The other day Andie planned to make chicken enchiladas for her family dinner. She was using a recipe that I gave her. She made some notes on the recipe and needed some help interpreting what the notes were about. She called me to see if I could help.
I found my copy of the recipe and we figured out what her notes were. I told Andie that this was really my mother's (Mimi) recipe.
That night as their family was eating dinner Andie told the kids that the recipe was really Mimi's recipe. Hayden told Andie, "This recipe is just like Mimi." Andie asked him how it was like Mimi. Hayden's response, "It is sweet and gentle, just like Mimi."
Hayden has only known my mother with Alzheimers. He has been through the different stages with her and it just seems normal to him. I loved that this is his view of Mimi.
I called Papa and told him this story. He was deeply touched by this sweet sentiment from Hayden.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
More Grandmonster Capers...
Friday morning Claude and I headed to the Louisville Temple. After a good morning at the temple, we headed to LaGrange to play with Hayden and Bailey. Our intent was to watch these little guys so Andie and Michael could have a date night.
After picking up lunch at Subway, we headed to the Marx home. Miss Bailey has been sick the last few days and very clingy with her mom. She did not know we were coming. Claude got in the house first and stood in the kitchen until Bailey looked up and saw him. I entered shortly after Claude and Bailey was visibly happy to see her grandparents in her home. She detached from her mommy (who was very happy for the break) and allowed Claude and I to entertain her until quiet time.
I was privileged to read her stories and get the munchkin into her bedroom for quiet time. This allowed Andie to head to the bus stop to get Hayden.
I managed to get Bailey down and my shoes on and out the door as the bus was coming down the road to the end of the Marx street. Hayden got off the bus and was walking home with Andie and their next door neighbor. I walked almost all the way up to him before he looked up and saw me standing there. He also did not know we were coming. I got one of those running, jump in your arms, hugs that I just love soooo much. I loved it when my kids did it and as each of the grandmonsters has done that. It is just the best hug.
Hayden is a fount of words when you first see him. He is just bursting with things to tell you. He hurried into the house and found Claude sitting in the big chair. He took his backpack off and put it in Claude's lap. Then he said, "Would you like to be the first one to go through my backpack?" How could a grampa pass on that kind of offer?
Andie and I had not eaten our sandwiches from Subway. Hayden usually comes home and finished his lunch from school for his afternoon snack. I added a piece of my sandwich and a few of my chips. He entertained Andie and me with all those words and updates about school while we ate lunch. Then I headed upstairs with him to watch a science show before quiet time.
After quiet time the games began.
The next thing the kids played was, from my personal point of view, sheer genius. Andie has a recipe for something called "Oobleck". She mixes 1 1/2 cups cornstarch with 1 cup water in a big bowl. She adds a few drops of the kids favorite food color. This is mixed up really well. It is a strange solid/liquid kind of mixture. She gives the kids each a small bowl and they pick some appropriate little toys or objects that can be cleaned with water easily. The kids bury these objects in the little bowl and cover them with the Oobleck. Then they play archeologist and dig until they find their treasures. The bottom-line is this is a lot like playing in a mud puddle for a kid. I bet they played with this stuff for an hour. Once they were tired of the bowls they poured the Oobleck and the objects onto a cookie sheet and played some more. This can create a little mess but it is an easy clean-up. And, from what I observed, great fun!!
We also played with PlayDoh.
Michael did some grocery shopping while Andie made cupcakes for an outing she was going to this evening. Andie made Hayden some salt dough and he shaped planets while we started lunch. Andie will bake these and Hayden will paint them.
We ended our morning with more games. Hayden and Claude honed their Star Wars light saber antics some more. In this picture Claude is actually flipping his light saber. Hayden is practicing his quick turns to make his next move.
Claude and Bailey played cave under the big afghan.
Bailey showed us the mask she made of Abraham Lincoln at pre-school. 
Hayden got the Star Wars video game for the TV and taught Claude and me how to play.
Michael had some good tussle time with his kidlings.
Claude and I had a great time with this Marx family. We left just before time for the Mini's to head to quiet time. Thanks Marx family for a fun 24 hours.
After picking up lunch at Subway, we headed to the Marx home. Miss Bailey has been sick the last few days and very clingy with her mom. She did not know we were coming. Claude got in the house first and stood in the kitchen until Bailey looked up and saw him. I entered shortly after Claude and Bailey was visibly happy to see her grandparents in her home. She detached from her mommy (who was very happy for the break) and allowed Claude and I to entertain her until quiet time.
I was privileged to read her stories and get the munchkin into her bedroom for quiet time. This allowed Andie to head to the bus stop to get Hayden.
I managed to get Bailey down and my shoes on and out the door as the bus was coming down the road to the end of the Marx street. Hayden got off the bus and was walking home with Andie and their next door neighbor. I walked almost all the way up to him before he looked up and saw me standing there. He also did not know we were coming. I got one of those running, jump in your arms, hugs that I just love soooo much. I loved it when my kids did it and as each of the grandmonsters has done that. It is just the best hug.
Hayden is a fount of words when you first see him. He is just bursting with things to tell you. He hurried into the house and found Claude sitting in the big chair. He took his backpack off and put it in Claude's lap. Then he said, "Would you like to be the first one to go through my backpack?" How could a grampa pass on that kind of offer?
Andie and I had not eaten our sandwiches from Subway. Hayden usually comes home and finished his lunch from school for his afternoon snack. I added a piece of my sandwich and a few of my chips. He entertained Andie and me with all those words and updates about school while we ate lunch. Then I headed upstairs with him to watch a science show before quiet time.
After quiet time the games began.
Bailey determined that Claude needed to be covered with all the things she could get her hands on, pillows, notebooks, jackets, afghan, etc. I loved this little pose she made when she finished with her creation using Pa as the base.
Hayden proved to me one more time he is his mother's child. Andie has a habit of dipping cookies in milk every evening. Actually, my father has always loved cookies in milk. When Claude and I were at Papa's apartment the other day around lunch time, Papa had a bowl with cookies soaking in milk to have for his dessert after he ate his lunch. Genetically, Hayden comes by this honestly. He took his cookie and asked for milk. I thought he was going to drink the milk but he wanted to dip the cookie first. Once that cookie was done, Hayden downed the rest of the milk.
