Rachael Got Married

Hey, Y'all,
This weekend I went to a wedding and it was beautifully executed. The bride was lovely and the groom was handsome. I had not intended to go, but had the opportunity to do so, and did.

Yesterday, Gramps and I went to Knoxville and spent a few hours with my brother, Hugh, and wife, Imazo. Imazo and I went to Wendy's and picked up some sandwiches for the four of us. We had a really great visit, and while Imazo and I were out, I took her by a jewelry store where she was able to get a few links removed from a beautiful
watch that had been a Christmas gift. She was happy to be able to wear it then. It looks really great on her arm.

Anyway, we got back to home by around 4:45, and I dropped Gramps off at home and went to the church for the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I was the honorary grandmother of Rachael, who is Mark and Allie's daughter. I had not been planning on going to the wedding or reception, but somehow, I wound up going to both the rehearsal, the wedding and the reception, and am mighty glad that I did.

I won't be posting pictures tonight, but will tomorrow. It has been a long day today, and I haven't downloaded the pics yet from my camera, and I'm about ready to go to bed. So, good night you all. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Love to you all. Bye for now.

Happy Birthday, Alyssa Peige!

Hey, Y'all,

Today our great Granddaughter, Alyssa Peige, is one year old. We haven't seen her in person yet, but we know she is adorable, because we have seen some pictures of her. We would love to see her sometime and look forward to when we can. She is with her mom, Natasha, and grandmother in Florida.

Her dad, Will, is in the United States Air Force in Minot, North Dakota. Our daughter, Teresa and husband,Tom. are paternal grandparents. They don't get to see Alyssa very often either. I am posting a picture of Natasha, Will, and Alyssa and a picture of Teresa holding Alyssa, and one of Alyssa by herself. Isn't she just a beautiful baby?

I am hoping Alyssa will have a wonderful birthday, and a great year to come. We love you, Alyssa! The picture of Teresa and Alyssa is the wall paper on my computer right now. I can see them when I turn on my computer.

Well, this is Friday morning, and I have a lot to do today. Have to eat breakfast, carry out the trash, wake up Gramps and get him fed and showered, and then get into Knoxville early afternoon.

Tanya is in for Rachael's wedding but I haven't had a chance to see her yet, and may not. I don't know. I hope to. I can't attend the wedding either, so that is a bummer.

Breakfast calls and I must go to answer that call. Tummy rumbles, and I am hungry. The mouth must be fed. Ha. More later. Love to all of you. Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the day. Bye for now.

Matt's Quilt -Finished and Sent

Hey, Y'all,

I finally got Matt's quilt finished and sent to him. He received it today, so I am able to post pictures of it. I didn't have the right size bed to spread it on to take pictures of it, so I spread it across Gramps' bed and mine to display it. The close up is of the detail in the quilt. You will see pillow shams I made to go with the quilt, up at the top of the quilt.

We have had a quiet few days. The weather has been okay, but not great. I have been doing stuff around the house. I haven't really been out the past couple of days. I began working on our grandson, Will's, quilt. I have already sorted out the pieces I am going to use, and have begun sewing them in preparation for the blocks that they will be appliqued onto. The cloth for the blocks or the backing has not yet been purchased.

For supper tonight, I prepared fried chicken livers, boiled some corn on the cob, made some biscuits and gravy, and opened a can of spinach (we both love spinach). We really enjoyed our supper and it is a good thing nobody could see the kitchen when I got through cooking supper! It was a regular disaster area! But it is clean now.It only took me about half an hour to clean it up.

Tomorrow, we will be going into Knoxville to visit with Hugh and Imazo, and hopefully Mae. About once a week is what we have been able to travel in to see them. It is not too easy to get Gramps up and about. I like to let him sleep in as much as I can, then when I really want to take him somewhere he is more agreeable to do so.

We are having some work done on the carport. Our neighbor who built the ramp for us is closing in the end of the carport so it won't be so open and will make it so there is not a wind tunnel when we step out the door to go somewhere. He got the footing made for the wall today.

When spring comes, I want to make another flower garden, and this one will be on the other side of the carport. Does it sound silly that I am making plans for the spring? After all, winter only began less than a month ago. But as the poet said, "Oh, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

Well, I thought I had more to say than I have written, but I guess I don't. It is late and I need to get to bed, so that I can get up in the morning. I hope each of you, my readers, is getting a good night's rest. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the night. Bye for now.

Jennifer and Nelson Visit

Hey, Y'all,
We have had a lovely time today. This morning I was able to go into Jefferson City, UPS a quilt to Matthew, fill the car with gasoline, stop at the drug store, stop at the grocery store, and get my hair done at the beauty shop in Jeff. All that in a 2 hour period. I had already gotten up at 7 and baked a pumpkin pie, and peeled and cut potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery for the potato soup.

Gramps was able to sleep until 11:30 when I got him up to eat breakfast. At that time I started cooking the potato soup, and then was able to come into the computer room to check my e-mails and watch a little television.

