Happy Birthday, Jon Christian

It is very hard for me to believe that my first born is the big "40 " today. I am very blessed by the man and the father he has become. (yes, I was definitely a child bride) Ha, ha who am I trying to kid, I am older than dirt.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JON CHRISTIAN
May 28 , 1968

I love you, you have made your mother very proud

weekend projects

We finally got the anchors put in the swing set. The last few days Uncle Roy has been pushing Matt on the swing while I was the anchor Susan actually bought the swing set. Matt's other grandparents got him one of the wooden sets with the fort etc, like Papa and Nana got for Josh and Jackie's girls. Wondering why the small slide is there........because I refused to allow Matt to bring the step ladder from the garage (I can do it, Gramma, it would be OK with Papa) and this became his second choice for a ladder. Aside from being safer, he swings out on the trapeze, comes back to the slide, and then he slides down. Very creative, that boy!


The other project we worked on was putting the annuals in our garden in the front. I raked out all the old mulch Saturday and then weeded it. This morning we went to Lowes for some plants and mulch. I do have a few more plants that will be coming up this summer. Two of which I think are mums.

Betsy and Kenny Ashley came down on Friday night to open Betsy's sister, Carol's pool on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon, they all came over (and both Betsy's and Carol's dog)so everyone could meet our little Alice. Funny, Lisha and Zoe were born only days apart and had been great friends since they were puppies. Alice and Lisha became fast friends as well. We were outside in the yard and all the dogs (and Matthew) were running and playing. We moved into the house so Betsy could cut the back of my hair when Alice turned into an absolute wild dog. Our LR is not very large, we have an 8ft. window seat on the front wall, 2 recliners as well as a table and lamp on the other wall; the TV armorie is on the third wall and a love seat and 2 ottomans make up the fourth. Everyone was sitting in the LR when Alice began racing around and jumping from one person to the next if she could or just running up and jumping on them if she could not. She just kept running like some wild dog. Betsy said it was like a little kitten would do. Anyway, I was mortified,; everyone else was hysterical. On Sunday afternoon we ( Wm. Uncle Roy and I) met them (Betsy, Kenny and Carol) at Cracker Barrel for lunch. It was great to see them again and my hair looks terrific!

Snip-its.........again

Matt went to Snip-its again last night. Papa worked until 6 so it was 6:15 before they left here. His new haircut was little more than a trim but at least he is not shaggy anymore. Papa told Matt if he was a good boy, they would stop at (old) MacDonald's for dinner. This is the strange part. Matt got a kids meal with chicken nuggets and fries. (he does not usually eat chicken nuggets) and he ate the entire meal as well as some of Papa's salad. It was 8:30 before they got back here, 1/2 hour past his bedtime! No, Papa did not take pictures but Matt let me take this one today.

Ya gotta love Snip-its.

disappointed

I had an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon this morning. It has been 9 months since I had the euflexxa shots in my knee and it can be repeated after 6 months. I was hoping that I would be able to start the series of shots today. They did give me a cortisone shot ( 2 actually) while they waited for the authorization from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Now we are hoping for next week. Being the pessimist I am, I can see the authorization coming on Wed of next week because they are only in the Liverpool office on Tues, meaning I would need to wait an additional week to start the series of shots.

Papa dropped me off at the doctor and he took Matthew to IMS to see where he works. It has been all that Matt has talked about since Papa asked him if he wanted to go.

After work today, Susan and Papa are taking Matt to Snip-its to get his hair cut. He told me during lunch that he was going to go with Papa alone; "you and mama are not going". I said Mama likes to take pictures and his reply was "well, Papa knows how to take pictures you know!"

adjustments

I realize there is a time of adjustment for Alice to get use to us and to our home. She came from a breeder in Hastings, NY. No, not of bassets but of golden labs I found that a little strange but here is the story we were given. They raised golden labs, their teenage daughter wanted a basset hound puppy. They finally got her one and then she wanted to breed her. A year ago, Alice had 11 puppies, they kept one and then their daughter lost interest in both Alice and her puppy. There were getting rid of both of them.

Alice was crate trained. Yes, that is good but she was never a house dog. When she was not outside (200 acres where she could run free) she was in the crate. Getting use to being inside is hard for her. At first, she wanted inside until you let her out, when she wanted to be inside again. She is a counter surfer (3 of our other bassets were as well) and she is a Houdini wannabe. She escaped through the spindles on the front gate when Matt and I had her on the front porch with us. She had no collar on and Matt and I were barefoot as we chased her through the neighborhood so I had to carry her home. Other than that she has been very good. Well, she does seem to have a paper fetish and rips up every scrap of paper she finds.

