Because I am tired and rarely feel like writing much these days, I am condensing into a few words what I feel needs to be said....

We have a choice.....
Divide and Conquer.....or United We Stand. 

Quote of the day:

"Apparently, I’m supposed to be more outraged by what Mitt Romney does with his money than by what Barack Obama does with mine."

Oh, What a Night!!!!

First of all, yes, I have been neglecting my blog. I have been busy ....and frankly, too tired to even care.
But I have a story to tell of an evening I had in Texas recently that would have made a good comedy.

I was asked to come to Texas to watch my grandchildren Emily and Jacob while Jason and Melissa went to Nashville for a convention. That meant I needed to take Emily to school and to a community class she was enrolled in. No problem! They also told me about things concerning the house and how to do things like...the security alarm. Well, I thought that was no problem either. Jason and Melissa left for Nashville.
That night, all was going well. The kids and I were playing and having a good time. Because I knew we weren't going to go out at all that evening, I went ahead and set the security alarm. We decided to all get in our pj's and have a pillow fight. We had a great time. Jason and Melissa called. Melissa told Emily she should really take a bath and wash her hair. No problem! I made sure Emily took her bath and I helped her with her hair. I decided I would blow dry her hair before bed. Of course, Emily was not overly thrilled with the idea but agreed when I said we could do it in the family room so she could watch TV while I dealt with her very thick hair. All was well for about 3 minutes....then the commotion began. I blew a fuse. No Problem! I know how to fix that. I reassured the kids that grandma could fix the problem and that just because the whole family room was dark didn't mean that it would stay that way. I asked them if they knew where the fuse box was. They didn't know. Soooo... I assumed that it was probably in the garage like most are here where I live. We headed down the stairs to the garage door. I opened the door.....suddenly the alarm went off. Oh my! Jason had told me the code to turn it off in case that happened, and also put a post-it note next to the box for me with the instructions on it.  So I ran back upstairs to turn it off. Well, it was dark up there and I couldn't read the post-it note. I managed to punch in the code to turn it off, but didn't realize I also needed to press CANCEL. Well, things went quiet...except for the kids, who were getting a bit panicked. I went back downstairs to try and find the fuse box in the garage....none there. I decided I needed to call Jason to find out where the fuse box was located. Back up the stair I went to get my cell phone. I ended up tripping over the lamp cord I been telling the kids to stay away from all evening. GREAT! I was finally dialing Jason's number when I got a call from him. He said that he and Melissa had got a call from the police saying that there was a problem at their house. I told him what happened. He explained to me that they can only have two false alarms a year or they get fined $250.00 each time it goes off. He also told me about needing to press CANCEL. I was feeling really bad. Thank goodness they hadn't had any false alarms before that. Melissa  had told the security people not to send the police unless they called them back. THANK GOODNESS THE POLICE DIDN'T COME KNOCKING ON THE DOOR!!! I asked Jason where the fuse box was. To my dismay he said it was outside in the backyard on the side of the house.
Let me explain why this did not set well with me. Jason had told me before leaving that we were not to go in the backyard because for the winter months they had not done anything back there and described it as a 'jungle'. Their backyard backs up to an open field. They have been known to have water moccasins (EEEKK! Poisonous Snakes!) in their backyard. This is where I began to panic. I have always been fearful of snakes.The fuse box (of course) wasn't next to the back door....oh no...it was around on the side of the house. I would have to walk through the tall grass! EEK! Well, he told me where to find a bright flashlight and I managed to find the courage to go out and find the fuse box and fix the problem of the darkened family room. Sweet Emily was more concerned about me going out in the dark and kept saying...."we'll have your back grandma!"...Of course I told then to stay in the house. Boy was I glad to get back in the house once they told me the lights were back on! I locked the door thinking I would not be going back there again....Hmmmm Well, the kids and I went back upstairs and worked on getting the TV back running okay. Whew, that went well.
Soon it was time for the kids to go to bed. I reassured them that all was well and not to worry. I guess they had their doubts. :-) The rest of the evening was quiet. After a while I went to bed.
I woke up a few times when I heard some banging on the side of the house. I could tell that it had become very windy outside and tried to ignore the banging which was happening on the outside wall of where my room was....and the side where the fuse box was. I knew I had closed the box door and latched it, but all that banging left me doubting myself. Sooo, at 3:00 in the morning, I decided since I couldn't sleep anyway due to all the noise, I may as well go back downstairs and out the backdoor to check it out. Yes, I had latched the box okay earlier. It was obvious the banging was something I was not able to do anything about. I was too wide awake to go back to sleep. I sat on the couch in the family room and began smiling as I ran through the night's events. Though the evening did not go smoothly, I felt good about how I handled everything. I never panicked...well, maybe for a minute at the thought of the snakes, but that just added to the comedy in my thoughts.
Oh, one last thing......The alarm went off one more time...this time it was because I accidentally pressed the wrong number  when I thought I turned it off one morning. Later, I had to go in the garage to get something....Darn that garage door! But this time, I pressed in the right code and pressed CANCEL. No police, no calls to Jason by the security company and no second warning. Jason and Melissa came home that evening and I was able to relax. :-)

