Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Talk about Inspiration

Good Morning Everyone!
I just have to boast and brag here a little...I woke up this morning...following my usual morning routine...get dressed, have my first cup of coffee while checking emails,Facebook and my daughters blog Tattoos & Cupcakes and to my surprise read where she had posted my blog amongst her favorite and most inspirational blogs to her...I am so honored to have even made this list and I know I can't begin to hold a candle to her wonderful blogsite or her talents or those bloggers sites which she grouped me with that inspire her. When god gave me my beautiful daughter he truly gave me the greatest gift ever!She is such a genuine loving person and so much fun to know and be around. She makes everyone feel wonderful about themselves and their dreams an goals. I love you Shannon! <3

Monday, March 29, 2010

1960's Time Line as I know It

1960

Lauren Netzin Dice was born June 7,1960-Ta-da!Watch out world here I come!

-The first debate for a presidential election was televised. It was between Senator John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. Nixon seemed nervous, but Kennedy stood tall. The debate on TV changed many people's minds about Kennedy.
-This year NASA sent up ECHO, the first communications satellite to be seen with the naked eye.
-American "U2" spy plane shot down over the USSR.
-The Olympic Games were held in Rome and Wilma Rudolf won three gold medals.

1961

-John F Kennedy moves into the White House. He gives his famous speech - "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
-The soviets have sent the first man into space and the Americans need a man in space, too. The event came on May 5, 1961. Alan Shepard was sent to space in the "Freedom 7". On May 25, Kennedy wanted to have a man on the moon and back before the decade was over.

1962

-John Glenn became the first man to orbit the earth - 3 times. It was a five hour flight.
-Rachel Carson, a scientist and writer, warned that our earth would die of pollution and chemicals. Especially chemicals that were developed to kill bad insects. DDT was a real bad chemical. It killed bad insects, along with good insects, along with plants, along with animals. She wrote the book Silent Spring with a warning. At least five states banned DDT.

1963

-Martin Luther King Jr. made the speech, "I have a Dream" on August 28, 1963. More than 200,000 peaceful demonstrators came to Washington DC to demand equal rights for Black and Whites. Part of the speech was - "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…"
-President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was never sent to trial. While being moved by police to a different jail, a man named Jack Ruby shot Oswald. Who killed President Kennedy nobody knows for sure.

1964

-The Beatles, a British rock and roll band became VERY popular. The "Fab Four", John, Paul, George, and Ringo, were played on radio stations all over the world. They were seen on the "Ed Sullivan Show". They performed concerts that were quickly sold out. All the frenzy over the group became known as "Beatlemania", which was only the beginning.

My Favorite Beetle song was "I want to hold your hand"...which I remember singing to my Grandma Dice over the phone while in Syracuse New York.

-This was the first year the cigarette boxes had a warning printed on it "Smoking can be hazardous to your health". It had not occurred to the US government to give the warning that smoking lead to cancer and lung problems.
-The first Civil Rights bill was passed to stop racial discrimination.

1965

My Brother Eric Adams Dice left home to join the US Marines to fight in the Vietnam War at age 17. He forged a letter stating my parents approved.

Mom, Melinda, and I made a big move to Florida from Syracuse New York. I remember a horrible accident where a tractor trailer driver accidently hit a young boy who was painting lines in the middle of the road and killed him. The Driver of the tractor trailer didn't see the boy over the front of his truck. My mom had stopped as a witness and to comfort the driver until the Police got there.

-President Johnson ordered bombing raids on North Vietnam and Americans begin protesting the war.
-The world's first roofed stadium was built, the Houston Astrodome.

1966

-Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse and a Pioneer of animated films, died of cancer on December 15, 1966, but his legend lives on.

1967

-The first heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa.

1968

-Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Two months later, Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's brother was assassinated, too. Both were civil rights leaders.
-On November 5, 1968, Shirley Chisholm was elected America's first black woman to Congress.

1969

-Nearly half a million people headed over to a 600 acre farm in New York for the Woodstock Festival. Many top rock musicians were there. It lasted three days, a weekend of music, love and peace.

1969

-July 20,4:18 p.m., one of the biggest events of history happened. Apollo 11 landed on the moon, astronauts aboard. Neil Armstrong's famous speech for the historical steps "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

I remember this like it was yesterday...my dad,sister and I watched this on a little black and white t.v. in our den .

1960s Timeline by Jane Duden and Lauren Bruce

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Announcing the Birth of Lar Lar Land



I really love happy endings, or should I say beginnings? Wow! Where shall I start... How about a little background information first? It all began when I lost contact with my older sister and her family and my oldest brother after the death of my mom in 1994. Our dad had passed away in September of 1981. Losing contact with my sister and brother and their families caused me great heartache and I felt such sadness and felt so lonely. Not only did I lose my mom and dad but I lost my whole family bloodline on the Dice side in one shot.

I tried finding them through various websites and social networking sites to find them and although I registered, I failed to do so. I once saw that my sister signed up on Classmates and I contacted her via email but never heard back from her. I was guessing that she might have signed up but never revisited that site. Over the years I posted on Classmates, Myspace, and Facebook pages with pictures and updates on what I and my family were doing in hopes to find my lost family and hope that maybe one day they would contact me if they were looking for me as well. Well, that day finally arrived. YAY! My sister's wonderful girls looked our family up online and found me through my daughter's Myspace and Facebook pages. One of the girls had written to my daughter and explained how much they missed us and hoped that their mother and I would talk to one another again and gave her their phone number. I was so ecstatic to hear this wonderful news and am happy to say my sister and I have successfully and happily been reunited via the telephone and email for now. Hopefully we'll get to see and hug each other in person real soon. I for one am looking forward to our new beginnings.

Now as to how the “Lar Lar Land” originated. …Over the years Shannon my daughter had written and created so many wonderful blogs and Myspace and Facebook entries, that I was so impressed and wanted to blog just like her. She made it look so easy. Bless her heart, she created so many templates for me to blog on that I never used more than once because I was at a loss to what my focus for the blogs would be...now I know. Lar Lar Land was born and it is my hope to keep it going, not only for myself but for all our family.

The perfect background and layout for my blog was customized by my talented daughter. She thinks I look exactly like the girl character...Hmm...not sure about that. The Lar Lar Land title came from a nickname that my sister called me growing up...LAR LAR(short for Lauren and also LARD BUTT!!!) How's that for a nice sister???? She used to call me "Lar Lar" in a whiny, loud, irritating voice, mostly to irritate me and make me cry all the while knowing that I hated it and it brought great amusement for herself. I used to walk on my toes as a little girl, and doing so would cause my rear end to protrude out like a little rumble seat. She had many hours of laughs and giggles over this. Over the years I lost contact with her, I would have done anything to hear her calling me that dreaded name again.

Now that I have her back in my life, I thought it would be a perfect name for our family blog and a loving tribute to my sister. My thoughts for this blog are to write a memoir of sorts about our family as I remember them growing up, adding personal history and photos. In some ways I will be writing my life story every day. My thoughts, actions and experiences will be forming the memories and life lessons that contribute to our story I'll be sharing with others. I hope to regularly blog about my personal insights from my life and try to be aware of what’s going on around me.

It's my greatest hope that my Sister and her family, as well as my own, will love to add their stories ,photos and insights to this blog. We'll have a wonderful, rich, life story filled with traditions, anecdotes, photographs, and memories to hand down to the next generations.

Forever yours,
Lar Lar