First day of school

The kids started school this week. Although they started on Monday they did not have school on Tuesday thanks to Hurricane Fae in Florida. But they went back to school today and after talking to them this evening they all seem to be having a good beginning to school. I know it has only been about 3 months since we have seen the kids after making the move here to PA. But goodness it really seems like they have grown like weeds. WOW! My babies are growing up and Nannie is just not sure I am ready for them to grow up. I want them to stay my babies. Although I will always call Ki "Baby Girl" cause I don't care how old she is that is what she will be to her Nannie is my Baby Girl. Wish we were still there with them. I know I talk to them practically every day on the phone but trust me that is not the same as being there with them on a daily basis. Well guess we can't have it all can we. But why can't we that is what I want to know.

Passed the test

I called a little bit ago to talk to my daughter and she didn't answer her cell phone. So I called her sister on her cell phone and she didn't answer. So I said to Randy they need to keep their cell phones in the same room as themselves so they actually hear them ring if they aren't going to use a house phone for a little bit until it can get hooked up. Well then a few minutes later my phone rang and it was Jill's phone so I answered it and it wasn't Jill it was my granddaughter. She said "Nannie did you call us" I said yes but no one answered the phone. My granddaughter then told me that her Mother and Jill had gone to the old house to get the last minute things in the van like the things out of the refrigerator. She wasn't supposed to answer the phone. She said she thought it was me but decided not to answer the phone just in case and that when it stopped ringing she would call me to see if we had called there. I told her she did the best thing that she could have done and that I was so proud of her. They have never really stayed home at all alone without an adult. They have never needed to so this is a first for them and I tell you the truth they are doing so good. They are really growing up as much as I hate to see them grow up I am also glad to see it.

Time to get serious

Well, we had the yard sale yesterday and it was a pretty good success. We worked out collective butts off and I was in bed and out for the count by 10:00 PM last night. So now it is time to get serious about all of the moves that are getting ready to happen from this house. My daughter Joy and her 3 children are going to get an apartment which is closer to her place of work. The kids are very excited about that. But I don't think it has really sunk in that their Aunt Sue Sue and their Nannie and Poppy will not be right there with them. In some ways they will be happy about this because I am sure it is no fun having 4 adults living in the house telling you what to do. I mean you could get something past just your Mom but when you have your Aunt, your Nannie and Your Poppy very little gets past everybody. So usually somebody is in trouble for something most of the time. Then Jill is going to move in June to Holland. I am excited for her but the Mother in me does not want my child that far away from me. If Joy were to have a major problem then we would just have to get here somehow to help her. But come on if Jill has a major problem..... Think about it I know I can swim but I am not that good of a swimmer to get there with her all the way across the ocean from me. But she is a big girl and I am sure she will be ok and I do EXPECT her friends (Tracey, Richard and Yvonne) to take good care of her for me. Cause if they don't and I have to come over there. Well, let's just say it will be an international incident for sure. Then for the final move. Randy and I are going to relocate to Pennsylvania. We lived there years ago and things did not go well for us that time. But this time I really believe that God is putting together a whole plan the way things have worked out for this move. But, only time will tell. One thing about Randy and I is we are not afraid to pick up and move and if things don't go well, we will just pick up and move back to Florida although I hate Florida. I hate the seasons here. You have Not so hot Summer (Winter) warmer summer (Spring) Hot as Haides Summer (Summer) and almost hot as Haides Summer (Fall). So pretty much you have some form of summer year round here. Well now it is time for me to finish packing up our things.

Happy Camper

I am a very happy camper today. Why you ask? Well let me tell you why. Actually I will only tell you 1/3 of the reason why I am happy. I got a couple of new things yesterday and on Tuesday I am getting something else new delivered to the door via the man in the brown truck. So let me tell you what one of the things is that I got. I got a Flip Video Camera. I haven't really done much with it today because I have been involved with another one of the items that i got last night but I know I am going to love my new Black Flip Video Camera. We have another video camera but it is so complicated to use and then when we get the movie on that stupid little tape I haven't got anything to do with it. So this way I can take movies and put them right on my laptop and watch it. I think I am going to do some of the kids before we move to PA in a few weeks. Should give me something to do and then I have movies of them I can watch and cry over.

