Christmas 2022

 Like always Christmas at our house was Christmas Eve.

I spent the day watching old Kolberg Christmas movies. I knew my Mom was a great cook. I realized watching these movies she always put on a giant spread of FOOD. She was always flitting around make sure everyone got something to eat. Confirmation that She was amazing.

Everyone showed up around 3;30 and dinner was served at 4. I made 2 lasagnas.one regular and one spinach. Both gluten free. Mostacolli with meatballs also gluten free and Mac n cheese, which Mike doesn’t eat, so not gluten free. I think mom would of been proud. Table extended into the family room, so we could all sit together..

Food was consumed, tables were taken down, chairs were moved into the living room - time for presents.

Roger, Luke and Owen each bought me a present from the Santa secret shop at their school. For the second year in a row Roger got me something that said I ❤️Grandma on it. This year was a nail file which went directly into my purse. Luke bought me a imitation flower (tulip), because it matched the flowers in my yard. Owen tells me he found me “the perfect gift”  - it was a small knit stocking full of hard candy - because “old people like hard candies”. I truly love the thoughtfulness.

We had 3 winners in the lottery tickets. Kaylyn won $50, Luke won $20 and Todd won $10. 💸💸

When they all left my heart was full. Hugs and laughs and smiles and thank You will do that for me.

Grandkids picture

I did manage to leave the tree up for 2 more days then it had to come down. My Christmas was over and I had some puzzles to fix.

Drip Art

 Carrie face timed me and Sharen asking for our help.

Her classes (eighth grade English) were finishing up testing and midterm projects heading into Christmas break. Teachers in her group found a cool thing on TikTok called drip art. They thought it would be a great thing for students to come together, de-stress and make a fun project before break.

Drip Art….

Finished look

Each student was given a piece of paper with drips drawn and they would color in between the lines. Turns out the teachers didn’t have the time or the ambition to draw the blank sheets.

Sharen and I jumped all over it. Carrie dropped off supplies and We got together and started drawing.

Artist at work

Carrie suggested maybe 10 or 12 different patterns. She had to be joking - that was only 5 or 6 a piece. Once Sharen and I got started we texted Carrie some pictures of what we were doing and if it would work.

Our drip art

She texted back it was exactly what they wanted, so Sharen and I continued drawing and having fun. We finished with 12 a piece for 24 choices. 400 Copies were made for the students.

Carrie sent us a text message with pictures of her class filling in the drips. Turns out they were all into it and used all the patterns.

Carrie said it was a great way to wind down before Christmas vacation. I cannot wait to see the finished wall. She wasn’t sure where they would put it, all classes together in the library or each class in the hallway. Either way it felt good to help out some stressed out teachers with such a fun project and Sharen and I got to spend an afternoon together drawing. Win - Win for all….

Keep the Head Warm

 I follow a twinning store on instagram. Yes, I have bought from them. They are constantly posting twin sayings and jokes. Most hit home….and always make me smile or laugh out loud.

‘‘Who this Christmas is buying a gift for their twin, because they want one matching?” I could relate to this. But it was more me buying something for me and know that my twin needs one too.

I had an ear infection that hung around for 2 weeks. Every time Sharen and I would walk I would end up with pain in my ear. My earmuffs were not enough coverage. I tried earplugs, but that didn’t work either. I needed something more - Winter and cold weather was coming.

I found a buffalo print trapper hat in red on Amazon and knew I had to get it. There was no doubt in my mind that I had to get one for Sharen too. Hers in white.

Hat fits over the earmuffs perfect

Me in red - Sharen in white

 

The hats are warm and perfect for walking. So bring on the snow and the cold. I enjoy walking too Much every morning to not do it and this hat is helping with making it happen. 

Basketball

 There is nothing better than to watch the grandsons play sports.

We got lucky and got to see a double header with one trip into the city.

Luke and Owen both had basketball games back to back.

Grandma and Luke both need haircuts 

Choke hold

Let’s hope the weather holds up for more trips into the city to watch these boys play.

Cookies

 Not sure Christmas would be the same without my cutout cookies. I don’t eat them (strange I know), but Mike and the grandkids love them. I’ve perfected the recipe to gluten free.

