Grandma's Things in My Cottage

I hope I'm not too late for Showing off My Cottage Monday

hosted by Cielo at House in the Roses. http://houseinroses.blogspot.com/ I just came across her site and it's beautiful and it just so happened I had some things to show in my cottage today. 
I have a small problem getting rid of things that have belonged to my grandmothers or my mother.  One grandmother has passed, my other grandmother is very ill and in the nursing home, and my mother is alive and well and lives three miles away from me.  She also has a darling cottage that she should show off.  Anyway, I inherited (or took because I liked it and they gave it to me) several things from my grandmothers and my mother.  These are items that either have a sentimental meaning to me or I think they are so pretty I can't bear the thought of it going to Goodwill or Salvation Army, or worse yet, the garbage dump. 

This rocking chair may have actually been a great-grandmother's at one time.  It's been refurbished and re-upholstered and I keep making room for it somewhere.  It's been in several different rooms in my house.  It's now in my living room.  Then on the little stand beside the chair is a vase and  covered dish that I always loved in Grandma Lenora's house.  They are in excellent condition.

This Lennox coin crystal set was Grandma Lenora's.  Isn't it beautiful?  She specifically told me months before she went into the nursing home that I was to have this.  I have it in my dining room.  I will never get rid of this.  I use and display every piece.

Not only is this a beautiful painting, it's of Grandma Lenora, my dad on the left, and my deceased uncle on the right.  I always loved this picture, but I just recently learned of the story behind it, which makes it even more special.  When Grandpa was in Japan during WW11, away from his beautiful family, he had this photo in his wallet and asked a Japanese artist to paint this from the photo. 

Now this little couple, Pinky and Blue Boy, Grandma Lenora made in a ceramics class years ago.  I just remember them being in her bedroom forever and I couldn't stand to get rid of them when we were cleaning out her house. 

Their colors match my tea room, so that's where they now stand.

More ceramics I couldn't get rid of.  They stand beside my plants in my dining room.

This was a cross stitch done by my Grandma Peg.  My mother and I had to keep this, so it hangs above this curio cabinet at the bottom of my basement stairs.

The curio and everything in it was Grandma Lenora's. 

My basement is a finished room that I now call my Grandma room.  I think everything in this room came from my grandmother's and my mother. 

This couch and chair must be over 50 or 60 years old.  It's beautiful maple wood that we had refurbished, and just recently my mother had the cushions re-upholstered.  These ugly red plaid ones were not only ugly but in very bad condition.

Isn't that better?  The Tiffany style floor lamp was also grandma's.

There's a lot more, but I think I'll save for another day for another cottage tour. 

Go For the Green

If you ask me my favorite color, I don't think green would be my answer.  But it must be.  I can hardly do any type of re-decorating in my house without using green of any shade.  It just always seems to be what I gravitate toward.  Now My Bob's office is blue, and the guest bathroom/My Bob's office bathroom is blue, but I'm hardly every in those rooms.  I think every other room has green in it.  It may be pink and green, or gold and green, or possibly a teal green, but I can't seem to get away from it.  It feels comfortable and homey to me.

This is when it really became clear.  I've been wanting to take down the off-white scarves that have been at my kitchen windows for over five years.  As long as we've lived here.  I wanted a change.

Click to enlarge.

 I thought I would get some beige or tan valances instead.  That's what I went to Lowe's to buy.  And that's what I looked at.  But then I saw some green plaid.  I tried to ignore them.  I asked Bob's opinion and he didn't have one.  I picked up the tan ones.  I put them back.  I went back to the green ones and tried to walk away again.  I couldn't do it.  So I picked one up.  Then I buckled under.  They would be perfect.  The place mats are green, gold and dark red plaid.  These would match.  The living room curtains, right next to the kitchen, are also green, gold and dark red plaid.  That goes.  The kitchen wallpaper has green leaves in it.  Check.  I couldn't resist.  They were perfect.