No kids

Tomorrow night will be a very quiet evening here at the house the kids are going to visit their Dad's family for the night. I guess they are going to get to go to chucky Cheese Pizza for a birthday party on Saturday for one of their cousins. I can only say I am glad I don't have to go and help with that. I don't do noise very well anymore. We went last night to the Florida Mall and it was so noisy I thought I was going to lose my mind.

Family Nite Out

Well,last night was a family nite out. Joy decided that we were all going to go out to eat to celebrate report cards. The kids decided that they wanted pizza. Now if it were me I would have taken a New York Strip Steak but I didn't get a vote. So off to pizza land we went. It was the place where for one price they have the buffet and you pick what you want. Well I am a pizza snob and I only like a pizza from a few select places and this place is not the place. So after trying a couple of different kinds I decided it was time to hit the dessert pizza bar. So I see they are bringing out this cinnamon bread break apart thing. I head up to it and just about got run over by this rather large rotund woman who as soon as they put a new cinnamon thing out she hit the bar. Well she filled her plate to overflowing and left 4 pieces on the tray Some guy edged me out and took three of the 4 pieces so I took the last remaining piece. Then I got a brownie they seemed to be in abundance. Oh the lady with the plate full of cinnamon stuff didn't share with her table of people either they were all for her. I tried for several trips to get more of the cinnamon and managed to get enough to partially fill my tummy. There was a family of people and I use the work people very loosely sitting behind us and just let me say that they had all taken a dip in the same shallow gene pool. Like your Mamma is your siser and you daddy is you aunt something like that. Then all of a sudden Joy just about spits her pizza across the table. She said some lady got up to go back to the bar and before she did she managed up unbutton her pants so she could have more room for more pizza. Lastly Randy gets himself a slice of pizza and finally asks what kind of meat do you think this is on this pizza and the girls started guessing and he kept saying nope, nope, nope. He finally said it was Tuna Fish. Come on who puts tuna on a pizza. UCK to the max. So needless to say I am not ready to go back there for.... oh about a 100 years or so.

How hard can it be

How difficult can it be to get three children in and out of the shower? Should be an easy process but no..... Let me see where do we start.

1. Who goes first
2. Who goes second
3. Who goes third
4. Do each of the three children have clean underwear to put on
5. Do each of the three children have clean PJ's to put on
6. Do each of the three children have a clean towel to dry off with
   
7. Do each of the three children take said clean underwear, PJ's and towel to the bathroom with them
8. After the shower can you then locate the dirty clothes said children were wearing before their shower to launder them
9. Also after the shower how difficult is it to locate 3 very wet towels so that their mother does not come home again from work to find a soaking wet spot on her bed from a very wet towel.

Well after much to do all of the above has been accomplished and now the three children are in bed getting their sleep for school tomorrow.

Rain Rain go away

I know that we need rain and I also know that this is the month of April. April is supposed to bring April showers so that we can have May flowers. But, I would settle for one less flower in May if we could have one sunny day right now in April. We seem to have had quite a bit of rain the last few days. I know some places pretty close to us got about 5" of rain yesterday. I really hope that when it is time to walk to the bus stop to get the kids after school that it is not raining. I don't want the sun to be beating down on us but no rain. I would settle for some clouds but I repeat NO RAIN! It is a 20 minute walk to the bus stop and then a 20 minute walk home so that would be 40 minutes of walking in the rain plus what ever time we have to stand and wait on the stupid bus. So again I say no rain.

Pulling my hair out

I have officially had it! The kids are driving me CRAZY! They have been out of school for the last week for spring break. It has rained here for the last two days so they can't even go outside at all. I have told them at least 1,000 times to please quiet it down. (ok maybe only 750 times) But they are to the point when I tell them to quiet down I get some sort of cutsie answer. I don't want cute I want quiet. I will be so glad to send them off to school tomorrow. I really think that if they would admit it too that they are ready to go back to school as much as we are ready to send them back. I am just getting too old to put up with them on a 24 hour basis like this anymore. I know you all thought I was only about 29 but I am actually just a teenie bit older than that. Not much mind you but just a bit older. We have been going through things here today trying to sort things out for a yard sale next week and trying to pack things up that I want to keep and move with us. I think I am done for the night today. I still have one box I need to tape up and find a place to put it then I am going to sack out after dinner and a shower and watch a DVD. I borrowed one from Joy it is called 16 Blocks. It really looks like it is going to be pretty good so hope it is.