Bryan and Mary brought the boys over to help decorate them.

I have always used my Mothers recipe for frosting - always. Until I was scrolling thru recipes online and ran into one that does not include shortening. Sorry Mom,  but this recipe is SO good. It’s all I use now.

We had such a great time. All 3 boys jumped in and frosted and sprinkle till they were all done.

Cookie decorating crew

Bryan just watching

Mike joins in

Soon we were all sneaking icing

The cookies got their frosting in record time. I tried really hard to bake small cookies, so we would have more to decorate. 

The boys believe that more is better, so I sent those home with them.

Bryan sent me this picture later that night. (cookies were decorated in the morning). 

I guess they liked them

Warms a grandmas heart.

Bears v Packers

 When Sharen called and asked if Mike and I wanted to go to the bears game with them, I immediately said yes. They had Dup’s sister’s season tickets.

This was a chance for Sharen to see Justin Fields in person for the first time. Sharen is a huge Ohio State Buckeye fan and has followed him all thru college. It would also probably be Dup seeing his star quarterback, Rodgers for the last time in person.

Mike offered to drive since we go into the city often. Didn’t hurt that our reserved parking was under the stadium with quick in and quick out.

We got there when the gate for our parking had just opened. Smooth ride in. Dup had been before so he knew to grab a table right as we got off the escalator. The crowd filled up fast.

 Cocktail before the game

Our seats were on the 50 - Yes, I said 50, yard line. Pinch me moment when we sat down.

It was 38 degrees at kickoff,  but I dressed for it. The cold never got to me. Went to the restroom at half time and the mens line was longer than the woman’s. Ha 

I had such a good time. I can understand why young Bears fans do this every home game. Drinking and laughing, dancing and singing “Bear Down”. Granted the out come wasn’t what we hoped for. Didn’t expect a W. Sharen and I thought we would be the lucky charms. Nope… but we did get to see a young quarterback the year he broke records playing for the Chicago Bears.

Winning at one point

I thought when Bryan took me into a game back in 09 (I think) that I would never go to another game. Thanks to Dup and Sharen I got to see my beloved Bears live again. 

Maybe next year!!

Walk the Dog

 No I’m not talking about the yo-yo trick. Sharen actually showed up with a dog one morning for our walk.

She was dog sitting for Barkley while his family Jon, Erica, Benny, Averie, and Trevor were vacationing in Cabo.

Grandma who’s she?

Berkeley looks like a Corgi. I think she comes with a little herder in her. I swear we took off walking and she would circle around us both to keep us together. We got tangled in the leach so many times. She soon learned that Sharen had her leash so she circled just her for the rest of the walks. Constantly!!

That dog loves to walk. She stayed on the road. Stopped for the cars. When it was time to turn around and go back down the street she would stop look up at Sharen and turn us around. 

Most of the time she would walk in front and faster than we would normally do.

You guys coming or what?

She walked with us every morning and even managed to get us out a couple times to walk in the afternoon.

She was a very good girl - walked like a champ for a 9 yr old.

Clean Sweep

When we were kids we had 3 huge oak trees in our yard and we would rake the leaves into large rings (nests) and play house. We each had our own bedrooms a kitchen where we would burn the leaves with magnifying glass and cook dinners.

Fall is one of my favorite season. The others are spring, summer, and winter.

I usually love the yard work. The leaves would fall over several days and it was easy raking and mowing staying ahead of it all.

This year the leaves seemed to dump in a matter of 2 days and covered everything.

Roof and yard were covered

I felt overwhelmed.

Thank God for Logan. He is always willing to help out and he actually enjoys going up on our roof to clean it off. 

I was very worried that this load of leaves would be slippery. He had no problem.

Logan sweeping our roof

He had to use a rake and broom to get it all down. The leaf blower was not strong enough.

He hung around and helped with raking out around the house so I could mulch with the mower later.

Logan always wants to come over and help. He has never said no to us. ‘That’s what you do Grandma when you love someone.”

Mom would of been very proud of me, because he didn’t go home with empty pockets. 💸

Happy Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving was different this year.

