My New Nativity Set

I am the proud owner of a nativity set made by my grandchildren! I know Christmas is over, but I'm still finishing some things, so I'm letting you in on the fun.  It was one of the projects that I did with the kids over the holiday. I still have a couple of grandchildren that need to add their pieces, but they may have to wait until next year. For now, I have all the main pieces, some of which are in the oven right now, and I am starting the finishing work. I am doing the details and faces, etc., so they will be a matched set. They are so cute. Mostly they are short and kind of squatty, and I love them. They are made from salt dough, which my kids loved to use when they were young, and their children do, too.

Bags of salt dough!

We had to do a little experimenting, because I've never made free-standing stuff before, only ornaments that hang. The salt dough is really dense and heavy, so I finally figured out that we needed a base to build on. Aluminum foil was the best thing at hand, so I made these little foil cones, like something out of science fiction. (You can't hear me, but I'm humming the theme song from the Twilight Zone.)

As you can see in the before photo, they look white-ish and dried out after they are baked, but as soon as you varnish them, they look great. I am using acrylic paints and fabric paints to do the finishing details. If you make any salt dough stuff, you need to know that the paint doesn't stick very well to the plain dough, but if you put a coat of varnish or decoupage medium on it first, then you can paint it easily. Then give it another coat of varnish and it will be permanent. Here are some before and after photos.

You can tell Joseph isn't finished yet. He's waiting to be baked.

You can really see the difference in these photos. The before figures look all
dried and cracked and the finished ones look much better. Cute camel, huh?
He was too tired to stand up any longer. (So said the grandson who made it.)

The shepherds didn't get fancied up like the wise men, but this one had to have a crook. The other one, not done yet, has a lamb in his arms.

Salt dough is a very fun medium to work with, and truly inexpensive, too. If you have never worked with it before, you should try it. Kids love to work with clay and this is one of the cheapest ways I know of to create "works of art" that you can bake in your own oven and keep for years! I am going to make a tutorial, with all the things I've learned over the years about working with salt dough, so keep an eye out for that.

You know, the more I work with children, the more amazed I am. They are creative without even trying. They are SMART! I think kids today come out of the womb smarter than I will ever be. They are joyful. They spread joy without even knowing it. I love to watch them when they don't know they're being watched, to listen to them chatter and interact with one another, or just be by themselves, talking  to themselves or to imaginary friends, whichever the case may be. My little granddaughter sings ALL THE TIME. If she isn't singing actual words then she is humming, and I love to hear her making up her own little songs. Sometimes she drives me crazy because she sings the same line or phrase over and over and over again, but I still love the fact that she sings. As I leave you today, I want you to consider these words, written by Angela Scwindt: "While we try to teach our children all about life, they teach us what life is all about." Isn't that so true? Until next time,

Service projects and Cookin' with the Kids

We have a Humanitarian Service evening coming up in Relief Society.  If you are not Mormon, that is the ladies organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormons). We will be making receiving blankets and baby booties, binding a couple of quilts, making file folder games, and love bears. I am busy making invitations for the evening, which includes a guest speaker and refreshments. It's a good thing they don't have to be done today, because my hands aren't working well today. I sewed myself a jumper yesterday and then cut out three more, and that was too much in one day, I guess. My hands are getting worse and worse. I have carpal tunnel, which I can't afford to do anything about, and  rheumatoid arthritis, so I have good days and bad. Actually, no good days anymore, but some OK days.

I have decided that it's time to teach the grandchildren to cook. Last night we made these cute little Sugar Cookie Tarts. I found the recipe and great photos on a blog I really like called LDS Craft Project. Its written by a great gal from California and has some really fun stuff! She used a tool from Pampered Chef to make the tart cups, but I didn't have one, so I made my own tool out of what I had on hand. I found a wooden bead just the right size to make the indentations in the cups. I had a piece of dowel that was a little to big for the hole in the bead, so I whittled it down to fit, and !Voila! I had a very technical tool the kids and I call the "masher". We had a lot of fun, and we have enough supplies to do it again tonight!

They were so-o-o-o good! They are filled with a mixture of cream cheese, Cool Whip and powdered sugar,
and we had fresh blackberries, just picked, and kiwi and bananas. Yum!

I got an idea from an article in Family Fun Magazine for making a "license" for cooking. You make it kind of like a driver's license, with their photo on the front and everything. They will be like learner's permits. I'll put a list of things they need to learn on the back, with a check box beside each item. Then we can check it off when they learn it. Some of the items will be how to peel fruit and vegetables, how to fry hamburger, how to measure properly....those kinds of things. And we'll choose together five different kinds of cookies for them to learn to make, too. Also very important...How To Clean Up! The kids are 10 and 11, so they will be able to do things that younger kids couldn't. You just adjust your list to the age of the child. I think they'll really have fun.

 I know that one of the cookie recipes will be my mom's Krispy Cookies. The recipe is at least 35 or 40 years old, and has always been a favorite of everyone who tastes it. You'll get it here next time! That's it for today, but I want to leave you with this little message....If you see a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be certain he didn't get there by himself. A proud turtle would tell you what a good climber he is, but a humble turtle would praise the grace of God that put him there. Until next time, Gramma G.

