Unexpected Fun!

Almost 3 1/2 years old!

Today worked out to be one of those ‘not planned, but totally fun’ days. I got most of the housework/chores out of the way yesterday which left me ‘free’. Around 10 a.m. I got a frantic call from our oldest who wanted to know what I was doing right then; “Not much” I replied. “Can you watch the little guy?” “Yes, of course!” Due to some sort of  mix-up in scheduling, his Mother had to work, the great-grandmother wasn’t home which left my son frantically trying to find someone to watch my grandson (apparently he’d already driven to the Mom’s house AND the great grandmas…no one home either place!). We had a good time putting puzzles together, playing cars & trucks, rocking (and a nap), then time to go to great grandma’s house.  The whole mix-up got straightened out, and I got to spend some ‘fun’ time with my sweet grandson who’s growing so quickly. Due to lots of unplanned events (car troubles/sick cat/his Mom’s changed work schedule) I haven’t babysat him in almost 2 months, other than seeing him for a few hours when his Dad stops by, so this was truly a treat for me. What a nice way to spend a Fall day!

Working on afghan #210; managed to ‘put together for sewing’ six more afghans (I usually only get 4 done before getting too tired), so now I’m getting my ’second wind’ in the afghan department.

Last night was my Knit/Crochet group night and we had another new lady join us: total of 17 people gathered to knit/crochet/chat/eat & drink great stuff from Panera Bread/chat lots more/share ideas & patterns…all-in-all, a totally fun evening!  (Usually we average around 11-12 on an evening, so it felt like we were bursting at the seams! So glad that the management there like having us…of course we spend money, but they’re very tollerant of us re-arranging all their tables, too…we put them back when we’re done!).

It seems we’re still getting a bit of Indian Summer: nice breezes, beautiful colors, sun shining and the temperatures are really nice for this time of year (50-60’s!). I know it will very quickly change, but for now I’m just enjoying the blessings!

Have to get off here and go make dinner; my husband’s all-time favorite: “Souper Meat & Potato Pie” (I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere in my postings…it was an old Campbell’s Soup label recipe from the 70’s). It’s basically a big meatloaf which is baked half-way, then frosted with mashed potatoes and topped with shredded cheddar cheese…Yum!

Hope you’re enjoying your day!

Hugs;

Pammie

Like My Friend “Nemo”…

I “Just Keep Swimming”!

As I’ve said before, this has truly been a really crazy/busy/goofy week … especially when it comes to cars! I told you the tale of how my brakes failed on Tuesday; the repair place didn’t get my car back to me until yesterday morning which totally wiped out my going to Knit Night on Tuesday evening AND my special needs group on Wednesday night. That was a bit frustrating but, if I could have chose any week to miss both groups, I guess this one was the best-BOTH groups were really down on numbers which made the two lovely people who are my assistants in both groups have a better evening of it while managing both groups alone.

Thursday found me “with car” again and I happily completed several errands to the Library, Post Office (where I picked up a box of 168 more squares!) and a quick trip to the grocery store.  A little later I jumped in my car to drive middle son to work, turned the key only to find that the car would start then immediately quit again! This drove me nuts! Middle son ended up getting a ride to work from his boss and I waited until my husband got home to drop this latest ‘bombshell’ on him.  After a bit of tinkering with my car he came in the house and said: “You have NO GAS!”  “WHAT?” I sort of yelled; I just got a full tank on Monday and I haven’t driven very far at all!  We called the repair place and, of course, they didn’t have a clue WHY I would have lost an entire tankful of gas after they had to disconnect and remove the tank in order to put in new brake lines. Frustrating, for sure. Husband drove to the nearest gas station and got a gas can full of gas, poured some in my tank and then asked me to ’start it up’.  Low and behold, his guess was right! He surmised that my car had either: “vapor lock” OR  the on-board computer, after having the gas tank removed and re-attached, didn’t read that the car actually had gas…it read “empty”. Once we ‘boosted’ the tank with a little gas, all was fine again, the gas gauge read “Full”. We took a little drive around the neighborhood with my husband following in his car, just to test it out.  This has certainly been ‘THE week” for car troubles!

