Grammie...you got some 'esplainin to do...

OK, so about that toilet paper necklace...

Long story..hey..I heard that..yeah .."aren't they all? "

..very funny..and quite accurate actually..

So, it's early in the morning.....v.e.r.y early. Like before the sun or the rooster next door were up..

April and Co. are staying in Mother-in-Law's downstairs apartment while she's 'toughing' it out in the beautiful San Diego sunshine with Mr. B v 2.0..

..and April goes in to the powder room..to, uh...well, you know...

Looks around..one sheet of toilet paper on the roll...not even a full sheet..just the essence of toilet paper..the mere suggestion..one single little sheet..


Hmmm..bathroom door's closed..every one's asleep...

"Chris?....Honey??...You awake??"

no sound...

"Chris? CHRIS!? Are. You. AWAKE??"

..nothing.

"Alyssa? Sweetie? Can you hear me??.....Alyssa? Alyssa?? Sweetie??"

"OK, Emily....Emily....EM-MIL-LY!? Emmy? EMMY?! EMILY....WAKE UP.."

"Anyone..phuleeze..Bueller? Bueller? I can't feel my toes...I am paralyzed from my bum down...."

She rifles through the waste bin..EMPTY! Not a used Kleenex or used up paper towels..not even used envelope. {?}

....nada

..drip drip..

..shoulda, coulda, woulda

{A small knock on the bathroom door - it's Emily !... all bleary-eyed and bed-headed..but it's Emily!}

"Mommy? I was having one of those dreams...someone kept calling me...EmilyEmilyEmily..irritating..geesh..what's up with that??"

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF.... get me some toilet paper ...please!"

"Wha??"

"Right over there...in Grandma Evelyn's storage room.."

"I'm not going in....there...it's dark ...and scary.."

"Come on- it's just a storage room. OK, it's dark ..and damp and... uh..dark..but just swing open that swinging door...right there..see?..right over........ there..."

"Where's the handle?"

"It's a 'swinging door' Emily...it SWINGS open..thus the name.SWINGING DOOR..get it? What's wrong with YOU people!? Grrr.."

So finally after about 35 minutes of legs becoming numb, having a permanent ring on her back-side, the problem is resolved.

When she told me ..I asked her why she didn't have her cell phone to call..you know..in an emergency?

After all, if she had called upstairs, I could have gone down and gotten Chris up and all would have been good.."

Other than explaining that pajamas do not have pockets, she informed me that IF she did have her cell phone..and IF she did make a call to ANYONE, it would have been to Chris directly, "don't you think I would have called him in the first place!!?? Mother??"



She always was kind of a smart-ass..


So, I made her a beautiful night-time necklace to wear whenever she visits...and doesn't want to use her perfectly good cell phone...

Can ya hear me now??


-me
ps..now a message from Mr. T.P. Roll:

Yeah...something like this:


youbetcha!

Pffffftt....

Yeah..kinda like that. You anticipate. You clean..you bake..you wait...


You shop. You worry. You greet. You stay up late. You laugh, you cry, you eat, you open and hug...
You volunteer, you visit....

You pay respects..

You play..you enjoy..


..you are the faces we love.

You rest, you gather..


Love, laughter, pride, exhaustion..extreme pride.

Then pfftt...

It's over. It's 'good-bye, drive safely, call when you get home..we love you and miss you already..
And you cry, you miss you worry. You do laundry and try to get back to normal.

And you sleep...

And Monday comes and you are back to 'normal'...

And we are grateful and blessed.

And we have so much to be thankful for.

Thanks, God. You rock..

Seriously.

-me

oh..remind me to tell you about this one..

Owen & Molly wanted me to tell you all....

...Happy Thanksgiving!

Now that Owen is safe, his cousin, Molly won't let him out of her sight..

Spooning..what could be better..

Owen asked me to personally thank each of you for your prayers for his safety..and tell you never, never, ever give up!

-me {and Owen}

'Twas the night before the night before Thanksmas..

OK, so some of you know that we here in Main Street have a Combo-Holiday called Thanks-mas..

Think of it as the Taco Bell 4th meal..

..the Biggie Sized Wendy's burger of holidays..

..the Super-sized-McHoliday..

The kids come in from Colorado..the other kids come in from across town, the grands are where we long for them to be..at Grammie and Papa's home.


