School Dayz

It's that time of year again and yesterday as I glanced out my bedroom window early in the morning I saw the yellow school bus go by on the road just outside town. What memories that sight conjured up for me and what realizations of how times have changed, at least in my household.

All three of my boys rode one of those yellow buses, and mostly with less than enthusiasm. How busy were those mornings trying to get three active boys up, dressed, and fed, ready to go before 7 am. We live at the end of the bus line and for some reason were always first on in the mornings an last off after school. Perhaps because one of the school board member's children was at the other end of the line? As soon as my oldest was 16 and had the cherished driver's license the bus stopped no more in front of my house.

But, before too many years, in the flash of an eye, or so it seems, the grandkids were starting school. Both Moms worked so Granny Care developed. Five eager (?) faces would appear at my house just before 7 am for breakfast. I like to cook and it was such fun to do a good breakfast for the little ones. I had a third grader, a second grader, a first grade and two in kindergarten. They would gather around my dining room table eagerly anticipating bacon or sausage plus eggs or whatever the fare of the morning would be. They still tell the story of passing the plate of bacon by shoving it across the table.... unfortunately the plate fell off the other side of the table and the dog had a good breakfast that day. Some days if we were very organized, we had time for a
story. Soon they would line up outside to wait for that yellow bus. I can picture that still.

Today, one granddaughter is off to college almost 4 hours away, living in a dorm, the other will remain at home and study at the local junior college. The oldest grandson has graduated from the University of Illinois and has a wonderful job. The other two boys work in our family business so I see them more often. It's amazing but they still come to Gran's house looking for food. I guess some things never change!

There Aint no Flies on Me...

First I guess I should appologize to all bug lovers for all my unkind thoughts about wishing to cause the death of such critters but they simply give me the shivers. If they would stay outside where they belong we could co-exist but when they enter my space, they are doomed if I can possibly arrange it. Oh I know they have value and are part of the chain of life but not mine! So sorry bug lovers but.......

Isn't that an old song? "There Aint no Flies on me?" Somewhere down deep in the recesses of my mind. I can hear that tune.....

Well, maybe not on me, but for some strange reason my house has been full of flies the last few days. They are on every window in the house....hundreds of them. I can swat 20-30 at a time and go back an hour later and there are more. These are not the attic type flies (big ones) but normal sized house fly looking ones and not the kind that buzz you when you are trying to take a short nap ...they seem to be trying to escape and I sure wish they would do so. This is a new experience here in G'ville.

This has truly been a strange year for buggy things which I must admit I do not like.

Earlier this spring my house was inundated with little ants. They came from nowhere, even in the bathrooms and bedrooms. Now I have been known (in the far distant past, of course) to have done a little snacking in the bedroom but surely never in a bathroom. So... what attracted these little critters here? I heard it was all the rain with wet conditions awakening them from the ground. Well maybe, because one day they were suddenly gone.

First it was ants earlier in the spring and now flies....wonder what is next?

Well, I should never have asked what is next after the ants and the mysterious flies. What was next came in the form of a very large, very black, and very hairy looking spider which greeted me as I entered the van to head to my Monday afternoon volunteer job at church. Now I'm usually pretty good at killing these things but with tissues in hand I struck and missed. It dropped to the floor and I was unable to get it as it crawled under the floor mat. I ran into the house for Raid but only had some for the darn ants. I pulled the mat out of the car and sprayed almost a whole can in the direction it had taken. I briefly saw it emerge and slide down where the brake pedal enters the van. Now what could I do? I had to get to church as Pam, who works with me on Mondays, was missing today and I was the only worker. OK be brave...I made it there with no further sightings. I sprayed the heck out of the van again when I left it and carefully checked all surfaces when getting back into it. I bought a BIG can of Raid at the local IGA and really saturated all areas again when I got home. If that thing lives it will be a miracle but I won't ask again what is next.........

Humility or Vanity?

I attended a quilting retreat this week and what a joy that always is to me. Three days of constant sewing with good friends, no phones ringing, no dishes to wash or meals to prepare. Lots of time to read, enjoy the beautiful garden, sip coffee and visit. I am seldom ready to return home and face the realities of daily life although I sure miss my grandkids when gone.

