Thanksgiving week

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I joined a Amy and other former work colleagues for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. We were catching up with another former work colleague who had moved to Seattle and was back for a family Thanksgiving visit. She had stories of going through airport security, and teased us with descriptions of the cooler weather in Seattle.
The next day, I started feeling a cold coming on. Out came the Zicam, multiple types, and Bill brought chicken soup. After 2 days I had fought it off. I do like that Zicam stuff. But what I like even better is Vick's Nyquil! I had a niggling cough at night after the cold had cleared out, and I took some Nyquil that is supposed to help symptoms of coughing, runny nose, fever, and whatever else that might ail you. I will testify that a swig of that at night not only rids you of those symptoms, but acts like anesthesia, in that I have no memory of the next 8 hours. I awoke the next morning dried out, a little groggy, and assumed I had slept well!
Wonder why a large pair of pliers is in the bathroom? A week or so earlier, the dermatologist had removed a spot from my back, about in the middle of my left shoulder blade. He instructed me to remove the bandage and put more bacitracin and another large bandaid on each day. WELL, for a person who lives alone, and who cannot reach the said spot, the daily thing never happened. What did happen is that after a few days the bandage did come loose, helped along by a back scrub brush. But no amount of contortions allowed me to pull it the rest of the way off. So with the help of a pair of ancient, rusty pliers, I was able to reach behind my shoulder and grab and yank it off. The spot will just have to heal on its own, and the biopsy was negative.

On the day before Thanksgiving Bill and I went to a movie, Morning Glory with Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford. It was OK, I expected it to be more like the movie with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, which was VERY funny. But it wasn't nearly as good. Should've waited for On Demand to show it and watched it at home. BUT the good part was that even though I expected the parking and theater to be really crowded, it wasn't. Instead it was practically empty! I guess everyone was at home cooking and preparing for Thanksgiving.
It was a great holiday week, Bill was off the entire time, we saw various family members, ate too much, and his team won the football game!

Thanksgiving Holidays

Bill, Jeff and William on Thanksgiving Day at Jeff's house.
People say the holidays can be stressful. No one I know goes "over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house." But there is that nostagic expectation of presiding over a long table piled high with food and multi-generation faces of adult children, older parents, siblings and young grandchildren, nieces/nephews, cousins, infants and toddlers. Even thinking about trying to make that happen is stressful. With multiple grandmothers and great-grans, and many miles in between, "family" might be whoever you sit down at the table with on Thanksgiving Day. I have been known to "invite" myself to a friend's house who is a great cook, when I am home alone for Thanksgiving.

There is also something about spending hours cooking turkey and multiple other dishes with high expectations of culinary delight that creates stress, especially when the food is inhaled in a matter of minutes, and you face stacks of dirty dishes (usually fine china and crystal that require hand-washing!) while others doze in front of football games on TV. My sister and her husband go out to eat so they can get to Austin for the football game. Bill and I have spent several special Thanksgivings on the road, each one was fun and stress-free with no cooking, no clean-up and no agonizing over which family group to spend the day with.

This year was special. Bill has a new grandson, Jason and his family came to Jeremy's house, and Bill and I were going to have lunch at Jeff's, then wander over to Jeremy's for late afternoon pie and I was going to stay for the UT - A&M football game. Turkey dinner at Jeff's was excellent, my food contributions were minimal, and baby William was a delight.
Then we headed over to Jeremy's house. Unfortunately the twins were ill, Jason was trying to keep John separated from them, which caused distress for John and Jake, and Claire was just miserable. Jason ended up driving home that night, Jeremy and Jennifer took the twins to the ER, and Bill and I enjoyed a bite of dessert and did some clean up, then went to his house to watch the football game. I think Jennifer and Jeremy take the stress award, they had prepared a large meal, had several family members over, and took 2 sick kids to the ER. I did get to hold Jake, Claire, John and Taylor, but got no pictures!

The next day I did no shopping. I take great pride in the fact that I have never hit the stores on Black Friday, not a 3 a.m. nor anytime after. I met Bill and his visiting sister, her son and his fiance who now live in Houston for breakfast tacos. Later in the day went to his niece's house in Houston to eat yet again and visit with more family.
We even skyped with Bill's older brother Pete and wife Janet (parents of the nieces) and showed off baby William. Pete and Janet were using a Skype video phone, which has a 7" screen and doesn't require a computer, just an ethernet or wifi connection. The Jetson's video phones are now a reality!
We saw a lot of family and ate too much, but all in all, a stress-free Thanksgiving. And for that I'm thankful!

Babysitting William

I got to spend several days babysitting Bill's grandson William, just over 2 months old, until the nanny could start work. William is a great baby, and Bill stopped by to spend some Grandpa time and bring me lunch!