Andie and Michael left for their date. We settled in to watch Cinderella II with the Mini's. Hayden is a kick to watch a movie with. He laughs so hard at the parts he thinks are funny. He is bouncing all around and totally into the humor.
Bailey took a break during the movie and came to check out my sudoku book. I always give her the book to write in. She found a sudoku puzzle that was not done and made the letter "B" in a blank square. That made her very happy. Happy enough that she looked for another page with a puzzle not done. Then she made and "A" in a blank square on that page.
After the movie we headed upstairs to get the kids to bed. Bailey has her horse at the foot of her bed in her room. She got this horse for her birthday. See my blog entry dated February 7th for pictures of this 'large' horse. I'm guessing that since Bailey was sick she felt the horse needed to be cared for as well. At any rate, Bailey's horse had Hayden's blanket I made from ties covering it. Hayden noticed this and was sure he needed his tie blanket quilt and the horse did not need it. I asked Hayden to help me find another blanket. We looked at bit and then I determined to use the pashmina I've been carrying in my purse for the horse blanket. Bailey was extremely happy with the pashmina being placed on her horse and Hayden was extremely happy to have his tie blanket on his bed. Now we could get on with the 'getting-ready-for-bed' routine.
I read Bailey her book, made sure she had Wah-Wah and had her turn on her music to sleep with. Then she decided she needed the pashmina to sleep in and the horse could have the other blankets on her bed. We negotiated toput just one of her blankets on the horse, the pashmina over Bailey with a blanket on top of that. We finally had the light off in her room when she realized she wanted to be sure she knew where her book was. I didn't turn the light on but showed her the book and told her it would be on her night table when she got up in the morning. Her quick little mind determined she needed her purple flashlight to read her book in the dark. Hmmmm...I told her I would look for that but I had to get Hayden to bed first. I left her in a dark room covered up in bed with the hopes this little darlin' would fall asleep. Silly Ma!!!
Hayden and I read the Magic School Bus book, covered him up and I headed downstairs to turn on the monitor. Bailey was playing cheerfully in the dark in her room waiting for Ma to come back with the flashlight. Hmmmm again...I made the decision to let her stay that way just in case she fell asleep.
Andie and Michael got home, Bailey was still playing, Hayden was asleep. The adults watched a smidgen of television and somewhere during that time our Bailey fell asleep.
This morning Hayden awoke at his usual early hour for school days. I could hear him playing. When we spend the night, he will knock on the wall when he is ready for us to wake up and play. When I head his little knock on the wall between our rooms, I quietly got up and went to his bedroom door and knocked. He said, "Okay!" We had our good morning hugs and then determined he wanted to play 'Mouse Trap' so we tip-toed downstairs to play a game while the rest of the house slept.
Soon the rest of the family began to trickle downstairs. First Claude, then Bailey, then Andie. Hayden requested pancakes for breakfast. Andie started making pancakes and Hayden and Bailey finished up the Mouse Trap game. Then coerced Claude into playing horsey with them.
This is a fairly roudy game which ended in the horse dumping the kids on the sofa and loveseat and then some wrestling. To quiet things down a bit we moved to playing with the Leapsters for a bit. Once again, Hayden had Claude play with him.
Michael did some grocery shopping while Andie made cupcakes for an outing she was going to this evening. Andie made Hayden some salt dough and he shaped planets while we started lunch. Andie will bake these and Hayden will paint them.
We ended our morning with more games. Hayden and Claude honed their Star Wars light saber antics some more. In this picture Claude is actually flipping his light saber. Hayden is practicing his quick turns to make his next move.
While they were playing this game, Hayden got the hiccups. Quick witted Andie said, "It appears there is a 'hiccup' in the Force!"
Hayden showed us his George Washington/Abraham Lincoln poem with the hand motions.
Claude and I had a great time with this Marx family. We left just before time for the Mini's to head to quiet time. Thanks Marx family for a fun 24 hours.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A Crafty Lady...
In September 2005 Claude and I went on a 10 day tour of Israel.
Before we left, we visited Berea, Kentucky on a Saturday just for fun. There are LOTS of craft people in Berea. We found a nice shop where purses were sold. I was in the market for a purse that would be the perfect travel purse. I found one that I felt would be perfect. Despite the price, Claude cheerfully purchased it for me.
We headed to Israel and I carried my newly acquired quilted purse. I came home a firm believer that I found the perfect purse for me. It was great for travel. There are enough pockets to keep things where you need them and still leave the inside center of the purse open.
I also found when I returned home that I could carry a small needlework project with me when I went to visit my mother at the nursing home. It turned out this was the perfect purse for me even when I wasn't traveling.
Eventually, the straps started to fray as cloth will with lots of use. I was crushed and not really excited about paying a big ticket price for another purse. Hmmmm...what could a crafty girl do? I knew what I was going to try to do.
I carefully took the purse apart and noted on paper exactly how all the pieces were put together. I saved the pieces to use as a pattern. Then I watched for a sale on quilted fabric. As soon as the sale hit I headed out in search of the perfect patterned quilted fabric for me. I found a really nice black and white fabric and bought 1 yard, a zipper and some bias fold tape. My total cost $5. Now home to try my hand at making a purse.
It turned out just fine. I was one happy camper. Then one day while walking through a fabric store my eye caught hold of a beautiful purple print quilted fabric. Now...I LOVE purple. I don't think everything should be purple but a purse in the right shade and pattern is a very doable thing. I purchased my yard of fabric and made purse number two.
When Katelyn lived with us this summer, she decided she would like to have a quilted purse also. I told her I already had a friend who asked me to make her one. This friend purchased her fabric a year ago and it was still in my basement waiting for me to have time to sew it. Andie and Katelyn had an outing one afternoon while I watched the Mini-Marx's. They were able to find the perfect quilted pattern fabric for Katelyn. They purchased the fabric, zipper and bias tape that matched. Needless to say, we didn't have time to get that done this summer either. I now had two more purses to make and my purple purse was starting to fray on the straps.
