The apple and the tree

You know the saying "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Well, it would seem, the older it get the closer and closer I roll back toward the tree from which I fell. Maybe I didn't fall to far in the first place, but I just keep getting closer and closer to the tree with each passing year.

I recently posted this picture on Facebook of my mom holding me as a newborn. I posted it because it is a picture that I love and happened upon that day and thought was worth sharing. The response that I got was one I didn't expect. People actually thought the picture was of me holding one of my newborns! People who know me well and know my mom and see me on a regular basis. Weird! I knew we looked similar, but I didn't realize we looked THAT similar. I have known for a while that I am like my mom in many ways (unfortunately not as it relates to prowess in the kitchen or classy style!), but am realizing more and more ways that I am like my dad too.

My dad often comes home with random things that he finds. A pair of shoes from the side of the road. An entire floor worth of cubical "walls" from the dumpster outside an office building (possibly still gracing the furnace/utility room at my parent's previous house). Way too many wallets to count (all of which he returned to their grateful owners). Cell phones, entire bathroom vanities on someone's curb following a remodel, winter hats . . . you name it and he has probably "found" it at some point in his life (and worn it, when applicable). When I was a kid, this drove me crazy. Why on earth would you dig around in a nasty dumpster? What could be in there that you would possibly want? (I also didn't appreciate garage sales or thrift store or hand-me-downs in my younger days!) Fast forward a few decades and I bet you'll never guess what I spent my afternoon doing yesterday . . . digging through the dumpster in my front yard! First I dug some stuff out of there that really should be recycled and not thrown in a dumpster. (Thankfully I didn't get injured on a 90-year-old rusty nail in the process!) It is a pet peeve of mine if something is put in the trash that belongs in the recycling! After pulling out some cardboard, pop cans and plastic beverage bottles and moving them to our family recycling bin, the real treasure hunt could begin! The company doing our remodel doesn't have a dumpster at every job site, so sometimes there is stuff in our dumpster that is from another job they are working on. I salvaged some new scrap wood that I can use for crafty endeavors, some fun architectural salvage from another job site, and some old boards from our front porch that I will have to save for a special project. I spent the following hour or so, pulling out old rusty nails and screws, sanding and cleaning up my finds. I never would have imagined, at 15, or even 20, that I would follow in my dad's footsteps by scooping up free stuff off the side of the road and digging through dumpsters for potential treasures.

This all makes me wonder what things drive my kids crazy right now that they will end up doing themselves a few decades down the road.

My parents are fabulous people! I'm so glad to have had the blessing of such wonderful trees from which to fall!

In case there wasn't already enough going on

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind the past month or so. Lots of things (very good things!) coming at us that weren't exactly in the immediate plan, but nonetheless we have found ourself in the middle of them. Major life things. Time consuming things. Thought consuming things. Good things, but things that demand a lot out of you!

We are on the brink of a MAJOR house project around here. An addition and remodel. Big stuff! We have lived in our 1920's house for nearly 20 years now and we LOVE it, but there are lots of things that could stand to have a bit of money thrown at them (and that's an understatement), if you know what I mean. So, we are diving in! All the years we've lived here, we have dreamed of a bigger kitchen. Our kitchen is small and the space is also the main entry into our house. And since 8 people live here (five of whom are full-sized people), the space is pretty tight, to say the least. And when you add in the fact that all the shoes/coats/sweatshirts/backpacks/etc for 8 people get tossed on the floor in the kitchen, it's nearly enough to make you lose your everloving mind! So, our yard will soon be sporting a big hole and life will get messy for a while . . . well, life is always messy, but it's about to get a lot more messy, in the literal sense, for the foreseeable future.

Also, I will be going on a MAJOR, life-changing trip with our two older girls in just over a month. Passports have been applied for. Plane tickets have been purchased. Planning is well underway! My mom, my dearest girlfriend since childhood (my "sister"), my two older girls and my brother's wife will all be traveling to Cebu, Philippines to work at a shelter for orphaned and abandoned children. We will have the opportunity to serve them by helping the staff there prepare for Christmas. How fun is that? Shopping, wrapping, baking, planning, prepping . . . doing what we can to help make Christmas special for the 80+ kids who call CSC home.

I'm quite sure there will be plenty to share on both of these fronts in the near future, so stay tuned.

Life is quite a ride these days. (And always!) I'm hanging on tight.