A FATHER'S DAY THANK YOU

It occurred to me last night that a lot of fathers and husbands won't be with their families today......because they are here, fighting our fire.

I hope they know how thankful we are.

HOORAY FOR DADS!

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. ~ Clarence Budington Kelland

That's what my dad did. I learned a lot that way. Probably more than I would have learned if he'd done too much talking.

You know how kids are . . . they never listen. 

THANKS DAD!

You might not call the video I'm going to share Father's Day material.  But it is to me.  It reminds me an awful lot of things that happened to G and I when we were first starting out together.

Like the time our car overheated when we were pulling a U-Haul from Arizona to Canada.  We'd been married for about 2 months.

I don't remember exactly what kind of father I imagined he would be back then.  But what I (and my boys) got turned out WAY better than anything I could have dreamed up.

Which is why a video about a car breaking down and a little family just starting out in life can make me a little teary eyed.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads.  The ones who are just starting out and the ones who've been around long enough to know how unexpectedly good life can turn out to be.

Believe in good things to come.

THAT'S A GREAT IDEA

There are a lot of clever people out there.  I am not one of them.  But I have learned how to make myself appear clever by copying the clever people.

I'm always seeing great ideas for holidays, things to do with my kids, ways to stay organized, etc.  And every time I see one of these fabulous, clever ideas online, I add a new page to my favorites list. 

The result is a way too long, unmanageable list of favorites.

But how else will I find these clever ideas again when I'm ready to put them to use?  Like this idea from Martha for a paper airplane Father's Day card.

And then it dawned on me.  For a second, I actually felt like one of the clever people!  I could post all the great ideas I find here, on my blog.  After all, I keep all my recipes on a blog.  Why not all the great ideas I want to try someday?

They'll be organized and categorized and I'll never run out of room.  And maybe you'll enjoying seeing a few clever ideas from time to time too. 

If there's one thing I really love, it's free printables like these magnetic shirt bookmarks and Father's Day coupons from Martha.

I'll be honest.  I'm not very crafty.  I can't sew.  You're not likely to see any projects here that will take longer than 15 minutes.  Unless I think they're really, really clever. 

You will see a lot of ideas like this one from Real Simple.  Using an empty tissue box to hold your plastic grocery bags.  I have one of these in my pantry right now. 

Except where I buy groceries, the bags aren't hot pink.

Ideally, after clever ideas show up here, you'll find evidence on my blog that I have used them in real life.  But don't hold me to that.  You know what they say about the best laid plans . . .

But seriously, my husband is so getting a paper airplane Father's Day card.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Thanks for putting up with me Dad! For example, in this photo, circa 1974, I have just learned to write my name. One of the places I wrote it was inside our brand new car (notice it doesn't even have license plates yet). As you can see, my dad was very proud of my accomplishment and took a picture!

Among his many talents, which include talking like Donald Duck, my dad is really good at building stuff. He was even featured in the October 2008 edition of American Woodworker Magazine. If your garage is a big mess with tools lying all over the place, you should really go check it out!

Among my husband's many talents, which include talking like several characters from The Simpsons, he is really good at spending time with his kids. He also does quite a bit of laundry folding, bathroom cleaning and dishwashing. I don't have any pictures to prove this, but rest assured, I would not make such claims unless they were well deserved.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Finally, here's a Father's Day message for all the "real men" out there, whether they are fathers or not.