Recovering Slowly

Wow! Time sure flies when you're really busy! I didn't realize that so much time had gone by since my last post! Between doctor's appointments and tests and everything else, I have not had the time nor, sadly, the inclination to write. And now they have found some nodes on my husband's thyroid and he had to have a fine-needle biopsy to find out if they are cancerous. They stuck him with 9 needles, 3 on the right side of the neck, and 4 on the left side, plus 2 more to get some stuff from one of the lymph nodes on the left side. This was last Thursday, and his neck is still sore! We haven't heard the results yet, and probably won't until mid-week. Then they want to get his thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) up, because its a little low, before they do surgery to remove parts of the thyroid. I thought we were pretty much in the clear, but I guess that's what I get for thinking!

But there is some good news, too. He was finally approved for disability, so we will be getting a check every month starting in September. It won't be a lot, but it will pay the bills and let us help the kids with rent or utilities or whatever they want to use it for, and still have gas money and a little for fun. Very little, but a movie once a month or dinner would be nice.

I have been spending a lot of time doing arts crafts with my grandkids this summer, and I will be posting some photos of projects. We are in the middle of making a calendar right now, and when we get done, I will post photos of that, too. It seems to have turned into a yearly tradition, usually for moms and dads, but this one is for me!

These were Father's Day projects. Do you remember making these when you were young?

The blue one on the bottom was made by my just-turned-five grandson.
I don't know why all the eyeballs, but that was what he wanted.

They made Mother's Day gifts in school, but Dad's usually get left out because school is out when Father's Day comes around. Although my kindergartner did do something. They took photos all dressed up like Dad. They were so cute! This is my adorable grandson, Cyric.

Isn't he cute?

Well, I will close for now. I promise not to be such a slacker in the future. Keep up the good work and remember, things can always get worse. Benjamin Franklin said, "If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his trouble." I think I'll stick with what I have. Until next time, Gramma G.

Camping Again

WE went camping again last weekend, this time with my oldest daughter and her family. They live in Elko, Nevada, and we met them sorta halfway, in Lakeview, Oregon. We found a nice campground there and enjoyed a good weekend.

Have you ever made a sit-upon?  If you're a girl scout, you probably have. Its newspaper sheet folded into strips that are woven together to make something you can "sit upon" while camping and hiking so you don't sit directly on the dirt. We made ours from blank newsprint sheets and just a few strips of newspaper. Another of our projects was rubber stamps, which we then used to decorate the sit-upons! Then we made rope from jute and used it to tie the sit-upons around the waist, so they didn't have to worry about how to carry them everywhere!

Aren't they cute? The little guy in the red shirt is my youngest grandson. He really liked the watermelon. Can you Tell? He started with a spoon, but it was obviously taking too long! 

In the sit-upon photo, you can also see the "green" bags we made from recycled chip bags. The boys got backpacks and the girls got tote bags. Grandma got one, too! All-in-all, I had 13 different craft projects to do with the kids in the four days we were there, and we managed to do them all! Plus I tried out one that I found on YouTube. It was a hat made from drink boxes. (On the video they were beer boxes but ours were a Dr. Pepper box and a Mountain Dew box.) We had Grandpa model it for us. It was a little small, so Hal, a 10-yr-old grandson, wound up with it.

With all the other fun, the kids were kept pretty busy and out of everyone's hair. A good time was had by all and I think we may make this a summer tradition.

Well, I better get back to work. Talk at ya later, Gramma G.

Another day in the life.....

As a grandmother, with no job, life should be slow and soothing, even kind of boring. NOT! My life is anything but boring. My son is visiting right now and life has really been spiced up. He enjoys playing with the kids because he's really a big kid at heart. He gets them riled up and then they all get in trouble, including him! My daughter and her family will be here tomorrow and she has a little one that just learned how to walk. We will be going through the house tomorrow and putting up the breakables. And the plants! It's going to be so much fun, watching him learn to control those little legs and motate.

As I contemplate their visit, I think back to when my kids were little. I really enjoyed them when they were babies, with their darling chubbiness and their engaging smiles. They were so helpless and really needed me. Now they're all grown with children of their own, and I'm only needed when they want a babysitter. I guess that's the way life is supposed to be, but I think it's kind of sad.

Enough of that! On to more ABC pages. I think I might put a whole bunch of them in this post. Just post the photos and let you see what they look like. I am working on making PDF patterns, and I will post a link for those later. So, here goes.....



This is what you see when you turn to the F page.



This is what you see when you pull on the tabs!

There is plenty of room for more grandparents.

The top wings are on brads so they can move.

When I did these titles, my QuicKutz was in storage.

My kids favorite aunt and uncle, Debbie and Jim King.

I tell you, I had a ball making these books. Personalizing them was the best part. My family lives scattered about in Tennessee, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California and Oregon, so the young ones don't know the whole family. This is one way to give them pictures that they will actually look at and enjoy, and as their moms "read" the book to them, they can tell them who each face belongs to, so they at least know what they look like, even if they don't know them.

