I Wish I Could Call My Dad...

As Father's Day approaches this Sunday, my mind can't help but turn to my own dad who has been gone for over 10 years. He was certainly a hero in my eyes...we said at his funeral that if any of us were ever unsure of the right thing to do, we could simply think of what Dad would do, and we'd have our answer.

Of course, he wasn't perfect, but in the things that mattered most, he was pretty darn close. He was full of integrity--never wavering; he honored and revered God, and taught us to do the same; he demonstrated the value of hard work; he knew how to listen and objectively approach our problems; he taught us respect and reverence for our country; he led by his steadfast example; and he loved us.

Like many of you must feel about your dads....I miss him. How many times have I wanted to pick up the phone and ask him a question? Dozens...then I remember, I can't.

My talented brother in law has captured these feelings perfectly in his thoughts about his own son. I appreciate his permission in allowing me to share it here.

May each of you have a wonderful Father's Day as we celebrate the fathers that we have grown up with, the fathers that we married, the fathers that have passed on, and the influence they have all had in shaping our lives. If your Dad is still around, be sure to pick up the phone and call...



My son called today;
He needed some advice
On how to wire the pick-up
To his trailer.

We chatted about resources,
Who to talk to,
Testing tools and time.

He apologized for calling
During my lunch hour;
He thanked me for helping
Him make a plan of action.

It was a good father-son interaction;
An informative phone call.

In between the lines-
Between the talk-
And the pauses
And the brief silences,
I heard him say:
“Love ya, dad,
Thanks for talking with me,
Guiding me, helping me-
I like it when we solve
Problems together”.

“Thanks for loving my mother,
And providing for us.
Thanks for showing me
How to be a man and knowing
About wiring, pick-ups and trailers”.

I heard all those things today,
In a five minute phone call,
From a town in Idaho,
A thousand miles away.

I’ll be gone someday;
He’ll have sons of his own:
Sons that will look to him for
Guidance,
Leadership,
Example.

In the not too distant future,
He won’t be able to chat with me
On a moment's notice.
All too soon he will have to face
The world without a dad.

He’ll have a problem:
Mechanical, financial,
A simple decision;
And
He’ll think about calling me

Then remember…

He can’t…

I wish I could call my Dad


Gary Eckhardt
© 2010 February
Atascadero

A Heart-Felt Gift for the Hero of the House

Okay, Friends...

Father's Day is less than a week away, and if any of you are like me (I hope you're not), there is a slight chance that you've not found just the right thing for your Man on his big day of the year. Perhaps life is running at full speed, and you just haven't found the time to even focus your mind on the fact that Father's Day is this coming Sunday--(aack!)

Well, if you are wanting to make something from the heart to honor the Hero of the House, you have just enough time to do so. Here are some ideas that will whip up in a few hours and put a smile on your man's face---especially if you and the kids all take part:

"My Dad"



Dad has many roles. Remind him how grateful you are for all he does. Stitch these phrases on an old button-down shirt of his, frame it with a few choice photos and trinkets, and you'll have a keepsake that he will treasure for years to come. Since the embroidery stitches are relatively easy, (back stitch and French knots) even the little ones can make a few stitches with the needle and floss, and feel a part of the process. The "un-perfectness" of it all will make it that more special and heart-felt.



"i Love U"



This simple design will literally take less than an hour to put together, but the impact will be lasting. Create this image with a bit of fabric, transfer web (iron on) paper (found at your local fabric store) and a bit of embroidery floss. Stitch it on a special pillow case for him and have the kids trace and stitch their names along side it; or how about stitching it on a grilling apron; or place in a simple frame as a sweet reminder to display on his desk.

The pillow case I created in the photo was for my son who loves the Steelers. You could easily use a fabric choice that best represents your man (and of course you could sign and stitch your name and the kids' names rather than "mom"!) We purchased a John Deere tractor print to iron on and stitch to an apron for Grandpa. The possiblities are endless!

Both designs are available in downloadable stitchery e-patterns found HERE, and in machine embroidery formats found HERE. And don't forget...if you need a reminder or a lesson on how to embroider any stitches, download the FREE tutorial found HERE.

Enjoy this week as you prepare to make Dad's day special! Please contact me if there is ever a question about one of my designs that I can help you with!

Make a Personalized and Inexpensive Gift for Teacher Appreciation, Graduation, Father's Day, Birthdays, Any Occasion!

It's such a busy time of year with school ending, graduation activities, Father's Day, and summer fun just around the corner! It's also a time for gift-giving, and I've got an easy, meaningful, and inexpensive gift idea for any time of the year.

Perhaps you've seen the fun that can be created with Wordle at http://www.wordle.net/. It's a creative way to display an array of words, thoughts, ideas, or phrases. I was introduced to Wordle last year, and have had such fun creating some personalized and inexpensive gifts with it. When you go to the website, just play around with it---you can change the fonts, the colors, and the layouts until you are happy with how it looks. And it's free to use! (I've provided a few "Wordle Tips" near the end of this post to help you out!)

For each of these gifts shown, I simply created my "Wordle Cloud" at the website, then after I was happy with how it looked, printed it onto an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of vellum. I then placed the vellum over the top of an image I had downloaded and printed off of the internet. You can see that for my daughter's kindergarten teacher, I printed a simple apple; for my cutie friend who was graduating, I printed a graduation cap and changed the colors to match her school colors using Photoshop.