Today is babysitting my grandson again (as well as tomorrow, 3-8 p.m.) so I know that I’ll be needing a nap come dinnertime, for sure! (Last night we were all feeling a little tired and husband, myself and grandson all took about a 1- 1 /2 hour nap (mine was shorter as I had to get up and prepare dinner) but it was a well-earned rest, for sure.

Hoping that your day is bright & sunny; it’s now a wonderfully sunny day outside after yesterday’s rain. Had to get up early to go drain the accumulated water out of the sandbox; my grandson will SURELY be expecting to go play outside today (even IF the sand is actually more like sand/mud!)

Hugs;

Pammie

Another Busy Week

Lately it seems that my ’summer vacation’ isn’t as vacation-like as I’d hoped. Since middle son’s car died last week it’s turned into Mom’s Taxi Service; don’t get me wrong – it’s not that bad (he’s been also having his friends drive him), but tomorrow/Tuesday is one of those really crazy days.  It’s been a weekend of church and baking cookies & brownies for youngest son’s Youth Group Missionary Trip coming up next month. (he reported back that the cookies & brownies both sold out…they were both mixes, but turned out really yummy). Today was doing house bills, grocery shopping, cleaning up the dishes & garbage and a bit of laundry.  Tomorrow – ah, tomorrow…one of those “wish I didn’t have to try to schedule this one”‘ days. The morning isn’t looking too bad, we might even try to squeeze in a quick trip to the beach for a few hours; our local library had a special offer for all Library card holders: ask at the resource desk and they would give you a pass good for one free day at any of our parks (that’s $6.00 free).  The card is only good for a week and I didn’t really know that when I asked for it; that makes it a bit dicey on the scheduling – really hoping it doesn’t rain! At around 4 p.m. I get my grandson for 1 1/2 hours; during that time I have to drive middle son to his college Japanese class which is a half hour away/freeway driving. Oh joy…baby in car, me going the expressway to and from…sigh. At around 5:30 he will be picked up, then at around 6 I leave for my regular knit night. At the same time my husband is going to a “Boys Night Out” with the guys from work. It’s a great time for him to just ‘get out’; they stop at a pub near their work and he loves going because they have great Shepherd’s Pie…his favorite.  I don’t begrudge him this because it’s only once a month and lately they haven’t gone, so he’s more than ‘due’.  During all this rush of scheduling, youngest son will be joining his friends at the local high school pool for swimming. That wouldn’t be so bad, but I’m having a heck of a time figuring out just when I’ll be able to swing by and pick him up! I’m hoping for around 5 p.m….really hoping that works out. He ‘could’ walk home, but I’d rather he not. Ah, the fun of life, eh?

Let’s see – what else happened during the past 2-3 days? I managed to get four dishcloths knit for a young friend of mine in our knit group who just got married Saturday. (Kind of like knitting squares, just different material used). I got her two coffee mugs, 4 cotton dish towels, the dishcloths and a box of various fruit teas (she’s a vegetarian); it was a kind of impromptu gift, hope she likes it (didn’t know her kitchen colors).

Babysat my grandson several days last week and will again this week. We played in the sandbox, assembled puzzles, played ‘cars’ and took naps; kept me busy and tired out later! I get him Tues, Thurs, Fri. and Saturday this week…do I see a very tired Pammie in the near future? You bet!

Other than all that, things are good here -  everyone is healthy and that’s a blessing. I know I’ll muddle through this week same as last week…one foot in front of the other, lots of knitting and the occasional nap!

Big Hugs;

Pammie

ps:  I should add that middle son hasn’t had any free time to go looking for another car; he’s thinking Honda this time…we’ll see.

