Faux human children.

I truly adored raising my children.
They made me laugh all the time.
I think somehow they knew that their mothers motto was 'Life sucks, then you die.'
So to keep their mother intact and able to do all things motherly, they were wonderful easy children to raise (with only a few exceptions)
and innately knew that they had to keep their mother amused.
I am grateful to them for that on a daily basis.
BUT they have, all but one, moved out of the house and taken their antics with them.
So to keep myself amused and in perpetual motion, I have dogs.
2 dogs.
A recent addition has been a boxer puppy named Baxter.
Baxter, Baxter, Baxter.


Baxter relaxing.

Baxter is the child replacement until the actual grandchild is able to do human like things...and laugh.


Jeplen 'pre-laughing'.

Back to the non-humans.
Baxter is in love with Eva.
Baxter wants to do everything Eva does.
Eva is a bit older, much larger, totally easy going, a Baxter magnet and she loves to swim.
She also loves the water to get away from Baxter because he does not ever leave her alone and he DOES NOT LIKE the water.....at all.

So to keep this Re-mom amused, this is one of the many 'shows' my faux human children do that keep me laughing.
Hope you enjoy.



Baxter: 'Ok I'll try this water thing.
Eva: 'Sure just paddle and splash!'
Baxter: Ok, Ok, Um....no, No, NOOOOOOO!

Sometimes life isn't so sucky.
:)

Gray Grandma

I have been a Re-mom for 6 weeks now.
He is fabulous, wiggly, hungry, adorable and loved.
A force to be reckoned with.


Sweet Jeplen

So to get into character as the grandmother of this tiny human I have decided to stop with the highlights and let my gray hair shine through.
After trying to make a highlights hair appointment 2 weeks ago and my favorite stylist was too booked to get me in, I made the 'gray' decision.
(that really helped push me over the fence and embrace my grandmother role)
I was terrified when I first considered it, but then I seized the "I'm old, you're not the boss of me" attitude.
(Getting old is actually becoming fun!)

Here is where I am now:


Gray roots.


Gray roots head shot.


Re-mom with gray beginnings.

Will I keep it long?
I'm sure.

Will I look old?
I'm sure.

Will that be ok?
I'm not sure.


Thanks for sharing the journey.

Lent..... 40 days of posts?!?

Lent starts today.
(thank-you Fat Tuesday and The Cheesecake Factory!!)
In case you don't know, here is what Lent is....
A fast for 40 days and nights.
It is our human attempt to understand what Jesus went through in the desert with no food or water AND being tempted by the devil for the said amount of time.
A puny human attempt.......but at least an attempt.
Years ago our family decided not only would we give up something, we would take on something.
The taking on something (it is supposed to be beneficial) is often harder than giving up something.
This year I am giving up red meat and taking on writing.
Everyday.
I already have high blood pressure.........
But our 40 days and nights are not supposed to be easy.
And I have a tendency to quickly get in "I'm old, I don't HAVE to do anything" moods.
But I truly love to write, and often neglect pretty good ideas.
So if there is anyone out there who could possibly find what I'm thinking, doing, seeing, writing interesting, then here we go.
Thanks for joining me and let me know how Lent is going with YOU !!!!


(Lent is alot about attitude! LOL!)

Frozen shoulder. Yes it is an actual thing and has nothing to do with winter.

It was inevitable.
Now that I am a real grandmother and officially old, my body has decided to checkout, break down and generally fall apart.
When I was younger I thought you were officially old when you needed a hearing aid and you forgot where you put your stuff all the time.
I was wrong.
I have learned and experienced that old really IS a number and after the specified number, your body wants a vacation from keeping you alive and starts pulling practical jokes in areas of the body that are impossible to medicate.
Which brings us to 'frozen shoulder'.
The pain is horrific, appears out of nowhere, affects women more than men, is not even remotely cold, keeps you from sleeping and the medical community can only offer the fact that it will eventually go away.
Doctors are very stingy with the good drugs apparently.
My arm was immobile.
It wouldn't move with out bringing tears to my eyes.
With my one good arm and hand, I searched the World Wide Web believing that someone, somewhere has found something to relieve my misery.
I actually found something that worked.
It helped the restoration process and brought some relief that no other medical website or Dr. had even mentioned.
It came from a blogger in England and I will share it with you just in case you or someone you know is one of the 2% of humans that gets Frozen Shoulder.
It is a small easy excercise, but I kid you not it works !!!!