Last week, before our trip to Michigan, I made Katelyn's purse. Last night I finished my friend's purse. Below is a picture of my friend's purse on the left and my older purple one on the right.
These are the things I really like about this purse. When we travel, the journals that Claude keeps fit nicely in the big outside pocket. The three pockets on one side of the inside of the purse can hold our passports, extra batteries and memory cards for the camera. There was room inside for the camera and a very lightweight jacket and other items we need. Tissues were kept in an outside pocket. The purse is crushable for putting in the overhead bin of the tour bus. When I get home, I just toss it in the washer and dryer to clean it up from a trip.
My favorite detail about this purse is the sleeve in the bottom to keep the bottom in shape. Normally this sleeve would have a piece of cardboard in it. The clever lady I bought the first purse from used the plastic mesh that you make crafts out of instead of cardboard. That way, if something gets spilled in the purse, it doesn't ruin the base that keeps the bottom of the purse in shape.
In addition, her hubby, who was the one that sold me the first purse, knowing we were traveling to Israel, explained to me that you can put your cash inside the cloth sleeve with that plastic mesh. Then put your stuff on top. We did that and, even going through very intense security at the New York and Tel Aviv airports, no one checked that sleeve for money. It still remains one of my favorite features of this type of purse.
My mother teaching me to sew has been a huge blessing in my life. It sure has helped me to have my perfect purse for me since 2005.
Before we left, we visited Berea, Kentucky on a Saturday just for fun. There are LOTS of craft people in Berea. We found a nice shop where purses were sold. I was in the market for a purse that would be the perfect travel purse. I found one that I felt would be perfect. Despite the price, Claude cheerfully purchased it for me.
We headed to Israel and I carried my newly acquired quilted purse. I came home a firm believer that I found the perfect purse for me. It was great for travel. There are enough pockets to keep things where you need them and still leave the inside center of the purse open.
I also found when I returned home that I could carry a small needlework project with me when I went to visit my mother at the nursing home. It turned out this was the perfect purse for me even when I wasn't traveling.
Eventually, the straps started to fray as cloth will with lots of use. I was crushed and not really excited about paying a big ticket price for another purse. Hmmmm...what could a crafty girl do? I knew what I was going to try to do.
I carefully took the purse apart and noted on paper exactly how all the pieces were put together. I saved the pieces to use as a pattern. Then I watched for a sale on quilted fabric. As soon as the sale hit I headed out in search of the perfect patterned quilted fabric for me. I found a really nice black and white fabric and bought 1 yard, a zipper and some bias fold tape. My total cost $5. Now home to try my hand at making a purse.
It turned out just fine. I was one happy camper. Then one day while walking through a fabric store my eye caught hold of a beautiful purple print quilted fabric. Now...I LOVE purple. I don't think everything should be purple but a purse in the right shade and pattern is a very doable thing. I purchased my yard of fabric and made purse number two.
When Katelyn lived with us this summer, she decided she would like to have a quilted purse also. I told her I already had a friend who asked me to make her one. This friend purchased her fabric a year ago and it was still in my basement waiting for me to have time to sew it. Andie and Katelyn had an outing one afternoon while I watched the Mini-Marx's. They were able to find the perfect quilted pattern fabric for Katelyn. They purchased the fabric, zipper and bias tape that matched. Needless to say, we didn't have time to get that done this summer either. I now had two more purses to make and my purple purse was starting to fray on the straps.
Last week, before our trip to Michigan, I made Katelyn's purse. Last night I finished my friend's purse. Below is a picture of my friend's purse on the left and my older purple one on the right.
My favorite detail about this purse is the sleeve in the bottom to keep the bottom in shape. Normally this sleeve would have a piece of cardboard in it. The clever lady I bought the first purse from used the plastic mesh that you make crafts out of instead of cardboard. That way, if something gets spilled in the purse, it doesn't ruin the base that keeps the bottom of the purse in shape.
In addition, her hubby, who was the one that sold me the first purse, knowing we were traveling to Israel, explained to me that you can put your cash inside the cloth sleeve with that plastic mesh. Then put your stuff on top. We did that and, even going through very intense security at the New York and Tel Aviv airports, no one checked that sleeve for money. It still remains one of my favorite features of this type of purse.
My mother teaching me to sew has been a huge blessing in my life. It sure has helped me to have my perfect purse for me since 2005.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Cut to the Chase...
A road trip is always a fun thing to look forward to and then take. It was time for another road trip for Claude and me.
We received a phone call several weeks ago from Katelyn. She was fairly flying high when I answered the phone. All she could say with breathless excitement was, "Can you get Grampa on speaker phone?" I assured her that was possible and I headed upstairs to Claude's office to get that done. Claude and I both then waited for her news.
Katelyn had been asked to speak in sacrament meeting (our Sunday Church service). In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the members speak at the pulpit during this meeting. This would be Katelyn's first time to speak in sacrament meeting. We were as thrilled as our Katelyn was with this opportunity.
As soon as we got off the phone, I looked at Claude, he looked and me and we both said, "Maybe we could go to hear this." Calendars were checked and some changes made, a call was placed to Nissa to be sure that weekend would work for her family for a visit, and Jake was called to see if he would like to travel with us. All things were workable and we made hotel reservations.
We left Friday morning in time to make a stop a Cabela's in Michigan on the way to pick up Jake. Cabela's is always a fun stop. It was quite windy when we got there. We parked sort of close to the store and I really didn't want to put on my big winter coat. I carry a pashmina (shawl) with me. I pulled my pashmina out and wrapped it around me and headed into this store for 'hunter/gatherer' types. Now, if my pashmina were camoflauge in color, I would have fit right in. However, this particular pashmina is a light gold and gray blend. I just held my head high and marched right into Cabela's. I did get some grins from these guys.
We found the clothing and food items we wanted and browsed through the store for anything else that might tickle our fancy. Then we headed upstairs to get a sandwich for lunch. Claude enjoyed a smoked elk sandwich. I enjoyed the thinly sliced bison sandwich. It was excellent and more than I could eat. I wrapped up half my sandwich and tucked it in my purse to take to Jake for a snack between Chelsea and Muskegon.