More ABC pages next time. Keep your head up and your socks matched. Love ya, Gramma G.

Is the new year happy yet?

The New Year is off to a not-so-good start. My husband still doesn't have work and I don't know what to do with him! He's under foot all the time with nothing to do. And he gets so depressed! And having no money is getting really old. I can't get away because I can't afford to. It's a big never-ending circle. Oh well....enough of that.
I'm still trying to find a way to make money online. I don't have a following yet on this blog, so my AdSense isn't making any money, and I think most of the online schemes out there are just that, schemes. I would like to find just one that is legitimate. Just one that will really allow me to work from home and help support my family.
I'm also looking for ways to make this blog better. I need to learn how to make other pages and link to them. I am going to start making some tutorials, too. I also need to finish the ABC book I started last year! I have all the photos taken, and the patterns are drawn, but I need to learn to make PDF files and link to them so you can get real patterns, and not just photos of patterns. I am working on all these things, so my posts will probably be scattered for a while, but it WILL get better.
I am sitting here watching my granddaughter do her homework. She's upset with her parents and has a real attitude, and boy! She can roll her eyes with best, and she's only 9. She wrote on her hand with ink today and that's a no-no in our family. Then she proceeded to lie to her dad, telling him she couldn't remember what it said! And this after her mother and I had already read it. (She's a blonde.) If dad finds out it was about needing to meet boys, he will have a fit! Ah....Life in the fast lane..... :)

Well, the other half is awake now, so I better go. Gotta get dinner ready, but I'll be back soon. May you have peace and matching socks. Gramma G.

Moving on...

Little boys are wild! They do the craziest things, and it's so hard to stay mad at them long enough to discipline them. My little 2-year-old grandson got under his mother's bed and got himself stuck. Couldn't get back out, and I couldn't pull him out, either. I had to literally pick up the bed and then try to convince him that he could get out now. It was comedic except that it was frustrating, too. When he tried to get out at first, and then when I tried to pull him out, his ear was catching on the bar that goes from one side of the bed to the other, and it hurt. So even when I lifted the bed, he didn't want to try it again because he was sure it would hurt. I finally got him out, but it took a little convincing.

His new favorite word is dammit. I'm not sure who he heard it from, but I'm having a hard time getting him to stop saying it. He has other words that sound bad, like garbage (he says it gar-bitch), but I really think he's saying the real thing this time. He also learned the words shut-up from someone, and every time he says it we say "Don't say that word." So now he say "Shut up, don't say that word," He's just so cute that it's really hard to get after him for those things. Now, he has other habits that it's really easy to get after him for. He throws things when he gets mad, or when he gets told to put them back or give them back to his brother. He will sometimes lay down or sit down and kick his feet if he doesn't get his way, or he tell you to "Stop it!" if he doesn't like what you are saying. In those cases, I would like to blister his butt, but mostly I just have to threaten him with the wooden spoon. It's a big one and looks lethal, and most of the time he doesn't want to argue with it. There are times though........

His brother, who is 3 1/2 has an equally frustrating habit. He pouts. And I don't just mean he is unhappy, but he sticks out his bottom lip and puts his head down on a chair, or the couch, or your lap or the floor, whatever is handy, and stays that way until I tell him to go to his room or I spank his butt. He also makes horrible faces now, and drives us all crazy. And he has developed a real sweet tooth lately! He is constantly asking for candy or a popsicle. If he is told no, then the pouting begins. One good thing, though....if we give him a "healthy" snack, like cheese and crackers or an apple, he is just as happy as if we had given him the candy he asked for.

My daughter is planning to look for her own place in the near future, and the boys will have to go into childcare. I'm glad, in one way, because they need the interaction with other kids and adults. But I hate the thought of getting them used to it. They don't even like to be left in the nursery at church, and I know they will cry and cry and cry. They can both cry for really long amounts of time. In fact the older one will make himself sick crying. I think I'm going to suggest that she start them in daycare right now, while it can be for only a few hours at a time, so they can get accustomed to being left, and learn that she will always come back. They have hardly ever been left with anyone besides grandpa and grandma, and that's not the same, so they have a high level of separation anxiety!

I think I might have some separation anxiety, too. I am looking forward to having "my own" place again, but I will miss those early morning visits to my bedroom when they first wake up and are so sweet. The little one always wakes up in the best mood and it's the best time of the day for him. The older one takes a little time to wake up, but then he's pretty sweet, too. I will also miss the "Bwamma"s when I come in the door after being gone for a few hours, or when they come running with something to show me. I know my husband will miss the greetings he gets when he comes home from work. It's really hard to share your home with a grown child and her children, and it's good that she's planning to get her own place, but I will miss those babies a lot! I also know that it's just as hard to move back in with your parents when you've had your own place and been the one in charge of how things are done. All of a sudden you don't have full autonomy anymore, and it's hard to readjust to that. We've done pretty good so far, very few blow-ups, and none of them major, but it's time.

Enough sadness for now. I have been working on the ski-tube-hat-thing, but I ran out of one the yarns I am using, so now I have to decide how to go on from here. Since this is just the prototype, I could just finish it with whatever I've got, but what if I want to give it away? I can't do that if it's a hodge-podge of different yarns! Or maybe I could. I have a granddaughter who would probably like it better that way, and she is one of the few grandchildren who actually happen to live where it snows. We'll see. I will try to decide quickly.

Well, it's now 1:00 in the morning and my eyelids are getting heavy and my fingers are getting clumsy, so I guess it's time to close. I have been working on my first little craft book, which is recipes for moms, and I only have to do a few more illustrations and I think it's done. That's why I am so tired. My eyes are burning, too, so that's a definite sign. Remember y'all, that family is everything, so take care of the ones you have. 'Night all, Gramma G.

Whew!

Well, we made it through the day! 5 adults and 8 children. Wow! There were some flare-ups, but that's to be expected with that many people in such close quarters. Our house is not very big, so we keep shooing the kids outside to play in the nice sunshine. Especially those from Nevada, because they will be going home to temperatures of 105 to 115, so we keep telling them to take advantage of it while they can. We made a trip into Missoula and went to the park, then Costco and Wal*Mart. We had 4 kids cramped in the back seat of our car, and my daughter had 4 in hers. Talk about sardines!

It's the next day now. I had to go to bed last night. I couldn't stay awake. Now we're all gathered around the TV while my oldest daughter does the Wii Fit program. I think I might have to get one. It's a really good workout and it's not boring, like most video workouts. If you don't know what the Wii is, it's an interactive video game system for the television screen. There are remote controls that you use to play games, etc. You actually have to swing the remote to bowl, golf, box, etc. Anyway, the Fit has yoga, strength training, balance and other stuff. It's a lot of hard work, but in a fun way. (I will try it later, maybe when no body's looking.)

I've trying to work on my ski tube hat thingy, but there's been too much chaos for me to get much done. It's looking good so far, though. I'm using 3 strands of yarn so it will be nice and warm. One of them is an eyelash yarn with ribbon pieces in it. It's really pretty and makes it just a little more fancy. I'll try to get it done soon so I can post a photo.

So, I tried the Wii Fit program. What a workout! It was fun and some of it was easy and some of it was not so easy. A lot of it, while working on certain muscle groups, also works on your center of balance, and I'm a kind of klutzy person. But I didn't do too bad. There were a few of the exercises that I flat out knew I couldn't do, so I didn't try them, bit I tried most of them. A lot of them are funny; in fact most of them. There's one where you have to try to hit soccer balls with your head while dodging shoes and panda bear heads that look a lot like the soccer balls. Boy, did I fail that one! There's the hula hoop one. You have to get as many rotations of your hips and catch as many more hula hoops as possible. I think my favorite is the one where you have to follow the dance steps. It's really a lot of fun. My daughter says it takes about 3 days for it to catch up with you and then you can't move! We'll see. OH! And at the very beginning it measures you body mass and weighs you, etc. and then tells you your "real age". According to my real age I'm only 33!!!! I'm getting younger! Yeah, right!

What would life be like if we never grew old? If, when we reached a certain age, we just stayed there? Kind of like hitting a plateau in weight loss. So much money is spent every year trying to stave off the ageing process.

I have to finish up and get to bed. I keep dozing off. You should have seen what I just typed in my dozingness. Will share more later. Hug a loved one. They need it like flowers need water.
'Night, Gramma G.

The Family is Here!!!

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! It's 10:48pm and I am sitting in my living room with 7 rugrats lined up on the floor, so wound up that who knows when they'll get to sleep. We put on Alvin and the Chipmunks for them to watch, and hopefully they'll settle down and go to sleep soon. Plans had a little change, and the two oldest aren't going home until next Thursday, so we'll be like this for another 4 or 5 days. My two daughters from Nevada are loving the weather, and are going to sleep on the trampoline. It's been 104 and 105 degrees in southern Nevada this week, and they are loving our nice, cool weather. The youngest grandson, who is 2, is in his bed, but out here I have one 3, one 4, one 6, one 7, one 8, one 13 and one 15. My 8-yr-old Hannah stayed at home to go to camp. If we had the three from Tennessee here, we'd have them all.

The change of plans for Alex and Cyd is due to the price of gas and the price of air fare to Las Vegas. We have a small, not-too-well-known airlines that flies out of Missoula straight to Vegas, and on certain days, airfare is only $29. Of course, there's the taxes and fees, etc. etc. etc. But to fly the two of them it is costing $132, which is about half of what it would cost me to take them just halfway (to Ogden, UT, where their dad would pick them up). Then there's the money my son would have to pay for gas, too, so $132 is CHEAP! I may go crazy in the mean time, though. (I may run out of food, too.)

All kidding aside, we are really glad to have them here. Cydney will no longer be bored all the time, and Alex will have someone else to occupy him. Grandpa and I may have to run away every once in a while, but it will be fun. We'll have to take them to the park every day or somewhere where they can wear themselves out. I'm worn out just thinking about it! On Wednesday we're having the missionaries over for dinner, and I have no idea where we'll put everyone. I think we'll eat in the backyard, maybe. With the weather this nice, we could do that easily.

I miss my mother. She's been gone 19 years this coming September, but I still miss her. This would have been just her cup of tea. She was never happier than when she was surrounded by her grandchildren. I was her only daughter, so my five were her only grandchildren. They loved her and they knew she loved them, even though she wasn't an old softie. She kept them in line when they were at her house, but she also gave them room to be themselves. She fostered their creativity, and urged each one to find their own potential and explore it. She encouraged them to be the best they could be (kind of like the Marine Corps). She taught them games that built intelligence and skills and they didn't even realize it was happening! I hope I can measure up to her standards and do the same with my grandkids.

And she was brave. At this time of year, when so many towns across America are having their American Cancer Society Relay for Life, I think about her a lot. She suffered from cancer for a year before she died, but she always had a smile. She gave her wig a name, and went about her business as if everything were the way it was supposed to be. My dad had cancer, too, but died from a heart attack instead, four years before mom, so she basically braved this horrible disease alone. My kids miss her as much as I do, and we will miss her for the rest of our lives.

Speaking of Relay for Life, if you haven't been to one, either as a team member or as a supporter, you should find the one closest to you and attend. You will have fun and get to donate to a worthy cause, all at the same time. You will be fed, both physically and spiritually. You will get to meet people and hear stories of great strength and courage. There will be survivors and their families there, along with family members of those not so fortunate. And a good lot of those who just believe its a good cause and will throw themselves into it with heart and soul. A lot of money is raised every year for cancer research, along with other programs that benefit cancer patients, so go and enjoy yourself and support the cause!

Well, it's really late, or should I say really early, so I better get to bed or I won't make it to church in the morning. I didn't go last week because the two grandkids, just coming from a week of camping at Yellowstone, had no church clothes. But when I don't get my weekly dose of spirituality, it just messes up my whole week, so I told the family I was going tomorrow, whether anyone went with me or not! So goodnight all, and remember, if you love someone you need to tell them. Oh, and here come the girls in the house. It just started raining! 'Night, Gramma G

Look for the Good

I am very sad tonight. I have had a blowout with my oldest son and he is probably not speaking to me now. I hate fighting with my family, about anything, but this was bound to happen. He just got back together with his estranged wife who doesn't like his family and has managed to alienate him again! It only takes her about 24 hours for her to get him under her thumb so totally that he forgets he even has a family. And he wonders why we don't like her?

Anyway, I'm going to focus on the good things in my life. Like these two grandchildren who are visiting. they really keep us hopping. We would never have time to grow old if they were around all the time. It's kind of fun. This is the photo I promised of the artwork the kids did for Grandpa for Father's Day. It turned out pretty good, considering it was done by a 2 yr. old, a 3 1/2 yr. old, a 13 yr. old and a 15 yr. old. The disparity in their ages is balanced out by the use of common colors and the fact that I told them it was modern art and I didn't want the see any houses or trees or anything recognizable. I think it will be beautiful when I get it mounted and hung on the wall.

I'm working on the tube ski hat. I hope to have it done in the next day or two., and then I'll let you see it in action (in a photo) and post the pattern. I hope its as cool as it looked. I'm just using scrap yarn, so the color may not be WOW, but you gotta use those scraps somehow, right? Besides, it's just the prototype. I don't know when I'll have the time to work on it, but I will try.
I'm going to leave this a short one tonight. I'm tired and need to get some sleep. Put your arms around someone you love and tell them so. 'Night, Gramma G.

Grankids and Journaling

They're here!!!! The two oldest grandchildren, Alex, 15, and Cydney, 14 in 6 wks. They live in Utah and we don't get to see them very often. They're great kids. Yesterday and today were Western Heritage Days here in Stevensville, and we went to the art show last night and lots of things were going on today. We walked downtown from our house and that was a new experience for them. Practically our whole town is within walking distance from from downtown. Okay, not really, but it is a little town. The community is very large because there is a lot of farm land and ranches and its really spread out, but the town itself is really small. They live in a rather large place, and are not used to this. We also had a parade, and Cyd looked at me and said so this is a parade? She doesn't remember ever going to a parade! Alex can remember going to one, but that's all! That is so foreign to me! I love parades and we always go to every one that's near us. Of course, we've spent our lives mostly in small towns, and small towns always do things in a big way, and that includes parades for every occasion.

There was a kind of small fair; some booths, an antique car show, free admission to the museum, historical demonstrations like spinning, making ice cream in tin cans, a mountain man camp, things like that. There was even cow-pie bingo! It was a lot of fun and just small-town nice. On Saturday evening there were food booths and free music and dancing. Gosh, I love small town life!!

Tomorrow we're going to Caras Park in Missoula, where there is free music, good food, Dragon Hollow (which is the coolest playground you ever want to see) and free rides on the carousel. It's a Welcome Home picnic/party for all Veterans and anybody who wants to show their support for the troops. The Missoula Carousel is one of the fastest carousels in existence, and it's really cool. I think the kids will like it. Of course, it will be packed, I'm sure, but we'll just have to be patient and wait in line. (Grandpa is the one who is short on patience.)

