lol! the brain out of the Operation game 2) a muffler 3) paint brush 4) coin purse 5) watch 6) Mr. Potato head 7) vitamins 8) chocolate kisses 9)turtle neck sweater a coat long underwear gloves heat plane ticket PICTURE of brug cuttings Halloween candy candy jar sign for the beach greeting card ribbon paint brush stapler piggy bank candle eraser juniper berries dental floss hole punch corkscrew nose ring notepad notebook rock garden journal labels plant ties plant tags knife face mask cough syrup knife incence funnel padlock watering glass bulb scrub brush jig-saw puzzle fireplace matches Basket Brush Cheese slicer Citrus juicer Coat hook(s) Dice Door stop Egg slicer Fruit slicer Garlic peeler Garlic press Glue gun Grocery bag holder Letter opener Music box Night light Organizer Safety pins Soldering iron Splatter guard/screen Tongs Torch Trivet Yarn Book Bumper sticker Comb Coupons Drain stopper Extension cord Harmonica Key board cover Key chain Pencil/pen holder Plastic cups Popcorn Pumice Rainbow Ring Safety glasses Sling shot Slinky Spray bottle Star Telescope Tent Tissue Towel sorry for repeats!

When I was 5 years old, my mother packed us up and moved 3000 miles away from my father and didn't leave a forwarding address. 25 years later, I found him, and moved in with him and his wife (a wonderful woman, who became one of my closest friends) for a year in order to get to know them as family rather than acquaintances one visits once in a while. My stepmother couldn't get over how alike we were, in temperament, tastes, and a variety of idiosyncratic behaviors. One day, she came home from doing some errands to find us sitting at the kitchen table lunching on thick slabs of his beefsteak tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt & pepper. bread and butter rounding out the meal. Regarding me with a rather dryly amused expression, she said, "I guess I know whose daughter YOU are!" The one food I actually associate with my father in childhood memory is yellow apples. All my life, if I ate a yellow apple, I thought of him, and no matter how good it tasted, there was something missing. After my mother divorced him, he would pick me up on Saturday and find somewhere to take me where we could simply hang out. One of our favorite spots was off a country road, where there was a very old, gnarled apple tree. In season, we would sit there and eat apples together, and discuss whatever weighty subjects children under the age of 5 discuss with their fathers. The apples were yellow, and no apple has ever tasted as good since. Our first meeting when I was an adult, I arranged to have in a restaurant. I was nervous and wanted a neutral ground. By the end of dinner, he convinced me to drive with him a short way to his home, so I could meet his wife, who was waiting up and hoping I would come. I followed him in my car, and at a certain spot, on a dark country road, he slowed, honked his horn and gesticulated wildly over the hood of his car to the right at I couldn't know what. It was the apple tree, and when I told him later that I'd spent all my subsequent years being disappointed in every apple I ate because it didn't taste as good as the apples from that tree, he laughed because that tree had been so old, even when I was young, that the apples had been small, tough and tart, but we ate them together because they were there. My Dad had been a paratrooper during WW2. He didn't talk about it often, but a couple of times he opened up. Once, he spoke of walking down an avenue in Italy, and passing a house surrounded by a low wall, and seeing an elderly man sitting outside at a little table. A young woman brought him out a bowl of olives, a tumbler of wine and a slab of bread. My father ended up trading a pack of cigarettes for a helmet full of those home made olives. I think that he must have been feeling quite lonely and homesick, because he could have bought olives anywhere, and at less expense than a pack of cigarettes, but the elderly man's look of contentment as he ate of the olives his daughter brought him while he sat in his own garden made them irresistible. While I lived with my father and stepmother, I got into the habit of driving a couple of hours down to Boston every couple of months or so, to buy food items I couldn't find in Southern Maine...and I'd stop at a little Italian grocery in the North End to pick up olives and bread for my father.

Olychick, what a great story and memory for you and your friend's son! Adorable! We sing in a local Living Christmas Tree every year. There are 5 major performances Thurs-Sun, plus a shortened 'Tree for Children' that lasts a little over 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon. All performances are free and include over 100 singers and a fine orchestra (including members of our local symphony). Sometimes there is a creative dance group who may be using the aisles during some songs. Nursery/Child care in the church is provided for those who come to performances, but some insist on bringing their small children into the church and they do act out. Naturally there are some screamers who scream out at the most inappropriate parts, usually the quietest moments of all or running in the aisles causing distractions. It is really hard to believe parents a) don't believe their own children can be disruptive, b) won't take advantage of a nursery/child care when provided.

Week 6 The week started with the sink and dishwasher hook up. I love the sink and the dishwasher! So much. Forever. That is such a big hurdle to be over. My stove, while now in the kitchen area is not hooked up. They have not tested the gas line yet, I'm not sure the hold up and I keep asking. We decided we wanted the built in microwave, so a few weeks now until the new cabinet comes in. They will do the backsplash, probably this week. I chose a simple gloss 4 X 16 subway tile that is close to the color of our wall paint (alpaca by SW). Ikea laundry room and basement bar will be installed on Thursday. It is nice to be working in the kitchen and slowly putting things away. I am really enjoying the new layout. These new cabinets are really tall, though. I 'm going to need a step stool to keep close at hand. favorite item is the trash pullout! I have never had one and it is so much better than a can in the corner. The 18 inch is perfect and holds 2 13 gallon bins.