We headed to Chelsea to Jake's apartment. He was packed and ready. We took a box full of medicines that our Michael is able to secure with his fantastic couponing skills. Claude opened the trunk and we all got a chuckle as Jake picked the drugs he wanted out of the box in our trunk. For very law-abiding people, this seemed a pretty strange action on our part. Totally legitimate but an interesting moment-in-time nonetheless.
We had a nice ride to Muskegon, checked in at the hotel and then headed to Nissa's home via Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick up dinner for all of us. We had time to visit for a bit and watch a Monk on TV before we left for our hotel and Jake stayed to sleep on Nissa's sofa.
Saturday, Nissa and Todd headed to work for the day, Katelyn headed to a college class, Claude and I went to Nissa's home to spend the morning with Paul, Aubrey Anne and Jake. Jake and Aubs were playing Battleship. Claude read the Wall Street Journal we got at the hotel. Paul allowed me to get a picture of his longer hair for Andie to see. (Paul usually wears a buzz cut and it is always fun to see him with longer hair.)
Paul and Aubrey Anne would share their musical talents with us. They are each getting better every time we visit with their guitar and piano playing.
Eventually it was about 11am. We were to pick Katelyn up after her college class and take the kids and Jake to lunch at The Pita Place. Claude and I really like going to this little restaurant. It is owned by a Greek fellow and they make really good food. I'm a falafel lover and don't find them very often. They make a great falafel at The Pita Place. We gathered up Katelyn, after a later than anticipated ending to her class, and we were off to the Pita Place.
Everyone order their food and Claude got some fried cheese sticks with something spicy in them, Greek fries and cinnamon and sugar pita bites to share. We all ordered well and totally enjoyed our meals. Paul stated he would order his sandwich again.
The most humorous part of the meal was Katelyn talking to Claude about her talk on Sunday. Katelyn was giving Claude instructions on 'hand signals' he was to use to keep her on track with her talk. She had a 10 minute time frame in which to speak. Katelyn told Claude to touch his watch if she was getting close to time to finish so she wouldn't go over her alloted time. If she needed to talk longer, she told Claude how to make a stretching out sign with his hands. There were several others she came up with and Claude dutifully listened to each instruction. Then...the funny one. The last signal Katelyn taught Claude was where you put your finger under your chin and draw it across like you are cutting you throat. This signal Claude was told to use to let Katelyn know to stop because she not teaching true doctrine. Oh my goodness...we all started to laugh. I thought Claude was going to turn purple he was laughing so hard. It was just a funny, sweet dialogue between Katelyn and her beloved Grampa.
We stay at the hotel so our grandmonsters can play in the big swimming pool. After lunch we headed to our hotel for an afternoon of swimming. Aubrey and Paul made friends with that pool FULL of kids. I've never seen that many people at that pool. But to kids that is not an issue. They made friends and enjoyed playing the afternoon away in the warm water on a very cold day.
Katelyn swam for a bit. Then she got herself a lemonade. While at Cabelo's, Claude and I purchased some red licorice and some blue raspberry licorice and a box of several kinds of fudge squares. Katelyn picked out a blue raspberry licorice and used it for a straw for her lemonade. I tell you, this young lady is always thinking.
We would return to Nissa's home for the evening. Pizza was ordered and picked up by Claude and Aubrey Anne. After dinner it was time for hair cuts. I found it amusing that prior to this trip I received a nice eMail from Jake asking if I would bring hair cutting instrument. Not long after that I got an nice eMail from Nissa asking for hair cuts at her home. I was also pleased I remembered to bring the scissors and clippers to get this accomplished. We cut Paul, Aubrey, Jake and Katelyn's hair. I was wearing a sweater and it was covered with hair when I finished. I should have brought a t-shirt for this process but that I did not even think of. I looked like a burgundy hairy beast when we finished.
Claude and I headed back to the hotel earlier than we normally would. The weather forecast were getting more foreboding and, since we were driving all the way home the next day, I wanted Claude to be able to get lots of good rest in case we were driving on bad roads. This turned out to be a good idea.
Sunday morning the weather forecast showed the snow and ice on their way to Michigan. The forecast stated it would be in Grand Rapids in 5 hours. After my shower that was changed to possibly 4 hours. We determined we would go to hear Katelyn speak in sacrament meeting, then change into travel clothes and head on home with hopes of getting ahead of this monster storm.
We all met at Nissa's home again and everyone, gussied up in their Sunday best, headed to the Church. Before we settled in our seats, I wanted to get a few pictures of my grandmonsters and Jake. I wanted them on my cell phone so that I have pictures of all my family.
Katelyn gave a beautiful talk. Claude did not have to use any of the signals she taught him. We restrained ourselves and did not do the 'wave' as a family. Katelyn had obviously read and studied the General Conference talk she was asked to speak on. She incorporated her own personal experiences with the words from the talk. She spoke from her heart and it was just beautiful.
After the meeting was over, we said our good-byes with Katelyn and Aubrey who would stake for the remainder of the meetings. The rest of us headed back to Nissa's home where Claude, Jake and I would get in comfortable clothes for the ride home. I was happy to get a nice picture of Nissa and Todd on my cell phone.
Then we were off to try and beat the storm across Michigan.
Alas, that was not to happen. On the outside of Grand Rapids we ran into snow down and it picked up in intensity very quickly. It was clicking on the windows of the car so we were sure there was some ice in this snow. We were heading South to Kalamazoo before turning East toward Chelsea. By the time we finally got to Kalamazoo there was definitely ice and lots of snow. Claude was staying at 40 mph, cars were spinning off I-94. It was a mess. I looked up I-94 weather from the Michigan State website. It just told us what we were in the middle of. However, it did state that as we got to the middle of the state and on to Chelsea we should have rain and a little snow. Hmmmm... that would prove WRONG!! Eventually I found 2 other websites that gave a better weather/road condition forecast for I-94 and I-75.
