Packrats!

My kids like to tell me -frequently -that I am a packrat and if things keep up, they think I am probably on my way to becoming a hoarder.


Well, I have to confess that I am somewhat of a packrat but only about certain things -mainly yarn, fabric, patterns and embroidery kits and floss. And also, that I do have the majority of my packrat type items packed up in fairly large plastic totes too.

This past week, Mandy was on a cleaning binge -trying to get many things cleaned up and packed up or pitched out. A good move, on her part and I give her credit for that.

But she's gonna soon have to make some decisions about all the myriad of papers that creep into the house on almost a daily basis via each of the grandkids backpacks. You know, all those drawings that are so cute but difficult to interpret much of the time or homework papers with grades on them that make you proud to see but if you're going to save all that stuff, then you'd better be investing -soon -in a tote to store that stuff in too!

I think the only things I have saved over the years from my kids early school days are a couple of little Christmas ornaments made by this or that child on occasion. I'm truly thankful though that none of my kids were into sports and by that, were not awarded bunches of sports trophies that you just know I would have been compelled to save for posterity!

I have more than enough memorabilia in the form of little cups and saucers, little plates, larger plates, special glasses and such, all stashed in my china cabinet along with several other pieces that had belonged to my Mom, my Grandma and probably a few other relatives here and there too!

The last thing I need here is more of that kinds of stuff, ya know.

Now, with Maya and Kurt both having signed up to learn to play soccer in an after-school program, it almost has me hoping that they are just your run-of-the-mill type players, not majorly athletic ya know, so that way, we won't ever have to worry about more stuff to try to store!

Lacking Comprehension!

There happens to be a certain individual, who shall remain nameless, unidentified here, who continues to confound me.

Imagine if you would, having several children and having next to no contact with any of them or only very sporadic contact at best with a few of them. Imagine too a person who has had a business that had very good potential but lost it due completely to mismanagement. Then too, imagine having specialized tools to ply your particular trade but losing them to a previous employer because of money advanced to you and not showing up to work the hours required for the hours of pay advanced so the employer confiscated those tools because the employee walked out and left them there.

Imagine having a court order for child support but not paying it and then wondering why the older children -who know and understand this -don't care to associate with said person. Imagine not being able to go to work for several days at a clip because of withdrawal from drug abuse then imagine the custodial parent of some of those children not allowing visitation because of said documented drug abuse but then blaming the lack of visitation on that custodial parent and not comprehending why that parent is "being so mean."

Imagine not bothering to renew a driver's license and not carrying mandatory vehicle insurance and owing money on a vehicle (the only vehicle you have too) and then, going out on the highway, high on pills and hitting a telephone pole and then leaving the scene of the accident.

Imagine spending time in jail for the non-payment of child support as well as contempt of court for not showing up for a court ordered hearing but blaming those circumstances too on the custodial parent.

A good stay in a rehab center sure does seem to me to be something that should take place but how to get that to come about is the issue now. About the only thing this person does NOT need is bath salt abuse addiction rehab treatment but darned near any other type of addiction imaginable is probably fair game.

If someone had told me a few years back -not that many years, just a couple really, that I would know someone in such dire straits, someone who rarely says anything that is the truth these days, but who blames every problem mentioned above on anyone else that happens to be handy -no responsibility accepted whatsoever for any of those actions, I would have then said "It will never happen."

And yet, how quickly those things do become addictions and how quickly too the physical, mental and emotional well being of a person involved in those substances deteriorates.

I wish there were a way to get help for this person but I know it is now in that person's hands to recognize how drastically that help is needed to restore life to some semblance of normalcy.

My Own News Service

I often feel that I am totally at the bottom end of the informational food chain as frequently, I hear about things that are happening or happened to friends of mine and that so-called news is really old hat stuff.

Yesterday, Mandy had been out and when she came back home she informed me that a good friend of mine is moving over to a place in Clearfield to one of those Independent living communities. Now I haven't seen or talked to Gert in several months but I was totally surprised to learn she was taking this step!

I asked Mandy where she heard this and she told me she'd run into Gert up at the local truckstop and she'd told her about the impending move then. She told Mandy that she just got tired of all the work with the upkeep of a house by herself.

I can't say as I blame her there as I think if I were here by myself, I'd probably give some serious consideration to making a move like that too.

But too, for those who think this makes life just a piece of cake, it can also be something that can also be very disruptive too. My one aunt made a move like this back in the mid-to-late 90s and although she eventually adapted okay to her new surroundings, it was really difficult for her for a good while to get over having had to sell the house that she and my late uncle had built -a beautiful big ranch house on the outskirts of the small town nearby. That and leaving so many good friends too that she had cultivated from the late 40s on through the 90s -that was a hard thing for her to cope with too.

A lady who lived on this street too -had been here all my life -made a similar move like that too about 7-8 years ago. She had huge old two-story house here with four bedrooms, a full basement that was all fixed up and virtually every convenience known to man as well I think but she sold her house and moved to one of these places and for her, she has been in love with the place I think right from the get-go! I, on the other hand, still miss her not being here very much!

