earbobs and pocketbooks

The grandbaby got her ears pierces a few weeks ago. It took some getting used to for me to see her wearing earrings. It makes her seem so grown up to me.

I had adjusted (somewhat) to the small studs they used where she got her ears pierced. Since then, every time I see her, she has on a different pair.

She picks them out herself. Most of them are very groovy.

The pair she had on last night when we swung by her house for a kiss before bedtime were particularly groovy.

I asked,"where'd you get those fancy 'earbobs'?" I asked her.
"Why do you call them that?" she asked me.
Well... I am old school. Can't seem to help myself. I also catch myself saying I am going to the "market" when I mean "grocery store" and I call my purse my "pocketbook." I say "tissue" and hankie" for "kleenex."
I remember thinking my own grandmothers and grandfathers and great aunts and uncles used funny terms to describe things.  It humored and annoyed me at the same time. I imagine that is what my grandbaby is feeling these days...humored and annoyed.
Or maybe just annoyed.

Picking a winner

I have not had great experiences when asked to pick a winner. I've agreed, over time, to participate in community and school events but  historically, it really has not gone so well.
I once was invited to judge a beauty pageant. It was not a happy experience. I recall being whisked out the back way in order to avoid irate parents waiting for those of us on the selection panel.
Another time, I was recruited by a 4-H agent to choose the best entries in a student egg cookery contest. At the time I was the food editor and columnist (among other duties/ titles) at a local newspaper. I wrote of my experience in one of my weekly  columns. The reception of the column, as with the experience sampling some of the entries, was not so pleasant.
So when a few weeks ago, I was asked to help select floats entered in the annual Christmas parade where I live, I hesitated to accept based on those aforementioned experiences. Problem was, the young committee member who solicited my participation is a particular favorite of mine.
I agreed. For how could I say no to someone I hold in such high regard?!

Then I caught a break! My services would not be needed after all due to the parade being cancelled due to weather. Then (wouldn't you know it?!) they rescheduled.  And so it was I was riding in a golf cart up and down the brick streets of my home town, deciding which of the entries were most worthy of prizes. The categories were narrowed by the fact than many of the original parade participants were not able to make the rescheduled event. Even with that, there was some amount of discussion between myself and my two co-workers who were also asked to pick the winners. In the end, we agreed on the winners. There was no tar and feathering. No one got sick or injured or even threatened.
It was, a happy and pleasant experience.
Of course, the fact that I just love some of the young committee members who drove and/or rode along, helped with that. Did I meantion that some of them are my favorites?

planning a grand trip

It is January and I am already dreaming of vacation. Maybe because it is January, I am dreaming of vacation. 

Here is what I am wishing for/ dreaming of: a great niece and nephew tour.

The way I feel about my nieces and nephews is fairly well documented.

I don't see any of them nearly enough. 

Some of them I don't see even remotely enough, due to the distance which separates them from me.

On vacation this year, I would like to remedy that.

I would like to take a trip and plan the stops according to the locations of my grand nieces and nephews.

I have the route in mind.

I would like, even, on the return trip, to swing by and see certain friends I don't see nearly enough of.

But that trip is for another blog post...

Facials

Until just recently, when someone spoke of "facials"  I thought of a deep cleansing treatment at a salon. Not until i became (in)vested in the world of dance, did I learn that there is another definition for "facials."

In the world of dance, or at least the world my darlings dance in, facials are expressions dancers make to enhance the dance.
Apparently, there are extra points given in dance competitions for appropriate "facials." They are not limited to the stage,  or to recitals, or rehearsals, for as you see here, a photo booth, too, can be a cool place to practice expressions upon one's face!

abandonment

 

I found another Francis de Sales quote to share. It, like the "be at peace" quote,  really is a profound statement.  I am thinking of  seeking out a collection of his writings. I can't help but be inspired by them...as I already am.

A Chuck E. Cheese birthday party, circa 1984

The collage stage left is made up of pictures taken at my Amy's third birthday party, thirty years ago. I was very pregnant with her younger brother who turns 30 in just a few weeks. Most of the kiddos in the photos have kiddos of their own now. I still love seeing all those sweet faces, though these days, I don't see some of them nearly enough! 

