Your Angel on Earth by Gabby

First I have to say, *I did not write this! It’s something that is beautiful to share though and it needs shared. How did this story come to be in my possession? That’s a very nice story in itself, about 15 or so years ago…Our Dad found it and made copies for all of us 6 daughters. I think that was such a beautiful thought and a loving thing to do, a living tribute to our Mom. That’s the way Dad was…He loved our Mom very much. Even though we honored and loved Mom, Dad wanted us all to have this special reminder. Since our Dad is in Heaven now, all I keep thinking is how proud he is of us 6 daughters. We all look after our Mom when she lets us, (She can be a bit stubborn) we all love her to pieces. It isn’t always easy for her and I despise evil cancer for taking our Dad away. Dad and Mom were joined at the soul, a feeling I understand all too well. One of the saddest things Mom said to me 8 years ago, after we lost both Dad and Dave (my husband). Mom said never did she ever think her and I would end up widows, losing them both to the same evil cancer & 40 days apart. I digressed a bit, but I wanted to get it all said. So, here  is the beautiful story  now to share with all of you kind readers. Some of you maybe already have read this story. To us it was magic because “La Famiglia e tutto”, that’s in Italian, in English it means “Family is Everything”. So please do enjoy this story and let Autumn and I know your thoughts if you would like to share. 🙂 The title is of course “Your Angel on Earth“. The author is unknown.

A child preparing to be born asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?” God answered, “Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will be waiting for you and will take care of you.”
The child paused and again addressed God, “But tell me, here in Heaven, I don’t do anything else but sing and smile, that’s enough for me to be happy.” Your angel will sing to you and also smile for you everyday, and you will feel your angel’s love and be happy.” “Oh,” the child said “and how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don’t understand the language that men speak?” And then glancing at God the child asked, “What am I going to do when I want to talk to you?” God softly touched the child on the head and said, “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.” The child then asked.”I have heard that on earth there is evil. Who will protect me?” “Ah,” God answered, “your angel will defend you even if it means risking her own life.”

The child said to God, “But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.” “Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way for you to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you,” God explained. At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard, and the child in a hurry asked softly, “God, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel’s name.” Sweetly God looked at the child and whispered, Your angel’s name is of no importance. You will simply call her MOM.”

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Twinnies Make a Gingerbread House… ~ By Gabby Angel

It’s not easy, let me tell you that! I was remembering last year when Autumn and I made one. It was lots of fun, kind of confusing…And we even had a kit! How embarassing is that to admit? We are both fairly handy and somewhat crafty, but for some reason it was kind of tougher going than we’d expected. Not as easy as Mom made them look, that’s for sure.

Wonder if was the twinnie combination…Did we laugh too much and not get serious? Probably, we made it more difficult than need be. It was so much laughing, making a mess all over my kitchen table, somewhat on ourselves even! Of course we also debated a lot. ;). The good news, it turned out very nicely after all was said and done. It was so much improvising and changing things on our part, but a fun project for a few hours.

I know, I don’t think it takes people that long…Our youngest sister got one put together so quickly. That was a couple years ago, she made it sound so easy and she had the two little nephews helping her! What prompted this memory? Well, I was looking at this year’s latest gingerbread houses. Some looked easy, some weren’t even made out of gingerbread either…How weird, isn’t that the whole point of a gingerbread house? 😉

Anyway, Autumn and I were talking about my findings and if we were brave enough to try one this year. Sadly no, we decided against it. We twinnies know we just couldn’t stay focused.Both Autumn and I have the need to create…But this year neither of us has that much time to spare.

I was again pondering and wondering…How many of you ever made your own gingerbread house? Did you find it easy, or did you have a hard time of it? Did you use a kit or make it yourself? Oh my goodness, I do ask far too many questions don’t I? That’s what I’m here for it seems, I am curious that’s all…So is Autumn. Again, if any kind readers have a gingerbread house story to share, please do! Maybe somebody had suggestions to make it quicker and easier, that would be quite welcome to hear also. 🙂 🙂

Dad’s HomeMade Ice Cream~ BY Gabby Angel

I was having a scoop of my favorite ice cream tonight, it was good. I do love ice cream and do indulgence from time to time. But, what I was remembering was Dad’s homemade ice cream. Oh my, no brand has ever come close to how good Dad’s was.He started making this delicious ice cream when Autumn and I were so young. We kind of grew up with this, so all other brands did kind of pale in comparison.