So I hope for my friend, Gert, that her move puts her into a good place in all respects. But one of her daughters lives over in that town, plus a granddaughter is still in high school there too, I think, so she'll most likely have people around her to help with her initial adjustment to her new living surroundings.

Just hope she doesn't forget to take a run down this way from time to time though!

Credit Where It's Due!

This afternoon, I decided I not only should take Sammy for a walk but I needed to take him -and by the same token -myself, for a walk too.

I hadn't really paid much attention to the weather forecast on the noon news today but I thought I'd heard them say the temps today were to run in the high 30s and even in the 40s in some areas. Soooo...I figured that didn't sound too terribly bad for February temperatures and so, Sammy and I set off to walk up to the mailboxes, get the bills and back home again.

All of which amounts to roughly 2/3 of a mile, give or take and I need to get as many walking miles in as I can in order to keep Sam functioning properly (meaning not making any messes now and again in the house) and also, to try to maybe (if I'm really lucky) manage to take off a couple of pounds every now and again too.

Out the door we went and much to my surprise, there were really itty-bitty snowflakes flurrying around. How could that be that it was colder that I figured it would feel plus, that moisture coming down in the form of a fine snowy sort of mist?

Evidently old Phil's prediction of six more weeks of winter today is already kicking in and coming true!

Sheesh! After the beautiful weather we had the past couple of days, it's almost enough to get me thinking about looking for some Nags Head real estate!

By the time Sam and I reached the mailboxes, the snow had picked up a good bit of volume -and speed -and as we got home, I was almost afraid to look at my hair for fear it would look like I had a white-powdered wig on or something like that. Thankfully though, it was fine enough that it disappeared before I even got my coat off!

Guess we just have to brace ourselves for a few more days over the next month and a half of stuff like this, don't we?

Speechless!

Last night, I saw something happen here that I said I'd not seen -nor heard -in roughly 34 years now.

Mandy was stunned, in a total state of shock and yes, believe it or not, she was speechless!

What rendered her to that condition you ask?

Would you believe me if I told you it was something given to the family?

Well, believe it because yes indeedy, we did receive a gift and it came as a total surprise not just to Mandy but also the the kids and me too!

Miss Dawn, Kurt's TSS, came down here about 4:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon carrying a nice big brown shopping bag on her arm and she brought it in and handed it to Mandy.

The contents of that bag? A brand, spanking new WEI game plus two DVDs for it too!

Then she explain to Mandy that an anonymous donor had purchased the item and she'd been contacted to select one of the families she works with to present them with this gift and boy, Dawn just got moved up to sainthood status (if we have any choices in that matter) for her selecting our family to receive this gift!

Incredible, isn't it?

Now, the fun really begins as we try to figure out a fair way to administer time allotments to the kids so as not to interfere with their homework assignments as well as to alleviate any possibility of brutality that could come from one kid getting more than a tad ticked off at the other!

Last night, Mandy's best friend sent her son down to help move the tv down from Mandy's room upstairs and to hook up this lovely little machine. Then, he even stayed about an hour or so longer, helping to show Maya and Kurt how to play a couple of the games on it too. Last night they were happy little campers trying to bowl then even trying to play golf. Tonight, both kids and Mandy decided to try their hand at playing baseball too!

So far, so good with the kids behaviors while playing with it. It's helped a bit on the bribery side during supper too with the threat of "If you don't eat this or that, you'll not get any time to play on the WEI and boy, it's amazing to see how quickly foods that had previously been declared as being "Yucky" all of a sudden disappeared -and not into the dog's dish or the waste can either!

Yep! I'm loving this WEI -at least for now anyway!!!

Easily Confused

Okay, those of you who know me by now also - hopefully -realize or remember too that I do confuse easily. Sometimes I confuse really, really, really easily -meaning faster than the average bear, ya know.

Well get this now and you tell me what you think.

A friend of mine recently sent me an e-mail and in it, she included a link to a site she wanted me to see -obviously.

What I didn't understand though was her instructions to go to the site bedroom furniture Los Angeles. It just made no sense to me why she had it labeled in that manner.

Maybe it was because almost all the bedroom furniture groupings had some type of reference in the name of those back to an area or town in California but still, just seemed rather a bit of extra baggage to deal with in my opinion and wasn't really relevant to, as my Grandma would have said, "The price of tea in China."

The Tax Man Cometh!

Yeah folks, that time of the year is fast approaching, isn't it? Only 2 1/2 months from now and everyone will (hopefully) have completed all their tax forms, sent in their returns and are anxiously awaiting that nice big refund in many cases and for others, probably just praying that the check you sent along with your return doesn't bounce!

I'm a bit confused though these days now when it comes to filing my taxes because the work I do is done at home and is independent so I don't get a paycheck with deductions already withheld. Nope. I get a statement of my total earnings for the year and then, have to figure out from that amount how much I owe in taxes.

