Dear Friends, First Wedding Anniversary Gift: Paper and a Note

My two life long friends are celebrating their 1st Wedding Anniversaries... The sentimental friend that I am, I got them the traditional gift of paper! As I walked to the store, and came home from the Dentist (and during my cleaning), I thought about Paper, and Marriage... and their similarities. As is often the case, I mentally drafted the note inscription for my dear friends and their wives. I like symbolism, and practice soliloquy when putting my notes & thoughts in order.

So few gifts are handmade nowadays. We often lack time... But I have found putting a little thought, and finding a half an hour to write a note is such a personal and warm gesture. Very often appreciated and remembered for years to come! 

My note inscription:

"Dear 'Happy Couple,'                Jan, 2015

Happy first wedding anniversary. We are so thrilled you have found each other to love for a lifetime! It's a great tradition that paper is a first wedding anniversary gift. As you probably have experienced in the last 365 days… Marriage is a lot like paper! 

> The days come in many shapes and sizes. 

> Some days are smooth like linen and others are rough like raw fibers. 

> Some days you want to crumble up like a badly worded note and just start over (on a new day / page).

> But most days, I hope you find are filled with a variety of color, texture, feel and surprise. 

Just like on paper, we can erase mistakes leaving only a trace behind, and look forward to the rest of the pages we can fill with Loving Words, Kind Thoughts, and Many Happy Memories! 

I hope your marriage is filled with a variety of Beautiful Pages, like the "paper gifts" enclosed. 

Best Wishes and Many More Happy Anniversaries, 

with All Our Love 

signed

 

Enclosed with this notes was a small stack of 25 or so notecards and envelopes. I keep odd and ends note cards and frequently pick up supply when I am out thrifting. Needless to say I have a small supply to carry me thru needing notes for all occasions until I am old and gray. I gathered a few cute and appropriate:

- notes from my supply

- lone envelopes

- a few sheets from writing pads

- and 1-2 sheets of plain paper, labels, and even index cards.

Paper comes in all shapes and sizes, as does Marriage and the need for a variety in stock at home.

Make Mistakes. Breathe, Reflect and Laugh.Out.Loud 

Christmas 2014 Wish and Gifted List

Christmas 2014

Baby girl

- Movie: My neighbor totoro w bonus features

- Found this book From an NPR interview with Oliver Jeffers:

1. Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for All the Letters

   Book by Oliver Jeffers

Older Son 9 years old

- Certificate to Game Stop for a Wii game or Itunes for Apps 

- Guinness book of world records

- seahawks jersey, JFK poster

Younger Son

- trash pack set

- Lego set

- ninja tyrtles tshirt

- sinbas the sailor DVD (that was cancelled from netflixs

Husband and Boys shares gift (every year)

- Indiana jones dvd set

- Blokus game, every year give a game

Our house guest:

chicago bears

Bears jacket

Chicago shirts

Husband: 

Willie colon album, sweater & gloves & crocs

Christmas list
--Go to "Forman mills," villa park better than Burlington. En route is goodwill and near "play it again sports" villa park.

Me /mom: 

- I phone case, 

- Croc sandals

Grandpa/ma:

NoRthwestern gear where their so. Attends

My 19 year old brother:

- $ 

- running shirt 

- and gloves w texting fingers

House guest and family

Gifts to make:

- 4 ninja ornaments (for my kids, I made one extra for my cousin)

- Cousin girls mink poms for purse accessory. Upcycle from my moms old mink coat.

- Husband gets a special photo album sexy pics of mommy.

- Mom- mink fur scarf with silk lining & yarn & a jewelry box

- Babcia - marshalls gift cert

- House guest gets a musical Water globe, Crocs, Dragon statue, lego keychain

My Kids - 3 plasma cars for riding in the basement

- Boy cousins running/texting winter gloves

- Baby cuz -toy train

- Older cousins - boxing gloves, game stop magazine, running shirt & gloves, 

Merry Christmas and Happy gift giving amd making!

Make Mistakes, breathe, reflect and Laugh.Out.Loud 

A Chicago Experience for Our Winter House Guest

Yes I did paint our Guatemalan cousins name on a shovel! And yes i did make him shovel snow, in Chicago on a freezing day!! When we were planning his Visit and his bucket list - his father said to include "shoveling snow" as a Chicago Experience! I said I'd have a shovel with his name on it!! And we did. 

Other Chicago experienced he had that he would probably never have at home included Archery with us and holding several pieces from my fathers gun collection! 

All Those Family Gifts: When A House Guest Returns Home Souveniers from Chicago

Our cousin is returning to Guatemala and with him we will send lots of fun gifts for the family. Now, our family over there is large, break the bank large, so we are only sending to the family that we socialized with and who hosted us when we visited years ago.