So I picked up new rods and couldn't wait to get home as this was going to be a free Friday project.  As in "free" time, not "free" as in cost. Now go back to the 2nd kitchen picture above and notice the time on the clock.  11:45 am.  That's when I started.  Keep in mind, as with everything, I'm slow.  I clean as I go.  Had to take down the old scarves and put them in the wash.  They are now going on the downstairs windows.  Take down the old hardware, dust and clean above all the windows since I'm up on a ladder and can see the dirt, put up five sets of new hardware, iron five new valances (which, by the way, turned out to be very nice fabric and lined), hang the valances, arrange all the pleats and folds until I felt they were perfect.  I was down to the last one and had to take My Bob to pick up his car that was at the garage getting a check up.  Since I had no time to cook dinner we picked up Chinese to bring home.  I hung up the last curtain and then had to move the clock a little higher.

So now what do you think?

Notice the time on the clock.  7:15.  Bob said he would never pay me by the hour.  Yea, but I do a good job.  Do you want quick or do you want good?

I love them.  They fit the feel and theme of my home much better.  They make my kitchen feel so much cozier, without blocking any of the view or light (on rare days that we have sun).

A few days ago I also got my St. Patrick's decorations out.  I don't have many at all, but again, since they are green I like to have them out.

My foyer entrance table.

Dining room with light green tablecloth topped with a shiny shamrock covered cloth and my shamrock doll.

Shamrock stained glass hanging by the front porch.  It was buried in snow, but we're getting a little bit of melt off right now. 

And that's all I have.  Besides exchanging out any pink candles from Valentine's to green candles. 

Oh, I also finished a new Spring/Easter egg cup pincushion.  It's up on my Etsy site.

I love when I have stay at home days all to myself.  Then I have fun doing these things I love to do.

Competitions- Olympics, American Idol, & Jewelry

I did it!  I managed to watch both the Olympics and American Idol last night.  Even without TiVO or a DVR.  I did it the old fashioned way by switching back and forth from 9-10 pm.  I may have missed some bits and pieces of both, but I didn't miss anything major.
First, the Olympics.

This was probably the biggest night so far.  Gold medals won by Lindsey Vonn for downhill skiing, Shaun White for snowboarding, and Shani Davis for speed skating.  Then Julia Mancuso won a silver medal for downhill skiing, right behind Lindsey, and Chad Hedrick won a bronze for speed skating with Shani.  And my favorite, Apolo Ohno, he is so cute, qualified for the finals on short track.  I don't think those finals are until next week. This was so exciting.  I love to hear the personal stories behind the athletes.  How their parents worked several jobs to be able to afford to keep their child in their sport and how they drove their child hours and hours to practices.  The injuries, the training schedules, etc.  This is the real thing in reality TV.  Now tonight USA's Evan Lysacek goes against Russia's Plushenko in men's ice skating.

Then for an hour I had to switch back and forth to American Idol. 

 They were picking the top 24 and I couldn't miss it.

And keep in mind that I was also making a new pincushion while watching both shows, and two dogs laying beside me.  Talk about multi-tasking!

Anyway, my favorite picks from the very beginning are still in:  Casey James, the cute, long blond hair guy; Andrew Garcia, the father that wants this so bad to give his family a better life; Big Mike, whose wife had their first baby during Hollywood week; and Crystal Bowersox, the mother of a baby boy,  Janis Joplin/Carol King look alike.  I also like Lacey Brown, Siobhan Magnus, and Todrich. 

I feel so bad for those that made it up to this point and then told they weren't going any further.  Oh, I just wanted to cry with them.  I understand that Ellen is going to have a few of these talented people on her show that were cut already from American Idol.  I know not everyone is a fan of Ellen, but I think she's great.

This last competition is a little closer to home and one we can all enter.  It's a $5,000 jewelry sweepstakes by LuShae Jewelry that I'm helping to promote. 

