A Week of Mini's...

Our Summer custom is to pick up one of the Mini's on Sunday afternoon and keep them till Wednesday. On Wednesday we make an exchange and pick up the other Mini till Saturday. This last week was Mini Week at the Christensen home.

We picked up Hayden Sunday afternoon. Andie needed some more cut off her hair so we did that before scooping up the boy and bringing him home with us. As we prepared to leave the Marx home, Hayden asked Michael for another cookie. Michael assured him he could have one but Michael got to pick it out. Hayden looked at me and as dead pan as can be said, "Only God can help me now!" 

When we got to our home, Hayden set up his stuff in the guest bedroom and in the red chair in the living room. We had a quiet Sunday evening. One of the things that pleased us was Hayden's eating. He has never been a big eater. We always watch to be sure he consumes enough nutritional food each day. This time he ate well and a bit more often. I would pop Andie a text so she knew her boy was eating well. We commented on Jake staying so very thin until he turned 8 years old. Then a switch flipped and he suddenly changed. This was in connection with a growing taller phase. We wondered if Hayden was at that point in his 13th year. Andie also pointed out that he got his braces the Wednesday before and his mouth had hurt till he didn't want to eat. Now he we getting used to them and he was ready to eat and catch up a bit. Whatever the reason, we had plenty of the things he could eat and that he liked and he did eat the good things before having any of the junk things. And it was good to see him enjoy food like that. 

Monday we started the day with a 'staining' lesson. Hayden has all the Pinewood Derby cars and trophies from his Cub Scout days. Andie purchased three shelves for them to be displayed on in his bedroom. They wanted them stained to match his bedroom furniture. Hayden assured Andie that her dad had a staining table and stain in his basement. Hayden was right. Claude purchased the natural stain before Hayden came as he didn't have that particular color. He gave Hayden an old t-shirt to wear and they headed to the workshop in the basement. 

Get Ready...

Get Set...

Go...

Monday afternoon we took Hayden to Lexington to see the Incredibles 2 movie.  As life would have it, someone posted this on Facebook. These are actually Princess Bride characters dressed as Incredible characters. Princess Bride is a favorite movie in our family. Funny meme playing on those two movies. Hayden enjoyed the movie.  

After the movie we drove back to Georgetown as we had a few items to pick up at the grocery store. We drove through Chick-fil-A and picked up dinner to take home. While placing our order at the drive-thru, these comments were heard... Sandi: She takes to fast. Hard to understand her. Claude: I can't listen that fast. Sometimes I don't listen at all. Hayden (from the back seat): Men in a nutshell! Claude: I have to train him!!

The interesting thing that evening was watching Hayden brush his teeth. He has braces and they come with a special toothbrush that works with an app on his cell phone. I mean really!! He mounts the cell phone in a bracket on the mirror lined up with his face. As he brushes it registers how long he brushes and where he brushes. Very interesting age in which we live.

Had a sweet moment when I told Hayden good night. He looked at me and said, "Will you sing me Soft Kitty?" I assured him I would....and I did. Then he drifted off to sleep.

Tuesday Hayden went in with me to visit with Papa. We went to Walmart first. I wanted to take Papa some watermelon. He loves watermelon and it is something he will not get on the nursing home menu. We found a small container of melon all ready cut up. We also found a Lego set for Hayden to put together. This is a tradition with his summer sleepover. We visited with Papa and he tried to eat the watermelon but it didn't work very well. He used to do this all the time at his apartment in the summer. I will buy a watermelon and cut it up and then blend it into juice. Then I'll take Papa watermelon juice next. That will work for sure.

When we came home Hayden put together his Lego set. He does this so quickly it is always amazing to watch. I asked Hayden if he thought he would ever grow out of Lego's. He told me they are not something you grow out of. He will keep them forever. Good to know.

Wednesday morning was spent pulling things back together to make the exchange with him and Bailey. We would drive to Shelbyville and meet Andie and Bailey at 1pm. It turned out to be a little after 1 before Andie and Bailey arrived. We all enjoyed a nice lunch at Cracker Barrel.

Then we were off to Georgetown. The timing of this exchange allowed me to take Bailey to visit Papa on the way home and to play the DVD for the residents. Claude had a 4pm meeting followed by a 6pm meeting. So we were all back to Georgetown in time to take care of business. Miss B had cross country practice in the morning and was worn out. She enjoyed the ride back to Georgetown like this...

After the nursing home, Bailey and I went to Walmart. She had requested two meals during her time with us, chili dogs and chicken quesadillas. We needed hot dog buns and tortillas. We also purchased pumpkin seeds and a candy that Bailey was sure she needed. 

