Beware of the Danger

My grandfather passed away last night.

It was unexpected.

It happened quickly and with no pain.

I know that I should take comfort in knowing that he is in Heaven, probably fixing fences and bossing crews around, but it hurts.

For me, mourning is like a title fight that I am unprepared for. And just when I think its over and I'm back on my feet, it deals another left hook that takes me to my knees.

And it's crazy things - things like pulling into the gas station at the local grocery store and realizing that I'll never again run into him in the parking lot or the coffee shop inside.

Or knowing that I'll never drive past their house again and see him out there tinkering with some old equipment he found.

Just looking at that picture above knocks the wind out of me.

There is no doubt that my siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews and I have been abundantly blessed to have so many great years with him. 

To know that yesterday he worked all day. Spent the day outside doing the things that he loved to do. Went inside and ate a delicious dinner, then went peacefully to be with the Lord as he was drifting off to sleep.

The memories that we all have of him, that were shared today among family and friends, will always be ours.

He will always live in our hearts and spirits.

He taught every one of us the joy of living. Of putting in a hard day's work. He has left a legacy that will reach into generations that I will never meet.

But right now my heart is cracked and the healing process my be excruciating.

The Joys of Being a Part of My Family...

Sorry for the lack of posts - the keyboard for my iPad died and I didn't have the charger. And I'm good, but I can not type a whole blog on the keyboard on the screen.

Yesterday, I had a lunch event and then I needed to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things for the kids, but I had some time between doing those things and picking the girl up from school, so of course I stopped by TJ Maxx.

Because really, when you're trying to stick to a budget and pay off your car, stopping at TJ Maxx is always a good idea. (For the record, I got an electric wine opener for $10 - totally worth stopping!)

I browsed the shoe and purse clearance sections and then headed over to the HomeGoods side of the store, because you never know what you need for your home. (Shoot - I should have looked at towels...)

So I'm browsing the clearance aisles (trying to stick to a budget and all), when I hear my aunt Liza* talking to someone.

I'm a little ashamed of this next part, but I did try to avoid her. It didn't work though because she found me and we started talking. She asked me to look at this side table that she was having the store hold for my other aunt.

Then, we stand in the aisle waiting for the store employee to come back, having the most random conversation.

First of all, she asks me what I'm up to, I tell her that I'm killing time before having to pick kids up from school. I explain to her that Tela and her husband are in Taiwan, blah, blah, blah.

Then she begins to tell me about her friends who live in Tunisia and are moving back to the US in July. They want her to come visit before they leave, but the State Department recommends against travelling there. Oh, and bee tee dub, these friends are school teachers and their school was recently burnt down by terrorists.

Yeah, go ahead and travel there - great idea! 

Then she asked me why I wasn't working at my job that day, so I tell her that we work 4/10s, and Friday is our day off. She says, "I would rather be unemployed and homeless than work 4/10s."

Then she shows me this silver chair that is in her basket with a tag on it for $99 and asks me, "Do you know what I'm going to do with this table?"

Obviously I don't so she starts to tell me about this place in Phoenix that will dip anything you have in copper. Well, anything that is all metal. And don't I think it is going to be beautiful?

About that time, a woman from our home town spots us and says hi, so we say hi and move into the aisle a little, where Liza asks me what her name is. (What I didn't tell you before is that Liza is hard of hearing and talks really loudly.) So I tell her the lady's last name because I couldn't remember her first name (strange for me, but I was extra stressed out about her yelling in the store aisle). Then she yells out, "oh, Sunny! She gave me a cat once."

 Then she starts to tell me that she and my other aunts will be getting together for coffee tomorrow because the part of her computer that let it connect to the internet, but not the modem, this other part, it broke. Like when she would try to connect to the internet she would have to try like 40 times before it would finally connect. So she called her internet provider, which no one has ever heard of, Wild Blue, and they were bought by another company and they had a better deal which saved her $20 a month and was way faster, so she signed up for that and then the guy came out and set it up and when he tried to connect, it wouldn't work and he determined that it was her computer. Then he told her that it would cost her way too much to send the computer back to Sony. So she went to buy a new computer, but she had to get all of her files off of her old computer, like her resume because she would actually commit suicide if she had to type all of that again. So she plugged a flash drive into her computer and put all of the files on it, and then put it on her desk. But then her rottweiler puppy apparently took it. She has to remember that at this stage anything that is at his eye level he will take. She had to vacuum yesterday to find the back of the DirecTV remote. He doesn't actually chew things up, just hides them. And sometimes takes them outside. So she has looked everywhere for this flash drive, but it is missing. So she gets a new one and plugs it into her computer and like half of her files are missing and the ones that are still there, when she opens them, they are in all of these numbers and letters - like in a secret code. So she called XouXou to ask her and Xou asked her if she copied them or moved them and she said, "You're asking the wrong person." So if I'm available tomorrow at 10am, I could meet them over at my other aunt's house for the great computer repair.

Thank the teeny tiny baby Jesus her cell phone rang then and she took the call, then stood in the aisle and yelled at whoever was on the phone that she couldn't hear them. And I ran out of that store as fast as I possibly could - after purchasing my electronic wine opener.

Reindeer, Tiny Trees, and Holly Berries....Oh My!

On Sunday, Match, XouXou, SuperFan, JP, JP's mom, and I headed over to Granny B's house for the annual Christmas decorating extravaganza.

Of course you know there are stories to be told...

We have been partaking in this tradition for more years than I care to remember, so we have a pretty good handle on what goes where and how she likes it. The problem is, she doesn't always remember, so things that should take an hour, end up taking three as we remove and replace the same piece of tinsel fifteen times.

