Grandma

Grandma died on Saturday night, but Grandma has been gone a long time as a result of dimentia and Alzheimers. We're planning to make the trip to Ohio for the funeral, though I'm not sure about the logistics right now. Eli comes home tonight and we'll talk about it in detail.

But I can't leave it at that, with my last musings on her being from when I took Elsie to Texas last summer. Why? Because that wasn't Grandma.

So here are a few things about my last grandparent:

1. Grandma was talented with the crochet hook and yarn. She made each of the grandchildren afghans when we were little. I still have and use mine. Some years it makes the rotation as the couch blanket, while others it makes the rotation as the extra covers in the winter time. Right now my yellow "Grandma blanket" in the couch rotation. And the afghans were the least of her talents. She made beautiful St. Nicholas dolls and plenty of potholder and tea towel sets. She tried to teach me to crochet when I was younger, but as a lefthander, it was awkward, and I gave up.

2. Grandma made the best spaghetti. I don't know if this was technically true, but she was definitely the best Irish "Italian" cook I knew. She embraced Papa's heritage and became one heck of a cook. In third grade I decided that her spaghetti was indeed the best ever.

3. Grandma's cookies were the best. I mean, I put them on the table around my wedding cake because I wanted to share the greatness. Whether they were waffles or balls or cherry-filled, they were...addicting. And it took me 20 years to realize that anise is licorice flavoring. I hated licorice. I loved her cookies.

Trivial things? Yes. But these are the things that are filled with the best memories. I guess I really liked the picture of her trying to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but I didn't make that trip, so it was just a funny for me.

Mom, Dad, Stacey, David, L, M, and Julie, I love you. Thank you for your sacrifices in caring for Grandma.

Cheers.

11 months (and 2 days)

It's been difficult to sit down with the computer these last couple of days as we prepared for Eli to leave for four days (he's in Chicago with the CG for a weekend training session).

So, our little girl is 11 months old. Geez. It's happened so fast! This month, there's not too much to report. She's much more talkative and has added some sounds that she makes more and more consistently. She's a ham when we go in public and someone smiles and makes eye contact. Still only the one tooth, but I can see the one next to it coming in--I half expected it to break through for her 11 month birthday, but it didn't happen. She's decided crawling is faster, and her poor little knees are scratched and bruised up--but not to the point of anyone calling CPS/DHR or anything. Just little girl getting into everything. Eli started bribing her to cruise instead of crawl by putting a trail of fruit-flavored puffs around the coffee table. It's funny. She's also gotten much better at holding her own bottle.

This month I'm hoping to complete the transition from bottle to cup. We're still working. And I think the table food thing is moving slowly because she doesn't have any notable teeth to help her chew. One tooth does not a food ripper make.

Anyway, it's just the two of us girls for the weekend. After school, Elsie and I went to Target where I bought a tube of glow bracelets to keep me company tonight as I watch a chick flick from the Redbox that Eli will gag about when I tell him what it is (think unrealistic sparkles in the daylight, part 2). So, I'm sitting here on the couch with any number of glowing bracelets connected as necklaces and eating crunchy gummy bears that I also got at Target. Another Friday night.

Tomorrow, I work at Sylvan in the a.m. so I have to take Elsie over to J's house. I think I'll leave her there until noonish and then we'll go to the library for a play date. Tomorrow night I have tickets to Tao: The Martial Art of Drumming, and I finally found someone to go with me. I'll leave Elsie with J again. And then Sunday I work in the nursery so I'll miss "big church." I feel like there might be something I'm supposed to do in the afternoon, but I can't remember. Dang pregnancy brain.

Anyway, that's what's going on in our neck of the woods for now.

Cheers.

Sips N Strokes, Part Quatre

On a whim, M (my pregnant teacher friend) and I went to Sips N Strokes last night with the gift certificate I got from bro- and sis-in-law for Christmas (THANKS!) . I'm not going to chronicle all the steps, as that's all done in my FB photo album, but I will show you the final portrait, plus the happy painters. This time I signed with a Sharpie rather than with paint, and I really liked it better. Does that make me a fraud? :)







Cheers.

Long Week

Sorry for the absence. We were without Internet at home for a couple of days, and you might think that the world had ended, but it didn't. I just spent more time playing freecell than I would have liked. Whatever.

I don't spend enough time taking pictures of Elsie, and the ones I did take today don't do justice with her curls. But here we are in our Easter outfits. You can see my baby belly, but it's really not that big just yet (is it?). I just happen to stand with my hips pushed forward all the time. It's genetic. My dad stands that way, too. :)



And here she is with her daddy (I was the photog, so the lighting is terrible...sorry):



And finally, here's a picture from earlier this week as I tried to get a view of her tooth for you, but she won't show it. And I can tell that the one right next to it is there and will cut through any day. Oh well. But she's cute, and you can kinda' see her curls.

Pregnancy Plague

Last time around, I, for the life of me, could not remember to turn my headlights off. This particular failure on my part plagued my pregnancy with lots of frustration and tears. I remember that it started my first day of work in Chambers County. New teacher. Dead car. Not really an impressive combo. And there are a myriad of other times that I was stuck with a dead battery--times I've shared and times I've kept to myself--but in all honesty, too many times to count. It's depressing.

I think the worst part of that plague was that it started during pregnancy but didn't stop. However, with the onset of my newest pregnancy plague, I've remembered to turn my headlights off. Unfortunately, I would rather jump start my car than...

HAVE NO IDEA WHERE MY PHONE IS!

It just disappears and I can't find it for days at a time. So if you call me and I don't return the call, I probably can't find my phone. It's maddening. In the worst way.

Others might argue that losing my keys and running out of gas in the school parking lot are more serious, but I think of those as minor byproducts of pregnancy brain.

The good news is that I found my phone...again.

This particular situation makes a good argument for getting a land line when we move into our house. :)

Cheers.