Family

The Maker’s Bedroom Door

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I knew you would enjoy this, violent people that you are. If only the purple one showed up better: it looks like if you enter without caution you could get a bloody lip. Like, a serious bloody lip, with enough blood to satisfy a whole pack of vampires. Of course, they say head wounds bleed [...]

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Snow Day

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It started coming down in earnest about 7 pm on Friday night, and by then the Ice was over his misery at being forbidden to go to a skating party that was due to run until 11 pm in a town 30 miles away. The First, however, had already made good his escape and was [...]

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Water-Powered Boat

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As you can see, the Maker has been at it again. This time he put together a water-powered boat made from paper plates, a cup, a straw, some blue painter’s tape, and a wad of gum (which he borrowed from one of his brothers). When I saw the working demonstration, this craft had already been [...]

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Boy Bling

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I had a vague idea that the Maker was collecting can tabs, but I had never seen this monstrously marvelous super-G chain of eco-money until he came downstairs with it on. As you can see from the sheer number of tabs — would you guess 500? he doesn’t know how many there are — he’s [...]

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The Amount of Fun You Can Fit In A Sock

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Beanies fit nicely into a sock. Stockings are the best part of Christmas for this very reason. We’ve always been light on the gift-giving: each child receives two to four gifts under the tree, plus a stocking. The husband and I don’t exchange gifts at all (why on earth would we need to?). For some [...]

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The Plugged-In Prayer, with Food

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During the Christmas holidays during the year the First was four, our electricity had been out for a good part of the week due to a freak NC snowstorm. Because of the timing, it made a pretty big impact on the First. Shortly after the drama had subsided, we once again made his favorite comfort [...]

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The First as Gum

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Tis the season, I suppose. Our new girlfriend (er, the First’s girlfriend, technically) gave him this lovely and stylish hoodie for Christmas and I like it a lot. However, he was told at school today that he made people want a stick of gum. I kinda like that, as part of his personal brand. So [...]

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Jack Gordon Scharff, Sr.

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This photo is an absolute treasure to me; my sister brought it to me this fall after a visit with our grandfather, Jack Scharff, who still lives in Memphis TN, where this photo was taken. I had no idea that my grandfather had ever had an interest in boxing. He told my sister that he [...]

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Sneaky Boy Money Making Tactics

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Gram and Papa Clyde took all of us to IHOP this morning before they headed back to Memphis. We dined sumptuously on pancakes, french toast, bacon, eggs, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, and the Maker and the Ice competed to see who could drink more of the little creamers in the baskets on our three [...]

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The Smell of the Very Last Baby

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When the last of my baby boys grew out of his infant clothes I passed all of the marvelous tiny baby things I’d accumulated to another friend who needed them. Almost all. One of the Maker’s tee shirts (also worn by his older brothers when they were newborns) I folded carefully — unwashed — into [...]

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