"Excuse my manners if I make a scene ..."

A quick Sunday entry here, to say "haaaaay" to you, and to show you this:

See those new pearly whites she's sporting? Breaks my heart, how fast she's growing. But as long as she stays the squishy angel that she is, she can do just about whatever she wants ... including grow a little.

She's crawling a little bit now too! (A few tentative inches forward with a break to sit up and reassess the situation is how it goes for now.)

It goes without saying that my week with her, while her Mom and Dad were in Jamaica, was heaven for me. We played, and we kissed, and we napped ... and then we did it all over again. I did take her into daycare for about 3 hours every day, per her parent's instructions, so that she would stay in a semi-normal routine. That gave me a little while every day to run whatever errands I needed to run. She slept great every night, and woke up grinning every morning. I wish her Mama and Daddy could take a vacation every month!

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Brandy and I kicked some butt last night in Trivial Pursuit. First time we've played a board game in ages, and I enjoyed it.

Adam and Brandy cooked a tasty dinner for us last night: a beautiful crisp salad, hot baked potatoes, and the ever-popular "steak rolly things". That's what Adam called them the first time I made them, years ago. I guess the name stuck! I'll share the recipe one of these days, they are YUM.

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Jimmy was all packed and ready to go through airport security this afternoon, on his way to Puerto Rico for the week. And what do you know, yet another flight cancellation. It's raining here, and between here and Atlanta, but I was under the impression that those big planes could fly in the rain. What do I know?

He's back home again, and we'll get up before Gawd in the morning and drive back to the airport.

*sigh*

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Looking forward to some "Sister Time" coming up this week, with Kay due to arrive from GA sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Clean sheets on the guest bed: check.

Bathrooms scrubbed: check.

Plenty o' chips and salsa: check.

Wine chilling: check.

I think I'm ready!

"To better days ..."

Welcome to the monthly edition of "What's New In My World". In other words, I'll be posting a few new Squishy pictures and calling it a blog entry.

For real though, I apologize for the lack of content here. I don't pretend to know what my issues are. I just know I can't think of a damn thing to say anymore.

Here's what's happening anyway:

Looking forward to a good weekend coming up ... Emilie, Jud, and the beast will be coming in on Friday mid-day, and we'll celebrate the 4th with something on the grill, and the fridge in the garage is already full of beer. Yay, America.



I'm already aware that the main reason Emilie is making the 5-hour drive is to do some major baby holdin'. And I can't blame her.


Miss Squishy was as sweet as always when we saw her on Saturday night, but she's not feeling 100%. We're calling it "teething" unless something else shows up with another name. Her bottom two chicklets are already poking through!

On Saturday AM, bright and early, Squishy's Mom and Dad will jet off for almost a week of fun in the sun and relaxation. I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to taking care of Miss Squish while they are gone! I hope they enjoy their time away, and won't worry about us.



Then, at some point during the week of July 14th, my sister Kay will actually take some time off work (gasp!) and drive herself up I-85 for some down-time with ME! I'm so happy!


Between now and then, I've got some housecleaning and grocery shopping to do. That's my specialty, right?

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Here's what else is new:

I have registered at the local technical college for a class in "Ophthalmic Medical Assisting" ... to begin on August 4th. It'll go through the end of October, when I hope to be hired by an eye doctor who totally overpays his employees, and works 3-day weeks.

Yeah, I know. I don't have a great track record with the whole job thing. But now I really AM bored around the house for the majority of my days, and I'm wanting to feel like I'm a real part of the world. So let's all think positive and maybe I'll be a real, live money earner for my golden years. Heh.

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Without further ado, here's the latest of our sweet one. She'll be 8 months old next week!

This was taken last week on "Thursday Afternoon With Nana" 6/24/08:

That same day, she discovered the Yummy that is teething biscuits ... she was intense about it!

Last Saturday, we went to her house, to help her Daddy celebrate his new Pilot's License! As I said earlier, she wasn't herself with the teeth breaking through her gums, but she was still as sweet as she could be:

"Teeth hurt."

(Edited to add: Blogger always screws up my spacing and paragraph breaks when I add pictures. I tried to fix the mess, but was unsuccessful. Sorry about it!)

"Never forget who you are, little star ..."

Is everybody ready for their nice, long, three-day weekend? I'm just hoping I can get something productive done, instead of letting the old procrastination thing win, once again.

Look who is sitting up, all by herself, these days!

Papa's hand is back there just for show ... she really can sit up and play with her toys. See?