Tummy Time!

William was very focused on every word Bill said.

Taking a walk and enjoying the nice weather.

The beginning of a smile

He'll be turning over before long!

Sammy, JanMa and William all taking morning nap.

William enjoys Chuggington, just like John does!

Sammy and William

Golf Balls and Snakes!

Late this afternoon as I was resting on the couch watching my gal Diane Sawyer through closed eyelids, I heard a loud explosion in the house. Gas explosion? Nope, all electric house. Gunshot? Possibly, it is Texas and there are a lot of woods behind my house. But the explosion was followed by a tinkling sound. I have heard this once before right after I moved into this house - it is the sound of a golf ball shattering my kitchen window (explosion) and shards of glass landing in the sink (tinkling). It is so rare because the golfer has to be really bad to hit a hard slice short enough to tag my house. Plus there are a lot of trees in the way that block most bad shots.

I raced, in my ratty house shoes, out the back door through the fence gate and fought my way through the woods to get to the fairway and yell at the person who hit the golf ball. The woods are pretty snarly with thorny vines, and I got caught up in a tangle of vines and fell - ugh. I dragged myself to my feet in time to see a golf cart racing over the hill off in the distance down the fairway.
As I headed back through the backyard, I stopped to check the pool skimmers and found a snake in one. It was a small harmless kind, so I let it slither around a stick and tossed it over the back fence.
Then I cleaned up glass, called the glass company to come out the next day to replace the window. Called the housekeeper to be prepared to clean up left over glass and alert her to let the glass guy in the house to fix the window.
Then I noticed the blood dripping down my leg, washed and cleaned that and slapped a couple of large bandaids on the scrapes. Note the ratty house shoes.
All this excitement at the end of the day only lasted about 45 minutes, but it makes for a good blog post and a good excuse to have some chocolate!

Twin sitting

I got to babysit the twins while Jennifer had an annual follow-up at MD Anderson. After breakfast, the twins helped me empty the dishwasher.

Then they helped me check out the clothes I had just folded!

Jake pushed his high chair around, but the most important thing is that he would let go and stand there. He is doing more and more of that, letting go and standing alone for several seconds before he grabs back or drops to the floor to crawl.
The twins spent the morning playing downstairs. They soon discovered the door stop and the delightful boing noise it makes when you pull it. Notice Jake pulling Claire's hand away so he can pop it himself. Of course, earlier Claire had tapped Jake on top of his head with her spatula!

Jake can walk fast when he has something to push in front of him. And Claire has learned how to blow a kiss. She also knows the word sock. I didn't get the video, but she had played with my socks, bringing them to me after I took them off. Later on I asked "Claire, bring JanMa her socks" and she went across the room, picked up a sock and brought it to me. I asked her to get the other one and she did. She can understand a lot now. Jake can too, but he is usually too busy to pay attention to directions!

Claire was laying her head down like she was sleepy, so we went upstairs for a nap. I thought I would set a good example by sitting in the room with them and closing my eyes. NOT! After I left the room, I think Jake may have slept some, but I picked him up when he started hollering. Claire slept for almost 2 hours.

McKinney Trade Days

I visited the McKinney 3rd Monday Trade Days event on Saturday, a monthly flea market held once a month and only about a mile from the road to Jason's house. I'm considering setting up a JanMa's Digital Memories booth there in the spring, and I wanted to check it out and get a feel for it. No one there was selling/advertising what I do, but I still have to think about it. A space costs $80 for the first month and $60 for subsequent months. I would need to get a sign also, and get some flyers or pamphlets printed up. But there are a lot of people passing by during the 3 day event.
Then I headed over to Jason's house to visit with John and Taylor and parents. The biggest news about John is that he had gotten a haircut that morning. I asked him to turn around so I could get this picture of his haircut, he turned around and stood still while I snapped the picture!
John's vocabulary is starting to make sense. He has been saying see and outside, yes and no, for awhile, and I heard him say "house", Poindexter (more like nnn-dexter) on this visit. He has words he uses for bug, dirt, airplane and probably a whole lot more. I was only with him a short time. He says Hi and Uh Oh very well also. But he understands a lot of what he hears!
He has new boots to wear outside in the morning dew so has added the word boots to his vocabulary!
Ashley and Jason's new patio had been stained and sealed since I was there last, and I think it looks very nice.
I spent quite a bit of time hold Taylor, who will be one month old next week. She was very relaxed and slept most of the time. When she was awake her eyes would look around, and seemed to focus very well on my face. I think she smiled at me!
Diane came over later in the afternoon to see John and hold Taylor also.

Diane and I left late in the afternoon for an early dinner and then on to her house for the UT game, what a sorry state of affairs for the Longhorns!