We had a few cute moments in conversation about the weather. We made it to Jackson which is not far west of Chelsea and they clearly had a lot more snow than was predicted when we left Muskegon. We determined that when we got to Chelsea we would stop at the Wendy's restaurant and have some lunch before taking Jake to his apartment. We needed to give Claude a bit of a break from the tension of driving under those conditions. We still had to get home that night and had several more hours at this slow speed to get out of the storm. There was easily 5-6 inches of snow in the Wendy's parking lot in Chelsea. Lunch was a welcome break. Jake was deposited at his apartment. Then Claude pointed the Buick to I-94 and the way home.
By the time we got to Hwy 23 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where we would turn South toward Toledo, Ohio, the windshield wipers were covered in ice. Claude could not see out his window. Since he was the driver, that was kind of important. We took the first exit off Hwy 23 and found a gas station to park in. We both got out and I cleaned off the wipers as Claude scraped the windshielf and cleaned out the hollow place the wipers fall into.
As we finished this process, I climbed back into the car and Claude opened the back door to put the scrapers away. I heard someone say, "May I interview you." Then I heard Claude say, "Sure!" I turned around to see a Fox Channel 2 van behind our car. The reporter was talking to Claude. I found my camera and my cell phone and set to taking pictures of them videoing the interview between Claude and this reporter.
I couldn't believe it. My hubby is frequently in the Georgetown newspaper. I determined after watching him with this reporter that my hubby is a media magnet.
I called Jake quickly on my cell phone since we were still in his reporting area. He was first concerned that the reporter was there because we had been in an accident. After I assured him we just stopped to get the ice off the wipers, he was fine.
I got a picture on my cell phone and posted it on Facebook. After we got back on Hwy. 23 I recieved a call from Katelyn concerned that we had been in an accident or something. They read the Facebook post and were concerned about our safety. I assured her we were fine and explained how the reporter came after we cleaned ice off the wipers. Then I had to be sure she understood that, if we were in a wreck or some other bad situation, the last thing I would be doing was posting to Facebook. I would be calling for help first and foremost.
As we got closer to Toledo, there was definitely a layer of ice on the highway. They clearly got ice and only a little snow. But the rain had started to mix with the ice that was coming down and the rain was beginning to loosen up the ice. It was still slow going until we were out of that. Then we got to wet roads and rain for a while. Later the rain stopped and we had clear roads the rest of the way home.
We had a wonderful visit with the Michigan branch of our family. It was great to hear Katelyn give her first talk. The ride home was a true adventure. Now we are very happy to be nestled back in our home on our hill in Sadieville.
We received a phone call several weeks ago from Katelyn. She was fairly flying high when I answered the phone. All she could say with breathless excitement was, "Can you get Grampa on speaker phone?" I assured her that was possible and I headed upstairs to Claude's office to get that done. Claude and I both then waited for her news.
Katelyn had been asked to speak in sacrament meeting (our Sunday Church service). In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the members speak at the pulpit during this meeting. This would be Katelyn's first time to speak in sacrament meeting. We were as thrilled as our Katelyn was with this opportunity.
As soon as we got off the phone, I looked at Claude, he looked and me and we both said, "Maybe we could go to hear this." Calendars were checked and some changes made, a call was placed to Nissa to be sure that weekend would work for her family for a visit, and Jake was called to see if he would like to travel with us. All things were workable and we made hotel reservations.
We left Friday morning in time to make a stop a Cabela's in Michigan on the way to pick up Jake. Cabela's is always a fun stop. It was quite windy when we got there. We parked sort of close to the store and I really didn't want to put on my big winter coat. I carry a pashmina (shawl) with me. I pulled my pashmina out and wrapped it around me and headed into this store for 'hunter/gatherer' types. Now, if my pashmina were camoflauge in color, I would have fit right in. However, this particular pashmina is a light gold and gray blend. I just held my head high and marched right into Cabela's. I did get some grins from these guys.
We found the clothing and food items we wanted and browsed through the store for anything else that might tickle our fancy. Then we headed upstairs to get a sandwich for lunch. Claude enjoyed a smoked elk sandwich. I enjoyed the thinly sliced bison sandwich. It was excellent and more than I could eat. I wrapped up half my sandwich and tucked it in my purse to take to Jake for a snack between Chelsea and Muskegon.
We headed to Chelsea to Jake's apartment. He was packed and ready. We took a box full of medicines that our Michael is able to secure with his fantastic couponing skills. Claude opened the trunk and we all got a chuckle as Jake picked the drugs he wanted out of the box in our trunk. For very law-abiding people, this seemed a pretty strange action on our part. Totally legitimate but an interesting moment-in-time nonetheless.
We had a nice ride to Muskegon, checked in at the hotel and then headed to Nissa's home via Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick up dinner for all of us. We had time to visit for a bit and watch a Monk on TV before we left for our hotel and Jake stayed to sleep on Nissa's sofa.
Saturday, Nissa and Todd headed to work for the day, Katelyn headed to a college class, Claude and I went to Nissa's home to spend the morning with Paul, Aubrey Anne and Jake. Jake and Aubs were playing Battleship. Claude read the Wall Street Journal we got at the hotel. Paul allowed me to get a picture of his longer hair for Andie to see. (Paul usually wears a buzz cut and it is always fun to see him with longer hair.)
Everyone order their food and Claude got some fried cheese sticks with something spicy in them, Greek fries and cinnamon and sugar pita bites to share. We all ordered well and totally enjoyed our meals. Paul stated he would order his sandwich again.
The most humorous part of the meal was Katelyn talking to Claude about her talk on Sunday. Katelyn was giving Claude instructions on 'hand signals' he was to use to keep her on track with her talk. She had a 10 minute time frame in which to speak. Katelyn told Claude to touch his watch if she was getting close to time to finish so she wouldn't go over her alloted time. If she needed to talk longer, she told Claude how to make a stretching out sign with his hands. There were several others she came up with and Claude dutifully listened to each instruction. Then...the funny one. The last signal Katelyn taught Claude was where you put your finger under your chin and draw it across like you are cutting you throat. This signal Claude was told to use to let Katelyn know to stop because she not teaching true doctrine. Oh my goodness...we all started to laugh. I thought Claude was going to turn purple he was laughing so hard. It was just a funny, sweet dialogue between Katelyn and her beloved Grampa.
