Two magical hours

Yesterday (Sunday) I went to see Mary and Brayden at their house. After visiting for a half hour or so, I asked Brayden if he wanted to go to Jungle Jim's and, of course, he said "Ssssss..." which is YES. LOL So off we went. There are grocery stores and then there are grocery shopping experiences and Jungle Jim's is definitely the latter. I had a small list of things that I needed to buy, but we were going there more for the experience than the shopping...and we had an absolute ball. Brayden quickly decided he liked the concept of "free samples"... which Jungle Jim's is known for. Brayden is not normally willing to try new foods, so I was surprised when he tried the following samples: Spiced turkey (didn't like it), Boarshead American cheese (loved it), oriental cole slaw (loved it), green olives (didn't like it - spit it out faster than it went in), artichoke (ate it but wasn't sure about it), water crackers (loved them), brie cheese (liked it but preferred his cracker without it), two kinds of oranges (loved them), chocolate English cookie wafers (REALLY loved them!), vaniall orea-style cookie (what's not to like?), and pepperoni pizza (gave up his second cookie for pizza). While shopping, he picked out the following to take home with him: a granny smith apple, a naval orange, a package of grapes, two kiwi's, and bananas. When we got to the store, I gave him a "job" of finding the bananas. My goodness, he got so excited when he finally saw them! LOL I also bought him a half-pound of the American cheese he liked so much. He also saw so many things that made him smile: A (real) stop light in the middle of the store, two kinds of live fish, live lobsters, larger-than-life rabbit and duck that played music, monkeys, elephants that sprayed water out their trunks, more elephants, a giraffe, and lots more. I bought just four bags of groceries but had two great hours with my grandson. We laughed, we giggled, we learned and we just plain enjoyed our time together!

Feeling better, getting things done

Whew - two weeks and a few days, and I'm FINALLY feeling better. No more conjunctivitis, just a tiny bit of cough left from the bronchitis. Jeff, unfortunately, has been hit hard with this cold, and has difficulty sleeping at night because of the cough. I hope he continues to be 4 days behind me, so in 4 days he'll be done with it. This morning I actually have ENERGY! Yay!! I have plans to go over and visit Mary and Brayden later this morning, since I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving and I miss them both! I may take Brayden grocery shopping with me to Jungle Jim's just because he enjoys it and it will give Mary a break for an hour or so -- unless, of course, she wants to go with us, which would be fine too. From there, I'm going to Hancock Fabrics to pick up the last few things I need to finish making Christmas presents, and then it's home to continue working on same. The upcoming week is busy for me, and I'm not sure if I'll be posting much. Now that I have my energy back, on Monday I plan on cleaning (and de-germing) the house, top to bottom. On Tuesday I'm going to court to observe my son-in-law (hopefully) being sentenced to 4 years in prison, and on Wednesday I happily have a babysitting day with Brayden. Thursday will be errands and Christmas shopping, and possibly lunch and a movie with my friend Kathy, and Friday is another babysitting day. Whew - there goes that week! I could go into the story of why my son-in-law is in jail and (hopefully) on his way to prison, but those close to me know the story. I will say this. The man (and I use that term loosely) is not an evil human being. He is, very unfortunately, a victim of his upbringing who refused to understand that life is all about choices. You can be a victim of a terrible childhood, but you don't have to remain a victim. He chose to remain a victim of his upbringing. He chose to make poor decisions that affected and jeopordized his son's life. He continues to blame everyone else (including me), and doesn't accept responsibility for his own actions. He's actually a very intelligent man; but with no educational or moral foundation, that intelligence just went to waste. He had no idea of what a father should (or shouldn't) do, but, on the other hand, he also wasn't willing to find out so he could do the right thing. His going to prison is actually a God-send, as my grandson's life was in jeopardy when this man was around him. Unfortunately, none of us, with the exception of my son who did try to tell us, saw this man for what he was or, in my opinion, what he was not (a responsible father). I am not sad to see him leave our family at all. I am sad that he can't see how much better his life would be if he let go of his past and made choices to improve his future. But I also firmly believe that no one, not my daughter, not me, not his own son, will ever be able to change that about him and, therefore, my daughter and grandson have better chances of leading safe, productive lives without him in it. When I talked to my daughter last night, she was glad to see December 4 finally get here so she could get divorce proceedings underway. She did mourn the loss of her marriage for awhile, but I don't believe she ever mourned the loss of this man in her son's life. I have faith she will get through this, be a better, more decisive person, and a hard core protector of her son's safety and wellbeing when this is all over and behind her. All is not horrible. Without this man in our daughter's life, we would not have Brayden. And Brayden, by all measurements, is the most wonderful grandchild ever born and our lives would be totally different without him!! So for that, we are thankful. This horrible dark gray storm cloud definitely has a bright shiney silver lining.

