I had to laugh at Mom’s post the other day about being boring. If you were a little mouse listening in on our  many phone conversations through the day, you would think we were quite entertaining, perhaps even a tad bit crazy and eccentric too.

School just got out last week so my youngest is now underfoot; although you can hardly be underfoot when you are approaching 6′ tall. He can eat me out of house and home and leaves a trail of dirty dishes everywhere he goes. Welcome summertime!

Then there is my 24 year old who is struggling to become a real grown up. She causes me angst, stomach aches, temper tantrums, and a very sore tongue from biting it so much. She moved back about a year ago…with her 1 year old Boxer dog named Dexter. She is in countdown mode to move out (Mom’s deadline) and I hope I make it to the finish line without hurting anyone.

My oldest boy is doing great in life. A single dad who loves to hang out with his younger brother and totes along his 5 year old daughter Aria. That means they all hang out at my house hoping for Mom’s home cooked meals….a lot. I love it, but it also means a lot of unexpected company at my house.

Our oldest daughter and her husband have just moved across town and now live about 3 miles from us. They are still getting settled in although we were at their house several times this weekend fixing lawn mowers and training her on how to actually use one!

So Mom is right, our life is busy, chaotic, always interrupted for the “more important things” like family. It provides great material for lots of stories and lots of laughs. Boring, never around here. Some days I dream of boring. Seriously I do! (PS: I thought these photos of the cactus and agapanthus were good metaphors for my family life, prickly but beautiful and going in all directions yet still part of one flower.)

My sister, Carol,  loves to create and is quite talented at many things.  She cooks, sews, knits, crochets, quilts and on and on.  Recently we were together and she was sharing some of the things she was doing so at my request she has sent me pictures and I am going to share a few with you this week.

Aren’t they just the cutest things you have ever seen….Thanks for sharing Carol….and there is much more coming.

My 13 year old grandson, Kaleb,  lives in the city, loves button down shirts, hunting, fishing, all sports but especially basketball.  He has never had a male role model so I think it is in his genes to be so “all guy” and love guy things…For Christmas he told me he wanted cowboy boots and a cowboy hat…

Wearing a button down shirt the day he told me all of this, he crossed his arms and said, “Grandma, when I grow up I am going to be a Texas businessman.”  I had to smile and tell him, “you can do whatever you set your dreams on” and hope his dreams come true…

This picture was taken Christmas day when he opened his cowboy hat…at 13 he is 2″ taller than Grandma and wears a man’s size 9 shoe.  But isn’t he handsome and oh that smile.

I couldn’t find boots that fit I could afford so I went online and ordered boots and then they were back ordered until April!!!!!!!!!!!  I was somewhat put out because when I ordered online it said, “in stock, ships next day.”  So last weekend I finally canceled the order and hit the local stores and found a pair of boots that fit his wish list, (with some extra funds from Mom and his Christmas money he received).

Then I forgot to take pictures of him in the boots but trust me he loved them.  He made me go for a walk on the walking trail so he could get used to walking in them ..he climbed up four flights of stairs several times….he made those heels smack when he walked…he was all smiles, all day….  Way to go cowboy Kaleb, you are my partner for sure.

I finally remembered to charge the battery in my Nikon CoolPix and found I had lots of photos…so will share some of the old holiday pictures with you.

What a fun evening when I joined my daughter, Kim and granddaughter, Erika at the Mall as Erika participated in a Christmas School Choral event.

The music was fantastic but the energy, laughter and pure innocence of these young girls brings back so many, many memories..a wonderful time in their lives.

After their concert we headed for food and shopping…my what energy they have.

Are they cool or what?

As a grandma the best gift, seeing the grandchildren so happy, healthy and nourished by parents.

Today is Deb’s ?? birthday…I won’t tell her age as she doesn’t begin to look ???.

She is off in Cabo San Lucas vacationing.  Robert takes her somewhere warm every year for her birthday present…pretty fortunate lady to have a great guy who is so thoughtful…no wonder I love him so much too.

Even though she is on vacation, I know if she get’s access to the computer she will be checking in….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOTHER LOVES YOU

PS: I am so jealous (that you are in warm weather)

Though it has been busy, the pleasure, fun, and excitement of sharing Christmas with so many family and friends makes the flurry of activity during the holiday season well worth it.

