Cynthia Anderson's Blog, page 6

Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day!

Rich and I plant zucchini every year. It's the one crop we always know will produce. Every year, regardless of where we live, the type of soil, or what kind of summer weather we have had, zucchini survives and grows and grows and grows! The question always is, "What do we do with so much zucchini?" So, "Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day" sounded like the perfect holiday for us. In preparation for this summer's annual war on zucchini, both for yourself and your neighbors, here...

Tell an Old Joke Day!

Rich loves corny jokes. For example, when we are driving anywhere with our children and pass by a cemetery: “That’s a really nice cemetery; people are just dying to get in there!” This joke will be told at his graveside--someone will turn to someone else and say, “This is a really nice cemetery--Dad was dying to get in!” The whole Anderson clan will laugh, including Rich. There is something so fun about the old corny jokes. Children love it when they not only "get" a joke but figure out how t...

The Smile that Shines Through Tears

I committed this poem to memory when I was going through a particularly hard time in life and it has stayed with me for almost 30 years. It has been a source of strength, encouraging a positive perspective on those days when everything seems to go wrong. I had one of those mornings several years ago. My younger sister had been rushed to the hospital the day before with the symptoms of an aneurism, and the situation felt dire. This particular morning, she was scheduled for a very important pro...

Happy Garbage Man Day!

June 17th is National Garbage Man Day. Plan with your family way to thank the men and women who serve in this capacity in our towns and cities. Below is a link with information and suggestions on how you and your family can say "thank you!" https://www.garbagemanday.org/celebra... #onemomtoanother

Happy Peanut Butter Cookie Day

Luke and Nora, two of my grandchildren, came over and helped me bake some cookies for Peanut Butter Cookie Day (June 12th). The recipe I used is a simple, easy-to-have-kids-help recipe. They can make the cookies round or square, and add jelly or chocolate kisses to the center. RECIPE: The instructions say, "cream shortening and sugar." (It should read "butter and sugar.") The dough has to be mixed for a while to fully incorporate the butters. It will look crumbly at first, but just keep it go...

Summer Summit

It’s here: the end of the school year! The last month of the school year is not unlike the last month of pregnancy. Women are tired, worn out and don’t care anymore about the pain that is coming their way. The goal? Get the baby here! May is that month; it is full of recitals, graduations, end-of-season games and tournaments, award ceremonies and yes, homework. We are just ready for school to let out and summer vacation to start. But, after the first few days of “nothing to do” and prematurel...

The Sacredness of Now

(excerpt from "One Mom to Another"- A Mighty Work.) I once gave a talk in a women’s conference with the theme, “With Joy Wend Your Way.” The phrase comes from a well know Latter-day Saint hymn, “Come, Come Ye Saints," written in dire circumstances when the pioneers were being tested and stretched beyond capacity. The hymn boldly declares “with joy, wend your way, all is well.” I made note that the word joy comes first and it is with joy that we can wend our way through this life. Our capacity...

Sariah and Gogo Boots

When I was in the sixth grade, I fell in love. The problem was, the boy I loved was not similarly smitten with me! No matter what I did, he remained only “a friend.” “What can I do to make him fall in love with me?” I asked myself. I began to think and finally arrived at the only logical answer. I needed some white go-go boots! I saw it all in my head: I would be walking into school wearing my boots and suddenly this young man would fall in love with me! Lucky for me, it was December and you...

Why Can't We Just Get Along ?

We were driving from Ohio to Indiana in a blinding rainstorm. Rich had a new job and I was driving the children to meet him and look for houses. From the back of the car, I heard, “Mom, Melanie is looking at me!” I would look in the rear view mirror for a fraction of a second and see Melanie looking forward, not even interested in her little sister. “Melanie, stop looking at Stephanie.” This exact conversation was repeated for three hours until, finally, I had to ground Melanie from looking a...

Beautiful Inside

“I’M BEAUTIFUL INSIDE!” I turned my head sharply and read these words boldly printed on top of a For Sale sign in front of a house. I thought to myself, “I guess they think the inside of this house says more about what it’s worth than the outside!” The real estate industry spends a lot of time and energy talking about “curb appeal” when selling or buying a home. Curb appeal describes the visual attractiveness of a house from the outside. If we were to describe “personal curb appeal,” we would...