This year, my sister and her family are not able to attend and while it won't be the same..we are working on some new traditions..


This year the girls and i will be spending the Thanksgiving morning delivering Thanksgiving dinners for the Salvation Army to those who are unable to go out or have the meal cooked at home.

I thought it would be a good experience for both of them and I know April will enjoy it as well.

We then are going out to eat..not so many left-overs and no one has kitchen duty.

{Mr. B is preparing a prime rib for Friday's meal..)

A movie ( Blind Side) is on the docket for Thursday night..then it's the Christmas part of Thanksmas' turn..

Black Friday shopping followed by breakfast out..then photo ops at Wheeler Farm or Gardner Village..then home for dinner and a rousing game of Kings in the Corner..we wrap and gifts that need to be wrapped, have hot cocoa, so this is our ..Christmas Eve..sort of..

Saturday is then 'Christmas morning' when we exchange gifts and wear our jammies and have a home-made breakfast..lots of picture taking..and laughter.

{this way, we can actually see the grands and the parents open the presents we would not be able to actually see once they go home..and they get to see our expressions when we open their gifts from them}

Sunday morning, they drive back to Colorado and when the real true Christmas comes, they can have their very own traditions, rituals and fun.

I think everyone can see how having 2 Christmases would be fun, right?

Here is a cookie one of my co-workers made..you should have seen them all lines up..a real turkey parade..

And here are the fabric colleges I made for my sisters - this is Larry and his son, Tim, a long time ago..real cowboys, the both of them..

OK, so enough about me {wink wink} What are YOU doing for the holiday??

-Mc me

Got Rust??

I remember a time you didn't want things to rust..

Now, I spend time looking for rusty things.

Because of my crafting..my art.

So while in Arizona, being "out there"....{as in far out there..which is not to be mistaken with "far out" as in "Far out, man.."..which is showing my age..}

Which I never said. You know.. 'Far out, man'..kind of a hippy-dippy sort of thing to say.

I was never a hippy. I was a Mommy at that time. Not that I'd want to be a hippy..well maybe a little. Guess it not too late..I could be a hippy-dippy-Grandma....

Yeah...Far out, man..

Anyway, the rust. I thought it's be easy..after all, this was wide open country. The elements and all. Desert. Wind. Heat..wait, what's missing?


Moisture.. oh yeah, gotta have moisture to produce really great rust. Not that I'm any kind of scientist or anything..but I think it needs to be sort of wet-ish to get rust. Must be some kind of chemical-reaction-recipe or something..

So, finding rusted-stuff was not as easy as I thought it was. I looked and looked.


Found some pretty neat rocks. A piece of wood or 2..but not so much rust.


Gerri's neighbor, Gilbert, a personable Mexican man, a philosopher who likes an early morning beer and classical music,


knows I love to take what some folks have called, "weird" photos..


{after my last visit, he spotted a cactus growing right up a mesquite tree and took me to see and photograph it).....let me have full reign to his junk-pile on the back of his property.


So I did..but something was missing...I really wanted some rusty barbed wire and nails.


A little disappointed, I thought no more if it..thanked him and happily too some rusty-stuff back to Gerri's..

..until later in the visit when we came home from an outing only to find sitting on Gerri's porch, rusted barbed wire, rusty nails, rusted saws..


So, thank you Gilbert, for taking the time to actually find rusty barbed wire and nails and stuff.

Didja know it kinda hard to explain a Rubbermaid tub full of rusty, pointy metal stuff to the airport security??

..I feel another post coming on...

-me

Did you have one of those kids...

..you know..the one you say..

"Someday I hope you have a child...Just.Like.You."

Yeah...heehee.

Listen to this exchange between my youngest, Brandi, and her 5-year old daughter, Ella Ireland..


"Mommy, we had some great lunch today.."

"Good - what did you have?"

"Some really good potatoes..and I saved some for you & Daddy!"

"Aw. that's sweet.."

"Here.."

(she reached into the pocket of her cute little uniform pants...and pulls out a couple of wilted, lint-covered, fuzzy, un-wrapped potato wedges..)

no napkin, no baggie, just 2 sad, fuzzy smooched, linty potato wedges..

And being the good Mommy she is...she TOOK A BITE!

