Saying Goodbye

I have lots of stories and photos to share, but unfortunately it's been a busy couple of days. Hubby's grandmother is in hospice care, so he's been spending most of his time there with the rest of the family. She's on a morphine drip and moved to an end of life room. I had to work today but spent a couple hours going through photos, and pulling out some great memories of her. A couple months back I scanned in a bunch of historic photos that just amaze me:



That photo is over 70 years old, can you believe it? And how about this one of her "Mammy" who essentially raised her:



Isn't that amazing? Grandpa was reminiscing about Grandma this week and remarked how awe-inspiring it was that she grew up in the segregated south, and just voted for the first black president. What a lifetime.



Gloria, I wish you peace and love. You are in our hearts forver.


***UPDATE: Gloria passed on about 8:30am Wednesday, surrounded by her husband, all of her children, and many of her grandchildren. Goodbye, Gloria.

Heather's mailbag:

How cute is this:
Last week I "facebooked" that I couldn't open my jar of salsa. I'm not embarrassed that I facebooked it, because it had a significant impact on my day. (I am, however, smart enough not to say why it affected my day so significantly in this public forum. Remember the Dooce rule.)

So low and behold, this weekend I got a package in the mail from my "big cousin Mindy" - a little aside here, her title has to appear in quotes, as I have significant inches and pounds on her, and have since we were kids and she broke my arm pushing me off the queen's throne, AKA a chair on top of a table. In a playroom with a cement floor. And it really was my turn to be queen of the table. But that is a whole different story. She is, however, exactly 6 months older than me to the day, so "big cousin" it is.

Anyways, aside from breaking my arm at age 4 (and I know she cried more than I did about it), Mindy is adorable - she sent me two jar openers!

The note says "Heather - These always work for me when I can't open a jar! Keep one at work and one at home. <3 your big cousin, Mindy."

How sweet is that?!?!?

Mindy has a blog too - she shares recipes, shopping deals, and all sorts of "mother of the year" stuff you won't be fining amongst the penis pops and naked mermaids of my blog.

And check this out, they even WORK! Salsa success!
I never liked salsa because I'm not into spice, but peach & pineapple salsa is YUM!
Thanks, Minderella!

Family Tree Decor

This is a vinyl wall decal from Etsy seller "BadassCustomDecals" available here. I've had it in my "favorites" folder forever, but just haven't gotten around to buying it. It looks a lot like the Hallmark Family Tree I got a few years back, and I have visions of appliqueing this on the wall behind our bed and hanging antique-y framed photos of our family members on the branches, like a giant sized version of the Hallmark one. What do you think? Is it creepy to have your family members hanging over your bed, or sweet?

I'm stalling because I've had this idea we would paint our bedroom (mint green was not my choice...though it's kind of grown on me) and get a new bed (a headboard would be nice - and I'd probably want that before putting up the applique?)

Our bedroom is far from elegant and really has become a dumping ground - I should start to make it a priority, but there are just too many other things on the list!