When we got to the house, Bailey set up her stuff in the guest room. She was all about finding something to eat. I showed her what we had available and she opted for the tuna salad followed by many other things, like Pringles chips. The girl loves Pringles chips.

Then Bailey was off to play the piano. She was recently given a cell phone. She enters Middle School in August and received the cell phone as her brother did when he entered Middle School. Bailey put an app on her phone to learn to play the piano. She explained to me she had told herself she would be 'all over the piano' when she got to our home. This is a good thing and she hurried to the basement and started to practice with her app. The app features a staff of music with one note at a time showing. A musical piece is played as the staff moves across the top of the cell phone screen. There is a keyboard on the bottom half of the screen. As the note comes to the left edge of the screen you are to hit it on the keyboard part of the screen in time with the music. Really a cute app. Bailey did it repeatedly with the cell phone. Then she moved to playing the piano keys instead of the keyboard on the cell phone. I left her doing this while I did the load of laundry she brought with her. 

After a good while of Bailey playing the piano that way, we looked in my music drawer and found a beginning piano lesson book. I quickly tried to share the most important things about playing to my ADHD grandmonster as she put her hands on the piano keyboard and played the pieces from the book. We moved fast enough to keep her interest and to have her motivated to try some on her own. She played at that for a good while. 

Each day we also had her do a run on the treadmill. She would miss two days of cross country practice with the team. So it was important for her to get some workout at home. Claude took her down and educated her about the treadmill and the emergency shut off. She set up her phone to play a video or to play music. And she was off for her run. Friday while she ran she was singing at the top of her lungs. I spent the time at my laptop in my sewing room marveling at her inhibitions. She takes life with gusto.

Both kids watch some Big Bang Theory while they visited this time. Bailey needed to be in costume for it though. She remembered her Grampa had Bazinga socks. We found them in his sock drawer and she wore them the entire time she has visited with us.

Bailey also came with her own project for Pa to help her with. She had a wooden board with hooks and a bird feeder that were already painted. She wanted them repainted. The board with hooks needed to be painted white so she could paint over that the the bird feeder needed to be painted yellow. Her Grampa set her up in the workshop and helped her get these things done. This also allowed Claude time to finish putting sealer on Hayden's project to finish it up. 

I purchased a puzzle that I thought Bailey would enjoy making with me over the time she was with us. Puzzles were something we had previously really enjoyed doing together. She really wasn't interested so I put it together. It was only 300 pieces and went together very easily. 

At one point I was sitting on the love seat in the living room and Bailey was watching television and bouncing around. She landed on the top of the back of the love seat. Then I heard our girl start to purr. I looked up at her and she looked at me and said, "I am a cat. If it fit...I sit!" Oh my. 

Bailey opted to stay at the house both days she was with us. She really wanted Kentucky Fried chicken or KFC as it is now known. Friday, I went in to visit with Papa and brought it home for her. She was quite content to stay home and paint some more with her Grampa. She was happy to get her KFC when I returned home. 

Today is Saturday. We will take Bailey back to Shelbyville this morning. She has to go the the Middle School this afternoon with her parents to register for school. 

We loved having the Mini's for a week. We realize how old we are getting and how set in our ways in our home with just the two of us we have gotten. Grateful the Mini's want to come and that they have a good time on their little vacation visits. It is very different than when they were little ones and came. They are growing into young adults. Hayden's voice is changing and he has a proverbial mustache. Bailey is taller and filling out into a young woman. How we have enjoyed watching them grow and being close enough to enjoy it all these years. Grand parenting is fun!

July Miscellaneous Items...

Here are a few things that have happened in July that I would like to remember:

Monday, July 9th I had a follow-up with Dr. Lyon regarding my blood pressure. I am doing great. Keep the same medication. Keep doing the things I am doing and he is happy.

Thursday, July 12th I took Papa for a drive. One of the benefits of it being summer break from school is we can drive with a destination in mind. This time we drove back roads to Shelbyville, Kentucky to the Dairy Queen. Andie and the Mini's came from LaGrange and met us for a dessert and time to say hi to Papa. It was good for Papa to have this outing.

Friday, July 13th, was our oldest grandmonster, Katelyn's birthday. I posted these pictures of her from 1998. Such a cutie.

Wednesday, July 18th, Hayden got braces. Momentous occasion.

And on this day our youngest great grandmonster, Nelson, showed his Gramma Nissa his first tooth. He always has a grin. 