One of the few downsides to retreating is the loss of my wonderful, oh so private, bathroom and shower. Dorm style living always reminds me of the years I spent as a nursing student living in a dorm and sharing all facilities. Private times never were! Shyness simply wouldn't work in large bath areas used by an entire floor of students.

One night this week I headed to the smaller bathroom to take my nightly shower. I was armed with towel, washcloth, soap and shampoo. With a tightly locked door behind me in that small room, I began to disrobe....in complete privacy, right? I carefully lay my clothing on the provided chair and turned to pull the shower curtain and adjust the water. There, in front of me, was an old woman who obviously bore no resemblance to the real me. Now who, with any kindness, would position a large mirror on the door of a small shower area? As I looked with shocked eyes I could see the face looked familiar, but the rest? Now how could all those changes have occured so suddenly? You will be spared a more graphic description of what my eyes beheld but suffice it to say......"OH Good Heavens. Look at that old woman!" There is a lot to be said for clothing...loose clothing...hiding clothing.

Well, that old woman is still with me but I will chose to be kinder and more gentle with her. I think maybe in time she will fade into the background and the real me will return. But...I do promise myself this, to look carefully into any shower room and avoid that big mirror, just in case she might return.

Lasts and Firsts

I read several yahoo groups on a daily basis. Well, maybe it is more accurate to say I scan them and focus on subjects that seems to perk my interest. I read a couple of cooking ones, one that organizes housework, one that focuses on Diabetes, one for quilters, and one that plans for Christmas twelve months a year. Now, obviously I am not that organized but I like the daily small challenges and even do some of them...I do have a shiney sink most days and my bed is always made. Yesterday a post from a woman caught my eye. She was talking about how she was sad because her child was graduating from high school and she was facing all the lasts that go along with that. As I read about her last prom, her last PTA meeting,and other lasts, I realized that in a way I am doing the lasts also. I seldom reply or post to these groups but felt compelled to write to her. I wrote that I too had done all the lasts with my own three boys and was now doing them with the last of the grandkids, my two grandgirls. I guess to be perfectly honest I wasn't all that sad when my boys finished school and moved on to adulthood, Raising three boys can be a challenge at times. I wouldn't miss the last call from the school principal, the last driving ticket, the last D/F slip from school, etc. If you're a parent you understand. But, grow up they did, as they must and should. All of a sudden I had time to do the things I wanted to do and believe me I jumped in with both feet. Before I knew it, I had daughters in law and the grandkids began to arrive...five of them within six years and the firsts started again. First birthday, first tooth, first steps, first day at school, first school program, and so many more. And the wonderful part...I didn't get the calls from school, the arguments that are a normal part of raising kids. But if you think for one minute that you worry less about your grandkids than your own flock, think again. For all the joy they bring, they bring worry too. Now my last two will graduate from high school in a few weeks and we will finish with the lasts and start again with the firsts. For, before I know it, there will be weddings again and new babies and all the wonders that a new generation brings. I only hope I am healthy enough to enjoy every last and every first that is yet to come.

My Quiet Little Town.....