I wish I had some kind of report designer that would have a set-up for me in which I could log in the jobs I completed and was paid for, those things I purchased in order to keep earning the small checks I do get now and again -after all, wouldn't inventory type items qualify as a business expense?

Better yet too, what I really need is another account with my bank into which I would make regular deposits equaling about 15 percent of the amount I earned and then, come January when I go to file my taxes, I would have the money sitting there, waiting for me to transfer it and send a check, guaranteed not to bounce, to the IRS!

The real answer to my problems though would be if I only had the same income that Mitt Romney has! I read an article yesterday in which the writer was telling about how much Mr. Romney earned last year -$21.6 MILLION and along with that, there was also a place where you could key in your own income for last year and calculate how long it would take you to earn $21.6 million dollars, based on your current annual income.

Here's the answer I got for my income level!

In 2010, Mitt Romney made $15000 in 6 hours 3 minutes and 57 seconds.

It would take you 1444 years 1 months 2 days 6 hours 53 minutes and 45 seconds to make what Mitt made in 2010.

Now isn't that just (as the Church Lady would say) "Special?"

If only I could figure out how to live for another 1,444 more years, I'd be all set, wouldn't I?

Worth the Effort or Not?

When you own (or are buying) your own home, there's always something that needs repaired, remodeled, ripped out and/or resolved, isn't there? And it really makes no never mind if you have a nice relatively new house or an antique, like mine is as there's always something needed.

ALWAYS!

This place of mine will be 109 years old this year and overall, for a house that age, it's not in really terrible shape but it does need a good bit of work nevertheless.

One thing we're going to have to try to figure out how to get done -sometime in the not too distant future -is a new roof. Yes, by the standards most people set for having a home reroofed, it's well overdue to have this done but lucky for us, it's never leaked yet and that's a bonus considering the current roof is probably at least 33-34 years old now!

Then there's the siding that needs finished up because the contractor who did the bulk of the repairs on the house after the fire managed to screw up my funding so there wasn't enough of my loan and insurance money left to finish siding the back of the house. Sure would be nice to find a way to get that done too.

We need a new window in Kurt's room as the one in there is in an early stage of rotting out because it was not installed properly -or so they tell me anyway -but other than that the inside isn't in all that dire a need at the moment with the exception of the basement, that is.

And that's something I'm really wondering about -if it would be worth the money, time, mess and such to have the old concrete floors prettied up and covered up with basement floor tile? I might think about this differently if the stairway to the basement was a bit wider with a handrail and also, if each room down there were also a tiny bit larger as well as being heated too but since it's highly doubtful that those things will or could happen here plus, we'd also have to find a way to make the area "deeper" too because there isn't all that much headroom down there, so I'm thinking there really isn't much point then to try to figure out a way to improve on that area of the house and make it into something a bit more useful than just to house the washer and dryer.

I guess this is one area where the old expression "Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" really is the truth, isn't it?

Supply and Demand

I received a note today from a friend telling me that as of today, she is now officially retired!

Pretty doggone nice for her after working for the same office and company for 39 years. And I sure do hope she has a great time now finding new ways to enjoy her retirement.

But now this puts me in a bit of a pickle as I'd love to get her a nice little remembrance type gift -to let her know I'm happy for her -but one that I can also afford and that won't break the piggy bank, ya know. Plus, she lives almost 300 miles from me so we rarely see each other except once in a blue moon she make come here to visit relatives and I might happen to see her there, then, but who knows too how soon that will be. So, to get her a gift and have it sent to her -well, the darned postage then adds a bit more to the overall damage to the piggy bank then too.

So, what to do?

Well, I did what I find myself doing more and more these days -I went online and searched out for retirement gifts online where I found something fairly reasonable to my budget -although I'm thinking she might better prefer the picnic basket thing there complete with a bottle of wine. However, she's gonna have to make do with a little smaller present from me and that's final!

The nice thing about shopping like this is that I didn't have to walk out of my house, out into the cold to get something very nice for her and I think I really like that part the best of all!

The Letter!

Boy, did I ever get a surprise today and a sweet one it was too!

I received a letter, hand-delivered no less and the biggest surprise of this letter was that it was from Kurtis!

I know his printing is a bit difficult to read so I'll interpret this piece then for you.

At the upper right hand corner -that's the date, January 30. Then he addresses me with the 2nd line there - and believe me, it took me a good while to figure out that was saying just "Dear Grammie!" (Actually I think he has it printed out as "Gramee" or something akin to that.

Then, the body of his letter is really sweet "I luv my mom! Maya liks to play with legos." (Yes, he has likes spelled as "liks." And then he closes it with the "Love, Kurtis."

Isn't that just adorable though?

Now that I have this scanned into my computer I'm gonna have to go looking for some photo frames online to get just the right size and type too of frame to put this in and save it for posterity. Well, it's either that or big scrapbook -which might be in order anyway too!

