31 Years…and still ticking…..

Why is it as we get older time seems to move faster???? I used to hear that and think “what are they talking about… time only moves one way”….well, I was wrong, and it feels like every day it is picking up speed….today I am wanting it to just slow down….just for a little while.

Today is my 31st Wedding Anniversary…..it was my second wedding, Wayne’s first…and we had no idea what life would be like as any other couple just starting out….

Wayne and I were married in 1979, in September of 1980 our first son was born. And our life was perfect! We lived in a cute apartment in Carson City, NV and Wayne worked for a great company and we were on our way! In October of 1981 my mother died, in December of 1982 my Dad passed away. The despair was horrible, that first five or so years were so tough…..in 1984 our second son was born, and a terrible depression became very debilitating….this time I couldn’t dig out….and I got on meds and had therapy, a lot of therapy. Wayne never was too far from my side….even when I didn’t want him there and made sure he heard it….it was a tough start. Wayne never waivered, he was in it for the long haul…in sickness and in health.

Even thru all of the fog, I was always aware of how special he was…and 31 years later he is more special to me and my sons…..in ways I can’t even begin to tell you. We have had all of the normal ups and downs of life, raising two boys, both of us working outside the home, trying to make ends meet. I couldn’t seem to weather most of it, but Wayne did….and he kept me afloat, year after year, month after month, sometimes a day at a time. The stress and emotional ups and downs took their toll on my health and still do today. I have many more good days then bad now, thank God! I wish I could say I appreciated him always, but I can’t. He put up with a lot of crap a lot of times. You have heard of “do-overs”? I wish I could have a few when it comes to my husband. But I loved him then and I still do 31 years later, I want him to know just how very much….

Wayne, you are my best friend, my soul mate, my rock and I could never have made it without you. Thank you for sticking with me… I love you so very much!

Happy Anniversary Honey!!!! Benihana’s here we come! :)

A Crazy Crafter’s Delight

I recently asked Twyla of Two Crazy Crafters to make me an afghan. And I was tickled when she said yes! I have admired her crocheted items for quite some time...

I asked my buddy Elizabeth to show her the colors she had used in her sweet afghan and Twyla went from there……

Aren’t the colors wonderful??????? I was so excited when I opened the box!

Right up 521 Lake Street’s alley. :):)

It is 48” by 48” and it drapes over the bottom footboard of my bed.

Look at the wonderful way she finishes the edges. I highly recommend Twyla if you would like a beautiful custom made afghan,

I will be having more fun things made, that I am sure of!!!!!

She has a really pretty one she just finished going up for sale in her Etsy shop now...

Thanks for stopping by…..

ME Monday with Vicki at Cherry Chick

It is that time of the week again!

Today I wanted to share one of my very favorite ME calendar pages:

This is such a good philosophy…and I was surprised to see who she was quoting:

Please, head over to Vicki’s blog for more ME on Monday!

http://www.cherrychickjewelry.blogspot.com/

A lovely pair of red chairs!

It is That time of the week! I wanted to show you some photos of my cousin’s wonderful home up north of Eau Claire. It is a private lake with just a couple homes on it, and wonderful spot!

This is the house:

See those chairs outside????? Here is a closer look…..

I was going to get a photo of all of us in the chairs and I just forgot!!!!

Wouldn’t this be a fun place to sit and talk?????

These chairs were in the basement, they hadn’t been put out yet….

I just love these! But I have never been able to find them in this red….she couldn’t remember where she got them. Just perfect!

Here are a few more photos of the inside of Deb’s summer home….right up our alley girls…she needs a blog!!!!

See what I mean????? She needs to join us! LOL

I received another wonderful pillow made from fun fun fabrics….

I am not sure if it is new fabrics or old, but I love it!!!!! I found it while I was looking for something else on the Internet…..

Here is the site! Very nice lady! :)

Well, that’s it for this week….thanks for stopping by and be sure to go check out all of the other wonderful red’s!

ME Monday with Vicki at Cherry Chick

I am sharing my ME border that I decorated my plain jane white shelves with in my craft room…..

This is a paper border you get in a package for teachers to put around bulletin boards. I just love these!!!!! I have used them in my kitchen on shelves I had there also. They look great in a pantry too!

The nicest thing is you can just tape them up, then when you want to change the look you only have to do minimum work to have a whole new look! These come out at Michaels when the school year starts,but you can find them at any teacher’s type stores year round!

Here’s a closer look!

For just a few dollars it really brightens up the place! :)

Please hop over to Vicki’s blog and see all of the cute ME items for ME Monday! http://www.cherrychickjewelry.blogspot.com/

Let’s wrap this up!

I have had such fun reading all of your comments about your own memories of penny candy and where you got it…..

For me it was a small corner grocery store in Eau Claire. You know, the one that most neighborhoods had back in the day…..

The one I went to was only known to me as “Stangies”…I guess it was his name. It was a tiny place on the corner of Broadway and 5th Ave.

It had one of those wonderful screen doors with the 7-Up metal sign on it, and old wooden floors. The penny candy was behind the register and so was Stangie…..he got tired of helping me and my cousin Jan, so he finally let us back there…..I took my eldest son back to Eau Claire last year, and I walked the route to that store with him…it was surreal…..going past 521 Lake Street via the alley, seeing the place where a playground used to be in a schoolyard that we played at all of the time, the building is now condos…but it looks the same. The grocery store is long gone, but not the building…here it is today:

The steps are concrete now, they used to be wood….I can’t explain how odd it is to see my son Bryan in front of this building!

So here is to the candy store, and the little grocery stores and the wonderful memories we all have…..one more hurrah!

Who of you remember the lemon Tootsie Pops???? My favorites were these and orange ones, and of course cherry!!!!!

And this really big piece of taffy???

Or the rest of these?????

I could go on and on…actually I did! Thanks for going with me down this memory lane ! This is what my blog represents, all of the good things I remember…thanks for stopping by and sitting for a spell at 521 Lake Street, we can go over to Stangies whenever you want!

Vintage Candy Part 3

One of the candies that all little girls liked when I was young was candy lipstick….it was in a cellophane wrapper with gold paper around it. It was chalky, and messy but tasted so good! I never had the patience to put it on as lipstick, it just vanished when I bought it :)

My friend Cheri and me have looked for this product for years, I was on the internet getting photos for my posts when I saw this:

This is exactly what they looked like! Now, the person who had the website stated that these were different as they are now a taffy substance, but are the same flavor as we all remember… so I am going to see if that is true…..

The poor kids in the generations after us got items like these:

Hard, gritty Smartie like stuff…. I feel for them, having never had a mess of pink goo painted around their mouth!

How about you….do you remember these?????

Have a great day! :)