Life Lessons, Subway Art from Heritage Makers...

I learned some valuable life learning lessons today.
Lesson Number One: Do not put a new green phone up to your ear while you are waiting for your hair color to set or you will have a new green phone with a brownish smudged corner.
Lesson Number Two: When you decide to feed the birds with old cracker crumbs toss them far away from the front deck and steps or you will have a full flock of pooping geese on your deck.
And, Lesson Number Three: Don't wait five days between workouts at the gym. My God I am hurting all over.

Yesterday I was treated to lunch by the women I have been working with for the past few weeks at the Village of Winneconne. Thank you Jaci, Marlene and Kathy for a delicious meal (except for the blue jello).I could have done without that. I loved working with you guys and will miss seeing you on a regular basis but you haven't seen the last of me... I will be active around Winneconne in some capacity.

I finally get to display my latest Heritage Makers Project.

 Subway Art is very popular right now and I love how we can personalize all of our artwork at Heritage Makers like I did here:

Do you want to  make your own personalized artwork for your decor? Contact me 920-420-0463, www.memoriesin.com

Who is in the bright yellow shirt?

What a full week I've had. Monday I worked all day at the Village of Winneconne, then Tuesday morning
 the woman that I have been filling in for while she recovered from surgery, returned to work part time at the Village so that gave me an opportunity to meet with an Oshkosh attorney regarding another job. The interview went well and we are "trying each other out" for a while. I worked in his office both Wednesday and Thursday morning this week and then had to rush back to Winneconne to work afternoons at the Village.

Last night was the first Village Brat Fry for the summer and this one was for the residents on the east side. Employees and Trustees treated their residents to delicious brats, hotdogs, chips, sodas and brownies but the most important part of the event was the fact that they were there to answer any questions or concerns that Winneconne residents had for them. It sure wasn't hard to find a Trustee...you just had to look for a bright yellow shirt.

Look for many more pictures of this Brat Fry next week on the Winneconne facebook page...http://www.facebook.com/Winneconne

I've been working on some samples of hardbound books for your child(ren's) sports activities. I will be posting sample books so you can choose which one you would like to create to showcase your child(ren) in  soccer, baseball, tennis matches and karate. What other sport samples do you need me to show you?  

So get those cameras out and start taking a multitude of pictures. I will show you how to upload those digital images so you can begin your book. To begin go to www.memoriesin.com and register for your FREE account with Heritage Makers today.

Exercising, Newfoundlands, Polkas...

What an absolute rewarding day I had. Started with Red delivering my TV. I hadn't seen him for a while so it was sure good to see him today. Then a trip to the gym...yes I said the gym! I decided I just wasn't going to exercise, walk, yoga or anything that involved strenuous movement beyond my comfy sofa unless I paid someone to make me. Here in Winneconne there is an Anytime Fitness Center and for the next 3 months I will be under the guidance of Ally. She has designed a program for me to follow. I personally think she's out to kill me, but we'll see. I've made it through 2 sessions so far and I'm feeling it today in my mid-section....and I think that's a good thing since that's where I need to tighten up the most. So check it out if you are in the Winneconne, Omro, Oshkosh or Fox Valley areas Ally or Tom are the people you want to help you meet your weight and exercise goals.   http://anytimefitness.com/gyms/2353/winneconne-wi-54986

Since I did so well at the gym I deserved a reward so I stopped at The Well. The Well is a small building barely large enough to allow people to cook in the back while others are taking orders at the front window and making ice cream cones. They have been in business, according to their sign, for 58 years. I think that deserves an award of some type because now-a-days not too many businesses, especially dining establishments last that long. Anyway, I ordered a pizza burger and deep fried pickles...I know that doesn't sound healthy, well, it's not healthy but that's what looked good to me. Anyway, I was standing at the window placing my order when I heard this very loud bark. I must have jumped out of my skin because the dog's owner couldn't stop apologizing for her dog. This creature was enormous. The size of his head was between the size of a basketball and a beach ball (I'm not exaggerating) and standing on all fours his head was even with the ordering window. Evidently he's a regular, because when he barks he gets served a dish of vanilla ice cream loaded with dog biscuits!!!! Have you ever heard of anything like this? I sure haven't. Many of the customers were getting out their phones and taping him. What a sight. I think he was a Newfoundland...if you don't know what that is look it up on Google and you'll see what I mean about the size.

