THE JOYS OF HAVING GRANDCHILDREN




We went to Michael's football game Friday night and I snapped his photo. He looks like --- a FOOTBALL PLAYER, which he has all his life, but he's finally doing it! He is #45. I'm a proud grandmother!

Well, here's my news of the week, (YEAR!!). I'm to be a great grandmother!! Wait a minute -- I'm already that! Don't I babysit, go to football games, dance recitals, graduations, etc.? That falls under the category of "great"! But all kidding aside, Tom and Kirstin are expecting sometime in April. I'd better get my plane ticket reserved.

Having a daughter who is a grandmother makes me feel older than just being a great grandmother!

DEPRESSING BIRTHDAY COMING UP

I don't know when I've celebrated a birthday so many times (and it's not even here yet!). First, it was with the classmates in July that we were all celebrating together; then it was when Nashville Electric Service called me about my one year old picture; and yesterday it was at the nails place with a free decoration for my toe! (see picture below) Why does the whole world want to know it's my seventieth?

The July Birthday Bash was really fun, but then a picture of us appeared in the paper to broadcast our age to the rest of Nashville!

Also I'll explain about the NES thing: when I was a year old a picture of me with a birthday cake appeared in the paper in a half page ad for NES because we had the same birthday. Apparently, the company had formed the year before on the day I was born and they searched the records for a such a baby to use with their ad. So this year we are both observing our 70th!!

I doubt very seriously if anything will come of it. I mean, who wants to know that either I or NES is seventy? Also, because of the high salaries of their top people recently published, the public is down on them. So they're probably going to keep a low profile, but if anything happens, I'll let you know.

And then yesterday the lady who does my nails (Rose) insisted on giving me a toe decoration because my big day was approaching. I resisted at first because of my (ahem) age, then I thought what the heck! The granddaughters will probably like it. She put a flower on each big toe, but when I got home, Rufus jumped on my right foot and messed it up!! Thus, only the left one was photographed.

UNCLE

Isn't that what you cry when you've had enough of something? OK, I'm crying it now; I've had enough excitement.

Yesterday I was shopping at Steinmart, my favorite store, and while I was trying on clothes in the fitting room I overheard two salespersons talking. One asked the other to cover for her because she had been called to the front of the store to hang out. Someone had robbed the bank down the street and all extra hands were asked to come to the front of the store.

I wasn't too concerned since I figured those robbers were long gone, but when I got to the checkout I heard that "they" were on foot. I said, "Is there a description of them?" The checkout girl said, "All we've heard is that one of them is an older white male wearing a baseball cap."

When she said that, I pictured a man in his sixties. Then she said, "He's in his forties." So I guess that makes me "elderly"! Anyway, I was extra alert looking all around when I went to the car, but I didn't see anyone the least bit suspicious.

But I am getting a little tired of being threatened by the presence of robbers!

INTERESTING WEEKEND

The genius and I had a good time with the grandkids this past weekend while their parents had a mini vacation. It actually started on Thursday afternoon when they got home from school.

That night I stayed at their house with them and we were going to decide on Friday where we would stay that night. Friday morning I got them off to school then rushed home to get ready for bridge club. Bridge club went longer than expected and I was a little late getting back to meet Jay at his house. I had warned him I might be late so he was prepared for this. What he and I were not prepared for was the excitement going on in his neighborhood!

It seems that some robbers who were being chased by police, had driven into a field and two of then had escaped by foot. The children's school had had a lockdown for a while before they let them go home. Jay called to tell me as I was on my way.

About two miles from the turnoff to his house there was a section on Hillsboro Road that was partially blocked by fifteen or twenty patrol cars. Plus I noticed as I went by that the TV news trucks were there.

I soon arrived at the house and we decided that we would pack up and come back to our house for the night as soon as Annie got home. I wasn't that worried, but I knew they would feel better.

So that's what we did and we passed by the patrol cars again as we came back into town. This time there were not as many but there were more news trucks.

As soon as we got home, I checked the online local news and the men had all been captured. So we were safe!

The rest of our weekend was fun, but not nearly as exciting, for which I am thankful!!

SOUTHERN WAYS

I love living in the South. Just this morning I was out walking the dogs and there was a repairman working on a house up the street. He came out to his truck that was parked almost in the back, saw me and said, "Good morning. How are you?" And I said something equally friendly and then went on my way -- feeling good. And that happens all the time in Nashville. Thank goodness the carpet baggers haven't completely taken over.

Speaking of the dogs, poor Rufus was terribly sick on Sunday night. He got up at 4:30 a.m. and I heard him in the bathroom throwing up. Sure enough, he had ruined the bathroom rugs and floor going at both ends. What a rude awakening!!! Just like having kids again. Anyway, at least I knew what it was -- I had fed him some leftover steak the night before. No more red meat for him!

He's fine now and we are getting ready for our nights at Jim IV's house, looking after Jay and Annie. Jay catches the school bus at 7:00 (what an ungodly hour!) so I will be getting up early Friday morning. I'm keeping them through Sunday, so we will have to decide whether to stay there or come back here for the weekend. Jim IV and Laurie will get some much deserved R and R.

And I will get to have quality time with grandchildren!!

IT'S FUN TO BE RIGHT ... ESPECIALLY IF I'VE BEEN UNJUSTLY ACCUSED

It's interesting how long it takes a person to realize certain situations. A friend of the genius once told us that when he was a teenager, he and his father used the same toothbrush for over a year before one of them discovered it. When he was relating it to us, he said, "I did wonder why my toothbrush was always WET when I used it, but it never occurred to me that I was sharing it with someone else!" A similar situation has happened in our kitchen, although not as gross as the toothbrush incident.

