Take what you can get

No, I'm not talking about greedy materialistic things.

I watched 2 of my little darling grandkids this afternoon so R and A could go out for lunch and have a bit of time to themselves. They're growing up so fast. When Rhett was little, he'd be so happy to see me, and cry his little heart out when it came time for me to leave. Now, he's so busy in his adventures that I might warrant a "Hi Grams" in passing, and if I'm lucky, a hug when it's time to go. And Ashlynn really prefers her Mama to hold her, though I do get some quality time with her when it's just me and the kids.

Well, this afternoon was one of those times that I'll have to hold onto. Ashlynn was napping when Mom and Dad left, and Rhett was drawing with his colored pens, so everything was fine. Then Rhett realized Mom was gone, and he cried some bucket tears, allowing me to hold him and give him comfort. He fell asleep in my arms, and I bet I held him 15 minutes, just enjoying it. Then about the time I put him down, Ashlynn woke up. When she realized Mom wasn't home, I was able to play patty-cake with her, and this-little-piggy her toes, and she'd smile up at me and we'd talk.

I cherish these times with the little ones. They grow up all too fast, so, yes, I'll take what I can get of their loving attention.

Thanks, Polaroid

I heard on the news the other day that Polaroid will no longer be making their instant cameras. Digital cameras have caused the demise of this part of American history. Naturally, this got me thinking about the role Polaroid played in my life over the years, and I went digging in the old pictures.

These pics are from 1970, and I would have been 20, not yet 21. My friend Janet had just gotten her Polaroid, and these black and white pictures were taken in a local park. Yes, I'm hanging from the monkey bars....see, I was once young!

It's hard to imagine since we now live in an era of instant everything, but if we took pictures with our little Kodaks, we had to take the film to be developed, and in about 5 to 7 days they would be ready to pick up. It was such a kick to have the Polaroids and see the pictures within minutes.

As years went by, Robert and Elizabeth came along, and eventually a color Polaroid. Here they are with Grampa C.

We didn't take a lot of instant pictures. Reggie got his 35 mm about this time, and that became the camera of choice. But in the whole scheme of things, the process of snapping the picture, seeing it eject from the camera, and the anticipation of seeing the picture develop before your eyes stands out in my memory.

A little history, a little trivia. Thanks for the memories, Polaroid.

Instructions?

It's amazing, but I'm finding that things operate much more smoothly when you read the instructions first.

Take text messaging for instance. I recently got a new cell phone, and while I had finally figured out text messaging on the old one, I had to start all over with this new one. Now I have to decide if I want it to guess the word I'm typing in by just hitting the key once (you know there are 3-4 letter choices for each number), or do I want to spell it out? Or do I want to switch modes and get into characters, such as the exclamation point, question mark, etc. Initially I kept punching the outer corner buttons because it would change things and sooner or later I'd get my message out. Then...I read the instructions! My next message was a breeze! Of course, never mind that I don't always remember those instructions from one day to the next, but at least I know where to look.

Then there's the camera portion of my phone. Well, that opened up a whole new world. The main problem so far is that I've taken a bunch of pictures of my steering wheel, or under my desk, or me looking at it with a question on my face. You see, the button to turn on the camera function is on the side where my thumb rests as I open the flip top. Then I'd have this grid on the screen so I'd know the camera was on, and as I bumbled around to turn it off, click! There's another picture. Instructions helped there too, as I'm learning how to delete. Haven't gotten to downloading the pics to my computer yet, but it will come.

What else? Oh, yes. The digital photo frame. Now that's a nifty little invention. I got one for Christmas, and have inserted the memory card with many cherished photos. It played through, and that was it. Then you'd see the screen with all the pictures at one time. Well, once I took the time to read the instructions (!), it miraculously plays the pictures continuously. That one only took me two weeks to figure out.

My next thing to tackle is a new universal remote. The thing is huge...probably 5 or 6" across by about 10" long, with great big letters. Hopefully the instructions won't be in tiny print...

Br-r-r-r-r!

It turned cold this week! Not knowing if it was going to ice this morning, and not wanting to be in the limbo-land of am I going in or not going in, I just made a choice and took a vacation day today. That it happens to be Friday is so much the better!

Did I do anything momentous? No. Any housecleaning? Just minimal. Anything? Well, I had lunch with Elizabeth, worked on a quilt project, did some laundry, cooked some stuffed peppers so I could freeze some for my lunches, piddled with my geocaching supplies, did some shopping, read a bit on a new cookbook I bought, and did pretty much whatever I wanted to do. All in all, a very nice day.

Yes, another taste of retirement. Since it's only 2 years, 2 months, and 6 days away, I need this practice once in awhile so it won't be a shock to my system.

Woo-hoo!

After a whirlwind courtship, Elizabeth and David are married! Included in the package is David's 5 year old daughter Lily. We welcome them to the family.

David says its not a whirlwind on his part, he knew over 3 years ago what he wanted, and he just waited for Elizabeth to figure it out. When she became available, he stepped up, and I guess you can say the rest will be history.

I wish them many blessings and a beautiful life together.

The things we do for our kids...

I was eating a Happy Meal cheeseburger the other night, and took a look at the little toy, pondering what to do with it. One of the guys from work saw my face, and, correctly guessing what I was thinking, suggested that I hold onto it. "It could wind up being worth $38 someday," was his wry comment. He then related the story of his 4 year old son's request to Santa for a specific toy that he'd never heard of...a week before Christmas. He got on-line, did some looking, and found the little toy...yes, a Happy Meal toy...on auction. He and his wife watched the bids, it was getting down to the wire, and, yep, he won the bid at $38. Sure enough, Santa placed the toy in Samuel's stocking, and all was right in his world.

Of course, I then had to relate my story of Strawberry Shortcake's miraculous ability to grow hair...and that she could only grow it once! When Elizabeth was little, probably 3 or 4, she had a little Strawberry Shortcake doll that she loved dearly...and truthfully I guess we all did, because we all did our share of "talking" for her. One day at the babysitter's house, the sitter's granddaughter led Elizabeth into styling Strawberry's hair. It was so sad when I picked her up that afternoon. I could tell she was upset when she showed Strawberry to me. Well, we went home, and that evening her dad and I told her we'd try washing Strawberry's hair with something special to see if we could "grow" her hair, but just understand it would probably only work once. You can probably guess the rest. After she went to bed, Reggie ran all over town to find another Strawberry doll. When he returned, we changed out her clothes so that she was wearing the right dress, and kind of smudged her up a bit to look truly loved and to have that wagged-around look.

We got by with it...until a few years later. As I said, we all loved Strawberry, and I personally couldn't bear to part with the original, so she went into the attic. Well, when we sold that house, Elizabeth happened to be in the garage with me as I was checking to see what was up there, and she saw her head poking out of a box. Hopefully she wasn't traumatized by the deception.

Chicken 'n Dumplings

Mmmm. Chicken 'n dumplings. Now, there's comfort food. Who can resist sitting down to a bowl of this version of chicken soup? I don't remember Mom making it too much, though I'm sure she must have. Probably the earliest meal that stands out in my mind is one we had at Sue and Troy's. We had just driven in from Texas, and it was cold outside. We walked in the door, and it didn't take her just minutes to finish putting it together. It really hit the spot.

I'd say each time I make it, it's a little bit different, and with the exception of the time I accidentally used crescent rolls instead of biscuits, it's always good. The nice creamy broth with shredded chicken, maybe some celery and carrots. And don't make flat dumplings. They need to be, well, dumply. Life doesn't get much better, does it?