Charlyn’s Web

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The sounds drifted in through the open window at Grandma and Grandpa’s.

TG looked up and said:

“I hear the ducks!”

Caw! Caw! Caw!

Time has been flying!

Zing!

What was that?  Oh,  just two weeks of my life.

We went to the Wet Side of the state to celebrate my parent’s Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary.   I had planned most of it and was not handling the stress well, as you can see from my Packing post before we left.  What to wear?  Did I remember everything for the party?  Then we got there and I thought of the things I needed but didn’t have.  Sigh. I put together a tri-fold poster-board of their younger years, their wedding pictures and then some photos of us as a family. That took time but was fun.  The Adults in the family, yes- we let The Col. come along, went out to dinner on Saturday night.  HP and his older cousin were in charge of themselves but we had a neighbor teenager came over to supervise the girls.  They thought she was neat.  It was very nice, although the outfit I had planned on wearing didn’t work out  but luckily I had over packed.  The bad part was then I carried a cream purse while wearing black.  I am sure EVERYONE who saw me was flabbergasted at my fashion faux pas.  Probably ruined their dinners.

Many people came to the Open House;  Mom was thrilled that some of her old friends that she hadn’t seen in years came.  It was lovely.

Then we changed our clothes, packed things up and headed home because The Col.’s Folks were already here after driving from another state.  We spent a fun week with them.  The kids had a wonderful time and I think they did too!  We took them to exciting places like our favorite grocery store in the city about an hour from here.  Yes, I said “grocery store”.  It’s a neat place with cheap and good produce- no meat though as it’s run by vegetarians.   Then The Col. took them to his doctor’s appointment.  Come visit us and you too can share the excitement.  Then come back to the home place and have kids climb all over you while they are singing at the top of their lungs.  Ah, life with three kids….

We have been talking for quite awhile about our car situation.  All of ours are OLD.  I heard some people talking about their “old” cars the other day and I had to laugh.  They were talking about their 1991 models and I informed them that our “newbie” is an ’86 and we aren’t even driving it.  The ones we are driving are older than that and have over 250,000 and 300,000 miles on them.  The three car seats are crammed into the back of the main run around car so tightly it’s hard to get the belt buckled around HP and his booster.  Hardly any leg room in the back because the front seat has to be so far back for The Big Tall Guy.   But being cheap, oops,”frugal” we didn’t relish the thought of car payments.  So The Col. started combing through Consumer Reports for recommendations and searching Ebay.   He found a used one he liked and went for it.  So we are now the owners of something we never thought we’d own- hold on to your seats, a Mini-Van!!!! Gasp!  What a difference a few years and a few kids makes.  The van is a 2001 Honda Odyssey and was in Reno, Nevada.  The owner very generously offered to meet us on the state line.  So Saturday we caravaned with Gramma and Grampa a ways down the road and then took off for  a total of a 6 hour drive.  We messed around looking at the van etc. for a couple of hours then headed back.  We pulled in at midnight.  I don’t think us Old Folks are fully recovered yet.  But we really like the van.  It’s comfortable for all of us- even the Tall One.  Lots of leg room.  We can stand outside the doors to buckle the kids up without straining our backs.

That’s been our adventures!  Maybe things will slow down a bit now.

Are you laughing?

Grampa said to TG “You are a happy little person!”

She replied: “I’m not person, I’m Tia!”

Packing used to be quite a bit easier- that was before I had choices or at least not very many choices.  Now I am checking the weather, laying out outfits, changing my mind.

This out fit would work- pants, two different tops… which shoes?  Oh, shoot!  Start over.

Then there is the purse.

Gosh!

I am so not good at this.  I have been asking HP and The Big Guy which shoes to wear for church, etc.  Once HP told me that he didn’t like the shoes but I thought that I’d just wear them anyway.  But then I asked TBG and he looked at my feet, then at HP and I knew  he didn’t think they looked good either.  Sigh.  So I wore flip flops.  I hate cold feet.

It’s those fashion discomforts we have to go through to look like we have some idea how to dress ourselves.

I had better go finish or I will not be wearing anything.  HP is done packing, TBG will take two minutes.  Life is not fair.

But I look better in a dress.

Those of you who know us, know that we do not move at a very fast pace. After we moved in to this manufactured home plopped down in the middle of a grass field, we had big plans for the yard. Then The Big Guy got a job and we found out we were to be parents. Life gave us a detour and the yard suffered.

There were a few young trees here that are looking nice and providing shade now, which we are grateful for. A few years ago we planted some more trees and some have survived. There are hazards here, like the neighbor mowing the weeds in his field and mowing off our tree, then spraying the next one we put in. Plus deer and gophers eating things and the soil not being very good. This year more have gone in so it will be very nice around here one of these days.