I know I'm all about the babeh pictures these days ... but I have to show you a couple more. (All of these were taken yesterday, by the way.)

After I picked her up at daycare yesterday, we came in and sat in the rocker to catch up with each other. Emilie soon called to say hello, during her lunch break. I put her on speaker phone so that they could talk to each other, and so that Emilie could cry a little. (MAN, she misses that baby!)

Well, after a bit, the Sweetness started chewing on her "caterpillar" ... a toy she's had over here since Day One. She sank lower and lower, until her head was on my arm. I looked at her and smiled ... she smiled back, her eyes rolled around a couple of times, and CONK. She was out like a light, still hanging on to the bug. Of course I had to snap a picture:

If THAT doesn't melt your heart, you've got problems.

"Remember to always think twice ..."

Count me in among the David Cook Fans. I thought all along that little David Archuleta would be crowned the new Miss American Idol. And that was OK with me, since he was deserving. (And cute as a buginarug.) I knew that David Cook would end up with a nice, fat recording deal anyway ... and not be tied to the AI bigwigs in the process. Hell, if it could happen for Clay Aiken, surely someone as talented as Cook would be a star, even without the crown.

But in the end, Cook won. Now my hope is that the big American Idol machine doesn't kill his career before he gets started.

Because I lurrve him.

"For Emilie, whenever I may find her ..."

Yeah, I know. Simon and Garfunkle spelled Emily with a Y.

But this is my blog. And my Emilie, too.

Not a lot of time today ... but I wanted to post these new pictures of Miss Squishy for her Auntie Em, who I know is missing her some babylove this week.

Em's move to NC went about as smooth as it could possibly go ... and she's hopefully "enjoying" her first week at work as I type this. I miss her, that goes without saying. But knowing that she's where she wants to be, and happy ... well, that goes a long way towards a Mama's happiness.

Without further ado, here are a few pictures from my weekly "Afternoon Of Love" with the Squishy One :

(Emilie, stop crying! I know you are. Now stop ... and smile over the fact that you have such a beautiful niece who will love you forever!)

"All I got is 4 minutes ..."

Crap, I suck at this, no? I don't know what my problem is.

If you had asked me 15 years ago, when Adam was going on 13 and Emilie was almost 11, what I thought my life might be like in 2008 ... I'd have pretty much guaranteed you that I'd have "more time". Certainly being a Mom in 2008 with a (nearly) empty nest would mean some down time, when compared with the carpooling, laundry, errand-running, and general Mom Duty associated with my life back in 1993.

Would I have been anywhere near correct? Er, no.

Problem is, I can't really put my finger on what's filling my days. All I know is, the day is half-gone before I know it. And there's always something else I need to be doing.

Currently, the Project Of The Week is "The Big Move". Above, I mentioned this nearly empty nest of mine ... in nine days, Emilie will be moving to the beach in NC. Which will make my nest officially empty. And you know me, I'm not too happy about that. Although, I do realize it's what needs to happen. She's MORE than ready to fly away, and everything is working out so perfectly for this move, that it's obvious it's the right thing. Her true love has taken a marvelous engineering job there, and she was hired by a bank after her first interview. Her new job is literally a 2-minute drive from their new apartment. I'm so happy and excited for them both.

But damn, my house is going to be so quiet. (Glass half empty.)

But that's why there are grandchildren, right? (Glass almost full!)

Now I'll have more time to hug this little droolbug!

"So much more than I deserve ..."

She's five months old today!

Every time we get to see her, I'm always struck by how it just keeps getting better. She's interacting more and more; and now she watches us with such interest, you might even start to think we had something interesting to say. I have so much love for this little girl, it hurts my heart sometimes!

I know every grandmother since the beginning of time has said it, but you're just going to have to trust me on this one: She's the BEST baby. No, really. She's good.

And she's getting better every day.

Here are some pictures from Saturday evening ... not especially good ones, but they are the latest we have ---

She slept in my lap for awhile after I gave her a bottle:

Here she is, practicing her new trick of "standing up", using Papa for balance:

And finally, putting the "Nom nom nom" moves on her Daddy's head:

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I'm off to get my aging eyes examined. All the better to see you with, my dearies!

"How do you sleep while the rest of us cry? ..."

I am not one to bring up politics. Period. It usually ends badly in this house, since my husband and I are on opposite ends of the whole spectrum. But I just had to make sure everyone saw this. If you watch any TV at all, you've already seen it. But just in case anyone missed it, here's our pompous vice president, Dick, living up to his name. Once again.

