Date Night!!

I was reading a friends' blog recently about her husband taking their daughter on a date night and it made me think back to when I was about 4 or 5 and my Dad took me on a date. I usually save these kind of things for Fridays but this one can't wait.

We were living in Steamboat Springs, CO at the time, and we didn't have very much money but my parents tried to do things here and there that were special, so they came up with "Date Nights" where my two older sisters and I would each get a turn having a night with my Dad or Mom. They would take us into town to the general store (yes, it was small enough to have a general store) and they would let us choose our very own "Grab Bags", they were big brown paper bags put together by the store, and filled with fun surprises in them. Both of my sisters had returned from there nights with amazing things, candy,jump ropes, slinkies, gum, all kinds of things, so when it was FINALLY my turn I was beyond excited! I remember the drive in my Dad's big orange, (he says it was red) GMC truck, listening to Christopher Cross and then pulling up along side the store. I walked inside and headed straight to the isle where the "Grab Bags" were kept, I closely inspected several before choosing one that had a very large item in it. We paid for it and then I waited the entire drive home to open it so I could "show my sisters all the COOL stuff I was gonna get in MY GRAB BAG", and boy did I show them! I tore into that brown bag like it was Christmas morning and what did I behold.............A HUGE BLACK PLUNGER!!!! Are you freakin kiddin me, I waited for three weeks, two long drives and had the pure torture of opening it in front of my ENTIRE family!!! Seriously, I am still dealing. Alyssa, Janna, Mom, Dad, all of you stop laughing right now!!! :)

Flashback Friday!!! Here Comes the Pitch!

I have a brother who is 6 years my junior and man, do I love that kid!! OK so he isn't a kid anymore but in my mind I still picture him as a kid. I was scrolling through my pictures and this one just gave me a happy little feeling in the pit of my stomach as I studied it. You see my brother played Baseball from the moment he was cut from my mother's womb, my Dad had been waiting for a very long time to finally get "his boy". In fact he had us all named Jack until he found out we were girls and then when he got my brother is was like life had just handed him the best gift ever! Now I never really fully appreciated the whole father and son thing until I had my little boy and now when I watch Jimmy and James it just brings me joy! Back to the field, well my brother played spring ball, fall ball and all the seasons of ball there is, and in Vegas that means year round! My Dad never missed a game or a practice and most of the time my Mom was right there too, it was often a family thing to go watch him play.

When Jack reached High School he was the pitcher, well actually, if you know anything about the grooming of baseball players they are placed at a very young age in the position that they have the "most potential" in, so he had been doing it awhile. This stage of his playing was probably my favorite to watch, I would go to the games with my parents and sit in the hard bleachers and cheer him on. I loved watching him standing on top the pitchers mound as he took his side step position, waiting for the sign from the catcher, occasionally shaking his head no, eying home plate and any possible runners, then lifting his right leg, lunging forward, releasing the ball and then, my favorite part, "Strieeek" the ump would grunt! I remember hearing the reactions from other parents in the stands "Oh man did you see Jack's curve ball!" or "Man, that kid has an arm!" I was sooo proud of him! I wanted to just yell out "Yup, that's my little brother!"
He wore number 14 and my voice could always be heard above the others, yelling "Strike 'em out 14, you can do it!" I miss those days!

I don't know that I have ever told Jack how happy watching him play made me, or how proud I am of him now as well! Jack has had some struggles, as many of us have, but I sure love him and I am so glad that he is where he is now! He is an AMAZING uncle to my children, a son to my parents and a brother to me! Love you Jack and thanks for the flashback little brother!!

Flash Back Friday! " A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet"

Today as I sorted through the last piles left to organize in my room I came across a few things that had been my Grandma Novakovich's, it has been more than 11 years since her passing and being in Colorado makes me feel closer to her. She and my Grandpa raised my Mom here spending their years in a home in Wheatridge, CO, my Mom is the youngest (and most spoiled :P) of five kids and there is a large span between she and her older siblings.

Anyway, that gives a bit of background, My Grandma was a vivacious and spunky little women, she was a teacher all her life, if it wasn't in the classroom it was in her home or garden. The latter being her favorite, she loved her oodles of rose bushes, pruning them, talking to them, watering them, weeding the area around them to keep them healthy and beautiful! One of my fondest memories is when we would pull up to her house she would be standing out front in her "house dress" working on her roses. As kids we often played "Florist" pretending to sell the flowers to each other, I loved the way they smelled and the variety in colors. Grandma won awards for her roses and they had even been written about in the local paper, she was proud of that and would often show me the clippings she had saved.


After she passed away her home was sold, I remember being especially sad knowing that I would never get to bring my kids there to play in the fort we had built amongst the tall Pine trees, or to run along the clothes wires that hung along the side of the red brick house, or smell her roses. However, shortly after we moved here I took them to drive by it and see what the new owners had been doing with it, I had been warned that it looked very different, but seeing it in person hurt a little. The roses are all gone and the house itself is barely recognizable with the new "addition", if you can call it that. The one thing I can take solace in, is knowing that the Roses in Heaven are the best around. Love you Grandma

Then

Now

Child Abuse!!

Since moving in and going through what feels like hundreds of boxes, I have come across all sorts of things and today, I came across a picture that proves that I was abused as a child!! I mean no wonder I have so many issues, this explains so much!!




My Mom never claimed to be the best at coming up with cute hairdos but this is just plain mean!! And what the crap was wrong with the photographer, didn't they think that maybe my eyes were an important part of the picture!! It's not enough that my teeth are crooked (I HATED THEM GROWING UP) and I was always trying not to show them but now my only good feature, my eyes, are hidden!! I swear I need counseling, Again!! :) LOL Mom, stop laughing, this is serious!!