The title of the Eugene O'Neill play - "A Long Day's Journey Into Night" really strikes me tonight as a good way to describe my day today! Because, it was truly a long day for me as I "journeyed" towards my night!
My long day began last night - or rather in the middle of the night about when I was seriously giving thought to going to bed but those plans were scratched by my granddaughter. Seems that Miss Maya woke up about 2:30 or 3 a.m. - somewhere around that time - and was laboring under the mistaken impression that it was time for her to "rise and shine." And since I was the one still up and at least semi-awake at the the time, it fell to me to stay awake with her then and try to coax her into laying down on the sofa with Grammy in hopes she would fall back to sleep.
Then about 45 minutes later, her little brother, Kurtis, decided to join her in her wide awake state only this time, the kids' mother was up with him while I was still trying to convince Maya why she should go back to sleep or to bed. Finally, about 5 a.m. or so, Mandy did convince Maya to go back upstairs to her bed, although she was not very pleased once she landed back in her crib. Mandy just politely closed her door and let her scream and after about 10-15 minutes, she did then bite the dust.
But by then I was wide awake and spent my timeplaying solitaire on the computer till about 7 a.m., when Mandy's husband got up and came down to get ready to go into work today. So I finally crashed on the sofa at about 7:30 a.m or there about and slept till around 10 a.m. when Mandy and Kurtis got up. Mandy had to run some errands in town so she was kind enough to take Kurtis with her so in my semi-awake state then I only had to deal with Miss Maya who didn't wake up then till about 11:30. When Mandy came home about 1 p.m., I headed off to my bed for a nap because I knew I had to be able to stay awake all evening tonight!
The reason being we - Mandy, the two little ones and I - were going down to Bellefonte to attend a dinner and awards ceremony for the cubs scouts and webelos down in that vicinity where my grandson Alex is a webelo and his father (my soon-to-be-ex-son-in-law) is leader for Alex's troop or pack or whatever it is called.
The dinner was very nice - very good too! Ham, mashed potatoes (and not the instant type either I might add), baked beans, corn, applesauce, tossed salad and lots and lots of really good desserts too!
The kids in the various cub scout and webelos dens were honored for some achievements and my grandson, I'm really proud to say, took first prize in the contest for selling the most popcorn to benefit the troop! His prize - a really nifty Coleman camping lantern just the right size and such for a young boy his age to have on a camping trip! He looked so dapper too first as he stood at attention when the cub scouts brought in the flags and we did the pledge to the flag and then, when his name was called as the first place winner in the contest and he had to go up front and get his prize, he did it with a good mix of pride and humility too! He's really such a terrific young fellow and yes indeed, Grammy J is very, VERY proud of him!
After dinner, we had to run down to State College to the Walmart there and pick up a few items we needed rather than put it off to tomorrow to do that. First off, Mandy has to work tomorrow and secondly, the weather forecast is not a very pleasant one either as they are calling for a "wintry mix" to come through overnight tonight and last most of the day tomorrow. That will consist of the three lovely elements to make a perfectly miserable day - snow accumulations, sleet and yes, freezing rain! Wonderful, wonderful!
While Mandy was roaming at Walmart with Maya, my older daughter, her fiance, the baby and I were traipsing through the Barnes and Noble store and I managed to find a nice buy for myself - the book "Coal Run" by Tawni O'Dell. I'd read her first book "Back Roads" when it (and she) appeared on the Oprah Book Club and really had enjoyed her writing so I was quite pleased to find this book in a very affordable paperback edition tonight! This story - "Coal Run" - like "Back Roads" is set in a coal mining town someplace in Pennsylvania which gives her work a lot of appeal to me plus the fact Ms. O'Dell is now residing "locally" too - in State College so it's kind of special then to read a book done by someone who lives fairly close to my home ya know!
Anyway, by the time we finally got back home, it was after 11 p.m., both kids were totally worn out and I was pretty doggone close to that status myself! But, because of my sleep being all messed up earlier today, it had interferred with my e-mailing and my blogging things so I decided I would try to catch up on reading my favorites blogs and then do my post for the day and go to bed.
I made it through just over half of the blogs I normally read each day and decided to change my plan of attack and skip the rest of the reading tonight, do my posting and surprise, surprise, then go to bed before 2;30 a.m.!
And according to my computer clock, which says it is now 2:05 a.m., I'm moving along a bit ahead of schedule so if I pick up and flop my fat self in bed as soon as I close out this post, I might even manage to be asleep too by 2:30 a.m.!
Imagine that! See, and you thought miracles don't happen, didn't you?
It just might be a miracle for me to achieve that but today was really a very long journey to get to saying good night!