On his arrival here, our cousins Father and Mom splurged on our kids and all the cousins with traditional Guatemalan gifts for the American Cousins:

- 2 Large Dolls for Baby girl in traditional dress with braided hair.

- Hackie Sacks, crochet in traditional colors.

- elongated minions also in traditional colors and crochet

- keychains with a Quetzal Coin attached

- keychains made to look like traditional shirts. One will be used as an xmas tree ornament to remind us of his visit during Christmas time

- Sweet candies to share at the Christmas table

- traditional wood toys like spinning tops and a ball on a string caught in an attached cup

- traditional shirts for the boys

(As an aside for our wedding gift these cousins gave us a heavy bedcover and pillow case in Guatemalan patterns / colors.)

The Booty - his luggage going home....he brought 4 different coats and ski pants here, however heading home to Guate he won't need that stuff - luckily one whole suitcase is just gifts!

I was taught when you buy something on vacation, get what is unique to the area, maybe food or crafts. I often see people send tshirts, and I know they have tshirts in stores there, and might think that's all we Americans love. Here's what We the American Cousins sent home as gifts for our Guatemalan family: 

- since I am of Polish Heritage, and it is unlikely that any of the family has been / or will go to Poland I sent a 4 pack of beer in cans for an Uncle we like and his son. They come shrink wrapped in plastic - $5 

*(I confirmed in advance who drank alcohol and who didn't.)*

- a bottle of Sweet Polish wine for the Aunt who let us stay with her during our visit, made traditionally soaking fruits in sugar. "Nalewka Babuni" - $10

- English tea biscuits, bag of Italian biscotti, and butter cookies in tins. (Cookie tins add weight to luggage, know your airlines weight requirements and check the scale for overages on the luggage.) Many purchased at TJ Maxx and Marshalls -$2-$5 each

- Polish chocolate bars and Toblerone Chocolates. Including a few extra bars for anyones gift I might have forgotten. $1-2 each.

- Crocs for his Mom. Shes not a frilly girl, doesn't wear a purse or jewelry. So comfy walking shoes that last forever! $60

- apparently his mom Loves Marshmallows and eats them by the bag full! So we hunted for a large variety. The dollar store had valentines sales and we bought 6 kind there, our fruit store had Halal kind. Wowser $1-2 each

- his dad LOVES star wars. And after the holidays we found lots! Keychains at the lego store of C3PO and R2D2. $6 each

- Star wars t-shirt at the Disney Store was $19.85 (ouch). Target had a $12 shirt while Ross had a $8 shirt. And 4 glass Star Wars decal cups for home the family could share.

- A young teenage cousin in the family received and handmade necklace my cleaning lady / neighbor makes. Tiger eye and lovely. $5

- 2 teachers (pre-K and 6th grade) received Chocolate bars for themselves and books in English for their classes, both new and gently used from our library - we own 526 books, so we can spare a few classics. Dollar store and TJ Maxx. $2-5 and free

- a model airplane collecting adult cousin got a flat metal sheet, die cut pieces to assemble a small plane. $6 at the Science Store - which we visited by coincidence. Baby girl bought marbles there, large ones!! 

As for our Cousin, he took home a goldmine of gifts! Including the 6 different Chicago theme / team hoodies he received. 

And from his Christmas and time with us, our Teenage Cousins got:

- a birthday dinner at Rainforest Cafe (gift of an experience)

- a Joker lego keychain

- winter gloves with texting fingers. He claims he wanted gloves for the cold morning in Guatemala! Ha!

- Hats that said Chicago. Apparently I thought of this gift before because he had 3!!

- a goosebump book from my attic (great series of safe fear / scary books for preteen 11-14 year olds)

- a musical snow globe with santa - they don't have that in Guatemala.

- a Christmas stocking with his name on it

- a homemade Rafael TMNT ornament (1 of 4 made for my 3 kids + him)

- New Years Day at Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament + souvenir plastic cup (gift of an experience)

- countless Museum Visits (illinois residents have free days) (gift of an experience)

- Chicago Bears tshirts and pajama set. (PJ's make a great gift as many families share a home with many family members and do use PJs for bed!)

- I printed out the photos I took throughout his stay - 146!! I had been uploading them in the new Snapfish app! Super easy to use. The app allows you to upload photos from your phone and then I go online - to use discount coupon codes - and order for delivery or a pick up at Walgreens. Super Convenient.

- his homemade journal, see in a House Guest Post, here. We wrote in my spaghetti recipie he loved and glue in his Chicago Vacation Bucket List.

(- I haven't made any insects set in epoxy resin, but I will this spring / 2015 collecting season! It'll make a great and legal to export gift.)

- his own crocs, with the added layer for warmth. Easy removal at home and last longer since it'll be slightly larger without the insert.

- Slippers from his gift basket. In my fantasy head he would've read the books on American National parks and canyons, ha! So those stayed here. If he showed an interest I would've given those to him.