I served breakfast/brunch. Bryan and the boys played in the Turkey bowl. It was the boys first turkey bowl and they were very excited to play. All 3 played flag football this fall for the park district.

When Mike asked me if it was ok if he went and watched. I’m thinking ‘ok-why are you asking?” Then it dawned on me. He has 4 out 5 of his grandsons playing. He is so gonna play too.

That’s him in the middle with the big grin

He wasn’t gonna miss the Younger ones first turkey bowl

Logan’s team or the white team

Roger and Luke were excited to play on Logan’s team. The star football player of the family. But it was Roger who brought home the MVP trophy. 

Touchdown Roger

 

Roger and the trophy

Breakfast followed the game with what else turkey sausage, turkey bacon and I tried to get them to eat turkey Spam but no luck (only Mike and Bryan). 

So this year was different I did not have to make a turkey and have too many leftovers, but then no pumpkin pie either. I did miss everyone as they all headed to the big dinners. Not without some family pictures. Mary like to capture memories as much as I do.

One with the grandkids

One with Mom and Son

Happy Thanksgiving to All.

To Be Continued…

I really thought that it was time to give this blog a rest.

Then I started to read some of the older posts and realized I’m telling my story - one chapter at a time.

I lost my sister to cancer this summer. She lived is SC so we faced time. We shared old pictures and stories  same stories, just remembered differently. Her grandkids are young. Are they going to know her story?  Of course her kids will keep her memory alive.

I’m thinking what better way for me to share myself than with this blog, so here I am. Back!!!

Some notables…

Sharen and I turned 70 this Sept. 

I got to spend the day with my family. I didn’t have to lift a finger. My wonderful daughters Mary (daughter-in-law) and Stacy (step-daughter) did all the work.

What would it be without a Grandma picture

Of course I ended the day with my double, my best friend and my partner in crime.

My Twin

The twins, Kallie and Kendell (see how I put Kallie first, it’s important and a twin thing) wanted to share a special day with us. With help from their mother, Carrie, they surprised us with a pottery painting party. 

We had specific instructions to dress alike.

Twinning

OMG we had so much fun. I painted a spoon rest. I included paint from each of the girls trays of their  favorite color to make flowers on mine. It’s on my counter and I see it everyday. 

Lunch was on the older twins. I day I will always remember. Hopefully someday the girls will find this blog and remember this day too.

Vicki ~

My older, oldest, wiser, and funny sister turned 80 in November. Her husband planned a family dinner and thought it would be fun to include us sisters too. Thanks Bill for the invite. It was so good seeing everybody. Some growing up and some just growing old.

Go Fish

 I get a text from Sharen telling me to go online and renew my fishing license - we are going fishing.

It took me about 3 seconds to grab the iPad and spend the $7.95 for a renewal.

Me and my Bobber

Sharen catching Sun

The fish weren’t biting were we were, but it was our first day out and we didn’t really care. We needed some quiet time anyway. There was a couple catching some right around the corner from we we sat. Interesting!

 On day 2 they hadn’t  showed up yet so Sharen and I thought we would try their spot out. I had dug up some red worms from my backyard so we had plenty of bait. Nothing… We moved over a little bit when the couple showed up. They started catching the bid ones again. We asked and sure enough they were using minnows not worms. 

Gonna have to try that out next time. 

A day away from housework and yardwork, what’s not to like. Definitely see more of these lazy summer days in the near future.

GK Golf Outing

 Mike signed us up again for the Genoa Kingston Athletic golf outing. We were very excited because Dylan could golf with us this year.

The weather was almost perfect 70’s and cloudy with a touch of a breeze. I love breezes.

It was a four man scramble and there were times when I didn’t even have to t-off. The boys have really improved their game.

We short a 2 over - we all made putting mistakes.

Play got slow on the backside - we waited some.

We all contributed to our score, which made it very fun.

I don’t want to brag, but I’m the one that brought home a trophy.

Longest putt for Woman.

My favorite part of the day was going up to get this thing. Logan shouts out “way to go Grandma”

Ever since he was little and playing football he would make a good play and I would yell, loudly like a crazed old lady. ‘That’s my Grandson” most of his buddies got used to - even expected it.

