1. Day started with more cold rain causing more headaches. This afternoon the sun actually came out and seems like it may stay around awhile. Tomorrow is supposed to be quite warm.
2. Yesterday I was so inspired by my Tuesday night quilting group that I totally forgot the final meeting of my book club. We won't meet again until September when we will be discussing "Gone with the Wind". I 've already read this book but still look forward to reading it again, slowly this time.
3. My one goal for the weekend is to buy and plant so flowers. The yard looks terribly bare right now. I certainly do not have a green thumb, but think I can manage to keep a few flowers alive through the summer.
4. This weekend will be busy which is good for me. I seem to be a compulsive worrier so the more productive I manage to stay, the less time I have to sit around and worry needlessly. Saturday I am spending the day in Ft.Wayne with my cousin searching out good garage sales and thrift stores. Looking forward to the day. Then on Sunday afternoon I'm going to the high school show choir concert and to dinner with friends.
5. I know this seems to contradict the above trip to peruse garage sales and thrift stores but I truly am going to spent much time this summer purging unneeded stuff. I promise to follow the "one thing in/ one thing out"rule that I learned about watching "Hoarders" on TV. That show is enough to scare anyone into a more minimalist lifestyle.
05/19/2011
05/16/2011
I'm Still Here
Here are my four favorite people to spend time with. This photo shows their personalities so much better than any posed photo would have. My daughter had the photo put on a large canvas as a gift for me for Mothers Day. I just love it. As you can see times spent with them are rarely quiet or calm.
I'm grateful for them because they help me enjoy my quiet house. It's never too quiet or lonely after I've spent that noisy, fun, wild time with them.
At this time my favorite things to do include quilting by hand, playing the piano and reading. I've been part of a quilting class for close to a year now and enjoy the twice a month meetings to share what we are working on. I will be joining another sewing group soon, so that will be an added joy. The book club is ending for the summer this week. I've read several books to discuss with the club that I never would have chosen for myself. I think my favorite was "The Help" which I understand will be a movie soon. Can't wait to see it. We will be discussing "Gone with the Wind" in September . I'm anxious to reread it now that I have time to read it slowly and really enjoy it.
Well, today I promisesd myself to stay home all day. Since retiring it seems like there is a reason to drive into "town" almost every day. I need to stay home and work on my projects and enjoy just being by myself. Today is starting out to be a beautiful day, so I am determined to enjoy it as we have had our share of rain and dreary days this spring.
It has been a long time since I have posted anything new here, but my plan is to post at least three times a week just so I can look back and keep track of what is really important in my life.
03/13/2010
09/25/2009
"Kidtalk" Overload
Tonight was Kelsie's night to stay with Grandma. We had a lovely dinner and then home to watch "Matilda" for the third time. Now I know all the ins and outs of life as a second grader. "Guess what", "Guess what", precedes everything. Apparently, it is just as dramatic in second grade as in fourth and I've had about all the talking I can stand for at least a couple of days. I know who wore what, who said what, what Kelsie did to "help" the teacher, who got in trouble in Y care (never Kelsie, by the way), how mommy took the splinter out, but daddy held her down. "He said if it hurt too bad, I should just bite him." What a daddy! It's really quite amazing how much she can talk and how few pauses there seem to be. Next week will be big brother's turn (if he still wants to come). He's quite grown up at 11 and sometimes has more exciting things to do. Grandkids are really fun, but so are quiet weekends.
06/28/2009
Summer Fun
05/18/2009
Who was Squire Boone?
In case you didn't know, Squire Boone was Daniel Boone's brother and he's buried in Southern Indiana near Corydon, our first state capital. He is buried in a cave, appropriately named Squire Boone Caverns. I know this because I am a fourth grade teacher in the great state of Indiana where our entire social studies curriculum centers on Indiana history.
In our school system fourth graders "always" go to Southern Indiana to visit this and other historical sites first hand. As a parent I would love my fourth grader to go and experience this trip. As a "nearing retirement" teacher not so much. Especially this year. My class would be able to support a full-time counsellor most days. Word must have gotten out because only 3 parents volunteered to go as chaperones for my class. Thanks to my grade-level buddy, who had 10 volunteers, we will divide the students among 13 parents for both classes. Our goal is always to not assign a group to ourselves so we can be free for the "emergencies" that invariably arise. This might include anything from misbehavior to sudden illness.
