Conversations With a Five Year Old!

Our youngest grandson, Nate, had new tubes and adenoids out, so I took an emergency day to take care of Cael. Cael is five, but will turn six in June. Luckily he didn't start kindergarten so he will not be young for his class. Anyway, Cael like/LOVES to talk!! I've referred to this before, but once again I'd like to remind you that he is just like Trina was/is!! She talked/talks NONSTOP! Sadly I'm just not sure I appreciated it with Trina as I do with Cael.

Well, I was trying to do my exercises this morning(YUCK!--I mean--Yeah!) He tried to follow along but deemed it to be too hard. So, he decided to walk on the treadmill while I exercised. Here are some snippets of our conversation--

"Nanny, this treadmill is dusty!"

"I know, Cael!"

"You know if you used it more it wouldn't get so dusty,but I'll dust it for you today."

Chatter, chatter, chatter....

"You know, I'm a trained professional on this thing."

"Really?" (remember I'm exercising so one word is about all I can muster!)

"Yes, I'm a trained professional. I was born that way! Even before you had this treadmill I knew how to do this!"

"Oh."

"Yes, I can do lots of things. Nanny, could you do that when you were a little kid?"

"No, Cael, we didn't have one."

"What did you do for exercise?"

"I rode my bike all over town!"

"Oh, I'm not a trained professional on the bike, only this treadmill!" (He tried to learn to ride last summer, but never quite mastered it!)

Chatter, chatter, chatter.....

"Nanny, this sounds like a KHAK song. Where is it coming from?"

"It's on my video."

"Oh, it's contained on that? I'm good with words aren't I?"

"Yes, how did you get so smart?"

"Well, duh, Nanny! I watch Word Girl."

"Oh, what's that?"

"It's on after Martha."

"Oh, do you watch Martha Stewart with Grandma Shirley?"

"NANNY, MARTHA SPEAKS IS A SHOW I WATCH!! IT'S ABOUT A DOG THAT SPEAKS!"

Chatter, chatter, chatter,.....

And this is all before 8:30 a. m.! I think I'm in for some valuable lessons today!



And now for the giveaway! This is actually (also one of Cael's favorite words!) my 99th post if I can count correctly!
Anyway, For my 100th post I will tell you what I am giving away and how you can enter to win! Stay tuned and keep posting!

Commenting and Giveaway!

So some of you have told me you read my blog, but you don't know how to comment. So, here's how!
1. Click on the word Comments after each post. If others have posted before you it will list the number before the word Comments.

2. You will see a box that has a title, "Leave your comment". Put the curser in there and type away.

3. There may be a word verification, so you just need to type in the word you see.

4. Then choose and identity. If you are a blogger, you already know how to do this. If not, you can choose Name/URL. When you do that just type in your name. (It can be just first name or both first and last.).

5. Click on the "Publish Your Comment" button. ( Or "Preview" if you want to see it first.) You will then get a message that your comment has been posted!





FYI-for my family members who aren't regular readers of blogs--In the world of blogs that I read, it is common to have a giveaway for people who read their blogs. I will be having one SOON! But, you'll have to at least post a comment to win.

More Giveaway info coming SOON!

Yard Sales/Garage Sales

Yard Sales, Garage Sales, whatever you call them, it's that time of year. People go through their precious unused items(junk), put a price on it, and try to get others to purchase it. My husband loves garage sales, my mother loves garage sales, my girls love garage sales, but I HATE THEM!!! Somehow I missed the boat on this one. (According to my family.) Don't get me wrong, I've gotten some good things from a few garage sales, but I'm sure the time I've spent going to them, digging through the stuff, and wasting the gas to drive around would be worth far more than what I've actually saved! Or, maybe I'm just a little bitter because the one and only time I had a garage sale I spent more on lunch than I made!! Now, we do live in the country, but on a paved road. You'd think SOMEONE would stop and buy some of MY good junk! I am trying to get an attitude adjustment about this to make my husband happy. Do you think it's okay to ride along, but sit in the car with a book????

