Vegas, Baby!

I’m on the return flight home right now, on this 31st anniversary of our wedding,  from Las Vegas to Cleveland.  We’ll arrive about 6:30 p.m. Eastern time and then the three hour drive back home totally exhausted.  We’ve had three fun filled days in Vegas with my parents and another couple, but we are all worn out. 
Hubby and his working partner attorney were in seminars for two straight days so Mom, Dad, the attorney’s wife (and friend of mine), and I shopped till we dropped and had lunch one day at Planet Hollywood and the next day at the Bellagio.

Everything in Vegas is in excess.  We walked too much, ate too much and spent too much money.   I feel good, though, that we didn’t gamble or drink too much!  So I guess we did good and it was worth it.
As we walked the Strip during the day, dressed up characters are standing around available to get pictures with – for a tip!  Woody from Toy Story was almost kind of perverted and gave my girlfriend and me the creeps.

Elvis was OK.

We stayed at the Monte Carlo hotel on the Strip.  It’s very nice and since we were there for hubby’s seminar we got a pretty good discount on the room.  We’ve started to rate the hotels in order of beauty and luxury since we’ve stayed at a good many of them now through the years.  Our number one pick so far is Caesar's,

then Mandalay Bay,  Monte Carlo,  Bally’s and Stratosphere.  Didn’t care for the Stratosphere at all!  I would love to some day  to stay at Paris,

Bellagio and Wynn.  That will probably only happen if we get good seminar rates.

Our highlight was Sunday evening (Halloween)at Cher’s last show.  Wow!  Her voice was as good as ever, and even though she’s not skinny like she used to be, she looks great at 60 something.  And she had a change of costume for every song.

In between songs, to give time for the costume and scenery change, they played old clips on a huge screen of the old Sonny and Cher show, clips from her movie roles, etc.  The show was quite spectacular and we were on the First Mezzanine but direct center so the seats were good.  We just used binoculars to get some close up views.  Because of the binoculars we could tell that she had on a full flesh colored body stocking under all those skimpy tight outfits.  See, even the most beautiful stars with all their cosmetic surgery still have to resort to tricks and secrets to get that fake perfect look!  Makes you kind of feel a little better in a way.
Hubby had bought me a new outfit before we left home to wear to Cher.  It was very cute, and comfortable, velvet black leggings and a red and black ruffled velvet tunic.

  But the shoes were a different story.  They were black mesh with very, and I mean very, high heels with red roses clipped to the side.  I called them my cute hooker shoes.

Believe me, they were not made to walk in!  Even though we took a tram to the show from Monte Carlo to Caesar's, you still ended up walking quite a lot.  I had the worst blisters on my heels by the time we got to the show that I carried the shoes and walked barefoot after the show.  It was funny, though, that as I carried these cute shoes in my hand I had a lady come up to me to tell me how much she liked my shoes!
We had dinner before the show that first night at a Chinese restaurant inside Monte Carlo.  Very good food and an excellent black raspberry sake.  I’m going to be craving one of those about 10:00 tonight I think!  The second night we ate at Di’Ablo’s, the Mexican restaurant inside the hotel.  The show we saw that night was the ignorant group of girls at the table beside us screaming and hollering for the San Francisco Giants throughout the whole dinner as the World Series final game was playing.  The manager finally came over to them and asked them to leave, just as we were finishing.  We should have complained a lot sooner.  I know it’s Vegas and people get wild, but come on!!
Our final night there our friends really wanted to see “Phantom”.  The rest of us weren’t that interested and didn’t want to spend that kind of money on another show.  We ended up getting a cab and going downtown Las Vegas to Freemont Street and it was actually very nice and a lot of fun.  There is a light show that plays above Fremont Street like every hour.

(You can see the old hotels and then that lit up dome above them is a dome roof above the street where the light show plays.)

Then we got tickets to a show inside the Golden Nugget.  A comedian by the name of Gordon Brown.  He sings and does impressions.  It was a great show.  We were pleasantly surprised by the show, Fremont Street and the Golden Nugget. 
Now we’re approaching re-entry into reality.  I’m O.K. with that because I don’t think I could go another day at that pace.  Tomorrow I would love to rest for a day, but that’s not on the schedule.  I’ll have to pick up my dogs in the morning from the dog sitter and then go pick up my three grandchildren for the weekend.  Their mother has to go to Virginia for a few days and their dad, my son, has to work Thursday and Friday.  I may have to stay down there unless they take the boys out of pre-school and kindergarten for one day. 
After Sunday things will settle down just a little bit and my thoughts will then turn to the Holidays. 

