It has been some time since I wrote and hope to get things going soon. I want to share something with you now though.

For two weeks I was visiting my children and grandchildren. I had not seen them since last January and this was a much wanted and needed trip.  I will post more of that later and/or on this blog or my other one.

Something happened up there, well lots happened, but something very appropriate for a Sunday post.

Coming home from church one grandchild very quickly told me what he learned that day in Sunday School, here is the jist of the conversation:

TJ, very excited about learning this:  I learned what obey means!

Grammie (me): OH? What did you learn?

TJ: I learned “obey your parents”

Grammie: And what does that mean?

TJ: It means if they say go to bed, then I need to go to bed.

Grammie: What else does it mean?

TJ: If they say pick up my toys, then I need to do it.

Grammie: Sounds like you listened well.

TJ: Yup, what they tell me to do, I need to do.

Grammie: Very good TJ.

about 5 minutes later

Mommy:  TJ go put your coat away:

TJ: nothing, runs off

Mommy: TJ, I SAID GO PUT YOUR COAT AWAY

TJ: ignores and continues what he is doing

Mommy: handles it and Tj does it

about 15 minutes later

repeated, but not with coat

Sometime later:

another repeat, then

Grammie: TJ I thought you learned to obey in Sunday School today, what happened?

TJ: I LEARNED IT BUT I DO NOT WANT TO DO IT!!!

Makes me wonder, how many times do we do that to our Heavenly Father?

Monday did not catch me by surprise today! Let me get a cup of coffee and I will be back to write.

OK, coffee in hand (well, on desk at the moment) and hopefully I am awake enough to not write anything too drastic so that my family will not speak to me or own me. Believe me, it has happened before, like here.

I do not know about you, but some parts of homemaking are hard for me. I am more laid back, messes do not bother me till they get bad and I am not always running behind my granddaughter (or even myself for that matter) to make sure everything is picked up the minute it is done being used.

Scout, my granddaughter, rips paper, gets toys out, gets out my plastic containers and I get to them eventually, but not immediatly.

I am an all or nothing person. Either I am wacked out over making sure everything it spotless, or else I am so laid back it piles up.  Finding a middle road is hard for me. Having five kids at home I found it almost impossible!

I am a grandmother now, no kids at home but one I babysit all day. I want to do my sewing and she wants to do her playing. As a result, my husband can come home to pieces of scrap fabric all over the floor with the toys and Scout’s ripped up “mail”. Dishes from lunch in the sink (we do have a dishwasher, but…) .

Poor guy, works all day and this is what he comes home to. I have been working all day too, and that is part of the mess.

My husband is very supportive, I like to brag about that, but I also like him to come home to some semblance of order.

To do this I am trying:

• Keep my sewing stuff on the table and sewing machine table (I have to use my dining room, so hiding it totally is out)
• I cut out on the chest freezer and try to throw away any papers, scraps etc right away where Scout can’t find them. If she likes the fabric, even pieces 1/4″ wide are carried off.
• Have her help pick up her “mail” before Papa gets here
• Keep her books in one place and read to her in the chair by that place, she then keeps them near there too.
• Have her high chair available in the Living room to put her drink, crayons etc on and she can get them and return them as she needs.
• Dishes: we will not talk about that!

I need to get more organized with all this as I am working on a home sewing business and plan on opening an etsy store in the near future. Sewing has to be out, but I can keep it neat and organized.

Any tips you have are more than welcome to comment on. I can use it!

I am not a halloween fan, but some of the kids are. Saturday we got a call asking us to come over and watch the grandkids paint their first pumpkin.

Any of you that have followed my blog know we had four granddaughters born in one year and they are all turning two this year. Three of these darlings live near enough that we get to see some of their cuteness (one I watch every day and sometimes get to see too much of this “cuteness”, but that is another story!).

I wanted to share some of these pics with you here and on my other blog.

Weird Chair Mom

What are you doing to that Pumpkin Uncle Aaron?

I don’t want to pull the guts out, lets put it’s top back on.

Not as bad as it looked!

For the painting pics go to Ain’t No Place To Put A Sticker.

I have a wonderful husband! He is loving and kind and likes to put me first most of the time.