Showing posts with label Night owl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Night owl. Show all posts
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Monday, December 11, 2006
Getting An Early Start
Ask anyone who knows me really well - family, some of my close friends and neighbors - and they'll attest to this. I am a Night Owl! In my mother's family, this is considered to be a family trait as many of us from the good old Eld family clan, have a propensity to staying up very late, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. There are many times when I am going to bed when others are getting up to start their day. This ability or love for staying up all night or maybe just not liking getting up at terrible hours -like say, 5 or 6 a.m. is what enabled me to survive working the graveyard shift at a nearby truckstop for several years!
This past Saturday night was one of those "all-nighter" type events for me. It was about 5 a.m. when I finally decided to shut everything off and crawl into bed.
What possessed me to stay up that late? I decided about 11 p.m. to work on the 4 remaining bibs I had cut out to make for little gifts for my two youngest grandchildren. After getting them completed, I then decided to experiment with a pattern I have had for quite a while but never got around to using it and I cut out and made a little fleece type sweatshirt for my grandson, Kurtis - who will be 8-months old this coming Wednesday - December 13th. It turned out really cute and Mandy, his mother, liked it. So, at least I know -provided it fits him ok - she will wear it on him.
After that, I cut out and almost finished a pair of corduroy coveralls for my granddaughter, Maya. She's the three-year-old who really keeps me - and everyone else here too - on their toes, getting into more mischief at times than I care to think about! I used a dark blue corduroy for these coveralls - not a bright royal blue, not a really dark navy blue, not sure what color this blue would be called - maybe "periwinkle" - but anyway, what I have completed thus far of this project, it looks like they will be a nice item for her wardrobe. I have a piece of knit fabric - a blue floral design - that I thought would coordinate nicely with this color of blue, but Mandy voted that fabric down. She isn't really into "floral" designs, or so she says now! I do have another piece of knit fabric though which is also sort of a floral type, but it is a combination of hearts and flowers on a white background and I noticed the blue flowers in this material will match up nicely to the blue corduroy, so looks like Miss Maya will be getting a turtleneck out of that fabric now too!
The dinner at our church tonight and program was very nice although the attendance this year was down a good bit from what it generally is. I don't know why this would be since the weather today was fine - unlike some years when we had so much snow the weekend of the dinner/program that we had to cancel it completely! That happened the year my daughter, Mandy, was scheduled to have her day in the sun as St. Lucia and she was really upset - quite hurt, thinking she wouldn't get to wear the wreath of candles on her head, serve the little St. Lucia buns and spend the rest of the week getting all the wax out of her hair too! Lucky for her, at that time, we didn't have an abundance of young girls in her age range, so they allowed her to be St. Lucia the following year!
We were concerned about the church event today though with respect to Maya as she has had an "attitude" about going into the church for several months now - dating clear back to May of this year! We have two services here - on at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and the Sunday service at 9:30 a.m. - which often is difficult for me to get my old self up and out of bed and ready to make it there at such an EARLY hour! The Thursday night service is no easy thing for me to manage either because often, due to Mandy and/or Bill's work schedules, we are just getting ready to have supper then. And, I hate to serve several different meals - getting it all ready to put on the table for one family meal can be hard enough at times!
But, one Thursday evening, the stars, moon and sun all aligned, Mandy didn't have work that night so we loaded the two little ones into the car and headed out to church.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Maya began to throw a hissy fit - crying, then screaming. We got her out of the car, semi-settled her down and headed for the main entrance and she no more than set foot inside the narthex, but what she sat down in the middle of the floor there and really - and I do mean REALLY - pitched a royal fit then! Screaming and shrieking, she just about scared the living daylights out of one lady from our church. I swear I saw her jump about 3 inches off the floor as Maya let out one of the blood-curdling shrieks of which she is noted for around the house!! There was not getting her to calm down so Mandy took her home and left me there, with Kurtis, telling me she would return in about an hour to pick us up!
In early July, the day we had Kurtis baptized, Maya did a re-run of the screaming meemies and as a result, I spent the entire service between sitting out beyond the glass windows at the back of the church, on a bench in the narthex or out walking around the parking lot with her! And she sobbed or screamed for most of the entire time of that service! When it came time to take communion, Mandy had gone up to the altar and after she was finished, she came out and held Maya then for a few minutes so I could partake of communion too. And then, back to the narthex to hold and rock Maya and try to keep the decibel level as low as possible till the end of the service.
After the service was over though, she was fine - running around the narthex, being nice and friendly to folks we hadn't seen in a while and generally, happy! Go figure!
But tonight, although she started to fuss slightly when they first got to the parking lot, by the time they got her inside, she was fine. Sat in a high chair at the dining table where her Mom, Dad and Uncle Clayton and I were seated, ate fairly well, and seemed to enjoy the program and music too! She was fine with all the church members who came by and paid attention to her - even showing off a little of the latest things she has learned - "Twinkle, Twinkle, little star" as well as showing off how she can sing "Happy Birthday" and now, "Jingle Bells" which I just started teaching her that one this past week! Too cute. Her way of saying Jingle Bells sounds like "Jingy Beh, Jingy Beh" but she is enjoying learning the words - as well as trying to do the melody - and it is such fun for us to help her learn these things!
