Getting Back to Some Kind of Normal

I'm so sorry! I feel like I've abandoned everyone. Ever since we returrned from Spokane I've been re-nesting in a way. I've been cleaning and organizing and then at night I've been feeding my need to create. Take a look at my other blog to see what I've been doing, http://mycharmingcreations.blogspot.com/

I got the upstairs guest room and bath all cleaned out. Dee lived in these rooms for six months and after we moved all of her things out it needed a good deep clean. So I have the guest room all fixed up as a play room for the grandsons that visit quite often. They love the new big play space, but I am going to eventually be putting a bed in there. We haven't decided whether we want to move our queen bed in there and get a new king for us, or just get a new queen or maybe just a day bed. I also think I may want to strip off all the wallpaper that is rather dated and paint. So at least until I come to some decorating decisions, it's clean and the boys love it.

I've also had to catch up on real work for my husband's business. I don't mind, except it just leaves less time to do my fun stuff. Saturday we had another wedding to go to in Pittsburgh. It was beautiful. A very nice young man that wrestled for Penn State that we've known for 20 years and My Bob helped him train. I just did not feel like travelling any more or going anywhere, but I couldn't miss it.

Then Tuesday and Wednesday we kept the grandsons. We hadn't seen them since we left for Spokane and we missed them. After two days and a night, that itch has been scratched. Boy are they busy little guys. Wears me out. We had fun, though. We took them to our County Fair on Tuesday afternoon and we had such a good time. We were all so tired Tuesday night. Then they were up again about 6:30 Wednesday morning. Logan and I spent the day together and shopped for his birthday which is on Sunday. Five years old. Hard to believe. He's into Transformers right now. So we got a transformer toy, and transformer sheets, blanket and curtains. I would love to fix up the boys' bedroom in their new decor, but I guess Mommy and Daddy are going to do that.

I think as of today I'm starting to feel settled in to my nest again. And I still need to catch up on my blogging. I want to tell you all about our trip out west complete with pictures. Hopefully this weekend will give me some time.

There's No Place Like Home

We're home! It was a wonderful trip and Brandon, Dee and Riley are all moved into their apartment in Spokane. My Bob and I loved it there in the Pacific Northwest. I'll fill in the details as soon as I get settled back in. Re-entry into real life is difficult for me. Catching up on work, mail, e-mail, chores, etc. is a job. And I like things to be cleaned and organized before I feel I can get back into my hobbies. But I have pictures of the sites we saw along the way. We concluded that this is a beautiful country, except for Chicago. (No offense to those that live in Chicago). We just didn't care for all the traffic, congestion and people. Too busy for us. Not my kind of place to want to visit or live. The U-Haul ride was noisey and bumpy. It took us four days. Fixed up their apartment and did some sightseeing around Spokane and Couer D'Alene, Idaho. Absolutely beautiful! Brandon kept telling us on the phone that we would want to move there, and he's right. We flew home on Monday, which is a long trip in itself. We lose three hours in time change and then once we get into Pittsburgh we still have a 2-1/2 hour drive home. We're tired.
I hated to leave Spokane and Brandon, Dee and Riley. Of course I cried. The little bit of upside is that the house is totally ours again, which I like. Although, I have to say, having Dee and Riley living with us was a joy. I like having a schedule and a routine, which was almost impossible for several months. That's the upside I'm clinging to and working with because I really miss them and would cry all the time otherwise. I will learn to love my empty nest again eventually.

Five Generations of Girls

We leave with the U-Haul for Spokane in two more days. Then Dee and Riley leave our home for Pittsburgh next Thursday, fly to Spokane next Sunday. This was our last chance to get a five generation picture of the girls. Even if Brandon, Dee and Riley get back home for Christmas, we aren't sure if Grandma will still be around. So this is my Grandma, the great-great-grandmother of Riley, Riley, of course, sitting on her lap. My mother on the left, me, and Diana. We never thought this picture would ever be possible. I have two brothers, two sons, and until May 30, two grandsons. Grandma is not doing well at all, so we were so happy to be able to take Riley to her in the nursing home for her to hold. Grandma doesn't like her picture taken, but she was very willing to cooperate on this one. It was very sweet.