Now, I live in one of those tiny towns that you can pass through and never notice. We are here because our family business, a grain elevator, is located just across the street. How I got here in the middle of the night, is another story for another time, but here I have been for 46 years now. We raised our family of three sons here and now the grandkids are almost grown too. G'ville has changed little over the years. Oh we've had a few people move in and out and of course lost many of the old timers. We, who were the young newbies, are now the older crowd. But, coming from a background in a college town with all the activity that offers, G'ville was a very lonely place for a twenty something with three small boys. But I got busy with family and helping in a new business and time has seemed to fly. School functions with the kids, going back to school myself, a part time job, friends, and occasionally working at the elevator kept me busy. As my family grew and left home the grandkids arrived and we repeated all those activities. Now the last two will graduate from high school in a few months and head off to college and my world will once again become quieter. As I was sitting at my computer this morning I glanced out the window and suddenly realized that this little town has all sorts of activity that I was missing. I think maybe we have to have some age to appreciate the smaller things. I know during those twenty something years I had no time to notice the small things around me. Outside my window there is all sorts of activity going on....for example that old blackbird (not my favorite bird but...) What does he know that the fat robins don't? They pick in the yard looking for food but he stays off to the side poking through a pile of leaves under a roadside bush. Are the bigger worms there? On the bird feeder a cardinal is seeking the favored seeds. Now those brilliant birds are always a joy to spot, but have you ever noticed they seem a bit selfish, squawking at the little wrens who want to share a perch on that feeder? His mate sits quietly on a pine branch. Doe she have to wait until he is filled? Scrambling across the split rail fence is a pair of squirrels. Are they courting? Maybe an old married pair? Will they have babies this spring? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to jump from tree branch to tree branch with such agility? All of a sudden all birds take quick flight and the squirrels leap for higher branches. The golden girls have invaded my yard. In our family we have three Golden Retrievers and in this small town with no leash law they are free to run and play together. One dog is older, at twelve years of age, and the other two are one and two but they all play as if there are youngsters. Like children they seem to meet early in the morning to play together. Yes, G'ville is a bustling little town.......

Looking for Spring

The older I get the less I tolerate the long cold winters of the Illinois prairie. Long ago I loved spending hours outside building a snowman or a snow fort in the yard, never too cold not to beg for just another hour to play. Then came the walks on a snowy day with a good friend or special beau...soft flakes falling on face and hair. Later, the fun of small children, themselves delighted with a snowman in the front yard, getting wet and cold but warming up with mittens and scarves dry and warm from the clothes dryer. ready to go again. More fun with grandchildren, but maybe I will stay inside and man the dryer for those wet mittens and scarves. I'll have hot chocolate for you when you can stand it no longer. After all I'm a grandma now.

Now. at 71, I don't find the same joy in a snowfall I once did. Oh I can still appreciate the beauty of soft flakes but also the cold seems to seep into my bones and I find myself earlier and earlier doing my spring ritual, looking for the first signs of springs arrival.

I will admit to waiting anxiously for that old groundhog to make his prediction. This year he did not see his shadow so that meant spring would soon appear? What happened to him? Perchance he is aging also and forgot his duty? Whatever his excuse he bungled it this year.

This has been an unusually long hard winter here on the prairie with many snowfalls and blustery winds. We live seven miles from the nearest small town and the snowplow slowly makes it's way out to us. Blizzard conditions, which have occurred all too often this year, sometimes require a bulldozer to break through the drifts along the open roads.

But two weeks ago, while sitting in front of this computer, I glanced out the window and saw the first robin to make it's way to G'ville. What a fat robin, searching the ground for any hint of food. He must have spent the winter in a warm and plentiful spot. Ah, spring is coming. Early in the mornings I can hear a hint of birdsong outside my still dark bedroom window. Soon that song will wake me at dawn every day.

So I grab a coat as it's still below freezing this morning and go outside to do my final search for signs of spring and yes, there just outside the front of the house is the confirmation...green sprouts are making their way up and out of the ground. Last fall I planted a multitude of spring bulbs and they are showing tender sprouts in the still cold ground. Soon there will be daffodil's, tulips, hyacinths and the tiny crocus. Then I will know spring has arrived. I will look back fondly at some of the events of this winter of 2011 but ahhhhhh just smell that fresh air.

Body Building Gramma

Now, I'm a 71 year old Gramma and body building is not something I have considered at my age but I have recently reconsidered. A few days ago I watched Dr. Oz on TV demonstrate using cans of food as weights during exercising and it suddenly dawned on me, "I've been doing that for years", and you probably have too.

Have you ever thought about those trips to the grocery store? Every item purchased is lifted by you several times....every can (big or small), every bag (frozen or not), every box. Think about it.......

1. into your cart
2. onto the cashiers scan area
3. back into your cart (now in bigger heavier bags)
4. into your vehicle
5. into your home (ugh - load up those arms for fewer trips)
6. onto your shelves and into the fridge or freezer

And if you drop an item, count that as a deep knee bend or squat.
Wow...check out those biceps. You are weight lifting and at the very least body toning.

I'm tired just thinking about all that lifting and straining...maybe a short nap? After all I have worked out today.