Category Archives: A Thousand Words Thursday

Bazinga!

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It’s Day THREE of 30 Days About Me. I bet you just can’t wait for my answer to this question!
30 Days About Me
Day 3 – My Favorite TV Show
The favorite questions are more difficult to answer than you would think.

I watch too much TV, or lets say, I have the TV on when ever I am home, including during the night. Do I always pay full attention to a show? No, that is why I DVR things, so I can go back and pick up where I got distracted. That happens to me a lot!

If I HAD to pick just one show, the one that I enjoy watching the most, that would have to be The Big Bang Theory.
The cast of TBBT is the best. I LOVE Sheldon!
I am also enjoying the comedy programming on TVLand with Hot in Cleveland and Happily Divorced, great actresses in good roles!

Summer wouldn’t be summer without Big Brother. I had been a reality TV junkie, but over the past couple seasons of shows, I’ve drifted a bit. I think the shows are running out of really interesting people to cast. I do still enjoy Big Brother, I think just because it is a summer thing that Tara and I enjoy. I’ve got Big Brother After Dark on as I type!

I can’t seem to keep up with all the drama shows, they seem to come and go so quickly anymore. I’m enjoying the new series, The Protector on Lifetime and Rizzoli and Isles on TNT, I like that we no longer have to spend the summer watching reruns!

Cheaper Than Therapy
ATWT was one of the first weekly photo “memes” that I participated way back when life was different and I had more time for photography and blogging. I miss participating, so for at least this week, I’m back. Since it’s about the memories, the pictures don’t need to be current!
I posted a picture of Tara yesterday from last summer, mentioning how much life has changed in just one year for us all. I guess I’m a bit “homesick” for our life in Florida (life seemed more fun back then!). I miss this 10 year old who couldn’t wait to get back on Big Thunder Mountain for the 5th time in a row, or who would oblige me with a photo op with a Disney character. I’m lucky if I ever get to take her picture now!
This is one of my favorites out of the THOUSANDS of pictures I took at Disney during our 6 yrs in Orlando. Tara loved Chip and Dale, and we loved eating at The Garden Grill in EPCOT for the character meal. Now it seems we are always arguing about something when we are out to eat!
Chip and Dale Garden Grill
Stop over and visit Jen. She’s not home right now though, she’s at BlogHer11! (Jealous!)

AThousand Words Thursday – A Teen in the House

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13 years ago, at this moment (4:20pm) Tara Leigh Kasper made her grand entrance into the world!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA!  I LOVE YOU!!!!!

I can’t believe that 13 years have gone by!  What a “ride” it has been!
We are having a quiet celebration this year.  Pizza and chocolate chip cookie cake with family.  

(Yes, she is VERY happy that it is ‘warm’ enough to wear her flip flops again!  The snow is almost gone!)
Visit Jen and other ATWT participants @ Cheaper than Therapy!
Cheaper Than Therapy
A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness!

A Thousand Word Thursday – Pictures of me from the past!

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Cheaper Than Therapy
Jen @ Cheaper than Therapy hosts A Thousand Word Thursday each week. It’s a great place to share wonderful memories both new and in my case OLD!

We are expecting more snow… I believe the year I was born (1958) there was a pretty big snowstorm/blizzard right around my birth!

Since I celebrated the big 52 (I like that much better than 51), I thought I would share a picture of me as an infant….

and another picture of “skinny” Martha on my birthday in 1996. I had worked very hard to lose a huge amount of weight. It was our 1st wedding anniversary and my birthday. For the first time in our marriage my ex-husband really did something BIG for me. He planned a surprise last minute trip to the Bahamas. I won $600 on the slot machines. I wish I looked like that again, but I would not want my life to be what it was…. total DRAMA 24/7!

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness!

A Thousand Words Thursday – Hilton Head

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Cheaper Than Therapy

Jen @ Cheaper than Therapy hosts ATWT, a place where we can post photos that bring back happy memories!

Eight years ago this week was not only the Salt Lake City Olympics, but also one of the best vacations I have ever taken.  This vacation was not to some exotic or far away place, nor was it at a luxurious five star hotel.  This vacation was about friendship and simplicity!

I first met my friend Stacey when I was a client at her salon.  Over time, we became good friends, as did our daughters.  Maddie was 18 months younger than Tara, but they enjoyed playing together.  Stacy was recently separated, and had a week at a condo in Hilton Head available to her for a very reasonable price, and invited Tara and I to join them.