Shower

I guess I haven't posted about a craft in a while, so I thought I would do that today. We were planning to go to a shower for my nephew's fiance a few weeks ago. It was nice to be able to go as my nephew lives in Texas, but his fiance is from Iowa. So, the shower was in Onawa. We planned to go to Pomeroy on Friday night and visit some of Bud's family then on to Onawa on Saturday, then the long trip home that night. But the Iowa weather didn't cooperate! A major storm was forecast for northwest Iowa. Since Bud was on call for the weekend and couldn't take the risk of getting snowed in away from home, we had to stay home. So, I took my gift to Becca in Texas. I made her an apron.


And a couple of towels to match.

My SIL told me she decorated with tans, a little maroon, and stars. I hope she enjoys them!

Texas

Bud and I traveled to Dalhart, Texas over Easter. Although my mom's entire family was born and raised in Iowa some of them got the Texas bug in the 70's. My brother went down to work between his junior and senior year of high school and then moved down for good after graduation. He now owns several businesses, but his main one is:

Two of their three children still live there. The oldest got smart and moved to IOWA!! They have a wonderful home:

Mom just moved there from Amarillo in the past month. So, we went down to visit and to help Mom. This is her new home:

It was rainy and chilly until the day we were to come home! Here we have Mom and Dean doing what they do best

while SIL works as usual!
While we were there we did enjoy a short visit with an aunt, uncle, and a cousin, lounged one evening in the hot tub, spent over two hours in church on Saturday evening, ate some yummy Mexican food, and worked on Mom's "Honey Do" list! Our time was short and we will have to make it back again soon.

50th Birthday Dinner!

We've had a busy week which I will post about later. First, I want to share some photos of our birthday dinner for Kathy. We went to Kaji Japanese Grill in Cedar Rapids. Brittany made the reservations and got us all organized to go. She was there with Rory and Evan. Evan wasn't particularly impressed with some of the activities. Those celebrating with Kathy were; Dale, Clint, Brittany, Rory, Evan, Tasha, Trina, Tanner, Bud, and I. I hadn't had this experience before and was very leery as I looked at the menu as I'm picky!

Our waiter started our meal like this:


Evan didn't appreciate the fire!

Then cooked our food for us:

And he taught me how to flip and egg up off of the spatula, turn it, and crack the egg with the side. After several tries he said I did pretty well "for a white girl!"

At the end of our meal we made sure Kathy drank her "saki bomb". In the photo you see the waiter setting it up. It is beer in a glass with a shot of saki in the shot glass which sits precariously over the glass of beer. Then you say, "Itchy, nee, san." and then slam the table with your fists. The shot glass falls into the beer and it is then chugged. Kathy did a fine job with this. One would think she's chugged before!!


All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.

Happy 50th Kath!

Guess who's FIFTY today???? My sister, Kathy!!! The chubby red head was born on April 8, 1959.

I don't really remember life without her as there are only two years between us. When we shared a bedroom I remember putting a strip of tape to mark off her half and she couldn't go on my side, but guess who got the side with the door. Me! She couldn't win!

She was quite the roly-poly little girl! She weighed 42 pounds at a year old!! And she weighed 42 pounds when she started kindergarten!




She was an excellent skier in about second grade, but oh the words that came out of her mouth. She didn't realize everyone could read her lips. I often had to bribe her to keep secrets---like the fact that my cousin and I smoked cigarettes out in the boat at the lake. Of course she had to tag along, but we kept her under control!

And then she grew up and got married to her high school sweatheart, Dale. Don't you love the cape? We looked all over Minneapolis for the trim! And don't they look like babies?!

Then she had two great kids--Clint & Brittany! ! We had a great time raising our kids together until we moved away and then they moved shortly after. When she was pregnant with Clint and I was pregnant with Travis, we made our doctor's appointments together so we could then hit the local dairy sweet for malts after we'd weighed in. People often thought the boys were twins even though they didn't look ANYTHING alike. Trina, Tasha, and Brittany were always close and got into their share of mischief--like dropping the tire on Trina's head on moving day, in a new community, on a Saturday, and no family doctor.