You can enter here:  http://www.jewelryartdesigns.com/jewelry-jad.asp?p=Win-Jewelry&xref=newagegrandma.blogspot.com

 for the $5,000 in cash, and by entering you also receive a 15% discount on any jewelry order.  The jewelry is very pretty and not expensive at all.  You'll also see links on my sidebar.  Good luck!

I'll keep you updated on all of the above.

Valentine's Weekend is Over!

Thank goodness it's Monday.  These weekends  lately have not been relaxing at all.  This was a good weekend, with the kids here and Valentine's Day, but I'm glad it's over.  I love having them all here, but they do wear me out.
Friday night we had a pizza and wing dinner.  Not very nutritious, but who cares, it was a Friday night.  Then we had our ice cream sundaes with hot fudge, whipped cream and valentine sprinkles.  May as well have all the junk in one sitting.
Saturday, Melissa and I spent the whole day at their old house and we got the main house all clean.  Now this week the carpenter man is supposed to come to make a few minor repairs.  Austin showed up after dropping the boys off at a friend's house to play and he got everything moved out of the guest house and into the garage.  I was so tired by the end of the day I told them they were on their own for Sunday's cleaning of the guest house.
Sunday I stayed home with the boys and made a roast and mashed potatoes dinner.  Austin and Melissa came back home with a pretty little flower arrangement for me for Valentine's Day and to thank me for everything. 

Isn't it sweet?  I really appreciated that.

 We had a very nice dinner with them before they went home.
Those boys are so busy and loud, but we can't help but laugh at them.  They just come up with the funniest things.   Logan spent the day watching Cartoon Network with a movie marathon going all day.  He watches a lot of TV and his mom and dad really limit his television time during the week.  Bob asked him why he was such a TV kid and his reply was, "Because when I was in my Mommie's bellie I watched TV in there".  Now where in the world did that come from?  We laughed so hard.  It makes you wonder what all goes on in those cute little heads of their's.  Then Austin came home with a whoopie cushion for Landen because he's going through a phase right now where he's just obsessed with poop and farts.  It seems like that's all he talks about.  And I guess we all don't do much to discourage it because he's so funny about it.  Austin put the whoopie cushion on Landen's chair as we were sitting for dinner and he got the biggest kick out of it.  So then he thought he was "surprising" the rest of us with it as he put it on each of our chairs.  Of course we acted like he was tricking us all. 
The boys got their bath and pajamas on for the ride home and then they just had fun blowing up the whoopie cushion and sitting on it themselves as I finished cleaning the dining room and kitchen.

Today I took all the Valentine decorations down, which also got rid of all remnants of Christmas that was still hanging around.  The Valentine tree was completely taken down and put away.

I was ready to see it gone.

All the other Valentine decorations are put away.

All gone. 

                                

The only thing left hanging is my Valentine quilt.  I don't have a St Patrick's quilt and my Easter one will go up shortly.  I may just leave this up for another month.  I'll have to think about it.  It'll probably bug me, though, so I'll have to find something else to go up for a while.

Mom and Dad also got back safe and sound from Florida.  Now everything seems all back to normal again.

I'm looking forward to a quiet evening of Olympics and knitting.  Uhhhhh! 

Kids are Coming Early!! Oh No!!

Oh My!  I just found out the kids are coming home today for the whole weekend.  I thought they were just coming up tomorrow.  I love them and love to see them, but the whole weekend? --- I have to gear up for that.  And by kids, I mean Austin, Melissa,

Logan age 5,  Landen age 4 in two weesks,

and two hyper dogs.  OK, I can do this, I can do this, yes I can!

I was planning fancy ice cream sundaes for tomorrow night for Valentine's Day, but I don't have all the stuff.  So I just got in touch with My Bob since he's not home yet from appointments and asked him to pick up all the sundae makings that I didn't have yet.  We'll have these for tonight.  Austin and Melissa asked if I minded that just the two of them go out to dinner tomorrow night for Valentine's Day.  Of course I don't mind.  I just wasn't quite prepared. 
I'm a planner.  I always like to know ahead of time what's going on and what I'm going to be doing, and everyone else's plans if they concern me at all.  So I'm cleaning bedrooms and bathrooms today.  This was on my list to do tomorrow morning.  I'm doing good now, though.   Got the cleaning done and dessert being picked up.