Jennifer and Nelson came in about 2:30 this afternoon and we sat down to eat our potato soup and cornbread. After a couple of bowls of soup and cornbread (along with a little butter on some of the muffins), we all had a piece of pumpkin pie and sugar free whipped cream on top of it. Then Jen and I loaded the dishwasher and Nelson and Gramps went into the living room.

Jen and I then retired to the living room to kind of let our food settle and we watched a little television and visited awhile. Nelson, Jennifer and I decided we would like to play some dominos. We invited Gramps to play with us, but he declined. The three of us had a lot of fun playing. Then we just sat at the table, chatting awhile. Nelson will be going back to South Dakota on Sunday for his last semester of study. Jennifer's classes begin again tomorrow at Carson Newman. They are charming young people and we feel so blessed to have them in our lives.

I think tomorrow I may sleep until around 8 a.m. My eyes are kind of droopy right now, but if I hold out against going to bed, I can survive until my regular bed time at around 11 p.m. Well, I have been trying to upload images taken this evening, but the internet is apparently too crowded tonight, so I will publish them in the morning and add them to this post then.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the evening. Pictures tomorrow at 11:00. Ha ha. Love to you all. Bye for now. Pictures have now been added.

Catchup

Hey, Y'all,

Well, Sunday passed slowly, kind of. Gramps did get up around 10 a.m., so that was a plus. I got up earlier and made fried mini-pies using the dried apricots that I had cooked on Saturday evening. By the time he was up, I had fried the pies, and cleaned the kitchen. We had breakfast at the same time. Then he got dressed and I did some planning of how to begin a quilt for our grandson, Will.

We had a late dinner (lunch for some of you all) and then around 4 p.m. Jennifer and Nelson stopped by for a couple of hours. For those of you who don't know Jen and Nelson, they are our Taiwanese grandchildren (honorary). Jen is going to Carson-Newman and Nelson is a student at University of South Dakota (up where the winters are really cold). We had a lovely time chatting and I showed Nelson my blog, so I am hoping he will become a reader. Jen already is a reader. :) We had some hot tea and little fried pies together. They are coming back tomorrow for some of my Potato Soup and cornbread muffins. I will be baking a pumpkin pie early in the morning. (All the minipies are gone).

Gramps and I were talking about our new ramp this morning and I opened the door to show it to him again. He looked at it, and said, "Now they can run the cattle in, can't they". (It looks kind of like the ramp they drop from the back of a cattle truck for the cattle to run up into the truck bed). He said it so dryly that I just had to laugh out loud. It was so very funny. He has such a way of saying witty things.

We went to the podiatrist today to get our toenails trimmed, and of course, it is always a thing I don't look forward to, because nine times out of ten, I get clipped a little close on one of my big toes, and wind up with a little blood. Today was no different. I left with a little stocking on one of my big toes. They have these cute little toe sized covers that they can put on your toes. I feel so special ! Ha. Gramps had to go in to a room by himself while I was filling out papers on my medical history so that I could get my toenails trimmed (first time to this particular podiatrist). I heard him tell the nurse that he left his toes on one foot at St. Mary's hospital a long time ago. (She had asked him what had happened to his toes).

After we left the podiatrist's office, I stopped at Marion's house to show her Matt's quilt, and then went on to the church where her daughter, Judy, works as secretary, and showed her the quilt.

Gramps and I went on down to the Strawberry Plains Cracker Barrel and had a good meal. We decided to eat a breakfast. We are now back at home, and each watching our choice of television. I have every intention of going in the morning to get my hair cut and UPSing Matt's quilt to him. I will encourage Gramps to stay in bed and rest in the morning till I get back from Jefferson City. It won't be hard to do, I am sure. Ha.

I spent a couple of hours this morning cutting out quilt pieces using a good amount of the cloth that Margaret (my sister) had in her apartment. I will be posting a few pictures of the quilt when I am sure that it has arrived at Matt's home. I don't want to spoil the surprise for him, because I know he reads this blog.

Well, this is it for this evening. More tomorrow. May each of you experience God's peace in your heart. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the night. Bye for now.

Saturday in Knoxville

Hey, Y'all,

Since we couldn't make it into Knoxville yesterday for Imazo's birthday, we went in today. Yesterday here was a very quiet day (again) and I did get Matt's quilt ready to send, so I am hoping to get it to the UPS place by Tuesday. (There are people here who have been waiting to see the finished product, so I need to show it to them first).

We now have a ramp at the back door, so Gramps will have an easier time getting out the back door and back in to the house when we return. The neighbor who built it for us had to put the second coat of paint on it while we were in Knoxville this afternoon, so we had to come in the front door tonight when we got back from K-town.It was a bit difficult because I had not left the garage lights on when we left for K-town. I had to get out of the car first and get into the front door and turn on the front porch light. We made it though.