Of course we had store bought ice cream, too. Dad just couldn’t be making it all the time! Dad really did have a magic touch with home made ice cream though, he experimented with so many different flavors. They were all outstanding, I remember one time in early fall he made pumpkin. That was one of my favorites, I still search for a pumpkin flavored that comes close, I have again found one that comes close!

Chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, yes Dad made those. Sticking with the basics at first, but he was quickly branching out since everyone had an idea of what might be tasty. Back in the early days, it was so much fun taking turns cranking the handle on the ice cream maker. It was kind of an adventure all by itself, or maybe it was just Dad making it exciting and an adventure somehow! I was thinking of how it was just Autumn and I when we started, then all the little sisters came along to share in the fun.

Dad along with Mom really did come up with such awesome happenings when I really think about it. We were all quite blessed having them as parents, I do need to say. One of Autumn’s and my favorites was chocolate malt, it still is actually. We did find one brand in our area that is pretty good! What an excuse for taste testing ice cream, trying to find one as good as Dad’s homemade! Mom had a couple flavors she remembers fondly, chocolate mint was one and a peach one. Of course you can buy these two flavors, but I swear Dad’s were still the best!

 We were talking about this and it is funny when we reflect on the many different flavors  Dad made. We used to tease him from time to time that he should market his ice cream, obviously he never did. That would have been a pretty cool family business though, wouldn’t it?

So many childhood things were so special at our house, I am sure any of you reading this can remember your own, I sure do hope so. As I always seem to be saying, aren’t family memories so nice and comforting, too? But they are, they are some of  the best times of our lives. For Autumn, my sisters and I anyway. I hope the same goes for all of you reading this one, too.

Hopefully this all made you smile and perhaps sent you racing to your freezers or favorite ice cream store as well. Let me know please! 😉 🙂

The Twins Get A New Little Sister~BY Gabrielle Angel

Autumn & I were a little bit over 4 yrs old, our parents had been preparing us for months of the arrival of a new little sibling. Back then, no ultrasounds were done so we weren’t sure if it was going to be a girl or boy sibling & of course we were routing for a boy baby! This particular memory came rolling back when I was again looking at old pictures.

Picture this, there we were for over 4 yrs the twin princesses having both sets of granparents to ourselves, not to mention countless aunts & uncles! OK, I admit it Autumn & I were perhaps a “tiny bit “spoiled by all this attention. 😉

We were blessed with very kind & thoughtful parents, they just wanted a big old family & were going to try their best to make it a positive & joyous event. Mom was in the hospital with a C section & Dad had 5 days to get us geared up to happily 😉 be welcoming home a sibling. First disappoint…Dad tells us it’s a new little sister, we were secretly wanting a brother as to not steal our thunder so to speak.

I must interrupt myself…When you are 4 yrs old, you can’t comprehend pregnancy, C sections & all the rest of it. You all knew this of course I’m sure, also the quetion…How does she remember this at such a young age? My blessing, I remember vividly & clearly things back to 18 mths of age. Anyway, back to the story. Little sister was born in early March, we live in PA & luckily Dad pulled this next adventure off, it was late winter time & no snow was on the ground, tempertaures weren’t too cold. Clearly some divine intervention I believe. 🙂

Dad packed a nice little lunch in his lunchbox he carried to work everyday, this lunchbox was special to us because more times than not he would be bringing us home little surprises…Did I mention we were somewhat spoiled? 😉 Dad bundled us both up nice & warm…”we are off for our very own adventure girls!” said with big smile & humming a happy tune & off we went!

Headed to one of our most favorite spots Pine Creek, maybe 10 miles away where we had lunch at a picnic table…while sitting & chatting Dad told us of the news…Tomorrow your Mom will be home with our baby sister. Well, he made it sound happy & all important…You will be big sisters now!