She follows me around all day. It has only been in the past few months that Matt has stopped following me to the bathroom, now Alice does. I have finally stopped Matt from unrolling the toilet paper but yes, you guessed it, Alice now does. What really surprised me was when she came running into the bathroom after pushing open the door and jumped right on my lap!

All in all, she is a very sweet girl. She adores Matt and he always wants to be with her. We walk her a couple times a day and he takes a turn holding the leash. For never having been on leash other than when she went to the vets, she walks pretty well, even for Matt. She still has not barked, PTL.

We have a new addition to our family. We got a beautiful little girl basset hound, Alice, who is 3 yr. old. She is adorable and she absolutely adores Matthew. She was outside when we got there to pick her up. We took Matt along because if she did not like him or he did not like her, it would not have been possible for us to get her. Once we got out of the car she made a bee line for Matthew. All the way home, she rode with her back feet on the seat and her front feet on Matt's car seat, licking his face while he giggled with contagious laughter. They ran around the back yard together for a while when we got home. She has yet to bark, PTL
Anyway, here are some pixs of Alice and Matt and Papa in the backyard.

I love her markings. Zoe was also tricolor but she was predominantly brown with a little white.

Stretching out my Mother's Day

I had a very enjoyable Mother's Day weekend. Yep, the entire weekend! Susan took Friday off work and took Matt (Tyler and Aunt MerryBeth went too) to Medina for a "Day out with Thomas". This meant my weekend began in Fri. Uncle Roy and I went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then to the Christmas Tree Shop (I do love a bargain) and then to Big Lots. I was elated. I love to find bargains and my sweet William hates those places. He will take me but he stays in the car and there is no fun searching for a bargain alone.
Saturday, Wm. got the tub surround up finally after a lot of frustration from the not so square walls. Saturday night we took my MIL to Kirby's for dinner. They have the best BBQ ribs in town (OK, maybe the dinosaur BBQ is better but I rarely go there.
Sunday afternoon Matt came over to bring his card and gifts.
We did not even try to out for dinner on Mother's Day. Instead we went to Tassone's for the all you can eat crab legs on Monday night. (( found a gift certificate Matthew had given me for Grandparent's Day last year).
I was a little sad only having one of my children and one of my grandchildren with me for Mother's Day but Alyssa called and I talked to all the girls, yep, even Lauren :-) Jon and his family are at the shore in NC this week but I did hear from them too.
I loved being a mother but I really love being Gramma!

early Mother's Day bouquet

I got an early Mother's Day bouquet from Jon, Donna, Morrigan and Max.

Hmmmmm...... I guess the standard has been set :-)

musings

Wm. went to Canton this weekend to help Josh put privacy fence in the back yard. When we started thinking about going we were both going. Jackie and the girls had gone with her parents to a wedding on LI and I really did not see myself helping with the fence. My knee is in desperate need of another round of Euflexxa shots in it and my back has ached every day since I broke it 14 yr. ago, Riding is not easy for me although knowing my sweet grandchildren are waiting at the other end, does make the trip more bearable. The more I thought about them not being there, the more I thought staying home and accomplishing something was better than going and not seeing them but having to do my weekend chores on Sun. when we got home. I opted to stay home, and do something while Wm. went by himself to help Josh. Did I mention we were in the middle of putting in a new tub surround in our bathroom, our only bathroom? No? Well, we were. Last Sunday afternoon, I told my DH that the caulk around the tub was loose almost all the way around. He went in to scrape off the old caulk and then zap, the tub surround was gone. Now we never liked it in the first place and there were a couple of small cracks in it. Once it was gone we went to Home Depot and Lowe's looking for a replacement. Lowe's were special order and that would have added an additional 2 wk. to the project.
You have no idea how thankful I am to have my DH back home working on the bathroom tub surround. The fence went in without any hitches and he came home on Sat. night. Now he was gone 12 hours, which makes for a long day but he is home and I am so blessed. Not just because he is finishing up the bathroom and soon we will be able to take a shower again; but also because I just love having him here with me. There are only so many sponge baths a person is willing to take. :-)
Did I mention I got a bread machine and I have been making gluten free bread for Wm? Until today I have been using a mix from Wegman's but this is getting expensive. I think I mentioned before that gluten free pasta is $3.50 for 6 oz. Wegman's has 2 different bread machine mixes, one is $3.50 and the other is $6.00. (it also takes 1 egg and 5 egg whites to make this bread) .

