "marlyss.com" which should be mine if you'd asked me.

But no....they own it and have a very poor one page website on it.

They play songs like "Termite" and "All the Weeds". 

Don't ask me what I think of their music. Please don't.

But here's something I like.

There's a book and comic strips written about a red haired and freckled little girl named Marlys. It's written by Lynda Barry. You can even buy her book on Amazon and it seems to have wonderful ratings.

Ok....I have red hair and freckles. Well...sorta. Not as red as it used to be and not nearly as many freckles as this Marlys in the book has. Thank goodness for small things!

I'm sure you'll find this "How to Draw Marlys" information very helpful.

Something everyone needs to know. Or not.

This is probably more information than you ever wanted to read about the name "Marlyss". But one last piece of information. My Dad found the name for me. He saw someone with that name and she was very pretty and he thought if he had a daughter that would be a good name for her. Thanks Dad.

Tree of Life and other cut-out names

We cut out names like crazy around here.

Most often they are around 30" or so and

used for Sign In Boards or for Candle 

LIghting Centerpieces for items we make or

to send out to those Do It Yourself folks.

 

These names also work great on the Placecard

table as a sign to welcome and greet the guests.

 

Like Coby's sign plunked right there in the middle.

 

It was a take off on the invitation that had a 

Tree of Life on it and an abstract and slightly funky

kind of Jewish star design.

Funky and whimsical are things I really like.

 

Add great colors to it and I REALLY like it. 

 

On the base we added turquoise and royal blue poufs with a 

new lime green metallic mylar we just found to the mix.

Yum.

I want to change my name to Coby and keep it!

"You Rock" little guitar centerpieces

Here's some simple...yet sweet....little guitar centerpieces.

They would work well on 30" small cocktail round tables or

in a restaurant setting with 4 top tables. 

A cute and simple table centerpiece that lets 

your guests know you think they rock!

The star and musical note is printed with the

guitar and banner. It is all one piece and one

layer but it gets the point across.

Everyone wants to think THEY ROCK and

are cool and you're glad they're at your party...so 

I think these centerpieces impart that message to your guests.

They are about 12" high and the body of the guitar is

about the size of your hand.

Sweet and Simple and budget-friendly.

You can see more guitar centerpiece ideas at:

www.guitarcenterpieces.com

(Add that "s" on the end because somebody else

has a website that is similar but without the "s" on

the end of centerpiece"s"....ahhh...yes...we have 

competition....but a good one....you have my permission 

to visit them too!)

You are what you drive...really?

Really? You are what you drive?

I guess I'm a plain white Ford van that often needs a car wash.

In my past I've owned a few cooler middle-of-the-road cars. In the 60's I owned a pink Mustang. I once had a yellow and black Montego that reminded me of a banana. I once...and most recently...owned a purple Camero.

So there's parts of me that aren't a plain white Ford van. But I've owned more Ford vans in various colors than any other kind of the vehicle. I need them to cart around party decorations and put in big sheets of foamcore. I just need to own a van. Darn it. It's clunky. It's always filled with tool boxes and party lights and extension cords and its...well, it's clunky...like I said. It's only redeeming features are that it has a cool coin holder and an after-market heated seat...on the drivers sided only I might add.....and holds a ton of stuff.

Now I'm driving my Dad's vehicle since I took over the remainder of the lease after he up and died on us. My Dad loved a nice car. He never owned a van. Not even one. He owned a Cadillac or two and a few convertibles. He always had a good looking car and it was ALWAYS clean. Yikes. He set a high standard on car cleanliness.

Now I have this very nice Ford Fusion with all these whistles and bells to spoil the heck of me. Did you know that I have InSync in it that allows me to talk on the phone right in the air in the car? Yeah, I do. That feature right there is worth the lease payment I'm making every month. I love packing my Fedex party boxes into this little car .... as that big 'ole van sits idle right next to it....and driving to Fedex in a car that has more gadgets than I'll probably ever figure out. But I can talk in the air...hands free. I love that.