- a remote control car and an XBox model figure from a game. He played with each one once but claimed to really like them?

- his playstation 4 from dad was really all he felt he needed, so any cash, went to his PS4 for an all access game pass

- candy for his friends, Jelly belly flavors, sour patch candy, jolly ranchers... You can't get these strong delicious candy flavors in Guatemala. 

- one gift stayed here and that was his shovel with his name painted on it.

I am certain the family is loving their treats and gifts. And I know our cousin loves his crocs, hoodies and PJ's back at home.

Make Mistakes. Breathe, reflect (realize 2 months is way too long for a moody teenager to visit) and Laugh.Out.Loud

Handmade Gift: Butterfly Feet from Baby Girl

We recently had to accumulate gifts for our cousin heading back home to Guatemala. On the list were cheap tchotchkes like Chicago keychains and magnets. But when I was a young traveler my parents taught me not to spend money on - well - crap. Unless it was something I really wanted or was requested specifically. (I'll post the full list of guft ideas for families abroad shortly.) 

So I convinced our cousin that we would send food and drinks that couldn't be gotten at home. In Guatemala culture there is a lot of coffee drinking, so cookies and biscuits go well with their breakfast and dinner coffee. Amongst ither edibles like Wendel Polish Chocolates. But all this guest shopping brought me to grandmas birthday. Aren't we all tired of crap gifts?

Maybe I am overly sentimental but I love handmade gifts, both giving and receiving. Who has time to make things anymore? And that's partially what make these type of gift all the more special! The thought is time consuming as is the making of it. 

And so came the first "gifts" for 2015. And Baba got this glorious painting, framed. It was inspired by my baby girl who was excited her own birthday was coming one day after Babas. And when we were sharing her bday present wish list, she said "I will give Baba a Kiss and a Hug for her Birthday." That was sweet enough - amd when I happened to see a pair of baby feet on Pinterest, I knew where the quote belonged!!

 

Here are nearly 3 year old baby girls feet, in Pink Acrylic, pressed on. With sharpie marker outlining the details of the butterfly image form, and the quote.

Happy Birthday Mom's, Grandmas and Baby Girls everywhere!!

Make Mistakes. Breathe, reflect and Laugh.Out.Loud.

Crushed Inspirations in the form of a House Guest

On December 18, 2015 a gift basket greeted our house guest! Our 13-year old cousin from Guatemala received: a teddy bear, Spiderman slippers, a national geographic kids (his reading level since his primary language is Spanish), a pair of longjohns to prepare for the Chicago cold and a journal I made him with his name on it and an American Eagle background. 

In my fantasy brain he was going to write a few sentences everyday on the variety of activities we will do... Like I had done when we visited Guatemala in 2000 and 2002 and 2003. And he would of course have said "Thank You" for the considerations for his comfort and feeling at home.

Nada - zilch - zip - zero - zippo! My shock and horror to the experiences that would follow. Okay, he wasn't a little terrorist, but this teenager put my to work on my parenting skills that I thought were pretty darn good. I approached this situation with humor, creativity and occasionally, in the later weeks I showed my emotion and tears so my sweet cousin could see I was genuine, human, and not always a rock.

As for this post, I am reminded that I enjoy blogging. I enjoy keeping this e-journal for myself documenting and reflecting on the issues that face me as a mom. Blogging has helped me process through issues and child hood matters, which in turn, I hope is helping make me a better mother. But my writing inspiration came to a screeching halt in the form of a teenager! Our 2-month house guest.

Who knew mild disrespect, cave like hibernation and incessant COMPLAINING could lead me to stop doing what I love. Teenagers have powers beyond there own understanding. The ability to whittle us down to core emotions, and without all their effort wear down our intellectual ability.

Its T minus 3 days to his departure and I'm feeling like me again. It took me this long to "break" some of our dear 14-year old cousins bad habits and bring him over to our side of reality. As with most kids, I think hes a hood boy, however his own alienation into PS4 games and you tube videos All.Day.Long. Created a monster! A child who uses minimal vocabulary, who is BORED without high level intense stimulation that video games provide. Going for a walk, or theatre and dinner at Medieval Times wasn't enough to squish his boredom. Even worse, movement over 20 minutes cause muscle pains in his legs and arms.

Over the course if the last few weeks  I learned A LOT about teenagers, my feelings about parenting in difficult circumstances, and handling a house guest who needs to be "retrained" to respect adults. This experience of tending to our cousin during his 2 month visit here has prepared me for my own teenagers who will be here sooner then later... And I hope I can muster the strength to make the changes I SEE we MUST do NOW, to prevent frustration - for them and us parents - in the future. 

What I am planning the the stories and things that happened will make their way to this blog... For now I am happy to have found my writing voice again and to get my house back. Older son keeps saying he's so happy to get his Bed back!

Make Mistakes, breathe, reflect and Laugh.Out.Loud