"I read People magazine cuz I'm hip ..."

Obviously, there have been times in the last several years when keeping up with this blog has been fun. You can tell because I did it with regularity.

Also quite obvious, I'm not in one of those times right now.

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Yesterday, I turned forty-freakin'-nine. I can't even tell you how sad it makes me to think of the number 50 that looms. Perhaps in the coming year I can find a way to come to terms with it. Perhaps not.

I got some really cool gifts this year ... although not as tear-inducing as last year, when I was told about the baby-on-the-way.

Emilie made me a beautiful scrapbook with pictures of herself and her brother when they were little ones. And that DID make me cry. I just didn't throw it across the room and burst into tears the way I did last year when the pregnancy news made it through all the layers of my brain.

Em also sent me 2 dozen roses, all different colors. Adam and Brandy took us out to a yummy dinner last night, and also gave me a certificate to my favorite pedicure place. Perfect! I had told Jimmy that the new washer and dryer could pass as birthday gifts this year, and I really meant it. But before he got on the flight to Puerto Rico yesterday, he presented me with a gift certificate to a nearby spa. I'll have to peruse the brochure to decide what I want to use it on.

Here's a picture of my roses, with all the cards I received:

Yes, that's an Easter card on the far right. My mom wrote "Happy Birthday, too!" inside. (It's the thought that counts.)

My favorite part of yesterday? Kissing these cheeks:

"Forever young ..."

Just added to my "Saved" list on Netflix: "Young @ Heart", a documentary about a chorus in Massachusetts made up of senior citizens. I know what you're thinking. I know! I admit it though, my heart melts for the babies and the old people in this world. What can I say?

Netflix says, "Coldplay, the Clash and Jimi Hendrix will never sound the same once you've heard the Young@Heart chorus, a group of Massachusetts senior citizens who thrill audiences worldwide with their unusual -- and unusually poignant -- covers of rock songs. Stephen Walker's humane and heartwarming documentary, which premiered at Sundance in 2008, follows the elderly ensemble as they prepare their new show."

The documentary will be released in theaters next month, but I have no idea if it'll be shown in this town ... so it's already in my queue, waiting to be released on DVD.

The trailer:


They sing The Ramones!:


"Stayin' Alive"/"I Will Survive" (FABULOUS!):


Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews Band have just moved down a spot to make room on that list of my favorite music-makers (and if you don't click on any of the other videos I posted here, you MUST watch this one):

"I think I'm moving, but I go nowhere ..."

Monday was a semi-productive day around here. I worked a bit upstairs, getting the bathrooms cleaner. Also moved some dust around in the bedrooms, and ran the Dyson. Go, me.

I also caught up, a tiny bit, on a few of my DVR'd TV-watching. One of the things I watched was "The Real Housewives of New York City", and ... yuck. So far, that pretentious gang only makes me miss the gals from OC. At least the OC Housewives aren't trying so hard to be something they're not. They are perfectly happy with their weekends at Lake Havasu, cocktails with the girls at the strip mall, and planning their next "cosmetic procedure". The NY women are frightening with their teeth bared at anyone who might stand in the way of that social ladder they want to climb so badly. (Grammar lessons, anyone?) Eh, I'll still watch the season ... if only to hate.

Today, I hope, will contain more of the same. Downstairs, and minus the DVR-watching. For some reason, I always dread cleaning the lower level of the house more than the top one. The kitchen, maybe? I need to clean the fireplace again today too. Fun times.

But first, I'm out of here to run a few errands: post office, grocery store, dry cleaner, and the frame shop. I am dying to see the pictures of Squishy ... I had 3 of the "3 Months Old" pictures matted and framed together. I'm sure it'll take half the day to decide where to hang it.

"I don't know why they suntan nails ..."

Y'all know I love me some Pearl Jam, right? So the other day, I was wasting time on YouTube, seeing if there might be something there I haven't seen yet. And while I've seen a few funny videos about the unintelligible lyrics to "Yellow Ledbetter", I had not seen this one. Maybe it'll make you laugh like it did me.



My son shared his knowledge of the lyrics of this song with me a few years ago ... he said it really doesn't HAVE lyrics ... the the band was just jamming in the recording studio and Eddie was making things up as he went along. And it really does sound like that's what was going on to me.

You can read the official Wikipedia opinion behind it all by clicking here.