I also like that it tells me when my tires need air. A little sign comes on. Gimme a break. Really? I'm so going to get use to this feature. It's told me twice to fill those tires. I feel so on top of things! And I'll never back into ANYTHING ever again because it will beep like crazy if I do.

And I always know how many more miles I can go on the gas I have left. Now my Dad said to never let it get under 1/4 of a tank so when it gets there, I get nervous. I hear that voice in my head. I get my butt to the gas station because my Dad said so. I'm there. I'm doing it. But, gosh, I'm not so good at getting to the car wash. I need to work on that.

And did I mention that it has a really nice coin holder? In a drawer. Beats the heck out of the van's coin holder.

My Dad was always spoiling me. He still is.

Hurting. Just plain deep hard hurting.

Semi-Sexy black boots that make you taller

So I headed over to DSW armed with a $10 off coupon to buy a pair of "sexy hi top black boots with a heel to make me taller".

I'm walking down the aisles and I see many that I like but none that I wanted to try on. I wasn't looking for high stiletto heels. My feet could never take that. I only wanted semi-sexy I guess. Also...I don't need to break an ankle.

The first pair I saw that I wanted to try on were brown. And furry. With a waterproof rubber sole. And fur around the top. And no heel at all. I tried them on and they felt so good. Fur was inside too.  I thought: "This is it." I love these. And they matched the brown Costco fleece I had on. I put them in my shopping bag.

Since I was only about 1/2 the way down the aisle,  I kept going. Past lots of "sexy black boots that make you look taller". I wistfully looked at them. I saw one pair with a heel I thought I could deal with. I stopped and tried them on. Within a couple of minutes my toes and ball of my feet were aching.

I was looking between them and the brown boots. I think I looked sad because a saleslady came up to me and asked:  "Don't you like them?" (meaning the brown boots I was staring at.)

I said "Yes, I love them but they aren't what I came in to buy. I guess I'm just reverting to my true nature." She looked at the 10 year old plus Ecco loafers I had came in wearing.  Talk about comfort! I even hot glued the soles recently so I could keep wearing them. I love them. They own me. They are me. I'm not a sexy black boot lady,  I guess.  I love comfort.  I was feeling wistful. She saw my dilemma and offered to help.

She brought me a couple of "semi-sexy black boots that make you look taller" that she thought might be right for me. One of them had some comfort built into them and not such a steep angle to your foot and I felt like they were ones I could enjoying wearing and looking taller for awhile when I didn't want to look clunky.

They certainly wouldn't be good for hiking up a mountain like I could have done in the brown ones.....but I don't have plans right now to hike up a mountain....probably not any time this year either.

So I bought the "semi-sexy black boots that make you look taller". They're mine. I love them. I'm taller.

I left the brown ones at the store and never looked back.

Sometimes you just need to kick yourself in the butt to get out of the rut....or find the right salesperson to help you on your way.

Amusement Park Roller Coaster Party Centerpieces

Nothing says fun more than ROLLER COASTERS!

What a great party theme.

For either girl or boy parties.

Roller coaster, Sizzler, Ferris Wheel, Log Flume, Carousel, 
Gravitron and Zipper......

all favorites.

We can do things in ANY COLOR!

We especially liked the colors and the addition of feathers and pink cheetah print. So Girly Girl. We love making stuff like this. Amusement parks, carnival, Disney-like rides are such a rich and wonderful theme to work with.

We can also make Candle Lighting Centerpieces with a roller coaster ride theme.

Or maybe you need a Gift Card Box?

Or, a Sign In Board.

Just send me an email if you'd like to explore this

fun theme for YOUR party.

marlyss@mac.com

The ESPN look for multi-sports parties.

I read somewhere that you need to group things together for the best statement. The article was referring to collectibles and collections people have of things like salt and pepper shakers, family photos, nicknacks, etc.

So I grouped together some ESPN pictures. Yup....it makes sense to me. All in one place.