My new(est) love

 

This is my new love.When I saw this photo my niece posted of her most recent ultrasound yesterday, I wanted to cry. How can I still be moved to tears over a new baby when this one will be my seventh grandniece or nephew?! Just look at that face and you will have the answer.
I love, love, love this sweet baby already. I don't expect I'll ever get over the excited anticipation of these little ones!

Boz Box

 

Several years ago, my sister-in-law bought my grandbaby some cd's that she immediately fell in love with.  She told us, at the time, that the character, a big green bear named "Boz" was a special favorite of her own grandchild, who is just  a few weeks older than ours. She predicted that Boz would be as big a hit with our grandbaby as with hers.
Fast forward to the present day, when the  sister-in-law's prediction has long since proved true. My G'baby loves Boz. In particular, she loves the very first Boz cd she ever watched.
It is a Christmas story. In the story, the family the big green bear lives beside has a tradition of drawing names from a special box on Christmas Eve. The family includes Boz in their drawing. Once the names are exchanged each person have just a short while to come up with a "gift" for the person whose name they have.
The dad in the series gives his son a toy he himself loved as a child.
The grandpa gets the promise of sidewalks shoveled.
The grandma knits the series namesake a "Boz-sized" scarf.
My grandbaby has watched this gift exchange over and over but never seems to tire of it.

drowsy little grand dog

 

My daughter's dog, who just turned two, has spent quite a lot of time with me and the Hub of late. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she was in residence at our house as her Mistress studied for d finals and then was on Christmas break between semesters. We got real accustomed to having her with us and I think she became accustomed to being with us.
I had about as many instructions for her care and keeping as I  would expect if I were keeping an infant. A human infant, I mean.
One of those instructions involves(d) holding her while she is drowsy. It seems she likes to be cuddled when she's sleepy. The other, older dogs at our house, the ones that live there full time were not at all excited about the Hub and I allowing this little encroacher into their domain, much less our snuggling with her.
It made for interesting times.
It's real quiet now that she has gone back to her own home. The canines in residence, though, don't seem to mind at all.

Solid counsel: after more than 500 years

 

I love the quote above, so much so that I set it into a template for framing. I was wondering, as I did, about the Francis de Sales, to whom the quote is attributed. I did a search for him and here is what I found:

Francis de Sales was to be a lawyer so that he could eventually take his father’s place as a senator from the province of Savoy in France. For this reason Francis was sent to Padua to study law. After receiving his doctorate, he returned home and, in due time, told his parents he wished to enter the priesthood. His father strongly opposed Francis in this, and only after much patient persuasiveness on the part of the gentle Francis did his father finally consent. Francis was ordained and elected provost of the Diocese of Geneva, then a center for the Calvinists. Francis set out to convert them, especially in the district of Chablais. By preaching and distributing the little pamphlets he wrote to explain true Catholic doctrine, he had remarkable success.

At 35 he became bishop of Geneva. While administering his diocese he continued to preach, hear confessions and catechize the children. His gentle character was a great asset in winning souls. He practiced his own axiom, “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than a barrelful of vinegar.”

Besides his two well-known books, the Introduction to the Devout Life and A Treatise on the Love of God, he wrote many pamphlets and carried on a vast correspondence. For his writings, he has been named patron of the Catholic Press. His writings, filled with his characteristic gentle spirit, are addressed to lay people. He wants to make them understand that they too are called to be saints. As he wrote in The Introduction to the Devout Life: “It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married woman.... It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert who had preserved it in the world. ”

In spite of his busy and comparatively short life, he had time to collaborate with another saint, Jane Frances de Chantal (August 12), in the work of establishing the Sisters of the Visitation. These women were to practice the virtues exemplified in Mary’s visit to Elizabeth: humility, piety and mutual charity. They at first engaged to a limited degree in works of mercy for the poor and the sick. Today, while some communities conduct schools, others live a strictly contemplative life.

Comment:

Francis de Sales took seriously the words of Christ, “Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart.” As he said himself, it took him 20 years to conquer his quick temper, but no one ever suspected he had such a problem, so overflowing with good nature and kindness was his usual manner of acting. His perennial meekness and sunny disposition won for him the title of “Gentleman Saint.”