The first Christmas gathering was with my brothers and sisters, there are nine of us   Noise, laughter, antics, and lots and lots of food are always part of these gatherings.

The boys (all grown up), so grateful that we are all in good health!!!!

The story teller, can you tell….how blessed we are to have Alma as a breast cancer survivor!!!!!!!!!!

The girls from a Christmas past as not all of them could come this year!!

Family, the best gift of all. I hope you enjoyed your time together with family and would love to see some pictures.

I love it because my grandchildren still make Christmas list for their Mom and Dad.  Now the two I am sharing are not little children, they are 13 and 9.

Here are just a few of the items on my grandson’s list.  I laughed robustly to say the least.

-    Cell phone WITH MINUTES   – (Mom and Dad give him their old phones as toys but of course no minutes or texting are available)

-   Electric guitar – Dad knows which one I want Mom – now he is covering the bases here making sure she doesn’t buy without consulting Dad first. Cracked me up on this one.

-   Mom’s last laptop !!!! (I want it so bad!) The emphasis that he was communicating was so typical of a young innocent age…aren’t they wonderful.

-   Then here was the best of all, my 13 year old granddaughter made her list consisting of all girl things, purse, shoes, etc. Then at the bottom she writes:  “P.S. Dad, I still want that pony that lives and breathes,,,, and poops all on it’s own!”  She drew a picture of a horse just in case he didn’t get the point.

Grandchildren, the best gift God could give us in our senior years..

Just a few pictures from Thanksgiving to share with everyone.

Our host for the day, David the son and brother who loves to cook!  Well it is possible after his first experience of the whole family he may think twice the next time.  He did a wonderful job and everything was beautiful, delicious and just the way he planned.

Table decor was beautiful!

Angel food cake for a wonderful Cherries in the Snow dessert!

Family Arrives

Corey, the son of the youngest chic, Julie, and grandma’s super hero has played in a “super bowl” football game in his local age division for the past three years.  He called everyone in the family to let them know he expected them to be there last Saturday, so we all showed up, including Marti!

Great game, though they lost 22-18 they played super hard! Your cool Corey, we love you buddy!  Here are just a few of the many pictures Deb took, they are all so great and it was a beautiful fun family day for the Chics and their family.

Mom was just a little into   the game and as you can tell from the hands on the head the call was not good for our team!

We managed to keep on smiling and stay warm!

Final Play of the Day, with all his heart trying to grab the runner! Wait until next year, we will be back!

I am going to take some time this week to keep my promise to show you the process of making my small apartment home.  I completed the kitchen and showed you that now it is time to focus on the living room that adjoins the kitchen area.  The room measures 12‘.6” long by 10‘.6” wide. Here was how it looked before I started.  As you can see the kitchen and the living area adjoin very typical for an apartment.

Now here is the finished picture!

I already had all of the furniture so the new additions to the room were limited to a new area rug and lamp and of course a beautiful white hen and rooster.

I absolutely love it and think my basic pieces are great but the warmth of the room came when I added the area rug and curtains. Those items gave the classy, casual and cozy, look I enjoy. More photos up close.

A few details you might want to know.  I made the curtain topper  from 3 yards of black silk that was 60” wide, folded in half lengthwise I then created a rod pocket, added fringe, rings and cording every 24 inches and very simply had elegant yet casual looking curtain treatments over my JC Penny sheers.  The silk fabric was $7.99 a yard and the fringe was $15.99 a yard.  Purchasing both of them on sale at 50% off gave me a tremendous savings for a final cost of $36.00. If I had purchased anything similar in the stores my cost would have been 4 to 5 times more at least.  Curtains are so easy and I continue to urge you to give it a try next time you do your windows.

Area rugs are one of the cheapest ways we have to warm up a room.  This 9 x 11 rug was purchased at a discount upholstery and rug shop in Overland Park for slightly less than $150.00 but worth every penny for the comfort, cozy look and the quietness it brings to the room from the noises below me.  Always look for area rugs at discount prices otherwise they are not affordable additions; at least not on my budget.

Well long blog but hope when you drop by for coffee and cheesecake you will find this room inviting for chit chat about the latest in blog world, USA.