• Settling in…

    October 27, 2012 / 10 Comments

    Two months have now passed since I returned to the Midwest.  After much searching, and realizing that the cost of housing and living HERE actually rivals the West Coast, I finally found a very nice condo.  It is a second floor, two bedroom/two bathroom with a lot of character.  It is also a very secure, locked entry building.  The large living room has a corner fireplace and hardwood in the living room and hallway leading to the bedrooms and bathrooms.  The kitchen has a marble floor, so I will have to be careful not to drop anything or it will surely break!  There are sliding glass doors leading from the living room, kitchen and master bedroom out on to a small terra cotta tiled and covered porch.  Also, I’m six or seven minutes to the closest library (a great one) and 14 minutes to my daughter’s house!

    My daughter and her family have been so much help in getting me settled.  Tonight, my daughter brought chicken enchiladas, rotel and tostitos, and delicious chocolate/caramel brownies!  Since I don’t have a table and chairs yet (we’re looking on Monday), we had a picnic on the living room floor.  So much fun!  Afterwards, my sweet son-in-law and oldest grandson put up the white iron bed in the guest room and hauled boxes up and down the stairs to my storage room in the basement!  My granddaughters helped!  Needless to say, I couldn’t have done it without them and I appreciate their help so much.

    I’ve only been here in the condo for two weeks but I am definitely making progress.  When it is a little further along, I will post photos of the finished look.

    Last evening was the Great Pumpkin Party at church.  Will post pics of that when I find the cord for my camera!  My daughter made my grandchildren’s costumes and they are so cute.  My youngest grandson is “Bolt“, the adorable Disney dog.  Featured photo above:  here we are outside waiting for their turn for the pony ride.  Such a fun night!

    grandmomandkeegan

  • Laughter is good…

    September 27, 2012 / No Comments

     A sense of humor is a wonderful thing…especially when all of your belongings are piled high in your daughter’s garage and you have no idea where anything is.  I happened to mention to my daughter that I had a certain cookbook “somewhere” in the garage and a few other interesting things.  The next thing I knew there was a grin on her face and a gleem in her eyes.  She grabbed a pair of scissors and said “let’s go look!”

    There we were outside on the pavement by her garage going through box after box  and having a blast.  She “found” my knifeblock which she borrowed and a few other neat things.  We were laughing so hard that suddenly I wondered what her neighbors in the upscale neighborhood thought about all of this and voiced that question.  We looked at each other and laughed again.

    My soon to be fifteen year old grandson has graciously given up his bedroom and bathroom in the downstairs suite for his grandmom and is bunking in with his almost four year old brother upstairs.  Not one word of grumbling or complaint.  Pretty amazing kid!  I’m loving my time with my daughter and her family and am getting spoiled in the process.

    In the photo below:  my eight year old granddaughter and I were sorting and organizing when we came across a couple of my summer hats.  She thought trying them on was fun!

    grandmomandmakaylainhatsingarage

  • One year old…

    September 8, 2012 / 5 Comments

    What a fun birthday week this has been!  I can hardly believe that one whole year has passed since this sweet girl made her entrance into the world.

    She loved her birthday decorations – the streamers, the balloons and all the other adorable decorations. Those big blue eyes clearly were taking it all in when she woke up on the morning of her birthday!

    Now, her Midwestern parents will tell you in a heartbeat that she isn’t a “Southern” baby but that sure is an adorable SOUTHERN baby dress that a friend of theirs gave her as a birthday gift!  I loved it!  What you can’t see are her adorable little soft leather cowgirl boots!

    The expression on her face when she saw her “smash” cake was absolutely priceless!  If she could say more than five or six words, she probably would have said:

    “Hello!  What ARE you three adults thinking?!  Uh, don’t you know that I have been fed so healthy for the first year of my life?!  I have NOT had sugar!  Nope.  Not for the entire first year of my life.  Granted this cake is from one of the top ten bakeries in the U.S.A. but still… you DO know this cake is made of pure SUGAR?!!  Don’t you?!  Are you SURE you want me to have this?!”

    So, as the Paparazzi clicked a few stills she took advantage of the moment and dove in (truthfully though, health conscious Mom and Dad limited it to a few bites – which she loved – then distracted her with a new birthday toy and removed it!)

    I have a photo of her Dad at the same age which looks just like this!

    She is always happy and even-tempered!  What an amazing baby girl!

    We had lunch at a nearby Garden Cafe.  They have herbs and vegetables growing and even a couple of chickens in a little chicken coop.

    This child is full of joy and takes my breath away!

    Happy Birthday, baby girl!  I love you!

  • Surprise….

    September 1, 2012 / 1 Comment

    I was standing at the luggage carousel at the DFW airport waiting for my luggage to roll around…easy to recognize with the Scottish plaid ribbon and the large cupcake ID tag.  My son would be picking me up any minute now.  I had prepared myself that my baby granddaughter would be asleep when I arrived and that I would have to wait until early morning to see her.  I had not been here for the past four months and I could not wait to see her!  Facetime and photos are fun…but definitely not the real thing.

    Just about that time, I heard happy laughter.  I turned around to see my beautiful baby granddaughter toddling toward me, arms up and outstretched!  (She had just started walking the week before!)

    My son and his precious wife stood back, laughing at my surprised and happy expression as I ran toward my granddaughter to scoop her up into my arms. I love surprises like this!

    Friday is her FIRST birthday and it’s going to such a fun week!

     

  • All too soon…

    August 31, 2012 / 1 Comment

    Life moves along at such a remarkable speed.  You turn around one day and your little girl is grown.  She falls in love, gets married and in a few years becomes a mother.  In turn, this bestows upon you the most incredible role of your life:  Grandmother!

    After that, life continues to move even faster!  See the precious toddler in the photo above?  The adorable one walking next to her big brother?  She’s turning thirteen today.  A teenager!  Even as a tiny toddler, she was a runner.  Now, she can run faster than her Mom and Dad and almost as fast as her brother.  She is also a swimmer and swims on a competition team for the school.

    Now that I have my automobile, she loves that I drive her to school and we have talks on the way.  I think she was worried that I would get lost on my way back home the first time that I took her to school for she said “did you find your way back home okay, Grandmom?”

    Tonight, we celebrated with cake and ice cream and she opened her presents.  One of my presents to her was actually one of “my treasures”.  My mother was born in 1904 and, about 1920, was given a solid gold bar pin with her initials on it in a beautiful scroll.  I placed this special pin in a small heart shaped leaded glass dish.  I thought it was time to give it to my granddaughter…since my mother and my granddaughter share the same initials.  (She is the only grandchild with those initials.)  She was very pleased and I think will treasure it and take care of it for many decades to come.

    Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

    Why do they have to grow up all too soon?

     

     

  • The stories…

    August 31, 2012 / 1 Comment

    I had not been in the Midwest – or in my daughter’s busy home – for very long at all when “the stories” began.  They would start with a simple word the children would say and, then, that word would evolve into a children’s story in my head.  I began to think of them as “gifts”.

    My computer had not yet arrived – neither had anything else.  And, so, I would disappear into their study/classroom and enter the stories into their computer.  I did remember to bring my “jump” drive and would save them there.  Sometimes, one of the children would be in the classroom studying and I would tell the story to them.  They loved them.  The youngest especially would like it when the story would be about him. Perhaps there would be hope at the end of this “living on a retirement pension” tunnel…

    My daughter is an amazing artist and I began to realize that she could illustrate these – what I was beginning to think were pretty doggone good stories – and I could actually have them published.  That would, of course, involve my stepping into HER shoes to free her up so that she could paint and illustrate!