My daughter Casondra came home with a shiny ring on her hand last night! She is engaged to a wonderful young man, Kyle Holub who will be a very welcome member to our family. This great event inspired me to make a movie of all the wonderful memories I have of my daughter and hopefully I portrayed this in this slide show. I hope you enjoy viewing this as much as I enjoyed making it.

The effect of weather on our psychi

I went the beach this weekend and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air. I thought about Marco's blog and his comments about the seasonal affect and this summer in New England. I looked around at other people and heard laughing and smiling people everywhere. Our winters can be difficult enough here in New England, but ususally our summers make up for it. Add the economic woes of many people and it is amazing more people are not in deep depression. For now lets just enjoy our moment in the sun.

Gilford Craft Fair

I went to the Gilford Craft Fair this holiday weekend. This is an annual event in our household and it would not be the July 4 th weekend without going to it. When I woke up and looked outside, I actually debated about going, again another day of rain! I did note that this year there was no charge for parking or admission, so I decided that I had nothing to really loose, but the gas to get me there. I enjoy this craft fair because it has things for all family member to participate in, such as the climbing wall, shopping, music, and food. They even had the ski lift open for people to go up and enjoy the views. As I looked around this year I noted a decrease in the amount of people attending compared to other years. It could have been the weather, but I have seen this in other fairs that I have attended. As my daughters and I enjoyed our lunch and each others company, I was sad that some families are probably not coming because of the economy. These sort of events bring families together and promote bonding and hopefully good memories. I know it has with my family. It makes me sad that some people may be just struggling to get by and may not be able to afford these kind of outings.

My Sister's Keeper

I am an avid reader of Jodi Picoult's books and was excited to hear that they had made a movie of one of my favorite books by her "My Sister's Keeper". The Internet has been buzzing about the fact that the movie's ending was different from the books ending. I will not go into great detail about the book, so not to spoil it for you, the reader, however the premise of the movie is about a girl that is genetically engineered to save her dying sister. She decided that she does not want to give one of her kidneys that her sister needs to continue to live, so she sues her parents for emancipation. The ending to the book was dramatic and as Jodi Pocoult stated left the reader with "a completely different message" than the movie. When I first read on the Internet that there was a different ending I was upset and vowed I would not go to the movie. After some thought I decided that I should not be so closed minded and decided to go to the movie. I loved it! It did convey a completely different meaning, but I feel it was much more of a realistic ending. Why this book and movie was so powerful to me is that I could relate to the mothers standpoint in the movie. She would do anything to save her daughters life, even if it effected another child. I would hope that I could stand back and look at what is best for my daughters, but I can not honestly say if I would be strong enough to do so. As a nurse I often see family members also in denial and try my best to help them make the best decision for the family member who is dying. This movie is definitely worth seeing, but bring a box of Kleenex! http://www.jodipicoult.com/my-sisters-keeper.html#premiere