Friday, July 19th, I went to see Dr. Pruden. He is the surgeon that will do Moh's surgery on my nose in August. I have basal cell skin cancer and he will remove it. First, basal is the least dangerous of the skin cancers. That is good. Second, this is a very slow growing kind. Dr. Pruden says it can grow as a cluster or it can spread out root like things. Mine is the spread out kind. I don't think that is a good thing. We won't know how it will need to heal until after he sees how much he has to remove. If it is a little bit, he will just leave it open to heal. If it is a lot, we'll have to decide what to do once we see how much a lot is. But I have a month until that surgery so I choose not to worry until then.

Friday evening, July 19th, Claude and I went to see the Florence Freedom again. I had been having some hearing difference the two days prior. Ears just felt full and I wasn't hearing as good as usual. I thought it might just be allergies. We got to the ball park and went to the concession stands first to pick out what we would want for dinner. As I was standing there with Claude, I looked up at him and said, "I am very dizzy." I held on to the counter or to Claude. We got bottles of water and went to find our seats. The dizziness did not go away. This was a source of concern to us as this was the first sign I had when I had a mini-stroke in December. However, Dr. Pruden's office took my blood pressure that morning and it was really, really good. 121 over 79. I was sure this dizziness was associated with that funny hearing. Like maybe I had or was getting an ear infection or something like that. We made it through the game. I stayed seated all night and Claude did the running for food or drink. That night's sleep was awful. Any movement to my head to turn it or lift it was very disorienting and uncomfortable. When I got up Saturday, I determined I would stay home all day and down for most of the day, drink lots of water and see if I couldn't get to feeling better. You see, Sunday we were to pick up Hayden and start our week of Mini sleepovers. I needed to be ready for that. 

Saturday I did stay down for the most part and crocheted. However, I did get the laundry done throughout the day. No ironing, just the washing and drying of clothes. Crocheting and resting. By Sunday I was better. 

Sunday, July 22nd, someone posted this picture on Facebook. 

This was my past. My Gramma Fisch, my mother's mother, saved the feed sacks they got. Each was a pretty cotton print and yielded a nice piece of cloth. She would wash and press this cotton fabric and stack it on an old chest in one of the back bedrooms. She would group them by patterns. When we would go to visit, my mother would go though these pieces of cotton prints and pick the ones she liked and the number she felt she would need. Then we would get a pretty dress or some play clothes made out of that fabric. Seeing this picture just brought lots of good memories of my childhood. 

Monday, July 23rd Claude left for a bit for a meeting. He stopped and called me to tell me to go outside and look on the hill. I did so and took this picture of the geese. They usually are on the flat down by the creek. For some reason they had hiked up the hill and were foraging for bugs on the hill.

Cool!

These two pictures on Facebook cracked me up. See if they don't give you a grin... Some people have cute senses of humor.

That's it for miscellaneous for July...so far.

Camping for Bailey...

Hayden and Bailey each had camps this summer. Hayden went to Boy Scout Camp the last week of June. I have already posted about Hayden at Scout Camp. Bailey went to 4-H Camp July 16th through July 20th at Lake Cumberland 4-H Center in Nancy, Kentucky.

When the kids are at camp they can't take their devices. So, no pictures come home. Andie has to stalk the best she can. She had a friend at 4-H camp that sent her some pictures so that Andie knew her girl was doing well.

Friday we had absolutely horrid storms, rain, hail, tornado possibilities all over the state. I was very happy to get this picture of a smiling Bailey as she was picked up from the bus after making it back to LaGrange.

Bailey love 4-H camp. This was her second year and I definitely see a third year in her future.

Road Trip with a Purpose...

When one finds one has a Friday afternoon and all day Saturday that one can choose anything to do, one finds a purpose and accomplishes a goal. This was Claude and me on Friday, July 13th and Saturday, July 14th. Here is the back story.

In February 2020 Claude and I will celebrate our 50th anniversary. We talked about it and both determined we don't want a big party thing at all. Not my style in any shape, form or fashion. I told Claude what I really would love to do is have a family thing with our kids and grandmonsters. He agreed wholeheartedly. We sent a text message to all the kids and grandmonsters telling them we wanted to hold a weekend open in the summer of 2020 for a family time with all of us. They wholeheartedly agreed. 

When this Friday afternoon and Saturday became available, we decided to fill it by looking at possible locations to hold said family time. We would be off Friday to check out Jellystone Park in Cave City, Kentucky near Mammoth Caves. 

We were really pleased with this location. Lots of things for people to do in the area. Jellystone Park has two swimming pools and this new beach area. A fishing pond with another one going in now. A waterslide area. Volleyball area. Basketball area. Some big thing to bounce on. Mini-golf. Etc., etc., etc. The cabins all looked great and they could be all close together. Grills outside each one as well as a little kitchen in each cabin. 

