Christmas 2009

With free time while the twins were in Austin and Bill was gone, I tried my hand at baking oatmeal cranberry cookies. I got a Martha Stewart recipe off the internet, and the reviews were good. One reviewer used both white and brown sugar Splenda and it worked great. Well, I tried that, and followed the brown sugar Splenda guidelines to use 1/2 cup when the recipe called for a cup of brown sugar. The result was disastrous. The cookies were dry and had no flavor. I had 2 of them, Bill tried one and agreed with me. I thought to toss them out for the squirrels, but Bill reminded me there was a law against cruelty to animals!! So I baked my own throwdown Mexican chocolate cake recipe, which I now have to admit starts with a Duncan Hines dark chocolate cake mix in a box. Just follow the box directions, but add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp of cinammon. I make my own chocolate icing using unsweetened Baker's chocolate squares and the package recipe, and add the cayenne pepper and cinammon. So far everyone really likes it. Plain old milk chocolate is such a bore now, I love the dark spicy chocolate flavors!

I also got up my courage to clean off the roof myself. This involved getting the extension ladder out of the garage, tossing a broom on the roof and climbing up. I used to do this myself, and I still can!! Not that I want to, but the roof is now clean.
Christmas Eve is Jeff's birthday. (Bill's son.) We had lunch at Gugliani's and cake and ice cream and Jeff and Jaime's house.
Then on to Jennifer and Jeremy's for Christmas Eve with the twins. Jennifer fixed homemade enchiladas. The twins are starting to smile more and more.

Christmas Day I drove to Dallas to have lunch with Diane and her family. Unfortunately Richard's mother had to be sent to the hospital in Texarkana Christmas Day, so he and Blair drove there in the morning. So it was just Diane and Blaine and I for lunch, then we played cards in the afternoon. I also got to enjoy the remnants of snow in Dallas.

Dirty car from road slush.Clean car after post Christmas Day carwash.Christmas Day evening, Jason and Ashley and John came over to Diane's, for a visit. I spent the night at Jason's house.
Nephews Blaine and Blair and sister Diane.The morning after Christmas John opened presents from Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Jennifer, he really liked the sports center.
He also opened up a present from JanMa, "My First Little Harley". His Daddy and his Uncle Jeremy had those when they were toddlers, and loved them.
John liked all his new toys, and the boxes they came in.

The best Christmas present of all is that Jennifer has completed a successful thyroid cancer treatment and is well on her way to a full recovery.
The day after Christmas I also met Diane and my cousin Nelsie Petersen for lunch at Jake's, a hamburger place. Very good burgers, then I went to Nelsie's house for more visiting time.

Its God's Way

This has been a topsy-turvy week for me. Last Wednesday, less than a week ago, I was planning on keeping the twins while Jennifer had to be away from them. My sister Diane was coming down from Dallas on Friday to help me through the weekend. Mom was flying in Sunday for Christmas. Jason and Ashley and John were coming for graduation, which I would not be able to go to.
But last Wednesday, I wimped out and decided to let Grandpa Frank take the babies to Austin for the "duration". He wanted to help, there is a lot of family there that wanted to see/hold babies, and I didn't want to be selfish!! After all, I had spent a lot of quality time with the babies, especially the last week or so... basically I needed a break myself.
So then my sister wasn't going to come down, and I could go to graduation with Jason and Ashley and get to spend some time with John. Diane's husband was glad to keep her home for the weekend, he ended up having emergency eye surgery on Sunday morning to repair a detached retina. All is OK, but he can't fly to the UT game in January, they will have to drive... to California... on I-10 (no high elevations allowed). But good thing she was home and not here twin sitting with me.
Also, Mom got very sick, and she didn't make the trip to Texas for Christmas. She was on the verge of pneumonia, and wouldn't have been allowed around the twins or John anyway. Nor did I want to be around her either. And now her 17 year old cat, Precious, is very weak, can hardly walk, and is going to the vet today for a shot and more arthritis medicine. How fortunate that Mom is there with her and not here.
Sometimes we can readily see God's plans and really know that all things work out for the best.
But here I am, no company at all, Bill on a trip til later tonight, and no twins to take care of, and all the JanMa's Digital Memories work is completed. I had planned so well to adjust to retirement after work last June, but this sudden shift from lots of activity/company/responsibilities to nothing is a shock to my system, and I wasn't prepared for it.
But one should not live their lives in terms of others or things or activities, or should we? If we live for ourselves only, doesn't that discount the importance that family/friends and their lives have on ours? I suspect the emotionally healthy answer lies in a balance of our own selves and everyone/everything we interact with. A mother (or father) so totally caught up in the life of a child can suffer devastating loss when that child grows up and leaves home.
So I am proud that my sons are out there on their own, with wives to support them, and children they are responsible for. I embrace my daughters-in-law, adore my grandchildren, and still want to fly with Bill, play golf, get back into healthy exercise and nutrition, and be ready for the next AFGO.
So I baked oatmeal cranberry cookies and climbed on the roof to sweep off pine needles. Thanks goodness it was not God's plan that I fall off and break something!!