Quote:

Francis de Sales tells us: “The person who possesses Christian meekness is affectionate and tender towards everyone: he is disposed to forgive and excuse the frailties of others; the goodness of his heart appears in a sweet affability that influences his words and actions, presents every object to his view in the most charitable and pleasing light.”

Patron Saint of:

Authors
Deafness
Journalists
Writers

amy at chuck e. cheese's

In 1984,  the Hub and I hosted a birthday party for our daughter at Chuck E. Cheese's. Last week,  exactly thirty years later, we had another one. A lot has changed in that time. But some things have not. She is still a darling thing. She still loves birthdays and birthday parties, cupcakes and celebrating with her family. So do we all. We had as much fun last week as we did way back then. Or maybe even more... since we have more little family members to celebrate with!

some grand great aunts

These are my sisters: each with a grand niece.
The are grand aunts, truly.
They are also great.
They were great to my kids, though they were not called great or grand, then. My grandfather used to say that when we were all together, no one could tell which of our children belonged to whom. We were as likely to bathe or feed or change one of the others' child as our own. Not all that much has changed, even now that we are well into a second generation of offspring, these belonging to our kiddos and thus, to us all.
My grandbaby loves my sisters and they love her. I love my sisters' grandbabies and I think they love me. I KNOW they love their other aunties. You can know that, too, if you look upon the faces above. The love is apparent.

posting snafu

I have had trouble uploading posts over the past couple of weeks. I am not sure what the problem is: maybe  it is some problem with my computer or maybe it is user error.
What ever the reason, the solution is unknown. It has cured itself. Today I was able to post a number of posts I had saved as they were written. Most of them I wrote the week between the Christmas and New Year's when things were quiet and slower than usual.
All the posting at once makes me look way more productive and energetic than I really am. I really don't mind that too much.

A long winter's nap

My sweet friend Mossy always sends my grandbaby a book for Christmas. It is always a fabulous one. It is always one of my favorites among her gifts and usually hers, also.
This year, she got other cool nap/night gear. Specially made pajamas for her with matching ones for her favorite baby doll.
She also got new house shoes, though she much prefers her old ones: a pair of "bunny slippers" we may never get away from her no matter how worn they may be.
Right now she has the flu so these gifts are coming in especially handy. Just looking at them, though, makes me want to yawn! (and take a long winter's nap!)

time flies

Christmas came quicker this year and was over sooner than I ever remember.When I was a child, it was forever between Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas. A friend of mine quotes her father as saying that when one is a child, time crawls. as an adolescent it walks, as an adult it runs and then ultimately it flies. I must be in the ultimately category cause this year time surely is flying.

I didn't listen to all the Christmas music I wanted to listen to or  watch all the all movies I wanted to watch.

Epiphany is fast approaching yet I am dreading taking down my decorations. They don't seem to have been up nearly long enough. 

I never got around to watching Bells of St. Mary's or Home Alone(1 or 2.)

I did listen to my favorite Christmas songs by Michael W. Smith, Jars of Clay and Faith Hill but I don't think I heard the "Carol of the Bells" even once.

 I am wearing reading glasses now.

My doctor says I must have certain tests now that I am over 50

And time is flying;  I dread that most of all...especially as it relates to Christmas.

Christmas this year came quicker and left sooner than I ever remember; and I think that may only get worse.

O Tannebaum

The Hub, the grandbaby and I decorated the tree last night. This may be about as late as we have ever gotten it up. 

I was waiting on the baby daughter to get home from law school for the Christmas break. We discussed when her busy social calendar and being caught up on sleep after finals would accomodate her participation. We settled on a Tuesday night, last night. Alas, things did not work out with her schedule and given mine, ours, I was not willing to wait any longer. 

The grandbaby came over to help after her art class and ended up getting to  stay the night.

We worked on the tree both before and after her bath. 

There were breaks in between the ornaments and the tinsel for her to show me the progress in a dance she is working on for a competition duet.

We used a nutcracker theme, since she attended live ballet for the first time this weekend at a production of the "Nutcracker."

I was pleased with the result of our labors but not as much so as the Hub. 

If this year's Christmas card is my favorite ever, we can mark him down as favoring this year's tree.

"I honestly think it is the prettiest we've ever had," he said.

And I think he meant it. 

