TGIF Morning in Michigan

Good Morning Sweet OFF Sisters,

It looks like a glorious day here.  I hope it stays this way.

This morning, I get to watch Frankie, as Colleen and Trent are taking Isabel and Lincoln to see "Despicable Me 2."  Then, I'm taking him to meet them for lunch.  Fun, fun.

When I get home, I'm going to start packing for my trip to Pennsylvania.  We leave Monday morning.  

Had a great time yesterday at a festival in nearby Corunna.  Weather was perfect for being outdoors.  Stood in line with Izzy for over an hour to get her face painted.  Right next to the line we waited in were kiddy games, like duck pond, ring toss and bean bag toss.  Izzy kept playing, collecting the little prizes for her and her brothers.  Killed a good amount of time.  On the other side of the line, there was a dog agility course, and a show started while we were waiting.  She got beautiful butterflies painted on one side of her face.  Which disappeared later, when she went swimming, which she's great at.  She can swim underwater for a distance, and across the deep end, and do the back stroke.  Frankie was scooting around the poolside, with Mommy, Daddy and me keeping a close eye on him.  Lincoln learned he can touch bottom in the shallow end of the pool.  

Must get going.  Gotta get dressed, and get moving.

Hugs and prayers,

Trish

Good morning Trish and OFF-

Trish glad you had a great day yesterday with your daughter's family.  Hope you wore the boot to rest that foot while standing in line.  Hope you have a great trip to PA.  Travel safe and try not to let your Mom push your buttons.

Yesterday we had an impromptu cookout with some of the neighbors.  I take some leftovers from house guests like oriental three bean salad and some guacomole I made with the leftover avocado.  It's turned sunny and hot here so I was going for comfortable cool foods.  Had a nice time visiting with neighbors.

Judy sorry Mother Nature is being such a witch with the weather in Ohio.  I think it's great that your doing the cookout/BBQ for the tenants.  Maybe later this summer the weather will improve.

Vickie glad you had a great 4th with the family. 

Connie glad you're going on another trip to see your daughter for your birthday.  Happy Birthday.

Eileen happy to read that the steroids are working on the pain and hope your blocks go well next week.

Can you tell that I'm avoiding getting on the elliptical.  I'll get there and work up a sweat in a few minutes.  Checking the Forum is my last avoidance task.  I found an app for my iPad that has Yoga routines that are nice and a workout.  I'm alternating elliptical with yoga for variety.

Yesterday there were tons of boats on the lake and today very few.  Guess people just came down for the day.  The campground on the other side of the cove where I live had fireworks last night.  I was able to watch them from the safety of my porch.  Then I watched the Macy fireworks on the TV as I get the NY channels on my satellite.

Well, I've avoided as long as I can, time to get on the machine.  Positive thoughts to all of you in pain, stress or need.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Cindi

Good afternoon Trish and everyone......

It sounds like everyone had a great 4th of July. My daughter lives on the Minnesota River....fireworks were going off for hours. It was so pretty. Carrie and Greg are working today. I am enjoying the quiet time by myself. 

Vickie....is there anyway between Chris and you that you could find a summer day camp/daycare for Benny? Even for a few days a week. I am worried about you. He sounds like a very active little boy.

Wishing you all a great day!! Prayers for many OFF friends and families.

Love and hugs to all....connie d

Hi Connie,

So glad you are getting some quiet time today!  You need it!

Benny will be starting swim lessons at the Y on July 15th.  They last for 10 days, so that will take up 2 weeks.  Hopefully it will give him a much needed outlet for all his excess energy.  As for the rest of the time, I figure I'll just muddle through.  It's what I always do.  But you're right--he is ACTIVE!  I just have to set low standards for myself during that time period.  Not get stressed out about not getting things done, etc.  And he does take a nap every day.  That helps too.

But Chris is going to have to understand that I can't have him every night.  She's going to have to curtail her social life for a few weeks.  I need her to come home and HELP me!  LOL!

