Tag: rocking chair

Early Gift For Mommy

When Sam got home from work today, we packed up the kids and took a drive to Lowe’s. The purpose of the trip was to get a teeter totter for the swing set/playscape in the back yard. Once we were there, we asked around and found out that the only way to get pieces for swing sets was to order them online. There was nothing in the store.

Sam noticed some patio furniture cushions and wanted to look at them for some chairs we have. It was then that she saw a beautiful rocking chair. I had bought two rockers for our porch a few years ago, but they were poorly made and just didn’t hold up. As we were looking at the chairs, Sam noticed that they had a bench rocker. After discussing things, we decided that we were going to get that for our side porch.

I had every intention of getting in the car and saying “Well, Happy Mother’s Day!” to Sam. But on the way out to the car, Ella asked her, “Is this your Mommy’s Day present, Mommy?” She said, “I suppose it is!”

Just like your typical man, as soon as we got home, I pulled the box out of the van, placed it on the porch and grabbed my tools! I was going to get this thing together today! Of course, I didn’t stop to think that Sam had worked all night and wanted to go to bed. She was in the house getting lunch together while I was glancing over the instructions.

It didn’t really take too long to put together, especially when I had help!

Andrew was all about trying to help me out. He wants to help SO bad. He kept bringing me pieces I didn’t need yet and pulling sockets from my socket wrench box. I look forward to the day when I can actually sit and build something with him and have him understand what we are doing.

In the end, the rocker came out great and really is a nice addition to the porch.

As I finished it up, mom went in the house to get some sleep. She should have been the first one to sit on it, but of course, that wasn’t the case.

Looks like this bench is like that cereal, “Kid tested, mother approved!”

Happy early Mother’s Day, Babe. I look forward to being able to rock with you on this over the summer. They even have a beer I can bring …

Friday Photo Flashback

It is another installment of my “Friday Photo Flashback.” This came about when a writing prompt suggested going through photos and finding one that stands out or brings about some sort of memory.

The one I have chosen to look at today is one that just stands out to me as “neat.”

The handsome young chap in the above picture is yours truly. I really love this picture of me. I have absolutely no idea why I am wearing this sailor suit. I don’t know who bought it for me. I don’t know if this was taken on Halloween. I just don’t know much about this picture. There may or may not be another picture of me in this same outfit at my dad’s college graduation. I may be mistaken.

This is where I open things up to my relatives, who may be able to help me. They can correct me if I am wrong.

From what I can tell, this is my Aunt Lois’s house. I could be wrong. It just seems to have the same layout that I remember. The last time I was at her house I was probably 11 or 12, so my memory could be very wrong.

If I had to guess, I am somewhere between 2 and 4 years old here. I am always in awe of the furniture in these old pictures. To my left in the photo is a coffee table (I think that’s what they referred to them as). I’m going to guess that those are fake flowers in a pot. That looks like a lace doily underneath it. For some reason or another, doilies were quite the thing in the 70’s. It seemed like they were under lamps, flower pots, and anything that sat on a table or end table.

The round table behind me in the photo looks like a table on top of a table. I can’t really tell, but it looks like there is an area to store things like maybe the Family Bible between the two round table tops.

The lamp on the top (with a doily under it) looks familiar. I wish I could see the lamp shade, not that it would make that big of a difference. I wonder if this lamp wound up in my Aunt and Uncle’s place in Caseville. I can’t really understand why it looks so familiar.

It seemed like every relative of mine had some sort of rocking chair in their house. This one here sort of reminds me of my great grandma’s rocking chair. That, in itself, makes me wonder if this was taken at her house. I just don’t know. I suppose there is the possibility that this was taken at my grandma’s house, but I really doubt it.

The last thing I notice is the folding chair. Folding chairs were often brought up from a basement or from out of a hall closet for when there was some sort of family get together. I really don’t recall having big get togethers at my aunt’s house, but maybe there was. The presence of the folding chair suggests to me that this had to be taken on some sort of holiday. That might also explain the sailor suit.

I’m anxious to see what I learn from a few of my relatives regarding this photo.

One thing is for sure – this photo is probably the only time I’ve been in a military uniform!