 

God bless us everyone

Right now, as I write this, the soundtrack from the second Hobbit movie is playing via an Itunes card I receive for Christmas.
Because my sweet middle sister, who drew my name,  went all out on my gift(s) for Christmas, I have new

Rayban wayfarers and new boots on my feet.
I drive with the sun in my face to work in the morning and then back home in the evening. I am thankful for the sunglasses. It is miserably cold and wet outside and has been for a while, now. I am thankful for the boots.

But I am especially thankful for the setting in which I received them.

We had our family Christmas at my middle sister's house.  It was a most pleasant time. My sister and brother-in-law are hospitable hosts.

Though, a couple of members were not able to attend (one was injured and called to say the injury required immediate medical attention and 

one had to work) the rest of us had a lovely time, nonetheless.

The little girl cousins played with a "Frozen" castle set based on the new Disney Movie they both love.

The also played  with a "Doc McStuffins"  kit, a hot ticket item on both their Christmas lists.

After dinner and gifts were opened, they stop their play only when  the boy cousins ran through the play area  with their nerf darts

It was so cold that the kiddos could endure only a brief run on outside riding toys before they came in for cocoa beside a warm fire. There was candy: divinity and aunt bills and there were seeded breads served with vinegars and oils for dipping before and after dinner.

There was no karaoke or chocolate fountain this year; but there was some napping and some basketball watching. There was ham to eat with scalloped potatoes broccoli and rice casserole and escalloped corn.
There were exchange gifts aplenty and opening them was fun, as was watching them be opened. You can get some idea of it all from the collage I've posted. Looking at the pictures what comes to my mind from the Charles Dickens character Tiny Tim in "A Chrismas Carol" ... "God bless us every one."

Say Cheese

I recently read a quote attributed to Princess Margaret regarding her relationship with her sister, Queen Elizabeth. The quote said the two had had "rows" but "never a rift."
The same can be said of me and my sisters. And it's mostly true of my own children.
Most of their "rows" have been verbal. The only time  it ever got physical was when they fought over cheese.
I am serious.
That is how serious they are about cheese. My children love cheese.
They especially love cheese apples.
Cheese apples are really not apples at all. They do not have apple in them. Rather they are more in the nature of a cheese ball.
The recipe has been perfected by and remains the secret of my brother-in-law's family. Every Thanksgiving them make dozens.
They are a favorite family gift and are a staple at the annual Native American Museum auction. They are the hot ticket item at the auction. They usually sell out.
Folks in these parts have developed a real liking for the unusual taste and texture of them. In my family it is more like  love.
We all recall, and in recent years, recall even with humor, an exchange two of my children had one year over the last cheese apple of the season.
It seems my son was "lopping" off huge hunks and plunking it onto saltine crackers.
His little sister, who is a most serious connoisseur was offended.
"He obviously does not know that you must cherish the last cheese apple" she said.
Now at that time I did not know that one is to slice small slices and spread them gingerly upon a specialty cracker of some sort. But that apparently is the rule.
That this cheese apple discussion almost turned violent is not something I am proud of but it does give some indication of just how much my children love the things.
My middle sister, who married into the cheese apple family told me this weekend that she has two left for the claiming. "Might we want them?" she asked.
A rhetorical question, that!

Frozen, Tangled, Bacon

http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2013/12/frozens-shout-outs-to-arrested-development-in-gif-form.html

I posted recently about vertigo and character on a sitcom who, like me, suffers from it.
It was funny to me that soon thereafter, as I was reading a review for the new Disney movie "Frozen" there was a reference to the sitcom. I've posted the link above just because I got a big kick out of it.
Then I read in another blog reference that there is a strong conection between the "Frozen" characters and those in my grandbaby's other favorite movie of late, "Tangled."
You can read it for yourself, if you would care to, at the link below:
http://www.rotoscopers.com/2013/11/07/frozen-vs-tangled-what-are-the-similarities.
Then there is the collage I saw later the same day on Pinterest.
Talk about your seven degrees of separation and Kevin Bacon. I would not be surprised to read something about him today.
btw: the baby daughter made candied bacon during the holidays. Just thought I'd throw that in.

Tinsel dance

I am not the only one in the family who had fun this Christmas season. The grandbaby did, too! 

