Come have a cup with me...

I didn't say I was disappearing completely, did I? Nah. I couldn't do that. But I'm not pressuring myself to come here every day. I don't want to write drivel just to post something. When I write I want to write about something. My grandsons have been with me an average of 11 hours per day lately and it was getting to the point where I was feeling the same angst I used to feel in high school when I knew I had a writing assignment due in Modern Poetry or Creative Writing and I'd left it to the last minute. Well, it's been feeling like my writing time here has been the same way....last minute and rushed and just not very pleasurable. Since writing is my number one pleasure in life and always has been, I didn't want it ruined by feeling compelled to come here instead of wanting to come here.

So, what has been happening? Let's see. My daughter-in-law and the boys went in for a check up recently and the doctor wants Dylan to have his hearing checked by a specialist. I've mentioned before how he's been very slow in speaking. Not unusual in our family, since our son - his dad - didn't really speak clearly until he was around 4. And Dear Hubby's dad and uncles used to have a language of their own when they were boys. But Dylan's doctor can see that one of his eardrums doesn't look right and even tho he has very acute hearing, we're wondering if maybe certain decibels get distorted. We've all noticed that loud or high noises like Cooper crying shrilly can cause him to clamp his hands tightly over his ears and he'll yell "Ow! Ow!" like he truly is in pain. Certain noises can cause him to go into kind of an emotional meltdown, too, where he reacts like he wants to get away from them but doesn't know how. At least, I've noticed that here taking care of him all the time. He's been trying to say a lot more words lately but for his age he's still behind in talking skills. Size-wise he's at the top of his percentile. He weighs 52 pounds and I'm not sure how tall he is but he's in size 5-6 clothes...and NOT overweight, either. I think he's going to grow in to another Shaquille O'Neill! Between him and Cooper, who weighs around 20 pounds, plus the weight of the double stroller, I bet I'm pushing 75 pounds around when we're out on our walks. This much I know, I sure don't have much meat on my haunches any more, hahaha! We get out every day the weather cooperates. I need to get to Value Village or Goodwill soon, tho, and see if I can find a snowsuit for Dylan because he's too big to wrap up in blankets like Cooper. Cooper has a snowsuit I found a while back...then I snuggle him in with baby blankets on top of that. But Dylan's basically got coats and hats and I know that once we get down in to the really cold temperatures he's going to freeze if he doesn't have extra protection. I got Cooper's snowsuit on a half-price sale one day...I think I paid $3.99 for it and it didn't even look like it had ever been worn before. It's a size 18 months so even tho he swims in it now, it ought to fit him all the way thru the winter and early spring months at least. Dylan has always loved getting out for our walks no matter how cold it's gotten -- we've been out in 25 degree weather! And Cooper seems to love them every bit as much. Fresh air is good for all of us, as long as we've got the right clothing for it.

We downgraded our Dish Network account today. We've had the 250 program package ever since we got it...why, I don't know since we don't even watch much TV. We go to bed so early that we record all the "Law & Order" and its offshoots as well as "Without a Trace" and any new "House Hunter" episodes. I think I have every "Super Why" recorded, too. But beyond that, we watch the news and "The O'Reilly Factor" and some of the outdoor programs and that's really about it. Almost $80 a month for that. Pshaw! So we went for the Family Package with local channels added on for $26.99 a month. BIG savings, I'd say. We won't have HGTV. Or USA. Or TNT. But we lived without them before and we'll do it again. It ain't that big a deal. Dylan will still have his "Super Why"...and the baby seems as enthralled with that as his big brother is. It'll be a savings of around $50 per month. If we want to watch an old movie classic, we can go to Hollywood Video and rent it. We hardly ever do that, either. What a couple of old dead heads!

Dylan's discovered the fun of flash lights. He created a new game where he tosses a little plastic bird he has into the air and then uses his Papa's flash light to find where it's landed. I was in the kitchen yesterday heating up some pasta for lunch and Dylan came in and handed me the flash light. He couldn't find the bird. So I went to help him find it and when I handed the flash light back to him I told him, "If you ever need help, just ask Grandma." A few minutes later he came out and handed me the flash light again. "Help, Mom!" he demanded. So "help" is now one of his new words.

I am going to miss BBC America, come to think of it. I've been utilizing so many of the household hints from "How Clean is Your House?" that's shown on there. This morning I used weak tea diluted with water to clean my windows and it worked just great. Do you have any dull silver pieces you want to look like new? Take ordinary chalk and crush it up. Add water to make a paste and rub it on to the silver. Then buff it with a dry cloth. Museums have been using this 'recipe' for years. I couldn't believe what a difference it made in the silver they polished on a recent episode I watched.

My 'lady land' doctor tweaked my estrogen level, adding a little more to it. I'm noticing a dramatic improvement in how it's helping me with urinary tract issues. I guess sometimes after a woman has a complete hysterectomy like I did, where they're launched in to instant menopause because the ovaries are removed, it can cause the mucosa of the bladder to thin out. Even tho in the beginning I was having true urinary tract infections, the last time I thought one was coming on there was no bacteria present at all. The doctor said an increase in estrogen might help with the symptoms and it did. So now I'm finally getting all that much more close to feeling like the real "me" again. Hallelujah. It's also helping with nite sweats and causing my mood levels to function at a more even keel. Not that I've ever suffered much from any 'female' mood swings, but I just feel a little more mellow, a little less anxious at times. Dear Hubby says I've been the easiest woman in the world to be married to and he's been with me for over 34 year now so he ought to know.

The kids had some excitement in their neighborhood. A single woman who lives next door to them recently put her house up for sale because she's moving back east. When she came home the other nite, a man forced his way in, coming up behind her as she opened the door. He beat her with a pipe and robbed her of a few hundred dollars. At least he didn't kill her or rape her! But can you imagine how terrifying that must've been? This world just gets crazier all the time.

Me, I'm taking each day one at a time. I am tired at the end of my long days but I know these few years with the boys will be gone in the blink of an eye. I relish my time with them and I'm so thankful to have such an active part in their lives. I used to pray I'd live to see my children reach adulthood and I've been blessed to see that. I don't know what's realistic at my age to pray for as far as time with my grandsons goes. To see them graduate from high school? To see them married, to see my first great-grandchild? Whatever time I do have, I'll be thankful for it. I don't know if it's selfish to hope I'll be around long enough for them to have a clear memory of time with me, of all the fun we've had together. The other day I had an Emmylou Harris CD playing and I was dancing around the room with Cooper in my arms and Dylan running circles around us, laughing. My daughter was sitting in the rocker watching us and she told me the sight of me with the grandbabies brought back such good memories from her own childhood, of me doing the same thing with her and her brother. That's one thing I've never forgotten how to do....play!