It's My Life

once again it's tuesday and it's time for some family history.

as we start a new month we'll work on a new section. this month we'll focus on the house of your growing up.

this week's questions are as follows...

1. What did your home look like? Was is a house or an apartment? What color was it? Was it one story or two? As a child i lived in a house. i'm not sure, but i think it was a beige color. it was a single story 3 bedroom, 2 bath house. as a teenager (the home i remember as my house) was a single story stucco home also. it was 3 bedrooms and 2 baths also.

2. What was your neighborhood like? the neighborhood i grew up in as a child was wonderful! we had many freinds and often played until the street lights came on. we would often play ding dong ditch, hide and seek and many other games. at christmas time, all the neighbor kids put on The Nativity. the mom's were all friends and would get together and do macrame and other crafts. it was a wonderful place all year long. as a teen the neighborhood was far different. it was a rural area with few neighbors. we were only really close to the neighbors right next door.

3. Did you have a lawn? Did you have flower beds? Did you have a garden? Did you help care for the flowers or garden? in my childhood home, i don't remember many flower beds and we didn't have a garden. i do remember well the olive tree in the front yard and the many avocado trees in the back yard. to raise money for christmas presents, we would pick and sell the avocados. we would load up our wagon and walk and walk to many neighborhoods to sell them. in contrast, my home as a teen had many flowers, beautiful trees and a garden. my mom took care of the flowers and the closet i got to helping with the garden was to bring the dinner left-overs to the compost pile.

4. Did you have a front stoop or porch? a front stoop on both. i've always wanted a front porch.

don't forget to sign up with mr linky so we can get to know more about you and have a great week!

It's My Life

it's that time again!

if your new to it's my life (a family history project) go here for the details.

if not, welcome back!

here's the list of this week's questions.

1. Was yours a religious family? we weren't a religious family but we were raised Catholic as young children. After my parents were divorced we didn't attend church anymore. It wasn't until my mid to late 20's that I started going back to church. Were Sunday's spent together with family? not for religious purposes, however, the weekends were often spent with family and friends.

2. Did your family take vacations? As young children, we spent many family vacations with my grandparents. We would go camping in Grandma & Grandpa's camper and go fishing. We (my sister and I) would always get to ride on the top bed of the camper while driving (something we would NEVER do now!) Did you go to the same place every year? We often went to the desert (almost every other week through my teenage years) my granparents, uncle and many friends spent these weekends with us. There were many wonderful memories made. Many years after my parents divorced, my mom remarried Tom and we all continued camping in the desert. Halloween and New Years Weekends were my favorite. Poker runs, spending all day in the pool, lounge chairs with sprinklers, driving my dad's truck, racing the boys and beating them, Blow Sand, Bomb fires, warming our buns with coals under our chair, the Bone Yard. I could go on and on, what wonderful memories. I remember hoping that we would be able to create those memories with our children. About 5 years ago, we bought our first trailer and began creating them. The desert has changed, the people are different and my children don't wait in anticipation to see the Hell's Angels like we did, but the memories will be there and that's what matters.

3. Do you remember any special stories your grandparents told you? Did you sit on a lap when you heard these stories or did you hear them when you and your granparent would walk hand-in-hand, taking a stroll? Do you tell any of these same stories to your children? I don't remeber any particular story, but I do remember walking Oscar (grandma & grandpa's dog) around the block every day while we stayed with them. We would pick up pinecones, talk about the gardens, talk about the neighbors. My grandparents were always very interested in what we had to say and always listened. They taught us many things. Grandpa loved his garden and Grandma taught us the right way to clean a house. If we didn't dust well enough, we did it again. The same went for vaccuming and making the beds. Grandma, to this day, has her morning routine. Coffee, breakfast for Grandpa and then making the beds. I particulary remember Uncle Chris's bed. It would smell so bad in the morning when we had to go make the bed. I hated it! One time for April's Fools Day, Grandma let Suz and I put snail shells in his bed. (I kind of got off subject, sorry...)

4. Did your grandparents live nearby? They live in Encinitas. How often did you visit their omes? It was a second home to us for much of our childhood. Did the house have any special smells? I don't remember any special smells, but Grandma is a great cook. Tacos were a family favorite and my Dad stills talks about Grandma's lasagna. My all time favorite is the chocolate pie she'd bake for my birthday and baking Christmas cookies a tradition now shared with my kids. What did their couch feel like? Oh, the couch! We slept on it a lot. It was a rough tweed I think. Grandma always put a sheet down for us. We would all gather in the living room to watch The Lawrence Welk Show. We would eat our ice cream (Grandpa's favorite was mint & chip, Grandma's was praline's & cream and I loved Burgandy Cherry. All from 31 Flavors of course. I would lay on the couch and Grandpa would tickle my feet until I went to sleep. Great memories!How big was their kitchen? The kitchen wasn't to big but it was big enough for us all to gather in and that we did often!

if you'd like to participate, sign up with mr. linky and link back to this post on your own.

i enjoy reading your answers and getting to know you.

It's My Life (edited)

(this post has been edited to include pictures. when i first posted this i was under the weather and just didn't have the energy to gather all the photos. enjoy...)

have you ever read 'To Our Children's Children'? it's a great book designed to help you preserve your life story for generations to come. i have been wanting to do this and thought it would be fun to do it together. the idea is to one day make a book from our posts for our children.

I hope you'll join me in this endeavor,here's how we'll do it.

each tuesday you will have several questions to answer. each month there will be a 'theme' for the month. for example, we will start with your family and ancestry, then we'll move on into the house of your growing up, your childhood, holidays & celebrations, romance, parenthood, etc. sometimes the questions will be simple, sometimes they may not even apply and other times, you might find it hard to answer. there's never a right or wrong answer.

if you have blog, sign up with mr.linky, which will be at the end of each post. you'll then make your own post by copying and pasting the questions and answering them. if you don't have a blog, i encourage you to play along with a journal.

please link back to my blog in your posts and encourage your readers to play along.

the important thing is to never underestimate just how grateful your children and your children's children will be that you are doing this for them. it will be cherished for generations to come.

Here are this week's questions:

1. What was your mother's name? Cathy Anne (i don't have a copy of mom's senior picture...)

Your Father's name? Charles Anthony

Your grandmother's names? Frances Elizabeth (maternal) & Faye (paternal)

Your grandfather's names? Ralph William aka Chris (maternal) & Charles (paternal)

What did you call them? Mom, Dad, Grandma & Grandpa.

we spent a lot of time with my mom's parents. 'grandma & grandpa'. the summer's and the many camping, fishing trips were always the most fun.

I only remember meeting my father's parents once. They were divorced and we didn't have a relationship with either.

2. Do you have brother's and sisters? one younger sister. What are their names? Suzanne How old were you when they were born? I was three.Do you remember the first time you saw them? No

(this is one of my favorite photos of her with her daughter in 2008)

3. What about your aunts and uncles? Janice, Chris & Andy.

(janice)

(andy)

i've got to find a picture of chris

Did they play an important part in your growing up? Very, very much! My parents got divorced when I was young and Chris watched us often. I remember one night throwing up and his way of cleaning it up was to vaccuum it. As a younger girl, I spent a lot of time with my Aunt Jan. Did your family get together much casualy or did you have to travel to spend time together? We did, we were a very close family that did a lot together. Those were good times...

that's it, not too hard? sign up with mr. linky and play along!