Of course, when one is six, having fun comes more naturally, I suppose.
Take the night she helped decorate the Christmas tree, for instance. She climbed up and down the ladder hanging things as high as she could reach. When that was not high enough, her granddad held her up to reach.
We ultimately went with a Nutcracker theme, at her behest. The storybook and carol themes I blogged about previously will have to wait for other years.
We took a break for her to take a bath and get ready for bed, since she had school the next day.
She danced with tinsel and garland.

spinning in circles

I don't honestly remember whose idea it was for my grandbaby to spin in circles during a photo session at our house a few months ago.

The photographer, who will someday be my niece as she is engaged to be married to one of my handsome nephews, is great with kids.

She is known for catching the kids playing and doing happy things and thereby capturing sweet expressions that yield amazing photographs. 

That is what happened in this case.

It was a happy accident for my part: this darling picture above.

I intended a formal portrait. That is all I wanted from the session, really. I wanted one last photo of her before she began losing baby teeth and her appearance began to change. She had one loose one at the time. She has since lost two. We made it just in time.

I got my formal portrait but did not ultimately use it for our family Christmas card. Instead, I used the one of her twirling.

The grandbaby likes to spin and twirl, especially when she has on a full dress that will spin and flow with her movement.

It makes her happy. Her happy shows in the photo. And it became what just might be my favorite Christmas card ever.

a forward from my sister

Dear Family,

I’m not dead yet.  Thanksgiving is still important to me.  If being in my Last Will and Testament is important to you, then you might consider being with me for my favorite holiday.

Dinner is at 2:00.   Not 2:15.  Not 2:05.   TWO.  Arrive late and you get what’s left over.

Last year, that moron Marshall fried a turkey in one of those contraptions and practically burned the deck off the house.  This year, the only peanut oil used to make the meal will be from the secret scoop of peanut butter I add to the carrot soup.

Jonathan, your last new wife was an idiot.  You don’t arrive at someone’s house on Thanksgiving needing to use the oven and the stove.  Honest to God, I thought you might have learned after two wives – date them longer and save us all the agony of another divorce.

Now, the house rules are slightly different this year because I have decided that 47% of you don’t know how to take care of nice things.  Paper plates and red Solo cups might be bad for the environment, but I’ll be gone soon and that will be your problem to deal with.

House Rules:

1.        The University of Texas no longer plays Texas A&M.   The television stays off during the meal.

  2.   The “no cans for kids” rule still exists.  We are using 2 liter bottles because your children still open a third can before finishing the first two.  Parents can fill a child’s cup when it is empty.  All of the cups have names on them and I’ll be paying close attention to refills.

  3.   Cloe, last year we were at Trudy’s house and I looked the other way when your Jell-O salad showed up.  This year, if Jell-O salad comes in the front door it will go right back out the back door with the garbage.  Save yourself some time, honey.  You’ve never been a good cook and you shouldn’t bring something that wiggles more than you.  Buy something from the bakery.

  4.   Grandmothers give grandchildren cookies and candy.  That is a fact of life.  Your children can eat healthy at your home.  At       

my  home, they can eat whatever they like as long as they finish it.

  5.  I cook with bacon and bacon grease.  That’s nothing new.  Your being a vegetarian doesn’t change the fact that stuffing without bacon is like egg salad without eggs.  Even the green bean casserole has a little bacon grease in it.   That’s why it tastes so good.  Not eating bacon is just not natural.  And as far as being healthy… look at me.  I’ve outlived almost everyone I know.

  6.  Salad at Thanksgiving is a waste of space.

  7.  I do not like cell phones.  Leave them in the car.

  8.  I do not like video cameras.  There will be 32 people here.  I am sure you can capture lots of memories without the camera pointed at me.

  9.  Being a mother means you have to actually pay attention to the kids. I have nice things and I don’t put them away just because company is coming over.  Mary, watch your kids and I’ll watch my things.

  10. Rhonda, a cat that requires a shot twice a day is a cat that has lived too many lives.  I think staying home to care for the cat is your way of letting me know that I have lived too many lives too.  I can live with that. Can you?

  11. Words mean things.  I say what I mean.   Let me repeat:  You don’t need to bring anything means you don’t need to bring anything.   And if I did tell you to bring something, bring it in the quantity I said.  Really, this doesn’t have to be difficult.

