Another happy customer...

Two more happy people because of an awesome Heritage Maker's canvas. This 8X8 canvas was made for the new grandparents and given to them as a gift.

Mary Lou -

Attached is the picture of Ed & Jeanne when we gave them the canvas of their 1st granddaughter, Violet.  Jeanne was so happy with it she wanted to take it with her when she went to visit her daughter, Violet's mom.  Ed said that was fine as long as you also bring it right back!  The canvas is now proudly displayed in their living room and they comment often how much they appreciate the care and quality of the canvas.  I think that they will be contacting you for more items as Violet grows up.  Thanks for all your help in giving our friends such a treasured gift!

Sandy

Our canvases come in many different sizes and are made with high quality materials. Christmas will be here before you know it and one of our canvases would make a perfect gift that would last a lifetime.

Contact me if you'd like me to design one for you. www.memoriesin.com

Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold.

If I was still in the mountains of Arizona I'd be at the Chocolate Crop in Payson, Arizona right now. The local scrapbook store, Paper and Metal, sponsors an all weekend crop from Friday noon until Sunday around 3pm and they do this twice a year. At these crops we are treated the entire time with chocolate goodies. My favorites were the  ritz crackers with peanut butter dipped in chocolate - YUM! Of course they served delicious meals too. We scrapped, had make and takes, contests and of course shopped. Brenda and Barb, I hope everyone is having a great time. I miss you guys.
I actually met some new scrappers in Winneconne this week. There is a small scrapbook store here in Winneceonne called Winneconne Crafts. Margaret,the owner, has a good variety of scrapbook materials on hand and an impressive amount of cricut cartridges at low, low prices. That's where I met some new women who like to scrap, well actually these particular women liked making cards but I still had a great time. I was just glad to have a scissors and glue stick back in my hands again. http://winneconnecrafts.com/
I also got out my cricut machine and started making a few things. I got some ideas for the holidays coming up. What do you think of this Halloween lantern?

Once I got a taste of scrapping again I became anxious to teach so I visited the local Michael's and JoAnn's stores in Appleton, Wisconsin to see if they needed a new instructor. The managers at both the stores seemed interested but evidently a person needs to complete an online training course before you can apply to teach at these stores. So I got the contract information, got in touch with the person who then set-up my course. I completed the course and I'm proud to say I did awesome on my test. I kinda chuckled throughout the course...I've been teaching scrapbooking for so many years, I could have been the instructor for this class. But it was something I had to complete to be considered for employment. After that was all finished I finally was able to complete a job application, a background check and two more tests. Boy, all of this just to teach a scrapbooking class! But I love teaching and I'll do what it takes.

MacGregor Reunion 2012 Recap Part Eight

One more family arrived the day of the reunion, my cousin Mary Grace MacGregor Wolfe from Tucson, her son Taylor from California and her daughter Meghann with her husband Tony and their adorable kids from Michigan. Let the party BEGIN!
Let's start with volleyball. As you recall from my last post my son Eddie set up the volleyball net and court. He warned us that the ball(s) would end up in the lake and he was right of course. The first ball went too far out for anyone to snatch it up with a net, however a boat was going by and we waved our arms and jumped up and down...they slowed down but we must have scared them because they decided  to keep going so we sadly watched the volleyball float down the lake. The second ball went in and this time our neighbors, who heard all the commotion from the first ball, jumped in their boat and rescued the ball. The third time, they jumped in their boat and did it again.(actually I think they stayed in their boat knowing it was going to go back into the water)  I think they were having as much fun retrieving the ball as we were spiking it into the lake. The fourth time it was close to our dock so my nephew Eric dove into the water and this is how he retrieved it. I think he was just looking for an excuse to get cooled off.

Besides volleyball we had others playing tag football (which also ended up in the water), many were fishing and some stayed in the air-conditioned house playing cards. But no matter what everyone was doing, the main thing is they were having fun vising with their each other.
It wouldn't be a MacGregor reunion without family portraits. I can't post all of the families individual portraits but I can show you the entire group.We had a perfect background, the beautiful Lake Winneconne.

Most of the Schroeders were at this reunion. Sadly missing from the weekly festivities were: Bruce, Delia, Matt, Maggie, Hillary and Jessica Schroeder and my grandson Aiden.