Frozen Shoulder Relief

Stand a couple of feet away from a table that won't move or counter, face the counter with legs slightly more than shoulder width apart. Put the hand of your 'good arm' on the edge and lean forward so it supports your body weight, and so that the hand of your 'bad' arm (the one with the frozen shoulder) is hanging down. Let your bad arm just hang there. Do NOT swing your bad arm. GENTLY rotate your hips and upper body in a circular motion,like you were hula hooping in slow motion. You will notice that your hanging arm also rotates very gently in the same direction. Allow your hanging arm to move naturally. After a few rotations (between 5 and 10) pause for a few seconds, then rotate the hips and body in the opposite direction a similar number of times.

If the above exercise is very painful, STOP immediately. It isn't working for you.
If the exercise doesn't increase your pain, do as often as neccessary for relief.

Wha La.

I am not a Dr. but I know the things that work.
My body is not one of those things.
While checking out my shoulder though, the medical community discovered I have high blood pressure.

Lord have mercy.

Now if I could find my glasses I could see who is ringing the doorbell, or is that my phone?
What?
Peter Pan sooooo gets it!!!



Thanks so much for reading my blog!

Thanks!

I have not posted anything on my blog for almost 2 months.
(stating the obvious is a gift)
Yet some of you keep checking in to see if that reality has changed.
Sorry but no.
(using my super power again)
I really just wanted to THANK-YOU !!!
Thank-you !!!
You are the best !!!
Have a great day !!!

Ate a Moth Today....or....Cereal with a Bonus!

The morning meal is usually uneventful and normal at our home.
Coffee, Tea, Toast, BelVita Cookies, Eggs, Leftovers or

CEREAL.

We were actually low on our usual variety of choices so I grabbed what was left of Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries.
Pulled the Ziploc bag out of the box and saw through the bag that there was enough for a bowl.

Well there, inside the bag, easy to see like the cereal......a moth.
One of those gray, smallish, once you see one-you are going to see lots, cupboard hiding, beady eyed, eat everything you are storing, included in the box already so you'll have to buy more, giant fanged, acid drooling, 'get away from me', waving my arms like a maniac, moths.



I squished the moth in the folds of the of the plastic.

Problem solved.

Then....I tried to pour the cereal in the bowl.
Well in the nano second of not remembering that I had just smashed a bug, I let the moth and all its squishings fall into the cereal.

Lets now talk about how most of you are gagging and praying that the next sentence says that the cereal went straight into the trash.
Lets NOW talk about those starving children all over the world that your mother told you about whenever you wouldn't finish a meal.
Lets NOW talk about how some of the people in those far away countries eat bugs on a regular basis and like it.
Lets NOW NOW talk about the crumbs and little bits of cereal that are always at the bottom of the bag AND how tiny bug squishings can be............
Just kidding. Lets NOT talk about it.

I got the milk and ate it.

Bug and all.

Delicious.

Conclusions?

1) I made a conscious choice to eat an insect today and I didn't get sick!
2) I am liberated and ready to travel to exotic places.
3) I wasn't affected at all and still love breakfast cereal.

And yet I can't seem to turn away from the table lamp.....I want to look at it, I want to touch it, it calls me........

"A Place in the Choir"

Used to sing this when Jeff and I were youth group leaders 30 years ago! Loved it then. Love it now.
Enjoy!

Big Dogs......

When my youngest child was near graduation from high school, I told myself that I would not succumb to the empty nest syndrome.
I would be strong and rejoice in my freedom.
I would stay busy catching up on all the things 'I' wanted to do.
I succeeded royally with this challenge too............for two days.
I was putting away the youngest child's socks and had to stop and cry like a baby.
Came out of nowhere.
Hit me like a freight train too.
I needed soothing.
I needed consolation.
I consoled myself with a puppy.
Something that needed me I suppose, or at least to take my mind off the quiet house.
My daughter knew of one that she said would be sweet because she knew the mother, but the father was a great dane that had been roaming the neighborhood, so it would be a big dog.
Fine.
Great.
I wanted a big dog.
We welcomed Eva to our home.