Checking the trash

Well one of my grandsons (Nate) discovered something today. He discovered that there are codes inside coke cases and bottle caps and Pepsi cases and caps. So now he has been having us enter the codes on the appropriate web sites so that he can earn points. He has no idea what he is going to be able to do. But hey it gave him something to do on his Spring Break. He was busy pulling the empty soda cartons out of the trash can. What can I say he had fun today (and it was free)

Going Going Going Gone... Crazy

The grandchildren are officially on Spring Break. We let them stay home from school today as they were going to do nothing in school today except party. So what is the use to get them up at 6:00 AM in the morning just to go to school to eat school food for lunch and put up with riding the bus for over 2 hours each way. That is the good news. The bad news is that they will now be in the house with us 24-7 for the next 10 - count them.... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 days. I think I am going to go crazy now and just get it over with. This is day one of the said 10 days and they have already fought with each other and now they are saying they are bored. I mean come on it is only 12:15 PM lunch time and they are bored. We still have 9 1/2 days to go. I think their Mom is going to try to take them someplace fun next week so they can have some fun and that will be the day that I probably stay in bed all day hiding from the world.

Peace on Earth

It going to be a fairly peaceful night tonight. To start with remember that the "Mother" moved out earlier this week with her two children so that has been a huge help. Well tonight my 3 grandchildren are spending the night with their Dad. They were real excited about that. It has been quite a while since they have seen him. They are going to just have a quiet evening with him probably eating pizza and playing video games or he has a Wii that they love to play. So guess they will be wound up tighter than a drum when the come home in the morning. So all in all we will probably pay dearly for this quiet evening in the long run.

Stress on children

Well, the grandchildren have two more days of testing this week. Here in Florida they refer to these tests as FCAT, don't ask me what that stands for because you would not like the words that I would probably create for it. They had testing 3 days last week on math and reading. If they don't pass the reading portion of the testing they do not pass third grade. It doesn't matter if they have actually earned straight A's all year if they don't pass this test they fail. I know speaking for me if I had to have taken this test in 3rd grade I would now be the oldest third grader on record. I was one of those people who do not always test well. I could know something backwards and forwards but put the test in front of me and I turned stupid and my brain turned into jello. Well my granddaughter bless her heart has inherited that trait from me. I mean why couldn't she have gotten my good looks or my beautiful figure. OK, no comments from anyone. But back to the issue you would not believe the stress that the teachers and schools put on these children. I have several friends who are teachers and they all tell me that all the schools do now is to teach the FCAT. My grandchildren have not had any spelling words, science or several other things for weeks because all they have been doing is reading and math. But my granddaughter especially has been so stressed out for the last few weeks it is horrible. I wish they would just let them be kids for a while longer. There is enough stress in our lives when we become older as it is.

Rainy day

Today has been a pretty good day as far as days in my life seem to be going lately. Today it rained off and on most of the day. So for a Saturday it was a pretty lazy day. The kids were actually pretty good today except for the 3 year old. He is back into his old habits which after a week or so we actually thought he had broken. He was caught twice today climbing from his mother's bed into his baby sister's crib. We keep telling him he is going to hurt her and he loses privileges when he gets caught doing this. His "Mother" stopped home during the day and when she found out he was doing this again. She decided to "talk" to him. So she proceeds to ask him why he did what he did and then he starts talking in a whiny voice that you can't understand one word he is saying. So her response to him was to tell him to stop talking to her like he was a baby. She told him he needed to talk to her like an adult. Yep you hear me right, she told her 3 year old to talk to her like an adult. I am telling you the girl never ceases to amaze me with what can pop out of her mouth. Clearly she doesn't load her brain before she shoots off her mouth. But in order to do that I guess she would have to have a brain to load. Tonight the 3 year old and his sister are both in bed and the other 3 kids are laying in their beds watching a movie. So hopefully there will not be any major issues for the rest of the night. One can only hope. But in this house you never know what is going to happen until you are actually mid way through something happening.