We put a lot of thought into planning our menus for every day that we entertained our guests. But Saturday's menu was extra special. We planned a spanferkel - a German pig roast. We wanted to serve something reflecting our Schroeder German heritage. When the pig arrived everyone was excited but a few of the littler kids were frightened to see a whole pig with an apple in it's mouth. I've been to other spanferkels and they were good but this one was mouth watering delicious. I think this pig was photographed just as much as the family

"Pigs in Heat" is the name of the company that roasted the pig. They roast it in this huge cage, deliver it in a special trailer then shred up the pork for us to eat.
The day ended way too soon for me. It took over a year to plan this get-together and before I knew it the day was coming to an end. Witnessing the beauty of the sun going down over Lake Winneconne that evening was bittersweet. Goodbye MacGregors...until we meet again.

MacGregor Reunion 2012 Recap Part Seven

This is the day that we have all been waiting for. This is it! The actual day of the MacGregor Reunion hosted by the Schroeder branch of the family in "God's Country" or Winneconne, Wisconsin whichever name you want to call it.

However, before the guests begin to arrive there are always last minute things to do at the host house. I had asked all my boys to be here early to help out. My cousin Brian and my brother Mike were here too. Mike brought us a new flagpole. The last flagpole snapped off with the last high wind storm that we had. I had purchased a new pole but I bought the wrong size and had to take it back, Mike went to Fleet Farm and bought the correct size and came by early to install it. My mother would have been so proud to see her MacGregor Tartan Plaid flying high over the place she considered her home for so many years...Wisconsin.

The next thing the guys had to do was put up the MacGregor banner  Brian was in charge of this. My Uncle Harry had this banner made years ago and we began hanging it where ever our reunion was being hosted. It started in Hemet, California and then traveled to the home of Scott and Sarah in San Diego, California for the past two reunions and then Scott shipped it to us. This year we found the perfect spot for it in Winneconne. It was hung between two large trees overlooking the lake. Now it's our turn to ship the banner to Peoria, Arizona for the next MacGregor reunion in two years.

Since Eddie is the volleyball "guru" in this family he was the logical one to turn to to set-up a volleyball net and outline a court in mom's front yard. He did this under protest, he kept telling me that it was a bad idea. He warned us that the volleyball was going to end up in the lake.(but that's another story)

While they were busy outside I had others in the kitchen making some last minute desserts. Marina was in charge of making the sweets, while Jon and Chelsie were prepping the appetizer trays. Jon was helping outside but he loves being in the kitchen more. He has always been the one I turn to for help in preparing meals...cleaning up...not so much...but that's all right with me

We also had a decent size tent set up out on the lawn the day before. It only took two men from the tent company a few minutes to set it up. I remember for mom's birthday party eight years ago we had a tent and I think it took most the men in my family a long, long time to set up that tent. I guess it pays to have the professionals do it. Between all of us we had enough tables and chairs for our guests to have a place to sit and eat.

So, let's see where we are at:
1 - the tent is up and all the tables and chairs are in place
2-  the front yard is converted into a volleyball court
3 - the official MacGregor banner is displayed
4 - the desserts and appetizers are finished
5-  the correct sized flagpole is in place and the US flag and MacGregor Tartan are flapping in the wind

I think we are ready now for the guests to arrive. Whew!

MacGregor Reunion 2012 Recap Part Six

Friday started with a trip to Henning's Cheese House near Kiel, Wisconsin. Henning's is a family owned business that has been making award winning cheese since 1914. My son Eddie, owner of Thinksite, built and maintains the website for Henning's and he arranged a special tour through the cheese factory for our family.

Aren't these styling caps? I'm sure they will never catch on as a fashion statement. The girls were freezing inside the factory especially Barb, she's cold if it's below 90 degrees. I didn't go along on this trip either. I didn't get home from the Milwaukee Airport until about 2:30 am so Jon, Marina and I decided to just enjoy resting by the lake and running a few last minute errands to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store getting to buy food for the reunion on Saturday.
If you are ever in need of a special gift for someone to wish them a happy birthday, a happy holiday, thank them for their hospitality or just for no reason at all...there is no better gift than the cheese gift boxes from Henning's Cheese. Visit their site and tell them Eddie sent you.
http://www.henningscheese.com/.   