Retirement...Continued

After taking care of John during Taylor's birth, several rounds of dr/dentist appts, working on the local retired teacher group's newsletter, I'm settling back into the day-to-day routine of retired life again. Back at the rec center for lap swim each day, doing some JanMa's Digital Memories work, afternoon naps and recreational reading.
Here is a picture from Ashley's blog, John and Taylor.
I'm starting to push JanMa's Digital Memories as a business, soliciting new customers. I purchased a Sony portable DVD player with a large detachable battery that supposedly lasts 9 hours, even 6 would be great. This will be useful to demonstrate a digital slide show for potential customers at a trade show or wedding venue or just on the fly as I meet folks who might be interested. It has a 9+" screen and nice sound, and can fit in a large purse. I'm traveling to McKinney this weekend to visit the McKinney Trade Days, which happens every 3rd weekend of the month, and is very close to where Jason and family live. I might make that my first vendor event! Plus I get to visit with John and Taylor and their mom and dad!

Bill did a little work swapping out the pool circulation nozzle. He said the water was really cold!

Two products I want to share with you. The first is Pepperidge Farm mini bagels, the brown sugar/cinnamon kind. I have tried both the regular size and the mini, and I prefer the mini. The regular size is too much bagel, I just want a few bites and the mini size is perfect. It looks about half the size, but it is also thinner, so it is much less than half. Enough for a taste, without stuffing too much in the tummy.
The second are adult chewable vitamins. I have a hard time swallowing large pills, like vitamin, calcium, fish oil, etc. If I can get one fish oil pill down in the morning, I'm happy. Then I chew my calcium (Caltrate +D chewables) and now my vitamins. These are like gum drops, more sugar than I need, but they go down easy.
More later on how JanMa's Digital Memories is making a grand debut, and my new firepit! And next week will be busy babysitting twins and maybe baby William for a few days, until his parents settle on a nanny.

Sunday afternoon with the twins

I spent some time with the twins late Sunday afternoon. I was wearing socks and the babies were fascinated by them. Both tugged on the toes to get them off my feet. Later on I did take them off, and tossed them on the floor. Claire brought them to me and dropped them on top of my feet. She knows where socks go! Both babies are more vocal now, Jake especially is speaking non-sense syllables. Claire loves to say Hi!

Claire likes to go go go, even away from her Daddy. Later Jeremy closed the gate to the stairs and let the twins roam around more upstairs. See the video below of them happily exploring new territory.

Jake is taking some steps now, and his sweet, charming self is really showing.

They like to play in the tent, collapse it, then keep on playing on it.

Jake is eager to play with any kind of ball.
Later I took them for a walk in the wagon.

Both twins respond to music, Claire with her feet, although I have also seen her bend her knees and bob when she hears music. Jake bobs his whole body while sitting on the floor.

Claire says Hi!

The twins explore new territory. No one was really hurt during this video!

Jake shows off his yoga "downward dog" position, first with one foot in the air, then with one hand in the air!

Just before dinner, the twins got a ride in their wagon, which they LOVE. Then a push on the swings. I noticed Claire does NOT like to walk in the grass barefoot. She takes after JanMa, I never liked to walk barefoot in the grass either, still don't.

Christening of William

Sunday was Bill's grandson William's Christening Day. The services were at St. Edward's Catholic Church and held separately after mass. There were 3 other babies/children being baptized this day. The church is absolutely beautiful, and the day was bright and sunny, AND we had gone off daylight savings time, so it was a GOOD day.

Jeff had a smile on his face the whole time, you can tell he is a proud poppa.

And he likes to hold 2-month old William a lot.

William sported white satin baby shoes monogrammed with his initials.

There are a lot of steps to a Catholic Christening, starting off with an exorcism and blessing the child. (I think that is what is happening here.)
Here comes the sprinkle part, 3 times for the Holy Trinity. There was a towel girl ready to dry his head, I imagine the water was not warm.
Just like a wedding, there are lots of pictures. Jaime is gracious enough to let Jeff hold William, and both parents have big smiles. The rest of the group include all 4 grandparents (Becki and Andrew, Bill and Linda), the godparents (Gwen and Jason), the priest, and JanMa, a stand-in emergency babysitter-in-waiting.

Lunch afterwards at Jaime and Jeff's house, Becki had made a great gumbo and Bill brought his secret recipe chili.

Jaime has already started back to work, with Nona Becki doing some babysitting last week and this, the nanny starts today under Jeff's supervision. And although life is getting back to normal, what is normal for Jaime and Jeff has radically changed! But William is sleeping through the night now, eating well, and seemingly oblivious to the many sets of arms and hands that take turns holding him.