The Big Guy likes roses so we have some planted along one side of the house. They have been doing well. We have a bank or berm along the edge of the property to protect us from the near by creek (billabong) that sometimes floods. We had planted some roses and other plants there but it has proved to be to hard to maintain. The weeds have a good hold there and with the plants there, we could not spray or keep it mowed. This year, the roses have been transplanted to a new bed and the bank isn’t covered with thistles because it’s being mowed. It’s wonderful.

We have actually planted a garden this year. It’s a dream of The Big Guy to have one and it just hasn’t been working out. We had the outline of one tilled up but haven’t planted in the last three years at least. This year we tilled it up and added “stuff” to help improve the soil. We planted mostly seed from 2005 but some is coming up! We often have grand plans that don’t turn out- hence the old seed.

We looked at some plants the other day in town but decided we should not overwhelm ourselves and stick with what we already had- some of it was not in the ground yet. It’s easy to go gung ho but restraint is not a bad thing. We need to be able to maintain what we have and since so much new stuff has already gone in- we need to be able to keep up with it before continuing. Plus other projects need to be done.

This spring has been a dry one. I have been watering for quite a few weeks already. That is pretty unusual as our springs are usually wet. I am not good at spacial stuff so getting the sprinklers all set up to cover the area the best has been difficult for me. But with the new impact sprinklers, things have been working out well. They have been set up in spots that cover a lot of ground and don’t have to be moved. Then I come along with a little sprinkler to get the missed areas. Today it has been raining a soft, soaking rain. It’s great since more transplanting went on last night. We really needed the rain. Thank you Lord!

Enough of the boring “Yard and Garden” post. I’ll keep you updated on the garden harvest.

When we were cleaning out Brett’s Dad’s house after he died, I opened up the microwave to find a cup of coffee in it.  He had evidently put one in there to warm up and forgot it.  Whenever I would open up our microwave to find a coffee cup forgotten in there, I would think of him.

After it’s finished cooking/heating something, the new microwave will beep every minute or so to remind you that there is something still in it.

I think I’ll miss finding forgotten coffee mugs in it.

After whining for so many posts about the lack of a microwave, I thought I had better say something about the new one.

It’s here.  It’s wonderful.

Hot coffee with a button push.

Sensor cooking- which seems to work pretty good so far.

Did I mention hot coffee?

I would say that it is smarter than me but that wouldn’t be true.

I had to tell it what time it was when I plugged it in.

“Hey T!  Let’s switch glasses!”

I heard KJ say this at the table as I was busy fixing plates.  I went into “Mother” mode and started the lecture that we don’t switch glasses after we have drank out of them because of germs etc. etc. etc.  Then I looked up and realized she meant something else.

She wanted to “toast” her sister and clink glasses.

So now we “switch” glasses all the time.

I spent over an hour vacuuming today.

If you walked in and looked around at my litter strewn, trackless carpet- you would say “Girlfriend you lied on your blog!”

To which I would burst into an out of tune version of “It’s My Blog and I’ll lie if I want to, lie if I want to!”

But to be honest,  I haven’t lied to you….yet.

I vacuumed the walls, blinds, ceiling, and window sills in the living room, hall and “Grandma and Grandpa’s room” (the guest room).  I sucked up lots of spiders and webs.

KJ asked “Are Grandma and Grandpa H coming?”  No, I said.  Harrumph.  One would think I only cleaned when people come over.

But what I didn’t tell her was that the OTHER Gramma and Grampa might be coming… soon.  Chanting through my brain, to keep me motivated- “the in-laws are coming! The In-Laws are Coming!”

They are going to walk in here and see the thinned down Big Tall Guy and think “She doesn’t feed Our Little Boy!” (He’s been on a diet and has NOT been happy when I fix good food.  Honest!)

They will see the brown, oh so brown children and say “She doesn’t put sun screen on the Precious Little Ones!”   (I do, sometimes, but especially HP will tan if he walks by a window, honest!)

But they will not see spider webs, at least in the living room.

OK- to be real- my In-Laws are great people and they would not think those things.  But it does provide great motivation!

The in-laws are coming!  The In-laws are Coming!  THE IN-LAWS ARE  COMING!

Yea!

I have talked about Privacy here before. Children don’t seem to think anyone needs any- until they reach the Teenage years. Then all they are concerned about is their own.

When my youngest is a teen, I am going to stand outside the bathroom asking over and over if she is done. I will not be satisfied when she replies that she will come out when she is done so I’ll try the door. She’ll yell that she will COME OUT WHEN SHE IS DONE! Unsatisfied still I will then lay on the floor so I can peer through the gap between the door and the floor. Then I’ll be able to ask her more specific questions as I watch her feet move about.

Are you done peeing?

Are you done washing?

Are you done with the lotion?

I’ll be laughing, I’m pretty sure she will not.