We stay at the hotel so our grandmonsters can play in the big swimming pool. After lunch we headed to our hotel for an afternoon of swimming. Aubrey and Paul made friends with that pool FULL of kids. I've never seen that many people at that pool. But to kids that is not an issue. They made friends and enjoyed playing the afternoon away in the warm water on a very cold day.
Katelyn swam for a bit. Then she got herself a lemonade. While at Cabelo's, Claude and I purchased some red licorice and some blue raspberry licorice and a box of several kinds of fudge squares. Katelyn picked out a blue raspberry licorice and used it for a straw for her lemonade. I tell you, this young lady is always thinking.
Claude and I headed back to the hotel earlier than we normally would. The weather forecast were getting more foreboding and, since we were driving all the way home the next day, I wanted Claude to be able to get lots of good rest in case we were driving on bad roads. This turned out to be a good idea.
Sunday morning the weather forecast showed the snow and ice on their way to Michigan. The forecast stated it would be in Grand Rapids in 5 hours. After my shower that was changed to possibly 4 hours. We determined we would go to hear Katelyn speak in sacrament meeting, then change into travel clothes and head on home with hopes of getting ahead of this monster storm.
We all met at Nissa's home again and everyone, gussied up in their Sunday best, headed to the Church. Before we settled in our seats, I wanted to get a few pictures of my grandmonsters and Jake. I wanted them on my cell phone so that I have pictures of all my family.
After the meeting was over, we said our good-byes with Katelyn and Aubrey who would stake for the remainder of the meetings. The rest of us headed back to Nissa's home where Claude, Jake and I would get in comfortable clothes for the ride home. I was happy to get a nice picture of Nissa and Todd on my cell phone.
Alas, that was not to happen. On the outside of Grand Rapids we ran into snow down and it picked up in intensity very quickly. It was clicking on the windows of the car so we were sure there was some ice in this snow. We were heading South to Kalamazoo before turning East toward Chelsea. By the time we finally got to Kalamazoo there was definitely ice and lots of snow. Claude was staying at 40 mph, cars were spinning off I-94. It was a mess. I looked up I-94 weather from the Michigan State website. It just told us what we were in the middle of. However, it did state that as we got to the middle of the state and on to Chelsea we should have rain and a little snow. Hmmmm... that would prove WRONG!! Eventually I found 2 other websites that gave a better weather/road condition forecast for I-94 and I-75.
We had a few cute moments in conversation about the weather. We made it to Jackson which is not far west of Chelsea and they clearly had a lot more snow than was predicted when we left Muskegon. We determined that when we got to Chelsea we would stop at the Wendy's restaurant and have some lunch before taking Jake to his apartment. We needed to give Claude a bit of a break from the tension of driving under those conditions. We still had to get home that night and had several more hours at this slow speed to get out of the storm. There was easily 5-6 inches of snow in the Wendy's parking lot in Chelsea. Lunch was a welcome break. Jake was deposited at his apartment. Then Claude pointed the Buick to I-94 and the way home.
By the time we got to Hwy 23 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where we would turn South toward Toledo, Ohio, the windshield wipers were covered in ice. Claude could not see out his window. Since he was the driver, that was kind of important. We took the first exit off Hwy 23 and found a gas station to park in. We both got out and I cleaned off the wipers as Claude scraped the windshielf and cleaned out the hollow place the wipers fall into.
As we finished this process, I climbed back into the car and Claude opened the back door to put the scrapers away. I heard someone say, "May I interview you." Then I heard Claude say, "Sure!" I turned around to see a Fox Channel 2 van behind our car. The reporter was talking to Claude. I found my camera and my cell phone and set to taking pictures of them videoing the interview between Claude and this reporter.
I called Jake quickly on my cell phone since we were still in his reporting area. He was first concerned that the reporter was there because we had been in an accident. After I assured him we just stopped to get the ice off the wipers, he was fine.
I got a picture on my cell phone and posted it on Facebook. After we got back on Hwy. 23 I recieved a call from Katelyn concerned that we had been in an accident or something. They read the Facebook post and were concerned about our safety. I assured her we were fine and explained how the reporter came after we cleaned ice off the wipers. Then I had to be sure she understood that, if we were in a wreck or some other bad situation, the last thing I would be doing was posting to Facebook. I would be calling for help first and foremost.
As we got closer to Toledo, there was definitely a layer of ice on the highway. They clearly got ice and only a little snow. But the rain had started to mix with the ice that was coming down and the rain was beginning to loosen up the ice. It was still slow going until we were out of that. Then we got to wet roads and rain for a while. Later the rain stopped and we had clear roads the rest of the way home.
We had a wonderful visit with the Michigan branch of our family. It was great to hear Katelyn give her first talk. The ride home was a true adventure. Now we are very happy to be nestled back in our home on our hill in Sadieville.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Do You Love Me???
Ahhh...February. The month with lots of 'love' floating around, especially on February 14th when Valentine's Day hits.
In our home, Claude and I celebrate our anniversary. We were married on Friday the 13th, 1970. This year was our 41st anniversary. I find this simply amazing. I've spent two times more of my life as a married lady that as a single lady. Soooo, after all those years, what does one do to celebrate this anniversary.
The intent was to be in Egypt cruising the Nile River, then spending a few days in Cairo and one day in Alexandria. Alas, that did not happen. It is a good thing our tour was cancelled given the current politic upheaval going on in Egypt.
I did receive an eMail from the Lexington Opera House about an upcoming musical that struck my fancy, "Fiddler On The Roof". I've seen the movie several times but never seen a stage production. I queried my hubby as to his interest and received a positive result. So off to my sewing room I went to place an order for tickets.
I tried first for Saturday evening tickets and could only get obstructed view seat. I mean really...who in the world deliberately purchases obstructed view seats. Why would a theater place a chair in front of a pole or other object. Well, as you can tell, I was not going to purchase obstructed view tickets. I called the Opera House and got tickets over the phone instead of over Ticketmaster. We got Sunday evening tickets on the 3rd row aisle seats. These turned out to be GREAT seats.
