Monday, July 21, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Crash course in "Grandma"aka "Tayta."
J&J took M&M to Cedar Point last Thursday. That meant that I got to watch Natalie for the day. Oh... OK, we got to. I was worried that she just wouldn't even like us. We'd only been back for 5 days. Well, she likes me, but she LOVES her Grandpa, aka Seedu. He calls her a time consumer. She always wants to be in his arms. I suppose I could be a little jealous - both ways, but they're so sweet together!
Our day together went great. She's an easy kid. No tears unless she's too tired, or too hungry. She napped well and had a great time running around our almost empty house. Little feet make a really fun sound when they run through empty halls of an empty house. She loved it. So much room to run.
I never checked for pacifiers when we left her house to come to mine. Thankfully there was one in her bag, but she likes to have 2 in bed with her. And her baby! I didn't bring her baby either. I prepared myself for the terrible screams of a child in a strange house. a strange bed, with strange people. I put her in the port-a-crib and she went to sleep!! I have the BEST grandbaby.
I'm sad that we missed so much time with her over the past 15 months, but we're with her now. We're living close enough to see her just about every day now. How special!
Our day together went great. She's an easy kid. No tears unless she's too tired, or too hungry. She napped well and had a great time running around our almost empty house. Little feet make a really fun sound when they run through empty halls of an empty house. She loved it. So much room to run.
I never checked for pacifiers when we left her house to come to mine. Thankfully there was one in her bag, but she likes to have 2 in bed with her. And her baby! I didn't bring her baby either. I prepared myself for the terrible screams of a child in a strange house. a strange bed, with strange people. I put her in the port-a-crib and she went to sleep!! I have the BEST grandbaby.
I'm sad that we missed so much time with her over the past 15 months, but we're with her now. We're living close enough to see her just about every day now. How special!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Ready or not, here we go.
We checked our checked baggage this afternoon. We will actually get on our plane tomorrow night. Our city has a satellite office where you can check-in, check bags and get your boarding passes the day before your flight. It saves a lot of time tomorrow night.
I packed 6 large bags, carefully weighing each one to be sure I was under the limit of 23 kilos. I even made sure I had a kilo or two to spare on a couple of them, just for those last minute things I think of as we're heading out the door. I literally thought of my Cutco knives and Tupperware cereal containers as dh (dear husband) went down the stairs with the first 2 bags. I quickly wrapped the knives in a plastic bag, wrapped a whole bunch of clear packing tape around them and put them into the cereal containers. I then proceeded to mash those containers into an already filled suitcase that was waiting for Mike to come get it.
As I finally forced the zipper the last inch or two, I thought of the gifts. Oh no! In the trunk of the car are the gifts, given to me by a friend to give to her friends in the states. I was thinking, "What will we do with them?" As the thought came to me, Mike walked in the door. "Did you find K's gifts in the trunk?" "All packed!" he said with a grin. "I hope they don't go over-weight now." That's what took him so long...
On to check-in. We tell them where were going and through what city. I watch the baggage tickets coming out of the printer and being put on our bags. They had printed out the tags with the city of our connection on them. Does that mean we'll have to go through customs there. We told the clerk - we're going to this city, through that city. They reprinted the baggage tickets. Whew!
There go our bags. dh and I smile. They never weighed any of the bags. They had put all 6 of them on the scale at the same time. Tagged them and off they went down the conveyor. We are motioned to go through the door to the left to watch our bags go through the scanner. They need to be ok'd before we can leave. The plastic and tape wrapped Cutco knives went through, as did the gifts, and the clothes. Absolutely less than 138 kilos (300 pounds) of stuff. 300 pounds? What the heck did I pack? I guess I'll find out in a couple of days.
I packed 6 large bags, carefully weighing each one to be sure I was under the limit of 23 kilos. I even made sure I had a kilo or two to spare on a couple of them, just for those last minute things I think of as we're heading out the door. I literally thought of my Cutco knives and Tupperware cereal containers as dh (dear husband) went down the stairs with the first 2 bags. I quickly wrapped the knives in a plastic bag, wrapped a whole bunch of clear packing tape around them and put them into the cereal containers. I then proceeded to mash those containers into an already filled suitcase that was waiting for Mike to come get it.