 When I got back to my seat Logan told me he was glad it was his turn to yell for me.🥹

 

Stop the Press

 or is it "Cut the Cord"? Anyway after 45 years I have cancelled my subscription to my paper. I love to read a paper. When I worked at the CN I would read 3 papers every morning. I claimed to my boss that I was looking for potential advertisers, but I just liked to read everything.

Leftover papers are handy to have around too. Starting fires, drop clothes for messy work. How am I going to paint around my house or how about carving a pumpkin?.

They were jerking me around about my bill. Went from $50 for 4 weeks (that's not a month - 28 days only) then it jumped to $63.80 last bill was $78.30. I refused to attached my credit card to the account so I had to charged more for paperwork. 

The last bill had 2 "special sections" in it so it only covered 20 days. I asked her how much they charged to advertise in that special section and she didn't know.

 "Most ads in those sections, cover the cost of printing." I told her.

She had no answer for me, so I told her I couldn't afford it any longer. 

3 days later I get a call that they were offering a special deal. TWO DOLLARS AND 95 CENTS A WEEK FOR 10 WEEKS. I had to laugh.

"So, you are charging your loyal customers more so you can give it away to "new" subscribers."

She honestly said YES so I told her I would signup. Only thing was I had to give her my credit card.

I hung up!!!

Mike will pickup a paper for me sometimes on his way home from work, but so far I haven't missed it - Too Much.

Hi Love You

 Hi, Love You… That was my first text from Roger. Really made me smile.

He got a phone!!!!

Bryan sent me roger’s new number (after asking Roger’s permission of course) and I hurry and sent him a text. “Congratulations on your new phone.”

 We met up with the Flory at Top Golf for some family fun. We had a blast. When we were waiting our turn  I told Roger to call me. He looked at me funny since we were sitting right next to each other and I told him I wanted to show him something on my phone. 

I had downloaded a funny picture I had of him to my contact so it pops up when he calls me. He thought that was crazy fun. He wanted to do it. I told him he had to take some pictures first. I did see him take a Selfie of him and Mary.

But this is the first one he took (with his phone ~ I have several he took with my phone) with me in it.

Outdoor seating

 Our condo in Hilton Head had a awesome balcony. It was large, inviting and very comfortable. I spent quite a bit of down time out there.

Our condo was on the ocean , but had a turtle nesting area in front of it. It wasn’t the time of year for the turtles, but I bet that had to be very cool to watch.

It was just far enough from the water to hear the waves, but not the noise of the tourist hanging out at the water. 

I told mike I wanted this seating for our back deck.

We got home and I headed over to Sams to replenish our food supply and damn if they didn’t have one setting right at the entrance. I sat down and announce I’m buying this for our deck. Mike wasn’t with me, but the guy who walked in behind me told me to get it. I texted Mike a picture and he agreed we needed something new.

I ordered for pickup - got ahold of the grandsons for muscle and scheduled a time. Well they called told me they didn’t have any in stock. I ordered online and pd the extra $144 for delivery.

It came the next week. Mike put it all together and now I have my very own private, comfortable oasis right out my back door. 

I’m pretty sure I’m gonna spend lots of time relaxing outside this summer lounging on my (I mean our) new furniture.

Cheering ‘em On

 Who doesn't like to watch their Grandkids play sports?

Owen started wrestling. There was no formal meets, but he (and about 200 other kids) had some practice and lessons. We can’t wait to see him in action.

Mike and I got to watch Luke play basketball. He enjoyed it so much he signed up to play in 2 leagues.

Luke has improved so much.  He has been working on his dribbling and now he’s chosen to bring the ball up. He hesitate a little bit on shooting, but when he does most go in.

Back row cheer section

Roger wasn’t too interested in basketball this year so he decided to play volleyball with his friends.

Roger serving

 Check out the coach

That’s Mary with the clipboard helping coach. She was having a good time too.

Some times it took us longer to get into the city than the games actually took to play. We didn’t mind and the boys were so happy to see us. That’s reason enough for us. We enjoyed it every time ~ win or lose.