Anyhow, we went to Knoxville and picked up Mae at her back door. The three of us rode in my little Yaris, which the person in the passenger front seat has to get out, and push the passenger seat up before the person who is to ride in back, can get in. So we pull up beside the back porch, I get out of the driver's seat, help Gramps get out, push the seat up, and then help Mae (sister-in-law) who is 89 yesrs old but still pretty spry, get into the back seat, then help Gramps get back into his seat, then run around to my side, and get in, help Gramps buckle his seat belt, buckle mine, and off we go, on to my brother's house.

We get to Hugh's house, I pull into his yard, park the car, get out, help Gramps get out, then help Mae get out. It is a hoot!

Hugh did not feel like getting out today, so we left Gramps with Hugh, and we three women (Mae, Imazo, and I) went to Applebee's and had a really good late lunch/early supper and took Hugh's and Gramps' supper to them. Picture above. Mae is on left and Imazo and I are on the right side of the table. I'm the one in the blue cap.

Right now , I am cooking dried apricots in preparation to making some little fried apricot pies in the morning. Yesterday, I cooked some pecan-crusted chicken strips, some fried potatoes, and some spinach for our supper. Yum, it was so good!

Nothing like good food, is there?

Well, I am looking forward to chatting online with Teresa tomorrow. Hopefully, she is feeling much better than a week ago.

I have cleaned off my sewing table for awhile, but soon I will be looking at quilt pieces to make my grandson, Will, a quilt. I already have some ideas about what design to use. He is the last of my grandchildren to make a quilt for. Then I will need to make one for my daughters. Hopefully, I will last long enough to do that. One never knows, does one? I just keep plugging along as I can.

I have just about given up hope of getting back to church for awhile. It is almost impossible to get Gramps up in time, and when I do, he is so slow moving, it is just too much. Well, God knows where our hearts are, anyway.

That is about all for now, so this is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for tonight. Gramps is watching his favorite football quarterback (Payton Manning) play football. I am going to start sorting quilting pieces in a while. I hope each of you has a lovely Sunday tomorrow. More later. Love to you all. Bye for now.

A Quiet First of January

Hey, Y'all,
We had a very quiet evening last night on New Year's Eve. We had a supper that was fit for the gods...burnt offerings. ha. Not only did I overbrown the Cornish Game Hen that I cooked in the dutch oven in the stove oven, but while I was frying the sweet potatoes, (and reading a book while they cooked) they got too crisp (scorched) as well. However, the spinach couldn't be ruined. It was out of a can, and all I had to do to it was to heat it in a pan. We did eat most of the supper anyway.

We watched some television, and I worked on Matt's quilt, and then we went to bed about 11 p.m. Nope, we didn't watch the new year come in. We knew it would come whether we watched it or not.

Today after Gramps got up, he talked to his sister for awhile, and then came into the kitchen and I got his cereal and fixed it for him, and made some coffee. He looked at me, while we were sitting there and asked me if I still belonged to the Presbyterian church. I said, No, I never had belonged to it. He asked if my boys still went to it. I realized then that he didn't know who I was. I told him I didn't have any boys. I said, "do you know who I am?" He said, No, who are you?

I told him to look at the picture on our kitchen wall (It is one that has me, Gramps, Hugh, Imazo, Mae and my sister, Margaret). We talked a few more minutes and he knew then who I was. It was a scary few minutes for me (and I guess for him as well).

When he realized who I was, I asked him who he had thought I was, maybe his Aunt Lula? He said, yes, but I know now you are my sweet Ruby.

I know now that the hard times are probably just beginning. I realize that the time will be coming when he won't remember who I am at all, but with God's help, we will get through those times. There have already been times when he doesn't remember family members names, both in his family and in mine. But when I make the associations for him, he does. He keeps trying to say that Matt is married with a baby, and gets him confused with Andrew, but I clear it up for him.

Gramps has had a good time watching football games today. I popped some popcorn for him and he enjoyed eating that while he watched the football.

By the way, I saw a really neat video on a friend's blog today. Check out the "Clara's Corner" on my list of interesting blogs. It is a video of a singing family and is well worth seeing and hearing. (Her blog is always interesting, too). In fact, all the blogs that are listed on my blog are really neat.

I had a good chat with our niece, Donna, today. She has been ill but is getting better. We are so thankful for her good care of Gramps' sister, Bonnie, and of her sisters' good care of Bonnie as well. It is wonderful to know that Bonnie is in such good hands.

Tomorrow is the birthday of my sister-in-law, Imazo, and we wish her a happy birthday! She is a lovely lady and we wish her the very best. We love you, Imazo! We hope to go in on Saturday and celebrate her birthday with them (pictures will be posted, I am sure).

Well, I need to stop and make the label to go on Matt's quilt and hopefully get it mailed to him next week. I am sure he will be happy to know it is finally on its way. It is about two weeks overdue. I had hoped to have it finished for Christmas.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for tonight.May the new year hold good things for you all. Love to all of you. Bye for now. More tomorrow.