New Knits By Nina

The great thing about knitting is that it is very portable.  So even if I’m at the kids’ house or travelling or sitting in a beauty shop or doctor’s office, I can have my knitting with me.  I have several projects always going at one time and the situation determines which one I work on.  I have larger projects that are not as portable and I keep those at home.  The smaller projects requiring less yarn are easier to travel with.  Then there are more complicated patterns that I need to do only when I can concentrate and others that are more mindless.  But no matter what I’m knitting, it’s always relaxing and calming for me.

Right now I’m still working on this plain black hoody sweater that my son asked for.  This has been really slow going because first of all, black is difficult to see and second of all, it’s boring.  It’s just a plain black cotton and it’s much more exciting  to work on the beautiful silk, mink, angora or wool in beautiful colors.  So this project is taking a lot longer than it should. 

I have the back and two fronts and one sleeve finished.  I’m now working on the 2nd sleeve and then I have the hood to do after that.  It will have wooden buttons up the front.  I hope to have it done for Christmas for him.  Then I just pray that it fits him and that he likes it!

My second current project is another baby set that I have been commissioned to do for a friend who is expecting a granddaughter in December.  She is wanting it the middle of November for the baby shower.  The colors she asked for are lavender and green.  I’m doing a sweater, hat and booties.  The nice thing about baby clothes is that they are small and go real fast. 

This yarn is called “Oh My”.  It is nylon, but looks and feels like chenille.  It’s feels so good to work with.  The green is mink yarn.  I’ll use it for trim and a flower for the hat.

I’m so excited to start the project I just bought the yarn for today.  I think I’ll take this one to work on for the car and plane travel to Las Vegas.  We leave Sunday morning, drive to Cleveland for 2-1/2 hours, then fly to Las Vegas which is around a 4-1/2 hour flight.  I can get a lot of knitting done in all that travelling to and from.  And look how cute this is going to be!

The yarn is from Japan called Noro.  It’s a wool, angora and silk blend.  This one I will probably keep for myself.

See, this is why I don’t get that much listed on my Etsy site.  I always have requests from family and orders from friends and acquaintances.   I do charge for orders, but not family.  And if it’s something really cute or different I make for me!

Happy Knitting!

Nina

Calm, Quiet Home Sweet Home

(The Blessings of Autumn – Thomas Kincaid)
My house is all mine again!  The grandsons were picked up about 3:00 yesterday and then at 6:30 last night, nephew Kyle was taken to the bus terminal and headed back to Cincinnati.  The boys were only here for the weekend, but Kyle had been here for two months.
Since I am a huge fan of clean, neat, quiet and time to myself, this is a very feel good day for me.  Kyle was actually going to be here longer, but some things didn’t work out quite as planned and our patience ran thin.  I’ll explain this “Kyle Project” in a separate post.  I’m just glad to have no current house guests.  Someone said to me, “You’ll probably be bored when all the activity and chaos goes away”.  NO WAY!  Not this girl.  I  love calm and quiet. 
Today was a rainy and dark Monday and I just kept telling my husband what a great day it was.  It felt so comfy and cozy as I cleaned the guest bedroom and bath and made tapioca pudding FOR TWO!
Again, I am going to sound selfish, but I asked hubby to please promise that he will not offer our home, time, money and energy to any more needy family members.  It would be a different story if it did some good and wasn’t just taken for granted and even criticized.
I didn’t really mean to get into that, I just am glad to have my house back to myself.  Now maybe instead of the time spent on additional cooking, cleaning, tutoring, cleaning up legal issues, working with social services, etc., Bob and I can get back to our own work, hobbies, travel and enjoying our life. 
This last six months was certainly filled with enough activity, including 3 funerals, the births of 2 more grandchildren and everything in between.  This was just one more thing we didn’t need right now. 
There, I vented and feel even better. 
Nina

Ready, Set, Boys

We picked up Logan and Landen yesterday for another weekend here at Bob and Nina’s house.   They call us by our first names because when they were little they just weren’t able to say Grandma and Grandpa.  And since they were the first grandchildren, all they ever heard us called were Bob and Nina.  I enjoy being called Grandma, but Bob and Nina stuck. 