You sound better these days--more like yourself.  I hope you are feeling better after all those pain treatments.  Love you!

Good morning Trish and Cindi and all my OFF sistas!

My goodness!  I have been up with Benny since 6:30 a.m. (almost 4 hours now) and I STILL haven't gotten anything done!  Still in my jammies, haven't even had a chance to brush my teeth, and you can forget about getting anything productive done.  That Boy is a Full Time JOB!

However, on the very bright side, he slept without a diaper last night, woke up dry and that's a first!

I tell y'all, I don't know how I'm going to manage when Butch leaves for a month this summer.  The fall won't be so bad because Benny will be starting at full-time preschool in September and I won't have him here during the days.  But I strongly suspect I will spend most of that 4 weeks this summer unwashed and undressed!!!  LOL!

We are gearing up for our mini-vacation next week.  Have yet another list of gear we need to buy/pack in the travel trailer before we go. 

We had a good time watching the fireworks off the front deck last night.  People were setting them off all around the lake; some even set them off from their boats in the middle of the lake.  Benny loved it all!  Chris bought some sparklers and he liked watching them, but he didn't want to hold one by himself.  She also bought these little things called bees and butterflies.  You light them on the ground and they spiral up into the air for a short distance.  WELL.  One of those butterflies landed on top of the boat (parked in the driveway) and burned a hole in the cover!  Ack!  Guess who has to figure out how to repair it today?

Well, Butch said he would take Benny outside for awhile, so I can get a shower and get dressed.  I'd better take advantage of that offer while it stands!

Love you all!

Vickie,

I had custody of my grandson when he was a toddler so I know what you mean about having only moments of getting things done.   After my daughter took him and spent months not letting me see him, she finally moved in with me and she was pregnant.  When the baby was five months old, she and the two babies moved into my old house and have been there ever since but for a while, when she lived with me, I would get home from school and she would take off and there I would be trying to cook, clean, study, and take care of a newborn and a very active toddler.   I finally put my foot down and that is what you are going to have to do too.   I told her that I understood the need to have a little freedom but not freedom every single night.  So, I gave her two nights a week to visit friends, bar hope, or whatever and the other five nights, she was home with the kids so I could work.   You will have to do the same thing.   Also, I agree with Connie about getting him in a mothers' day out program.  Maybe a local church has one or maybe you could hire a teenager to come over and spend a few hours a day taking care of him while you do your thing.  They would be in the house so you could sort of check on him but she could entertain him by taking him outside or playing with him in the bedroom.  When I had my grandson, one of sisters' granddaughter who was about fourteen came and spent the week with me and it was the best week of my life.  I could take them to the park and I could read while she and the baby played.  Also, I bought a ton of inside projects that she was in charge of and I made a schedule of when they play with play dough, when they do art, and when they go outside.  Its' amazing how having that little girl with me for the week helped me teach Mathew how to play on his own because she taught him how to use a lot of those things that I just didn't have time to do.  You deserve a couple of hours a day to piddle around...seriously, hire someone. 

Hi Trish and my OFF family:

It's cloudy but cool; but it's also humid. 73 degrees but 78 percent humidity. My body's not liking it. My left knee is especially unhappy and of course, my back is a little touchy. With steroids, you take a lot the first couple of days and then wean off of them. So I'm taking my last few of them now. 

Work was pretty low-keyed last night; things got done pretty early except for the fireworks show. With all the boomers last night, it sounded like someone was bowling on the roof at work. On the way home, I was trying to turn down the street toward my apartment complex and there were these kids throwing sparklers or firecrackers or whatever in the street ... I couldn't get down. I had to stop and wait for them to stop. Really, it was midnight and these kids were unsupervised. Plus, there were kids in the parking lot throwing firecrackers until 3 a.m. Surprisingly, Juliette was OK. 

Anyway, back to work tonight. Not much else happening. Hope everyone has a good day.