I have a few projects lined up for them to do while they are here. I don't want them to be bored with just old people and babies around (the babies' momma works so she's gone more than she's here), but I don't want to overload them either. There will be some time when we just chill out and watch TV or read or listen to the radio. We have a trampoline in the backyard, so that's always available, too. I like to think they won't have too bad of a time while they're here.
OK. Enough of that. I saw the neatest hat today at one of the booths. The woman called it a ski hat and it was just a big tube with a ribbed band at one end and open on both ends. You pull it down over your head and then you can pull the front edge down to your nose or all the way to your chin. It was very cool, and I'm going to try to make one. We'll see how it turns out. If it works out, I will post the pattern I figure out here.

But for tonight, let's talk about keeping a journal. If you're LDS, you hear about this topic at least once a year, if not more, but if you're not LDS, this could be the first time you've thought about it. Blogging is actually a type of journaling (at least for some us), and it's fun, no less, but it's not very permanent. Do you ever print out what you write? Do you keep a written record of the stories you tell or the insights you give into your life? People all across the internet can read about your life, the ups and downs, the good , the bad, the ugly. But what will your grandchildren know about you? Or your great-grandchildren? Will they know that they got their green eyes from you, along with their love of hockey? Will they know that you had 8 miscarriages before you had your only daughter? How will they know YOU? Have you ever wished you had known your great-grandparents? Did they come across the plains as pioneers? Maybe your great-great-grandfather fought by the side of Teddy Roosevelt. Or sat in a foxhole with Audie Murphy. What if your great-grandmother was a baseball player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II? Wouldn't you want to know? Well, your great-grandchildren will want to know, too.

So tonight's idea is for easy journaling. Get yourself a calendar, or better yet, a datebook. Or make one to fit your needs. Make sure it has enough space to make notations when something happens in your life. But don't just wait for an "event". Make note of when you go to the doctor and what the diagnosis was. Make note of concerts, plays, ball games, dinners, births, deaths....you name it, you should note it. And not only for writing about those specific things. I suggest you take a little time once a week, maybe on Sunday afternoon or evening, and write about your week, and all those notes and jottings will jog your memory. They will help you remember not only what you did that week, but the feelings you had about what you did, and that is sometimes more important than the actual acts. This type of journaling only takes 5 or 10 minutes a night! How much easier can it get? Do this faithfully, and Tah Dah!!! You have a journal! So get started today. Jots and notes ARE worth something. And so are journals. 'Night. Gramma G.

Off to Yellowstone!

I'm posting early today because I'm headed to West Yellowstone tomorrow bright and early and I have to go to bed tonight. I'll be picking up my two oldest grandkids to come stay for a week. It's about a 4 1/2 or 5 hour drive from where we live. My husband is not too happy about my driving it, but he really can't afford to take the time off work, so that leaves me. And the two little ones. How do you occupy a 2-yr.-old and a 3-yr.-old on a trip that long? It's been so long since I've had to do it that I don't remember. We'll figure out something. It won't be a problem after we pick up the other two. Then there will be someone to entertain them. I wish I could afford to go through Yellowstone while I'm there, but with the price of gas, that's not going to happen.

I usually blog late at night because it's quiet and peaceful and I can think. Right now, it's loud and noisy and crazy, and I can't seem to get my thoughts together. I'm thinking about what's for dinner, about the two little boys who are in my rocking chair rocking it as wildly as they can, and about my daughter, who is yelling at them. So if I am a little more scattered than usual, you understand.

I finally got MY photos in the slide show, but now it's too big and you don't see the whole photo. I have the same problem with one of the ads. They both run off the edge of the blog, and I don't know how to fix them. But I will persevere! I'm pretty stubborn about what I want, and I'll just be the squeaky wheel until I figure it out. I've spent some time in the last few days checking out other blogs, and I can see that I know even less than I thought I did. Some of them are really nice looking! Of course, there are others that are rather plain, too, so mine falls somewhere in the middle. If anyone out there is thinking about creating their own blog, http://blogspot.com/ sure does make it easy! They have a selection of templates that you just plug your info into, choose what elements you want on your page, and Voila! You have a blog! Now if I were just a little more computer literate, I could really make it great! I want to start a web page, too, but I think I will need to have help with that. I haven't found a place with plug-in templates yet. (LOL)

Today's addition is another recipe. It may sound a little strange, but it's delicious.

Corn and Tomato Salad
1 can Niblets Corn, drained
1 med. tomato, diced
2 TBS. of your favorite Italian dressing. I use Wishbone Light (formerly Just2Good) Italian, because it doesn't have that really heavy vinegar flavor.
Mix all together and enjoy! Its really good and quite filling, too.


Well, this is a short one, but I'll be back tomorrow. Remember, tell your loved ones often that you love them. They are your greatest assets. 'Night. Gramma G.

Of family and recipes.....