I keep a bottle of hand soap and another of lotion in a little basket right next to the sink in the kitchen. Very gradually, over a period of perhaps two years, I noticed that I always seemed to be moving it closer to the sink. Somehow, the basket was always pushed a distance of six inches to a foot away from where I thought I had left it. Finally, I became fully aware of the situation and asked the genius about it.

He said indeed he had been moving it because it was always wet under the basket and he had to keep mopping up the water. So I agreed to try to keep it dry underneath it if he would refrain from moving it. It was a nuisance to have to reach a foot away from the water to get the soap.

I also began to pay attention to how I washed my hands, thinking that I was getting my hands wet before I put them under the soap and thus dripping water across the counter. But no, my routine was to turn the water on with my left hand and reach with my dry right hand for the soap. I also began noticing how I rinsed things off (vegetables, dishes, etc.) and checking to see if these actions splashed water and left the counter damp. When I clean the kitchen I always wash, then dry with a paper towel all of the counter tops.

The other night the genius went into the kitchen, washed his hands, then called me in there to show me how wet it was. I told him I hadn't been in there since I had cleaned it up from dinner and had made sure that all the surfaces were dry!! So we both decided that he was the culprit. He was sticking his hands under the water, then dripping them to the soap.

I was expecting him to pull out the little credit card I gave him this summer that stated " I am right" because I know he is saving it for a time when there's no doubt that he's wrong, but he didn't. He's saving it for a time when I least expect it, I'm sure.

ME AND NICHOLAS SPARKS

OK!! I vowed that I would never read another Nicholas Sparks book --- and I haven't! But by mistake I bought a movie on sale that was BASED on one of his novels. Now I have a NEW vow: I'll never watch another movie taken from a Nicholas Sparks book!!

The man is obsessed with BAD ENDINGS!!!

First, I read The Notebook. That was a nice story that focused on a couple's love and ended when the wife became ill with Alzheimer's. That one wasn't too bad -- a little sad, especially if you've ever had a loved one with that disease. It hit too close to home for me.

Then I read The Promise. The plot in that book centered around two teenagers' falling in love, but the girl gets leukemia and dies in the end after barely making it down the aisle to marry her boyfriend.

Sparks also wrote Message in a Bottle, the ending of which is just as bad, if not worse than the others. So I said, "No more!"

I did actually read a nonfiction by him that chronicled a trip he and his brother made, and I must admit, it was good.

Then the disaster the other night in watching Nights in Rodanthe. I think the movie producer knew what he was doing when he put the author's name on the back of the DVD and hid it in the credits. He/she must have known there were people like me out there who had refused to have anything more to do with his works.

But -- I was trapped once I got into it. Here's the basic plot: a young mother of two children whose husband has left her for another woman, but now wants to come back to her, is stuck in a vacation beach house with another man. He is a handsome surgeon who is wrestling with a patient's unexpected death on the operating table. Lo and behold, a storm comes up and their fear for their safety draws them together. It gets worse!!

In a matter of a few days, they fall in love and make some life-changing decisions. HE decides to do mission work in Equador with his estranged son for a year, and SHE chooses to end it with her husband.

During the year the woman and her new love write "wonderful" letters to each other, vowing of course to remain faithful till he returns. Knowing Nicholas Sparks, I was ready for the ending.

The good doctor, who had of course reconciled with his son, was getting ready to return, and he was KILLED in another storm!! How sad is that?!?

I was so prepared for it, I didn't even cry -- instead, I laughed because it was sooo predictable!! He really needs to stick with nonfiction!!

MUSIC AND BACK TO SCHOOL

The genius and I both love music -- all kinds -- and frequently listen to it in the car while we are driving. Occasionally, we will find a program on TV, especially NPT, that will catch our fancy and we will stop our surfing to watch (and listen). Recently, we spent a very pleasant two hours enjoying a group from Ireland, called Celtic Thunder, who were recorded live in what looked like their native country.

The main stars of this group are five men, ranging in age from 16 to 41. They all had spectacular voices and harmonized very well. The rest of the stage was filled with an orchestra that highlighted the drummers and especially four lovely young ladies who played three violens and a cello and sang some also. These girls were all dressed similarly in satin dresses and were amazing as they played their instruments superbly and were able to dance around the stage at the same time.

We were so taken by this group that we promptly ordered the DVD and one of their CDs online. Now we can sit around at night and be entertained all over again. I'm telling you, my Irish blood is stirred everytime I hear them.

Otherwise in our lives, school is beginning for the genius and also for the grandchildren. Today is the last day I will have Jay and Annie (except for next week when I will keep them for a long weekend.) We went to the annual kickoff
picnic for the faculty last night and ended up eating outside --- in the RAIN!! I kept thinking we would move inside, but no! -- people just put up umbrellas and continued to eat. Granted, it wasn't raining hard, but I'm not one to sit around getting wet when I could be inside. Needless to say, the party didn't last long.

Now with school beginning again, I can look forward to some long, lazy days!!

TRYING TO WRITE

Somedays it's just hard to sit down and write. It's not necessarily writer's block either; it's just that there's too much going on around me. I think it will be much easier once the genius is back in school --- next week. Once that happens I will have whole days to myself and not be thinking about lunchtime or running joint errands, etc.

The grandkids will also be back in school and I won't get to see them as much as I do in summer. Below are some random pictures I have taken the last few weeks.



ANNIE AND I ARE EATING LUNCH AT FIVE GUYS



JAY ALSO AT FIVE GUYS



IN FLORIDA EATING FISH THE GUYS CAUGHT THAT DAY