Many sniffles, tears & “We dont want her Daddy, send her back!” That is shameful  what we put our Dad through that day…He hung in there, so patiently & gently until finally he had us agreeing it would be much joy, happiness & fun. Dad has a bit of magic about him to pull this off…Maybe it was all the singing, laughing & Autumn & I having our Daddy alone one last time before the baby sister rolled in

So, there you have it…We really were quite pleased the next day to see our Mom & the nice little sister, Dad had pulled off a miracle! Yay for Dad! Can’t say it was all smooth sailing, but thankfully we accepted her because 3 more little sisters would be rolling in after her…My ever so brave parents. 🙂 Autumn & I took delight in “the big sister role” & the bossing around worked! Might I say We all lived happily ever after?! 🙂 😉

Time Is A Four Letter Word… ~ Written BY Gabrielle Angel

Time, I seemed to be preoccupied by it. That thought occurred to me the other day when I made the rounds of AA battery replacing in my many clocks. Yes, it is kind of quirky but then so am I. Thankfully, I am not alone…My sweet twin sister Autumn is, too. Quirky can be fun! 🙂 I am not sure when it started exactly, but I kind of started collecting different clocks and watches. For myself as well as other people, wonder what that means?

Something, maybe nothing…I just got to thinking about it when changing the batteries. Four different clocks needed new batteries and I realized I only had two clocks that didn’t take batteries. I also thought about it when talking to Autumn and our Mom earlier today.

Mom was saying how much she loves and wears the angel watch I had gotten for her years ago.She was saying how she just had the battery replaced the other day. That  got me telling the battery changing thing with all my clocks. Then I got on the subject of why did they have to stop making wind up watches? Autumn and I had been given one of those as our first watches as kids. The same with clocks, why do so many of them take batteries? When did the plug in clocks go by the wayside? The alarm clocks still plug in though, don’t they? But whatever happened to the wind up ones?

The truth is I do have quite a few clocks throughout my house. It can be time consuming when changing batteries and also when the daylight saving time changes. It takes me forever to get all those clocks in sync! They are all never really in sync, always a few minutes off they all are. That used to irritate me, it no longer does. My thought was it really didn’t matter, I have other pressing things to concern myself  about. But, I do seem to have a fascination with time. The funniest part of that is I am usually late for things, how embarassing to admit that. Well, I am being honest as always. It was why I picked the title of this blog, a light take on my being on time!  Wouldn’t you think someone with so many clocks and watches would be on time…Think about it. 😉

One of my other memory is Dave and I joking around “about freezing time”. He put a wind up clock we had in the freezer, it cracked us both up and we laughed like crazy over that one. That is until the next day, we discovered the clock in the freezer! We had forgotten to take it out, oh well these things can happen. It was in the very first years of our marriage and we did get sidetracked, I will say no more. I bet nobody who is reading this has ever done such a thing. What are the chances? It says a lot of Dave’s and my sense of humor perhaps.

Back to my clocks, I will admit to having over a couple dozen clocks or maybe more…But some of them are really small. 😉 Like that matters, right? Watches, well about the same amount.

Anyway, time is relevant  and time is of the essence, there’s no time like the present. Just think about how many phrases there are about time, too! Now, that will give you all something to think about for the day! 🙂

The Twins and the Tigers~Written by Gabrielle Angel

I was admiring my white snow leopard stuffed animal a little earlier today. This was a gift from Autumn, she got it for me last Christmas. I just simply love this stuffed animal, it’s by WowWee and called an Alive Pet. It’s so adorable, it purrs and makes cute little animal sounds and I love it.

The reason Autumn got this for me, I lost my little 17 year old siamese cat Sapphire a few years ago. So far I have not had the heart to get another kitten. I know, that might sound weird to some people but I just haven’t been able to make that step quite yet. That’s a whole other blog perhaps, Sapphire and me and not wanting any more losses in my life.

