47 posts tagged “family”
MomH sent me some photos from when I was home in August to go to the fair. I actually scanned them as soon as I got them, which would be today. It usually takes me a few months of procrastinating before I finally forget and never do it. What's more impressive is that MomH had Steve download the pics from her camera and then she took the CD to the store to get copies within close to a month of them being taken. It's a pretty involved process, mind you.
I thought you might enjoy seeing a few. If you don't enjoy them, then you just wasted a few seconds glancing through. :-P
From left to right, Brother Ray, Yours Truly and Brother Steve:
Me with Danielle, Brother Ray's oldest. She's a freshman in high school this year. I remember when she was an itty bitty baby. Sigh.
The fairgrounds had a relocated and restored one-room schoolhouse.
Back on the farm, here are the sheepies before they went to the fair.
(Yes the photo is crooked. The scanning process is also a pain in the rear and I deemed this good enough).
Finally, the main event. There's a family of kitties living in my parents garage. They could not possibly be cuter. I had to check my luggage to make sure Mom & DadH didn't stick any in my suitcase when I wasn't looking.
Here's my entry in the effort to keep the internet from imploding without cats.
This is Kitty, aka Grandma's Cat, The House Cat, etc - the kitty I convinced MomH to take in when I was home at Christmas.
She's not the prettiest of cats, but she's a sweetie pie and a great house kitty. She loves MomH, not so much my father although he helps look after The Cat. It's really fun to see them turn into housecat people.
Kitty was helping us sort through Grams' many decks of cards. They were euchre decks so we had to put whole decks back together. All the 9s through aces (plus 5s) were worn, all the 2s through 8s were like new. That makes sense if you know how to play.
Kitty doesn't know how to play euchre, but likes to play with rubber bands. Sorry for the blur, I couldn't get a non-action shot.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
So far this week, counting last weekend, I've done Bikram yoga once, ran twice, swam really really hard at practice (+1600m!), watched what I ate, cut down the booze and
*drumroll*
I GAINED TWO POUNDS!
Why even bother? Pffft.
But I'm back on the Crazy Relay team for next February, so now I have an incentive to work out harder.
An acquaintance of mine is trying to talk me into going to a crazy expensive gym down the street from where I work. I was telling Fabulous Co-Worker Justin about it, mostly in an eye-rolling kind of way, and he said, "It sounds like the place you should go. You said it's full of professional types with good networks and if nothing else, maybe good dating potentials."
He has a point. I said I'd have to get a new wardrobe, but screw it, if I go I'm going to stick with my standard issue free t-shirt from volunteering somewhere. I do have nice shorts, though. I'm not a total slob. However, no matter how I dressed I'd be uncomfortable if the place was full of pretentious assholes and plastic fantastics. Blargh.
My acquaintance said he'd get me a guest pass so maybe I'll give it a shot. I hear the classes are good and great deal of hobnobbing/business dealings happen around the juice bar. It sounds right up my alley - except I'm cheap and the fees are high. We'll see.
MomH and Uncle Don are driving Grams up to Wisconsin next week to be closer to Uncle Dick's family. It will be the best for Grams - she'll be a few minutes from all of my cousins. She's the only Grandma they've had so she will get a lot of care and attention. I feel really bad for my mom, though. She's spent a lot of time with her mother these past few years and I know that has meant so much to her. This morning on NPR, the StoryCorp piece on taking care of an aging mother brought me to tears. It made me think of my time with MomH and being so far from home.
Speaking of home, a classmate of mine broke his neck during the motorcross event at the county fair. His youngest daughter is best friend of Amber (NieceH #3). Brother Ray, SIL, and Amber went over to spend time with them last night. I think he has three vertebrae in his neck broken and the doctors say he only has a few days left to live. Wow. That's just crazy, considering he's awake and alert. It doesn't make much sense, but Brother Ray and DadH asked the vet about it - the vet gets asked about almost everything - and he said the nerves will most likely be deteriorating quickly to the point he lose most bodily functions.