This afternoon my old Church, Sacred Heart, now called St. Jude's on Knapp Street had a polka mass. It was outside under a tent. And thank God for that since it decided to down pour. The tent was full to capacity. Steve Young and his band played for this mass and I was flooded with memories when I heard some of the songs. The songs were ones that my ancestors always sang at family get togethers. The band played popular polka songs but changed the words to have religious meanings. It felt a little unusual having mass said in a beer tent, but no one seemed to mind. After all God is everywhere. Of course no food or beer was served during mass, but the cooks did manage to begin cooking towards the end of mass so we could all smell that great German cuisine in the back of the tent and it worked because everyone stayed to eat. I ate one of juiciest, most flavorful bratwurst that I've had in a while.

My day wasn't finished yet. I visited with my sister and her husband and then JoAnn and I headed back to the picnic because now a rock band was playing for a dance. The rain stopped. It rained enough to cool things down and made it a perfect evening for an outside dance. We could hear the band playing from my sister's house and she lives 4 blocks away, so you can imagine what it sounded like up close and under the tent. Everyone was having a good time. I was amazed at how many families were there together. Most tables had at least three generations sitting together enjoying the beer, food and music. I was told that people plan their family reunions around this church's picnic so they can all attend. I began to miss my grandson, Aiden. Next year I'd like him and his mom to visit the weekend of the church's picnic.

Back home to the lake. It's breezy and wonderfully cool out here. It's perfect sleeping weather.

Tomorrow is a day filled with Heritage Makers, photo scanning and digital scrapbooking. I have some new projects that I'm working on and can't wait to share them with you.  Here's a hint.

Satisfied our curiosity...

Sunday was the annual Art Fair in South Park in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. My sister Barb has been going to this event for 21 years (I think that's what she told me). This is where she usually begins her Christmas shopping  and for the past couple of years she has called me in Arizona while she shopped so I could feel like I was there with her. This year I WAS there and loved every minute! South Park in Oshkosh is more beautiful that I remember. As a kid I grew up right down the street from this park on 10th Ave. In the summer we would walk to the local Piggly Wiggly which was on the corner of 10th and Ohio and the butcher would give us pieces of liver. We would then cross the street to South Park and fish in the lagoons with that liver as the bait. I don't remember if we caught anything or what we were even fishing for...I want to say crawdads but I can't remember. I do however, remember the disgusting liver bits that we had to put on the hook.

What a sight seeing these lagoons again. I will have to return to South Park another day (when there isn't an Art Festival going on) so I can take some more pictures of my favorite park.Maybe I'll try a little fishing, if they still allow that in this park.

One of the artists at the festival was a young woman drawing with chalks on the sidewalk. I was fascinated on how dimensional she made these drawings. I don't understand what a duck and an orange traffic cone have to do with each other but she made them both look great. This was just one of many drawings that she made that day.