We're going to have company this weekend! My two oldest grandchildren are coming for a week's visit and I'm so happy. I don't get to see them very often, and I miss them a lot. I have some fun things planned for them that I hope they will like. They are my oldest son's kids, and Alex just turned 15 and Cydney will be 14 in another month and a half. I can't believe I have grands that old!!! Then when they leave, two daughters and 5 other grandchildren are coming! I hope they are staying for a while, but I'm not sure. The worst thing about living in Montana is that most of our family is in Nevada. We have 2 grands in Utah and 2 in Tennessee and 1 in Arizona, but the rest of them are in Nevada, along with 4 of our children, and my husband's brother and sister and their spouses. He has one other sister and his Mom in Southern California, (which is a lot closer to Nevada than Montana). I miss my family a lot, but I also have other interests. I make friends pretty easily, most of the time, because I go to church and I volunteer around town, but my husband is basically a go-to-work-and-come-home-and-watch-TV type guy, so he gets lonely. It wouldn't surprise me to have him want to move closer before too long. It's just so expensive to move, especially with gas prices the way they are right now, so it will probably take us a while to save the money. We really love Montana, though, so maybe he'll surprise me and we'll stay here for a long time.

My husband and I are opposites in the moving around way. He lived in one place most of his life and now he has itchy feet. We have moved so many times in our soon-to-be-35-years of marriage that I've lost count. Me, on the other hand, I was an Air Force brat, and we moved a lot while I was growing up. I went to a different school every year until Dad retired when I was in 8th grade, so I could settle down and stay in one place (as long as it was somewhere I liked) for the rest of my life. So we compromise....we move a lot, but sometimes to places that I want to try, sometimes to places that he wants to try. One of these days we'll find our perfect place and stay put. I THINK we will, anyway.

I'm going to start adding some new things to this blog. I'm going to have some recipes, patterns, kid's craft ideas, things like that. Tonight's addition will be a recipe that has been in my family for years. It was my mother's recipe and we really like it. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Hamburger Heaven
1 lb. ground beef
1 med. onion, diced
3-4 stalks celery, diced
1 can tomato juice (I like Campbell's best)
12 oz. pkg. noodles
1 lb. cheddar cheese, grated
Start browning the ground beef in a large frying pan. Add the onion and celery and let them saute at the same time. When the ground beef is no longer red and the onion and celery are transparent, add the tomato juice. Bring to a boil and add the noodles. Bring back to a boil and turn down to low. Cover and cook 25-30 mins. or until noddles are tender. Spread with cheese, cover again and turn off heat. Let sit for about 10 minutes to thoroughly melt cheese. Easy and delicious!!!

Well, that's it for tonight. Cook up some Hamburger Heaven and think of me while you pig out. Until next time, 'Night, Gramma G.

Stuff, Stuff and More Stuff!

Well, I missed last night because I was so busy trying to get this thing up and going the way I want it to be, that I forgot to write! I finally figured out how to get the slide show going, but the pictures aren't mine! How's that for crazy? So I will probably spend half the day tomorrow trying to get MY pictures into the slide show, instead of those really nice photos of places I've never even seen.

I just finished reading The Gift by Richard Paul Evans. Man, what a powerful story. What would or could the world be like if everyone were so unselfish! If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. But be prepared to read for 2 or 3 hours straight, depending on how fast you read, because once you start it, you won't want to put it down until you're finished.

Today was a beautiful day here in Montana. It was warm enough to wear Capri pants and short sleeves, but cool enough to get out in the yard, or the garage in my case, and get some work done. We have just moved to a new house, and its quite a bit smaller than the one we were living in, so there is a lot of "leftovers" that won't fit in the house. I'm going through everything and trying to decide if it stays or goes. My youngest daughter and her two little boys are living with us, so the space is even tighter that it would be normally. The garage has become our craft room, with a set of shelves on one wall that are 7 feet wide and 8 feet tall. On the opposite wall are storage bins for paper, embellishments, tools, etc. It's not the perfect place, but it's better than having all the stuff in storage and not being able to use it. We have her nice big dining table in the middle of the room for working on. (At least we should be able to work on it at some future date. Hopefully before the end of the world.) We are big scrapbookers, plus we like to make our own cards and gifts, so we have a lot of supplies. Junk, my husband calls it. We had a yard sale last weekend and he kept trying to sell the craft stuff along with everything that really WAS for sale! Men!

I have carpal tunnel and arthritis in my hands and sometimes its really hard to type, so if you find mistakes in my writing, please know that its not because I'm illiterate. I actually have a college degree. Of course, my degree, which is in Art, doesn't gaurantee that I can spell, but English was always my best subject in high school. So overlook the mistakes, OK?