Jeff was close to my late bachelor great-uncle, the closest thing to a family/grandchild Uncle Clarence ever had. He and I were never more than passing friends, but I was glad for what he meant to other members of FamilyH. If you could keep his family in your thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated.
So that's it for my Friday.
Guess what? *looks around*
I have absolutely no plans on the calendar for tomorrow. OMGFREE TIME!!11! You have no idea how excited I am about playing the day by ear.
*happy sigh*
A few days at the fair was good for the soul, but probably not my waistline. Oh, well. It was worth it.
I ended up seeing a lot of my friends from my 4-H days (such fun catching up!), and some people I never was friends with (ignored each other just like old days) and one person I told off at the State Fair years ago because she was a witch and I had had enough of her putting me down in front of people she wanted to impress. I made nice with her yesterday - it was 20 years ago, after all - and I think she was still holding a grudge. So that was fun (for me). She can either get over it or not. Probably not since I heard she still treats her friends that way. Eh, whatever. I'm glad I talked to her in any event.
This morning I sat outside on the deck, reading the paper and listening to fish jumping in the pond. A hummingbird even stopped by to wish me good morning. Ahn.
I went down to the barn to play with all the kitties - so many barn kitties! I apologize for not taking any pictures, but my camera would have exploded from all teh cute. The baby kitties were beyond adorable. There were babies in Mom & DadH's garage (marmalades) and another set in the calf barn (grey tabbies).
The embryo transplant guy was also there so I took a peek at cow embryos under the microscope. I think he said they were four days old. Pretty cool stuff, that. Then I helped out the process by handing the straws to the guy so he could transfer the embryos into waiting heifers. Not too demanding of a job, except those were worth a lot of money and if I dropped one, DadH would have had a massive coronary right then and there.
I had lunch with the family, which was really nice. The girls were at the fair so it was just all us adults for a change.
MomH and I went to visit Grams again. She's pretty delusional, with moments of lucidity. She knew who I was and that I was visiting from Arizona. On Sunday she was convinced she was going to deliver a baby, but we talked her out of that. Today she thought my aunt and uncle from Wisconsin were there but mad at her and avoiding her. Sigh. We just talked to her and spent time with her, although it didn't feel like nearly enough time.
I thought we'd get out of the room and have a change of scenery. I caused some excitement by wheeling her too close to the front door. Her house-arrest ankle bracelet set off the alarms and the staff came a running. Whoops. No one is getting out of that building without the entire neighborhood knowing about it, I tell you what!
My time home was far too short. I didn't get in touch with some friends that I should have but it was a quick in and out. I wanted to maximize family time. My family rocks. They are really funny, really good people. I miss them.
It's been a long day so I suppose I should get some sleep. It's good to be back.
It's been a ball being back home for the fair. I hope you don't mind my multiple posts from my phone - it's a lot quicker and more efficient than trying to upload from a camera on my parents' dial-up.
However, I can only post from my blackberry if I'm in town or close to it. AT&T says they have more bars in more places, but we are out in the sticks. I can pick up coverage if I'm standing right next to window or if I go outside and stand in the hay field.
Last night an ice cream truck went down the road. That was surreal. We heard it before we saw it, right around twilight so the light was a bit spooky. I thought we were in some kind of horror movie. Strange.
Then three more cars went by in the following few minutes and I thought, "Huh, there's a lot of traffic out tonight. I wonder what's going on?"
Around the time I got back from Costa Rica, I decided it was time to get back into shape. I wanted to lose 10 pounds by the end of August. I don't think that's going to happen. Today I ate a pulled pork sandwich, a snowcone, half an elephant ear and a fresh raspberry lemonade. Then we came home and ate dinner.
Tomorrow: funnel cake, chocolate malt, caramel apple and maybe some kettle corn. I can get kettle corn at a baseball game in Phoenix, so I'm not as worried about consuming that while on my Fair Food Feastival.