Friday evening was Jack and Mary's turn to host our out of town guests. They cooked up Wisconsin brats, freshly picked sweet corn and all the trimmings. And three more MacGregors arrived - Jim, Gina and Scott - all from the SanDiego area. (almost all have arrived now...but not quite).  It was a chance to slow down a bit, enjoy a good meal and reminisce with cousins and one uncle that haven't seen each other for a long time.

Now you'll notice I wasn't in any of these pictures either. My three sons and I have our own tradition that we follow whenever we get the chance to be together, we go out to eat at Haase's Supper Club in Borth, Wisconsin. I have been going to Haase's since I was about 15 years old...a long, long time. I get the same thing every time, the tenderloin filet. It's as good now as it was back then, the portions are huge and the prices are low. How many of you can say that you have been patronizing the same restaurant for over four decades? No one keeps returning to an establishment and keeps ordering the same item on the menu unless the food was to die for. Not to mention their famous after dinner drink - the grasshopper. I ate at a place in Arizona and ordered a grasshopper and I knew I was in trouble when I saw the bartender getting out a "how to make drinks" book. It was the worse drink I ever had - instead of being an ice cream drink it was like drinking green milk out of a martini glass. Never again did I make the mistake of ordering a grasshopper in Arizona. Haase's has the best!

I 

I love my boys and since it isn't too often that I have all three sons in the same state at the same time, when I do I relish our time together. We celebrated Eddie's birthday that night . My oldest is now 37 years old! Yikes. 

One final note. My oldest nephew, Nick was born on this day in 1965. He left this world way too early. His son Nico was the first relative to arrive this week.We loved Nick and we are so thankful that Nico is such a big part of our family. Happy Birthday Nick, you are greatly missed.

Rainddrops kept falling on my head...

It's been a busy boating day on Lake Winneconne. It's after 9 pm here in Wisconsin and there are still boats going up and down the lake. I saw men checking their setlines from their small fishing boats, parents in motor boats pulling their kids on inner tubes, people on their jet skis and of course the paddle boat from the Fin n' Feather full of customers enjoying their dinner cruise. Maybe everyone is trying to get in all the time that they can on the water before the cooler, autumn weather arrives. Please, please let us have summer a bit longer. As much as I love the Fall, I don't want to see this summer weather come to an end.

I guess the fact that Fall is right around the corner is inevitable...the other morning I saw two things that I haven't seen since I arrived here last May. I awoke to a gentle rain. Up until that time Mother Nature has either brought us a few sprinkles of rain or high winds with hail and downpours of rain. The sky was gray all morning and the rain steadily came down for hours. I swear the lawn turned green right before my eyes. And the temperature in this house read 68 degrees on the thermostat, and that was without the air conditioning turned on. I covered up with my plush Green Bay Packer blanket - but only for a short while. It was a perfect day to make soup or chili. I really do love the rain, I love the sound of it hitting the skylights and I love the clean fresh smell that it leaves. No candle can reproduce that scent.

This week a new condo became available for rent in Kauai. 

 How's this for a view?  

The price we are offering for this room in paradise will surprise you.

Don't delay, check out this website and then make your vacation reservations.

 

 http://www.alohacondos.com/kauai/islander-on-the-beach/137/photos-and-videos

Goodbye to a long time neighbor....

Today was a sad day for the Schroeder siblings. We found out that a good friend of our family has passed away...Mr. Seeley. Mr. and Mrs. Seeley have been my parent's next door neighbors here in Winneconne since the late 1960s. After our father died in 1999, Mr. Seeley always watched over our mother. When she was in Arizona for months at a time, it was Mr. Seeley who kept his eye on her Winneconne home. And when my mother died in 2008, Mr. and Mrs. Seeley came to her funeral and I remembered how sad and teary eyed they both were.

He has always been around to help us in any way we needed it. When I moved here last year, Mr. Seeley came over and helped unload the truck. He took care of Red's dog Rufus when Red had to work out of town over night, and he loved being my nephew Michael's fishing partner.

Whenever I take pictures of the lake from our yard I am facing the Seeley's shoreline and the dock in those pictures belonged to the Seeley's. One picture in particular was a favorite and I made it into a canvas and gave it to the Seeley's. This pictures was taken a few years ago...before an ice shove destroyed most of the dock.They loved this picture. They told me how much they missed the dock  because Mr. Seeley would walk out to it's end with his constant four-legged companion, Susie and sit on his bench . Then they would enjoy watching boats go by, geese landing on the lake and the beautiful view of the sunrises and sunsets.