On Feb 15, 2002, while the girls were at pre-school, Stacy and I packed the back of my Blazer to the brim, and picked up the girls and headed out on our road trip.  I had rented a VCR for the car, which was some of the best money I spent.  Tara was always a good traveler and never had issues with her car seat, but Maddie was not a fan, so videos were a great distraction.  Until we moved to FL (and back) this was the longest road trip Tara has been on!

We drove 1/2 way the first night, and stayed in a hotel with a pool.  The girls had a great time, and I think would have spent the whole vacation there.  They even had fun climbing trees at one of the rest areas on I-95.

We arrived at our destination Marriott’s Harbour Point, Hilton Head, and unloaded our car!  We had so much stuff!

Our week was fun and simple, two mom’s with two girls.  Some of their favorite times were “swimming” in the jacuzzi tub and swimming in the resort (heated) pool and hot tub!

The girls went on pony rides.  Bike rides (with those hitch hiker bike seats attached for the girls).  We saw Peter Pan Return to Neverland.

We went on a dolphin watch boat ride (didn’t see any dolphins) but we could see them from our patio.

We visited downtown Hilton Head, went up the lighthouse and played on a a great playground.

We ate simple home cooked meals, watched lots of Barbie & The Nutcracker and the Olympics in the evenings.

We celebrated my birthday/Mardi Gras.  The girls wore the tiaras and beads, spent the afternoon with Stacy’s aunt-in-law at the beach, while Stacy and I spent the afternoon at a spa being pampered, and we enjoyed pizza, wine (the big girls) and birthday cake (the girls picked it out for me!) back at the condo that evening.

 
  
 

On the trip home, we stopped again at the same hotel, and Tara got a stuffed tiger at a gas station that she still has and cherishes as one of her favorites to this day.  His name is Hilton!

I look back through my photos and realize that I didn’t capture much of the beauty of the Island, just the happy faces of the kids!  It is a vacation that I will always remember and I bet I spent less than $400 for the entire week (gas, food, lodging, etc)

We ran into Maddie and Stacy at Blockbuster a few months ago, and had planned to get together, but it has not worked out yet.  I think this post will prompt me to give Stacy another call.

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness!
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A Thousand Words Thursday – Snow – Then and Now

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Cheaper Than Therapy
Jen@Cheaper than Therapy hosts A Thousand Words Thursday so we can share our memories!  Our 2nd big snow in 4 days is winding down, so I thought I’d share photos of the last year we experienced “big” snow before we moved to Florida.  The snow is not scaring me away this time!  I am EMBRACING it!

Big Snow 2003 (5 yrs old)

Big Snow 2010 (12 yrs old) (she’s not wanting to have her picture taken these days!)

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness!

A Thousand Words Thursday

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When Tara was born, I joined a “New Mom’s Group” organized by the hospital.  After 6 weeks of  ”official” sessions, we all enjoyed getting together, so we continued to meet.  All of our babies were born within 6 weeks of one another.  It was quite a sight when we would go out for lunch after the meetings as the hospital 6 – 8 moms with infants in tow.  This photo was taken at the home of one of the other mom’s and has always been a favorite – they were about 3 months old in this photo.  I have lost track of all of these families.  It would be so awesome to connect with them again!

Kyle, Avery, Tara, Ben and Rachel. Of these babies 4 of the 5 were born within one week of each other – March 1st – March 5th.  Ben was born a little earlier in February.

Jen @ Cheaper Than Therapy hosts ATWT each week for us to share our memories.  Click here to visit Jen and other paricipants.

Cheaper Than Therapy

I participated in Thursday 13 today too – you can see my entry here.

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness!

A Thousand Words Thursday – Duchess and Me

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Jen hosts ATWT each week over @ Cheaper Than Therapy.  I thought I would do another scanned photo of “yours truly”.
Cheaper Than Therapy

My first dog Duchess and me. We got her for my 6th birthday (Feb, 1964). She was such a great dog.  Scared of thunder and riding in the car. 

Never thought of it when we named Princess, that I was continuing the “royalty” theme.
Remember the skating picture last week? Well you can see the corner of pond on the left side of this picture under the umbrella.  The barn in the background is still there today, part of Freddy Hill Farm,

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness!

A Thousand Words Thursday – A Hero

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ATWT is hosted by Jen@ Cheaper Than Therapy.
Cheaper Than Therapy

It’s funny how things happen in life, little coincidences that I often have to wonder if they are coincidences at all or something much bigger.