The girls show their lambs tomorrow. Brother Raymond said I might get entered into adult showmanship. It's a fundraiser and someone enters you for $5 and you have to either show or pay $10 to get out of it. Raymond won last year, as he went out in a woman's pink halter top, a little girl's pink cowboy hat, and showed a goat with a bent-up show stick. Considering he was supposed to have a sheep and you use show sticks on beef cattle, that just added to his comedy act. The pictures are hoot. MomH says, "Yep, that's your brother." I'd be disappointed with anything less.
So we'll see if I actually get stuck going in the ring or if that was just a threat. It's been a long time since my sheep showing days. I won't be nearly as goofy as him, though. Not that I ever could be, anyway.
More pics coming tomorrow! Have a good one, everybody!
I have been busy. Busy busy busy.
I haven't even looked at my list since I wrote it last week, but that might not matter. When I write stuff down it tends to seep into my subconscious anyway.
I meant to do a post this weekend of a lot of things rattling around in my head. It put me into a major funk and I was trying to sort everything out. Then I figured no one wanted to hear me moan on about all of it, when really, why focus on the 10-20% of crap in my life when it's really 80-90% happy. We can get bogged down in the crappy stuff.
It was good, dramatic stuff, though. I heard from Reprehensible Whackjob last week, an old flame that was the end of all faith I had in men, relationships and my judgment. His story is actually quite interesting, in a 'can't stop watching a car wreck' kind of way. I couldn't even make up someone like that. That I'll share one of these days soon. I realized, however, that his reappearance was a sign that I need to get over being bitter and jaded once and for all. I'd been blaming what happened as the reason I had no desire to trust someone for this long.
I have not responded to his email, nor am I planning to.
The day after that, I heard from Guy #3, who said he thought *I* fell off the face of the earth. I said it was nice to hear from him, now I can stop scanning for his name in the obituaries.
For the record - it had been a full moon. That explains a lot.
Moving on. My list from last week:
- laundry
- Iron clothes
- Read two magazines
- Swim - going again tonight!
- Bills and paperwork - Whoops
- Post more CR pics - I wasn't really home much this weekend to do anything.
- Call up some old friends to keep in touch - booking up all my time with happy hours. Whee!
This week:
- swim
- Diamondbacks game
- Two happy hours
- Pack for MICHIGAN!!11!!
I leave on Saturday to celebrate Mom & DadH's 45th anniversary (DadH says we'll stop at the Chelsea Big Boy on the way home from the airport in honor of the occasion), see Grams, and watch my nieces show their sheep and dairy calves at the county fair.
Many fried foods on sticks will be consumed. Now that I have a Blackberry, I will post pictures of critters and corn dogs. Just kidding - I hate corn dogs. I'll find other things to eat, though.
Just got off the phone with my gramma. I talked first to my Aunt Elsie, MomH's SIL who flew down from Wisconsin last night. I asked how our patient was and she gave a heavy sigh and said "Oh, okay. (long pause) Physically that is. We're having conversations from the 40s and 60s."
Grams has always been sharp as a tack. Her mind has never wavered through the years.
Then I heard her tell Grams it was me, and if she remembered me. Wow. I talk to Grams every couple of weeks. Of course she would remember me, right? And she did. Whew.
Elsie put me on the phone and Grams was talking about something I didn't understand. I asked about the surgery coming up and other things and she was again lucid and coherent.
Then MomH showed up and Grams told her she was "talking to your daughter". Another good sign. I didn't want to wear her out so I asked to talk to Mom. I couldn't be strong anymore, as much as I wanted to be for her as she tends to her mother.
I had no doubt or worry about Grams' physical shape. I'm hoping her mental state has to do with the fall, the injury and being really tired. It's quite unsettling to listen to her talk of things I don't understand, things she thinks are going on around her that aren't.
Thank you for all of your kind thoughts, words and wishes. It means a lot.
MomH called a little while ago. Her mother, Grams (aka Iola "i-ola"), fell and broke her hip last night. I guess she was getting out of her chair, her feet tangled and she fell on her butt.
The break is of a kind where the doctor is going to do a partial hip replacement. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon (5pm EDT).