Part of me thinks it is just her way of keeping us there longer to spend more time with us...

Either way, this year, there was a little tiny blessing bestowed upon us. Right after we all arrived, Granny B had to run to Michael's to get batteries and ribbon. 

You see, Match and XouXou took her shopping prior to this event and they had purchased a roll of ribbon for bow-making, but when they got home she couldn't find her ribbon. She accused Match of taking it home with her, but that was not the case. So off to the craft store she went and into hyper-drive we went.

The goal: get as much decorated as possible before she returned.

So the adults started on the tree and us kids started on the front porch (aka the Enchanted Forest). 

Having done this for years and years, we had a good handle on what she would want it to look like, and if we got it finished and she just got to see the finished product she would be happy. Otherwise, she watches as you put it together and critiques every placement of ornament or tree.

Last year, Granny B decided to add holly berries to the big tree on the front porch, so JP and I got to work adding the berries. More on top. Even if you think there are enough, she'll want more.

By the time she arrived both tasks had been completed and we were working on nutcracker, Santa, and Nativity displays. 

She walks out front to see what we lovingly refer to as the Enchanted Forest and talks about how great it looks. Then she sees the holly berries in the tree and says something to the effect of, What are these doing here? I don't want those. I remind her that we put them in last year, but she doesn't want them so JP and I remove them and put them in a box to be returned to storage.

Then we begin placing tiny fake Christmas trees everywhere. Seriously, friends, every.where!

Picture courtesy of JP

Then, Match gets the bows put onto the new garlands and they hang one on the front door next to the Enchanted Forest. Once she closes the door and realizes that there is red in the garland, but no color in the large tree, she begins to ask for red bulbs. Much to her dismay, we do not have any red bulbs. So JP informs her that the only color accent we have is the holly berries she removed earlier. She reiterates that she does not want those.

Then not five minutes later, turns to SuperFan and says, Beeshk, go get those berries from the garage. And as you see in the bottom right picture, the holly berries were reintroduced to the Enchanted Forest as an invasive species.

But it is so nice for the reindeer.

One of my other favorite Christmas tasks is replacing all of the white candles in her house with red ones. So we are doing just that when I open a box of red candles and find a roll of ribbon. I hold it up to XouXou and ask, "is the ribbon she keeps accusing Match of stealing?" Xou confirms it is, so I walk up to Granny B and ask, "Is this the ribbon you've been looking for?"

She didn't even look at it, she just responded, "No!"

Then she looked at it and asked, "Where did you find it?" I told her that I found it in the box with the red candles so she begins to look at it a little closer; and then she looks at me and says, "I think you may be right."

I just made the Sign of the Cross and carried on replacing white candles with red.

Until next year, when we have all the same discussions again...

Happy Father's Day!

To all of the dads out there (although I'm pretty sure none of them read this blog...)

But especially to my dad, PapaBear!

I am lucky to have such a wonderful father in my life!

He has taught me that there is no substitute for hard work. That honesty is always the best policy. And that no matter what, my dad will always love me!

And I know that it is going to continue to be an uphill battle to find a man as good as my dad!

I love you, Papa!

Wouldn't Trade Them For the World

As I have mentioned before, my family is crazy!

Probably pretty close to certifiable!

But I love them!

On Saturday, Granny B called me. I've been going through some things and she was concerned about me and wanted to chat. So I called her back and we had a little chat. When I hung up the phone, I called Match and I said, "She's f-in' crazy, but I wouldn't trade her for another Granny B, even if I had the chance."

Then on Sunday, I went by H&M's (Papa's parents) house on my way to church. I had to drop off my chicken food and empty egg cartons. (You'll remember from this post, that H raises chickens). So I stopped in the house to drop off the cartons and H kept trying to give me hamburger meat to take home (even though he gave me like 6 pounds of it just last week) and M kept asking me if I needed onions. When I was leaving they both told me to grab some eggs.

On the way out of the house I thought to myself, I absolutely love my family! I wouldn't trade them for the world!

In Biggie news, he is taking swim lessons this week and he hates them. Monday was his first day and he cried. On Tuesday, he and Match stopped at the store on their way to lessons and he wanted a toy.

Match: You can't have that toy, you cried at swim lessons yesterday. If you don't cry today we can come back tomorrow and get the toy.

Biggie: I don't want to cry, but my heart needs me to.

I am not making this up, folks. The kid is out of control!

The Wisdom of Years

As you may know, for Christmas this year, Match.mom and PapaBear decided that we would take a family vacation to Disneyland.

Due to scheduling difficulties, we didn't get to go until March.

Which actually turned out great because it meant that BiggieSmalls was exactly the right height to go on all of the awesome rides.

(Note: I said awesome rides, which does not include Indiana Jones. He was too small to go on that one.)

So, one morning before we were to head over to the park everyone was gathered in Match and Papa's hotel suite. Biggie was running around like a mad man and he kept holding himself like he had to go to the bathroom.

So I asked him, "Biggie, do you need to go potty?"

Biggie: No, I fine.

Airplane: Are you sure?

Five minutes later, he runs by, still holding himself.

Airplane: Biggie, do you need to go potty?

Biggie: No. I FINE!

Airplane: You know, if you pee your pants we don't get to go to Disneyland.

Biggie: Ok.

Another five minutes passes and the same thing happens.

Airplane: BIGGIE! Let's go to the bathroom and try.

Biggie: I don't have to pee.

Airplane: Then why are you running around holding your wiener?

Biggie: Because I'm old!

And folks, there was nothing I could say to refute that.