As I finally forced the zipper the last inch or two, I thought of the gifts. Oh no! In the trunk of the car are the gifts, given to me by a friend to give to her friends in the states. I was thinking, "What will we do with them?" As the thought came to me, Mike walked in the door. "Did you find K's gifts in the trunk?" "All packed!" he said with a grin. "I hope they don't go over-weight now." That's what took him so long...
On to check-in. We tell them where were going and through what city. I watch the baggage tickets coming out of the printer and being put on our bags. They had printed out the tags with the city of our connection on them. Does that mean we'll have to go through customs there. We told the clerk - we're going to this city, through that city. They reprinted the baggage tickets. Whew!
There go our bags. dh and I smile. They never weighed any of the bags. They had put all 6 of them on the scale at the same time. Tagged them and off they went down the conveyor. We are motioned to go through the door to the left to watch our bags go through the scanner. They need to be ok'd before we can leave. The plastic and tape wrapped Cutco knives went through, as did the gifts, and the clothes. Absolutely less than 138 kilos (300 pounds) of stuff. 300 pounds? What the heck did I pack? I guess I'll find out in a couple of days.
See you on the other side of the pond.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Scramble
I am in a rush. I couldn't sleep past the "wake up call" for thinking about all the things I have to get done in the next 4 days. So, I got up at about 5 or 5:30 and cleared out the kitchen drawers and cabinets. Have any of you ever packed your home to have someone else come live in it furnished? I haven't either, and there are so many things to think about. We also have to pack for the 2 1/2 month trip to the US. What do I bring with me? Should I bring all those clothes? Should I plan to buy some new ones? How cold does it get at night in Cleveland in the summer? Oh, did I mention that there is a Baby Shower at my house this afternoon? Thankfully H is handling all the food and preparations. I still have to run to the store to get another gift for my precious pretend grandson (the 3rd son of our very good friends J&K.)
Pray for my peace of mind and some extra help in organizing and time management this week as you think of it.
Pray for my peace of mind and some extra help in organizing and time management this week as you think of it.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
I can't believe what I found yesterday.
While watching a Disney movie with some good friends, I remembered that long ago my daughter wrote a silly story using many Disney characters in odd roles. It was her Jr. High aged attempt at a spoof on Disney. It was cute and written on one of our earliest computers. As most of you know, it is sometimes difficult to keep all of the information from one computer to each successive computer. It was lost. I told my friends about it, thinking how fun it would be to read again.
The next day, yesterday, as I was going through a pile of cds and dvds in my attempt to pack for a 2 1/2 month trip to the US, I found an old re-writable cd with "Microsoft Money Backup" written on it. I put it in my laptop, just to see what else I may have put on it. There was a file labeled "Fairytale." I thought "no way!" I opened it in Word. Sadly all that was there was that martian language resembling the symbols Clark Kent can read on Smallville. I closed it and tried to open it in Word Pad, remembering that the kids used that a lot when they were younger. It still had some things that Clark could read, but there is a large chunk in the center that English readers can read.
So, there you have it. What was found was proof of a fond memory of my daughter's creativity. My next blog may be that story, IF I am able to get the author to agree to allow me to print it. (Copyright laws, you know!)
The next day, yesterday, as I was going through a pile of cds and dvds in my attempt to pack for a 2 1/2 month trip to the US, I found an old re-writable cd with "Microsoft Money Backup" written on it. I put it in my laptop, just to see what else I may have put on it. There was a file labeled "Fairytale." I thought "no way!" I opened it in Word. Sadly all that was there was that martian language resembling the symbols Clark Kent can read on Smallville. I closed it and tried to open it in Word Pad, remembering that the kids used that a lot when they were younger. It still had some things that Clark could read, but there is a large chunk in the center that English readers can read.
So, there you have it. What was found was proof of a fond memory of my daughter's creativity. My next blog may be that story, IF I am able to get the author to agree to allow me to print it. (Copyright laws, you know!)
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