Anyway, the video contains my favorite, as of today, version of the lyrics of that classic song. Heh. "Make me fries."

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Our Squishy Girl had another immunization for her 4-month birthday on Friday. And then she had a really rough Saturday. She had a fever and everything. Emilie and I went over to give her lots of love while her Daddy took a flying lesson and her Mama was getting some work done. I was glad to hear that on Sunday she was feeling a little bit better.

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Other than that, it was a pretty routine weekend around here. Except for the fact that a whole HOUR went missing sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Ugh. Although I do love the fact that it's light outside at 7:30 PM now.

Em and I shopped a little bit on Sunday. We hit Babies R Us, Target, and Off Broadway Shoes. I came home with 3 big bags of baby stuff ... including a few things for an Easter basket, and a Bumbo seat. I was able to score the attachable play tray for the front ... I got the last one at Target. The lady at Babies R Us told me they were unable to get anymore trays. It certainly looks as if they available online through Target though. I'm beginning to get a bad taste in my mouth for Babies R Us. Every single piece of clothing I liked, I could not find in the size I needed. Bah!

We grilled some burgers for dinner last night, and they were quite tasty. It's going to take me until the end of summer to learn to cook properly on our new grill though.

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Best News Of The Weekend: Sisters Laura and Melody are expecting a baby in late-November/early-December! :-D <-- that's my face.

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Off and running on another week ... hope you and yours have a good one.

"She gives me presents with just her presence alone ..."

Shamed into writing, here I am.

No excuses, unless "February" is admissible as evidence. If you know me at all, you know I can't help the black funk that seems to settle in over my head in the 8 weeks or so that follow the holidays. This year was no different. Well, that's not true. It WAS different. This year, I had a baby to hold every so often. And believe me, that made a HUGE difference.

And now, here we are in March again. I feel the weather changing, even though it's raining today ... and cold. But I know there are sunny days ahead, and it won't be long before it's warm enough to open a few windows around here and let the soft air inside. Ahhh.

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So today she is 4 months old. Here's a picture I took yesterday that illustrates the precious way she gets herself to sleep. She wiggles and "growls" and rubs her little face and eyes ... but when those two arms go up near her face, we know she's almost in dreamland. To see her do it in her crib will melt my heart to mush, but yesterday she slept in her bouncy seat. And guess what? My heart melts that way, too.

Yesterday, the kids allowed me to go and get her from daycare in the early afternoon and bring her home with me until dinnertime. I'm hoping that can become a routine, at least temporarily for the next 20 years or so.

My daughter-in-law is working some incredibly long hours right now, which is hard on everybody. It's killing her, I know. Not nearly enough sleep, and working every day for 12 to 15 hours will wear anyone to a nub pretty fast. And my son misses his time with her, that goes without saying. But it's got to be hardest for our Squishy One. She has so little time with her Mama. One more week, guys. Hang in there.

Anyway, I hope that my "Thursday Afternoon With Nana" can be a regular thing ... it'll give her Daddy a break from picking her up one day a week, and he can do whatever he wants for a few hours that day ... and it'll give me some time to have some serious heart-to-heart talks with the most important person in my world.

Apologies if you've seen these pictures on my son's blog or on my MySpace page, but here they are again ... a few shots from her "3 Months Old" photo session ---

I know, right? How could we be more blessed?

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Hey! I have a new washer and dryer! Sadly, doing laundry is still just doing laundry. Oh well, it's a little more incentive to (one day soon) start the massive task of cleaning and organizing the laundry room. Oy. That'll hurt.

So, what's new with you?

Hello?

Is there anyone still out there?

Aw crap. I'm talking to myself. It serves me right.

"I really don't think you're strong enough ..."

Add this one to my Life List:

*** I want to go to Vegas and see CHER this year!



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And if you have an adequate supply of insulin, go here and and look at my gorgeous granddaughter as she celebrates being THREE MONTHS OLD.

I love you, My Squishy.

"Another day, another drama ..."

Yes, Dear Reader, I'm still alive. I'm just more boring than you could possibly imagine. For example, the highlight of this week is that the upstairs bathrooms have been cleaned. How am I supposed to make THAT interesting?

Let's see ... I did not watch the State Of The Union address last night. So I'm a bad American, as well as a bad blogger.