New Look

Got my hair cut this afternoon. I have only had hair this short once before in my life.

So, what do you think?

Stuff

I am very certain that is not really an ideal title for a post, likewise, I am not even certain that the abundance of thoughts overcrowding my head will come pouring out in a way that could even be construed as entertaining. Now, you must have known I was going to post whether or not I thought the content was post worthy.

The weather in Syracuse has been gorgeous. This is the 9th day in a row that temperatures have been in the high 70 - 80 range. My backyard neighbor's trees are filled with blossoms and his flowers are beginning to come up along the back fence between our properties. Not to be outdone, the small pathetic little garden adjacent to our front porch is starting to show some life,. My hostas have broken through the soil as well as some of the other plants we have there (if I knew what they were I would tell you, I love the way they look but have no idea what they are; something I transplanted from the back yard when we first moved here.) In case you have not realized it yet, my thumbs are not green!

Matt and I want to have a vegetable garden this year. In the past, we have had them but stopped when we had 3 bassets (one who was a digger) vying for backyard space. Now with "the girls" gone and Matt big enough to help me out there, this seems like a good time to put one in. I love fresh vegetables and would love to be able to walk out and pick some instead of waiting for my neighbor to share his overflow with me. Matt wants us to have a garden "like Little Bear has"
With the weather being as warm as it has been, Matt has been wanting to spend every waking moment outside. We really need to invest in some new outside toys. He still does play on the Little Tykes slide that we got from our neighbor last year but it is small despite the fact it said it is suitable for ages up to 5. We have the crocodile see saw but that does not work the best with only one child on it. I found a little sun umbrella for the table but that is not a lot of fun, unless we are having a snack or our lunch out there. Our back yard is totally fenced in which makes it a perfect play yard for Matt, the drawback is he has grown enough that he can open the gate so we are forced to keep it locked. He stands there shaking the gate and screaming, "let me outta here, I want to go in the front yard"!

a study in contradictions

Matthew seems to be a study in contradictions. While he loves to put on his yellow rain boots and splash and stomp in any mud and water he find, he loves to clean. He sweeps the dirt off the back deck, swiffers our floors, cleans the toilet (no, he does not touch any cleaner; we use the wand and the flushable brushes ), washes dishes and is always straightening things. He checks under the couch and TV cabinet for dust bunnies with a flashlight.
He also finds it necessary to "read" the directions on the Fresh brush flushable package every morning before he cleans the toilet. (Only contradiction I find there is most males never want to read the directions)

He really surprised me this morning. He was drawing on the chalkboard and I wrote his name at the top of the board. He spelled out the letters: M A T T; "that is my name, Gramma". Then I wrote: PAPA, MOMMY, GRAMMA, DADDY and ROSIE on the board. I did not say anything, just wrote the words. He spelled out each word and told me what it said. I knew he could say the alphabet and that he could recognize all the letters but I had no idea he knew what the letters spelled. He can count to 20 as well as recognize the numbers from 1-20. We try to work our letters and numbers every day but this really showed me how much he is absorbing. Makes this old fat gramma very proud!

On another note, yesterday we went with Wm's brothers and sister and their spouses to the Apple Vali country club to celebrate his Mom's 85th birthday. It was a gorgeous ride through the hills to LaFayette. We all had the all you can eat Prime Rib buffet. The buffet was excellent and there were a quite a few choices; not a lot that were gluten free though!

Freaky Friday???

What a day this has turned out to be! It started out great. Matt cleaned the bathroom before he even ate his breakfast. He had some cheerios for breakfast but soon decided he wanted to make an omelet. Need I remind you he is only 2 1/2? What 2 yr. old wants to make an omelet? Yes, we did make a cheese omelet We watched Little Bear and then he wanted to make a craft......his idea was to make an itsy, bitsy spider. I dragged out our craft supplies and he decided we should also make rain and sunshine. Alrighty then! It took a few minutes but we did decide on a plan. It worked out great but no, I never got a picture.

From there we watched a video and he wanted to sit on my lap. His allergies were acting up all week and his nose was running and he has been sneezing up a storm; sitting on my lap to watch a video was something he has wanted to do all week. Part way through the video, I realized he was asleep. I got up and carried him into the nursery and put him in the crib. This was where things got out of hand. He immediately jumped up and climbed right out of the crib. (something he has not done before which is why we still have the crib in there) We spent the next hour getting him calmed down and back in the crib for his nap. He was not about to sleep so I got him out, gave him some lunch, which he did not want (he had asked for Frito's and white dip. "I absolutely love Frito's, did I tell you that, Gramma?"

