Tribute to a Great Mother



This is the final family portrait.
Top: Julio Elizabeth, Lourdes, Olivia, Cenovio
Bottom: Yolanda, Dad, Mom, Vanessa

 I have always said that I was very fortunate. I grew up with some pretty good siblings and a great set of parents. I know look back at those words that it means more to me than ever before. The picture above is as it states. The final picture of all of us together.  My Father passed not too long after this was taken. It was a difficult time, but I was lucky. I had my brothers and sisters and mostly because I had a great Mom.

This is a picture of Mom and Dad back in the day.

My Dad always wore a straw or felt hat when he went out. I always thought the crown on his hat was too tall. Guess he did this cause he was only 5'6"? That was on a good day.  My Mom was person of simple needs. She always dressed modestly, rarely wore bright colors (her color of choice was brown). My Dad on the other hand, loved color as wasn't afraid to wear it!




My Mom, there are so many words to describe her, but unless you actually sat and talked to her even once, you could never know what an amazing woman she was. She was a hardcore disciplinarian and tough as nails. Was she too hard on us sometimes? Yeah, but it was because she loved her kids that much. She was a very smart woman and nothing got past her. This is the first time I am using the term "was" in reference to my Mom. Gotta say, it's fucking painful.
Like I said, she was tough on us growing up, but I guess you have to be if you want your kids to have a better life and not as hard as the one you had. Now that I am a Mom it's all making sense. As time went by and she got a lot older and the responsibility of parenting was fading, she mellowed quite a bit. She settled into the roll of Grandma. She loved her grand kids and great grand kids. She still had a lot of fire in her if you caught her on a bad day, but for the most part she pretty harmless.

 






Here are a couple of pics taken this past summer.

To the right is a picture of my Mom with one of the latest additions, Baby Rhodes. He's my brothers first grand baby.  Below here's Mom at Gage's graduation.

Mom, Gage and Yolanda

My Mom was the heart and foundation of our family. I felt my foundation crumble when I realized she was no longer with us. I visited her only once in the hospital. I told my sister it was too difficult to see the strong woman I once knew lying in a hospital bed fighting for every breath she took. I did not want that to be my final image of her.
I cry for my son who will never know what a wonderful person she was. He was born long after my Father passed and I naively thought my Mom would be around forever. He knows her and recognizes her picture when he sees it, but how long will that memory last? He will have to rely on me and my siblings to tell him the story of Julia.
It's been only a few days and I desperately miss her and my heart is shattered.  As the days pass I will feel better and pain will subside. The pain will never go away, but I will be able to look back at her remember who she was. A great woman.


MJ and My Mom.
MJ and her share the same birthday.
This is a picture of his first day  
and my Moms 75th year on this earth.

~Julia Ruiz~
January 9, 1934~ September 22, 2011 



Cake/Cupcake Stands

So I have been looking high and low for some cake/cupcake stands and couldn't really find anything that I liked. So I decided to take on the challenge of making some. This would not be considered a challenge for the average person, but I not having been gifted with the creative gene, knew it was going to be a little difficult. I started Googling (I heart Google!) homemade cake plates and started picking out what I like about each and combined them to make these. Very easy and took only a couple hours to make.

                                   

So here is the cast of characters. Got everything at Michael's or Lowe's.

1/4in 8x8 and 10x10 pieces of scrap particle board

Wood trim

Bases I found at Michael's

4in and 6in Furniture legs

Kilz-keeps the paint from bleeding into the wood

Wood glue

Spray paint



With help from Mark I started to assemble the stands. All we did was screw in 2 1/2in screw on the top and furniture leg comes with a screw in it and just had to attach it to the base. Cut the trim to fit and using wood glue, glue onto particle board. Sand everything til smooth. Once you have all the pieces attached and sanded, spray a coat of Kilz. What this does, I've been told by the Big Guy, is put a seal on the wood so the color you spray on top doesn't bleed into the wood and it takes less coats to cover. 

 After the Kilz is dry. I spray the color coat. These two pics are with only 2 coats. They took about 4 coats each. Have to make sure you let each coat dry completely before adding the next. Do I really have to mention do spray outside?

This is the pair. Gonna make a 12x12 to make it a 3pc set!

TA-DA!

You can stack these for the layered effect.

Have to pretend there are cupcakes on the bottom stand,
since we ate the rest of them.