Shopping Extravagnaza :-)

Yesterday was shopping day. Thankfully, Jess didn't have her daycare "buddy" so she went along with me.  Our plan was to pick up Mom (I didn't think that would mean literally), head next door to Wal-Mart and go shoe shopping.  I can still just about get Mom into my Expedition alone. I carry a Rubbermaid stool but it now entails a lot of lifting.  It was a lot of work just to go next door.  Next time I think a nice ride over in a wheelchair will be in our plan of attack.  She explained that next time she'd "just walk over but she might have trouble carrying back her packages!!"  Ya think?  She barely makes it down the hall at Walden Place.  When I got home, I was on a mission to acquire a handicapped permit!  I can handle our outings if Jess is along but not so much anymore if I'm alone.  After a few phone calls and learning that the permit is issued to the individual not the vehicle and that a Dr's note is required and that they needed a driver's license # and it should be done in the town in which she physically lives and not her legal address.................I was finally able to secure a permit as a reissue from an original one issued in 2001 in the Town of Locke. I'm absolutely sure that the people I see parking in handicapped spots have not gone through this rigamarole and most are more lazy than handicapped.... although I've entertained hitting them with my car which in turn would probably defeat the purpose as they then might end up really incapacitated!!!! Anyway, I digress......We got Mom loaded in one of the carts with the rear seat......and her knees hit the basket... We fixed that and off she and Jess went to find shoes while I parked the car.  I seriously (not so much) pondered escaping but came to my senses and saw the blatant unfairness to Jess (jk) !!!  When I entered the store.......I heard them.... Mom complaining about Jess's "driving."  We found her shoes..sneakers with Velcro...new socks as we forgot the ones in the car that we'd brought w/ us, a new wastebasket for her room and other unmentionables! Then the entire "get her there" process was begun in reverse.  We delivered her safely to a place"she'd never been before!".. Maybe having each day and moment be a new experience is not such a bad thing!

Running Late

Already noon and I have accomplished almost nothing.  It's a rainy, Tuesday morning....cool and peaceful...I have been sitting at my desk since 9:30 dealing with centipedes, aging family members, banking, bakers and accounts receivable....I think I'm looking forward to the days when the shop is a thing of the past.  Lee's been thinking about all the things he might do when he retires from the "my car's making a noise!" business.  He'd love to be a bartender but no one would get the drink they ordered. Hearing is a priority.  The other day he thought he might like to be a Barber...I think not, I've seen his mustache when he trims it... He has to walk with his head tilted for a week so it looks even. This morning I told him that the TSA was hiring at Hancock Airport... wouldn't THAT be a hoot...patting down the young and old and checking driver's licenses.  He thought maybe a "door whore"  (what he calls the greeters) at Wal-Mart or maintenance at Borg-Warner.. "They like old people", he said.  I'm not sure what profession (job) would allow him to leave early, have a scotch at 4...ish, take 6 weeks off in the winter and even hire a 61 year old with a bum heart...We'll keep looking but I won't let him quit his day job yet!!!

Aaahhh... Monday

I love Mondays!!!  Even rainy ones and lately, especially rainy ones.  Our lawn is finally looking green again. We mowed yesterday for the first time in more than 2 weeks.  The blue bells have been whacked and the brown is disappearing.  Nothing uglier than a brown lawn UNLESS it's one of these IN YOUR BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have had these little wormy things around for 2 summers now.  Last year they were more dangly and wound their way down from the trees... This year they appear, by the 100's, every morning.  They're about 3/4 to an inch long and usually you can see one about the size of an earthworm somewhere in the vicinity.  One of the  biggies was actually crawling across the hardwood floor the other night.  Thankfully, I spotted it slithering along before I stepped on it w/ my bare feet!!!!! I gave him a proper "burial at sea!"  I had only seen a couple in the house. They seem to only live a day or so then curl up and die...Lee sprays every few days and I blow off the patios every day and there are 100's.  They're beginning to look like mulch under our vegetables and flowers.  Lee asked this morning if I was now ready to call the exterminator....You betcha....there's only room for one wiggler in my bed!!!!?????

You Don't Know Jack.....