I then trimmed both sheets to measure 8" x 10" then inserted them together into an 8" x 10" frame with the vellum sheet over the top of the printed image. (The frame only cost me $3 from Wal-Mart.) I added a little ribbon around it, and voila! Gift complete!



I've also made these gifts for the group of Young Women I work with in my church. We gave each of them a questionnaire to fill out at one of our activities. At a special recognition meeting sometime later, the other leaders and I presented each girl with her own personalized and framed "Wordle" to take home with her unique and special qualities highlighted. They were a hit!


You are welcome to use my questionnaire if you are interested. Simply click on the image to enlarge it, then print as many as you'd like.

Some "Wordle" tips:

-The best way to begin your list of items to put into a "Wordle" document is to first create the list in a word processing document, save it, then copy and paste to the website. That way, if you need or want to start over or change anything, you don't have to re-type all of the words in the space provided at the website. You simply make changes in your word document, then paste it again.

-The more times you type a word on your list, the larger that word will appear in the image. I usually type the person's name at least 4 times, then vary other important words by typing them 2 or 3 times. This creates a more visually interesting appearance by varying the sizes of different words.

-If you have a phrase that contains 2 or more words, such as "football player", do not type it like we normally would with a space between the words. Instead, insert a tilde(with no space) which is the little squiggly line at the far left and top of the keyboard that looks like this: ~ between the words. So "football player" would be typed like this: football~player. Otherwise, the Wordle program shuffles those two words around and separates them.

-There is a FAQs section at the Wordle site that can offer more advanced tips as well!

I hope you have a great time exploring the world of Wordle, and creating one-of-a-kind gifts! I'd love for you to send me photos of what you've created to my email listed on the sidebar!

A Thought for Today about "Enduring"...

"For the world, enduring may be enough. But enduring well with grace under pressure is required of us. We all feel the world. There is no safe sanctuary into which an individual can retreat except the sanctuary of the committed life, consciously chosen, in which an individual reaches a supposed breaking point but does not break."

~Neal A. Maxwell

Have a wonderful Wednesday...

"Be the Best You" Wellness Challenge...Come Join Me!!

As women and moms, we have a million and more things to worry about, don't we? Being attentive wives, getting children fed and ready for school, getting them to school, cooking, cleaning, laundry, finances, taxi-ing kids to and from activities, helping with homework, and often contributing to the household income. It can be overwhelming, and life can quickly get out of balance as we sometimes let ourselves be the last item on our extensive list of things to do.

In our lack of self-attention, our health often suffers, our energy lags, weight lingers, and we sometimes feel disconnected to many things spiritual or personal. When we don't feel well and happy about ourselves, it is challenging to put our best foot forward for our families or co-workers. I would imagine many of us had felt this to some degree at one time or another.


Well, I'm so excited to tell you about a "Be the Best You" Wellness Challenge beginning on Monday, May 17, 2010, that addresses some of the needs we have as women to be our best selves. The idea is to motivate ourselves to improve our mind, body, and spirit through 10 goals to be kept each day for three months along with a community of other women (or men!) with the same desires. It is not a diet, but a lifestyle change. The honor system is in place, and points are awarded each day for completion of those 10 goals, then turned in weekly to the Challenge Hostess.

There is a $10 fee to join, with those individuals tallying up the most points at the end of the three months winning back a percentage of the funds collected. Sound fun? While money can be an incentive....the real incentive for me is having a support group to be accountable to, and a challenge placed before me! I'm so excited to participate! I would love for any of you to come join me in this adventure!

Click HERE for more details on how to sign up, and to see what all is involved in the challenge to help us be our best selves. Grab a friend, and let me know if you decide to join, and we'll all hold each other's hands through this challenge for the next three months! (But hurry! Remember the challenge begins next Monday, May 17!)

Hugs to you,

Spring Fling Purse Pattern

Put a little "spring" in your step with this easy to make and free "Spring Fling Purse" pattern now available over at You Can Make This! It simply requires a little cutting, a little hand-sewing, and a little glueing.

The little girl in your life will love having another tote for her money, lip gloss, and pens. "Spring" on over there to get your own!

The Results are In!!! (squeal!)

Remember several weeks ago when I posted about this guy,


regarding this t-shirt design,


and this little six year old's hopes of going to "The Happiest Place on Earth"?

Well, our family is in shock, but the results are in from the Brian Regan T-shirt Design Contest, and I guess we are going to Disneyland! Can you believe it?

These last few weeks have been so much fun since we received the news that my design had actually won. Everyone in the family was dumbfounded at first, then completely excited about the whole thing. That little t-shirt design is now part of the official 2010 Brian Regan Tour Shirt. It's so crazy! You can view what they've done with the t-shirts here.

In addition, one of the prizes will be free tickets to a Brian Regan performance, along with backstage passes to meet the guy himself. We are giddy!

To all of you who bothered to vote and then spread the word to others about the voting, MY FAMILY THANKS YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR BRIAN REGAN-LOVING HEARTS!!! YOU ARE THE BEST! It wouldn't have been possible without your help.

I will keep you posted as the events unfold. It will certainly be an exciting adventure.

Thanks once again everyone!

Hugs to all,