Peace and WHAT?

Well the kids were out of school for a 3 day weekend due to President's Day. But last night one of the boys started running a fever and doesn't feel good at all. His right ear is stopped up and he can't hear out of it and he just generally feels like a truck ran over him and backed up to see what it hit. So therefore they are all three home today I guess just in case one of them got sick at school and there was no way to get them home. But I was looking forward to just an adult day. The "Mother" is off today so that means she is up and gone with her two. (Thank heavens) and if the 3 grandchildren had been in school today we were going to go get something for lunch and just get out of the house. But since they are home that means we are all home today. Yipee, Whooo and all that jazz. Well guess I will be doing the hide out routine in my room today to just stay out of the way.

Good news - Bad News

I have some good news and I have some bad news. OK, now which news do I want first? Let me think. I think I want the good news first. Alright, today is Friday, which means the kids do not have any homework tonight. That is always cause for celebration. I am telling you I did not take Geometry in school for a reason and just in case I forgot that reason. The kids are in 3rd grade and they are learning Geometry now. I have no idea what a parallelogram is and really don't care. Actually I had to do spell check to be sure it was spelled right.

Now for the bad news. Monday is President's Day. That means the kids do not have school on Monday. That means they will be home from school on Monday. Are you getting the drift yet? That means they will have a 3 day weekend. They will be home for three days in a row. They are ready to kill each other after a 2 day weekend. So after 3 it just gets worse.

Happy Valentines Day

Well, Happy Valentines Day to everyone out there. This is a year that I know right now I will not be getting any presents from Randy. We don't have the extra money but I guess It is good just to have each other and to have pretty good health. I sat last night and helped the kids get their valentines ready to take to school this morning. They have home made cards for us. I know they took some kind of box and cut it apart and wrote on the blank side. So guess I have to really act like I just received the Mona Lisa or something of that standard.

Oh Lord Bless this food

Every night at dinner the kids basically fight over who is going to pray. I don't think it is because they are trying to be so "Spiritual" it just means they get to be heard by everybody including God himself.

Well last night Nate won the coin toss as it were to pray. So he proceeded to thank God for the food and this was heartfelt because I made homemade Chicken and dumplings and this is a meal he likes. After that he blessed the people that cooked the food. That keeps him on good terms with the cook. Then he prayed that God would give us some large black trash bags. He prayed this because part of his duties are trash and he knew we are out of the good bags and are down to the cheep ones. He does not want a bag breaking on him cause he might get something Yuckie on himself. He is our OCD boy. So I keep looking today for a large box of black trash bags to drop out of the sky.

Calgon Take Me Away!!!

Oh Good Grief Charlie Brown, it is only Tuesday of this week and I am ready for a nervous breakdown. I don't know what it is lately but I am about to blow. Randy and I got away and spent a weekend with some friends the weekend before last and I don't know if that is the reason but lately the 5 children in this house are about to drive me right over the edge. I know part of it is being our age and living in a house with as many people in this house. I mean living with your two daughters and 3 grandchildren, and we won't even mention the other "Mother" and her 2 children thrown into the mix. That "Mother" and Jill have gone this morning to take her 2 children to the doctor. It is about time the baby is now 19 months old and has not been to see a doctor since she was 3 months old. So do ya think it is time she went to get some shots or something???? This "Mother" and I use the word "Mother" very loosely is the poorest excuse for a "Mother" I have ever seen in my entire life and trust me I have seen a lot in my years.

I am back

I wonder if anybody missed me? Bet cha didn't. But Randy and I were gone for a couple of days. We have some friends that took pity on us and we went to spend the weekend with them. They know that a person of our age can only live in a house with 5 children and 3 other adults. OK 2 other adults and 1 person that is of adult age but not really and adult. But anyway, our friends thought we needed a rest and a break and we really did. We had a very good time and really didn't do anything all weekend just kind of rested and didn't hear any kids yell, scream and fight with each other. But all kidding aside we had a good weekend and came home feeling rested and relaxed and by the time dinner was over I was ready to go someplace else for another time of rest and peace and quiet. Right now as I type the baby is across the hall crying because she can't do just what she wants to do.