The reason they're coming home is to hopefully finish cleaning their house out that's going up for sale.  I don't know yet if I'll be helping to clean or staying home with the boys. 
Some real good news that we're very hopeful about is that we think the house may be sold already without it even being listed yet.  I was talking to a florist friend of mine and it just so happens that her current lease for her flower shop is ending in May and she wants to find a better but less expensive space.
 I told her about my son's house coming up for sale since they had to move an hour and a half away.  The house comes with a separate garage and office/guest house.  This is where our insurance agency used to be.  She and her husband asked if they could see it right away and they decided they want it and they would move her flower shop into the old office building.

This is what my florist friend and I imagine it could look like.  Very cute! 

Then they would rent out the main house.  We were all excited about the transaction until we double checked with the city zoning board and since it was never zoned commercial we now have to go through this riga-ma-roll of paper work, variances, exceptions, legal postings and a meeting to have it voted on.  Jeez!!
Since my grandfather built the building in 1958 and had his insurance agency in there at that time it was just "grandfathered" in as an insurance agency.  Actual zoning laws went into affect in 1964. 
So that's where we're at.  My Bob and I are doing the paper work and leg work on the matter and the meeting is now scheduled for a week from Tuesday.

As my Grandma always used to say, "Life gets tedious at times".

Snow Day and More

Snow, snow everywhere.  It's been quite a few winters since we've had this much. Just take a look at my Winter Wonderland picture on the sidebar and add about another foot of snow to it.   And today it's not just snow, it's 10 degrees and we are right on the border of blizzard warnings.  Everything is closed.  Schools, stores, roads and highways.  Perfect day for me because as you know, I love to stay home.  I feel so bad for those that have to be somewhere or go outside for whatever reason.  My son, the Air Force Recruiter, had to walk to work.  Thank goodness he moved, because now his office if only about 1/4 mile from his home.  He was supposed to take a couple recruits to Pittsburgh for testing and physicals, but that's not happening.  The testing place is closed and I think the roads to get there are closed.
I really feel sorry for animals that are outside.  This was brought to my attention by my new blog friend, Maggie, at http://maggiesraggedyinn.blogspot.com/2010/02/homeless-cats.html.  Her post really made me think about this and made me feel so bad.  Pets that are ignored or left outside by their owners is just so sad.   I don't personally know of any or see any in my neighborhood, but I know there are plenty out there.  Please bring them inside people!  My own little Fergie, the 5 pound toy poodle, won't even step out the door when the weather is like this.  I lay newspaper by the front door for him.  But so far today, and it's 11:20 am, he hasn't done a thing since he got up this morning.  I keep looking and sniffing around the house but I'm not finding any messes.  He's sleepinig in between his pillows on his little bed right now.

Yes, he has a four poster bed!  He's the little apricot colored ball laying in there.

OK, so now what about American Idol last night.  I wish it were on for two hours.  They just don't have time to show everyone.  Here are my picks from last night:  Andrew Garcia.  He was the very first one.  A father that wants a better life for his little boy;  Casey James.  Real cute.  He took his shirt off at the original try out, and he plays the guitar.;  And Crystal Bowersox.  She had her son's name tatooed on her neck right before the show and she sounds like Carol King.  We'll see how good my predictions are.  Don't forget to watch tonight.

An update on Mother Millie (MIL).  She has a doctor's appointment today and my sister in law is taking her.  The doctor is recommending that she discontinue the chemo treatments and let hospice now come in to keep her comfortable.  This is very sad to come to grips with, but Millie has accepted this fact.  They are going to increase the strength of her Oxycodone to alleviate more of the pain that this pancreatic cancer is forcing upon her.  It's just come to the inevitable point of nothing more can be done except trying to keep her comfortable.  Why her?  This cancer question still really puzzles me.

