Year Book Photo

Tom and Kim's year book photo, that I stole off Beth's face book page. It's too cute. Now I just have to find out how it's done!

Another revelation

My sweet DIL, Kim, turned 50 yesterday. It just dawned on me that she was born the day before we were married. I never thought of that before!!

This picture if from the Elgin FD Memorial Observance a few years ago but she hasn't changed a bit. The one with the mustache is my son, Tom.

It's Friday again...

Another week - gone in a flash. I read somewhere that the older you get, the faster time seems to go, because, for example, a week is such a small percentage of your life, as opposed to a much larger percentage when you were young. Does that make any sense??? I'm probably not explaining it very well. Anyway - it seems like just last week I was 50, and trim. Oh well (sigh).

I just realized that today is May 28th. It would have been my 50th wedding anniversary, had Joe lived. I'm not feeling morose or anything - don't worry. It's just an observation. I'm sorry he didn't live to enjoy his old age and great kids.

New Pillow - one of our ddp's

One of our most popular subjects is pets. Probably the most popular, next to grandchildren, with Anniversary Pillows a close second. Unfortunately, most of the dogs have 'passed on'. It is a nice way to keep them near you. Sometimes we can make the pillow a life sized cut-out of the dog... and, can even leave an opening in the bottom that has a Velcro closing, to accommodate a small packet (cremains, tags, etc).

... and then the next day - Graduation!

It's not every day that you graduate from high school, and we had 2 in the same class. Cousins Stefan and Sean both got their diplomas yesterday and we had - another party!! and more fun.

We also celebrated Rina, Julianna and Sean's birthdays. (We were a little behind.)

Rina - Sweet Sixteen. She was sweet before being sixteen.

Lookin' Nifty at 40 plus 50!

My Mom turned 90 this weekend. Do you believe it? She passed her driving exam and is doing great, except for her allergies - which drive her crazy. (No, I'm not saying my mother is crazy) An 'aged to perfection' balloon followed Mom around all evening.


My brother Chip and SIL Scarlet visited from Colorado and we had a blast! I sure miss them and wish we saw them more often. We're not gettin' any younger either.
All my kids were there (Tom, Kim, Amy, Joey, Chelli) plus Bob, of course, grandson Dan, and Chip's good friend Bill. My sweet DIL Kim is having a significant birthday next weekend. I won't tell you which one, but it rhymes with nifty! and Chelli's was last week, so we had lots to celebrate.

New Baby Pillow

This is a gift for a new mom, coming back after maternity leave. The words at the bottom say "she is everything that is perfect wrapped in a tiny bundle"

Mother's Day and more

We had a full and fun weekend. Saturday afternoon, Joey and I worked on our new SewSweet Dolls site and it will be launched in a short time, after a long wait. We still have a lot of work to do on it, but the end is in sight, now. Woohoo!!

Then Saturday night bob and I had a fundraiser party for Kathy who is running for DuPage County Board. Kathy is Bob's daughter and will work for the good of the people, if elected. She is passionate about 'fairness' and fair treatment of everyone - no exceptions!

On Sunday Sean Allen, Bob's grandson, joined our church. His Mom Cindy, Gram Jean, and good friend Lon came to church with us. It was so nice to have them all there.

THEN - Chelli and Joey had a wonderful Mothers'Day Party with delicious home made Italian food (which I've missed). My sweet DIL Kim brought her fresh baked bread and a great salad. I won't tease you with the desserts - just say that they were worth every calorie! Thank you so much everyone!

Bob took pictures - I'll add them when I can.

Thought for the day

Women and cats will do as they please. Men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. Robert Hileman

Portrait Pillows

A client ordered 3 pillows for Mother's Day, with the most wonderful pictures! It was so much fun to work on them.

Antonio Luppino, Compabello, Sicily

This is a picture of a play, performed in Compabello, Sicily. The guy in the tank top is Antonio Luppino, Johnny, Joe, and Ed's 2nd cousin. Our new found cousin seems to be an actor. He found my SIL Phyllis, on FB and friended her. She's a cute blond. Phyl was afraid to answer him because he writes in Italian and she didn't know what he was saying. (I guess I'd be concerned, too, if a strange man friended me, even one with the same name). Anyway, it turns out that our Uncle Joe was his God Father, and Joeys son, our cousin Johnny, knows about him and can read his posts. There are a bunch of pictures from a play, on his fb and I just grabbed one. He friended Amy too, but hasn't friended me, possibly because I'm not a genuine Luppino, Neither is Phyllis, but she doesn't use her maiden name so he wouldn't know that.

Joey's New Car!

I'm so happy Joey found a car! He's been looking for several years. Meanwhile, the Exploder he has been driving was getting worse and worse. Nothing in it worked any more. It started with the 4-wheel drive failing, then the power windows wouldn't go up and down, the doors wouldn't lock, one door hinge had to be replaced but door still wouldn't close, and so on ...
So, now he has this great car, with all the bells and whistles! Radio, CD player, Sun roof, cute running boards (my description) and more. It's all about persistence, and being in the right place and the right time!
I took the pictures behind our office building, in the infamous parking lot.