This year, Leah Lawrence, was our St. Lucia - last year, it was Alina Bumbarger, my next-door neighbor's daughter. Both girls are very pretty young ladies in all respects - attractive as well as being very nice kids too! Maya's big sister, Kate, was an attendant in the St. Lucia Court again - as were the other two children, Sierra and Shane - and Maya was thrilled watching them in the procession, each carrying a lit candle before St. Lucia entered the room. If all goes well, probably two years from now, Katie will have her turn at St. Lucia - as next year, it will be Katie Hulett's turn. That Katie's mother (Karen) is the same age as my older daughter, Carrie, and she is the granddaughter of my best friend here - Kate - who I wrote about two months or so in my blog.
My son got his first week of work as a long-haul truck driver in. He left Tuesday afternoon, got home about 4 am. Sunday morning and while he was out on the road, he drove from Harrisburg to Atlanta, then to Fort Worth, from there to Hagerstown, MD, then to Nashville or Knoxville - not sure which, but someplace in Tennessee and then, back home! He is really happy he says with the new job - enjoys the driving and also, being able to see so much of the country while getting paid! A good bonus there! He'll be leaving again Monday afternoon now and I will most likely have to drive him over to Clearfield to meet up with his co-driver and who knows what sights he will see this week then!
I'm hoping too after I take him to Clearfield - since I am finally allowed to drive again - that I will be able to stop at the nursing home there and visit with my Aunt and her daughter for a little while. I haven't had a chance to get over there since around the beginning of October and I suppose by now, she probably thinks I have forgotten about her and my cousin completely! Since she has no phone in their room, family and friends can't call her to talk to her - which to me, would be a good thing if my cousin who has power of attorney for her would see to it that they have a phone in their room. But, it's not my decision to make there so will have to deal with things as best we can then.
Since my lovely shingles - that I acquired across the right side of my back and around the right front of my body back at the end of August - are still with me, still pinching like crazy some days too, have been acting up a lot more again with the pain issues, I took a pain pill around 1 a.m. in the hopes it would make me drowsy enough to fall back asleep and I can now feel that the pill is finally starting to kick in! Only took it about two hours to begin to work there! So, I think I will head to bed now.
But it's an early time for me to retire - only about 3:30 a.m.!
But, I did get a "jump" on things - got at least one post entered here for today now. Look what my early riser readers have already and waiting for them today!
Nite, now!
This past Saturday night was one of those "all-nighter" type events for me. It was about 5 a.m. when I finally decided to shut everything off and crawl into bed.
What possessed me to stay up that late? I decided about 11 p.m. to work on the 4 remaining bibs I had cut out to make for little gifts for my two youngest grandchildren. After getting them completed, I then decided to experiment with a pattern I have had for quite a while but never got around to using it and I cut out and made a little fleece type sweatshirt for my grandson, Kurtis - who will be 8-months old this coming Wednesday - December 13th. It turned out really cute and Mandy, his mother, liked it. So, at least I know -provided it fits him ok - she will wear it on him.
After that, I cut out and almost finished a pair of corduroy coveralls for my granddaughter, Maya. She's the three-year-old who really keeps me - and everyone else here too - on their toes, getting into more mischief at times than I care to think about! I used a dark blue corduroy for these coveralls - not a bright royal blue, not a really dark navy blue, not sure what color this blue would be called - maybe "periwinkle" - but anyway, what I have completed thus far of this project, it looks like they will be a nice item for her wardrobe. I have a piece of knit fabric - a blue floral design - that I thought would coordinate nicely with this color of blue, but Mandy voted that fabric down. She isn't really into "floral" designs, or so she says now! I do have another piece of knit fabric though which is also sort of a floral type, but it is a combination of hearts and flowers on a white background and I noticed the blue flowers in this material will match up nicely to the blue corduroy, so looks like Miss Maya will be getting a turtleneck out of that fabric now too!
The dinner at our church tonight and program was very nice although the attendance this year was down a good bit from what it generally is. I don't know why this would be since the weather today was fine - unlike some years when we had so much snow the weekend of the dinner/program that we had to cancel it completely! That happened the year my daughter, Mandy, was scheduled to have her day in the sun as St. Lucia and she was really upset - quite hurt, thinking she wouldn't get to wear the wreath of candles on her head, serve the little St. Lucia buns and spend the rest of the week getting all the wax out of her hair too! Lucky for her, at that time, we didn't have an abundance of young girls in her age range, so they allowed her to be St. Lucia the following year!