Here's my newest knit hat I just finished.  I don't think I'm going to sell it or give it away.  It is so warm and comfortable.  I need it for myself right now.  It's knit from a a tweed washable wool and the buttons I used are all from my grandmother's button collection kept in an old tin that I inherited. 

I think I'll make some hand warmers to match.

Now I've come up with this new idea to make cute little pillows and sachets.  I made this one for Valentine's day for myself. 

 I'm going to make some more to sell on Etsy.  I am trying to get some dried lavendar to fill them with.  In the meantime, I'll just have to use Poly-fil.  I love to use ribbon, lace, buttons and charms to embellish.

American Idol

Twenty minutes until American Idol starts.  I look forward to 8:00 every Tuesday and 9:00 every Wednesday.  It's so entertaining to me.  Tonight starts Hollywood week with Ellen.  I was the same way with Star Search years ago.  Anybody remember that show?  I think it was on Sunday afternoons and My Bob and I always made sure we were home to watch it.   Bob isn't addicted to American Idol like I am, but it is one show he's willing to watch with me.  And since he's willing to watch it with me I try to refrain from going up to my sewing room and we hole up in bed together while it's on.  I still sneak my knitting into bed with me.  Don't call me, though.  I won't answer the phone.   Shortly after the show is over, he's snoring away, and then I'm right back into my sewing room until about midnight.
I think I really like to see someone go from obscurity to super stardom in a matter of months.  Isn't that just amazing?  It's fun to watch it happen.  I'm going to keep track of my favorites as the show continues and we'll see how they do.
Olympics start in a couple of days.  I'm the same way about watching them. 
I never can just sit and watch TV just by itself.  I have to knit, sew, or make something.  Bob doesn't quite get how I can pay attention to a show while I'm doing other things.  But I do. 
Just a gift I have!

Roller Coaster Ride of a Day

My day started out so exciting.  I turned on the computer about 8:00 a.m. and there was an email from Etsy that I sold something.  Now it was just a little something, but I'm sure any of you that have an Etsy shop know how exciting that e-mail makes you feel.  When I consider the thousands upon thousands of sellers on Etsy it amazes me that anyone even finds me, let alone then like something and buy it.   My Bob teases me about getting so excited over a little bit of money.  That's not what it's about.  It's almost like an internet game and the goal to win points is to see how many people notice you and then buy from you.  It's fun.  Here's what I sold.

It's a little quilted angel change purse or anything else you want to put in it.  It's velcroed at the top.  I always put a charm on everything I make.

Then we got a text message from Austin and Melissa.  They were having the sex determination sonogram done today.  So their text said, "The name of the new baby is Leanna Rene'."  It's a girl! 

 We're very excited.  This is their third and we think final.  They have two boys and so a girl is what we were all hoping for.  We all had already discussed that nobody would be disappointed if it was a boy.  We wanted to discuss this and be prepared for it.  But now we can say that we're very excited that it's a girl.  My middle name is Lee and Melissa's mother's middle name is Anna.  More pink yarn is now on my shopping list.

Right after that exciting phone call we received a call from Bob's sister telling us that their mother seems to have taken another small turn for the worse.  She is in so much pain and the pain medication that she is taking is no longer helping.  She's still living at home and being cared for by her long time man friend and at least one of Bob's five sisters is with her all the time.  Tomorrow they are meeting with Hospice to see what the next step should be.  The sister's want Bob to come down now, but that is a six hour drive to Cincinnati.  We'll wait to hear the outcome of tomorrow's Hospice meeting before we decide what we should do at this point. 

After that phone call Bob and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa at the Nursing Home.  Pretty much the same there.

Then we went to the City Building to pick up papers to apply for a commercial variance for Austin and Melissa's house they are selling.  We think there may be a buyer if the guest house can be approved for a flower shop. 

Too much of a roller coaster ride today.  I'm really looking forward to the next snow storm they're calling for tonight so that I will have a real good reason to stay home tomorrow. 