Tara and I were watching a TV show (Promised Land rerun) and at the center of the episode was a Purple Heart medal. Tara asked me what the Purple Heart was, and I explained to her that it was awarded to those who are wounded or killed while serving our country in the military. I then reminded her we have one hanging on the wall.   Some of you might recall that my brother, Robin, was killed in Viet Nam.

Later that evening, in search of some interesting indoor things to take photos of I decided I would try and photograph the medals (made difficult because they are mounted behind glass and  I needed the flash)


Above Robin’s photo is the Bronze Star awarded for “Heroic or meritorious achievement or service”. Even though Robin received a fatal wound, before he succumbed to it, he gave aid to the others who were also shot.

Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon.  when I was surprised by an email from someone from the past.

“JS” was my brother’s radioman in VietNam, and he found himself thinking about Rob and “visiting” him on The Wall website, from there he had found my email address.

It warmed my heart to know that others still think of Robin, when so many of our family now never even knew him.  My nieces, nephews, great nephews and Tara were all born after he was killed in 1969.

Following are the words that “JS” shared with me in his letter.  I have to tell you these words mean so much to me. I had just turned 11 when Robin was killed, and although I remember the events of the weeks following the notification like it like it was yesterday, I was not given too many details, and it was just not something I could ask questions about.

Martha,

I was thinking about Rob today and went on the Vietnam Memorial site and saw your name. I want to let you know that I think of Rob often and miss him too. War is a bad thing that we could do without.

Rob and I were very close for the 6 months we spent together in Vietnam. Rob being the squad leader and I was the radioman (RTO), we were together all the time until March 9,1969. We had been in the field for a month straight and we were going to stay on LZ South for 3 days. They had each squad leader pick someone to go to Chi Lai for a 3-day stand down to rest and not pull any duty. Rob picked me and I went to the rear area on the 8th of March. Recon (E-4-3) was to be on LZ South to rest but the VC moved in to engage us and Recon was sent to the village at the base of the hill. Recon walked into an ambush and we lost 4 and 1 captured. That was the worst day of my life. It’s hard to think you could grow so close to someone in 6 months but Rob and I were best friends. I will always remember him (19 years old), he will always be that young teenager who gave his life for his country.

I would have been with Rob when he was killed but he picked me to be sent back to the rear area. I owe him my life and look forward to the day that I will see him again in Heaven. You have a great brother and we all miss him.

Hope you are doing well and let me know how everyone is doing.

“JS”

So this is one of life’s little”things”.  My brother was very much on my mind in the hours before I received this very special email from someone who was thinking of him too!

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness!

A Thousand Words Thursday – Future Gold Medal Winner? (NOT!)

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Cheaper Than Therapy

I wish everyone stopping by a very Happy New Year.  May it bring us all many more memories worth A Thousand Words!


This is a picture of me, ice skating on the pond behind our house on Kriebel Rd (for those that are local, it is on the property of Freddy Hill Farms), in 1963 (I was five). That’s probably my sister Linda who you can only see 1/2 of her body. Don’t blame me, I wasn’t the photographer back then. I have such wonderful memories of skating on the pond. “Back in the day”, I think it froze thick enough to skate on at least one week every winter if not more. See that dock in the back? One year, when I was around 10, we were skating, and I fell through the ice there. The ice had started to melt because it was a bit warm that day. Luckily I had the dock to grab on to!

A Thousand Words Thursday is hosted by Jen @Cheaper Than Therapy, as a place to share those photos that evoke a special memory or emotion each week!  I was planning on making a mosaic of my favorites of the year, but when I came across this photo, I just had to share!  Click on the button at the top and visit Jen and other participants!

I’ve got three posts going on this blog today, too much to say (show) for one post, be sure to check out 2009 Movies and Looking back.

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness!

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A Thousand Words Thursday – Christmas Through the Years

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If I don’t get a chance to get around to visit today, I will be by tomorrow!  Today for us is the busier of the two days, tomorrow quieter time at home with just Mom, Tara and I at least in the early part of the day!  I feel so behind on commenting this week!

It’s Christmas Eve, we made it! I’ve got a bit to do today we have family coming at 7pm tonight, and hope to make it to church at 5pm. If you have time today, why don’t you stop by and see our hostess Jen, for A Thousand Words Thursday. Her post will make you laugh!

Cheaper Than Therapy

Me around 1963

Tara top to bottom 1997 – 2001 (I didn’t get my scanning project done, and apparently we did not celebrate Christmas in 2002, I can’t find ANY photos!!!) If you click on the photo below, and then click on the magnifying glass in the right hand corner you can see more detail!

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness!