What Chores???

Ha ha. I have to laugh at this one... I remember when I was young and at home and learned the meaning of "chores" from Grammy Sumner... (my mom) it was much more of the traditional old home family sort of thing... the inside the house chores were for the girls, the outside "'man" chores were for the boys...
I remember mom always was making something for dinner. We almost always had a family dinner together when Dad would get home. It was pretty regular, and you could tell the day of the week by the dinner. We did fish on Friday's, (from Mom being raised Catholic), Tuesday was beans and cornbread. Sunday was a big dinner full blown "meat and two or three" with an occasional special dessert. Then the clean up would almost always be Mom washing dished and Kathryn and Claudia helping or clearing the table or whatever else needed to be done. Saturdays was another big day for cleaning. the girls would dust, vacuum , sweep (kitchen floor was swept not vacuumed) outside the boys would do all the lawn care, raking, trimming the hedge, shoveling snow, (we lived on a corner had a double wide driveway, (including shoveling several walks for elder church members in town) and anything that ever needed to be worked on that was car related. A number of us children also delivered papers either morning routes or evening routes. This was the childrens' means of earning spending money instead of asking for mom and dad to for spending money. Best I can remember all the children at one time or another did papers. After school delivery M - F, no Sturday, and then early / before church on Sunday morning, the morning routes I think were every day... Then there was the weekly collecting that had to be done every week. (I want my $2.00) And on Saturday getting a ride from dad, or riding our bike to the newspaper office to pay our weekly bill. I think the paper was $0.60 when I first started, and inched up from there in the 4 or 5 years I did papers...

We all had to make our own beds, put our dirty laundry in the hamper, put away clothes once laundered, but Mom did all the laundry, she ironed and we would spend countless hours in the dining room while mom would iron and we would be doing homework and or just listing to her wisdom... it was a grand time to be alive, no worries. Mom didn't work outside home till I was older, then it was mostly to fund her Geneology research and pay for missions and stuff.

You children may have gotten off easy as Della never did the regimented weekly routine. we did a little while in Utah, that was the extent of it. We all had our room assignments; kitchen, bathroom, living room, and all but we all know whoever had living room never did anything, the kitchen was alway getting help from Pop. and we all shared in the outside stuff. but the boys usually did the lawn mowing... ha ha
I guess that will wrap up this post. Hope you children are all doing well, we pray for you all, with teh activity on the blog, being so light, clearly school has started and is keeping you all very busy. That is a good thing. School should be your focus, blog when you can. We'll all be around when there are breaks. Love you all. Study hard! Play hard! :)

Ketchup

SO here I am, starting off!!
After the local spot (which was more or less a joke.....the potty picture remember?) I'd really have to say that my favorite hang out spot was probably with ray and the boys. Always messing around, running around jersey having adventures, through thick and thin, when I burned my face, getting in and out of trouble with the authorities and our parents ha ha ha ha. So really any place where ray and the guys were that WAS my favorite place to hang out and chill. NOW it is of course with Indira. Even though we're far apart right now, it's been a growing experience for both of us and we're happy to report that we're both doing very well...
Chores? really? well hmmm, MEMORIES of chores would include the time we cleaned competitively in Utah for whatever it was we were competing for. I found out that I was the most thorough cleaner. (anybody else remember that?) I remember doing dishes in Tennessee washing silverware and bottles and stuff (Bottles!!!!) ha ha. In jersey probably the biggest chore that I can remember doing the most was mowing the lawn. At the first house when we had the tractor mower I always cut the grass super short (killing it >_<) so I wouldn't have to cut it for as long as possible. I remember the house now, trying to get all grass in the back back. trying to stay away from scary bugs and things. Vacuuming was probably the easiest for me, or cleaning the living room, everything had a place and then a good vacuum later would provide a nice clean floor to lay all over. Cleaning my room was probably the least favorite (how many hands agree with that? lol) so yea that's about it for chores.
Favorite music to drive to? This is pretty specific, and it's a relative question because it depends on what kind of mood you're in. If you're driving angry you want to listen to metallica or some other head-bangin stuff. If you're being contemplative or thoughtful maybe some coldplay. i liked U2's Joshua Tree the most. But i think that's more of a fantastical imagining from a movie or something, convertible driving in the desert with the wind in your hair and U2 blasting. I remember the trip Liberty Mom and I took to go visit granny for the last time. We listened to a lot of coldplay, that's when the new x and y album had just come out. See? The rest of this post could go different directions because I don't drive here in Korea. I walk or ride my bike everywhere. Music in general is tricky because it really depends on what you're doing. It can either influence you or maybe you're just looking to get some emotions out. I love breaking benjamin, they have a really solid sound. I also enjoy coldplay, jack johnson, john mayer, those acoustic sounds just for chilling. I wouldn't say my music tastes are very diverse at all. I usually stick to to or three genres. I have a sweet spot for good cover songs. If there's a cover song with a different feel but it feels great i love that kind of stuff. I also enjoy classical music to a hidden degree. ha ha ha, Bach's cellos suites are exquisite, there are numerous other pieces that I find particularly delectable. I think that my overall music tastes reflect my personality very much; mostly chill, a loud crazy fast bit, and a small refined dignified taste for the skill and ability of composing classical pieces. I do like new music, and by new I mean things that I haven't heard before, but I don't go out of my way to find new things that I like. that's not disappointing to me at all. just something that i personally don't actively pursue.
NOW
as far as prompts....
I know I have the 15th, but because we've been lacking in prompts for whatever reason I'll put down a couple... I don't know how to put them in the little box area so I'll just do it here.


Number 1: what is your most favorite/most vivid/ craziest memory of family road trips/driving experiences? (the more the better)

Number 2: Besides driving what is the most vivid/favorite/craziest memories you have of the family spending time together?

Number 3: What were your favorite tv shows? favorite cartoons? favorite sports? watching with the family? by yourself?

Number 3-b: What was your favorite movie to watch as a family?


I don't know how it'd work, but I think if we had something where we had a full conversation from movie quotes that it would be funny and a good time, heh heh just thinking about Julia's super epic quote mashup on fb.


I LOVE EVERYONE hope everything is going well, as soon as everyone posts from those prompts I'll do mine and then we can move on to the next prompt :)

I love my family
-Blakester

Blog Face

Julia Here.
Despite Liberty being in Provo for the past week, I still managed to forget to ask her how to make an "identity" or author thingy or however you call it. im a dingus
1) favorite chore--uh, I was the only sumner child that inherited the "sumner" cleaning gene (and liberty knows what that is now after seeing uncle wayne in action!) So I like to clean everything. I'm down with brandon on the dishes. Waiting for a big pile--that's my way. Until them, let 'em soak right! I am a custodian for my job, so obviously, I must be doing something right in the cleaning area.
2) favorite road music. (by the way, this was my 'writing prompt' and I couldnt think of anything better, sorry you have to answer a lame question--or dont answer at all!) Something about Red Hot Chili Peppers just makes me want to drive across california or something. Also Neil Young, Broadway sing-a-long stuff (me and Keato did Les Mis on the way to Ogden!) and of course Shaggy!!! I am missing the cd! maybe I left it in Jersey! :(

The sumner family reunion was a blast! We got some old slides of dad lookin just like keaton (big nose and all) and I heard some stories about dad hahaha! It was fun to hang out with the family, and I really wish we all could have been there together! I cried watching the video of grandpa bearing his testimony (aww, I'm lame) and I'm blessed with such a great family and we can be together forever! (dont cry!)

Not much else happening in Provo. I started 'shadowing' for athletic training at UVU. I'm pro at making ice bags haha. Cousin Kim comes home from France tomorrow! uh oh, time to overhaul and clean the house!
I can't think of anything else to write, and technically I'm on the clock right now at work (hehehe....watch out for the boss!)
-Sending out some Utah love! -J

Slacker....

So apparently I'm a slacker... SHOCKER! LOL So I need to catch up on a few prompts. First things first though is that, WE'RE HERE!! HOLY MOLY THAT WAS A LOT OF DRIVING! We did really really well though. 12 hours a day for the first two days and then 10 the last day. Glad I've already met so many new people who already care for me so much. Ok so back to the prompts I missed.

1) So my favorite spot in Fort Wayne is probably at my computer. It is the place I spend most of my time and it is also kinda my proxy child for now. It is hand built and it is pretty sweet. 4 gig of ram, 2 hard drives (1 300 gb and a 1 tb drive), a AMD Phenom x4 II 3.2 Ghz processor, a Sapphire 4890 video card. It isn't the fastest thing in the world but it does everything I ask of it.

If I could chose a place that isn't in the town that I live in it would be the Sloss Foundry, yes the place that popped my tire. It was incredible! I'll have to dedicate an entire post about Sloss it was that amazing!

2) Chores: so my big chore in the apartment is dishes. I actually love doing them. It is very cathartic for me. Gives me a nice sense of zen, of being alone in my mind and allows me to think about how my life is going at that current moment. It is a great way for me to relax and clear my head. Other chores though, they suck. I don't mind doing them but finding the motivation to get started is hard for me.

Ok well I gotta go get my chair fixed again.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Chores

I guess I need to write about chores. It seems that anything that has a deadline and that can be procrastinated upon can be considered a chore whether it is taking a shower, preparing a lesson, creating a menu or washing the dishes. If one waits till the very last minute then the adrenaline takes over and it gets done very quickly, or the spouse gets sick of waiting and does it himself / herself. hahaha. I grew up in a household of 9 children, I was the oldest and they just kept coming and coming and being born!!! As the oldest, i was given the chore of being The Responsible one while my mother was busy being pregnant or recovering from being pregnant which was (as I determined) about 6 full years of my childhood. Much of this time she was president of something or other at church or PTA or other school auxiliary and I was left in charge a lot. She cooked as well as I do (i.e., not much at all - now you know where I get it from) and the only time she cleaned was 5 minutes before the Home Teachers came. ("Quick!!! Shove everything under the couch!! NOW!!") So I know my skills are lacking. My greatest teacher is Gramma who taught me how to deep clean everything when we used to visit her in Florida. I can DO IT, but it requires great concentration, effort and energy and by the time I am done, I am in the throes of a massive allergy attack from the attacks of the disturbed dust bunnies.
My Most Hated Chore growing up was dishes. Dishes for 11 people without a dishwasher is a daunting task. I despised it and hated it when it was my turn. I always thought I would grow out of it and be PERFECT when I was an adult (as if all children go from larval form and metamorphosis into perfected adults) and always brush my teeth, always keep the house clean and never lose my temper. I was adding GUILT over my non-clean house onto my already massive pile of guilt when Jane told me to let it go. It liberated me. It stays cleaner longer now that there are fewer squidlets at home. One day it will always stay clean and Benet and I will long for it to be messed up and noisy with you visiting us.