She grew fast.
She was/is smart as anything and sweeter than any dog I ever knew.



I share this post with you because last night as we were coming in from an early evening walk, Eva walked past one of our solar lights and blocked so much light that it came on!
She walked clear of it and it went off!
I was so amused by this because I had forgotten or just took for granted my life with a large dog.

So here is my list of big dog perks so you will get a hint of what it's like to have a large dog.

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A BIG DOG WHEN:

1-they can rest their head on the table to see what's for dinner.
2-they lay on the sofa and no one else has any room to even sit on the sofa.
3-they walk past a solar light and block the sun.
4-people are afraid of them without even coming close.
5-they snore as loud or louder than humans.
6-you can pet them without even having to bend over.
7-they travel in the car and their head is almost to the ceiling.
8-they lean on you because they love you and almost knock you over.
9-you keep their food in a large garbage can.
10-you can almost wear their collar as belt.
11-when they wag their tail they sometimes break stuff.
12-you know you will have to share your ice cream or your foot will be soaked with drool as they watch you.
13-your dog will be able to pull the grand-baby in a wagon!
14-you realize that you need them in your life.

Eva turned out to be more than a distraction or balm to soothe my loneliness.
A big dog is like a hairy family member that fills a vacancy the less hairy ones left behind.
Love my family, love my dog.

Thanks for reading.
Tell me why you love your dog, whatever the size.
Take care.
See you soon!

For the rain..........

It rained and rained and rained some more.
It rained so much it soaked my door.
I went outside,
It rained on me.
It rained all night and made me pee.
The dogs are damp.
My clothes are dank.
The rain wont stop.
I'm now a crank.
The rain outside, it will not cease
It won't give up, there is no peace.
But fussing on about the rain,
will only just infect my brain.
My slushy head thinks of the sun,
And wonders why we 'ain't had none' !
But rain, it makes me sit all day,
And rhyme the words I want to say.
So let it rain and rain some more.
Cause that's what this here poem is for !


Flowers and Poets don't seem to mind the rain ! :)

No cameras were harmed in the taking of this wet photo. :)

Thanks so much for checking in.
Thanks for reading my Blog.
Have a great soggy day !
See you soon !

Tiramisu Baby Blanket

Having been keeping myself busy with life and grand-baby things, I thought I would share one of my favorite, latest, grand-baby things.
If you like to crochet, then this is a fun easy project for you to try!
The daughter who is pregnant is the one who taught me about delicious Tiramisu many years ago, so I HAD to make this blanket.
I have made one following the colors suggested, a yellow one with yellow ribbon and I am almost finished with a pink one.


I used Bernat Softee Baby yarn in Antique White ( you can buy it at Walmart and it stays nice and soft).


I used Bernat Baby Coordinated in Lemon Custard (this yarn has rayon in it so it has a great drape and a bit of a sheen!)

Both used H hook.
You can make it as big or small as you need and it is quick but looks fabulous !!

Here is the link:
www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tiramisu-baby-blanket





Here is a sneak peak at the pink one !


Enjoy !!
Tell me what you think and I'll see you again soon !!

"I usually take a two hour nap from 1 till 4"

"I usually take a two hour nap from 1 till 4"
Yogi Berra

Mr. Berra gets it.
He had 11 grandchildren.
Of course he gets it.
I can't wait for grandchildren because then napping is not frowned upon.
It's expected.
You are legally obligated to nap with your grandchild.
To make sure they're safe, undisturbed and ready to go back to Mom and Dad like a whirling dervish of restored energy.
If I tell people I took a nap when they ask me about my day, their noses wrinkle as if I just broke wind.
I tell them I'm practicing for grandchildren.
Napping should be a sport.
I would love to train for that event.
I am in top physical form already!
Been training for years.
This all came to mind when I pinned this fabulous quote I saw on Pinterest:



I should have heeded my own pin/advice because I did WAY too much yesterday.
Laundry, sanding baby chairs, pulling weeds, moving logs....twice, going into work for several hours, dancing with a leprechaun to Led Zeppelin (just kidding, we were dancing to Credence Clearwater Revival---wanted to see if you were still with me) going to the store, sweeping, walking the dogs, putting away laundry..... you get the idea.
All with NO nap.
I went napless.
Sounds scandalous.

