It's been a long time since I've had time to write anything. Tommy and Rebecca were here for over a week, Kaitlyn came for a few days and now, this week, Kerri and April are both on vacation and I've had a day without babies.

Cindy is almost moved into her new apartment and I went over for lunch today. She was home for lunch waiting for the cable man and I got there at just the right time. The apartment is so cute.....makes me want to get an apartment for myself. It would be so neat to have everything in an area that you could clean easily and not have a bunch of "stuff" to take care of. But then, where would I put my babies and my many grands who love to "spend"?

The other day I was on the phone with someone, and I was looking out at the back parking lot of the funeral home and I saw a big cat (and I mean about twice as big as a regular housecat) doing a really funny jog down the lot. It disappeared over the little wall at the end of the lot and I didn't see it again. But it didn't look like an ordinary cat. It looked like a wild cat of some kind. Then Friday night, we had all gone to bed and Kaitlyn had gone to sleep, when all of a sudden I heard a bloodcurdling screech and Kaitlyn's feet hit the floor and she jerked her door open and hollered, "What is Tiger doing?" except it wasn't Tiger. That yowl was coming from outside. Since a black bear has been spotted on the otherside of North Main, why not a wild cat? Then today, Lee was cutting my grass and told me he had picked up a bunch of wild critters in my front yard. All dead, of course. He said he thought it was a mama possum and a bunch of lil babies. Looks like we're being sucked up by the country.

Today has been a beautiful day. It's finally warm and I intended to do some yard work...pruning, cutting back, pulling up, etc., but the guys were out there cutting grass in the back yard, so I'll do it tomorrow. My rose bushes have gone wild and even if they don't bloom this summer, I have to cut them. You can hardly walk down through the yard without being grabbed by a thorn. I think my yellow and pink angel trumpets are dead. They look dead and the stems seem to be hollow. But the hosta is coming out big time and the varicolored vine is spreading every where. I'm hoping to have some blooming things out front this year. Maybe something to attract hummers.

Well, I'm starting to get hungry and I bought me a steak for supper, so I think I'll go and cook it and a potato and eat. I don't know if I'm an unnatural grandma or not, but after everybody goes home I just love to be by myself. Tonight I'll eat and read and then watch a movie that I want to see!

My 10 year old granddaughter has a vivid imagination and is always writing stories and drawing illustrations to accompany them. The following is one she started today and hasn't finished yet, but she has the drawing of Azula and intends to add some more story and some more drawings.

It seemed as though there was nothing lighting the night except the twinkle of the stars and the faint light of the moon. There was no sound except the howl of the wind, nothing to be seen except the lake by the meadow. The lake was a mere fish among the oceans, the moon a pirate ship dunked into a sea of clouds. The lonely night almost called to some life form to come. And it came.

The wolf's light sapphire and light ruby colored fur was clearly visible despite the darkness. She padded silently to the lake and drank from it, her creamy white muzzle being splashed frequently. As she lifted her head her ears drew back and the wolf glanced around the area, sniffing. She wondered if she would hear the sound she heard come again.

Snap

Twigs were being stepped on and broken, someone was approaching. The wolf dashed off, and though the grass was lush underneath her paws, it felt dry to her. She ran as fast as she could till she could run no more. Exhausted the wolf collapsed. The thing was gone, but she was still fearful of it. Azula, her name, didn't realize the place she was in.............

A fantasy land

Azula looked around her, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. There were dragons, birds that swam, pegasuses and others.

MORE TO COME LATER

Well, guess what!! I looked out my front window today and there was the car of my dreams sitting right there beside my hedge with a "For Sale" sign on it. Of course, I knew who it belonged to and when he came out from the funeral home to go somewhere I asked him how much he wanted for it, what kind it was and how many miles it had on it. Well, its a Gran Prix, has 54,000 miles, is a 2004 and he only wants $12,000, but for me, he'll go down to $11,500. Yeah, I'll run to the bank tomorrow and get the cash!!!

Actually, I'd settle for the Honda the handy man at the funeral homes drives. It's a neat lil gray car, probably an 88 or 90 model. But he says it's the best car he ever had and he has no intention of EVER getting rid of it. Oh, well.......... I can dream, can't I?

When our children are born we can't wait for that first tooth, sitting up, rolling over, crawling, walking and talking. Then we wait for that first day of pre-school and then kindergarten and so on until finally graduation.

I know we all want our children and grandchildren to be independent and self-sufficient, but why do they have to grow up so fast to be all that?

I remember when Emily was potty trained and she started spending Saturday nights with me so she could go to Sunday School and church. I don't think she ever missed unless she was on vacation or sick and she wasn't sick that much. Now, with skating and friends and boyfriends, I don't get as many Saturday nights and I miss them. It's like the song says "Turn around and she's two, turn around and she's four, turn around and she's a young girl going out of the door."