After a few attempts at getting him to sleep, I finally put him back in the crib and told him to stay there and rest if he was not going to sleep. This is when he shouted at me "Why are you making me spend my whole day in this bed?" What???? Talk about dramatic! From the first time I put him in the crib until he made that remark was maybe 2 hours.


Papa came home from work a few minutes early today and took Matt with him to the grocery store. The back seat in the car was down on one side and up on the other for his car seat. When he got in, he stood on the side that was down and said, "Oh, this is splendid".

After today, I will need tomorrow to recover!

Whirlwind weekend

We had the opportunity of going to Canton on Fri. for Grandparents Day. The experience was bittersweet for me. I am so blessed that we were able to go and see the girls and share in Grandparent's Day with them but because we had to get up at 5:30am to leave by 6:30am, I was definitely not rested. Keep in mind, I am not nor will I ever be a morning person. I hate to get up and lately I am not doing too well with riding either. 3 hr. drive is a longer ride than I can tolerate well any more.

I found this picture of Josh with my father on Grandparent's Day when Josh was in 6th grade. I asked if we could get a picture of Lael with Papa. I am planning on putting the pictures together.

Not to be outdone, my little Fancy Nancy, aka Alyssa wanted a picture with Papa also and he was not about to say NO.

We had promised the girls they could pick out a place for us to eat lunch. They chose McCarthy's in Canton. Once we got home, both girls wanted to stitch their badges from the wildlife center on their respective back packs. We had a great time. They. especially Lael, loves sewing. Once the backpacks were done, Lael wanted to keep sewing. We had no material for her to use, so being the resourceful girl she is, she remembered a long skirt in the dress up closet which had the waist band ripped and it was torn down the side also. It was one huge fuchsia silk-like rectangle. She decided to make herself a little purse. She did this entirely on her own. I am so very impressed. Below are a couple of pictures of her with the new purse.

Alyssa was not quite as taken with sewing as Lael. Alyssa and I read Fancy Nancy a couple of times.

Didn't get to see all of our old friends from CFC but feel very blessed to see those who were there.

Love/Hate relationship

I absolutely love clean sheets. On the flip side, I hate how bad my back hurts after I change the sheets on the bed. It would seem to me that breaking your back 14 years ago, by now you would not still be feeling repercussions from it. I love the jersey knit sheets and pillow cases. I used to put flannel sheets on in the wintertime but now I simply use knit ones all year long. I even talked my DIL and daughter into using them.

I love how excited Matt gets when we cook and bake. I was never a great cook and baking was minimal. Now before you gasp, you have to realize that my mother rarely cooked and when she did she would never have let us help her. In fact, a lot of what I learned now was by trial and error as my mother never showed me how to cook (or clean or take care of a house, or even be a mother) It was easier for her to do it herself than to have the mess we would make if she allowed us to help. So even now for me, cooking and baking is more of a challenge than a joy.

Right now, the biggest challenge for me is trying to cook gluten free. Now, Wm. has been on this diet before and we managed to get by. Honestly, Betsy always made Wm. pies, cakes, biscuits at the same time she made goodies for the rest of us for Thurs. and Sun. night fellowship. Well, we are down here, Betsy gave me her gluten free cookbooks (I gave mine to Stephanie who was recently diagnosed with celiacs also) so if I don't step up to the plate and bake, there will not be anything. I am OK with brownies, and cake; we are still at a loss for bread. Stephanie borrowed a bread machine from her neighbor and tried a bread machine mix from Wegman's. She said it was not too bad, so maybe Jackie will make Papa a loaf in her machine if we bring up some mix when we come for Grandparent's Day at CFA. (actually, she said she would when we talked about it when we were up for Lauren's b'day) Heath food store gluten free bread has a texture not unlike cardboard, in fact, it has that cardboard taste as well.

I absolutely love all six of my grandchildren. I hate that 5 of them live far enough away that I can only see them periodically. I love, love, love being a grandmother. I love having Matt here all day while Susan works. I love teahing him to cook, bake, paint, etc. Being with my grandchildren is a joy for me. My doctor asked me a few weeks ago if my grandchildren were my hobby. I told him they were not a hobby, that I enjoyed my time with them. He suggested I get a new hobby. (maybe I should consider a new doctor)

Happy Birthday Lauren Jessa

This morning we went to Canton to celebrate Lauren Jessa's first birthday. Her birthday is actually on Tuesday. She is such a good baby, she had a smile all the time we were there. This year seemed to whiz right by. I find it hard to believe she's already one and walking all over. All the way home Matt kept reminding us that Baby Lauren is 1 now!