Today I feel old and weary.
I did find a baby turtle yesterday and held him for a while as I decided where to put him so he wouldn't be mulched by the lawnmower or snacked on by a raccoon.


Baby Garden Turtle.

He napped in my hand, unafraid.
Maybe I got the 'slow' germs off of him for holding him too long because today I feel like a recently awakened, grumpy, wrapped to tight mummy, bumbling around the world. Brain included.
And I've got stuff to do today!!!
Does going to bed early count as a nap?
Sort of a .....pre-sleep-nap??
The going to bed early 'nap' will have to be my light at the end of the tunnel today.
Maybe I'll be fine and get a second wind!
Without a nap it's hard to say what my behavior will be.

......................................

Actually, I must have gotten a second wind because this post is getting posted 12 hours after it was started.
Their was NO NAP.
Stuff got done. But not the right stuff.
I'm ready for bed and it's late. So NO pre-sleep-nap.
A grandchild would have made a nap mandatory.
But who knows, maybe the kid will have to get stuff done too.

“It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”
― Yogi Berra

Thanks Yogi.
Nailed it.



I love that you read my blog.
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Be a commenter.
Be happy !

"Well, did you know..........?"

I live in a small town where the 2 grocery stores that are in business have a pact.
If one of the stores has a product then the other store may not carry it.
So customers who enjoy eating occasionally, have to flit back and forth trying to remember who carries what where, just to finish even one simple recipe.
I am assuming that the 2 stores do this to 'share' the business(yea right) or because "bigstorethatcannotbenamed-mart" is afraid it will get bad publicity if it runs every other store out of town.
Customers have to waste gas, time and brain cells just to buy groceries so both stores can so nicely 'share'.
Drives me bonkers. I consider it exercise.
Don't get me started............
Well just yesterday I was in the smaller of the 2 grocery stores and checking out when I heard the ladies in the line next to me say (they actually hollered) to a woman at customer service, "Hey Margaret, How are you ?" (the name has been changed to protect readers from myself in case they don't know me and would never realize that I really don't have any idea what her name was and might assume I am a forgetful dork and stop reading this blog because I was a bit too rambling and forgetful)
Where was I?
Oh......Margaret(not her real name). "Hey Margaret, How are you?"
Margaret(not her real name) says, "Fine thanks. How are you?". Not expecting or receiving a reply.
We all got our bags and left the store.
Yes, well on the way out, the friendly, chatty ladies spoke to each other NOT in a whisper,
#1 "Well, did you know Margaret has been married 3 times?"
#2 "No, I did not........really?"
#1 "Yes Ma'am."

Well, they turned right I went left and giggled to myself.
My check out neighbor was as amazed by this revelation as I was!
Margaret(not her real name) deserves a medal!
Who in their right mind gets married 3 times?
Who thinks like that?
Marriage is so hard that most of the young folks today just live together!
I am such a wuss that I could only marry once. If anything happened to marriage #1, I can assure you that there would NOT be a marriage #2
Margaret(not her real name) had so much fun she married 3 times ?!
The stories she could tell......
Why am I telling her story?
Because maybe Margaret(not her real name) is trying to get all the ingredients for her recipe of marriage and she is having to run all over town trying to collect them from whichever man carries them.
I just hope her recipe is not too complicated and full of exotic items and fanciful techniques.
Good Luck to you Margaret(not her real name) I hope you get this one right!




Todays post is not directly related to BEING a Re-mom except that it was written directly by one. :)
I just had to write it down. Couldn't stop thinking about it.
Thanks for reading my blog!
I enjoy comments and followers!
Have a great day !