My youngest grandson, Rafferty, who is one of the two living with us, is such a toad! He is so cute, and such a little devil at the same time. He's just like his Uncle Clif was. He wants to take everything apart. He gets in to everything! He can open the childproof doors now, and there's no stopping him! He's so smart, too. His vocabulary is growing almost as fast as his brother's, and he's a year and a half older. Cyric was a slow starter as far as talking goes, but he's making up for it. He's 3 1/2 now, and he talks up a storm. And he's really smart, too. He already knows about half of his letters and numbers, and can count to ten most of the time. He knows his colors and shapes and loves those books where there are things hidden in the pictures that you have to find. I actually have very smart grandchildren all the way around. The oldest just turned 15. (Wow! I don't feel really old until I think about things like that!) He and his sister will be spending a week or so with us pretty soon. Then when they leave, 5 others will be coming to stay. We will have a house full!!!!

Rafferty has found a new place to hide!

I guess I used to think that when my kids were all grown and away from home, that I would have lots of time to do all those things I wanted to do but never had the time. Guess what? It's not happ'nin'. All those things are still on the back burner waiting for me to have the time to do them. Remember that old saying, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get." Well that's me. I find a project I want to do, I get the instructions, or I save up the stuff I need, and then I never get around to it and I wind up with all this "stuff" that I never use. And the sad thing is, that my children are just like me. They are all collectors of "stuff". With my boys, it's mechanical stuff. Cars parts and tools and computers and things like that. With my girls, it's scrapbooking stuff, and crafting and gift stuff. I apologize to them for that, and for all the headache it will cause them throughout their lives. I got it from my mother, and I was weak and didn't break the chain of "stuff collecting", but instead passed it on. Woe is me! Do you suppose that when I get to the pearly gates, that St. Peter will tell me I can't come in because of all the "stuff" I left behind? I'm going through it all now, but I'm sure it won't take me long to collect a new bunch of "stuff".

I'm going to try to add some links to other pages that I like and I hope you will like, too. We'll see how long it will take me and how I can screw it up before I figure it out. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have some of those links for you to look at. When I lived in Nevada, I belonged to a group called "Crafting Angels" and we did humanitarian projects. We made hygiene kits and school kits, and dressed dollies, things like that, for distribution by the Mormon Church to those in need. We knitted hats and mittens, made ABC books and picture books, that kind of thing. It was a lot of fun and we always had a potluck lunch and good companionship. I miss all those ladies a lot, and I know they are still doing great things. Anyway, the lady who started it all has a very nice website, and that will be my first link. If you go to her website, you will find patterns and ideas for all kinds of things.

Well, I think I've rambled enough for one night. If you ever have any questions about my ramblings, or want to clarify something I didn't make too clear, just drop me a line. I'm always here. This is Gramma G signing off. 'Night.

June 1, 2008

Well, here goes! This is all new to me, but I'm going to give it a try. I'm a 53-year-old grandmother with a laptop. Probably a dangerous combination. I have 5 children and 14 grandchildren, 2 of whom have already left this frail existance. (That will be a post all it's own.) I love to sew, or at least I used to, and I like all kinds of crafts. Scrapbooking is my current interest, along with making cards and rubber stamping. (I'm a kind of rambler, in case you can't tell that already.)

I also am the granny-nanny for my two youngest grandsons, one 2 years and one 3 and a half. They keep me going, for sure. Some nights I feel like I've been run over by a Mack truck! But there are those moments that make it all worthwhile, like when the little one says to me "Hug!" and holds out his arms and puckers up his lips. Its enough to melt your heart. The little toad has learned now, though, that I love those hugs and kisses, and when he knows he's in trouble, or soon going to be, he holds out those arms and puckers those lips to get out of his punishment! Sometimes it even works!

My husband is a mechanic who would like to be something else now. Mechanics is hard work, which he doesn't mind, but he thinks it would be really nice to have a little easier job now that he's getting older. Or maybe just a job that's new to him. It's always nice to learn new things, and I think it would be nice to have a steady income instead of one that goes up and down all the time. If I could find a job on the internet that REALLY makes money, that would be great. I have this laptop and plenty of time, but those jobs all seem to fit my mother's old saying, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!" I have spent far too much start-up money on things that I thought would augment the paycheck, but really only "started up" someone else's extra cash. I'm trying to think up an original idea of my own for earning that extra cash, but so far, no luck. I may start my own web page here soon to sell original patterns and children's craft books. The big problem with that is I don't know how to build a wab-page! I have been looking at instructions and manuals for different software, and holy moly, batman, I can't understand a thing they say!!!!!

I told you I was a rambler! I tend to jump from subject to subject. The connections all make perfect sense to me, but they may not to you. Sorry!

It's almost one o'clock in the morning right now and as I write, Frazier is renewing an old acquaintance with a woman called Nanny G, (funny coincidence, don't you think?) although I think it was a whole lot more than an acquaintance! I think Kelsey Grammer is a really funny guy, and I used to be a Frazier watcher when it was on Prime Time television. I used to watch Cheers! too. And now he is a director or producer, I'm not sure which one, on another of my favorite TV shows, Medium. I was surprised to see his name in the credits not too long ago.

Well I think that's enough for tonight. I'm going to try to be faithful and post every night for the first month, and then probably 2 or 3 times a week after that. I hope that someone out there will find this blog and read it, and maybe enjoy taking a peek into the very crazy life of Gramma G. 'Night!