If you know anything about my house, you know that it is small. Years ago, when my daughter and grandchildren moved in, there were only two usable bedrooms with four of us needing a place to sleep. (The third bedroom, tiny, was my computer/radio room.) For a year, my granddaughter slept with me in my queen-sized water bed, and my grandson slept with his mother in a double bed in what once was Megan's room. I was still teaching at the time. Sleep was one of those elusive-but-necessary things. So...with financial help from Meg, we remodeled the garage into a Grandma room--bedroom/computer/radio room. We didn't really miss the garage because it hadn't been used for years due to too much junk being stored in it, but it sure was nice to have a room for each of us. I moved into the garage; Megan moved into my old bedroom; Robin moved into what was once Meg's room; Ryan got the tiny room with the help of a loft bed.
Megan and I, with a lot of help from friend Ryan Holly, spent three weeks and a bunch of money stripping wallpaper, painting walls, and generally repairing and redecorating to make nice spaces for everyone. Robin's walls were pink--her request--with lots of little girl things. Even though hers was the biggest of the two kid rooms, it seemed to have the least usable space because there was more in it. Years of collecting itty-bitty little toy things took a toll. The kids are only here for occasional visits now, but Robin's room never seemed to get clean, even after a visit. Thus, since they are coming here for spring break in a week, I took a jaded eye to the room. I felt like I needed to go through it, to sort through all of the little girl stuff to make room for the young lady that now will inhabit it. What started out as a cleaning project rapidly became a redecorating project. Why do I do these things to myself???
The furniture in Bean's room ("Bean" is Robin), was brand new when Meg was in 7th grade. Loved it! It was so pretty...but it was cheap. When Meg got married, it graduated to be Robin's furniture in Muncie. Unfortunately, Robin (and company) in her young years was "marker hungry" and marked it up horribly. Plus, a couple of the wooden drawer knobs were broken. It just looked awful, but Robin was using it. When they moved back in with me, the furniture came back, much worse for wear...yet we had no choice but to use it. Actually, there still is no choice. I don't have the money to replace the furniture, but I do have the money to paint it. (I'm not really into painted furniture because I don't think it holds up. This is a cosmetic fix that SHOULD work for an occasional visitor, right?)
Okay...so I enlisted the help of a veritable worker bee, James, who is the husband of a former student. James has a big heart and a tremendous work ethic. And time. He has lots of time. Thus, James has painted the walls in the Bean's room...and has shampooed the carpets. He will be over to help put the bedroom back together when I get done painting the furniture. I have a vision for the way I want the room to look.
How DO I want the room to look? It has lavendar walls. The furniture will be rearranged. There will be white priscilla curtains (on order) on both windows. There will be a white desk (also on order) and a white task chair which her parents have purchased and will bring. The bed frame, night stand, book shelves, and dresser will all be painted white. I will put a white mock-down comforter on the bed to replace the little girl polka dot bedspread, and along the top of the bed will be a hot-pink body pillow. I have purchased a little throw rug to draw in more colors. Have purchased a clock radio/iPod docking station for next to the bed, a desk lamp, and have cleaned out a LOT of the little girl crap in favor of the 'tween stuff that Robin loves. The thing that I think will actually make the room is a set of five square canvases with one letter of Robin's name per canvas, in imitation of a quilted wall hanging that Megan made for Robin when she was just a tot. (Don't know what happened to that! Robin learned to spell her name by looking at that hanging, and I'm really sorry it has been trashed...or whatever happened to it.)
In short, I have spent WAY too much money on this bedroom, BUT I consider that it will be a nice guest room for a single guest when Robin isn't here. Method to my madness. (The only sleeping quarters for a couple is in the garage room where I no longer sleep.) I just hope it all comes together in time to be a nice "reveal" for the Bean on Saturday when they get here.
I live in this little house-on-a-slab. If I can brighten a corner, what else do I have to spend my money on???
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Gimme a Cup o' What??
This is going to seem like a strange post. (I'm not bored. Really!)
I'm not a coffee drinker. Never have been. I don't think I've had a whole cup of coffee in my entire life, although I've tried--just to be sociable. I like the smell of the stuff because it reminds me of my parents and home, but I sure don't like the taste. Still, I try to be accommodating to my dinner guests who DO like coffee. I own a coffee maker which I drag down from the cupboard a couple of times a year when planning special dinners. And I do keep coffee in the house. (Usually in the freezer where, I'm told, it will stay fresher.) The problem is that I don't know a good cup of coffee when I taste one, so I generally ask my more familiar guests to make a pot to their own specifications. Not sure if that works or not, but no one complains. (I notice that if I keep a bottle of Irish Cream Whiskey near the coffee pot, both coffee and Irish Cream get consumed faster than if I don't.)