I do now!!  Had a great time last night reminiscing with my cousin Jack Owen and his beautiful wife, Reatha.  We figured we probably hadn't seen each other in nearly 45 years.  He's the middle "child" (OK he's 54) of my cousin Mary Hewitt Owen.  Her folks were Jeff and Betty Hewitt.  Jack and his sister, Jennie and brother, Jay loved to visit their grandparents at their summer home on Owasco Lake.  I remember them as 3 beautiful blondes.... (and they still are:-) We had supper at Baylors and then skipper Lee took us for a ride around the "horn" (that was always what we called a ride from Overbrook, up the west side  (the best side) to Ensenore (where Uncle Jeff's cottage was), across the lake, past "Uncle" Lou and "Aunt" Charlotte's (Ettinger) beautiful summer home on the east side, past Indian Cove (where we used to borrow sweet corn and roast in our bonfires) and back to the now, Cascade Grill. 

Jack recalled many memories and enjoyed the float down memory lane.  They're staying a few days at Marcellus's cottage a few miles north of Ensenore. (Thanks Dave for making that work). From there, they'll head to the Olean area to spend some time with Reatha's family then back to rescue the hurt and ill in the Lincoln, Illinois are where Jack is a helicopter flight nurse.
There is definitely lots of humor still flourishing through the Hewitt genes!!!  Thank you to Facebook for reconnecting us all and we're looking forward to a reunion of sorts in the very near future for some of our Hewitt cousins..near and far!!!!!

3 D

               If we look look a bit fuzzy..... you don't have your glasses on !!!

3D =  Dizzy, Delighted and Ducked!!!  Yesterday was my very first experience at a 3D movie.  The extent of my hands on 3D was looking through the red plastic cardboard to read the  3D encrypted message in the Cracker Jack's surprise. (not really legit 3D but the closest I'd been.)  It was a rainy afternoon, so the 3G's (generations) headed  for a Regal experience to see The Smurfs. What goes around comes around....I still have a preschool, smurf Christmas ornament that Jeffrey made in 1982....nearly a quarter of a century from their "birth" in 1958....(That pretty much puts time into perspective).  It was very cool.... I made noises (in my outside voice) when a log nearly hit me in the forehead and I ducked when pieces of flying debris were shot directly at me!  I probably wouldn't make it through a 3D horror movie but then again I wouldn't even watch one in 1D :-)  BUT....... I know now, what I'd like for Christmas.  Our H.U.T. TV is 3D ready....when I purchased it...I was not.... now I am!!!  So (hint, hint)...I'd like the adaptor and a couple pair of glasses.  The glasses, unfortunately, cost more than the adaptor but that's why I'm asking Santa...and his elves.  I seldom ask for more than family to be home and good weather to facilitate that (which is kind of oxymoron(ish) because I want snow too. Oh well..."gimme, gimme, gimme", she said smurfly.

Lessons from Pops

Last week-end, while camping, we were all sitting at the picnic table chatting about politics, finances and the stock market.  My SIL had recently been to a conference where she was treated to some great "talks" from Terry Bradshaw (one of my very favorite people), Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Steve Forbes, Erin Brokovitch and Bill Cosby (her least favorite.) Someone asked who would you most like to sit next to and have a conversation. My answer was, without thought, Tim Russert.  He was smart, "local", down to earth, a loyal Buffalo Bills fan, an amazing Dad and one of the few commentators who made politics understandable and fun! The day he dies, way too soon, I cried..... big old crocodile tears and chest heaving sobs.  Few people's demise, untimely or otherwise, have ever affected me in that way.  Today, his son, Luke is a political correspondent for NBC news at the Capitol.  His Dad would have been/is so proud!  My SIL Lisa, said he had written a great Father's Day ode in the Parade Magazine.  I found it and will share ... Not much tops, lessons from Pops!!!

http://www.parade.com/celebrity/2011/06/luke-russert-lessons-from-my-father.html

One more in the books

Well, we made it through that year.  A year ago, we all celebrated the fact that Lee had successfully made it through 6 decades.  I'm not sure his folks would have put any money on that when he was in his teens.  His 61st year began well. (I know he turned 60 but that meant he had completed his 60th year on earth.  You don't have your first birthday until you've completed your first year)  His 61st year ended well!  The middle was a little tenuous.  We've adjusted to 6 meds a day, less red meat, less real butter,  no salt and NO SMOKING!!!!  With all those changes, came no more coughing, no more snoring, the ability to taste, a few more pounds, way better cholesterol and a new appreciation for life.  There's no more talk of "I don't have birthdays anymore" or we stopped counting after 60!". We celebrate EVERY SINGLE ONE.... presents, sweets, balloons, good food... the whole nine yards!