Language Skills

As you may or may not know….I have our granddaughter Kayla here several days a week. She is a live wire…keeps us busy….keeps us in a near state of exhaustion and gives new meaning to the words grand parenting skills . There are moments of downright hilarity and others of sheer frustration. Kayla is very lucky that I have a fairly good memory of doing this all before with her Mother!

Kayla’s favorite expressions of late have been the emotionally charged words:

“OH NOooooooooo!!!!”

And the even more alarming words….

“Uh OHhhhhhh!!!”

It occurred to me that with this sort of vocabulary she should not be considering any of the following professions at this time.

Brain Surgeon

Fine China shop owner

Explosives Detonator

Gynecologist

Nuclear Waste Management

Sword Swallower

Painter of Highway Median lines

Sculptor of fine marble

Lion tamer

Just thinking out loud here……..

Now is the winter of .......

.....our discontent. Made glorious summer by this son of York;

OK…so I am waiting for the glorious summer, even a passable spring would be nice.
This has been the germiest (I know its not a word, but it fits!!) winter on record for this household. I have never seen or heard so much coughing and wheezing, nose-blowing and aspirin-taking, shawl-wrapping and Vicks-rubbing and then some! We have broken records around here for days/weeks of non-stop illness. We have also broken records on Kleenex use and antibiotic taking. Its ridiculous.
This is Germ Warfare at almost its worst!!

There has been a bit of fortunate distraction.

We have 7 gorgeous little puppies from Olivia and Brodie. They are precious and full of beans and give so much joy to some rather bleak days.

We also have Kayla-Days! These provide a terrific distraction. Looking at books, playing with blocks, watching Noggin, riding the car, playing with the dogs and learning to walk and run. WOW….it makes for full days! But….ya gotta love nap time!! I call it my refueling time. (Of course she refuels at the same time)

And knitting…..one of my most favorite hobbies of the moment. So much gorgeous yarn….so little time. But its fun learning a new craft and having something wonderful to show for the quiet hours of focus on the knitting needles. You can cough and knit at the same time, thank goodness. I love it!!

Best of all….there is retiree-Chuck!! Who knew it would work out so well to have him around all the time. Its been amazing so far. To take on the puppy care as a team has been terrific. Its so much easier when you handle it together and having two sets of eyes observing their antics, doubles the fun!! Chuck has always been a hands on man….so the pitching in on house chores has been even more appreciated during this Germy Winter.

So….I am hopeful spring will arrive a bit early around here. It will be nice to get out and about with Kayla and the puppies….breathe some fresh air, feel some warm sunshine and feel healthy again.

It really has been the “winter of our discontent” where germs are concerned.

Saying it without pictures...........

I had a wonderful experience today. I would really like to be able to express the importance and heartwarming meaningfulness of the moment….but I doubt I will do it justice.

My sister came to visit from up north. She arranged a get together with another sister over lunch. A sister I had not talked to for a very long time for many reasons; many of which are not worth even thinking about any more. I was able to re-unite with my local sister after far too much time had gone by. It was one of those memorable moments in time that will probably remain with me for a very long time….perhaps for the rest of my life. That would be a very good thing. For the first time in our lives we engaged in wonderful conversation and laughs that were able to wipe away meaningless words, gestures and thoughtlessness on my part. For the first time I felt like we were truly engaged in each others conversation and it gave me that warm feeling I was missing.
I hope it’s the rebirth of more wonderful and heartfelt conversations and the beginning of a time in our lives that will rise above everything that may have come before.

Life is short. Life is what we make of it. Life can be very good
My life feels more complete than it has in a very long time. The missing piece is back where it belongs and I know I am better for that. Welcome back into my heart Anne. You have been missed.

I'm Done.....!!

Yup....I'm done!
Me. Queen of the Unfinished Project!
Myself. Who probably actually has enough projects, kits and patterns to keep myself and a small village busy into the next century.
I. Who has absolutely no reason WHATSOEVER to set so much as a foot inside a craft shop or yarn store for the rest of my life.