I don't remember my kids ever writing me a letter, much less one done while they were still in kindergarten.

That just makes me a firmer believer in the saying I had on my status on Facebook today. "All grandchildren are Brilliant, Beautiful and Take after their Grandmother!"

That's gotta be the most honest Facebook status ever!

Viewing Pleasure

Our dog, good old little Sammy and our indoor cat, Pearl the PurrBall (because she purrs on a virtually continuous basis) have been friends since they first met -back in June or July when Mandy found Pearl and brought her home.

She was a sweet little kitten and still is a sweet, gentle, loving and friendly cat now too. The people who had been living in the house about 2 doors up the street from us had moved out and left Pearl and another kitten behind to fend for themselves. Pearl somehow had managed to crawl out an upstairs window and then, had fallen to the ground when Mandy found her. It was also pouring down rain on the poor kitten who then was about 6, maybe 7, weeks old so when she brought her into our house, the poor baby was shaking from the cold and wet, plus probably from being scared to death too.

Sam, of course, had to meet Mandy at the front door and definitely had to check out this new creature she held in her arms. So Mandy then put the kitten down on the floor and we stood back a bit, expecting the kitten to arch her back and throw up some defensive poses against Sam's advances.

However nothing of that sort happened at all!

Nope. Pearl took one look at Sam and sidled up next to him and before you knew it, the two of them were chasing each other around the house, frolicking like they were old time best buddies.

And they've been doing that ever since then although Pearl doesn't chase Sam every chance she gets now -only maybe every third or fourth chance as I suppose she is starting to grow up and mature a little bit. But she does still relish a good rough and tumble bit of exercise with Sam from time to time and she is frequently the one who initiates it too as she will go up to Sam and torment him until he responds and starts rough housing with her.



Here are two little videos that Mandy took the other evening here so you can see our two slightly strange and fun to watch pets in action!






As you can probably tell by watching these two silly videos, it takes very little to entertain us!

Switcheroos?

Oh, Katie bar the door and whatever else she's supposed to do when you want to warn people about certain things taking place!

Someone in this house in on a cleaning kick today (and it ain't lil ol' moi either!)

I'm not really complaining about this as when Mandy gets the urge to clean, big-time, like she is on track doing today, far be it from me to whine and moan about something like that. No sirreee, Bob!

Just give me ample opportunity to stay out of her way though.

Thankfully, today's cleaning spur is just that really -cleaning. Sometimes she get a wild hair and starts ahead of time trying to figure out what things she can change, other than just moving furniture and looking to make sure there are no "mouseketurds" lurking in any corners along with the dog and cat hairs and other accumulated dust bunnies.

One of these days, I fully expect her to go on a total revamping of all the switchplates which, as long as they are relatively plain and such -nothing along the lines of Michelango's David, ya know -maybe all nice new plain white ones -I wouldn't be objecting to that. (Yeah, color my world calm and oh maybe just a tad bland, huh? Probably not what you figured I'd lean toward there, is it?)

But, since she's got half the stuff in the living room all out almost in the mjiddle of the floor, including my lovely organ I wrote about last week, maybe this would be a good time to convince her that it would be really nice, even useful perhaps, to put the organ back and put the cord plugged back into the outlet in the wall while we're at it!

Just perhaps the time has come for that to take place once again!

Won't the cat be surprised though the next time she tries to walk on the keyboard and discovers her own brand of musical ability then too?

Just For Suldog!

Many of you who read my blog also follow the same bloggers so if I mention the name Suldog here, I rather suspect a whole lot of you will know exactly who I mean and also, of some of the many things he writes about and things that are high on his list of favorites.

Let me clarify this a bit first off though. Don't get too excited over this post Jim as it is meant for your information and not as an announcement of a pending gift for you. Although, if I ever hit the lottery really, really bigtime, I promise faithfully that I will then see to it that you receive this item!

Hey! I'm generous but also usually very broke hence the need to explain this a bit, ya know.

Anyway, while doing a little bit of surfing, looking for some nice little gift but affordable for my dear daughter's big birthday coming up in oh about 12 more days, I stumbled across something that just told me would make for a perfect gift for my good old blogger buddy, Jim -aka Suldog!

If you read his stuff then you know already that he's is heavy duty interested in sports -basketball, baseball, football and the like. Heck he's been playing on a softball team for umpteen years and for the past several years has professed time and time again that this will be the year he will finally give up playing that game because his knees are about ready to go totally out on him, (Wondering now if this will be the end of that road (year) for him?)

But anyway, what did I spy (with my one little eye) today but baseball cufflinks however, these aren't your run-of-the-mill cufflinks honoring the great all-American sport of baseball. No sirree!

These babies are made using leathers from old seats and such from famous baseball parks! And one of those parks that has cufflinks made from it is none other than Fenway Park which I do believe is up in Boston and that those Red Sox are one of Jim's favorite teams too!