Both pictures below are of me when I was about 4 years old.  My Dad took them with 35mm slide film, and I scanned them recently.  It's nice to remember where we come from.

Twins Visit Austin

The twins are in Austin visiting with Grandpa Frank and Granny Tammy while Jennifer and Jeremy are in Galveston waiting out the radiation treatment. Jennifer had an early morning scan on Monday, Dec. 21, and after that she is cleared to eat whatever she wants to. French toast for breakfast, then either seafood, Mexican food and pizza for lunch. On Tuesday she can take her thyroid medication, and start getting her energy back. The twins will return from Austin on Wednesday.
Meanwhile they are having a great time in Austin, seeing all their family members who live there.

Claire is sleeping well in Austin, at least long enough for this picture.
Jake is resting on his tummy.
Uncle Nick holds Claire while Aunt Carrie and cousin Maddy look on. Maddy is glad to have a girl cousin, finally.
Claire seems to be quite happy while in Austin.
Great Grandma Robin can easily watch two at once.

Jennifer's Radiation Treatment

Thursday, Dec. 17, Jennifer went early to MDAnderson for a low dose radiation "test". She had been on the low idodine diet for 2 weeks, and off all thyroid meds (thus very tired and low energy.) The radiation is actually irradiated iodine, which will enter any remaining thyroid cells (thyroid cells thrive on idodine) and kill those remaining cells. After the low dose, she had to stay away from the babies for about 12 hours. I put my game face on and did my best, but Claire brought me to my knees early in the evening before Jeremy got home, and Jennifer had to work her magic. It only took about 2 minutes, then Claire was quiet and sleepy, and Jennifer backed off again. Jeremy got home soon after, and Aunt Becky and Uncle Gary showed up to relieve me.
On Friday, Jennifer went in for a scan, which showed the cancer cells still very localized in her throat. A moderate radiation dose was given, and she and Jeremy headed for Galveston and 5 days apart from the babies. The twins were picked up Friday morning by Grandpa Frank and Tammy and taken to Austin, where they will take charge of them for the duration. Jennifer and Jeremy will return to Spring on Tuesday, and Jeremy will retrieve the twins on Wednesday. And hopefully this will all be OVER, successfully. Jennifer has been a champ, strong and dedicated to her own health and caring for the twins. I have learned a lot from being around her.

JanMa gets desperate and takes on two at once.
Aunt Becky and Grandma James take their turn holding babies.
Four generations, Grandma James, Aunt Becky, Jennifer and Claire and Jake.
Jake naps in Lillie's arms on Thursday while Jennifer is at MDAnderson.
Erin, cousin Blaine's friend, brings dinner and visits with the babies Thursday evening.

Ashley's Graduation!

Saturday, December 19, Ashley Rene Robin graduated with her Masters' Degree in Family Counseling from UofH Clear Lake. She is the youngest person in my family to earn a Masters' Degree, and she told me the first one in her family. Kudos to Ashley, she has accomplished this while getting married, being pregnant, and taking care of John Howard. I am very proud of her, as I know is Jason and the rest of our extended family.
A benefit for me is that they stayed at my house Friday night and I rode with them to Reliant Arena for the ceremony on Saturday. I got to spend some time with John Howard, and even held him while he napped during graduation. I will see him again in Dallas/McKinney on Christmas Day, and I'm looking forward to watching him play with new toys on his first Christmas.

Sidenote: Although the pomp and circumstance of the graduation processional was on a somewhat smaller scale than what I had seen at UT and A&M graduations (mine and others), with all the banners and maces; it was still very much a colorful array of stripes and tassels and sashes. An errant thought struck me about how powerful higher academia really is; able to maintain archaic rituals (like churches do), able to convince the working world that a college degree conveys special powers to graduates, and able to command a princely sum for said degree. Sort of an unspoken contract, and a delicate balance. But what happens when those graduates don't get better paying jobs, or any job? Will a struggling economy/job market impact higher ed in reduced enrollments? When the price of the degree is more than the increase in salary, or even in a salary at all, the mass production of undergraduates may decline, and higher ed faculties may be the only ones who care about the colorful stripes and sashes and tassels.

Jason feeds John while waiting for graduation ceremony to begin.

Ashley and family after the ceremony.
Ashley and friend Lorissa and baby Heidi, Lorissa will graduate in May from same program as Ashley. Heidi is a few months older than John.
John shows JanMa how well-trained he is when told to smile for the camera.