Another Crazy Weekend

It’s been one of those crazy/busy kind of weekends and now I’m slowly trying to return to normal.  Saturday was spent trying to track down a unique device from a good 15 years ago: a Big Bubble wand (and book). Sunday (yesterday) was a huge third birthday party for my grandson at my son’s house and he had requested me to try to find ‘that big/huge bubble maker from my childhood.” Now, I’m no dummy… my swift fingers immediately hit the ‘net’, doing a search for ‘big bubble wand’ and I found that very thing at Borders bookstore! To give you some idea of what I’m talking about:

This is the ‘kit’; you get a bubble ‘wand’ and a book that gives you all the info you need to make HUGE bubbles (see photo) using liquid dishsoap, water and glycerine. The entire title for this kit is (just in case you’re interested):  “How to Make Monstrous, Huge, Unbelievably Big Bubbles” by Klutz company. It sells for something like $16.99. We attended the birthday party but left before they started making bubbles; I heard from middle son that they were a big hit. I remember making them with the oldest son a good 15 years ago and they can make car-sized bubbles. It was amusing to create one and watch it drift on the air; we live on a main highway – we’d make a bubble and watch the cars going by as they spotted the bubble…very funny! Depending on the humidity, a bubble would last a few minutes or longer (if too humid, they’d pop almost instantly.)  If you’re interested, you can buy glycerine in a cake decorating store (you only need a few Tablespoonfuls and a medium sized bottle runs around $4.00.)

Today was spent ‘catching up’ again, with runs to the Post Office, office supply store, yarn store, gas station, hardware store, grocery store and finally, to treat myself, to Tim Horton’s for an iced cappochino! Yum! Our temperature today is hovering in the low 80’s and the humidity is crazy-hot. We finally relented and turned on the air conditioning as the house humidity was up to 68% and inside house temp at 78. I’m slowly cooling off…ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh (grin).

Sorry I haven’t done any entries in a few days, also had to track down a book for my husband for Father’s Day (thank heavens for the internet!). Last Sunday he mentioned a book he used to really like that he’d lent to a friend a good 12 years ago and it was never returned.  It was cute hearing him say: “I really wish I could have got that book back” and sitting there thinking: “Amazon.com here I come!” Yes, was able to locate the exact book and have it shipped…it arrived in TWO days! He was totally amazed. All you could hear him say was:” WHERE did you get this book???” Big grins all around…it was a total hit!

That’s my crazy weekend and day so far; sure hoping it slows down just a bit, soon (but know fully well that this week is booked pretty full, also). Oh well…I’d be complaining if all I did was sit home and knit, too!

Enjoy your day; have a little fun…you need a smile!

Hugs;

Pammie

Almost the weekend!

Remember our Heroes!

Yes, I know it’s only Wednesday but with the lovely, warm weather I’m thinking “Four-Day Holiday Weekend Coming Up Soon!”  Do I have anything planned for this fun-fest? Nope…just like having the extra days off (I hear you: “Off from WHAT? You’re a Stay-at-Home Mom & Grandma!”)  True, but even those of us who share the above title enjoy ‘pretending’ we’re having it ‘off’…whatever that means (wink).

Spent the earlier part of the day much like last week: playing in the sandbox and swinging my grandson, and a rousing game of  what I call: “Baby Baseball” (read that: he hits the ball on the floor to me, I kick it back to him and he hits it back…this can go on for a very long time, tiring both players out perfectly just before naptime!  I’m no dummy!)

In the same area as the coming up weekend, my thoughts turned to great Summer recipes and this one is a really good one (No, I didn’t make it up but love to eat it!).

Tuna Macaroni Salad

2 boxes medium-sized shell macaroni cooked & drained

2 bunches green onions, cleaned & chopped

5-6 celery stalks, cleaned & chopped

4 (12 oz.) cans tuna in water, drained

5-6 hardboiled eggs, chopped

8 oz. shredded Cheddar cheese

48 oz. Miracle Whip

———

Mix all above ingredients together well and refrigerate overnight before serving. Serves 12 (at least!)