Time for a Makeover

I'm re-decorating today.  My Blog, that is.  As some of you know, I've had two blogs for almost a year and it's time to consolidate, re-do, update, simplify.  I don't need to have two.  It's hard enough to keep up with one and I don't feel organized about it.  My other blog is mostly pictures of my "things" that I make.   Since this is so much of who I am and what I'm about there is no reason that I see to keep them separate.  When I start a new project, complete a project, have questions on a project, you'll all know about it right here. 
Now with the new Pages Widget on the blogs, I have set up a page of "My Charming Creations".  The link to this can be found under my banner above. 
I'm leaving my other blog:  http://mycharmingcreations.blogspot.com/ up because I have 10 months worth of pictures on there that I don't want to lose, but I won't be posting anything new on there.  I also still have my Etsy site:  http://charmingbynina.etsy.com/  .  New things will go up there on a regular basis.

The other new addition to this blog is my Button.  You can see it on my sidebar.  I kept seeing these buttons on other blogs and they are so cute, but I had no idea how to get one of my own so that others can (hopefully) collect it.  So a big "Thank You" to Connie at Living Beautifully,  http://connie-livingbeautifully.blogspot.com/.  Connie made this one for me.  Isn't it cute?  It's Me!  Connie, you're a sweetheart!

Just like my home, my blog is a constant work in progress.  The goal is for it to change and grow for the better.  Also, as is the reason for re-decorating my home, I get bored easily.  I like to get new things sometimes,  or just re-arrange as in no cost decorating.  It's all just lipstick and rouge.  The heart and soul will remain the same.

O Happy Day!

Such an exciting day.  It's one of those feel good days.  You know, where everything just feel warm and fuzzy and cozy. 
First of all, this is my 100th post in this blog. 

I have two blogs, so it's actually my 137th, but I'm not counting that way.  It's the 100th for this one.  I see a lot of blogs where they have give aways for reaching certain goals, or whatever other reasons.  I just never got into that.  I just don't have that kind of blog, I guess.  Nor do I have the time.  I would just like to thank all of you that for one reason or another have followed along with me.  Many times I wonder why people follow what seems even to me to probably be boring and not real exciting to others.  This is just me and my life, but I know for me it is sometimes just interesting to be able to peek into someone else's window.  There's obviously a little bit of voyeurism in all of us.

Today's snow storm is also another bit of big news.  I know this is not necessarily a good thing for a lot of people and I feel so bad for those that have to be somewhere and can't get there, or even worse, people that have lost power or even been involved in accidents.  For many reasons this snow is not a good thing.  Believe me, I feel bad for anyone suffering due to this storm.  I am very fortunate to be able to say in my home today and thankfully we have power and heat.  I have a very good excuse to have to stay home.  For those that know me and follow along with me, you know I love to stay home.  It's beautiful outside. There is no prettier picture than fresh fallen snow on trees.  This picture was from our last snow storm and it looks the same today except the bushes you see that are in front of our driveway are today almost completely covered under snow.  My DIL was supposed to go to Pittsburgh last night to report for an Air Force Reserve weekend.  Thank goodness that got re-scheduled or she'd be stranded somewhere.  Pittsburgh has at least 20".  We have about 10" here.  So this is going to be a tomato soup, grilled cheese, and knitting/sewing day.  My favorite kind of day.

Another piece of good news is the award I received from Annette at So Many Memories, http://sewcrazed.blogspot.com/ Thank you Annette! 

She actually tagged me with this a few days ago, but I'm just now getting the chance to acknowledge.  With this award I'm to list 10 things that make me happy and try to do at least one today.  Tag 10 bloggers that brighten my day and they are to link back to my blog and make their own 'Makes Me Happy' list.

So here is my list:
 1) Fresh fallen snow
 2) My children and grandchildren
 3) Having a loving and caring family
 4) Knitting
 5) Sewing
 6) Ellie Mae, Fergie, and Callie - my pets
 7) My sons being happy and doing well
 8) A clean and organized home
 9) Being able to stay home a whole day and doing whatever I want
10) Being healthy

I could get a whole lot broader and politically correct with this list, such as Peace on Earch, Goodwill to Mankind, An end to Homelessness and Hunger, etc.  And all these things would truly make everyone happy and really go without saying.  I'm just citing my own little world in my own little list above.