It's time to move on

I'm still sick. The bronchitis has eased dramatically, but the conjunctivitis is just refusing to let go of me. I've always been susceptible to this eye infection, catching it frequently when my kids were bringing germs home from school, but I've also always shaken it within 24 hours of being put on medication for it. This time, I just can't shake it and it is AGGRAVATING! However, life needs to go on. I'd don't feel sick (though I'm still only at about 75%, energy-wise), so I need to get things done, conjunctivitis or not. I don't really want to go out (no, wait - I'm dying to get out of the house, actually -- I've been home for more than a week now!), because I know how infectious this is. But I can get other things done here. So today I'm focusing on Christmas lists. Get lists and present ideas firmed up in my head, and probably do some online shopping to get things rolling. Here's my To Do List for today:

• Make list of everyone who gets presents, with present ideas and date needed by.
• Move Amazon gift certificates over to Amazon (Jeff got these from work)
• Purchase all presents that need to be mailed
• Make list of what Christmas decorations I want to bring upstairs this year
• Go to basement and get window candles and wreath and put those up
• Write up menu for Christmas Eve dinner, plus list of grocery shopping needed
• Check amount of wrapping paper, tape, ribbons, tags - list of what's needed
• Make list of homemade presents to be given - post in sewing room
• Check with Jeff on Christmas budget amount
• Make list of presents already purchased
• Make inventory list of stocking stuffers already purchased

If I can get all that done today and tomorrow, I'll be in OK shape and able to head out shopping next week when I'm feeling better (she says with a positive attitude!!!)

Grandchildren + daycare = sick grandparents

Yes, as unbelievable as it may be, Jeff and I are sick AGAIN. Brayden brought home another cold from daycare (perhaps I'm assuming on that one - could be from anywhere!), and I fought it off from Tuesday to Thursday night, but got hit on Friday. Jeff is about 4 days behind me, just coming down with it yesterday. I also came down with conjunctivitis, and went to the doctor yesterday. While there and telling her about my cold, she diagnosed me with bronchitis ...again! I'm happy this time that it was diagnosed early (as opposed to last time when it was very near pneumonia until I went to the doctor), and got on meds. Unfortunately, today the conjunctivitis is worse -- now in both eyes. UGH!!! I am sick of being sick. The doctor and I discussed ways to stop this cycle of catching everything Brayden brings into the house. Handwashing is the obvious culprit (or lack there of), though I am already washing my hands frequently when Brayden is in the house. But I'll up that more, just to try harder. She also talked about not smooching with Brayden...hahaha... I admitted, that's not going to happen -- especially right now while he's learning to give Eskimo kisses!! Little snotty nose rubbing back and forth against mine -- how can you possibly resist that?? LOL! She also gave me some essential oils -- one called "Purity" to burn in a defuser to eliminate germs in the air. Another called "China Blend" to help recover from sickness quicker -- this one I put one drop in a cup of tea. And a third called "ImmuBoost Extra" to put in tea when we're not sick to help boost our immunity to germs. I had tea with the China Blend last night and it was very good. It made my cheap old Kroger decaf tea taste like heavenly herbal tea. Very soothing. The essential oil ingredients are Lemon, Tangerine, Orange, Clove Bud, Black Cumin, Lavender, Thyme, Hyssop and Cinnamon Bark. I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately for the rest of the world I need to get out today -- get to the bank and the drug store. Other than that, the only thing I have my mind set on doing is changing the sheets in the masterbedroom (how many germs do you suppose are on THOSE?), cleaning up the kitchen, and wiping down the bathrooms with Clorox wipes. Jeff went to work this morning, but I think he'll be home early today. He was pretty wiped out this morning and he's really just getting started with all this.... sigh. It's probably soup for dinner and early to bed for both of us.