Claude and I exchanged gifts on Saturday. I gave him the last two seasons of Monk and thought he might want to view them on Saturday evening.
He gave me a beautiful necklace. It is a silver key. The top of the key has two hearts with rubies on them. One is larger than the other and it looks like my little heart is nestled under the arm of Claude's bigger heart. At least, that is the image I see when I look at this. The lovely pendant came on a short silver chain. I was greatly impressed that Claude, knowing my preference for chains at least 30 inches in length, purchased a new chain for this pendant. Thank you dear for knowing me so well.
Sunday, our actual anniversary date, we went our separate way in the morning. Claude was off to visit Owingsville Ward and I headed to Georgetown to our Ward. We met at the Mexican restaurant for an anniversary lunch. Then Claude headed home and I went to sit with my mom for an hour.
When I got back to Sadieville we had a couple of hours to rest so I read some more in my novel. Then we loaded ourselves into the Jeep and headed to Lexington.
I've grown to love this little Lexington Opera House. This was our first time sitting in the Orchestra seats. It just a comfortable theater, not really big at all, but just a very nice feel to it.
The production was excellent. All the wonderful songs you know from this musical were performed during the play, "Tradition", "Matchmaker, Matchmaker", "If I Were a Rich Man", "Sabbath Prayer", "Sunrise, Sunset", and "Far From the Home I Love". During the intermission, I could hear people coming in and out of the theater humming or quietly singing, "If I Were a Rich Man". I have to say as I watch Tevye performing that number I could see Claude on the hill working this summer and singing that like Tevye when he thought no one was looking. His arms in the arm and his feet stamping out the rhythm in a little dance. I told him about this during the intermission and he had a grin. I assured him I would be checking frequently to see if he was out there singing while he worked.
I truly believe my favorite song in the play though is "Do You Love Me?" All these changes are happening to Tevye and Golda as their oldest three daughters get married. They are not sticking with that 'tradition' everyone has always known. It causes Tevye to reflect on his life with Golda. Theirs was an arranged marriage. They met on their wedding day. They both express their nervousness at this. In the song, Teyve asks Golda, "Do you love me?" Her musical response is a listing of all the things she has done for him during the 27 (I think that number is accurate) years together. The point being, it must be love is I did all of this and stayed with you during poverty and everything else. But Teyve wants to hear the words and he continues with musically asking Golda, "Do you love me?" Eventually they end with they do love each other, not that saying this out loud makes them love each other, but saying it is "just good to hear". It is just a sweet and tender piece of music and expresses a wonderful view of marriage and how love is expressed. I found it totally appropriate for our anniversary and for a Valentine's Day song.
We both totally enjoyed this stage production of "Fiddler on the Roof". I promptly stood for the standing ovation at the end. It was a great date for our anniverary.
This morning was Valentine's Day. We usually don't do much for Valentine's Day. Claude always bought each of our kids a box of Valentine's candy when they were little. He now gets something sweet for each of the grandmonsters. But our celebrating is our anniversary the day before. But, this morning I fixed me a glass of orange juice for breakfast and then set out to wash dishes from the day before. (That's right, I do not do my dishes everyday. And I have NO issue with that.) I turned around from my dishwashing to get something off the island. Claude had quietly set a bag of 'Chocolate Turtles' on the island to surprise me. One of my favorite animals in candy form, and chocolate candy at that. What a guy!! He was scoring BIG points the last few days. I have saved the bag and when we sit to watch a movie tonight, or Monk, or whatever, we'll share this delightful little treat for our Valentine's Day celebration.
Now...the funny from this morning. I know this will lose something in the telling over the actual experience but I want to remember what a cute moment it was.
Claude and I both woke up about the same time this morning. I rolled over and asked him if he was going to City Hall before his meeting. He told me he was. I said, "Then, when you return, you'll find me right here (meaning, still in bed). He chuckled at that and assured me, knowing my lack of ability to sit still for long, I would be up well before that time. I told Claude I had stayed in bed all day before, of course, I had just had major surgery both times, but I did stay in bed all day. Another chuckle from Claude. Then we agreed that he is better at 'resting' than I am. Our kids will get a chuckle out of that!! Next we somehow managed to get to sleeping like a stone or something. The end comment was Claude saying, "I'm like my favorite stone. I'm a sedentary stone." This caused major laughter on my part. My hubby had a major in college of geology. Think about his comment and then my laughter. Finally I composed myself enough to say, "I believe the rock is called 'sedimentary' rock...not sedentary stone." Then Claude had to laugh as well. I'm tellin' ya...old age can be quite funny!!
Next funny of this morning...
I called Andie to check on Hayden. He has not been well again this weekend. There was question of his being able to go to school today. This was to be his class Valentine's party and Andie didn't want him to miss it. So, I called to see if he made it to school and how he was doing. Bailey was within ear shot of the phone conversation. I heard her come up to Andie and ask, "Who are you talking to?" Andie did just what she used to be able to do to Hayden and said, "I'm talking to Darlene." Darlene is my middle name. I can only guess the expression on Bailey's face as she tried to process who in the world 'Darlene' was. Andie asked her if she would like to talk to Darlene. Bailey said yes and Andie handed the phone to Bailey. I said, "Hello, is this Bailey Marx?" Short pause as her little brain processed. Then she said, "This is not Darlene...this is Ma!!" I tried to explain to her that my name is Sandra Darlene Lawrence Christensen. But dear little Bailey was adamant, "No, your name is MA!!" It is fun to mess with their little heads a bit every now and then.
I have had a great anniversary and Valentine's Day is turning out great as well.
In our home, Claude and I celebrate our anniversary. We were married on Friday the 13th, 1970. This year was our 41st anniversary. I find this simply amazing. I've spent two times more of my life as a married lady that as a single lady. Soooo, after all those years, what does one do to celebrate this anniversary.
The intent was to be in Egypt cruising the Nile River, then spending a few days in Cairo and one day in Alexandria. Alas, that did not happen. It is a good thing our tour was cancelled given the current politic upheaval going on in Egypt.
