Been thinking more about reinventing myself in new ways. Being a student at the U of Minn. has been interesting as far as scanning the possibilities for advancement in learning. I can sign up for fall classes on March 8th. All of them say I cannot audit them so I have to pay $10 a credit which is amazing! There are definite perks to being a senior citizen!
My daily life has been tough but am trying to "get off the couch" as they say and getting busy with making my daily life better. Doing more sewing that I enjoy, studying scriptures which always can use a boost, reading more vs TV time. Sometimes I feel life nothing is happening in my life and I need something to jump start my engines. Even if it's something small. For example the other day I was over at Hannah's and Daniels and I spotted a yo yo. Come to find out that one of her relatives gave them yo yos for Christmas. Sounds loony but their family is kind of like that. Being as that particular toy was one of my favorites I picked one up at their house and showed Hannah how to "walk the dog". Was able to do it after some effort as the string was not in the best condition. I use to be able to "rock the cradle" but will need a better string attachment for that. I got the impression that Hannah kind of thought it was silly and only for kids. I always try to help her by my attitude in life how we all can have fun with things whether they are labeled as kids toys or not: digging in the sand, flying a kite, making a snow angel, etc. all kids related things but also enjoyable by everyone adult or kid. Sometimes I wish I could get Hannah to let her adult self go and really take a risk on being silly or funny in a way that frees her to enjoy life more. I'll keep trying with that because her children really deserve more of that from her. She is a wonderful mom and alittle song and dance as they say can only enhance her parenting skills. 

Daniel's birthday plus

Had a great weekend celebrating Daniel's birthday. We were 2 weeks off but everyone is so busy. Everyone came except David and Venessa (backpacking in Wyoming).

Aiden and Ellie having fun with a water balloon

                                                                           Ellie


Went over to Menards and got a kiddie pool since both Aiden and Ellie were coming. Aiden had a great time with the water balloons.

Daniel was given an Dairy Queen ice cream cake, one of his favorite things. Played a game after it started raining.

Ellie is One!

Decided to change things up just a bit with the font. I am down to one a month on my posts since I have been too busy and some life issues have surfaced for me but thought I better honor my only granddaughter and post some birthday pics of her.

Had a great party with about 30 people most of them Hannah's relatives. All my kids came as well as Michael. I made 4 cakes; one just for her to check out since I guess that is the "now" thing to do.

The only thing missing was some music, one of Ellie's favorite things but to much to remember for those planning. Lots of snacks and visiting and of course passing Ellie around which is what the day was for.

Happy birthday, Ellie!

Little Piano Hands

Trying too educate myself in regard to taking pictures with my camera. It has a lot more features than I have been using due to the lack of understanding about light, etc. The other day I babysat my granddaughter and got lucky. This pic is for those not on Facebook that read my blog since my cover picture was changed to the following pic. I thought it turned out great so I'm sharing it with you.

I am adding the picture of the author of these hands since she is so cute and I guess I am one of "those" grandmothers. I just wish my mom was alive since she is missing the experience of being a great grandmother.

Ellianna Jean Fiedler 11 months

Childhood Remembered

Haven't been blogging recently with Christmas and some other things getting in the way. I also want to try to make the subjects interesting which is not always what I see happening in my life. Recently though I was invited to an old friends house for my birthday back in December even though we celebrated it way past that date. She fixed a lovely meal and invited her sister and all the hubbies. It was so fun just sitting over a glass of wine reminiscing and laughing about old times. Their mother was my mother's best friend. I try to call their mom occasionally because I know she misses my mom terribly even to this day (it's been 2 years). Dana is closest to me in age and her sister is about 3 years older than Dana. Even though their personalities and looks are totally different, they are very close. Our fathers were best friends and partners in sales. They would travel around the U.S. and sell everything from fire alarms to nursery furniture. When my dad died their father cried for a week over the loss of his friend, my dad, even though they hadn't spoken for a number of years.
At the dinner party last month the sisters were telling me that they and their husbands were going to Florida for a number of weeks and were debating about taking their mother along with them.  Joyce (their mother) lives in a retirement community close to Dana's house in Shoreview and had indicated that she had told them that she wanted to come with them on the vacation. I indicated that maybe that would be a good thing for them. Spending some quality time with her rather than an occasional visit to her retirement condo. I understood where they were coming from but I don't think they even realized my thoughts on that particular subject.

me, Pam and Dana

Sometimes I think that we really don't realize that we can be complaining about a family member in the presence of someone who has lost that same member of their family. I remembered once a couple years ago at a gathering of women that some of the women were complaining about their husbands. Simple things that aggravated them like leaving the toilet seat up etc. No one but myself realized that one of the gals had lost her husband 6 years ago at a fairly young age to cancer and I wondered about her "take" on the subject since her husband was no longer in her life.
Certainly life is short. Once they are gone there is no coming back. Memories are all we have sometimes. I thank the Lord that these gals are in my life. I truly care and cherish their friendship with me and those of their husbands. We try to make it a regular thing to meet up with them for dinner or breakfast at a favorite restaurant. I will also miss them when they are gone, unless of course I go first. But we do have the memories which brings me to the picture. Enjoy.

Christmas 2014

Aiden had a late Christmas with us as he was at his dad's this Christmas. Got a few pics. Enjoy.
the first one was a work set with screw drivers, hammer, etc.






















He loves to help Daniel work on the cars so he really was thrilled with this present. The second one was a dry erase board where he can work on his writing skills. Hannah wants to encourage him to prepare for Kindergarten hopefully this fall.

 
 
 
 
 

Thanksgiving 2014

 

Two turkeys-$18.99, all the fixins'-$13.99, 14 people for dinner-priceless. Had a great time with the family even though my small house made it a little like "crunch-time". Enjoy the pics.

 

 

Aiden with David playing with the guitars.

pumpkin pie

playing a song on the piano (as only Aiden can)

 

slicing the turkeys

 



the family enjoying the meal

 

the eyeball straw!