Bwhaaaa hahahaa!

What goes around, Brandi...

hehehee :-)

This is no ordinary 5 year old you're dealing with...

-me..the Grammie-nator

Miracle in the desert...

Owen is safe. That part you know. But that's just the 'end' of the story.. There's a lot more to this, and if you've doubts about prayer, courage, strength.. ..about the stars and the heaven's alignment.. ..about the kindness of strangers....and man's love of God's creatures.. ..then you need to read no further. Because this is the story of hope, answered prayers, and... 'thanks-giving' Everyone was supportive. Told Kathy he'd be found..he'd be safe.. Because that's what one says..even if one doesn't believe.....has doubts. After all, one small city dog..in a place far away from his home..unknown terrain.. ..what with coyotes, bobcats and all other dangers of the desert at night. And it was now 3 nights..and 4 days.. No word..even the believers, the hopeful, were losing hope. "It's really not very likely he'll be found alive..after one night out there.." some said {but all were thinking by now..} But that's not the way it was supposed to be..not the way the story ends.. The reward posters were placed in the small town of Arivaca, in the bar/restaurant in Amado.. the mercantile, the library.. ..given out at the elementary school where Larry substituted as a kindergarten teacher... ...the shelter in Green Valley..the border patrol station..no one had seen him. One small white dog..one large and dangerous desert..thousand of acres vs one flat-faced-butt-sniffin'-leg-lifter, with bottom-less brown eyes.. all spit and vinegar.. On the day we had all but given up hope, Kathy's cell phone rang. Bad reception.."wait, what?" "I thi.. I ma..have fou.. your dog.." The line went dead..the caller ID said simply "unknown".. The phone rang again.."What? Where are you? What's you're number..give me YOUR number!?" He gave the first 3 digits..then the line went dead...again. "NO.." It rang a third time..he quickly gave the LAST 4..Kathy ran into the house to use the land-line. The voice on the other end said "I think we have him.." 4 1/2 miles. Hills..washes..no houses..then a small house.. ..a man holding Owen.. Kathy screaming, crying, Gerri jumping. Owen was found. He's alive! The man, now himself close to tears, is hugged by Kathy. He hugs back..then tells his story. Seems he has a small, modest home. 4 dogs himself. Lots of barking - teenage daughter, pretty wife. But for some reason, the barking at 2:30 Saturday morning was..well..different. The man thought he's just step outside and check.. A coyote was trying to get something under his car..what was it? His Great Dane was furious..barking..the coyote was growling..menacing.. He let the Great Dane out..he ran off the coyote.. the man looked under the car.. Now what is this? A small, white city dog? Out here? Wha?? The man took him inside. The little dog was wearing a collar with tags..and a phone number..a long distance phone number. He couldn't call at that hour. He started to work on all the burrs, stickers and desert this little city dog had gotten himself into. He continued to try to make Owen {he found his name was on his tag} comfortable..feed him and give him water..he gently groomed him, talked to him, for over 4 hours.. He called at 8am. When Kathy & Gerri arrived, when the hugs and the tears and the laughter subsided..the man told the story... .. no, he and his wife and daughter had not seen the flyers on a lost little white dog..they didn't know... Kathy hugged him.. told him there was a reward.. "No, no..not necessary..I couldn't.." Kathy gave him the reward. $500, just like the flyer had said. The flyer he had not seen.. The man appeared to be in shock..he couldn't believe it..he said "thank you - thank you...I don't..." Like us all, he had been having a rough time ..Thanksgiving and Christmas were a worry..he has a daughter..and a wife..and little extra beyond the basics.. But not having extra money didn't stop him from opening his home, his heart....{.and 3 long distance phone calls!} They hugged, cried and said good-bye. Later, when Kathy's husband, Bruce was leaving to drive back to Lake Havasu..he stopped to thank the man and his family himself. Bruce told the man he was Kathy's hero..thanked him again. The man looked at Bruce and said.. "No..you are our hero..we didn't know if we were going to have a real Thanksgiving or Christmas this year..now, thanks to Owen, we will.." One small dog, one huge desert, one group of friends and strangers, one gracious God. One happy ending... Thank you for praying, thank "Ron " for calling..thank the people of Arivaca, thank God. and thanks to the Great Dane..that coyote may still be runnin'..... :-) -me