I thought this would be something he might be interested in seeing -at the very least -or maybe even getting himself a set or letting his wife get that for him for some special occasion type gift.

Just hit me as being a great way to pay tribute to one of the things that's taken a good place of interest in a person's life, ya know!

Ah Woe is Me!

Let me first set this record straight here.

I do love plants! Flowers, especially, are high on my list of things I enjoy and appreciate but, to see how they respond under my apparently not fastidious enough care, would make folks think I am definitely a plant hater.

Green thumbs do not run in this part of my family tree!

That's some news that my Grandfather would find totally appalling, for sure. He always had flowers growing in little beds around the house and yard -everything he could possibly get that would grow in this climate during the spring thru fall months, I think he had it growing here.

One thing I don't ever recall seeing here though was any kind of special stuff to make the flowers grow bigger, stronger, faster, bloom hardy, etc. I wonder, were he alive and gardening today, would he try something like ProPlants for get well plants?

Indoor plants -and I grew up with lots and lots of beautiful African Violets growing and on display all over the downstairs of this old house as it was one of my Grandma's favorite things, favorite plants. And they too all grew and blossomed so well for her. But under my tutelage, the longest any plant has ever survived here as an ivy plant that somehow managed to live about 3 years in my kitchen!

And I thought that was quite an achievement too, believe you me!

I have a cousin on my Dad's side of the family who is a horticulturist and became interested in flowers way back when he was probably only about 8-10 years old. By the time he was maybe a freshman in high school, he had converted the back porch on his family's home into a makeshift greenhouse and was then growing orchids -beautiful, beautiful and very delicate orchids -in a large old fish tank! I can still see the look of shock and admiration in my Mom's eyes, on her face, when he showed her the various flowers he had growing -and blooming -in that porch.

One would never know I have people in my family trees who have the ability to breathe life, as it were, into these plants because I sure don't!

I keep telling myself that someday I'll do better but then, knowing my prior track record, and ability to kill, not nurture, I think it's best that I steer clear of harming any more of the floral community, don't you?

Master and Slave

Yesterday -that would be Sunday -we managed to get up (rise and sort of shine), get ready and made it out in time for church. Some Sundays, that's an impossible feat just for me to wake up in time to even think about getting ready to leave the house, ya know.

Since the kids both attend Sunday School immediately after services, we now also take two vehicle to transport four people to church. Why? Well, because Mandy stays after the service to help with the kids and be there when the Sunday School ends to bring them home. Meanwhile, I run to the local grocery store for the Sunday paper (Pittsburgh Post Gazette) and pick up other things too from time to time for our Sunday dinner or for Sunday brunch coffee and whatever trips my tastebuds trigger on that particular occasion.

Yesterday, it was doughnuts -cream filled for the most part with a couple other types -to have with my after-church coffee and while I read over the paper and messed around a bit with the crossword puzzles then too.

But yesterday morning, as Maya and I walked up the sidewalk to go into church, I realized what a beautiful morning it was. Sunny, bright and actually didn't even feel like January cold at all.

What a change the day had in store for us though!

When I left church, there seemed to be a very icy touch to the wind blowing things around -an iciness I sure hadn't felt a little over an hour earlier when I entered the building.

Just amazing how quickly temperatures can and do drop, how much colder it feels when just a bit of a breeze stirs up around a body too, isn't it?

And how our lives often parallel the weather at times.

Things sometimes do change in a heartbeat while others change, but more gradually, gracefully perhaps.

If someone had told me 9-10 years ago that someone in our lives was not going to be at all the same person today that he was then, I would have said that would be the most improbable thing ever.

But, sadly, I now know how that does happen. The winds of change to our lives, within our family came unannounced initially, then slowly at first, we noticed a few minor changes but three years ago now, things began to evolve even more and now, I would hope they've peaked out and that the individual involved in this mess has now perhaps reached bottom.

What caused all this upheaval, the "winds of change?"

That would be this.

DRUGS: I destroy homes, tear families apart, take your children, and that's just the start. I'm more costly than diamonds, more costly than gold, the sorrow I bring is a sight to behold, and if u need me, remember I'm easily found. I live all around you, in schools and in town. I live with the rich, I live with the poor, I live down the street, and maybe next door. My power is awesome; try me.......you'll see, but if you do, you may never break free. Just try me once and I might let you go, but try me twice, and I'll own your soul. When I possess you, you'll steal and you'll lie. You'll do what you have to just to get high. The crimes you'll commit, for my narcotic charms will be worth the pleasure you'll feel in your arms. You'll lie to your mother; you'll steal from your dad. When you see their tears, you should feel sad. But you'll forget your morals and how you were raised, I'll be your conscience, I'll teach you my ways. I take kids from parents, and parents from kids, I turn people from god, and separate from friends. I'll take everything from you, your looks and your pride, I'll be with you always, right by your side. You'll give up everything your family, your home, your friends, your money, then you'll be alone. I'll take and take, till you have nothing more to give. When I'm finished with you you'll be lucky to live. If you try me be warned this is no game. If given the chance, I'll drive you insane. I'll ravish your body; I'll control your mind. I'll own you completely; your soul will be mine. The nightmares I'll give you while lying in bed, the voices you'll hear from inside your head, the sweats, the shakes, the visions you'll see; I want you to know, these are all gifts from me, But then it's too late, and you'll know in your heart, that you are mine, and we shall not part. You'll regret that you tried me, they always do, but you came to me, not I to you. You knew this would happen. Many times you were told, but you challenged my power, and chose to be bold. You could have said no, and just walked away, If you could live that day over, now what would you say? I'll be your master; you will be my slave, I'll even go with you, when you go to your grave. Now that you have met me , what will you do? Will you try me or not? Its all up to you. I can bring you more misery than words can ever tell. Come take my hand, let me lead you to hell... Repost this and you might save a life... or at least make someone think