Like all the crayons in a box, all the silverware in the drawer. Like all my swings on the back porch. Like all the water in the lake...oh yeah....I'm glad that's all in one place and not divided into puddles. Like all the blankets on the bed. Like all the fingers on your hand. Like all the candy wrappers on the floor of my van. Like all the clothes on the floor. Well...some things are not so attractive all grouped together.

Halloween in the 'Hood

I live in a Lakes Area. We have Big SUPERB GORGEOUS houses and not-so-superb houses all mixed in together. I live in a house about smack in the middle. Not SUPERB GORGEOUS but just fine for me....average. I don't have a washing machine in my front yard.

In fact....I have a problem with people who put stuff in their front lawn that doesn't belong there.

I don't mind decorations but please....please...no junk. No empty flower pots. No gardens. No tomato plants in your front yard. Did you miss the show on TV about Curb Appeal??

We have some of those types dotted around our neighborhood. I would be lying if I said it didn't bother me to see JUNK in the front yard. Here's a slice of some crap in the front yard of a house near me. It makes me cringe to see those pots and junk scattered all over their front lawn.

So...I'm have this baggage. I'll admit to it.

Now I'm driving thru an area about 3 blocks down from me and ...What!...I spot a rusted 'ole pickup truck on someones LAWN! You know it caught my eye.

I start to get that feeling...that groaning feeling. Then I started to laugh. Cool. I liked it. Creative. I admire creativity.

I just had to snap a picture as I continued down the road.

Then I saw the competition.

Oh yeah....just a few doors down they had some competition...some very well done competition.

Although...if this wheel-less vehicle wasn't covered and gracefully draped in cobwebs and it wasn't 

Halloween, my blood pressure would probably have made a hole in the roof of my van.

But I actually admired it. I even got out of my van to snap a picture.

Pretty cool. 

I just hope it isn't there in November...and December....and on and on.

Car Racing in go carts

What guy or gal doesn't want to get into

a vehicle and start driving before they 

reach 16? 

I'll admit to it. 

I let my underage kids.. and now

my grandkids... sit on my lap and 

drive my car down our road.

I manage the gas and breaks.

They handle the steering wheel...

with my hand close by on the bottom

of the steering wheel. (After all,

we don't want to take out any roadside

mailboxes...or parked cars.) It's fun.

They do surprisingly well.

 

So it's no wonder that go-carting and

this place in Michigan called 

Cart to Cart is a fun place for kids to

have that driving experience 

at an early age.

We made these cute and colorful and

personalized centerpieces for a local

Bar Mitzvah.

The Mom took the photos on a day trip to

the venue and sent them over to us via 

email and we made them into centerpieces.

We made the flags from foamcore and

the little "roads/tracks" from foamcore too.

The Tarantula Chronicles: Part 9

Jacob strikes again.

This time he gets a

"Panama Red Rump" from a 

tarantula seller he met on

Arachnoboards and also works at 

our local McDonalds.

 So the whole family took a trip up to

McDonalds one evening at 9 pm to

pick up "Ronald"...the new tarantula.

 Jacob has a new tank already prepared thanks to

Chris...one of the great guys who works with

Drew....who no longer needed it.

Jacob carefully encourages it to get into its new

environment. Sometimes they are very uncomfortable

with the change of scenery and and can act hostile.

But this one seemed to be adapting pretty well even

though the previous owner said this tarantula could

be kinda mean.

Jacob has a leather glove. 

Actually he has a pair that I donated to the tarantula endeavors.

So his Grandma...who is taking these pictures (that's me)

says why aren't you wearing TWO gloves?

Jacob says he's fine....don't worry.  

I worry. That's what I do while I take pictures. 

Watch and Worry...my two middle names.

But, obviously, this tarantula knows 

he has a friend in Jacob. Some sort of

"tarantula 6th sense" I guess.

Drew admires this lovely new female tarantula and says

it reminds him of the one he had in looks and size.

This one is about 4 years old and about 6" or more.

It's a nice big one and apparently happy to be here.

 

This is my all time favorite shot.

It sorta says it all.

(to be continued)