  12. Dominos and cards are better than anything that requires a battery or an on/off switch.  That was true when you were kids and it’s true now that you have kids.

  13. Showing up for Thanksgiving guarantees presents at Christmas.  Not showing up guarantees a card that may or may not be signed.

The election is over so I’ll watch what I say and you will do the same.  If we all stick to that, we’ll have a good time.  If not, I’ll still have a good time but it will be at your expense.  In memory of your Grandfather, the back fridge will be filled with beer.  Drink until it is gone.  I prefer wine anyway.  But one from each family needs to be the designated driver.  I mean it really!

Love You, Grandmacook

Christmas card tradition

This is our first family photo Christmas card. It is a picture of our darling firstborn, who turned 33 the day after New Year's. 

Every one agreed that it was a gorgeous card but we got more than a few requests for a
family" Christmas card photo. We obliged. For more than 30 years, almost without exception, we struggled to get everyone together, dressed properly. hair combed, face washed...

Some years it was a bigger challenge than others. Some years we had the picture taken on vacation. For a good number of years we were fortunate enough to have a photographer extraordinaire, who I worked with at a local newspaper, take our family picture. 

Some years we included pets. Some years we included people who were part of our family only temporarily... a boyfriend of the baby daughter, a foreign exchange student from France who lived with us for a year.

This year we either  broke with tradition or returned to it. However best characterized, we went back to the beginning. Our Christmas card featured a single little girl. A darling little girl who is our first (and only) grandbaby.

I blogged previously about how the card came to be. 

Whether we will go back to the family photo next year or some year in the future remains to be seen.

For this year, I am just as satisfied with our card as I was the first one we sent out circa 1981.

Gwendolyn: the saga continues

I found my Gwendolyn and her gear in the most obvious of places. She was on the Hub's big desk-- the one that belonged to his father. It is a ginormous thing that dominates his office/mancave. I had been wrapping gifts on the game table nearby and should have thought to look there long before I did.
I was after yet another role of scotch tape when I found her. I was wrapping a birthday gift on New Year's Day to take to one of the two family birthday parties we celebrated at on the first weekend of 2014. 
I was tempted to hold on to the doll, the bag I made to go with her and its contents until my niece's birthday as I mentioned in an earlier blog post. When it came right down to it, though, I really couldn't stand to wait for my niece to have her.
I took the belated Christmas gift to the first of the pair of birthdays. The recipient went to work right away, using her real and doll sized office supplies.
I whispered to her that when these were used up, I'd make sure she had more stuff to work with. She seemed pleased and I surely am. I'd begun to fear the doll Gwendolyn and her gear were lost to us forever.

when santa went crash

We have some sweet friends who have longed for a baby. Their prayers were answered a while back when they were asked to be foster parents to a darling little boy.

He is two year and a half years old.
He's a bit rambunctious.but no more so than any other active toddler.

On Christmas Day, they came over for Christmas visit, this little darling in tow.
 We had a lovely time.

We sipped mulled cider.

We opened gifts. 
We visited.
He chased the dogs and played with the toys we got him. At some point he got bored in those pursuits and set off to explore some uncharted (for him) areas. In one of them, he found a Santa that struck his fancy. When he ran in to show us what he'd found, my friend the foster mother gasped. 
We all startled.

She yelled someone"grab him!" I am not sure if she meant the Santa or the child.
I turned to see the Santa just as he made contact with the tile floor in the kitchen.

My friends the foster parents were horrified. The hub reassured them, and me, that he'd repaired things more broken than this Santa.
I told them that the Santa wasn't all that special and could easily be replaced. And it was true. Then.
But it's not true now. For as you see above and to the right, Santa is almost as good as new. As soon as my baby daughter's beau remembers to bring some fimo clay he had left over from a recent, initial  attempt at taxidermy, I think Santa will be better than ever.
For the Hub did a great job. And the Beau will surely help fill in the few remaining chips and chinks. And the Santa will be a reminder of good times and good friends and blessings of the season that include a darling little boy.

Puffy tacos

One upon a time there was a girl,well, she actually a young woman,  whose eyes locked across a campfire at a church youth event with a boy, who actually was a young man. Shy smiles but few words were exchanged that evening between the two.
A week later, there was what could not really be characterized as a date. The two went together to get a Dr. Pepper and drove around for a bit. It was not much longer than required for everyone else who was driving around to see them together.