Anyway, I digress as usual…The cute snow leopard and what it reminds me of. I was talking to Mom and saying how much the little snow leopard reminds me of Autumn’s and my beloved childhood stuffed tigers. Well, except our tigers didn’t make noises and all. We were given them we were about 4 years old by our Nana, they were so special to us twinnies. The amusing part is when we first set eyes on our tigers we were scared. I know, doesn’t that sound silly? These tigers were pretty large and for whatever reason, we had a 5 or 10 minutes of not being sure if we liked them. It’s strange, because after those short minutes…Those stuffed tigers went everywhere with us. It’s such a warm and kind of comforting memory, Autumn and I were just so in love with our tigers we thought they deserved special attention from family, friends and anyone visiting our home.

We were just semi-annoying to everyone I’m sure, thinking back to our behavior. It makes me laugh at our young twinnie selves, we named those tigers, too by the way. Autumn’s tiger was named Max and mine was Jax, yes we named them ourselves! Who knows where we came up with those names, that part I honestly don’t recall. Pictures of Autumn and I with those tigers, as well as plenty of home movies is hilarious. The different little collars and bows that we decked those tigers out in was just wacky. I don’t know where we came up with such ideas, but as Mom says we insisted those tigers be dressed for every occassion.

Anyway, these tigers stayed our favorites of all stuffed animals for many years. I was thinking back to how they had to be at our sides especially when we were sick. Dad and Mom used to humor us and chat with the stuffed tigers and “pretend” so well, too. Dad especially was silly with us, he used to sing to the tigers when we asked him to! It just cracks me up thinking back to some of those kind of memories…We were blessed twinnies for sure.

I don’t know how many Dads would actually sing to their kids stuffed animals, do any of you? That was my fond litlle twin memory for the day, I just had to share it. Now you all know how crazy and unusual we twinnies were even as young kids! 😉 🙂

Carving Pumpkins…Guts and All ;) ~BY Gabrielle Angel

I had been looking over my recently purchased pumpkin. Trying to decide whether to carve it or paint on a face. That made this amusing memory pop right into my head. It really did make me laugh out loud! 🙂

 Autumn and I, with our friends and neighbor boys carving pumpkins one year. We were maybe about 9 or 10 years old and of  course doing this with a bit of supervision. We were having a nice fall day, so we were going to be working at our picnic table. Mom and Mrs A. were going to hang out and be helping us, they were always fun. Mom and Mrs A laid down a plastic table cloth that Mom brought out of the house.

We were all getting antsy, but trying to be patient. Autumn, Tim, Alex and me were all just wanting to unleash our inner artists. 😉 We all had special and specific ideas of what our pumpkins would look like. We got busy drawing on the faces we wanted, all laughing and chatting happily. Autumn and mine were more girly and going to have smiley faces. Not Tim and Alex’s, they had decided on scary and freaky ones. Well, they were boys after all.

 Time for the Moms to help carve, the boys were able to mostly carve their own. It was Autumn and I that needed a bit of help, Mom and Mrs. A got busy lending a hand. Everything still going well, no one getting cut or anything bad. Tim started getting a bit silly and teasing Autumn about her girly pumpkin. She had to set him straight with making sure girly was better than scary. After all Autumn told him, we didn’t want to scare our little sisters and so there! He had to agree and they gave each other a smile.

Alex and I as always chatting nicely, no arguing between us. After all, he was 18 months older than all of us. The pumpkin faces were nicely carved and the “guts” as Tim called them had been set aside. Our Moms like to take the seeds and later roast them, they were good too! 🙂 Tim just couldn’t resist, it was bound to happen…Tim drizzled some “guts” on Autumn’s arm. Look out, she was mad and before we knew it…Tossed a handful of “guts” in Tim’s face! Oh no, could they just never behave themselves! It’s just always how it was, those two put together were sometimes bound to pull something.

Nobody had gotten real messy yet and the Moms got them wiped off and settled back down. Tim and Autumn were saying their “I’m sorry’s” and making up with each other. They really were the best of buddies, for real they were. The Moms exchanged a smile and a sigh of relief, only a minor skirmish this time around.