I am passing this award on to all of you that I follow.   I know that's not really the rule of picking 10, but I can't and won't pick.  If you're on my list, there's a reason, so please post this award on your site and if you feel like it, make a list of your own 10 Happy Things.

Good Groundhog Day!

Nice, quiet, calm day at home.  Finally.  Got some paperwork and bookkeeping done.  One load of laundry.  Chicken and dumplings in the crock pot.  Raspberry bars made.  My March issue of "Country Living" magazine came in the mail.  And American Idol on TV tonight.  Perfect day for me.  I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but believe me, it was good.

It's also Groundhog Day. 
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow so there will be six more weeks of winter.  Now, I live about 25 miles from Punxsutawney, and there's ALWAYS at least six more weeks of winter around here.  We have a saying in these parts: We have two seasons, Winter and July.  That's a little exaggeration, but not by much.  It's pretty here, though.

I was going to go down to help Melissa today with more curtain hanging, but to get to their house you drive right through Punxsutawney.  It would take me an hour just to get through Punxy with all the people and activities going on today, so we decided on Thursday.  They're having a new entertainment unit delivered on Thursday anyway that I'm anxious to see and help arrange.

Tomorrow Melissa is coming up this way and I'm meeting her at the old house to clean.  Now that almost all the garbage is out of the way we can get down to shining and polishing floors, sinks and appliances to get ready to show.  In fact, just by word of mouth in this small town, two people called me to ask if they could see it tomorrow.  We're hoping that it will sell right away without even listing it.  We'll see what happens.  It's been a hard decision by all in the family to actually sell the house as it was Grandma and Grandpa's for 50 years.  We've all finally come to the realization that we can't hold onto it forever and we'll all be more relaxed in letting it go.  When I go through old pictures of Christmases and family reunions at that house I get sort of sad and emotional, but time to move on.

Speaking of Grandma and Grandpa, I went to see them yesterday.  I took Grandpa his every other day supply of Hershey kisses and jumbo marshmallows.  He's 94 and happy and doesn't have a thing wrong with him except his memory, so what the heck.  We figure it's not going to hurt him at this point.  Grandma just looks so pitiful.  She's down to about 53 pounds now and she didn't even open her eyes while I was there.  We just keep asking the question that no one can answer, "How can a human live at that weight?"  And it just keeps going down.  We're praying for her to move on, too.  We don't even feel bad about thinking that or saying that anymore.

All In a Day's Work

I seem to remember back in the recesses of my memory that when I was a young wife and mother of two small, very active boys, and I was the owner and manager of my own insurance agency, I feel like I had more quiet and free weekends than I do now.  How is that even possible?  Or is my old mind just playing tricks on me and I'm experiencing very selective memories and/or possible dreams?  I don't know.  All I know is that I have not had a weekend to myself where I could just do whatever I wanted to do, which would include doing maybe nothing at all, in a very long time.  
Early Saturday wasn't too bad.  I started the day freshening up the bathrooms and making sure sheets and blankets were clean in the guest rooms.  Austin and Melissa and the boys were coming in the afternoon and spending the night.  Sunday was going to be spent cleaning out the rest of the leftover debris from their old house here in town.  This consists of the small house where they lived with a detached garage, and guest house/office that they rented out.  To their credit, they are getting rid of everything that they no longer use, need or want.  So they had a dumpster brought to the house and we were all going to help clean out and throw away. 
Well, since Friday had been Melissa's 27th birthday, I told them I would have a nice dinner on Saturday evening and a birthday cake.  Mom and Dad were to have left for their drive to Florida on Saturday morning, but due to bad weather in Virginia and the Carolinas they postponed their departure by 24 hours.  So they also came for dinner.   The dinner, consisting of pot roast with vegetable and noodles and fresh Italian bread was very nice and the chocolate cake (from the bakery, I can't do everything) was so good.  The evening was very enjoyable and going very well, except that Logan, our 5 year old grandson, did not want to eat the main course.  He fussed and fussed about not liking it and only wanted the chocolate cake and ice cream.  His mother told him he had to eat some meat and potatoes before he could have the desert.  He finally forced it down very unwillingly and with a lot of drama and fuss. 

