Random Thoughts from Judy

1. It's been an interesting couple of weeks here. Something has been up between my two cameras. One camera will only download to my computer, and the other will only download to THGGM's computer.  I cannot begin to tell you how frustrating this has been for me, so I won't even bother to attempt to do that. Then, once I figured out a way around it, I could only access my Simply Thrift blog from THGGM's account (you know, the one I had to stop using because I could no longer get into it from my computer?!) but I could not gain access to THIS account. Well, somehow I just figured out a way to circumvent that. Now the questions remains, will I remember what I did just now for next time? Only time will tell. So, if you don't see a post here for awhile, you can be sure I am at the other end of this muttering under my breath about my obvious learning disability when it comes to all things computer related. End of rant (for now, anyway).
2. I had a lovely Mother's Day weekend, if you are a mom, I hope you did also! Oldest Son and DiL1 took me out for breakfast at one of my favorite places, Little Lucy's. After that THGGM and I went to the Downtown Market where they were having a monthly vintage flea market outside.  I was able to make two purchases for myself. One was a vintage white enamel towel rack with an attached soap holder. I've been looking for something like that for years, but they have always been priced out of my range. This one was so affordable we didn't even dicker with the price. It will go in our blue and white half bath. The other purchase was the small wooden shelf in the picture. This is the wall I see when I'm reading in bed at night. It needed something. I moved a mirror, add two oval pictures, and now I am rather pleased with the outcome. It's not the complete picture, as to do that would have required that I put away the pile of clothes on the bench at the end of our bed. THGGM asked me way I haven't put them away. Simple. The pile is made from the new/newly-thrifted clothes I have gotten and if I were to put them in the closet I would forget that I had them! Ugh. Yup. I would do that.
3. Well, NOW all of my pictures have gone out of order! Ugh. Anyway, in the bottom picture is a close up of the shelf I got. The black book on the far right is a Dutch Bible I found recently. It is Dutch on one page and English on the other. It was published at the beginning of the last century. I bought it to remind me of my grandmother, who taught herself English this way. Not sure if I have enough brain power to learn Dutch this way, but it is a lovely reminder of her, and how difficult it must be for anyone to move from one place to another while also having to learn to speak another language.
4. Another Mother's Day gift I received was a gift certificate to Michael's Craft Store. They had beads for sale. I used to make beaded jewelry, but gave my collection away years ago when Daughter mentioned to me that her college dorm RA made and sold jewelry to support a child in need that she was sponsoring. All that to say, I have never looked back, nor had much interest in jewelry since those days. But goodness how a gift certificate and a 50% off sale will spark an old interest! So, I spent a total of four dollars on beads, and now have three new bracelets with enough materials left to make at least a couple more. Stringing beads on memory wire is at best mind-numbingly boring. But, that seems to be about what I can handle these days, and I was rather pleased with the results.
5. Last Saturday Famke did a 5K run! She has been involved with Girls On The Run this year, and Saturday was their big race day in downtown Grand Rapids. Going into the race she wasn't so sure if she wanted to participate again next year, but afterward, once she discovered just how fun it was to do, she is ALL IN for next year. This year Daughter could not run with her due to having a months long procedure on her legs, so Oldest Son was invited, and he enjoyed the chance to participate in the race with his only niece. Two weeks before, he had run in the 5/3 Riverbank Run 10k. For that race he took off 10 minutes on his time from his previous 10k. It just amazes me to have runners in MY family. I couldn't run even if someone were chasing me. So, yes. I AM proud of them! Extremely proud!
6. Monday night THGGM and I spent at the ball park. Feintje had a 5:30 game, and Jonge had a 7:30 game. Wow. I have a new-found respect for parents of multiple children who make the effort to get their kids involved in the child's passion. It truly does show on the field which children want to be there, and which children's parents want them to be there. Especially with the youngest ones. So many of those kids appear to wish they could spend the evening picking dandelions and rolling around in a sandbox, clearly not having a care whether a ball is being hurtled towards them from space. Anyway, I'm sure I am biased, as Feintje is one of those little ballers with a clear passion for the game. Kado, on the other hand, could care less, so he is totally free to actually roll around in a sandbox at the field. His passion right now is roller blading, and that boy has SKILLS.
7. Speaking of Mondays, yes, we are STILL making things on Mondays. Hertsje and I have been drawing a nice variety of paper dolls. She loves to make different cloths for them, mostly skirts, which she then cuts out and glues to the different dolls. I absolutely LOVE to watch her creativity in action. She would love to be a basketball player, like her Mommy and Mimi before her, and seeing her with a basketball I could clearly see that happening!
8. And then there is Broeder. His passion right now is all about police, handcuffs, bad guys, and jails. I have a Lego catalog here that he loves to go through. He gets sooo excited when he finds the page that has the jail on it. Not sure that Lego makes Lego handcuffs, but if they do, I will buy him a set. Last week while all the grandkids were playing outside on our driveway, the police pulled someone over right where they were all playing. I think Broeder was sorely disappointed that no guns were drawn, no handcuffs put on, and no one was put under arrest. Just a routine ticket. I, on the other hand, was not disappointed by that AT ALL.

9. This past Saturday THGGM and I did a lot of thrift shopping. Usually, we make one stop at one place on Saturday. But this time, we actually went to the usual place TWICE, and to two others of our favorite places also. Both of us hit the thrift jackpot on name brand clothes in our new sizes. THGGM has dropped 40 pounds so it has become necessary that we do this. We would do it anyway, but with it now being necessary and all that, we are enjoying it even more!
10. Finally, after owning it for months, I finished reading "Go Set A Watchman". I had been reading a lot of non-fiction, and this was a nice switch for me. I really enjoyed it. Since I bought it in hardcover (for a dollar at a thrift store!) I took it outside to read in day light. At night I read on my Kindle Fire. I have so many books going at one time simple because when I go to bed I choose to read what "feels" right at the time. This is new to me. I used to read books by charging through them one at a time from beginning to end. I kind of enjoy doing it randomly, as it really is true, some nights I just want to disappear into something and other nights I feel the need to actually LEARN something new. One of my favorites right now is "The Road Back to You" which is about the Enneagram. It's very interesting if you like to understand yourself and the people around you in a more complete way. Of course, I have HUNDREDS of books on my Kindle now, so my choices are rather endless. Book Bub is GREAT for finding affordable books that can be delivered to you in just a click, many of them for free. Free. I like free.
Well. That's all for now. Time to make breakfast and clean this place up a bit before the next round of kids arrive later this afternoon.