Everyone’s pumpkins were done, Mom called Dad outside to take some pictures. Our parents did love taking pictures! 🙂 Dad made sure everyone was smiling and flash! Of course Autumn and Tim had made the rabbit ears or devil horns, behind each other’s heads. They claimed they were only doing peace signs to each other, what a chuckle that was. We all knew what they really meant! 😉

These are the things that make you laugh when looking at pictures later! It was a fun day, pumpkin carving…Guts and all! 😉 🙂

Helping Mom at the Bake Sale~by Gabrielle Angel

This one is a passing thought that popped into my head while working in my own kitchen. Making a couple loaves of zucchini bread, something I do for relaxation is cooking and baking. Usually to share with family and friends or even to freeze, but I do love to putter in the kitchen.

Anyway, as often happens I get these random thoughts and this brought me memories of a bake sale. I was laughing to myself just  thinking about this one. And it wasn’t just any bake sale, I need to say.  This was one when Autumn and I got to help our Mom at at a church bake sale. It was being held in the church basement, which was a good spot . Come rain or shine, the bake sale would go on.

We were about 6 years old and Mom (for whatever crazy reason) let herself be talked into the twinnies helping her out. It was going to be an all day long bake sale, so some of the ladies were taking turns. After all, it was only one short hour and what could possibly go wrong? 😉

OK, sometimes Autumn and I could be a handful but lots of time we were quite well behaved. Poor Mom, she thought this was going to be one of the well behaved times. We tried and it all started out so well…It really, really did. The first 45 minutes was great fun, busy helping Mom and chatting with all and any who stopped by.

We twinnies were far from shy, we enjoyed chatting to people from an early age. So, we were an asset of sorts to our Mom. Autumn and I were happy to talk everyone into buying something, after all it was for a good cause. 🙂

Mom was pretty calm, things had been gliding right along and going quite smoothly. Selling cookies, cupcakes, brownies, doughnuts and all that good stuff.

Everything was prewrapped for many reasons, so far Autumn and I hadn’t been tempted to tamper with or open anything. Well, that all went out the window when one of our favorite people stopped by…our Grandpa! Well, Grandpa was all smiles and greeted us with hugs and kisses. Our Grandma was off in the church kitchen chatting to some of her friends and helping out behind the scene, so to speak. Later Mom would reflect on that, why didn’t she herself stay in the kitchen? Autumn and I were so thrilled to have Grandpa as a customer, he was scooping up a few things that he was going to buy and getting ready to pay Mom.

He was catching on to the fact we twinnies were getting ready to act up. Oops, too late Autumn had torn open a nicely sealed bag of cookies! Each of us twinnies quickly had a cookie in our hand and trying to offer Grandpa a bite. I was getting huffy at Autumn because she had gotten to him first, so I started to howl. Before everyone knew it we twinnies had gotten quite loud and things turned ugly.

Poor Grandpa, poor Mom…They each grabbed up a twinnie. The half dozen cookies in a bag had gotten stomped on (by mistake) and we had created a small mess. Not to mention caused a small ruckus…In swooped Mrs L. to the rescue. She took over for Mom and another few ladies came to help tidy our mess. Those ladies were so fast, my could they all move quickly! Autumn and I were quickly helped into our coats and told to give Grandpa hugs and off to the car we went.

As usual a lecture and quite the talking to we got on our 5 minute ride home. Autumn and I very subdued and quiet as we walked with Mom to the door of our house. We were in trouble again, when we were really trying to be good, too. 😦  Dad greeted us with a big smile asking, “How was the bake sale girls?” We never got to answer, Mom sent us to our room! 😦

How High Can You Swing?~Written by Gabrielle Angel :)

Swinging on swings can be so much fun! 🙂 Trust me on this one, it really can be. Maybe some of you reading this may have children and have a swing set in your own backyard.

I have a little park only a couple blocks from my house, which is nice. Walking over from time to time is nice as well as quite relaxing. It also does bring back those memories of childhood days and playground and parks times. Autumn and I were also blessed to have our own swing set in our backyard.

Some people do feel the art of swinging is left to the young, well I  have to disagree. I still have fun swinging on any swing I do encounter! Who else is with me on this? I can still swing the best of them, in my little park. I really do try and behave myself most of the time when in the public little park. I can’t be a bad example to the younger kids, or having their mothers be appalled at my inner child coming out to play.

