Sickness Strikes Again

It was a long day yesterday (Friday). I babysat my grandchildren (4 of them anyway) all day. Sawyer, who is 2, was fine all day until late afternoon when we went outside to play. He played for awhile and then decided to walk over to me and throw up in my lap. He ended up throwing up about 4-5 times before Noel came to get him. Poor little guy ended up with the pukes all night long. Chris and Noel finally had to take him to the emergency room. They gave him some pills that melt on your tongue and you stop vomiting. He also had to have an IV drip for dehydration as by then, it was coming out of both ends of him. Noel said he didn't even have the strength to raise his head up to throw up. He just whimpered for water and the nurse wouldn't give him any - she said his bowels needed to rest. Of course everything that went in him came right back out anyway. They finally got home after 2am and then Noel and I text messaged each other til almost 3am. I went and saw him today and the poor little duff just laid on the sofa completely wiped out. He got to have Pedialyte and Pedialyte popsicles. Not exactly what he wanted - he kept crying for pink milk at home today. Hopefully he will feel better by tomorrow. I just hope none of the other kids (and especially myself) doesn't get it!

Memorial Weekend

It's Sunday night and I know that this holiday weekend is not over yet. I was hoping for another day to myself but it wasn't in the "stars" as they say. Hubby was at our daughter and son-in-laws on Friday night and all day Saturday, helping Tom with tilling the garden. Lucky me, I got to have Friday night and all day Saturday and Saturday night to just me, myself, and I. Woo hoo!!!! No cooking for anyone, no one to have to give up the television remote for... Of course, I worked my fanny off. Friday, I cleaned up the playroom and vacuumed and shampooed the carpet and into the hallway by the other bedroom and bathroom. Then, I pulled out the living room furniture and vacuumed really good in there. When I was done, I made a run to Crossroads where I could use up a card that I had a credit on for returned merchandise, then on to Menards to pick up 5 bags of mulch to finish the flower bed in the front of the house, and buy a new gas grill for hubby for Father's Day (from the kids and me) - I gave it to him today so we could start grilling :-) . I know I did some other stuff when I got back home but I can't remember what it was........

On Saturday early morning, I climbed out of bed, and shampooed the living room carpet in my pajamas and then sorted toys in the playroom and put the room back in order. Then it was off to the vet, over to HyVee to fill a prescription, on to the bread store, Shopko (where I picked up 4 jugs of fabric softener for 1.99 each), went to Mill End Textiles where I sorted through tons of fabric looking for something that reminded me of very old fabric from the 1700s, stopped and picked up the prescription (for the dog - so funny cuz HyVee Pharmacy has the label on the bottle as "Duncan" Nelson). When I got home I was able to put the living room back together and then shampoo our bedroom carpet and computer room carpet. My sister and I went to Olive Garden for supper and when I got home, I took a hot bath, climbed in my jammies and watched tv til 10pm. I slept like a rock - which is highly unusual because I have TERRIBLE insomnia. Of course today (Sunday) I was up at 5:30am so I could get ready for church and then drive to Marion to pick up my two grandsons to bring them back to Sioux Falls for church. When I took them home, hubby came back with me and had great fun (maybe) putting together his new gas grill. Mallory went to church with me tonight and is staying overnight. I was hoping for a quiet, kid-free Monday since it's a holiday but I promised Mallory she could stay the night (and you know when a kid does that, they don't go home the next day - she will probably end up staying tomorrow night too unless I can talk her into going home). Tomorrow is our 36th wedding anniversary so it would be nice to go out for a nice meal. Noel gave us a gift certificate to Texas Roadhouse for Christmas and we haven't used it yet.

Here's a couple of funnies for you....Sawyer has the vocabulary of a 4 year old. He says all kind of things - stuff that no normal 2 year old would ever dream of saying. The other day, Noel asked him a question about something and he said "Because I said so." I laughed and laughed. Then yesterday, she called me because he was running around the house going "Book 'em, Dano!" (Isn't that phrase from the old tv series, Hawaii Five-O? That show hasn't been on in YEARS). I can't imagine where he heard it but it sure was funny!