We have many, many memories of our good neighbor. May he rest in peace and may God take care of Mrs. Seeley.

MacGregor Reunion Recap Part Five

Thursday brought us more excursions. This time they went to Green Bay to tour Lambeau Field and the Packer Hall of Fame. I didn't go along with them because I had to travel in the opposite direction to the Milwaukee airport to pickup Jon and Marina, plus I was just there in May with my grandson Aiden.
It was rainy that day but most of the tour and of course the shopping was inside. But the rain let up long enough for them to get this picture.

In the museum one of the displays is a replica of Vince Lombari's office. Mary Christine sat at his desk so she could show her son Zach, who is a loyal Packer fan. Notice the phone and the lamp? They are so typical of that decade. Whoever put this together thought of every little detail right down to the family pictures behind his desk. Now this is something I do want to see, when I went on the Lambeau Field tour there was no time to visit the Hall of Fame Museum. So I need to go back now for another visit.

Our Uncle Jack arrived on this day. Uncle Jack MacGregor is the only sibling of my mother who came to our reunion. He flew in from Tucson, Arizona. He's a very sentimental man and was so happy because he was finally able to see where mom had lived most of her adult life. He stayed with my brother Jack, which just happened to be in the home that mom and dad designed and built in Oshkosh.
For dinner that evening I took my uncle to Jeff's on Rugby, a neighborhood bar and restaurant with delicious food.
On the way there I was able to give Uncle Jack a short tour of places in my old Oshkosh neighborhood.(Better known as the Hi-holder District) I showed him Sacred Heart School where both my father and some of my brothers and sisters and I attended. Sacred Heart Church, the church that my Schroeder grandparents helped build and it's the church that I still like to attend occasionally for Sunday mass. He got to see the precast gym that my parents donated to Sacred Heart, Leroy's Bar, that my Uncle Milton always called his "church", the Schroeder homestead on 10th Avenue and of course Jeff's on Rugby, which was also known as Pucci' sand  then Sonny's when I was younger. My parents were regulars in this establishment, at least on Friday nights. After a long work week my parents would go to Pucci's (then after Mr. Pucci died it was called Sonny's) and sit at the bar and talk to all the other "regulars". Eventually they would find their way into the dining room for dinner. Most people on Friday nights went out for fish, but my father didn't like fish so he always had a steak...a tenderloin steak I believe was always his choice. As kids we always knew where we could find our parents on a Friday evening and if we showed up we got a free dinner.

Uncle Jack loved everything about this restaurant. He said he could tell it was a friendly neighborhood place and got very emotional when he realized he was somewhere that his sister Irene loved. After enjoying another good meal...I'm beginning to think no place around here has bad food...we were off to Barb and Mike's for a bonfire and dessert...s'mores.
By the time we got to Barb's 4 more family members had flown in. Charles and Garrett arrived into Milwaukee from Florida, Amy Mac flew into Appleton from Florida and Marina had arrived into Milwaukee...but not Jon. Once again, this is what might happen when you travel on stand bye. Evidently Jon didn't make it on the early flight but he was arriving into Milwaukee on the midnight flight from Phoenix.

Wouldn't you know it? It hadn't rained around here for weeks and weeks but the first night we plan an outdoor event it rained. Roasting marshmallows gathered around the burner of your kitchen stove just doesn't seem as much fun. The rain did end finally long enough for my nephew Michael and his friend Dylan to build a fire. And as you can see in the picture we did get to roast marshmallows...and not in the kitchen.

3,200 pictures and more coming....

My sister Barb and I spent eight hours the other day sorting through pictures of our reunion. There were over 3,200 photos and sorting was just about all we got accomplished. That comes to 400 pictures an hour and seven pictures every minute. Whew. We managed to get through our first round of choosing the photos we might want to use in our book and then we placed them in individual folders for each day of the reunion. Ok, now I'm tired again.
Next step is getting other family members to send us their pictures to add to our collection. We can't begin  the book until all the pictures are in. And it just so happens that the 12X12 storybooks are on sale for the month of August. So everyone needs to hurry

www.memoriesin.com