Saving Money in Retirement

Living on a fixed income has financial challenges, as in not as much money comes in each month as when I was working. But experts have all kinds of advice and suggestions on how to stretch a dollar.
One popular suggestion is to save money by doing things themselves instead of hiring it out, like yardwork and cleaning services. I don't know what part of the planet these experts are from, but I have no plans to work in the yard in the heat and humidity of a Texas Gulf Coast summer. Alex, the yard guy, has a fast and efficient crew, and hasn't raised his price in all the years I have had him. Plus he will do other jobs, like dig drainage lines and shovel mulch. Lorenza, the cleaning lady, is a real pro and much more thorough in her cleaning than I would ever be, not to mention that she and her husband will haul off anything I want to get rid of, old clothes, furniture items, whatever. So not only do I save a lot of time by not having to clean or do yard work, I don't have to spend time having a garage sale. Also, I think my health is better for not having to work outside in the summer sun, (I have had a few skin cancers removed). And how many times have you heard of an old retiree who died while mowing the yard? That happens more often than you might realize. So Alex and Lorenza, and all their counterparts, provide essential services, and I will not be taking their jobs away from them, especially during this economic downturn. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem!
I actually do some of the work around here myself. In fact, as I write this blog, I am cleaning the kitchen floor and the pool.
Robby the Robot in the kitchen.
Polly the pool sweep in the pool.

Speaking of the economy, it is a good reason to cut back on Christmas spending, just like everyone else is doing, and to forego impluse shopping. So I am being a conscientious consumer during this economic downturn, not just a miserly retiree on a fixed income.
Another piece of advice from experts is to decrease spending on "work" clothes. Never having been a fashionista, this really hasn't saved me much. I wasn't spending much on clothes and make-up before, but now I'm spending zero on those items. I could also be saving money on drycleaning, but I never did that before either.
I could save on cost of getting to and from work, but my office was only 5 miles from the house, so that was never a major cost factor. Actually with more free time now, I am spending more money on gas driving to visit with twins in Spring, grandson John in McKinney (which I hope to do more often this winter), visiting with Bill.
I could cut back on charitable contributions, but the only charity I regularly supported before was United Way at work. Now no work, so no United Way... And now I can honestly tell a solicitation caller that I am now on a fixed income and can't help. Stupid, I know, but I never could just hang up, and I did used to feel a twinge when I turned them down, until a few years ago when I bought light bulbs from the blind one day and trash bags from the paralyzed the following week, and both invoices were to be paid at the SAME address. Now I can save money by not having caller ID, and can still fearlessly answer the phone and honestly tell a solicitor I am on a fixed income and then hang up.
So what can I really do to save money? I am cutting back on eating out at lunch, which I did while working. It served to break up the day in a relaxing way. Now, I cheerfully take advantage of Senior offers. Denny's has a great senior menu, Incredible Pizza has terrific senior buffet once a week, and WhatABurger has free coffee for seniors (excellent offer since a lot of restaurants are now jacking up the prices of drinks, and don't post those prices on a menu. Next time you eat out, check the menu for ice tea prices, see if you can find it anywhere on the menu.) And sometimes I can get Bill to share. We went this morning to one of our old favorites, the Black Walnut Cafe and we shared the TexMex omelet and a Sunrise muffin. Total bill was about $14, with $5 of that being the coffee and hot chocolate. I guess I could start just drinking water, much healthier anyway.

Black Walnut Cafe Christmas decorations. This place has a really nice 'feel' to it, sort of clubby.
We got a table by the window, with 2 large wingback chairs.
Fortunately, I don't have to painfully reduce expenses, I have lived on less than my income for years, dumping a lot of it into retirement plans. So my overall net income is about the same pre/post retirement. And also fortunately I'm not lured to spend my new-found free time shopping or otherwise spending more money, instead I'm staying quite busy with visiting grandbabies and working for the slave driver JanMa's Digital Memories. And I still have several things on my bucket list, including more flying, travel and golf. Sounds like another trip to Fredericksburg and the Hangar Hotel and Lady Bird Johnson golf course is on the horizon! Bill, get the plane gassed up, gosh I love this retirement life!

Merry Christmas

No Christmas cards this year, I'm going digital and putting my Christmas Greetings in this blog. I've been too busy to deal with Christmas cards, and time is getting short. I even bought the Christmas stamps, which I now won't be using, and they are NOT forever stamps. So if you need a Christmas stamp, and live close, let me know!!
Amazingly, despite having an interest in technology, I have never mastered the skill of printing labels or envelopes - quickly; so I sign and address Christmas cards by hand. Which is painful to me (my hand cramps up) and the reader, since my penmanship is somewhat lacking. But here in the blog, I can wish my family a Merry Christmas, provide all the info that is going on in my life, and include pictures of babies. So here we go....