Simplification vs Overwhelming

Am I the only one who ever gets the urge to simplify their surroundings? I have gone through this stage before. My house was so overly decorated with country stuff (and I absolutely DETEST dusting!) that I finally got around to basically stripping my walls bare except for quilts. I loved the fact that dusting had become something that I didn't need to dread. When you have a lot of stuff sitting around and on your walls, you can spend a lot of time dusting or you can be like me and give it a quick swipe and call it good. My problem is I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, extreme primitive. If I could live in a house like Little House on the Prairie, have nothing but oil lamps, crocks, a wood cook stove, enamel plates, wood bowls, rope beds, wooden floors and quilts all over, I would be thrilled to death. However, having surroundings that look like that costs a lot of money. Hard to believe, isn't it? Well, go to any antique store and start pricing some of that old stuff. I have had so much of it off and on and then sold it. Now that I live in a smaller house, I have had to eliminate a lot of things. Plus, having little kids around all the time causes you to just put stuff away because it's too much work to try and keep them away from it (at least when you get older and are a grandma!)

Back to my story....simplification and dusting....I keep contemplating on stripping my walls bare and getting rid of a lot of my stuff - again. I sit and think, "Wonder how it would look if I just painted all the walls white (because that's all the color they would have had back in the 1800's), hang up a quilt or two on the walls and take down all the shelves and the stuff that's on them, get rid of all the primitive dolls, and go to the bare necessity look..." Wouldn't cleaning be so much easier? Of course, I keep looking at my carpet and thinking, "I wonder how the wood floors look under there....." My husband would have a fit if I told him to rip up the carpet. But you know, you can't get that TRUE primitive look with carpet! Oh well. Guess I will just have to live with it. I need to repaint the interior (as well as the exterior) of the house but it's too hard for me to do anymore with my arthritis. Besides, I can't make up my mind on what color to use. All the woodwork in my house is painted - I hate the color because it's this weird kind crayon flesh color but it does help to hide the dust! If I would paint it white, it will show dust and if I repaint it a dark color, it will also show the dust. I know! I know! I have OCD. If you don't know what that is, it's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Anyway, I am going to add some pics for you to see what I wish my home looked like if I could afford it.

You really wanted to know all that, didn't you. :-)

Gazebos, Swingsets, Sandboxes, Soccer, and Birthday Parties

It's been an eventful weekend. My sister bought Rog and I a patio set for our anniversary which is coming up on May 26. I loved it! Rog put up the gazebo that he bought last year and we put the patio furniture in it. We also put up the swingset for the grandkids and got the new sandbox ready for them. In the midst of all the chaos, Mallory had her last soccer game and they won - which they all received a medal for, and Sawyer had his 2nd birthday party.

My Funny Grandson

Yesterday, May 13, was Sawyer's 2nd birthday. He is such a funny child. He is so intelligent and talks WAY beyond his years. He soaks up information like a sponge. I don't think there's a day goes by that Noel and I don't call each other to tell something he has said or done because it is usually so comical. Anyway, yesterday, Noel gave Sawyer a toy Waste Management garbage truck for his birthday. He will be having his actual party this Saturday at my house while we put up the swing set and fill the sand box. So...until then, she gave him a gift to play with. When he got it, he closed his eyes and said, "Thank you! Amen!" Just like he was thanking the Lord for giving him something he really wanted. It was so cute. I'll have to post some pics of the party and the "swingset raising" on Saturday.

Little Girls vs Little Boys

I once lived under the delusion that once my own kids were grown, I could sit back and take it easy for a change. I must have been deranged. Babysitting your grandkids is a lot more work than taking care of your own kids because by the time you are babysitting your grandkids, you are a lot OLDER, a lot more TIRED, and a lot more ACHY. What energy you had when you were young was buried 6 feet under somewhere. Here is my observation between the two sexes as I have had more time to pay attention to it now that I am not working outside the home and only babysit the grandkiddies.

Boys - dirty, loud, revolting, in constant movement, like to throw things and hang from the ceiling fans, and are addicted to loud toys, cars, guns, and action heroes, and are prone to fight, kick, hit, pinch, spit, climb the backyard fence and take off to imaginary lands, scream, and just flat out have their ears completely plugged so they don't have to listen to a word you say.

Girls - melodrama personified, snotty, bad attitudes, touch-me-nots, think the whole world (including you especially) is out get them, and I swear are pre-menstral.

I honestly don't know which is worse. Put them all together and it is an explosive situation - one which I live every day.

And I was looking forward to spring and summer....(sigh.......)

Deep Sadness

I haven't seen one of my granddaughters in a year and she only lives about 75 miles away. Her mother (not my daughter) refuses to have any contact with us. Her aunt sent me a web site - kind of like My Space that she is posting on. I looked at it tonight and it made me cry. She will be 10 years old on Friday, May 9. This website is absolute trash and way too mature for her. It absolutely sickened me. I feel like I have lost my little granddaughter.