I'm Just Curious....

My grandkids came to visit yesterday.  We had a lovely time.

Fireball and Cookie played board games with their aunties; Ji-Ji played with me.

Ji-Ji is a delightful, autistic 13 year-old.  He and I played with a wide variety of musical instruments, ate snacks and finally settled down to watch some Rube Goldberg Machines on the YouTube.  After a while I wandered away to do some Mom/Gramma stuff, but I kept an eye on him.  Ji-Ji has been known to quietly change tack and "get into something" (or out the door!) when least expected, so one has to be diligent and attentive when he's in the house.

Sure enough, he got tired of the groovy chain reaction videos and switched the computer to a cartoon he liked.

I hadn't seen it before so I indulgently slid back beside him to watch it.  Let's just say I decided pretty quickly that we needed to watch something more wholesome!

You know, something like a relentlessly stupid coyote who keeps getting squished, smashed, blown-up and scorched as he tries desperately to capture an oversized, good natured roadrunner.  (Note:  I lived in Texas for a spell and I know for a fact that roadrunners ain't that big!).

We watched the cartoon for about 10 minutes before Ji-Ji wanted to switch to another cartoon he liked better.  This time he made a much better choice, so I let him watch.

However, I was left wondering:  If the coyote has the wherewithal to buy slingshots and explosives and cars and traps, then why doesn't he just order pizza and give up the whole futile roadrunner quest?

I'm just asking'...

Blizzard 2010!!!!!!!

It's snowing like crazy out there right now and the wind is a-whipping. Not everyone is thrilled, but I'm loving it. The BestHubbyEver had to work today, so he went up to Bangor last night and stayed in a hotel at the hospital's expense. And, since the storm has lingered, he'll be staying there tonight as well. I'm SO glad the hospital is so supportive. I'd be a nervous wreck if he had to drive in these white-out conditions!

His brother, Uncle Pickle-Nose, was supposed to drive to Boston today and then fly back home to California. Guess who's still here? Yep. And it looks like he may be here for a couple more days before there are any flights available. That was quite handy today since he could use his manly muscles to help me clear our loooong driveway. He shoveled and scooped and I wrestled with Mr. Snowblower.

But it's been blowing and drfiting like mad out there, so we'll have to start from scratch tomorrow morning before anyone will be going anywhere.

Tha grandkids are all supposed to be coming over tomorrow morning for our Christmas celebration. I'm kind of bummed that the BHE can't be here, but I'll make liberal use of the camera for him and for Scout. Scout and Little Miss sent presents for his kids and I'm sure they'd like pics and videos too. Hopefully the roads and the digging out won't delay our get together too much...

I had planned to use today to start prepping for the BIG road trip of insanity, but I didn't accomplish very much. I did manange to type and print a packing list and to pile all my bills up so I can pay them...tomorrow.

I've been so busy and so stressed that I'm pretty much loving being useless and lazy yesterday and today. Tomorrow I MUST get my groovy butt in gear. Seriously! We're leaving Friday (I think) and I'd really like to have the house clean and GrammaJ all set and everything packed.

Oh, and buy and wrap the wedding gift. I do not want to go without the wedding gift!

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Update for Tuesday. So we made it through the storm alright but our plan for Christmas with the grandkids underwent a sudden change. PrettyMom called me quite early in the morning feeling quite ill. She called her doc and he wanted her in the hospital ASAP so I threw the gifts in the car, grabbed 2 mugs of coffee and headed over to her house. Fortunately the driveway was driveway-able and the roads were road-able. I had to go a bit slower than usual, but I got there safely.

All the kids were still sleeping when PrettyMom headed out. Unfortunately, the quiet lasted all of 5 minutes because their little dog Cooper-Pooper raced into the girls' room and leaped onto poor little sleeping Cookie. Within minutes she and Fireball were up and grilling me on where mom was and when could they open all the presents?!?

We waited until Ji-Ji was up and at 'em, then I let them open everything. Scout and LittleMiss had sent them each a stocking. Being oh-so clever, I videotaped the stocking opening fun. Then I switched to regular photos for the rest of the gifts. Alas, my cleverness was thwarted by dead batteries. Apparently the exciting video had been too much for them!

Suffice it to say everyone had oodles of fun and they kept me QUITE busy until PrettyMom called from the hospital for us to pick her up. She still wasn't feeling well, so her mom took her and Ji-Ji out to her house and I took Fireball and Cookie to our house to play with Aunts Girly-Girl and Silly-Head. They played dress-up for a while, then we all went outside to play in the blizzard aftermath. Very groovy!

Now I'm sitting here trying to recover. I am SO. TIRED.

And yet, I have things I need to do. To get ready for the trip, etc.

Remember the trip?

Yeah.

Currently, my house is a mess, most of the Christmas decorations are still up. The bathrooms need attention, there is dust everywhere and the floors are icky. Tomorrow I need to take GrammaJ shopping. She has been woefully neglected these past couple of days...

Happily, the BHE thinks he may be able to get down-staffed tomorrow so he can hang one last day with Uncle Pickle-Nose (I think it's time to come up with a better blog name for him since the kids don't call him that any more). I hope so. We haven't seen him in 2 weeks 2 days!

Don't know if I'll bang out another post before we go or not.

Trying to get psyched for this road trip. Instead, I am just putting off getting ready for it.

Remember the trip?

Yeah.

OK, I'm off to clean the kitchen bar. I know it's under there somewhere...

A Happy, Cutesy, Cheerful Spring Post

The plans for today? Hot Cross Buns (yummy!), "fluffing" my front perennial garden, making an Easter skirt for Girly-Girl (Silly-Head's is done...), lifting weights (no aerobics; my shins need a rest), and teaching school later when the next batch of April showers kick in - Because, ya know, it MUST be a crime to keep children inside doing math when it's gorgeous outside!

I'm feeling better now. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Saturday was our little Cookie's second birthday. Ain't she a cutie???



Ji-Ji was in rare form too. He was very silly and giggly! (Sorry he's so "white" looking. My camera and I are NOT friends.)


And here's big-sister, Fireball, torturing her Grampa!


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This week also found us coloring Easter eggs. We decided to use all natural dyes. I'd read some discouraging reports about dull and listless results, but we were not deterred. See, here are all our concoctions, steaming on the stove and counter...



The girls wrapped some of the hard boiled eggs in rubber bands, colored a few with crayons, and left a couple plain. We selected our dyes: turmeric powder, purple cabbage, grape juice, blueberries, onion skins, orange zest, redbush tea, and beets. We simmered the veggies and heated the juice and poured boiling water over the rest. I added 1 tsp vinegar to each bowl, then the girls dropped in their eggs. We made sure they were completely immersed and then let them sit in the dyes overnight. We're not going to eat them, so we didn't worry about refrigeration.

The next morning when we got them out, we were very pleasantly surprised; They were beautiful!!!





Our favorites were probably the spotted beet eggs. The biggest surprise was the redbush tea. Even though the tea is a fabulous golden red, it dyed the egg GREEN! Another shocker were the grape juice eggs. The acid in the juice ate 1/2 way through the shells and rewarded us with sparkly crystals all over the egg! Here are the egg by egg results (You can double-click the pics to see them more clearly):










And finally, here they are displayed in our best Easter fashion.


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Ok folks, that's all for now...I've got to get in the mud and dig before the clouds move in!!!!!