I do wish Heath Ledger's family would hire someone to rough up Nancy Grace. She went on and on about how pills were "strewn" around his dead body; when the police commissioner, and anyone else who has half a brain, were quick to make clear that pills were NOT "strewn" anywhere. (There were bottles of prescription medication with his name on them in the apartment. I think the same thing could be found in Ms. Grace's home.) Arrrgh! I believe she's usually on the right side, but is she not the most obnoxious, self-righteous, crazy-bitch drama queen you've ever seen? And she will never admit it when she's wrong.

And enough with the baby congrats, caller-people. She acts like she's the only woman in the world who ever had birthin' complications and ended up with healthy babies. My eyes hurt from the rolling.

Why am I watching that crap? I have no idea. Well, really I do. I watch her just so she can make me mad, and then I send all my hate to her via ESP. I watch her show because I can't stand her! Simmah down, Nancy!

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What else am I watching, you ask?

I just finished up "The Real Housewives Of Orange County", and as always, I was sad to see the season end. Lucky for me though, Bravo has hatched a new series called "The Real Housewives of New York City". I watched the preview show, and Lord. I'd hang out with OC housewives any day, in favor of those NYC biatches. Pretentious much?? I'm already hooked though.

Also hooked on VH-1's "My Fair Brady" ... with little Peter Brady all grown up and *MY* age, married to 24-year-old Adrienne Curry of "America's Top Model" and "The Surreal Life" fame. In fact, they met when they both appeared on Surreal Life. I fear for him, really I do. He's in over his head with her.

I watch "Jon and Kate Plus 8" on TLC every week. Her sarcasm and his sweetness ... plus all those screaming kids equals good TV!

A&E provides me with excellent TV time with some "Intervention". Although I always wonder, after several seasons, don't these addicts watch TV at all? You'd think they'd catch on when they are "being filmed for a documentary about addiction" and asked to state their name and SPELL IT, that they were headed for a rehab facility on the coast!

"Amazing Race" just ended ... and happily, in my opinion. Those two hippies just floated their way to a million bucks on good karma alone. Yay for them.

How excited am I that the stupid writer's strike has forced CBS into throwing together a winter season of "Big Brother"? Pretty damn excited, that's how. "Big Brother 9" starts February 12th.

But even MORE exciting that that ... "Survivor: Fan Favorites" begins February 7th. James is back! But so is Johnnie Fairplay. Oh man. I can't wait.

Need even MOOORE excitement? "Lost" returns THIS WEEK! Yes. Only I can hardly remember what happened on the last epidode. Lucky for me, I found this. After the ad plays, a video pops up that tells you everything that's happened on "Lost" in 8 minutes. (I had to take notes.)

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So you see dear Reader, life at my house in January is painfully quiet and slow. And it usually revolves around the big-screen TV.

How's it goin' with you?

"The world will turn if you're ready or not ..."

Halfway through January already ... I'm running behind and what else is new?

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My daughter-in-law and her family have suffered a terrible loss, and my heart goes out to them as they now deal with the aftermath of losing a loved one. Grief is personal, and everyone deals in their own way ... and the rest of us feel quite helpless in wanting to make things easier for the ones hurting the most. My hope is that they find some peace in their memories of happy times together, and that they grow even closer as a family as they find their way through the aftermath of this tragic accident.

While I worried over everyone this weekend, I had the most happy distraction of all: I was asked to stay with Miss Squishy while her Mama and Daddy dealt with everything else. People, there are no words. My Friday, Saturday, and Sunday flew by in a blur of diapers, bottles, bouncy seats, and rocking chair time. And let's not forget the "nose buried in the baby's neck" time.

She is amazing. She is precious. She is beautiful. She is a miracle.

And when she smiles in my direction, I melt into a big old Nana puddle. I knew before she came that I would love this child. What I didn't know was how big that love would be ... and she hasn't even hugged me back yet.




(I had no idea that every blog post after 11/07/07 would be "Squishy-oriented", and I never intended for every post to include a picture of the baby ... but for now, that's the way my brain works, y'all. You'll have to deal with it until it passes. I figure it'll take about ten years or so.)

"Chasing the years of my life ..."

It's the first Monday of 2008 ... the official END of the holiday season. (And not a moment too soon.)

It's also a momentous day in our family. Miss Squishy is two months old today! Seems like SO much has happened since two short months ago, when we all met over at the hospital to welcome her into our world. It has definitely been a busy couple of months. She's even more beautiful today than she was on the day she was born. She's growing like crazy. The biggest change, to me, is her ability to focus on faces and things ... she looks and studies, and now you can see that she's really seeing everything. She's also beginning to "talk" ... those first sweet ooohs and ahhhs they make that are just the sweetest sounds you've ever heard. That, and the smiles. Oh, those heartbreaking smiles.