Look at these two beautiful girls, 93 years apart, looking at each other. Such a precious moment.

Great-great Grandpa loves babies, even though we had to remind him that this was his great-great grand-daughter. And he couldn't remember her name. But this didn't stop him from singing every song he knew to her. Very loud I might add. Nobody minded. You can't help but smile with tears in your eyes.

I realize how lucky I am and I'm thankful for such a blessed family.

I am cleaning and packing today. We pick up and load the U-Haul tomorrow. My Bob and I truck it on out of here Sunday morning. I will see my beautiful baby next Sunday in Spokane and then have to leave my son and his family next Monday morning. Too hard to think about.

If I don't get a chance to get on a computer before then, I'll cry on all your shoulders after July 27th.

Spokane or Bust

This is our last week with Dee (DIL) and Baby Riley. Their moving day to Spokane is Sunday, July 26. They are flying to Spokane with Dee's mother. Brandon, my son, is already there. He drove their car along with Layla, their dog, about six weeks ago. You may be wondering, how is their furniture and belongings getting there. That's what parents are for. My Bob and Dee's father are picking up and loading the U-Haul on Saturday and Sunday morning My Bob and I are truckin' it out to Spokane. Keep in mind, we live in Pennsylvania. It's a 36 hour drive, and that's by car. So I have a feeling it will take us a little longer. Bob says we're doing it in three days. I'm looking forward to it really. Now those that know me say they can't believe I would ride in a truck for that long, but I look forward to the adventure. Many of the states we'll be going through I have never seen and my son said it was a very pretty drive. Brandon, the Air Force Survival Trainer, just stopped at night at rest stops and rolled out his sleeping bag in the back of his Jeep, Layla (sharpay, retriever mix) stood guard at the window, and they had no problems. As his mother, I shudder to think of what Brandon and the Jeep smelled like when they arrived in Spokane. I'm not willing to experience the adventure to that degree. We'll be stopping at hotels along the way. Brandon got an apartment the day he arrived. He had researched houses and apartments for rent over the internet and had the appointment to see this particular apartment that looked the nicest on the day he arrived and rented it and moved in that evening. Now again, keep in mind, the only thing he had to move in was Layla, a sleeping bag, a towel, and a toothbrush. Again I shudder the thought. He tells me it's a very nice apartment in a very nice neighborhood and I'm going to love it. Of course, it's really only important that he and Dee love it, but he knows how his mother is. If it's a dump in a bad neighborhood I would never be able to sleep at night. He assures me otherwise. So here's what I'm really looking forward to; seeing Brandon again, I miss him a lot, seeing Spokane for the first time, and setting up the apartment for Dee and Riley to come home to. That includes a good cleaning and vacuuming first, of course. I can only imagine after six weeks! I taught both my boys how to clean, but sometimes I don't think males have the gene that sees dirt and clutter. It amazes me.
Dee, also known as Diana, will be back tomorrow morning from her weekend in Pittsburgh, and we will need to finish packing up their things. We have the U-Haul reserved. Note to self, call U-Haul to make sure it has air conditioning and DVD or CD player. I'm getting some books on tape and a portable CD player, if truck doesn't have one, and I'm going to the yarn store this week to stock up on some yarn so I have a few projects to work on while travelling. Just got off the phone with the doggie sitter making arrangements for Ellie Mae and Fergie. Talked to the neighbor about watering my flowers. Spoke to my mother about coming by to feed Callie the cat. Dee will stay here until next Thursday when she goes back down to her mother's in Pittsburgh, so she'll take care of things until then.
Bob and I will be flying back home on Monday, the 27th. That's going to be a very difficult day for me. I hate saying goodby, especially to my kids and grandkids and especially when they'll be so far away. Bob already told me we could go back to visit for Thanksgiving. I just don't want to talk about that part anymore.
Brandon and Dee are very excited about starting their new life together, in their own place, with his new job, and their new baby. I'm very happy for them, they are both great young adults. And I'll survive just knowing they're happy.
10-4 Good Buddy!

