Weight Loss Success?

This past Easter I made the decision to stop eating refined sugar.  It's hard to believe, but after about three weeks cravings stopped and fruits and veggies began to taste delicious.  I know it's shallow, but as the weight melted off, I felt proud.

Last evening I was playing on the floor with my grandson when he poked me in the stomach like I was the Pillsbury Doughboy.  This angelic look came over him as he said, "Grammy, is there a baby in your tummy?"

"Pride cometh before a fall."

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Held Hostage!

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Parenting in 2014

I marvel at parents today.  They just "get it" so much easier than we did.  Here's an example:

I was in my daughter Jessica's kitchen watching my two-year-old grandson Grayson eating a carrot. He leaned over and got some dip, took a bite of carrot, then chewed.  He chewed and chewed and chewed and then -- when he was good and ready -- he spat the finely chewed carrot out.  Then he took another  carrot, got some dip, took another bite and repeated the entire sequence.  A little mound of chewed carrot was forming on the table in front of him.

Spit.

Dip.

Chew.

Grayson was oblivious to me and so as I watched and laughed (inside), the carrot "eating" continued. Soon my daughter passed through the kitchen, glanced swiftly at her son and his carrot mound and said, "If you want to eat the dip, just use a spoon."

I rest my case.

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Toddler Fun

 

Two-year-olds are fun to be around and I swear this current crop is more savvy than kids used to be.  Here are some examples of the two-year-old mind in action:

Michelle to her son Lucas: "What do you want for breakfast?"
Lucas:  "Talk to me about options."

My whole family had iPhones but I was holding out;  I thought there was nothing wrong with  my old phone.  Brody felt differently.  He picked it up, fiddled with it and when it didn't connect to the internet, he brought it to me and said, "Broken." 

Rhona's granddaughter Lillian came to visit her, picked up a framed photo from off the shelf and moved her little finger horizontally across the bottom of it, trying to see the next picture.

When I Facetime my daughter I must keep the conversation fast paced and interesting - otherwise Brody will hang up on me.  He's very diplomatic though.  He always blows a kiss as he reaches for the Off Button.



Brody downloading his favorite apps onto Grampy's iPad

 

 

Inspiration

In Michigan, Grand Rapids ArtPrize is going on this weekend (and until October 7th) and there is a two-hundred-thousand dollar purse for the best of show.  I'm sorry I can't attend it because if I could, I surely would vote for Tom Kaufmann's Junkyard Music Box. It combines many of my loves into one neat package --  music, scavenging, re-purposing and even friendship.  (Friendship played heavily in the making of this creation because, although Tom conceived the idea, many hands helped him achieve his stellar entry.)

Tom is from my hometown of Hastings, Michigan and, even though in sixth grade he once spontaneously told me that he wouldn't date me even if I were the last girl on earth, I am going to overlook my wounded pride and wish him the Grand Prize that he so clearly deserves. 

If you happen to attend ArtPrize, please take a moment to vote for Tom.  His creativity and musical genius should be rewarded with cold cash.

The Junkyard Music Box
 

Inspired by Tom's massive and successful project, I decided to attempt to (drum roll, please) assemble a tulip chair for my grandson.  I know it's paltry by comparison to Tom's way-cool Junkyard Music Box, but I have zero mechanical aptitude -- I can't even use a vacuum cleaner without breaking it -- and this seemed as insurmountable to me as making a pile of junk morph into a melodic beauty.

The directions, straight from China, were six pages long.  Still, I plodded through them one step at a time and success was MINE!  I got all the way to the final step before I hit a snafu.  "Now go back and securely tighten all bolts and nuts."  No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the nuts to move all the way up the bolts like they were supposed to.  Both ends twirled every time I tried to tighten the nut.

Since my Grandson will be sitting in this chair, I decided to let my muscle-y husband go back and do the "securing" step.  Above all, I want to be sure the chair is safe to sit in.  My pride is a little bit dinged yet again, but even Tom has a team.

 

* * *

 UPDATE:  When I was cleaning up my mess, I found this mysterious tool under the pile of instructions.  When I stuck it in the top of the bolt, I was able to use the wrench to truly "securely tighten all bolts and nuts."  So, my team will only have to check my work, not do it.

I'm on a roll!  I think I'll go vacuum...

The Tower

It took Brody a long time to complete his masterpiece.  He labored hard to put the rings on the tower of the classic Fisher Price toy.  When he was finished, his mom told him that it wasn't quite right.

Here's a difference between being a mom and being a grandma -- it looked perfect to me.

Creativity!

Rags

 I was exploring the Flylady's cleaning website when I stumbled upon rags for sale in their e-store.  This seemed counter-intuitive to me so I was forced to look up the word "rags" on dictionary.com.  The first definition was:  a worthless piece of cloth, especially one that is torn or worn.  Exactly! 



Cloth diapers coming?

In fairness to the Flylady folks, their rags are purple, which, if I were going to actually buy a worthless piece of cloth, would be my preferred color.  But, of course, I am not.  There's no reason to buy rags at our house, we generate our own all the time.  (Bonus!  Anything the South Carolina clay soil touches automatically is rag material because it's discolored for all time and eternity, no exceptions.)

Now I know that what these flypeople are actually selling are not rags at all, but cleaning cloths.  I'm not buying them either.  That's what holey underwear and old undershirts are for, although back in the day the gold standard of cleaning cloths used to be cloth diapers. 

Kind of makes ya nostalgic, right?

Looking into the Eyes of the Angels

On October 20th, 2010, at exactly 10:55 p.m., the most beautiful baby in the history of humankind was born and I was there to witness it.  Seeing that baby enter this world was so incredible that it defies description.  For once in my life, I was at a loss for words.  My midwife buddy said it perfectly. "Now you understand why I have the best job on the planet." And she does. 

For five and a half weeks I stayed with that baby.  He cast his spell over me, until I was totally enchanted!  Time stopped and the world revolved around his pleasures and needs. That was okay by me.  I wanted to stay even longer - say, perhaps until he left for college?

My daughter and son-in-law were exceedingly gracious and the time flew as we all watched the baby grow and change.  He went from the sleepy infant to being the wide-eyed baby.  Now every day we Skype so Grampy and I can gaze at him lovingly and see his new tricks.  It makes us all feel like, although we are separated by the miles, we are still a part of his life.  That matters to us more than we ever could have imagined.

Next week he will be making his first airplane ride, coming to Granny's for Christmas.  (Of course Gramps lives here too and we will vie for holding time with each other and with Auntie Kate.  I've been plotting my strategy now for weeks and am confident I will win!) 

What they say about being a grandparent is true.  It is joy beyond description.

Merry Christmas!!