He doesn't look very excited yet does he?  He is so dramatic.  Notice the cake had to have a princess theme because the boys requested it saying that their mommy is a princess.  So that's what I did.

Both boys gave Mommy a kiss before we sang Happy Birthday.

Melissa modeling the hat and fingerless gloves I knit for her.  This yarn is a Baby Alpaca and is so soft.  I need to make some more.

We all went to bed fairly early since we wanted to get up early to get the operation clean sweep started and hopefully finished in one day.  Austin and Melissa went downstairs to the guest room for the night and the boys went upstairs to the kids' room and fell asleep watching a movie with their Grandpa Bobby.  Bob came down to bed and soon after that I hear crying upstairs.  Anyone that's a mother knows that sound that you don't lay there and think twice about it.  I ran upstairs just a little too late to get Logan to the bathroom and he had thrown up all the cake and ice cream all over the bed, comforter, his pajamas and all.  What a mess!  Didn't even wake up Landen, though, who was sound asleep in the other bed right next to him.  Thank goodness.  So I stripped the bed, changed his clothes, layed towels all over the bed for him to now sleep on and put the bucket (you mothers know what I'm talking about) next to the bed.  Logan, in this sweet little pitiful voice says, "I think I had too much sugar".  I couldn't help, even at that moment, but to laugh and agree with him.  He said he felt better, so I didn't bother anyone else in the house and went back to bed.  I was into a really good sleep when about an hour and a half later that same sickly cry could be heard from the upstairs bedroom again.  Up I jumped, and as I'm running up the stairs I'm thinking I hope he hits the bucket.  Nope!  All over the towels.  Same procedure as earlier.  I started a load of laundry now before I got back in bed.  Still no one else in the house hears this or at least they're all ignoring it.  And I really didn't want to wake up Austin and Melissa because I already thought that over and didn't want the next day's cleaning schedule to be disturbed.  This ended up going on every hour or so for the rest of the night.  I felt so bad for my little guy.  Neither one of us slept much at all, obviously.  

Then on top of all that mess and disturbance, at about 6:30 in the morning, I had just layed back down, and Bob says, "Why is the bed wet?"  Here, my little Fergie had peed in bed.  He's never done that.  I  must have disturbed him with my getting in and out of bed and he woke up and thought it was morning and time to pee.  Since I paid no attention to him he fell back to sleep.  I just figured I may as well give up on sleeping altogether and just kept the washer and dryer going from that point on for the rest of the day.

So Sunday morning went as planned for everyone else, thank goodness.  Landen went to an old neighbor's house to play for the day.  Austin, Melissa and Bob went to clean, in 2 degree weather, and Logan and I actually spent a nice quiet day at home.  I actually maybe ended up getting the better end of the deal.  I stayed warm, even though I was exhausted.  And Logan seemed to be fine by late Sunday morning.  We don't know whether it really was too much cake or a 12 hour bug, but he's fine now. 

I heated up leftovers for dinner after the three of them came back home cold, tired and hungry. 

The dumpster is filled and Wednesday Melissa is coming back to town and I'm going to go in and help clean the house with her.  Floors, bathrooms, stove, refrigerator, etc.  They need to get it ready to show for rent and/or to sell by the first of March. 

Sunday evening we got a call from Brandon telling us about his two week survival training mission in the woods.  He just got back home on Saturday.  He couldn't even communicate with Diana, his wife, while he was on this training.   I'll tell you about that next time.  It's 8:00 pm and time to get off the computer and go make something.