The Perfect Day

I got it! Finally! My quiet, alone weekend. All the stars aligned and I wasn't about to let anything get in it's way if I could help it. And as an added bonus, the weather was perfect. It rained on Saturday, but that's what was perfect, because I wanted to work on some of my sewing projects and if the sun had been out I am pulled beyond my control to go outside. So it was perfect. It was just My Bob and I at home and he did his thing (working out and computer work) and I did mine (sewing while watching TV) and we hardly crossed paths or spoke. Very unusual. And it was a good, contented feeling, not a "stay away from me" feeling. Then Bob and Austin (oldest son) went to visit a good friend of the family that invited them to his house for a "man's party" as he had ordered the Ultimate Fighting Championship from Pay Per View for the night. I can't stand that stuff. I don't know how anyone can watch it, but obviously a lot of people do. Since the friend lives about two hours away and the fight didn't even start until 10:00 pm, they spent the night. Yipee!! I think only if you've been happily married (and I stress Happily so you don't get the wrong idea) for 30 years (well, mostly happy, that's a long time to be always happy) would you understand my Yipee. I did have to interrupt my quiet evening alone for a few hours since I promised my mother I would go with her to her cousin's 50th wedding anniversary dinner. Dad couldn't go. The dinner was very good, the people - so-so. Even though they're relatives I get the feeling they don't like me too well. Just a feeling. They're not warm and fuzzy at all. Just a woman's intuition kind of feeling I get. So when I got home about 8:00 I sewed my little heart out until 1:00 a.m. with the only interruption being to let the dogs out to "potty".
I had the best night's sleep. No aching back in the morning, no snoring to keep me awake in the middle of the night, no yanking the covers back to my side. Separate bedrooms sounds like a very good idea to me, but My Bob would never go for it. And when I woke up this morning, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and it was warm enough at 8:00 a.m. to sit on my deck and drink my coffee. Heaven on a Sunday morning. This is my morning coffee spot on nice summer mornings.

And this is what I look at. Lots of boats out today.
The rest of my morning routine consists of feeding my birds. I get this little yellow one that comes by quite often and I think it's so cute. I don't know what it is. I need to get a bird book so I can look the birds up by picture and I'll sound a little more intelligent about my birds. I'm that way about flowers, too. I love them and plant them all over the place, but I don't always remember the name of them all. I just know what looks good and if deer will eat them.

Then I feed my cat, Callie. She lives by herself downstairs because she doesn't like the dogs and she really doesn't like people, either. Just the immediate family will she tolerate. She'll try to bite any one else that tries to pet her or pick her up. I put her outside on nice days and she wanders around the yard a little bit then finds a safe place to nap away. Right now it's under the shaded table on the deck. We'd like her to chase away the chipmunks, but she's not interested.

I then water all my deck flowers. I didn't have to do too much of that this morning since it rained yesterday. My final morning chore that is new in the last few weeks is feeding my ducks. We noticed in the spring these eight little newborn ducklings down by our dock. We would watch them every morning come around and shortly there were only six. That was very sad. So we've continued to watch them grow all spring and summer and once in a while we would take bread down to the lake and feed them. I now lovingly call them my M.R. Duck Family. As in M R Ducks, no M not, yes M are, M R Ducks. Get it? Then the grandsons really enjoy feeding them and so they became very used to us. Now each morning when I walk out onto the back deck they are waiting down in the lake for me and as soon as they see me they come running up through the back yard all the way up to the driveway under the deck. So of course I have to feed them. "They" say you shouldn't do that, but I can't resist them. I miss them if they aren't waiting for me in the morning. After I'm done feeding them I tell them "all gone" and they turn around and waddle back to the lake. So Cute!

It's now 3:30 and my glorious, quiet day is almost over. Just the quiet part, hopefully not the glorious part. Bob should be back anytime now. I'm planning on making strawberry shortcake for later. There's something about strawberry shortcake on a sunny summer day that is so comfy. And now I'm renewed and ready for the week ahead. I have a feeling it's going to be a busy one. These little breaks sure do help. Next time I have a complaining day I need to look back on this post on this day and these pictures to remind myself how very lucky I am.