(Note: you can see that this recipe makes a large amount-just perfect for a summer picnic or party, but it can also be halved for a smaller number of people

=====================

I found myself thinking of this recipe yesterday and wishing I already had some made in the fridge so I could go ’snack on it’  (read that: kinda pig out). I’m definitely NOT a fan of tuna, but this recipe is really tasty!

Hope you have a great day today and do something you ENJOY! (Even if it’s only 5 minutes of resting your eyes, or staring at the clouds drifting in the sky…take a little time to pamper YOU! You’re WORTH IT!

Hugs;

Pammie

Grabbing a Few Free Minutes

A rather quiet week here so far; Grandson is taking a nap after a rather rousing game of ‘race the car into Grandma’s feet and see if she can catch it’, and then a short stint in the sandbox…ahhhhhh, naptime: that total solitude much appreciated by parents and grandparents alike!

Last night was my knit group night and we were 14 strong. It appears the ‘alternate’ Tuesday place that some of us visited (between my regular every-other-Tues. meetings) will now have to be re-located as our old place closed up! The new plan: next Tues. (Alternate week) we’re going to try out Tim Horton’s about 20 min. away. Last night our ‘regular’ meeting location (Panera Bread) treated our group to free samples of brownie bites AND slices of their Danishes…talk about getting spoiled! (I tried the brownie and declined the Danish-nothing against Danishes but I’d had enough carbs for that day!). We were sort of joking “Wonder what goodies Tim Horton’s might offer us? Should we sort-of tell them how nicely we’re treated at Panera?” (grin). A little later I’m going to write a Thank You note to the manager at Panera, thanking them for their patience and kind treatment of my group…and they ARE patient! Each 2 week meeting I come in and totally re-arrange a large part of their tables & chairs in order to accomodate our rather large group. (Also make a point of putting everything back as it was before we leave and cleaning up our area…it’s always nice to leave things as they were found originally.)

Since it’s a rather slow day and I don’t have any really interesting things to post about, thought I’d toss in another recipe. This is another of the ones I put together for the homeschool cooking class. It’s a kind of ’snack’, rather than a meal but it’s healthy, filling and quick to prepare.

Turkey Tortilla Wrap-Ups

1 lb. ground turkey, cooked and grease drained

1 pkg flour tortillas

1 (25.6 oz. ) jar spaghetti sauce

1 (8 oz.) pkg. shredded Cheddar cheese

—-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place tortilla on a cookie sheet and spread approximately 2 T. spaghetti sauce in center of tortilla, spread around. Sprinkle about 2 T. cooked turkey on top of sauce and top with a sprinkling of Cheddar cheese. Fold tortilla in half and proceed with assembling rest of tortillas. When all tortillas are assembled, place cookie sheet in oven and bake approximately 20-25 minutes in order to heat ingredients and melt cheese. Remove from oven, let cool then enjoy!

==============

Speaking of enjoying…I’m going to go enjoy a few ‘quiet minutes’ before my grandson wakes up and wants lunch!

Have a great day!

Hugs;

Pammie

Organizing

The past few days have been spent getting things organized and finished. The special needs group newsletter has to go out in the next few days, hence I’m nose-down to the keypad typing, organizing clipart, printing 40+ copies (4 sides, 2 pages), stapling/folding/addressing envelopes, etc. Last night was our Knit Night and I discovered I was short on business cards and handouts…more typing, printing.  Recently a friend who works for our local paper told me the Oakland Press wants to do an article on me-specifically on “The Ghana Project/Key of Hope” ministry…more getting together information, photos, etc. (Yes, the press could send out a photographer, but my friend is on a very short deadline so I asked if she could use photos already taken which are saved on my disc…last night I delivered those to her.)