This picture is from Friday night, when she came to stay with us for a few hours while her Mama and Daddy went out together. I had laid her in the crib and turned the mobile on ... she laid there for a LONG time, totally entranced by the lights, the music, and the stuffed animals going around and around over her head.

Two Months Old!

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Emilie made it home last night from her week in Ohio, safe and sound. Her "in a nutshell" review of Skybus Airline: "It's cheap! Expect delays."

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Back to routine here today. I'll be at the grocery store momentarily ... getting back to the cooking dinner every night routine. Time to start exercising as well. I'm tired of just talking about how I'm going to be fit one of these days. Gotta start somewhere and today is the day.

Arrrghhhh ... I'll be FORTY-freakin'-NINE in less than 3 months. That really hurts.

But then I just look at another picture of Squishy, and I don't even care how old I am or how many gray hairs I'm covering every month. She makes me happy to just be here. She makes me look forward to the "next time" ... the future. That may be the BIGGEST change seen in the last two months. Thank you, Miss S. <3

"Let's take it from the top ..."

2008.

It'll be September before I write it anywhere without having to stop and think, "What year is it?" ... hell, my natural instinct is to write "1998"! I'm TEN YEARS BEHIND!

Like that's news to anybody.

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Shall we discuss Clemson's loss to Auburn in overtime at the Chickfila Bowl on New Year's Eve? No? Good.

I just wish they had played with some heart. It felt like they were only half into it. Bah.

Here's Miss Squishy's reaction:

(She was not impressed, Mr. Bowden.)

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Mary, Kathy wants to be Eddy. Besides, as familiar as I am with a vodka bottle, I've always assumed I was closer to being Patsy than Eddy. I'm not blonde though. And I don't own any designer clothes. But I am older than God.

"Been looking forward to the future ..."

Whoa. Sorry about that. I really didn't intend to take so much time away from here. But once again, the holidaze just about got the best of me. I'm beginning to think I need to REthink some "traditions" as I get older. But probably, I'll just forget the hard parts by next year, and repeat everything, as usual.

The highlight of this year's Christmas festivities was one Miss Squishy. If she was in the house, I was having a hard time doing anything besides staring at her squishyness. But of course, there were always a zillion other things I needed to be doing, so I ended up feeling grumpy because I couldn't sit with her constantly and soak up what is now past: her First Christmas. But isn't she lovely?

I got some incredibly nice gifts, some of which require brain power to use:

Sisters Laura and Melody gave me a Bluetooth thingy for my car ... brain power needed to "link" it with my phone.

Adam & Brandy gave me a lovely digital photo frame, complete with Squishy pictures ... brain power needed to add new pictures.

And Jimmy gave me a GPS system ... brain power needed to drive and watch the GPS map at the same time.

Em helped me get the hang of the GPS stuff on our drive to Greensboro NC on Saturday. (I went along to keep her company on the drive to the Greensboro airport ... she caught a Skybus flight there to whisk her off to Ohio, where she'll spend the first week of the New Year.) It may take me a few years to get the "newest" gadgets ... but I'm really loving that British woman in my GPS that tells me to "Exit left and take the motorway"! I've decided to call her Patsy. (Extra points if you know why.)

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Happy 29th Anniversary to us. How HOW HOWWWW can we have been married for 29 years today ... if I am barely over 30 years old???

Time, she's a BITCH.

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I'm looking forward to the coming year ... looking forward to time with my Granddaughter, watching her grow and become who she is ... looking forward to time with "my girls"-- I've spent so much of my life without close girlfriends, but I'm totally enjoying making up for lost time ... looking forward to becoming a healthier me, preparing to totally commit to an exercise/fitness program ... looking forward to a new kitchen?? (A girl can dream!) ... looking forward to a blessed and happy year for my family and friends.

I love you all!

"She dreams in color ..."

So sleepy, and yet I'm here.

Just wanted to do a quick update to share Frances' official "I really AM a great-grandma" moment.

Squishy came to stay with us for a couple of hours while her Mama and Daddy attended a Christmas party. The best part of the night for me: Squishy Smiles! ("... the grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day.")

We weren't able to catch the incredible smiles on the camera, as we were far too involved in conversation with Miss Squishy at the time, but I'm sure it won't be long before we have it preserved on ... uh ... hard drive.