Happy 15th Anniversary to my wonderful husband, Richard! Wow! On this date in 1998, Richard and I were married at my parents home in New Chicago, Indiana. I couldn’t imagine being married anywhere else, and my mother made our wedding such a special event. She decorated the far end of her living room to look like a wedding chapel. The minister who married us was a friend of my dad’s from the U.S. Steel Mill in Gary. And my Grandma Szewczyk, who was 97 years old, was able to join, along with my sister, Carol who traveled from Pennsylvania, and my daughter, Jessica. Jessica sang Mom made us all a special lunch. She even went to the trouble of making Swedish meatballs – Richard is part Norwegian from a group who settled in North Dakota. We ordered an “atomic cake” from a small family owned bakery in Lake Station – it was yellow cake layered with fruit and whipped cream – it was a special cake our family ordered for special occasions.
Happy Anniversary, to my sweetheart. I love you so much!
On this day In 1982, I gave birth to the first of my two children, Jessica Marie.
She was a much anticipated granddaughter, the first after my brother and his wife had three sons. This picture was taken in the Spring of 1983, just before her first birthday. We were living in Canfield, Ohio at the time. The house we rented had a huge screened in porch, and if I had something to do, I would put Jessica in a playpen, bring my project to the porch, and she and I would play and visit. By the time this picture was taken, Jessica had already lived in three cities: Indianapolis, where she was born, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where we moved just after she was six weeks old, and Canfield, which is a small town outside of Youngstown, Ohio.
I made her a birthday cake in the shape of a rabbit, and thought she would be so pleased. But, Jessica cried and wouldn’t have anything to do with her bunny birthday cake. I’m not sure why she was so bothered, but it was so funny! We celebrated her first special day in Ohio, and then went to visit my parents in Indiana for several days. The first birthday of my first child! Such a special time, and I couldn’t wait to see her pictures. But things happen . . .
Where he belongs – out of the kitchen and outdoors with a sandwich.
After extensive research, I have come to the conclusion that where ever you are working in the kitchen, your husband will be directly in your path.
Ten percent of the time, it may for some perfectly legitimate reason. The other 90%, what on earth made him decide to plant himself there? Directly between me and the television, so my line of sight is blocked from the IU/Michigan basketball game. Or, while I prepare dinner, he plants a blockade between the stove and the sink. “Scoot, scoot!”
For the first time in over 20 years, my sister, Carol, and I were able to spend an uninterrupted week together. Ever since she and I began our families, all of our visits surrounded holidays, family events, and vacations at our parents home in Northwest Indiana, her home in Pennsylvania, or at my home near Indianapolis. Rarely did we have a chance to just be together, just the two of us, to visit and do the thing we like to do.
Carol’s birthday is in February, so this year I decided to fly to PA for a visit. I’m so glad I did! For her birthday, she treated me to a Wine and Truffle Paring at the Paradocx Vineyard in southern Chester County. (What a great sister!) The business name is a play on words. The winery is owned by two husband and wife teams who are all practicing physicians. I thought the name was pretty clever!
I can’t believe it! I finished Jessica’s first apron today! It took me about three hours this morning, but so worth the effort. If I’d put my mind to it, I could have finished this in two days, tops. This is an easy pattern anyone could put together in no time at all. And the apron is nicely constructed. There’s a lining for the bodice and waistband. The waistband ties are long and wide. I strayed from the pattern instructions just a bit and lined the pockets.
The first thing I did was stitch the pockets to the front and then sewed the waistband and ties.
Then, I attached the bodice to the waistband, and voila! It was finished. Well, I still have to whipstitch the waistband lining, but that won’t take long.
I really like the fabric not only because of the color combinations but because of the quality. We chose quilting fabric from JoAnn’s. I washed and ironed the fabric before I started cutting out pattern pieces – a lesson I learned when I took quilting classes. I was afraid the fabric would become limp and lose its body, but the weight and feel pretty much stayed the same, especially after it was ironed.
I’m off to Pennsylvania Thursday, so I’ll take a project rest for a couple of weeks. I’m sure my sister and I will come up with several ideas. After all, we’ll be in Pennsylvania Dutch country, quilting capital of the world!
