Old People

My very favorite times, at this stage of my life, are my times with Bailee.. (Jett's time will come.)  We have formed silly traditions, keep trivial secrets, occasionally swear out loud, often know what each other is thinking, have learned to precisely roll our eyes and know when to say something with our outdoor voices or our indoor ones.   (We're still working on the last one...when I learn, I'll pass it down!!)

One of our fun traditions is when we leave the movies, we play movie trivia... We watch closely for little things like makes of cars, house numbers or what an actor is wearing.  I usually lose!  The other day, we decided to try something new. We each have our favorite genre of music and not surprisingly, they are very different. For 10 years we have sung, out loud with our melodious voices (said nobody ever) no matter where we might be. Bailee decided we should try something new and give "dramatic readings" ("you know what that is, right Grandma?") of some of our favorite song lyrics. Once again, if this were a competition, I'd receive no prize. Reciting Put your left hand in, Put your left hand out, Put your left hand in and shake it all about in Shakespearean voice leaves much to be desired. On the other hand, Ah ya ya ya ya I keep hoping we'll eat Cake by the ocean.........left me clueless! Shocker.  After about 20 minutes, our journey from Ithaca to Moravia, Bailee borrowed my phone (blissfully, she hadn't brought hers that day!)  We continued on with our new game and switched to gin rummy upon arrival home.

Later that night, I was heading to google search on my phone to find something ...who could remember ;-) and the latest search popped up on Safari.  It was obviously what Bailee had needed my phone for (mid readings) on the ride home.  This kid makes me laugh all the time...and even funnier to me....was the  searche yielded results.  I guess I really am old!

😘

Easter Traditions

As kids, we always went to church on Easter Sunday.....we went to church every Sunday until the Moravia and Locke churches merged and our church was torn down.  We sang in the choir, "acted" in pageants, learned about communion, proudly were attendants in the Tom Thumb wedding, sat in the same pew each Sunday, enjoyed fellowship on Sunday nights at M.Y.F. (Methodist Youth Fellowship and Sunday school each Sunday morning.  Unfortunately, that tradition didn't move with time.  My children were both baptized, Bailee went to church as a toddler but somewhere, sometime, it stopped.  Pretty much my fault I'm sure.  I have always said my prayers from "Now I lay me down to sleep" right through the Lord's Prayer to date.  I always talked with my kids about religion, read the stories from Moses to, Noah, to the true meanings of Christmas and Easter.  Through a lot of my life I haven't been a big "Yay God" person.  What kind of a God thinks it's right to take children from their living, loving parents and family. No one ever had a good answer for me....they still don't but as I've become older and wiser (contrary to some popular belief) I understand that not all bad things happen to bad people and that not all good things happen to good ones. I digress......

Easter ..both of my children have a keen awareness of this holiday and the reason for the season. Jeff, at age 3-4, would tell the story about Baby Jesus getting nailed to a cross ( I believe he said boards) and would proclaim "and you know what? That sucker couldn't move a muscle!!"  Jess held a firm belief that there was "No way Plymouth Rock would just roll away and Jesus would just appear!" I tried my best folks..... honestly!

Bailee and I have talked and I'll have the talk with Jett one day, but for now... our Easter traditions encompass egg hunts with clues to an Easter basket filled with way too much stuff, dinner with family and laughing about Aunt Kim's need to buy anything she sees but still seat us all and fill our tummies with the best food ....ever.

There was a Little Girl...........

There was a little girl
Who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead!


When she was good
She was very, very good

But when she was bad, she was horrid!

 Yesterday was a very, very good day ♥♥

Disappointment :-(

Bragging is a bit of a rite of passage. It's full of fun, pride and time to preen.  One of my very favorite things about Face Book is the ability to share the good things and have folks be truly happy about the accomplishments of whomever the poster might be sharing.  At our age, it's usually our kids or grandkids and sometimes even ourselves.  But with whom and how do you share your disappointments?  We all have them and internalizing them does little to boost your well being and a lot to challenge your blood pressure. It tapes shut those little boxes of happy endorphins that  make us feel so good!