Well, I guess my semi vacation is over.I had a wonderful week of sleeping late, going out in the mornings to pick up stuff I needed (or didn't). No cooking lunch at 2PM , no turning on lights or wiping butts or pouring juice.

I did a little yard work, a little cleaning, a little TV watching and a lot of reading. I ate when I felt like it and cooked what I wanted and if I didn't want to cook..........I didn't. I made chicken salad one day and ate chicken salad sandwiches several days...sometimes for breakfast, sometimes for supper.

But I'm looking forward to getting back to my baby sitting. I miss the little young'uns when I don't see them. I haven't seen Anna in two weeks and Brittany(except for a brief visit to pick up her B'day present), for a week. I saw Savannah in the afternoons cause her mom wasn't on vacation, so I wasn't completely baby-less last week. Well, it's time for bed so I'll be bright and alert to take them on in the morning.

Well, it's Friday again and I'm done with baby sitting until Monday. Except for the big kids, that is.

Brittany came in on Monday all excited about going fishing. I asked her if she caught a fish and she said she did. I asked her how big it was and she stretched her arms out as far as they would go and said, "Dis big". Kerri said she ought to make a good fisherman cause she was already stretching the truth about the fish size.

I told her about the cat getting in the basement window one night and knocking my plant down, it hit the faucet, turned the water on, lodged in the drain stopping the sink up and when I went down the water was ankle deep. I told her all about how I got the water out and then she asked me about 6 more times before she left to tell her about what the cat did. After her mom picked her up, she called me from her car to ask about the mess Tiger had made. Seems Brittany was telling her all about de big mess dat Tiger made and Kerri thought it was something that had happened that day. I only had to re-tell the tale about 5 times yesterday.

Anna, on the other hand, comes in all excited about going to the beach yesterday. She'll tell me in detail about going to the Atlantic ocean and building a sand castle and when I ask her when, she'll say "Yesterday after I went home from your house". She also likes to go to "chic chic pilay".

Savannah knows when she does poopie in her diaper, but won't tell me before. However, when she gets finished she'll tell me "My mama made poopie in my pants. She needs to be spanked for doing dat".

Well, that's all the baby stuff.........seems like this is all I write here lately, but I don't do a lot of mature stuff any more. Maybe next time.

Well, it's Friday again! Seems like a long week, but I don't guess it really was. I had Anna every day, Savannah every day, but Brittany only three days. Since it was pretty nice outside, we got out every day except today. Anna calls my backyard "de park" and all she wants to do is slide on the sliding board. Brittany and Savannah only want to swing. So, it works out.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to yardsales with Cindy, but right now it's raining. However, one sale is at a church--inside-- and a couple are moving sales which are generally inside.

Sunday I'm going to Troutville to hear Randy Watts preach. I've been a prayer partner ever since he started the church in Troutville and Sunday he's going to be honoring the prayer partners. I can't wait because he is really a good preacher and I haven't heard him in nearly two years. I'm going with Linda and Jackie cause I still don't have a car of my own to drive. Wish I did, cause then Douglas and Emily could go too. I could follow Jackie and Linda and the rest of their kids. As it is, Linda's Durango isn't big enough for all of us.

One Brittany saying and I'll be finished. I asked her the other day why Toby(Kerri's little Yorkie) went to the hospital. She looked at me with those big eyes and said in the most solemn voice, "He got he balls cut off so he couldn't make babies." Oh well, out of the mouths of babes!!

Saturday, Cindy and I went to a few yardsales. I didn't buy anything much... a couple of books and a lazy susan. Don't know why I bought that, but I used to have one a long time ago and I think I used it on the kitchen table when the kids were little. Anyway, it disappeared and I thought this would be handy when we eat in the dining room.

Sunday, the Adams family and I went to Troutville to be a part of prayer partner day at Randy's church. I got to Linda's house about 8AM and we left shortly after. I was late getting there because I was wearing my teal colored pant suit and the pants had a hook and eye and a zipper in the back. That was OK except that my shoulder was acting up and I couldn't get my right arm around there long enough to hook and zip. I finally got it together and got on the road, but every time I went to the bath room while we were gone, I had to get either Linda or Leanna to go with me to help me get hooked and zipped.

The service was really good and the sermon was inspiring. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Randy's sermons.After the service we had lunch. I've never seen so much food in my life. As far as I could tell, there was as much when every body finished as we usually have at our church when we start to eat. Those ladies went all out!! The only thing they ran out of was the rolls and deviled eggs.We ran into snow going and coming, but it was just flurries. It was a good day!