A few weeks ago I was happy when one of the Moms got on the swings with her little girl. We had a nice chat as well, which was a bonus.  My husband Dave used to go off to the parks with me sometimes, and we really would have a real blast swinging.  It was most awesome when he would push me on my swing, he was good at that. I could soar even higher with those pushes from Dave!

Back when I was a kid, Autumn and I would always see how high we could swing. We were always challenging each other to see who could soar the highest. It really was the coolest of times, we had a good old time of it and so many great memories for us to reflect on. We didn’t have any  lasting injuries either, so we were well behaved most of the time anyway. 😉 Only a few times did we give our parents a scare, as well as startling our little twinnie selves.

As the little sisters came along Autumn and I felt it was our duty to teach them all the joys of swinging. Usually we were pretty patient with those little sisters, after all we wanted them to have fun, too. They all got really good at. In talking to them about these awhile back, I sadly discovered none of them are still on those swings, except our youngest little sister. She and her husband have two fairly young little boys and they also have a swing set in their backyard. So, she will often have a grand time swinging on those swings with those adorable little nephews. Yay, for her I say and it’s good to know the family tradition goes on! 🙂

How many of you reading this now feel like taking off to a park? Go ahead, just go get on those swings and unleash your own inner child! 🙂

Pumpkin Patches~Written by Gabby Angel

Pretty Pumpkins

This time of year my thoughts turn to all the good memories of those younger years during this fall season.  All the exciting things that we used to do as kids, those wonderful memories. When young, we looked forward to leaves falling and jumping into the piles.  Helping 😉  Dad rake them up after all the fun was over. Autumn and I always did love to help, our Dad was patient.

We loved the approach of this time of year, it also meant cider, getting pumpkins and also plenty of apples! Autumn and I simply loved cider, especially while eating popcorn. We twinnies always did have some unusal tastes.

The Pumpkin Patch

The pumpkin patch, was so exciting…We got to walk around the pumpkin patch and pick our very own! We used some for decoration and some to carve as Jack O Lanterns. Every holiday at our house was special.

We were so big on decorating and making our house as festive as could be. The pumpkin patch, that was just plain magicial to us! It just made Autumn and I more than ready for the outing and the sooner the better.

This one particular day in early fall our parents took us to do our “pumpkin shopping”, we were close to 7 years old at this particular time.

Youngest little sister was only 21/2 years old and she was coming along, too. Well, Autumn and I knew Mom and Dad would keep a good eye so she wouldn’t cause trouble. 😉

Baby Pumpkins

We arrived at the Pumpkin Patch and off we went, walking around and looking for the best pumpkins we could find. So many pumpkins, big small and in between sizes, how would we decide? We picked out some bigger ones, we did a fine job. We were all smiles as Mom assured us we made some darn good choices. Dad carried them to put aside and paid for after Autumn and I decided on the few little “baby pumpkins” as we liked to call them. Autumn and I had very particular thoughts and ideas. We got so giddy just looking at all those baby pumpkin choices, we got a little too silly for own good.

Don’t dance with Pumpkins

We each had picked up a smaller one, and started doing a little dance. Never dance with pumpkins, I am telling you all for your own good. A few minutes later, we bumped into to each other and down we toppled. Those poor little two pumpkins went flying, and splat. Autumn and I looked at each other, we started laughing like crazy.

I know, not the reaction everyone would have, but please remember we were quite young. 😉 Wrong thing to do, Dad was at our sides in record time and not with a smile on his face either. He got us under control and the giggles stopped in short order. He quickly picked out a couple baby pumpkins, not letting us choose and told us we were homeword bound.

Well Autumn and I were sad, so much sniffling and many tears later we were all back in the station wagon and back home before we knew it.. Quite the lecture we twinnies got, it happened a lot and we should have been used to it. We really had been quite the embarassment for Mom and Dad, also a bad example to our little sister. Autumn and I basically were good little twinnies, most of the time anyway. 😉