Oh, Christmas Tree

This year Mya 'helped' grandma decorate the tree......well, sort of. She was very excited to get all the ornaments out and lay them all over the floor. When she saw the gold choo-choo train...she wanted to run it across the floor.....eeeeek! She was so cute, though! She would pull something out of the bin and say it was sooooo beautiful! She did help put the beaded garland on the lower branches and put a few ornaments on the tree. There is nothing like the joy and wonderment of a small child during the Christmas season. I am getting older and quite frankly getting tired of the yearly routine of putting up the decorations and taking them down. Yet, as long as I have small grandchildren, I will continue to make the effort. I find the smiles on their faces are worth the need I later have for hot packs for achy shoulders and neck after moving around and unloading all the bins of 'stuff'. Awwww....the sacrifices we make for the children in our lives!

December Is Here And I Am Behind!

Well, yesterday my sister expressed complete shock at the fact that when she came to my blog I was still in the autumn scheme of things. Oops! Well, I managed a new background today! YEA! I have sewing orders for Christmas and just have been too tired at the end of the day to want to do much of anything else.....quite the contrast from last year when I posted something new everyday during December. I found that while listening to my Christmas CD's...instead of  "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow:...I was singing "and I sew, and I sew, and I sew!"   I am not complaining....well, maybe a little....you see there are these double ruffled placemats with top stitching that seem to take forever and I had to make 8 of them! That was a bit grueling, but I made it through. Christmas sewing orders should be done by the end of this week, and then I will be focusing on getting the last details of my Christmas plans and projects done. I am happy with how I have sent out my Christmas packages that go out of town and have almost all my shopping done. My decorating of the house or figuring out what I will make in the way of goodies and meals for Christmas Eve and Christmas are not completed yet....but in the scheme of things, I know all will be well.

Friendship at it's Best

I had the opportunity to get out and go (Christmas) shopping with my dear friend ConneMara last Thursday. We never have to have anything special planned to have a great time, we just do. On our drive to the outlet stores we had a very enlightening conversation that I believe will stick in my head forever. This is not an unusual thing....she is my friend that I can talk to about spiritual things on a different level than with anybody else. We seem to feed thoughts and knowledge to each other with what each needs. There isn't any judgement of differences, just free flowing information that we share to try and help each other deal with the day to day challenges each of us has.We know how to laugh at ourselves as we examine our weaknesses and strengths as well as be sensitive to those things that are tender and close to our hearts.
I am grateful for such a dear friend and for the good times we have. We have made some wonderful memories over the past 12 years we have known each other. We have developed traditions over the years we hold dear...some we no longer can indulge in due to places closing down because of the down economy, but we still find ourselves remembering together of the good times we had in those places. We will continue to build on our friendship with new traditions and sharing of ourselves. I am very blessed to have such a friend.

InTribute to a Lovely Lady

Last Friday, my father's step-mother, Evelyn passed away...one month before her 96th birthday. She was a very sweet, serene and attractive woman. Even in her older years she never looked her age. It wasn't because she dolled herself up with make and high style...quite the opposite....she didn't wear makeup and dresses very old fashioned but was well-kempt. She was naturally attractive. My grandfather died 54 years ago. Evelyn never remarried. She out lived my dad, his sister Marion, and the daughter she and my grandfather had together, Virginia...or Ginny as we called her.
When I think of Evelyn, I remember the lovely lady she was in her younger years (middle age). I don't mean just her looks, but she was lovely in her demeanor...very kind, soft spoken and generally pleasant. I never called her grandma, but I heard that when she referred to us kids, she considered us her grandchildren and our children her great-grandchildren.
I had not seen her for a few years. I was hoping I could see once again before she passed on. She had been living in a care facility for a while and it is my understanding that she was frail and her memory had faded. Last week she had a stroke that ultimately was too much for her.
I will always have positive thoughts and feelings for this lovely woman. May she rest in peace.