As soon as Logan hits our door, he’s running up to their room to hook up his Game Cube that he brought with him.  Austin and Melissa lock this up during the week and he’s allowed to get on it from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. 

We still limit his time on it because he won’t even stop to eat and pee if we don’t. 

Today was a fairly nice day, so we decided to take the boys to Cooper’s Farm Market.  Their Fall Festival weekends were over, but they still had a few things going on.  Logan really didn’t want to leave his Game Cube, but once we were there he had a great time.  Landen wasn’t feeling very well, so he was a little quiet and laid back today. 

Logan picked out two pumpkins for them so they could carve Jack-O-Lanterns tomorrow with their mother.

Second cousin Kyle, as the two boys have lovingly come to call him, joined in the fun with them.

Kyle is 6’4”, so Landen was thrilled to be up so high while walking through the corn maze.

They also had a smaller hay bale maze that was great for the smaller kids to just run around in.

Logan had a great time trying to catch this rooster.  But there was no way!

On the way home we had to stop at the Harley Davidson shop per  Bob’s desire.  Bob has been threatening to buy a Harley for the last 31 years!  He had a Harley when he was about 21 years old and maybe he hopes to re-capture some of those young and wild days. 

This was the first bike greeting us as we walked into the store.

It’s a real buffalo hide hanging on a motorcycle.

Landen also wanted to try on a helmet.

I think he has a way to go to grow into it.  And I think it was heavier than he is!

We ended our afternoon out with ice cream cones.  This if the kind of weekend and times I enjoy with my grandchildren.  Logan was even glad that he took a break from Game Cube. 

Now we’re back home and Landen is taking a nap and Logan is --- you guessed it!--- back in his room on Game Cube! 

It feels like a grilled cheese and tomato soup dinner night.  I love Fall!

Baby Sitting Limits

The Sunday that Grandpa died I had my son here with his three kids and two dogs.  Keeping in mind that we still have my nephew Kyle here. (More later on the “Kyle Project”).  I  was tired, emotional and needed some time to myself.  As Austin put it, I kind of “lost it”.  In looking back, I think that was a good thing, because some changes needed to be made.  I had a talk with my son and told him I just could not have both of his dogs at my house for more than a few hours, along with the kids,  especially when they are not here with them.  I also made it clear that after the next three baby sitting commitments I already agreed to, it really had to slow down.  I love the grandchildren to death, and they are a huge part of my life, but I just need to have more time to take care of my own house, work and hobbies.  In writing this it’s even sounding selfish to me, but I just want to be Grandma, not a parent again.  There’s a reason why I only had two children and had them in my early 20’s! 
So at this point I have been to their house for almost two weeks in the past month.  Then we had a week of out of town family and funeral arrangements going on.  Two days after the funeral and the day after all the family left, I was back down to their house to  take care of the three grands and two dogs by myself for four days.  If this were an occurrence a few times a year, I would enjoy it.  Three times in a month is just too much for me. 
Now this weekend my son and DIL are off to a family wedding in Maryland.  They are taking the baby, so Bob and I are picking the boys up tomorrow and bringing them to our house until Sunday.  They told me they are making arrangements for the dogs, so I hope they did.
Things are slowing down a little bit, but it’s still something we’re all working on.  On Sunday, Bob is taking the boys back home, then he is continuing on to Cincinnati with Kyle to take him back home.  The Kyle Project didn’t work out as completely planned, but some progress was made. (Again, more on that in a later post).  Bob and I just know that we’ve done all we can and we’re done taking care of others so much.   My son and DIL also agree with us in slowing down their lives, which in turn will calm us all down.
Next Sunday is the start of some time for us.  It’s a Las Vegas trip that we’re really looking forward to.  Then one more prior babysitting commitment the day after we get back.  Four more days of me back to the kids while their parents go to a retirement party in Virginia. 
We’re all looking forward to the Holidays after that and son and DIL also agree that they need to stay home more, get rid of at least one dog, and slow down a little.  They have quite enough going on with three small children and their own jobs.  They need to stop taking on extra trips and activities.
Chaos and I just do not get along!  I HAVE to have order, plans and organization.  I’m not real sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it works for me and makes me happy.
That’s the new plan.  We’ll see how it works! 
Nina