We were concerned about the church event today though with respect to Maya as she has had an "attitude" about going into the church for several months now - dating clear back to May of this year! We have two services here - on at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and the Sunday service at 9:30 a.m. - which often is difficult for me to get my old self up and out of bed and ready to make it there at such an EARLY hour! The Thursday night service is no easy thing for me to manage either because often, due to Mandy and/or Bill's work schedules, we are just getting ready to have supper then. And, I hate to serve several different meals - getting it all ready to put on the table for one family meal can be hard enough at times!
But, one Thursday evening, the stars, moon and sun all aligned, Mandy didn't have work that night so we loaded the two little ones into the car and headed out to church.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Maya began to throw a hissy fit - crying, then screaming. We got her out of the car, semi-settled her down and headed for the main entrance and she no more than set foot inside the narthex, but what she sat down in the middle of the floor there and really - and I do mean REALLY - pitched a royal fit then! Screaming and shrieking, she just about scared the living daylights out of one lady from our church. I swear I saw her jump about 3 inches off the floor as Maya let out one of the blood-curdling shrieks of which she is noted for around the house!! There was not getting her to calm down so Mandy took her home and left me there, with Kurtis, telling me she would return in about an hour to pick us up!
In early July, the day we had Kurtis baptized, Maya did a re-run of the screaming meemies and as a result, I spent the entire service between sitting out beyond the glass windows at the back of the church, on a bench in the narthex or out walking around the parking lot with her! And she sobbed or screamed for most of the entire time of that service! When it came time to take communion, Mandy had gone up to the altar and after she was finished, she came out and held Maya then for a few minutes so I could partake of communion too. And then, back to the narthex to hold and rock Maya and try to keep the decibel level as low as possible till the end of the service.
After the service was over though, she was fine - running around the narthex, being nice and friendly to folks we hadn't seen in a while and generally, happy! Go figure!
But tonight, although she started to fuss slightly when they first got to the parking lot, by the time they got her inside, she was fine. Sat in a high chair at the dining table where her Mom, Dad and Uncle Clayton and I were seated, ate fairly well, and seemed to enjoy the program and music too! She was fine with all the church members who came by and paid attention to her - even showing off a little of the latest things she has learned - "Twinkle, Twinkle, little star" as well as showing off how she can sing "Happy Birthday" and now, "Jingle Bells" which I just started teaching her that one this past week! Too cute. Her way of saying Jingle Bells sounds like "Jingy Beh, Jingy Beh" but she is enjoying learning the words - as well as trying to do the melody - and it is such fun for us to help her learn these things!
This year, Leah Lawrence, was our St. Lucia - last year, it was Alina Bumbarger, my next-door neighbor's daughter. Both girls are very pretty young ladies in all respects - attractive as well as being very nice kids too! Maya's big sister, Kate, was an attendant in the St. Lucia Court again - as were the other two children, Sierra and Shane - and Maya was thrilled watching them in the procession, each carrying a lit candle before St. Lucia entered the room. If all goes well, probably two years from now, Katie will have her turn at St. Lucia - as next year, it will be Katie Hulett's turn. That Katie's mother (Karen) is the same age as my older daughter, Carrie, and she is the granddaughter of my best friend here - Kate - who I wrote about two months or so in my blog.
My son got his first week of work as a long-haul truck driver in. He left Tuesday afternoon, got home about 4 am. Sunday morning and while he was out on the road, he drove from Harrisburg to Atlanta, then to Fort Worth, from there to Hagerstown, MD, then to Nashville or Knoxville - not sure which, but someplace in Tennessee and then, back home! He is really happy he says with the new job - enjoys the driving and also, being able to see so much of the country while getting paid! A good bonus there! He'll be leaving again Monday afternoon now and I will most likely have to drive him over to Clearfield to meet up with his co-driver and who knows what sights he will see this week then!
I'm hoping too after I take him to Clearfield - since I am finally allowed to drive again - that I will be able to stop at the nursing home there and visit with my Aunt and her daughter for a little while. I haven't had a chance to get over there since around the beginning of October and I suppose by now, she probably thinks I have forgotten about her and my cousin completely! Since she has no phone in their room, family and friends can't call her to talk to her - which to me, would be a good thing if my cousin who has power of attorney for her would see to it that they have a phone in their room. But, it's not my decision to make there so will have to deal with things as best we can then.
Since my lovely shingles - that I acquired across the right side of my back and around the right front of my body back at the end of August - are still with me, still pinching like crazy some days too, have been acting up a lot more again with the pain issues, I took a pain pill around 1 a.m. in the hopes it would make me drowsy enough to fall back asleep and I can now feel that the pill is finally starting to kick in! Only took it about two hours to begin to work there! So, I think I will head to bed now.
But it's an early time for me to retire - only about 3:30 a.m.!
But, I did get a "jump" on things - got at least one post entered here for today now. Look what my early riser readers have already and waiting for them today!
Nite, now!
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