Today brings the second day this week of babysitting my dear grandson. During that time I still need to fold newsletters and stuff envelopes before dropping them at the post office later this evening. Life is “full” right now…I don’t mind, just have to keep my head on straight and remember which ‘hat’ I’m wearing at the time: “Knit Group”, “Special Needs Group”, “Ghana Project”, “grandma”, etc.

Sorry for the short post…it’s been rather busy around here lately!

Hugs;

Pammie

Of Blossoms, Boys and Oh, Brother!

Today is another ‘perfect’ Spring day-46 degrees, big fluffy clouds racing across the baby-blue sky, bright sunshine and our spring bulbs are blooming. We spotted a nice, fat brown bunny in the yard-another sign of Spring; now it’s a daily ‘fun thing’ to look out the window, hoping to spot the bunny.

Yesterday brought my dear grandson who’d just had a haircut. Of course, being the proud grandma, I couldn’t resist taking his photo. He’s growing daily and now knows quite a few of his ‘colors’ and is starting to count (2 1/2).

Oh brother, you ask? One of the things some parents do while raising their children is skimp on their own health care. I’m no different (neither is my husband); when the two older boys needed braces, we forewent our own dental health for theirs. It’s been that way for many years now (no lectures, please)…and I’ve been experiencing what I thought was a popcorn hull stuck between my molar and gum for the past two days. I decided to check it out further last night when, to my horror, that’s no popcorn hull…my tooth has cracked in two! It’s not painful (about as much as when you accidentally nick your gum) but brought me to today’s adventures…getting an appointment to get it taken care of. I can just hear the lecture I’m going to receive for my lack of dental care through the years…a good 2-3 (maybe more) cavities, fillings that should be replaced as they are very old…and the list goes on. We’ll see…I’m just concerned (at the moment) about getting the cracked tooth taken care of to prevent infection (been rinsing with warm salt water…that’s one thing I remember from many years ago!). The appointment is for 3:40 p.m. today-I’ll update you when I know more.

Hope you have a wonderful, Spring-like day where you are!

Hugs;

Pammie

====================

PS: Turns out my tooth is now glued! I go in Monday for a crown to go over it. The dentist said that if I were to break a tooth, mine was the ‘best kind of break’ because it didn’t touch the nerve (whew!). Oh…on the above post…the “Boys” section should have included WHY I broke the tooth! Having a 14 yr. old son who came home wanting to know WHY I wouldn’t let him dye his hair BLUE caused me to bite down too hard on said tooth and it broke. I know…I’ve had several discussions with other Moms who said “in the realms of things you argue over, dying hair blue isn’t the worst it could be”…I understand, but going to a very conservative Baptist church certainly fits into the mix some, also. Anyway…tooth is doing better, I’m doing better!

Playing Catch-Up

(sorry, I’m in a rather crazy mood today)

It’s mid-week already and I still don’t feel totally ‘together’; ever have one of those weeks? Sunday blew by with church, lunch, a quick nap, choir practice, then church again and home to fix a quick dinner, then bed. Monday ‘was’ going to be my ‘getting things done’ day, but just as I got in my car at the grocery store parking lot after getting the shopping done, oldest son called to ask if I’d babysit for ‘just a short time, Mom, maybe 1-2 hours’.  Well, just barely got home and got the groceries in the house before I had my 2 1/2 yr old grandson. “A few hours” turned into something like almost 5. I didn’t know that oldest son was also ‘coming down’ with something and was really getting sick when he picked up the baby (another “sure hope I don’t get sick! moment).

