summer

The Return of Tell Me a Story Tuesday!

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After a bit of a break it’s time to bring back Tell Me a Story Tuesday! For my ones of new readers, Tell Me a Story Tuesday is when I share my love of storytelling with all of you by trying to get you tell me a story. I’ll admit that to less than stellar success in the past, but this is a new beginning!

It’s simple really, I throw out an idea and invite you to write a few lines. I’m not looking for perfection. I’m not looking for something to change the world. I’m try to give us all the opportunity to flex that little creative muscle that most of us don’t get to use as often as we should. No pressure. No judgement. Just a chance to share and have a little fun.

The Challenge: It’s the last official week of summer, so tell me a story about what you did on your summer vacation. It doesn’t necessarily have to be this summer. It can be your favorite summer vacation. Or the worst. Feel free to embellish if you’d like, but try to keep it plausible (I think we’ll all call shenanigans on you if you tell us you went to Mars in June). Use the comment section below to share your comments below to make sure everyone can see it (if it’s posted somewhere else or if it’s long you can share a link instead).

The Rules: Yep, there are a few rules, but there aren’t many. It’s more to keep things nice and friendly like. You can read the Ground Rules here or just visit the link at the top of the page.

The Prize: Our undying love and devotion. Alright, that’s kind of lame I admit. But, if people start to share stories than we’ll see what we can do about getting some sort of prize. In the mean time you are more than welcome to say you participated in the weekly storytelling event.

So, tell me a story! And who knows…you tell me yours and I may just tell you mine!

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My Kind of Golf

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There’s nothing like a nice round of miniature golf with the family on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, complete with ice cream, to put a smile on your face. Today’s a huge day for is; the girls start their new schools, and my husband starts his new job-he’s going to work for the first time since he took time off to be a stay-at-home Dad nine years ago. One final summer outing on the mini links was the perfect ending to one chapter, and helped to get us ready for our next new beginning.

Sounds That Make Summer So Special

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Every week across America there are free concerts during the summer. Sometimes it’s a community band. Sometimes it’s a symphony. Sometimes it’s rock. Or country. Or reggae. No matter what the style, it’s a chance for people to get together, enjoy the summer weather and some great sounds.

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Greensburg, PA at twilight

My family just spent a beautiful Friday night in Greensburg at Summer Sounds. It’s a great summer-long event that brings a wide variety of music to an amazing location for people to enjoy for free. As I sat there in the fading twilight watching kids dance, lightning bugs flash, that guy pulling his cat around in a wagon and listening to the amazing  Guggenheim Grotto (seriously a great band, check them out!) I felt really blessed. Here I was enjoying a great show, in a great place, spending time with my family in a family friendly environment for free. And free is awesome for a freelancer looking for full time while trying to support a family.

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Guggenheim Grotto performing in Greensburg, PA July 26, 2013.

But this is only on example. How many communities have events like this? A chance for friends to get together and enjoy music for free is an amazing gift.

Exposing kids to different kinds of music and giving them the freedom to dance and play. How awesome is that?

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Dancing up a storm!

So go out and enjoy these events! Take advantage of them. I promise you the musicians love having an audience to play for. If you know of a great free concert in your community and want to share, I am all for it. The only way to make sure these kind of activities continue is by supporting them, so share your link below!

My Summer So Far

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First rule of blogging, don’t stop blogging. Well I broke that one in spades. In my defense, since I last published a post (there are several sad half posts laying around behind the scenes) I have: completed a couple of freelance projects, packed kit and kaboodal and moved it all to another state, managed to get Shingles (twice-I am just that lucky), and get the kids to and from summers camp in one piece! Bonus points for getting them registered in the new school district before we got to the DMV (well alright who rushes out to the DMV, but still we got them registered the first week we were here). We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s starting to feel like home.

For now I offer the following photographic proof…don’t worry I’ve skipped the ones that might leave you feeling itchy…

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Before they broke our TV, 3/4 of legs of a desk, a piece of heirloom furniture and scratched the end table.

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We stopped to take a picture as we came back home.

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Two weeks after we moved the girls went to camp.

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They had fun at camp but were glad to come home and unpack.

Once again I’ve learned life tends to do what it pleases while you’re out making other plans. You know what, since there’s not much you can do to stop it, sometimes it’s better to just try to enjoy the ride.

Summer Memories of Andy Griffith

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Publicity photo of Andy Griffith.

My earliest memories of Andy Griffith aren’t of the great sheriff and single dad in Mayberry. They aren’t of my grandparent’s favorite attorney. My earliest memories of Andy Griffith are warm summer days and my dad’s 78’s.

When I was a girl my little sister and I would convince our parents to let us drag our little record player outside so we could listen to music during a family get-together. We’d play whatever music we were listening to (Shaun Cassidy was a favorite). Eventually my dad would pull out some of his records. We’d play through a bunch of 45’s and then he’d pull out his Andy Griffith 78’s (yes, real 78’s they were rare and strange even in the 70’s and 80’s).

We’d listen to “What It Was, Was Football” and “Romeo and Juliet” and occasionally the one about a stay in the hospital, but there was something about that one my mom didn’t like so we didn’t hear that one often. Three generations would sit on  the back porch and listen to this man weave stories that would have all of us laughing. We were all football fans (Steelers fans by birth) and would laugh every time we listened to this young man without much world experience talk about watching football. We’d be rolling by the time he started talking about those two kids Romeo and Juliet.

Andy Griffith had a way of telling stories. He saw the humor and a fresh perspective in things we took for granted. He never made you feel that someone was stupid, just inexperienced. The story lines on all of his shows were simple, pure, positive and very entertaining. Best of all, the stories stand the test of time.

This week we say goodbye to another amazing storyteller. Andy may be gone, but his stories live on. Take a little time and listen to one of his recordings. You’ll be glad you did.

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Tell Me a Story Tuesday — Last Day of School Edition

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It’s that time of year again, the end of school. My children are among the rare bread that cry because school is over for the summer, so we rarely hear about pranks or fun on the last day. Mostly it’s just a phone call to Mommy at work crying about having to wait whole months to go back to school.

I myself enjoyed the break summer provided. And, being the good girl I was raised to be, did not partake of any last day of school prankery. I was witness, and victim of, several epic water gun battles on school buses and paper products decorating hallways on the way out the door.

What about you? Did you cry on the last day of school because you were going to miss it? Did you get in an awesome prank before the bell rang (feel free to change names to protect the guilty if the statute of limitations hasn’t expired yet)? This is your chance to share you’re last day of school memories.

Let’s hear it…tell me a story….

*Standard T.M.A.S.T. rules apply*

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