Simply Stated

Simply Stated:

She was tops as a Mother-in-Law.

 

She was a dear.

She oozed love for her husband and family.

She was smart.

She was tasteful.

She had great listening ears.

She was patient.

She made it work.

 

 

And now she is gone to a better place and we all miss her terribly.

 

I leave you with a few of my favorite Muriel quotes:

 

"It works all kinds of ways."

 

"We all have our own neuroses."

 

"I am thankful to be getting old(er)."

 

"Sometimes you have to play hardball."

 

 

Here is a copy of her obituary. 

 

 

Muriel was born February 26, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois to Judith and Gunnar Johnson. She had a wonderful childhood with an older sister, Lorraine and a younger brother, Allan. She graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in Secretarial Science in 1947. Her career began as Secretary to Dean Walter Moberg at North Park College in Chicago. On August 5, 1950 she married Elder Lindahl at First Covenant Church in Chicago. They celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary last summer at the family cabin on Golden Lake in Upper Michigan.

She worked as a secretary at various institutions and taught adult students shorthand, accounting, and word processing at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois through the Human Resource Department. Most of her life she lived in the North Park community in Chicago where she and Elder raised their family. They were long time members of North Park Covenant Church. Since then, they were members of Libertyville Covenant Church, Salem Covenant Church and currently members of Grace Covenant Church in Iron River, Michigan. They moved to the Covenant Village of Golden Valley community in 1996.

Muriel had a continuing interest in emotional growth potential and Psychology. She did extensive research in this area and wrote the book, It’s All in a Nutshell, in 2004. Her basic premise, as described in the Introduction, was that “Emotions, like fear and love, determine all our decisions and actions: therefore we deal with them all the time. Potentially, we have the capacity to control these emotions so that we can make thoughtful and refined responses to life’s challenges.”

Muriel is survived by her husband Elder, children Kristine Cloyes, Wesley (Debra) Lindahl, Paul (Lora) Lindahl, and Renee (Jeff) Catrambone and grandchildren Anne (Jed) Bassett, Victoria Cloyes, John (Kari) Lindahl, Rebecca Cloyes, Samantha Catrambone, Grace Lindahl, Jeffery Catrambone, Karl Lindahl, Laena Lindahl and Jackson Catrambone and great-granddaughters Ellie Bassett and Maja Bassett.

A memorial service will be held in Minnesota on February 2, 2013 at Covenant Village of Golden Valley. An additional service is being planned for the summer at Grace Covenant Church in Iron River, Michigan.

 

 

Muriel would have been 87 in just a few weeks.  I'm so glad we could celebrate with her last year.

 

Peace to you, Mother-in-Love.

Crown Maker, Crown Wearer

 

How can it be that our Little Miss is three years old?

And with a celebration such as this, a birthday crown needed to be created for the birthday girl.

 

Not just a "regular" crown, but a MeMo-made, pull-out-the-purple-and-pink-and-rainbows-with-

sparkle-and-jewels kind of crown.

 

The crown was made from a lavender felted sweater with pink felt backing.  The rainbow ribbon was from my stash, once intended to be a "groovy" belt for my low-waisted bell bottoms worn while still in high school.  With the embroidered (lazy-daisies) t shirt top I was well dressed as a child of the

peace-and-love generation. 

 Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd newer end-

We'd sing and dance forever and a day.

We'd live the life we'd choose,

We'd fight and never lose,

Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days!

 

Pardon me for my brief reminiscence.  Back to the crown.

  

 

 

The E-l-l-i-e was reverse-appliqued so the pink felt backing peeks out from behind.

 

 

The pattern for the crown was made easy peasy by folding a piece of paper about 14 inches long in half and free-handing the peaks of the crown points from front to sides.

To make the crown fit her head comfortably the rainbow ribbon strip was backed by felt in the back with a piece of elastic running through the center.

 

Her Baby Sister tried the crown on for size, too!

 

 

 

Not such a good fit.  But, your turn will come, Little One!

 

H  A  P  P  Y         B  I  R T  H  D  A  Y 

 

to our happenin' groovy rainbows 'n sunshine M I S S   E!