Mom and Dad got the call around 9:00 p.m. last night so they rushed into town to meet her at the emergency room. Unfortunately, the nurses were commenting that it was the busiest night they've had in months. So they were there until 4:00 a.m. Dad passed the time by sitting in the lobby and watching "some very interesting people and situations".
SIL stopped by to see her this morning. Brothers Ray and Steve took the girls up this afternoon. They wanted to see her in case something happened and this might be the last time. They are such fantastic kids. I'll give her a call in the morning and say hi.
The doctor said there's a 1-in-10 chance of her not pulling through the anesthesia, but it's better than her being bedridden for months (which is the other option).
She's a tough cookie, but she is 94 and self admittedly tired.
I'm just hoping for the best.
Ah, a free day. So far I had my hair appointment (no more roots! w00t!), swam laps (30 minutes), filled up three large bags of clothes to donate to Goodwill, did two loads of laundry, called a friend and read the paper.
I was also ambitious enough to upload pictures from the FamilyH's recent trip to Arizona. I almost didn't/don't have enough ambition to do this Vox post, but I'm trying to stay with the momentum of accomplishment for just a little while longer before I go back to camping out on the couch with Elvis. I may or may not get around to writing those letters to my German relatives. I hope I can do that before the weekend is over.
Can I even begin to tell you how happy I am to have nowhere to be today? Bliss.
Onward with the post.
First stop: Montezuma Castle National Monument.
I stocked us up with Peeps so we could do the NG Traveler photo contest, but considering I'm just now uploading my pictures, you can guess how far I got with entering any of them. They weren't great, but it was fun. The girls had a wonderful time with it.
Next stop, Sedona. In the second pic, you can see the other FamilyH Peep Photo Team working photographic magic.
Grand Canyon:
A few days later, in downtown Phoenix on the way to the Arizona Science Center (which was super fun!). I think I we ate all the Peeps by this point. I hadn't seen these sculptures before. The girls were on the lookout for scorpions, now they finally saw one! I loved all the little people crawling around the bugs. Not the girls, the other little people.
We had such a wonderful time! I miss all the love, noise and chaos that descended upon my quiet little abode. Elvis was not as enamored with it all as I was. But I think he misses them in his own way.
Okay, that's about all the energy I have. Back to the couch I go. Later!
Hoo. I can't believe I made it to Friday. Of course, it's not even noon yet so we'll see how the rest of the day goes.
I feel much better than I did yesterday, maybe that's because the office is fairly empty this morning. That could change.
Let's see... I know I had some interesting things to say but now I can't remember them.
My lamb showed up just in time for Easter brunch eatins'. Yay! Not sure if you all remember, or if I even mentioned it, but I bought a lamb from a 4-Her at my old county fair last August. I didn't go to the fair, but I told SIL to bid on a lamb for me. My grandparents every year bought a lamb and a pig from kids who may not have been able to go out and drum up bidders, both to be nice and give the kids money and to have some meat in the freezer. Sure, it's far over market value, but it's the thought that counts.
I didn't eat lamb when I raised them, but now it's different since I'm not around them every day, naming them after my favorite Tigers players (Chet - as in Lemon) and musicians (Huey - as in Lewis and the News). Anyway, It's been been sitting in a freezer back home until the FamilyH came out last week. Paying a baggage charge on the cooler was still cheaper - and faster - than mailing it out.
While they were waiting to get off the plane, Amber (9), was watching the plane unload and said "The lamb made it okay!"
Confused passengers were looking out of their windows for a sheep. Then at the baggage carousel, "Aunt Amy! Your lamb is coming!" More confused looks until I grabbed the cooler off the carousel and said, "Why hello, Lamb! Welcome to Phoenix!" I probably put a lot of people off meat for a while.
If I were home in Michigan for Easter, I'd be having Burger King after church. That's our hallowed FamilyH tradition. Why? Because MomH doesn't want to cook a big meal and BK is that side of the road on the way out of town.
I most likely won't be on the computer this weekend - I really need to not be so busy - so I hope you all have a great time doing whatever it is you'll be doing!
*blows kisses - mwah!*