And now a wonderful grandson, Evan. Luckily Evan and Nate are close in age and we hope they will get to become great friends as they grow up.

Happy 50th Kathy! We've made a lot of memories in your 50 years and I hope we have many more years of memories to come!

The Demise of Two Favorites!

September 19, 1994--The first episode of ER was launched and I was there to see it. I have watched ER since then. I hated to miss Thursday night TV because of ER. Since acquiring the DVR it is on my list to record so I didn't have to miss it. The highly acclaimed drama series now holds the distinction of being recognized as the most Emmy-nominated series in the history of television with 122 nominations. A winner of the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, the series has also earned 22 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series in 1996, among many accolades. In addition, the cast has been honored with four Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Drama Series.


SEASON 1 CAST
Sam Anderson, George Clooney, Anthony Edwards, Christine Harnos, Michael Ironside, Eriq La Salle, William H. Macy, Julianna Margulies, CCH Pounder, Gloria Reuben, Rick Rossovich, Sherry Stringfield, John Terry, Noah Wyle

This group was my favorite cast, of course. Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene, was always my favorite. He was in several heart wrenching scenes as a doctor, seemed maybe more "normal" to me than some of the others--dealing with child care issues, marriage issues, and sometimes self esteem issues. And his struggle and death with a brain tumor hit way to close to home for me! I spent many teary eyed nights before the TV with Dr. Greene.


Don't get me wrong, George Clooney, as Dr. Ross, was wonderful to look at and great to watch, but his playboy ways just didn't appeal to me as much!

Sadly, I watched the finale on Thursday night. I'm sure this is one I will revisit on reruns often!

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The Guiding Light is a soap opera that I remember Mom watching. The Bauers were a prominent family that dates back to the beginning of the show and continue today. Here's a little history:

The “Guiding Light,” the Procter & Gamble soap opera that is the longest-running program in broadcast history, has been canceled by CBS. The last broadcast is scheduled for Sept. 18.

During its run, P&G Productions used the show as a platform to highlight social issues including discrimination against women in the 1940s and teen alcoholism and drug abuse in the 1980s. The show also has raised awareness about postpartum depression, AIDS, Down syndrome, leukemia and breast cancer. “Guiding Light” was the first soap opera, in 1966, to introduce leading African-American characters.

The network canceled the program after years of declining ratings, according to the New York Times. The audience for “Guiding Light” declined to 2.1 million viewers in 2008. Five years ago, it counted 3 million viewers.

P&G debuted “Guiding Light” as a 15-minute radio show in 1937 and moved to television in 1952. The show expanded to 30 minutes and converted to color, in 1967. A decade later, programming extended to an hour.

When my kids were young 2:00 was naptime and I could sit down for a minute and take a breather or rock a baby to sleep. And I would turn to Guiding Light. Reeva played by Kim Zimmer, has always been one of my favorite characters. I swear the woman is the best crier on TV!! Reeva and Josh have had a long time on again/off again love affair. They've been married and divorced several times and have gone through the most unbelievably weird times. But, their love for each other always stayed strong!




This soap opera is one that I lose touch with during the school year and try to catch up some in the summer. No, I don't record it, so I only see it now and then. I have to admit, it has changed so much that I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, however Reva and Josh are still carrying on!

This morning's news said they may find a new home, so there may still be hope for Guiding Light lovers!

Least you think I am a TV junkie, I am not! I just don't like the new reality tv shows that much so I hang on to the oldies like ER!

Fishing Shows

How excited are you to watch fishing on TV?? Well, I'm not excited at all. Bud likes to watch the fishing, hunting, outdoors type of shows when he can. And he has gotten the two oldest grandsons doing the same.

Friday evening Cael crawled up to discuss fishing with Grandpa.

I'd say they caught a big one! What do you think????

If Grandpa doesn't look too excited I'd guess that he is trying to focus on the fishing--you see Cael is a little Trina and he can talk NONSTOP, so Grandpa tends to tune things out!!! (Much like he does with Nana's voice!)