Tuesday was another ‘get things done that I didn’t get done Monday’ day. Almost got caught up on the laundry; thought I was doing great on that when I went upstairs to youngest son’s bedroom and found a whole laundry basket of dirty clothes. At least I thought they were dirty clothes; that’s what that particular laundry basket was supposed to be for: put your dirty clothes in the basket and bring them downstairs to the laundry room to be washed instead of amassing tons of dirty clothes THEN dragging them downstairs!  Loaded the washer almost full of this basket, only to find the bottom of the basket contained nicely folded underwear and rolled socks! That was my ’sign’ that these might NOT have all been dirty! Oh great…well, NOW they’re all clean (the ones that I’d already managed to fill the washer with). Sigh. I still have one washer full of towels to finish today, no big deal.  Last night was my Knit Group’s MOVIE night and we had another great time. Ten of the ladies joined me at a friend’s house for potluck dinner and we watched: “Marie Antoinette” with Kirsten Dunst.  My view of that movie? Lots of ‘eye-candy’…the scenes were all filmed in France at the Versailles palace. The movie? It was ok…really slow-moving, not something I’d pay money to go see; plot line was really thin, also. Can’t complain, though-great food, good company and a fun night out. We had homemade turkey chili, corn muffins, veggie tray, great spreadable cheese tray with crackers, my chili dip & corn chips, and then there was the desserts! Cheese cake in about 4 different flavors, tiny choc. chip brownies, and a homemade pineapple upside down cake. To say I went home stuffed would be putting it mildly! (pigged out on the cheese spread & crackers, mostly…there was a wonderful cranberry cream cheese spread with Tricuits! (sp?) YUM!)

Today is Wednesday and we’re already mid-week! Tonight is my special needs group which I love going to. Today, however, is the (hopefully) end of my ‘catching up’ days: last of the laundry, some vacuuming, (did house bills yesterday), finish up afghan #150, begin laying out  more afghan squares for more afghans, (write a blog-this one!), go to the drug store for another camera battery. I was going to write a blog on last Saturday’s special needs gym night but my dear camera battery died yesterday before I could download the photos to a disc…great, sigh.  (the photos were rather dark because it was difficult trying to photo the kids from a distance while they were doing their activities in a big gym).

ANYWAY…that’s what’s going on around here lately. I didn’t forget you, honest! It’s been dry and kind of chilly here but today it looks like it will rain any minute. Normally we would have rain at this time of year but so far we haven’t. I know that the rains help the flowers & trees and growing things, but having gloomy days doesn’t help my ’sunny’ disposition (hehehe). I will attempt to “RISE ABOVE” my rather cranky demeaner, “put my big girl panties on” and “Just GET ON WITH IT!” (oh…did I say that out loud? Sorry….my ‘inner Pammie’ was asserting herself again.) hehehehe

Have a great day and attempt to smile a little! Why? BECAUSE I SAID SO! (ooops…sorry…blush!)

Hugs;

Pammie

A Very Precious Gift

Sometimes it’s very important to stop and recognize the gifts the Lord gives to us; today I’m babysitting my fast-growing grandson. He’s now 2 1/2 and smart as a whip (don’t all grandmothers say that?). He can dump out jigsaw puzzles then re-assemble them UPSIDE DOWN, in the correct order! That amazes me! I have trouble putting them together right-side up, let alone trying them upside down! Today, while assembling a Donald Duck puzzle he said: “Look Grandma! Chickamunks!”  Yes, indeed, on the puzzle there were Chip & Dale, the Disney chipmunks! I’d never really paid attention to that before.  Today I decided it’s time to stop and breathe in the wonders of a small child; the order of their day, how they play, what they notice…all of it. It’s been two weeks since I’ve babysat him, so these things are dear to me. Right now he’s napping and I still count it a very special blessing that I’m the only one he allows to rock him to sleep. It’s been that way since he was very little. It’s nothing I’ve done; we just get his favorite blanket and then get cosy in my recliner.  I hum to him the same song I sang to his father 26 years ago: “Do You Know the Muffin Man?”; his Dad liked it sung at hyper-speed, his son likes it hummed almost like a slow hymn.  I’m still grateful he enjoys this quiet time together; for me it’s a very precious gift.

Hugs;

Pammie