Our family is somewhat a blended family. After being widowed for about 5 years Rick and I married. All our children are grown and have kids of their own, yet it is blended. I have five, he has three. Mine are in Maine and one in North Carolina, his are here in Texas. Four grand kids here, two in  North Carolina and thirteen in Maine. Yet, they are really all ours. His and mine together.

Our one granddaughter I see every day. She is 22 months old and I have the privelege of watching her while her mom works. She is ours, his and mine, even thought technically she has none of my blood in her. This does not mean she does not have a lot of me in her! We mesh, blend and are family.

My husband and I have little money, and since he switched jobs we have even less. This year we had no vacation, which is when we try to go up to see our other half of the family that is not in Texas. This summer it did not happen and while I understood, it was hard on me. I found it has been hard on Rick also. He has been hurting for me and told me to watch the plane fares.

After several weeks of watching one airline dropped and my husband told me to get out the credit card! I think he is as happy as I am that I am getting to go. I will see a new granddaughter, all the other grandkids and five of our kids. YIPEE!!!

Lest you be thinking that maybe he is just glad to get rid of me let me tell you what this means for him.

• we have goats. I take care of them. He leaves for work at 4:30 AM and will now need to get up early to care for them before he goes.
• I have a cleaning job. He will need to work his 10 hours, then on Wednesday go and do 4 hours more of cleaning. On weekends he will need to do about 10-12.
• I make his lunches, he will have to make his own
• We have other pets that I care for, he will now have to do it

All this does not include the household things.  This is a great sacrifice for him and I appreciate it so much.

How did I get such a husband?  Prayer! I prayed long and hard before he came into my life. It is also the way I got my first husband. Both of them were/are blessings from God.

Friday was a busy day., as is all my days lately. Scout, the granddaughter I babysit, is more and more active. She is into everything and trying to see how things work and what they do. She misses nothing that you do either. Always trying it or questioning it.

Friday her mom had to make a 3 hour drive after work so asked me to not let her nap so she would sleep in the car. HA! Fine for her to say! My husband was off on Friday so we did some errands and she was getting tired and grumpy by the time we were done. How was I to keep her up? I thought or one thing:

YARD SALE!

Yes, this baby loves yard sales.  She is a great shopper at 21 months and I love going with her. She will open the doors and drawers on furniture to make sure it works and if it does not she announces that very loudly. If they  have no toys, she protests to the people running it.

Friday we dropped my husband off at home and she and I went out to spend a few hours trying to keep her awake. All it took for her to go from over tired to wide awake was to tell her we were going to find some yard sales!

We went to one, then another. I let her look and play even if there was nothing I was interested in. We pulled up to one and they did not have much out. I said “what do you think?” She looked at the yard and said “nother one”. I said “you do not want to go look at this one?” She said “no, nother one” . So we drove around looking for a “nother one”.

Finally, I knew I had enought time to get her home and change her before her mom came.

Katie got there and picked her up and then I tried to get done all I needed to get done for the day, but only had a few hours before we were to go out to dinner with some friends. My mind was scrambling and time sped by.

We were meeting them at 7, it was now 6:15 and I needed to shower and dress. I put my clothes on the bed, showered, put on my face and then worked on my hair. While doing my hair I remembered the  goats were still in the pen from feeding and I needed to get them out again for a bit.

Throwing on my clothes I ran out, took care of them, came in and changed my shoes and hopped in the van to go. We made it just at 7. Ahhhhhhhh to sit down and relax for a bit.

We talked and time flew by. Soon it was a few hours later and I had to go to the bathroom, but when I went up someone was in there so I walked back to the table. Walking back I was looked at very funny by a few men and decided I was not going to go back and try the bathroom again because they were “weird”.

We went outside and stood out there talking for some time then went home. I had to put the goats up and then I was going to take care of computer work I never got to during the day.

I sat at the computer and my back itched.  I scratched. Something was not right. I scratched again to check. Nope, something definitely was not right.

I looked down my shirt.

Nope… not right at all.

I forgot to put my bra on!!!

Now, I am well endowed in that area. No wonder those men looked at me! And, I had to face my friends the next day when we had Angel Food Distribution!

Next time I see a woman walking around like I was I will think before I criticize. I am asking you to do the same. Maybe she just was so busy she forgot. Maybe the “she” you see is me, so please let me know!