Nicknames (and How We Got Ours)

 

This past weekend I learned something new about my husband.  (That is not my husband in the top picture.) After being married all these years, this was a treat.  It so happened that we were out and about and needed to find a place to eat lunch before seeing a movie.  We drove by a vintage-looking sort of restaurant on Touhy and Wes asked if I'd like to go there.  My answer was, "Sure."  The restaurant is called Jack's and has been serving diners since 1963.  Apparently this is
where Wes earned his nickname sometime in the 70s as he and his buddies gathered here to chow down. They were big eaters and he was not.  They told him he ate like a bird and at the booth nearby he officially became Bird. His younger brother, by default, became Little Bird. This is what he was known by when I met him in college, but I never knew that he was named this at the very restaurant we were sitting down to eat our lunch on a cold winter's day.
 

 

Which made me wonder if this type-written menu insert came from those days....who uses a typewriter anymore with letters not quite lining up straight? 

Taking a look at the prices, though, confirmed that it had to have been written in present days.

 

(I should've ordered the PIZZ A  BURGER W   ITH S OUP.)

 

 

Now that you know where his nickname originated, let's go to mine that I just can't seem to shake off.

My friends from college still call me by this name and now their children do, too.  Sheesh.

Somehow I got this nickname from the dad of one of my new friends. 

 

Before I tell you that nickname, you need to go back in time many, many years to a TV show for

children that was the equivalent of nursery school.  Romper Room was the name of the show.

Miss Jane, Miss Carol and Miss Barbara were the TV teachers on  the show and they tried to teach the basics to the young viewing public.  At the end of the show they held a large magifying glass to the camera to "look" into the home audience and got down to business about teaching right from wrong.

They could see if you were being good or bad and I personally bought into their knowing eyes.

 

 

The teachers called the good ones Do-Bees and the naughty ones Don't Bees.

 

Oh how I wanted to be a Do-Bee but I confess I had some Don't Bee tendencies at times-

just ask my sister.

 

Okay, back to college during Freshman Orientation week.  My friend's father apparently remembered the Romper Room show and told Carol (my friend/his daughter) that he thought I was one

who would do the right things - a DO-Bee sort of girl and that she should hang out with me.

At that moment my nickname was born: Dooby.

 

And I will leave it up to you to decide if her father was right or wrong about me!

 

There you have it:  one nickname born in a restaurant and one name given by a friend's dad.

The 2013 Word

Nope, no resolutions for me as a new year starts. 

 Instead, I choose one word and try to cajole myself into living a better, kinder, gentler, more "aware" life based upon the definition of that particular word.

In year's past my words have been a bit on the eclectic side: zip, turnover, mindful, savor. 

To me they have special meanings and have inspired my journey along the course of 365 days.

(Mindful was my biggest failure as I still couldn't seem to remember

on day #364 where I placed my glasses or keys.)

 

For the past month, I have been tossing around several words in my mind for THE word

of 2013.  The last week of thought has cemented my word as something to reach for as the days unfold in this new year.  Before the word is revealed, I present to you a pictorial challenge

to see if you can guess my four letter 2013 word:

  

 

 

Hint:  Starts with a "t" and ends with an "m."

 

And it also has something to do with one of my favorite sayings:

 

 

 

Give up?

The word is t--r--i--m. Trim.

 

It's about using trim (notions) in my sewing room stash.

It's about sprucing up around the house - painting trim if necessary.

It's about making sensible choices to stay fit -- and trim.

 

And, noting that I like to "collect," it's about trimming down the possessions to a lighter load.

 

 

 

 

 

This is tricky because I really do use a lot of the things stored on shelves and in closets.

And I am sentimental.  But do I really need so much stuff?  NO!

 

 You really can't take it with you and there are others who would welcome

clothing, books, furniture and such.  I'm all for donating instead of trashing.

 

Now please excuse me...a box is waiting to be filled.  A project for Miss E's birthday is

calling my name that has do do with trims.

  And a nice salad beckons me.  Well, maybe not so nice, but oh well.

 

 

 

Year-End Wedding

What a way to send off 2012 with witnessing two sweethearts marrying each other in a lovely ceremony surrounded by those who know and love the young couple.

May this be a start of a very happy lifetime of marriage!