Side note about Christmas presents - everyone seems to be cutting back on the presents, limiting it to children or very special others. That has fit in quite well with my fixed income status, and eliminated the "buying a present" just to have something to give. My gifts will be chosen for the uniqueness of the gift and individual, and inexpensive (which is different from just cheap!)

Although Jake and Claire may not get the hang of things this Christmas, it reminds me of Jeremy and Jason's early Christmas presents. Many of them were passed on from neighbors with older children who had outgrown Fisher Price toys, yet the toys were in mint condition. So Santa was overwhelmingly good to the boys their first few Christmases, and the tree was loaded with presents.
John Howard Robin, he will really enjoy his first Christmas. I will see him Christmas Day, and I have a present for him that his Daddy and Uncle Jeremy both loved when they were toddlers.
Claire enjoys her first Christmas tree.
Jake is also awed by his first Christmas tree.
Jake and Claire in Christmas outfits, these are some of the pictures taken by my neighbor/photographer (previous post) Andrea Lambert.

Jake slept through most of his photo shoot.
Claire seemed to enjoy being the center of attention.
My Christmas trees, inside and outside.

Jennifer and JanMa's Updates

Jennifer update: She is getting tired in the evenings, and Jeremy has a big project to finish at work, so family is helping out in the evenings. I stayed Friday night til 10:30, when the night nanny Luz arrives. The babies were good, we fed them around 8:00, then they went to sleep and were still out when I left at 10:30. (BTW, whatever Luz is getting paid is not enough, cause I wouldn't do night duty for any amount of money (only for love of the kids and babies, of course, but I hope I never have to do it night after night!)). Jennifer's sister Diana and Aunt Becky are taking turns Saturday and Sunday nights from 6:00 - 10:00 pm, I'll do it during the week, and my sister Diane arrives on Friday to help out through Monday, while Jennifer and Jeremy languish away in Galveston! I hope they get to languish, and Jennifer doesn't suffer from radiation side effects. Plus she still has to stay on the low iodine diet, egg white omelets with tomatoes, rice cakes, salads with homemade dressings, and chicken. If she wasn't off her thyroid meds, she would probably lose a lot of weight! Hopefully this will all be over by December 23, and she will be home in time for Christmas. If not, I hear the lights in Galveston are quite pretty at Christmas time!!

Jan's Retirement update: I have completed all but one of the JanMa's Digital Memories projects that are due before Christmas. The last one is merely copying DVD's, but I have to make 25 copies, and this is real-time copying, so roughly 50 hours of time. So, to make JanMa's more professional and to free up my living room TV for tv watching, I dragged Bill to WalMart on a Saturday after lunch (big NO NO) and bought a 22" LCD TV for my office. I've hooked up the DVD recorder/players to the new TV in the office. This keeps JanMa's Digital Memories in the office, and out of my living room.

Jeremy feeds Jake Friday evening.
Saturday was a dreary, drizzly day, Bill and I drove west toward Montgomery to check out new restaurants. We had lunch at Sam's Boat overlooking the lake. Shrimp basket was very good. Have you noticed that menus no longer seem to mention the cost of drinks, like ice tea and soda? It is a plot to generate income without really raising food prices. Two $5.95 lunch specials can quickly become a $20 lunch, with 2 ice teas at $2.79 each plus tax and tip.

Very hazy view of the lake from Sam's Boat Restaurant. But I'll come back in the spring when the weather is nice, and sit out on their patio looking over the lake in the evening.
JanMa's new LCD tv for the office, with DVD player and recorder connected copying a DVD.

Twins update

The twins enjoyed showing off some of their new skills. Claire is smiling more often, Jake flashes a smile also. Both babies are starting to "talk" in response to us talking to them. They do a lot of arm waving and feet kicking, getting in a lot of exercise. They are eating well, every 3 1/2 to 4 hours now, napping during the day sometimes over an hour at a time. They get tummy time and bumpo seat time each day now. They have to share the seat, that is one thing they only have one of. Jamie will pass Travis' seat to the twins, so soon they will have two. Digestive issues seem to have decreased, fewer tummy aches and grunts and strains. They each have their own personality, different ways they like to be held. Jake likes to be held up on the shoulder, Claire likes to lay back in your arms. Jake can be more focused and intent, Claire smiles more. Jake fights sleep, Claire usually falls asleep quicker. But Jennifer has a way with both of them, and seems to know what each baby needs at any given time. And I cherish each moment I have with them. I just love being JanMa.

Jennifer borrowed Jamie's swing that son Travis has outgrown. Now both babies can swing and watch the mobiles move around before naptime.
Claire gazes at the Christmas tree from the bumpo seat.

Jake is mesmerized by the tree also.
Jake likes to look at the tree from any level.
Look Mom, I've growed a lot!
Tummy Time practice.