Tomorrow we will be leaving at 6:30 am on a chartered bus and driving 4 1/2 hours to our first stop, almost on the Ohio River. We will stay in the southern part of the state and tour the first capital, eat lunch packed by our school cafeteria, and go to the Squire Boone Caverns and Village. After that we hand each fourth grader 5.00 and hit the local McDonald's for dinner. Then on to an elementary school which graciously allows us to "sleep" in their gym. After as much fun as we can handle running and screaming in the gym, we finally get them all settled down in their sleeping bags (hopefully, in pajamas) and attempt to sleep until about 5:30 the next morning. We discussed appropriate sleeping apparel today and I only had one question asking," what if I don't wear anything when I sleep."
This grumpy teacher's response was, "don't go then." One child also wanted to know if they had to bring their own pillow. I couldn't figure out what he was thinking. Sure, we will provide everyone with a pillow. I swear we have discussed every possible scenario from, "what if you have sleeping problems and you can't take your medicine?" to "my mom says I have to bring my cell phone." We have medicine to dispense that ranges from inhalers, ADHD pills and patches, to eye drops and other over the counter "use as needed" stuff. Hopefully, we won't forget to watch the clock and give everyone the right things at the right time. Last year I took an inflatable mattress but I decided to try a foam pad this year. I hope it works at least as well. You haven't lived until you've slept on a gym floor. At least the adults have showering privileges.
After we get up Wednesday morning and eat our cafeteria packed breakfast we will head back up north to Indianapolis to tour the present capital building and museum. We will have another picnic lunch of bologna and cheese sandwiches provided by the cafeteria and head for home, to arrive around 4:00. Then off to school bright and early the next morning. It seems like we should be compensated somehow (like maybe a day off) but it's supposed to be a privilege, I guess. Oh well, once we return, only 5 more days with kids. One of those is "field day" which is similar to a field trip, but without any educational merit and no overnight stay, just lots of running around and screaming. At least my job keeps me from being depressed about my "empty nest." I can't wait to get back to it.
02/15/2009
Happy Valentine's Day
Izzie, the newest member of the family is looking and feeling so much better. She was in the hospital for three days with the RSV virus. I have never heard a tiny baby have so much trouble breathing in my life. Scary!!
I had these beautiful flowers delivered to me at school on Friday. The card had the names of daughters, sons-in-laws, and all four grandchildren. It's amazing what a pick-me-up it is to know that others are thinking of you on special days. It made the roomful of party-high fourth graders a little more manageable, too. Today is my youngest daughter's birthday. It seems impossible that she is 29 years old with 3 children. There were many times when I wondered if either of us would make it this long. Especially, and be actually talking and (most times) enjoying each other's company.
Word of advice: Don't give up on kids when the going gets tough!! The perseverance is usually worth it.
01/04/2009
New Year's Weekend 2009
Baby Izzie (grandchild #4) arrived early on New Year's eve. This was, of course, the highlight of the weekend. Her big brother and sister were to go to Aunt Jenny's in Cincinnati for the rest of the weekend. That gave mom and dad and Izzie time to settle in at home and have some quiet time. Not so the case for Grandma. The trip there was pretty uneventful except for the "are we there yet" questions, but they both napped some and were pretty tired after all the excitement at home so all was reasonably quiet. We all had a fun weekend with Aunt Jenny, Uncle Chad, and Sophie. We saw a 3-D movie (that was exciting for me). The action really does appear to jump off the screen. That evening we went bowling and narrowly escaped melt downs by both little girls. Then home for a dinner of spagetti, enjoyed by 5 instead of 6, since the melt down came for one, necessitating bed after angrily refusing dinner. After both girls were in bed, Bailey enjoyed the Wii with Uncle Chad. Saturday morning went by quickly with a visit to a bookstore for the girls and more video game playing for Bailey. By the time we left everyone was really anxious to get home. The ride home was not nearly as quiet as the ride there. Loud singing, laughter, some arguing, etc.etc. After 41/2 hours in the car, grandma was quite ready to return to her quiet house. All in all a great end for 2008 and start for 2009.
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