 If someone had told me back then that this would happen to this person in my family, I never would have believed it then, even though I've been aware for longer than that of how terrible any addiction can be to cope with.  

 But seeing is believing -unfortunately. 

Attitudinal Changes!

Thinking this morning about lots of things -good, bad and indifferent -and my mind wanders all over the place.

One place where my wandering mind crept into today though were thoughts about how some things in our lives have changed and really drastically too in many circumstances.

One of the most dramatic changes -with the kids for instance -has been their attitudes about doctors, nurses, appointments and such.

Not too terribly long ago, we dreaded having to take either of the kids for a doctor's visit. They were horrendous times filled with screaming, shrieking, kicking and screaming small children, to say the least.

Even if while we waited in the reception area the child could maybe be as good as gold but as soon as we got called back towards the examining rooms, Maya especially would set up such a fuss as soon as she laid eyes on the Howard-Medical.com medical cart. This was before the LPN even had a chance to say hello to her much less try to take her temperature (in her ear) and heaven forbid that she had to be weighed and/or have her height measured too!

All those things were relatively innocuous types of stuff that are standard parts of a doctor/nurse's entry examinations but to these two kids, they may as well have just met Frankenstein!

But somehow over the years, things eased out very nicely -thank goodness for that small miracle! And I'm quite sure the receptionists and nurses are all equally happy that no longer is there such wrenching pain-filled anguish involved to either of these kids when it comes time to go see the doctor and even to the dentist too!

I marvel at how much they have adapted and neither of them has this trepidation, this terrible fear of doctors, nurses, dentists, emergency room personnel, etc.

The dentists who saw me when I was a kid would be scratching their heads in amazement too and questioning if I'm really sure that these two are either the same children as before or are they really related to me?

A Bit Baffling!

There are lots and lots of things that truly do confuse me a lot. Rocket science, obviously, is one of them, people and why they sometimes do the really weird things they do at times is another obvious one too.

But sometimes there are lots and lots of other things that really do confuse the living daylights out of me and among those myriad of items to choose from various kinds of advertising stuff really can get me scratching my head -a lot!

Take this for an example: the ads we keep receiving in the mail from the electric company we deal with already in which they promote special savings to their customers. Then there are other things that offer low cost electricity but from other power companies and yet, they say our current power company will still be the provider of the current lines/power supply to our home.

Now, how exactly, can that be? That's the thing I really don't comprehend. Do you?

Of course, if I think back to an episode I saw on Law and Order a while back where some executive of some fictional power company and some other executives of other companies, managed to sell each other power and create well-timed outages so this company could then demand higher rates from their customers and so on, with the end result being that the wife of one executive and his daughter were kidnapped and his wife killed in the process -well sheesh, I sure don't want to risk anything like that happening, ya know!

Guess I'll still be confused, won't I?

Family Politics?

I heard on the news yesterday and saw in our local newspaper the announcement that the gentleman who has been our State Representative for the last 19 terms (AKA 38 YEARS) is going to retire now.

That was a bit of a surprise to me as I had kind of figured all along that he was going to just die in office someday.

I'm not going to put any comments in here of my opinion of the guy either as those who know me also probably are already well aware of my opinons/thoughts about him, his time/tenure in that office.

What I am wondering now though is whether I'll need to make arrangements for another campaign yard sign to put in my front yard again this year?

This sign was in my front yard last summer and early fall in support of my cousin, Paul J. (PJ) Monella regarding his run to be elected one of our county commissioners. I don't know if PJ will attempt to run now for the state legislature as he might be too busy with classes and also, I don't know if there is an age limitation on state elected officials or not. (He's only 19 -just turned that the beginning of this month!)

But someday, I fully expect PJ to run for this office -just right now might be pushing the envelope just a bit too much. However, when he does make a move in that direction, provided I'm still around on the face of the earth then too, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be there, supporting him with a big old sign in my front yard once again!

Three More Weeks?

Pretty soon my time in what I consider to be a sort of purgatory will be coming to an end. But will it end? Really? That's still a bit of an unknown entity to me at the moment.

