Write about the pets you have had and all your favorite memories with them ~Family History Tuesday~

Pepper

Hope

Jacques

Peter and Lulu

These are the only pet names I can even remember.  I know we had a lot more, but their names escape me.

Pepper was a beagle. I remember thinking that Snoopy looks nothing like a beagle. She/he was my first pet (I was probably 6 years old) and one day she was gone.  My mom said she had taken her to a farm to live where she could get better care than we were apparently giving her/him.


Hope was the offspring of our childhood friend's dog.  She was a labrador-cocker spaniel mix.  She was black with white paws and oh so cute!  Unfortunately she did not survive the fire that started in our home. We were all away at school and work when it happened. The smoke overcame her.

Jacques was a beautiful, large Husky.  He was given to my younger sister without my parent's permission.  We had him for some time, before we realized he was more than we could handle.  We ignored it for a long time, but finally had to give him up to our local animal shelter.

Peter and Lulu were our two ferrets.  My younger sister and I bought them at a pet store.  Peter was an albino ferret with the sweetest personality.  Lulu was more feisty and a sable ferret.  She was known to bite.  We loved them dearly, but disease ravaged their little bodies. Peter left us first, then Lulu.

And I haven't had any pets since.  Allergies and heartbreaking loss has kept me from having another pet friend, though I still have a great place in my heart for them.

{Family History Tuesday prompt at designzbydede}

What are your favorite board/card games? Write about some of your favorite game memories ~Family History Tuesday~

I love to play games.

We grew up playing board games.  Some of my favorites were LIFE, SORRY, HI-HO CHERRY-O and who could not love CANDYLAND?

I always wanted to get CONNECT FOUR, but never did.

BATTLESHIP was fun to play also. 

When we got a foosball table, I loved that for a time. My brother would get frustrated with me because I had no strategy. I would just twirl a row here and there and somehow get past his men and make a goooooooooooooooooooool!

A memory that sticks out to me that involved a game was one called "Tutti Frutti". It was very simple.  We were a group from Church --Young Women Leaders and their families, plus the young women on a beach trip. If I remember right, we were each assigned a fruit name. We sat in a circle in the living room. Someone in the middle yelled out a fruit. If you were that fruit then you got up out of your seat and tried to find another empty seat to sit in.  If you ended up without a seat then you had to stand in the middle and call out a fruit. When someone called out "Tutti Frutti" then everyone would get up and changes seats. 

It was a hilarious night!  I don't think I've laughed more with a group of friends like I did that night! It was a challenge to get a seat and we'd get pushed over, slide, fall and sometimes accidentally end up on someone's lap!

"TUTTI FRUTTI!"

{Family History Tuesday prompts can be found at designzbydede}

Share a memorable family recipe ~Family History Tuesday~

Cooking is not my thing. I keep no recipes.

Once my good friend, who is a smart chef, tried to get me excited about cooking.  As a Christmas gift she made me this decorated binder and put all her favorite recipes in it.  We even spent one evening cooking one of the recipes. 

It didn't work.  I still have no desire. I still keep the binder though.  She put a lot of work and love into that gift.

So, the only recipe I can ever remember wanting to try was probably way back in 1997. Someone in my apartment complex was passing around a "stolen" recipe.  It was Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. Doesn't that just sound yummy?  I actually made it several times that month. Then like the binder, it probably hangs around somewhere ...not known to me.

{from The Dinner Files}

P.S.
if you want to know what my last attempt at following a recipe was read eggs II.




{Family History Tuesday prompts found at designzbydede}

Write about your hardest goodbye ~Family History Tuesday~

If you know me well then you know of my love for animals.  I cannot stand to see or hear or know about an animal being hurt. I even have to change the TV channel when they show that "End Animal Cruelty"commercial with Sarah McLachlan singing in the background.

You can just imagine then, having to let go of the pets in my life has been extremely sad. I've had rabbits, hamsters, chickens, abandoned baby birds, 3 dogs and 2 ferrets.

Some of them have died from sickness. Our rabbits were killed by some unknown animal. And a dog we had, died in a fire.

I remember an especially devastating time when we had to give up our beautiful dog to the Animal Shelter.  He was just too big and active for our home.  When we returned home I couldn't contain my sadness.

My mom was trying to console us and started to cry herself.  She started to sob so hard! I'd never seen her feel so hurt.  She then started to relate to us the story of when she was offered an opportunity to leave her home country and move to the United States.  She didn't think she could do it.  She had a sickly mother to care for. 

When my mom told her own mother about the chance to leave, her mother, in her selflessness and wisdom, told my mom that she had to live for herself now and her future. She told her it was OK to leave and do what she had to do to live a better life.

So, with a broken heart my 20-year-old mother made her way to the U.S. and DID make a better life for herself and therefore US, her children. I love my Mom.


{Family History Tuesday prompts found at designzbydede}

you say you need a reading chart?

For those of you who have read,

are reading

or will read

The Book of Mormon:

Another Testament of Jesus Christ,

here is a good-looking reading chart.

You can choose to frame and hang it on your wall

as you color in each leaf

for each chapter you read:

{find this at sugardoodle.net by Summer Driggs}


You can read true stories inside The Book of Mormon.

If you would like to request a free copy of the book,

click here.

 

popular

Think back ...way back ...to High School. Think of the most popular girl in High School. You know who I mean ...the cheerleader, flowing hair, not a pimple in sight, guys all around, Prom Queen, voted Most Beautiful.

Yep, that's who I mean.  Well, we spoke to each other yesterday. Over two decades later we acknowledged each other!

There was never a day in High School where we exchanged words, not even a "hi".

And now we were speaking to each other. I guess I couldn't take the stress of it because a zit grew on the left side of my nose (probably while I was speaking with her ..haha)

And there you have it -- High School still stings!




P.S. No worries though. She was very friendly and told me all about her family.  It made me realize how silly it is how we separate ourselves from others by labeling them.

P.S.S. Read this post to see a glimpse of me in High School.