As a fund raiser for the Art Festival a local family allowed people to tour their home for a charge. Their home just happens to be a mansion that was built between 1904 and 1908. The mystery of what this mansion looked like inside has always been a curiosity to Oshkosh residents. Three of these curious residents are my two sisters and me. Ever since we were kids we wanted to know who owned this house, what was the history of the house but mostly... what did it look like inside. On Sunday we finally got a chance to find out all of these things. It cost $10 each, but was well worth it.
It took 4 years to build the Lutz mansion. Lutz owned the local quarry and all the stone on the house was taken from that quarry. The house has four floors including the cellar and the attic. All the rooms were surprisingly tiny and most rooms had a fireplace for warmth.  The light switches were buttons that you had to push to turn on and off. All the overhead lights were the original fixtures, they used to be gas but have been converted to electric. The original ice box was in the kitchen, but is being used as a pantry. In my opinion, the most intriguing item in the entire house was the doorbell. The Lutz's house had 4 different doors for guests or delivery men to enter and their maid had to know which door to answer when the bell went off. The original doorbell was a wooden box with 4 lights. Depending on which doorbell was ringing the appropriate light would come on so the maid could answer that door. (I'm just questioning how they lit up if they didn't have electricity.)  The Lutz's had the house built with running water and an inside bathroom. They were an insightful couple. Most people in Oshkosh still had outside toilets until the 1930s or 1940s. And here's a photo of the Mansion...

Copper Olive, Ron LaPoint and Art in the Park....

It's a few days away from the official first day of summer but you sure could have fooled me. Today it got to almost 90 degrees here in Winneconne and it was plenty hot. I spent most of the day outside and now my shoulders feel like they are on fire. Guess that's why they make sunscreen...too bad I didn't  use any.

Barb, her husband Mike and I started the day by going to downtown Oshkosh. The city closes about 4 blocks of main street and sponsor a huge Farmer's Market every Saturday morning during the summer months. The booths were full of fresh flowers, produce (pea pods were the most abundant today), lots of different kinds of fresh eggs, salmon on a stick (that was a new one for me) and much more. Local growers and stores were represented. We stopped by one booth, The Copper Olive...their oils were amazing. They gave us samples of freshly popped popcorn spritzed with garlic butter oil and then seasoned with a dry seasoning (sorry I can't remember the name). It was the best popcorn seasoning ever...and that's says alot for me because I love loads of butter on my popcorn. When you go into their store, you choose what oil you want and then they fill a bottle and seal it for you. Can't get any fresher than that! Check them out. http://www.thecopperolive.com

I had my first fresh, home made egg roll today. I liked the pork more than the chicken. I was hesitant to try it at first because I've tried egg rolls before at Chines restaurants, but they were usually sitting in a buffet for who knows how long...and I never really liked the taste. Today we watched the girls make our egg rolls and they tasted nothing like the others.,..these were good.  Every day is a new experience.

Barb and I stopped to talk to a local man, Ron LaPoint, who has recently finished his third book about the history of Oshkosh. He had a booth filled with all his books and he loved talking to us about how he started writing and collecting old photographs of Oshkosh. We both bought a copy of the most recent book (we already own the first two books)  and he autographed them for us. This third book is titled "Oshkosh, Preserving The Past". Sounds like something we would talk about at Heritage Makers. I've already read the first 50 pages or so. I read a few chapters then I call my sister JoAnn or Barb and talk to them about what I just read. All three of us sisters like discussing about how we remembered Oshkosh. It's amazing to me how different we interpreted places, people and events. We especially love researching anything to do with the South Side and the Hi Holder district of Oshkosh. That's where our great-grandparents, grandparents, father (and years after WWII, my mother)  and us six kids all grew up.I love, love, love this kind of stuff!

Late this afternoon, Barb and Mike brought their son and a friend up to Winneconne to fish. It was the perfect day for it, warm, sunny but a constant breeze off the lake to cool us down. We just relaxed for once. It was rather nice for a change.

Now tell me, couldn't you relax with this view?

We went to The Well in Winneconne for supper. Another first for me. I've been coming up here since the late 60's and maybe I ate there way back then but I just don't remember. Today was cheeseburger night and we weren't disappointed. I splurged and had a chocolate shake with my cheeseburger and of course, we are in Wisconsin so a double order of deep fried cheese curds had to be ordered.. I had forgotten how good and refreshing a shake is.  While we ate, our little feathered friends enjoyed their supper too.

Time for bed because tomorrow is Art in the Park. An event that my sister Barb attends every year and now FINALLY I get to go with her. It's suppose to be just as hot if not hotter tomorrow. This event doesn't start until 10am so we don't even have a choice of going early before the heat. But when you think about it...no day, no matter what the weather is,  is a bad day when you get to shop. Right?