The "purgatory" I'm talking about has to do with the allergy shots my grandson, Kurtis, is getting now. The time table mentioned is how much longer he will be getting these particular shots.

He went through all the testings back in December and the first of January and the results of those tests were -in some respects -a bit of a surprise to us.

That he tested very positive for allergies to many of the grasses, trees, leaves type things was NO surprise at all. But the fact that he showed being positive for allergies pertaining to pork, green beans, peas, soy, onion and garlic -now those were a bit of a surprise!

And they've created some problems for Mandy and me too in the process.

How to cook for him has always been a bit of a problem -for his sister too -as they've always had some "issues" -shall we say -with various food substances but not to the extent that they created any rashes or reactions, at least not pertaining to the above mentioned foods anyway.

From the time Kurt was a baby, Mandy had to screen any fruits or juices to see if they contained pears because anything with pears as an ingredient would give him a nasty diaper rash but no where in the testings did he register as being allergic to pears. Go figure that one, huh?

The pork thing -which of course means pork chops, spareribs, bacon, sausage and hot dogs -the latter three things that he likes and the pork chops/spareribs being something he had only recently begun to eat and surprise-surprise -that he also likes were things we could deal with.  I just don't fix ribs or chops for all of us for a meal until this shot period ends and we can re-introduce foods back to him. Hot dogs were easy to contend with as we switched to beef/kosher hot dogs and the bacon and/or sausage, we started trying turkey products in place of the pork sausage or bacon and he was fine with that.

Vegetables have always been an iffy meal item with both kids but not due to any reaction he ever had to any veggies, just his taste buds not being big on most veggies. But, wouldn't you just know it the green beans and peas were two that he initially would eat! That does figure to me because I am a firm believer in old Murphy and his stinking law, ya know.

But the roughest part of this whole thing has been trying to figure out what and how to cook without onions, garlic and yes, soy!

Soy seems to be a major component in just about any food products on the market today. One of those that Mandy discovered contains soy just happens to be the Nestle's Quik Chocolate Milk stuff and on learning that, she decided she wasn't going to remove that from his diet in order to preserve some degree of sanity for herself and for me! The boy is totally addicted to chocolate milk and LIVES for those periodic cups of chocolate milk that, in his mind, provide curative, restorative properties to him and fix all sorts of ills and ailments!

The onion and garlic thing was a big issue for me and my cooking though as I use those two items in just about everything I cook -well, except for breads, cakes, pies, etc., anyway!

But try getting allergy information about these food substances -now that's a whole 'nother ball game there!

Mandy did hear or read somewhere that when reading food ingredients on a package that the further down the list that a substance is mentioned means that it has lesser amounts of that substance in the product. So, with respect to products containing soy, we've pretty much taken that tact there. And we have done that on some occasions to where a product lists garlic powder too. My theory there is how much garlic powder could there possibly be in some items anyway?

As to my cooking, well I've made my own spaghetti sauce or marinara sauce sans onions and garlic by loading the sauce up with various other seasonings, including sugar, a bit more of the red cooking wine and bay leaves and the sauce has tasted pretty decent! (Yeah, I'll always believe it would be better were there some amount of chopped onions in it, but still and all, it was very passable in the end.)

But, I wish I knew to what degree he actually is or was or will be in the future too affected by these food items. Another three weeks to go with the shots and then, we can start introducing those items back in to his diet so as to see how much, if any, reaction his system has to them then.

Sure am hoping the onions/garlic and soy items come up as minimal though! And Mandy and I were both extremely relieved, as well as surprised, that he didn't test positively for being allergic to dogs or cats.

That could really have been very problematic news in this household!

Ups and Downs

The past week has been a full one, that's for sure. Full of funny little things coming from the kids -mainly from Kurtis and also, unfortunately, very full of some major downers that do come along with life.

I'm sure most everyone has heard by now the news coming out of my Alma Mater, Penn State University, that "Joepa," (as many referred to him) -Coach Joe Paterno, died on Sunday (January 22, 2012) of complications of lung cancer. It's been a very difficult time for the Penn State community as a whole since early November with all the bad news of "that" event circulating like a tornado some days and no need for me to mention it here. But regardless of what some people may think about Joepa, he was a great coach, mentor, family man and supporter of education -in particular, Penn State University. Although I never met him -never even ever passed him on campus while I was a student there in the early 90s -but I've admired him and his work for many, many years!

He will be missed, for sure!

And then, on Tuesday afternoon my daughter and her children (Maya and Kurtis) received some very sad news too. Her former father-in-law -the man the kids knew as "Pappy" - died of lung cancer too. Granted, we knew he had very little time left but no matter how much information you have, how much you prepare yourself and especially two small children for such news, it's still a difficult time for all concerned.

Mandy had been explaining as much as she could, as much as she felt the kids could grasp and understand about Pappy and his illness and such but still, when it came time to tell them what had happened, she was braced for an onslaught of questions -mostly from Maya. And yes, those questions did come forth too!