Last week I was really disappointed in a little someone who shall remain nameless....(but glaringly evident!)  Our times together are genuinely the best times of my life. We laugh, we cry, we learn, we fail, we anticipate, we sing, we dance, we compete, we eat, we plan and we communicate often without words.  "We manipulate" hasn't been one of our happy action verbs.  Family dynamics are often interesting to say the least. A bright, young mind needs to be used for positivity and not negative ploys.  Nothing tragic but hurtful and disappointing to the one who is always there. We have always had our own little family marriage.  We've worked through sickness and health, good times and bad, and definitely richer or poorer! Not looking for a pat on the back but not a kick in the pants either.  Grandma has always been (and always will be) a loyal fan but sometimes sitting the bench might help.  From someone who's always the umpire, being on the defeated team is disappointing....especially if you're the only player!

Fives are wild!

Five is a lucky number for the family this year.  I was just 65, Jess is 35 today and Mom will be 95 in a couple of weeks and has been at the Groton Care Center for 5 years.  Bailee is just finishing up 5th grade and 5 is the number of times I walk into the kitchen most days and have no idea why the hell I'm there! I did tell my architect that there really was no logical reason to take up space with an entire kitchen as a refrigerator could fit in any other room in the house and disguising a microwave was a piece of cake !!!   He just uttered, "resale!"

I remember being a wee bit depressed when I reached the age of 55 thinking the speed limit and I had anything in common.  I began getting the AARP magazine and my card came with a canvas bag that would hold my medications and an extra pair of Depends. I fooled them, I used it for my camera, my phone, cash and peanut butter cups! All I ever really need in life.....especially at 55.  60 came and went without incident.  65 was spent in my new vehicle for 13.5 hours with Lee and Bailee and Sirius radio blasting tunes from the 50's (and 60's).  I knew most of the words but the crackling voice of a 65 year slightly mortified my 10 year old (which by the way is 5+5.) By drinking and eating barely nothing for the entire day, I was able to survive the journey with only a few pee stops and no elderly accidents.  Although most of my friends and family who travel anywhere with me, know that when I say "we need to stop!"...................we need to stop now...not in 5 minutes or 5 miles. We have an actual 5 second rule for almost anything involving me!

As I age, it seems I like dinner around 5, wake up at 5 and pee about 5 times a day. I take 5 pills a day including a vitamin and a joint supplement and it takes me about 5 lunges to get out of my recliner if I've been sitting longer than 5 minutes.

Tonight the family is coming for dinner to celebrate the end of Jess's 35th year. There are 5 items on the menu and I've placed 5 utensils at each place-setting just to flip everybody out. I have a number 3 candle and I've rounded up 5 singles to place on the annual ice cream cake. It will take 55 minutes to prepare dinner and 5 minutes to eat it.  I'll get 5 high fives, a drool-filled Jett kiss and a Bailee hug when they all leave and it will take me a flat 5 minutes to load the dishwasher and head to my desk where I'll download the 25 pictures of a successful family, birthday dinner and share them on Face Book!  That will be the instant I have "cinq" into my chair for a 5 minute nap!

6 will be a story for another year!

Home Sweet Home

It was an amazing week but it's ALWAYS good to be home.  We had wonderful traveling weather but south and north. We spent the night on the road going down but made the whole trip in 13.5 hours straight through on the way back home. Our new vehicle rode beautifully.  B enjoyed the DVD player and I like the moon/sun roof....nothing like blue sky!

The Myrtle Beach weather cooperated for our week. One night of rain but cleared by 10:30 a.m. and was beautiful. We hit restaurants, aquariums, Ripley's museum, shopping, the pools, hot tubs and the beach. We visited Aunt Kyle and Uncle Ray at their MB home and they spent a day at the pool with us.

It was SO nice to have Jeff's Charlotte family ALL come and visit us. Helen and Christy Lima, Dave Montgomery, Sean and Skylar Graham and Deb and Mike Carter. What wonderful friends they are♥

The grandkids were great.  Jett kept us all on our toes and made us smile a lot. Julz enjoy tanning, chasing her brother (ok maybe she didn't enjoy that so much) and face timing with Sebastian.  There's a good chance that Bailee may have to have her phone surgically removed from her hands ...or at least her thumbs.... She did reaaally well chilling during her 13+ ride home.  (I am; however, a firm believer that kids have too many electronics.... ) That could be age related!

I left last week being a young 64 and returned an old 65 :-(  I did get a chance to celebrate with my nursery mate , Kyle Dyer, who also reached 65 the following day.  It seems like just yesterday I was singing the "The Age of Aquarius" at graduation and now it's "The Age of Medicare!" WTH!

It was a great week. I'm now looking forward to adding some new chicks to our brood, bringing the outdoor play yard from Jess's for Jett and waiting the arrival of this spring's baby eaglets.

Excited to Spring ahead!