Another week would find the two on their first real date. An El Chico restaurant some thirty minutes away was the second best place to see and be seen.
But that night, the two only had eyes for each other. The salsa and chips and relish and  puffy tacos the place is famous for were largely ignored. So were all the other patrons.
The two have been dining at El Chico ever since that night. She always has the puffy tacos. He always begins the meal with the relish and tortillas, whatever else he may order for his meal.
For her, at least, it is always a reminder, being in that setting, of their first date and their first meal together.
It is unclear what he thinks. But I plan to ask him tonight.

The fam at Chuck E. Cheese's

I have said before, and it is quite true, that my family seems to have a good time no mater what we are doing or where. Put us in a spot designed for fun like Chuck E. Cheese's an big fun is a given.

My eldest child, who is also the eldest grandchild on my side of the family is not longer a child. But she does like to have fun. She especially likes to have fun with the family.

When we celebrated her birthday at Chuck E.'s place last week she had a lot of fun and so did we all. The photo above bears witness of that!

shopping fun

I was determined to use certain gift cards I received for Christmas before the baby daughter goes back to school for Spring semester. She's been my personal shopper since she was very young.
She started picking out her own clothes when she was a toddler. She had very strong opinions about her clothes (as with most things.)
In undergraduate school, she worked at a clothing store. I didn't even need to shop for clothes during that period of time, as she would bring things to me, purchased with her discount. They almost always fit perfectly and suited me.
It would follow then, that I would become dependent upon her advice when it came to clothes. Plus, we always have a grand time. We had dinner at a restaurant that is a sentimental favorite.
Next we tried on shoes. I was looking for a particular kind of socks. As we passed through the accessory department, we couldn't resist the urge to try on hats.
That's what was going on in the photo above. We were so shop worn as to be punchy by then.
I am not sure which of us would have won the hat contest had we proclaimed one.  That is something I definitely want to remember to do next time we go shopping. 

LOTR Monopoly

Last night we had a lovely dinner in front of the fireplace for New Years. The baby daughter cooked a longtime family favorite.  

Then we broke out the last cheese apple and bottle of sparkling cider and set up the new game of Monopoly given to us by friends for Christmas.

It is the Lord of the Rings Edition.

The grandbaby, who spent the night last night, played on a "team" with her aunt. The Hub and I were on our own. We played the short version the Hub read in the instructions (who does that, other than an engineer?!) 

It took a little getting used to, having the mythical  beasts rather than railroads and caves and kingdoms rather than streets and avenues.

It just seemed weird buying houses for Barad Dur.

This morning it occurs to me that it may be just the opposite for the grandbaby.

So far as I know, she has never played Monopoly before. She doesn't know about Park Avenue or taking a "Ride on the Reading." Will that seem odd to her now that Monopoly, as she knows it, is played with Gandalf's hat and the crown of the King of Gondor rather than an old fashioned shoe or iron?

Maybe we have erred, as folks err when letting children hunt and peck on a keyboard before they learn proper placement of fingers on a keyboard?

Christmas fun

i 

In January of 2013, when I was contemplating resolutions, I determined that I needed to include fun in my list of things to do more of. The "all work and no play"  adage was ringing loudly in my mind as the year wore on.
However true I was to my resolution through the year, I hit it out of the park in December. I really had a lot of fun  during the holidays.
Some of that fun is captured above.
The first and last photos in the collage are the same, because that particular time was double fun.
In between, there is a friend, whose own chicken is legendary, holding the box of chicken strips that was our lunch on the day we made desert apples. She's there in picture number four with my

twenty fourteen

I have some resolutions. 
I have been developing them for weeks now.
The most primary is that I intend to slow down be more deliberate in my endeavors.
Some of them I have already made some progress on:
namely that I pay less attention to some things and more to others

that I strive for more order in my life (read: be more organized) 

part of that may come via another resolution, that is to be better at setting and holding to boundaries

these include as to my schedule.

As always, I intended to practice wellness: spiritual, emotion and yes, physical.
I'll be posting periodic updates. Whether or not they are interesting, that will at least hold me accountable to myself and another who might care enough to read this blog.