She started to tell them that Pappy had no longer been able to fight off the thing that had been making him sick and making him hurt any longer and so, he had died. Maya does understand to a degree about death but Kurtis -I'm not sure there about how much he really grasps. He hears things but he may be too immature right now to actually comprehend this. Mandy also tried to explain a bit of what we think will probably happen and, knowing that the plan is for Pappy to be cremated, she mentioned that too.

And after that, Maya's questions began and that's when Mandy called out to me -saying "Assistance needed in aisle two, Mom" -meaning hey, I don't know how to answer her, see if you can help me out!

So Maya came over to me and began by asking me "How do people go up to heaven? How do their bodies get there?"

So, I told her that our bodies don't go there, just our souls or our spirit -whichever you want to call it. And she seemed okay with that explanation. But then, she asked me what happens to people's bodies then when they die and I explained to her that most people are buried in the ground but some people are cremated and yes, I was hoping that she would gloss over my use of that word - "cremated" but my hopes were all for naught as her very next question, of course, was "What's cremation?"

Now, trying to figure out a way to explain that process to an 8-year-old who has a tendency to pick up on things and then obsess about them, I ended up telling her simply that right now, I felt that trying to explain cremation to her was a topic she wasn't really old enough just yet to understand exactly but when she is older, able to understand things better, I would explain this to her then.

And thankfully, she accepted that answer. But then, she caught me a bit off guard with yet another question as she asked me if people who are cremated have cream rubbed all over their bodies? Hmmm. Now how to respond to that. So I said "Well, in a manner of speaking I suppose you could say that."

And her response to that was to clap her hands together and say -very excitedly -"I knew it! I just knew they did that!" And away she went, off to her own devices and seemed content with the explanations she'd received. If she gets her mind set on something and the answers she's given don't register completely with her, she will keep on asking question after question until she is satisfied with what she'd heard in her mind so apparently -for the time being at least -she's coping fairly well then.

I mentioned as I began this post that the past week or so had also had some ups too and those times involve things with Kurtis, beginning with his questions one night last week at the supper table.

He was trying to skirt around finishing the chicken on his plate that he was just pushing around, not eating, when out of the blue, he asked me "Where do ducks come from?" I have no clue what possessed him to ask this question because there are no ducks around us and nothing about ducks had been mentioned prior to this.

So I answered him, very matter-of-factly, saying "They come from duck eggs." I figured this would suffice but unfortunately, he had other ideas as he then began to argue with me that no, they didn't. I don't know where Kurt gets his information from but it led to a strong discussion about who was right -him or Gram. Just before he asked me that question though, Maya had left the table to go back to the bathroom and as she came back to the dining room, I said to her, "Maya, Kurtis doesn't believe that ducks come from duck eggs. Will you tell him that I am right and he's wrong because they do come from duck eggs?"

Well, I wish you could have seen the look on her face when I said that to her. You could see she was really bewildered about what the heck Gram was talking about there so I repeated myself to her and then, you could see a look of understanding come across her face -that here was her chance to side with Gram in an argument with Kurtis that she could win! (And do it without getting into trouble too!) So she immediately then told him "Oh yes, Kurtis, they do come from duck eggs so you are wrong!"

And then she geared up to have a nice long session of lecturing Kurtis to show him how knowledgeable she, his big sister is and how he doesn't know anything at all. I think Kurtis sensed that was what was coming too because he then turned to her and said "I no wanna talk about duck eggs no more cause I am not interesting to them!"

I love the way he tries so hard to speak using "adult-type" words and sometimes, gets them a bit confused -like saying "interesting" instead of "interested" but it sure does say that he's understanding words and usage a lot better than we realize a lot of the time, isn't he?

Then another day last week, someone had posted a video on Facebook of Etta James -about her passing and the video was of her singing the song she was probably best known for, "At Last." I was sitting here, playing that video, watching and listening to the beautiful words and music when Kurtis came up to me asking "What's that noise?" So I corrected him by saying "Kurt, that's a lady who was a very good singer and she's singing a very beautiful song."

He backed off momentarily then came back over, standing by my left side and said, "Boy, she sounds like Mrs. Lawrence when she sings!" The Mrs. Lawrence he was referring to is a lady who belongs to our church but more than that, she is also one of the Kindergarten teachers at his school.

I had to giggle to myself at that comment and posted about it as my status then on Facebook that I was wondering if Mrs. Lawrence had any idea at all that Kurtis thought this highly of her singing! To which, one of the members of our church choir then responded by saying "Well, now they know who to go talk to about joining the choir!" I'm still waiting for the opportunity to tell Sue Lawrence this myself.

So anyway, there you have it - a few of the light and bright spots of life in our little "fast lane" here and also, the things that had come to pass within my grandkids world that will change their family, their roots and life and the event that also has greatly impacted not just my world as an alum of Penn State University but had saddened many, many people across the nation.

Rest in peace, Pappy and Joepa!