May 2014 archive

Published: Our Turquoise House

It has been a lot of fun this past year moving into a new home and getting some recognition for our hard efforts.  My husband and I had rennovated many homes including a 1928 Tudor and let me say, it was really hard for all of my family to sell that house and move to the warm weather of Florida, but we did.

DSC_1479Our new home is located on a lake in Orlando and we have really enjoyed working on this project.  We started with a color pallet of all shades of spa glass, reminders of my yesteryear on the Jersey Coast and picking up glass that was well worn by the ocean currents.  I used to love it when I would find glass in deep shades of turquoise or indigo blue in an age when everything was put in glass bottles and not plastic or tin cans.  Well, not entirely but Milk of Magnesia was my favorite glass to find – it’s deep blue and a small bottle factory in Central South Jersey would bottle their products in a deep turquoise color.  Then washed on the sea beaches were evidence of glass once used and after a hurricane, it was like discovering hidden treasures.  Sometimes I would find whole bottles, sometimes just broken pieces.

Years later, now, those colors inspired me to paint the inside of our home in those beautiful colors.   Last month, in April, our finished home was featured in House of Turquoise.  Home sweet home 🙂 – here it is.

Our Turquoise House

Our Turquoise House – Pegeen Finishes, Interior Design

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Newborn Twins Photographed Holding Hands

 

It has been said “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”. The viral photo of newborn twins holding hands is a heartwarming encapsulation of what should be their marching orders as they begin their life’s journey. As twins they will share an even deeper bond than that of other siblings, and as twin girls, even more so.

Jillian and Jenna Thistlethwaite faced their first challenge with breathing difficulties after birth, needing respirators for a short period. The identical twin girls shared the same amniotic sac and placenta. Such births are called monoamniotic, or “mono mono,” and doctors say they occur in about one of every 10,000 pregnancies. They will face many more hills to climb in their lives, but those hills will not be as steep if they face them, metaphorically, hand in hand.

Boyfriends and girlfriends may come and go, but sisters are forever.

Bruce Willis: Parenting at 59

Bruce Willis and his wife, Emma Heming-Willis, welcomed a new daughter, Evelyn Penn Willis, into the world the other day. What has made this remarkable, besides the joy of a new birth, which we should celebrate in any event, is that Willis is 59 years old. Some might say that 59 is too old to deal fairly with all the issues parenting raises. Others point to the statistics that say older parents are much more likely produce progeny with disabilities. Baby Evelyn is healthy and doing fine.

What struck me at first was how I would might meet the challenge of raising a newborn (Bruce is five months older than me). I recall how tired I was most of the time with my two boys as a father who was 37 and 40 years old at their births. My wife and I were work-at-home parents when the boys were young, arranging our office either really near to our home or finally an office within our home, so I was blessed to be around to watch them grow up. I wouldn’t have traded that for anything. I treasure all the memories from those precious years, but they were a handful for me in my forties. Without my wife’s help, well… I might have needed a rest camp.

My wife and I chose at the time to have “nanny at home” much the same way she was raised. The girl came to our home and was responsible for taking the kids to parks or events we could not attend though being near his school, we always could to get to as many events, Halloween Parades and games as we could. But hair cuts? No, we weren’t at each and every clipping. We were never comfortable having our children too far from sight especially after one nanny quit in the middle of the day, leaving my youngest at the Mall Police Station saying she couldn’t cope any more. While the police loved him for the forty minutes it took us to get there, crying, my youngest was a handful. He’s a brilliant kid now happy and healthy at an Ivy League school and had we not been hands on/home based business folk we never would have all those moments with him to learn about him

Bruce and Emma, even with consuming careers such as ours were, can hire nannies to help with all those tasks that tire out 59 year olds however from appearances sake, he seems to be a very hands on parent. Who isn’t? We love our kids. We love to be with them. And yes ladies, men love the way they smell too. Although I was tired, somehow at an older age I was able to deal with my children quite differently than if I were in my twenties. SO, I traded wisdom for energy.

So yes, I was pretty tired and can imagine how at nearly 60 Bruce Willis may feel at times but children are truly a gift from God. So, at any age I would never trade fatherhood for the rest home.

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Family photo, 1927

Couple Turn Their Wedding Vows Into an Adorable Song

Sing a wedding song together at your own weddings, sign with a record company hours later.  Sounds implausible.   That is exactly what happened to Michael and Carissa Alvarado during their wedding.  Shortly after their wedding, this couple in love and the singing duet called “Us The Duo” signed with Republic Records.  A similar story, we attended a wedding here in Orlando a couple years ago to see my dear friend and son’s former high school teacher marry the man of her dreams, and yes!  Just after they said I do, Michael McDonald (not the same) but successful gospel singer burst into a seranade to his new wife.  The entire room of wedding guests were crying (women) or sighing (men “Damn, why can’t I do that?”) and everyone applauded.  My gift to this new couple was two lovely dresses for their flower girls and I must say, we had a blast!

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More and more couples submit their wedding videos online – some are fantastic, some quite professional and some are down right hysterical.  Which are your favorites?