After pronouncing this good, we checked into our hotel. Then picked a place to have dinner. We thought we might like to have all the family go to eat one night at a local restaurant. We picked a BBQ place since all our family like that. It was absolutely, hands-down the worst meal we have ever had. Instead of finding a place we could take all of us, we eliminated a place for any of us to eat. 

We found a Dairy Queen and had a Mango/Pineapple Smoothie and an Orange Julius. Then back to the hotel to rest for the remainder of the evening. 

Saturday we ate a brief breakfast at the hotel and then off to drive back roads to French Lick, Indiana. Just a note here...the back roads in Kentucky were prettier than the back roads in Indiana. Just sayin'. 

We drove past Patoka Lake which would afford possible activities. The goal was Big Splash Adventure. After a U-turn, we found the road up the hill to our destination. This place has hotel rooms with an indoor and outdoor pool. There is a restaurant on site. It has a connection to a mini-golf just down the hill. There are lots of things to do in the town including go-karts and horse back riding. This place also provides a great possibility for our family outing.

Again we decided to try one of the local eating establishments as a possibility for a family dinner. This time we went with a Mexican restaurant. It was excellent. Whew!

Then we pointed the car to return home. Got to I-64 and found this back-up. Goodness. We made it through better than we anticipated.  

It was a great trip for us. We found two really good possibilities for our family. We have a few more we want to check out. Need to have our decision before next summer so we can book early. We'll just have to look for another weekend that we can get a day or two away to check them out.

A Weekend with the Marx Family...

The Marx family wanted to replace their broken pedestal sink in the half-bath on the main level of their home with a vanity. We told them we would purchase the vanity for their anniversary present and Claude would help them put it in. They picked out a vanity and purchased it. Then they picked the faucet that would go with it. Once they had all pieces in place, we set up to come on Friday, July 6th and work that day, spend the night, watch Bailey and Michael do the Firecracker 5K on Saturday morning, then finish the bathroom project Saturday afternoon. It was a good plan, a really good plan.

This is the before picture taken Friday afternoon. The sink had a big crack and broken piece in the ceramic. 

First, Claude figured out how to get the sink disconnected and out of the bathroom. Bless his heart.  

The next trick was to get the mirror off the wall. Turns out it was glued in place. Claude managed to get it off the wall with minimal damage and the mirror did not break. Yippee!!. 

Then Claude opened the box with the new vanity and sink in it. Big box. Been standing in the entry way for a while. When he took the Styrofoam protection out, the sink in the box was completely cracked and broken. Oh my goodness. Andie call Lowe's and explained what we found. They said it was not a problem. They actually had one in a box on the sales floor they could exchange for them. Michael loaded the box and was off to Lowe's to make the exchange. 

In the meantime the wall was spackled where the mirror came off and painted. The other walls were painted. The trim was painted.  Andie was so very happy with the colors she chose. 

Saturday morning we all went early to Westport, Kentucky to watch Bailey and Michael run the Firecracker 5K. Bailey took a Cross Country class after school. Hayden did this for two years when he was in 4th and 5th grade. The class works the kids up to running a 5K while giving them instructions about how a runner eats and works out to be ready to run. The end of the class is everyone participating in the Firecracker 5K. Michael ran both years with Hayden. This year he would run with Bailey. 

Here are a few pictures from the Firecracker 5K.

Saturday would be a trial to get everything back together. 

Michael and Claude set the new vanity in place and realized it had a shelf in the bottom with a drawer under the shelf. The height of the shelf was a problem with the pipe that brings the water to the sink and where it curves up. Goodness. Michael called some friends and borrowed a saw so they could cut a bit out of the shelf. They managed to do this and still keep the drawer in tact as well as leave most of the shelf in usable condition. 

Claude had Michael get different hoses. I think the ones they had were too short and they also needed to be out of a different fiber. Michael brought the right hoses back. Claude put them in the sink so he could just set the sink on the top of the vanity and not have to work around all those tiny places. After setting the sink in place, he got back down on the floor to attach them to the wall things. One of the hoses was too short. How could this be? They were both labeled the same. I checked to be sure. One was obviously mislabeled. Claude had Andie call Michael again to tell him the problem and ask him to bring another hose. Michael did this just as the hardware store was closing. Fortunately, when Michael got home, they were able to get the hoses connected.

The toilet went back in place just fine. Thank heavens!

Here is a picture of the new vanity in place. Andie still has to find a new mirror that she likes for the spot. That will happen...eventually.

The family is very happy with their new vanity. They have been washing hands in the kitchen sink while the old one didn't work. Now they have to learn a new habit and use the bathroom sink again. It really looks nice.