I bought the yarn.

I knitted and cabled until my fingers were numb, chapped and twisted.










I plugged along. Moaning and groaning to anyone who would stand still long enough to listen to me....whether they wanted to or not. "See those cables? See how small they are? Do you know how long its taking to knit this?" Lots of kind people listened, nodded their heads and humored me. They really were very, very kind.













Well....here it is! Done!!!

And you know what? I loved every minute of it!!!
I think she likes it.

Big Man....little man

Sometimes we see something,…..a picture, a captured moment, a tender touch and it brings back a lost moment to us. Or at least a moment we thought was lost. And then there it is. I had such a moment the other day.

Time goes by so fast that we are afraid we will forget special moments, special relationships. But I am reminded of one special one recently. We can get so caught up in what we did and do for our children that we forget what they did for us…and how they helped us through difficult times.

A move to England when I was such a young mother was life altering. Yes there was excitement, but it was so tinged with fear and anxiety it’s hard to remember how I physically got myself on the plane and left this country. I carried with me, a 7 month old baby. They may speak the same language over there, but the way of life, the customs, the expectations …they were so different. I did not have the sort of personality that stepped into a new and totally unknown community and grasped it. I was terribly afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. Would I stand out? Would my harsh American accent draw attention to myself? How to take a shy and retiring personality full of fear and self-doubt and work its way into the community? It would be so easy to find every excuse to say goodbye to my husband in the morning….and just mark time until he returned from London in the evening. But it would make for some long and lonely days.

Enter…the best little excuse in the world for integrating yourself into a new community, a new country and a totally new way of life!! This little man here was responsible for totally immersing me into the English way of life. He was my companion. He made me get up each morning and throw myself into the day where the British world of nappies, teatime, Dr. Who, well-baby clinics, church crèche, neighborhood parks with prams all formed the mainstay of the English way of life. He made me fill my days.

I look back and think with fond memories of just how much this little man did for me. My world revolved around his daily needs. His endearing personality and charm opened the world to me and introduced me to so many wonderful people. He was without question a conversation starter. I have never told him what an important part he played in my life and my adjustment to living in a new country away from family and friends. How he filled my long days with joy and helped me cross that barrier of feeling alone.
I am so fortunate that he made that journey with us when we moved away to the UK. I am not sure the entire experience would have ever worked out as well as it did if I hadn’t had him to share it with at the beginning. He made that initial immersion a most wonderful experience.

I see him now with his little man and I think to myself....I hope he can someday look back and realize the joy that he shared with new adventures and new experiences with his little boy and be as thankful as I am.
I will forever be grateful to have had that experience outside the United States and am even more grateful that we took those steps onto foreign soil with this little fellow….he made the experience richer for us all.

Turkeys = ?

Ok...so I'm not totally mean spirited. I'm not jaded. I'm not wicked...not evil.....not totally a skeptic, not malicious, not vengeful, overly sarcastic, vindictive or......well, maybe just the slightest bit evil and sarcastic.

Yesterday, just a mere two weeks before the ELECTION TO END ALL ELECTIONS......(dear Lord let it pleeeeasee be over)....I was sort of daydreaming at the computer and glanced slowly to my left, gazing at my birdfeeder just outside my window and found something VERY prophetic about the 3 ENORMOUS turkeys sucking up all the birdseed from my little birds.

There is a message here....I just know there is a message..... big turkeys....little fellas.....politicians, electorate, birdseed, money........hmmmm. Its a sign, I know its a sign.

Common sense and politics

About the only bit of common sense I have heard in the past weeks is a suggestion made this morning by Campbell Brown on CNN.
There is a potential of both candidates spending over 30 MILLION dollars per week between now and the election on November 4th. The majority of this will be spent on negative advertising. She suggests the candidates knock it off and donate these millions to charities which are hurting in the present economic climate. We don't need to hear any more negative ads and lies from either party.
So gentlemen, listen to the lady and ante up, ok?