Papa and all his kids in Lauren's new wagon.
Off and running.
Matt and Papa watch as Lauren's gifts are opened.
In the middle of the presents.

Matthew with many butterflies from the Elefun game. He didn't quite grasp the concept of catching them in the air and not picking the butterflies off the floor :-)

Cataract surgery

I must admit I was very apprehensive about the surgery. I went up for prayer yesterday at church and as only He could have orchestrated it, the woman praying for me had the surgery done at the same Speciality Surgery Center as I was scheduled for this morning.
Wow, talk about well organized, this place was unbelievable. You were assigned a nurse to be with you pre-op, one for the OR and one post- op. After they took my vitals, put in a line for the IV, the massage therapist came to give me a massage to relax me before surgery. Yes, friends, you heard me correctly. The anesthesiologist came in next to explain the sedation. Then I was off to surgery (OK, after about 10 different eye drops) Surgery took about 15 min. and afterwards they took a picture of what I thought was to be of my eye. Turned out a picture of me and the surgeon (I guess someone thought that was good idea) and then on to recovery where they went over post -op instructions with Wm. and I while I ate my breakfast. Yes, they made me cinnamon toast and I choose cranberry juice, my normal breakfast drink. Then they gave me a case with some more eye drops, a patch for night, oh and did I mention a frame for my picture, a pen and a magnetic clip for the fridge???? Could they have done anymore?????? Well, how about a little African violet :-)
The best part, I can actually see clearly instead of trying to see through a haze over my eye that made it look like I was looking through wax paper. Now, I have to be quiet for a few days.....no Matthew until Thurs. and I am scheduled for a recheck of my eye tomorrow morning at 9am.
Thanks for your prayers!

laugh for today

I will try to make this post short, I know I have a tendency to ramble on and on (why do you think it is called ramblings of an old grandmother)????

Before I start, I am sure there are those of you who are very tired about hearing my Matthew stories.......fair warning, I am about to tell another one. (Hey, realistically, I am here for 9 1/2 hr. everyday with him alone; is it strange I would blog about him too; this is my day people)

OK, here goes the story and the laugh: Matt has been standing up to go potty regularly since last Fri. So when he said "Gramma, I have to go", I said "run like the wind" (his favorite line) and stood him in front of the toilet and put up the seat. He said, "no, I need a potty seat". "Now Matt", I said, "you have been standing up like a big boy to go potty for a while now, you just stand up and go like the big boy you are". He immediately began crying. With a bit of frustration in my voice, I said "Now, why are you crying" His answer? "Because I have to poop"!

These were our crafts yesterday. We actually started the backpack last week but it took a while for him to catch on to sewing. We made a fire breathing dragon and the dragonfly, was his idea. Susan said he must have the craft gene, she said it skipped her. :-)

When he went down for his nap, he said "lets make worms when I get up". Looking forward to it, I guess as long as I can come up with a plan.

new project

How do you like my newest craft project???? Now all I have to do is get it wrapped and sent off. I am pleased with the way it came out. I guess it was a good choice as I read on Sue's Xanga that she took 700+ pictures when she was down at Leslie and Matt's. The only problem will be which of the 700+ pictures to put in it!

good, better, best

I had my physical this morning for clearance for my cataract surgery. It was pandemonium here before I went. I was trying to get ready and Matt shut the door to my bedroom and went into his room.....not a good sign. Instead of checking right then I asked him what he was doing and he hollered back coloring. There is a an easel in his room with paper and crayons so I continued to get ready. When I went to check on him, no more than 5 min. he had colored all right, on the front of the dresser and the arm of the futon. That is what I get for leaving a 2 yr. old without supervision for even 5 min. Thank God we had some Mr. Clean erasers!
Good: The physical proved I was in better shape than I thought. EKG was good as well. BP was 112/78. (not bad for someone who has always had high BP)
Better: My labs were all back in the normal range. This means that my blood sugar level was no longer high. I was also concerned about my other eye. My doctor checked it and said while the cataract was worse than it had been, it was only a cataract. (Yesterday I began to have floaters in my left eye, which seemed to come on fast; I had convinced myself it was something sinister)
Best: I had to get weighed on my way in. The nurse usually tells me what it was. Today she did not. I was certain I had not lost anymore weight. The doctor said 10#. Woohoo!