Slice of Life: New Webpage

Hey folks,

Remember me?  It's been about two and a half years now.  Sorry about that.  A lot has happened in my world since then, including the addition of my beautiful baby boy 16 months ago.  Here's a picture of him now eating his dad's birthday cake:

Funny guy.  Anyway, I've not been idle.  I've had to do a lot toward getting back to health and getting myself in a place where mentally I can take care of things like a meme again.  I'm ready to retry.  But I'm not going to post them here.  I've got a whole new blog reflecting how I'm feeling about life now, and I'd like to invite y'all over to do "Blue Raspberry Sundays" with me.  Every Saturday night/Sunday morning I'll be posting a prompt for family history stories.  I hope you'll join me.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT

Don't worry - if you're checking this blog and it's much later, I made a page on the new blog for the family history prompts.  This page will be updated weekly with all the old prompts so you can revisit them at any time.  I'd appreciate any help in getting the word out.  :)

BLUE RASPBERRY SUNDAYS

Hope to see you there!

Hiatus

Dear Friends,

Keeping the meme alive the past two months has been a real struggle for me. It's not because I don't love doing it, because I do. However, I finally got into my doctor who goes beyond blood tests and have discovered that my thyroid has slipped into hypo again. It's not a shocking revelation - I thought I recognized the old symptoms, even though they aren't as bad as when I had them before: the pressure in the front of my head that makes it difficult to think clearly, the sheer exhaustion from half a day's work, insomnia and mid-to high anxiety that takes a toll.

I thought maybe I would continue to do the meme through it - after all, my brain argues, it's only once a week. But the various missed Sundays bother me - I'd rather go on hiatus than be branded "unreliable." So please forgive me for taking a couple of months off. For those of you who are in the genealogy realm my mother (the Hummer of Branching Out Through The Years and FranEllsworth on Twitter) will send out a tweet when I am blogging again. Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook (Aine Maura) or on Twitter I'll be sending a shout-out as well. I think that pretty much covers everyone - if not, let me know and I'll send an email.

I know some people think when a blogger takes a break they're gone for good. I hope you don't think that about me. I'll believe I'll be right as rain quickly with adherence to the doctor's orders. Until then, everyone keep writing those wonderful personal histories one story, one slice at a time. :)

Luv,

Aine

Slice of Life #84: The Restaurant

My Grandpa had a thing for diners. Until I was around seven-eight years old he lived in Oklahoma and my family lived in Texas. That's when he moved next door.

Those first few years of my life though are filled with memories of traveling back and forth between the states with my parents and grandparents. My grandpa always liked to stop at the diners, and sit on the stools. He'd sit there and talk to the waitresses while waiting for his cup of coffee, then come back and sit with Grandma and I in the booth. If anyone knows I45 at all, you might remember SAM'S - that was Grandpa's favorite. I remember getting lemonade there once.

Fast forward to last night. My husband and I were on a date he suggested we go to Shari's, which is kinda like an Ihop/Denny's kind of place. We like it because the people are very friendly and the owners have taken good care of the place. The food is good, but the pies (and now pie shakes) are DIVINE. As we ate our mozzarella cheese sticks and chatted I was struck at how I seemed to have continued my Grandpa's tradition without knowing it. My husband and I chat with the waiters and waitresses and know all about their kids or broken engagements to where some have gotten to know us by name. It's friendly.

Your prompt this week is to whip out a cup of cocoa and have a piece of pie while writing about a restaurant experience you've had - good or bad. Enjoy! :)

Slice of Life #83: "Bored Now"

Summer 2011

One of my son's had a habit of saying, "It's boring!" or "I'm bored." That is, until we gave him something to do so he wouldn't be bored, such as cleaning his room or putting away dishes. ;) This particular son was expressing his boredom at taking photos - he's very good at letting you know how he feels... with or without words.

This week, write about how boredom has entered your life, and how you handle it.

Slice of Life #82: The "Dash"

Recently I have been asking myself, "What is holding me back?" There are some things I want to accomplish that I feel I should have already done, but still have neglected to take the steps to make them happen. It's not that they're hard or out of reach - it's simply a matter of, "there's always tomorrow." It's that dash in the middle of here and there that gets in the way.

So this week's slice of life is, "What's your dash in the middle?" Is it getting on the treadmill?
Buying that CD to learn a new language? Is it taking a class so you can get that raise? Making a phone call to start repairs in a relationship? Booking the flight so you'll finally take that vacation?

I posted this song because I love how they show each boy stuck in a situation - immobilized. And then each one moves into "the dash." Whether you dare to move or not is up to you - first, let's write. ;)