I did receive an eMail from the Lexington Opera House about an upcoming musical that struck my fancy, "Fiddler On The Roof". I've seen the movie several times but never seen a stage production. I queried my hubby as to his interest and received a positive result. So off to my sewing room I went to place an order for tickets.
I tried first for Saturday evening tickets and could only get obstructed view seat. I mean really...who in the world deliberately purchases obstructed view seats. Why would a theater place a chair in front of a pole or other object. Well, as you can tell, I was not going to purchase obstructed view tickets. I called the Opera House and got tickets over the phone instead of over Ticketmaster. We got Sunday evening tickets on the 3rd row aisle seats. These turned out to be GREAT seats.
Claude and I exchanged gifts on Saturday. I gave him the last two seasons of Monk and thought he might want to view them on Saturday evening.
He gave me a beautiful necklace. It is a silver key. The top of the key has two hearts with rubies on them. One is larger than the other and it looks like my little heart is nestled under the arm of Claude's bigger heart. At least, that is the image I see when I look at this. The lovely pendant came on a short silver chain. I was greatly impressed that Claude, knowing my preference for chains at least 30 inches in length, purchased a new chain for this pendant. Thank you dear for knowing me so well.
Sunday, our actual anniversary date, we went our separate way in the morning. Claude was off to visit Owingsville Ward and I headed to Georgetown to our Ward. We met at the Mexican restaurant for an anniversary lunch. Then Claude headed home and I went to sit with my mom for an hour.
When I got back to Sadieville we had a couple of hours to rest so I read some more in my novel. Then we loaded ourselves into the Jeep and headed to Lexington.
The production was excellent. All the wonderful songs you know from this musical were performed during the play, "Tradition", "Matchmaker, Matchmaker", "If I Were a Rich Man", "Sabbath Prayer", "Sunrise, Sunset", and "Far From the Home I Love". During the intermission, I could hear people coming in and out of the theater humming or quietly singing, "If I Were a Rich Man". I have to say as I watch Tevye performing that number I could see Claude on the hill working this summer and singing that like Tevye when he thought no one was looking. His arms in the arm and his feet stamping out the rhythm in a little dance. I told him about this during the intermission and he had a grin. I assured him I would be checking frequently to see if he was out there singing while he worked.
I truly believe my favorite song in the play though is "Do You Love Me?" All these changes are happening to Tevye and Golda as their oldest three daughters get married. They are not sticking with that 'tradition' everyone has always known. It causes Tevye to reflect on his life with Golda. Theirs was an arranged marriage. They met on their wedding day. They both express their nervousness at this. In the song, Teyve asks Golda, "Do you love me?" Her musical response is a listing of all the things she has done for him during the 27 (I think that number is accurate) years together. The point being, it must be love is I did all of this and stayed with you during poverty and everything else. But Teyve wants to hear the words and he continues with musically asking Golda, "Do you love me?" Eventually they end with they do love each other, not that saying this out loud makes them love each other, but saying it is "just good to hear". It is just a sweet and tender piece of music and expresses a wonderful view of marriage and how love is expressed. I found it totally appropriate for our anniversary and for a Valentine's Day song.
We both totally enjoyed this stage production of "Fiddler on the Roof". I promptly stood for the standing ovation at the end. It was a great date for our anniverary.
This morning was Valentine's Day. We usually don't do much for Valentine's Day. Claude always bought each of our kids a box of Valentine's candy when they were little. He now gets something sweet for each of the grandmonsters. But our celebrating is our anniversary the day before. But, this morning I fixed me a glass of orange juice for breakfast and then set out to wash dishes from the day before. (That's right, I do not do my dishes everyday. And I have NO issue with that.) I turned around from my dishwashing to get something off the island. Claude had quietly set a bag of 'Chocolate Turtles' on the island to surprise me. One of my favorite animals in candy form, and chocolate candy at that. What a guy!! He was scoring BIG points the last few days. I have saved the bag and when we sit to watch a movie tonight, or Monk, or whatever, we'll share this delightful little treat for our Valentine's Day celebration.
Now...the funny from this morning. I know this will lose something in the telling over the actual experience but I want to remember what a cute moment it was.
Claude and I both woke up about the same time this morning. I rolled over and asked him if he was going to City Hall before his meeting. He told me he was. I said, "Then, when you return, you'll find me right here (meaning, still in bed). He chuckled at that and assured me, knowing my lack of ability to sit still for long, I would be up well before that time. I told Claude I had stayed in bed all day before, of course, I had just had major surgery both times, but I did stay in bed all day. Another chuckle from Claude. Then we agreed that he is better at 'resting' than I am. Our kids will get a chuckle out of that!! Next we somehow managed to get to sleeping like a stone or something. The end comment was Claude saying, "I'm like my favorite stone. I'm a sedentary stone." This caused major laughter on my part. My hubby had a major in college of geology. Think about his comment and then my laughter. Finally I composed myself enough to say, "I believe the rock is called 'sedimentary' rock...not sedentary stone." Then Claude had to laugh as well. I'm tellin' ya...old age can be quite funny!!
Next funny of this morning...
I called Andie to check on Hayden. He has not been well again this weekend. There was question of his being able to go to school today. This was to be his class Valentine's party and Andie didn't want him to miss it. So, I called to see if he made it to school and how he was doing. Bailey was within ear shot of the phone conversation. I heard her come up to Andie and ask, "Who are you talking to?" Andie did just what she used to be able to do to Hayden and said, "I'm talking to Darlene." Darlene is my middle name. I can only guess the expression on Bailey's face as she tried to process who in the world 'Darlene' was. Andie asked her if she would like to talk to Darlene. Bailey said yes and Andie handed the phone to Bailey. I said, "Hello, is this Bailey Marx?" Short pause as her little brain processed. Then she said, "This is not Darlene...this is Ma!!" I tried to explain to her that my name is Sandra Darlene Lawrence Christensen. But dear little Bailey was adamant, "No, your name is MA!!" It is fun to mess with their little heads a bit every now and then.
I have had a great anniversary and Valentine's Day is turning out great as well.
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