It's OFFICIAL...

It's OFFICIAL, I am now officially a Wisconsinite. I found out that a person only has to live here for 28 days before they are allowed to vote at the polls. I've lived here since the middle of April and I have plenty of utility bills to prove it so I got to register and vote today! So I am an official resident of the Town of Winneconne, County of Winnebago, State of Wisconsin. (and I have a sticker to prove it)

The voting today took place in the building where I work...but only for the Village people. I live in the Town because my home is a few yards from the Village border. So after work I found where the Town Hall was located. For a small community I was surprised that the parking lot was so full ... I couldn't find a parking place  because so many citizens showed up to vote. People around here take their voting privileges very serious. I am curious on what percentage of the community voted today. I'll let you know tomorrow I have a feeling that everyone I work with and everyone who comes into my work place tomorrow will be discussing today's voters turnout.

They have a neat set-up here in the Village of Winneconne. Every municipality office is in one building. Downstairs is the Village Admin Office, Police Department and for a few days every month a Courtroom. Upstairs is the Winneconne Public Library, the Chamber of Commerce and a hall or meeting room for events like today. It sure is nice to be so close to the library. I am up there during my lunch break almost every day. Since I don't have tv hookup (don't think I will be getting it any time soon either) I check out DVDs from our library. I'm not good on remembering movie titles or what they are suppose to be about so I've decided to just start in the As and work my way through the alphabet. Tonight was Annapolis. I wonder how long this is going to take me.

Are you whistling now? Heritage Makers June sale...

When you look at this picture don't you want to start whistling the theme song from the Andy Griffith Show? (But my brother Mike is much better looking than Sheriff Taylor) Take a look at why I think this pic resembles the opening of the show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8BmurO7ZW_Q

I'm still not use to being so close to the water. Yesterday when I got up early to allow Bella outside.  I walked her out because I'm afraid of the hawks scooping down and taking her away. I walked out onto the porch, half asleep and half dressed. To my surprise I heard men talking loud enough for me to hear because they were only about 50 feet away from the porch in their fishing boat. They were casting towards my shoreline. This is the second time this has happened to me.  There must be a good spot between my neighbors' and my shorelines because I often have fishermen in that spot. They were trolling near the same area for at least an hour. As soon as they left, I saw a huge fish jump right out of the lake - TWICE - in the same spot that they left. I chuckled, it was almost like the fish knew what he was doing and he was laughing at the two fishermen.

Speaking of Bella, she is loving it here. She loves the grass and is getting more exercise than she ever has before. She chases the birds and today she discovered a squirrel. When that squirrel climbed the nearest tree Bella just stayed at the bottom looking up the tree for the longest time. She better enjoy the outsides while she can because I don't think she's going to be liking the winters here. We went shopping and she got her nails cut and a new outfit (or I should say harness). Her nails were getting so long that she was getting stuck in this carpet. I know it's not funny but when I would call her, one of her paws would get snagged and she'd be stuck in the carpet until I could stop laughing long enough to rescue her. She wasn't amused.

I finally had my first humming bird at the feeder! Probably because I finally made hummingbird food or solution or whatever you call it. I noticed some hummingbirds around the oriole feeder so decided to get their food made and into their own feeder. Within an hour or so I had my first hummingbird. Yay!

It's the 4th of June and I haven't told you what the June sale is at Heritage Makers this month...

 

This booklet is the perfect size 8.5X11, It resembles a magazine so kids love it for their baseball, soccer (or any sport) pictures. They love being on the cover of their own magazine. You could make reunion booklets like the one you see in the sample - it can be filled with old pictures and stories of past reunions. If you're a business owner trying to sell products - there is no better way to showcase them than this high quality made booklet. The price is under $9. For that price you could make several. These will make perfect gifts for any occasion. Get started on your Christmas shopping now!

www.memoriesin.com