I'm also aware that everyone's taste in coffee is different. My parents liked strong coffee. My sister's concoction was always weaker. My parents had a dishware pattern that included a leaf at the bottom of the coffee cups. If Shari were there, Dad could see the leaf at the bottom; otherwise, the leaf was invisible. I think my biggest coffee laugh came one morning when the whole family was together. My dad looked into his coffee cup and said, in his best Art Carney voice, "Hellooo, leaf!" No question about who had made the coffee!
Every serious coffee drinker I've ever known prefers a mug to a cup-and-saucer. Still, every dishware set that comes in boxes includes cups and saucers for the place settings. Service for 8? Eight cups and saucers. Service for 12? Twelve cups and saucers. I have two sets of dishes. My good china (99-piece service for 12) and my everyday dishes (service for 8). Thus, I have all kinds of cups and saucers that almost never get used! Know when they do get used? Once a year at Easter when we are dying Easter eggs! I guess that validates their existence.
When I taught elementary school, every Christmas netted me at least two mugs from admiring students. "World's Best Teacher." "If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher." That kind of thing. At one time, my cupboard was full-to-overflowing with mugs that didn't get used because of my inability to stomach much more than hot chocolate. When Meg and the grandchildren moved in with me way back when, I weeded out the mugs and sent most of them to Goodwill in order to make room for sippie cups. (Hey...have to have priorities!) One that I saved was the one that my mother gave me when my husband and I were expecting our daughter. It showed a mommy owl and a daddy owl on a branch, with a baby owl next to them. The caption read "Congratulations." I gave it to my daughter when she was expecting her firstborn. My heart broke when the cup finally did, as things do. It was just a cup, for Pete's sake. (Who's Pete, by the way??) But I think I kept at least four mugs. (Still also have the stash of sippie cups. We use them with straws now, but it does help keep down on living room spills....)
You know what's really goofy about all of this? I usually keep a stack of white foam cups near the sink, and everyone just grabs those for their hot drinks of choice. So what's the point of having mugs or cups-and-saucers?
I'm not a coffee drinker. Never have been. I don't think I've had a whole cup of coffee in my entire life, although I've tried--just to be sociable. I like the smell of the stuff because it reminds me of my parents and home, but I sure don't like the taste. Still, I try to be accommodating to my dinner guests who DO like coffee. I own a coffee maker which I drag down from the cupboard a couple of times a year when planning special dinners. And I do keep coffee in the house. (Usually in the freezer where, I'm told, it will stay fresher.) The problem is that I don't know a good cup of coffee when I taste one, so I generally ask my more familiar guests to make a pot to their own specifications. Not sure if that works or not, but no one complains. (I notice that if I keep a bottle of Irish Cream Whiskey near the coffee pot, both coffee and Irish Cream get consumed faster than if I don't.)
I'm also aware that everyone's taste in coffee is different. My parents liked strong coffee. My sister's concoction was always weaker. My parents had a dishware pattern that included a leaf at the bottom of the coffee cups. If Shari were there, Dad could see the leaf at the bottom; otherwise, the leaf was invisible. I think my biggest coffee laugh came one morning when the whole family was together. My dad looked into his coffee cup and said, in his best Art Carney voice, "Hellooo, leaf!" No question about who had made the coffee!
Every serious coffee drinker I've ever known prefers a mug to a cup-and-saucer. Still, every dishware set that comes in boxes includes cups and saucers for the place settings. Service for 8? Eight cups and saucers. Service for 12? Twelve cups and saucers. I have two sets of dishes. My good china (99-piece service for 12) and my everyday dishes (service for 8). Thus, I have all kinds of cups and saucers that almost never get used! Know when they do get used? Once a year at Easter when we are dying Easter eggs! I guess that validates their existence.
When I taught elementary school, every Christmas netted me at least two mugs from admiring students. "World's Best Teacher." "If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher." That kind of thing. At one time, my cupboard was full-to-overflowing with mugs that didn't get used because of my inability to stomach much more than hot chocolate. When Meg and the grandchildren moved in with me way back when, I weeded out the mugs and sent most of them to Goodwill in order to make room for sippie cups. (Hey...have to have priorities!) One that I saved was the one that my mother gave me when my husband and I were expecting our daughter. It showed a mommy owl and a daddy owl on a branch, with a baby owl next to them. The caption read "Congratulations." I gave it to my daughter when she was expecting her firstborn. My heart broke when the cup finally did, as things do. It was just a cup, for Pete's sake. (Who's Pete, by the way??) But I think I kept at least four mugs. (Still also have the stash of sippie cups. We use them with straws now, but it does help keep down on living room spills....)
You know what's really goofy about all of this? I usually keep a stack of white foam cups near the sink, and everyone just grabs those for their hot drinks of choice. So what's the point of having mugs or cups-and-saucers?
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Another Day Older...
...And deeper in debt, as the song goes. So here I am, making my first blog post at age 66. I can only promise you the same old boring stuff that I have posted all along, so if you are reading this, you must love me!
My family--daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren--arrived very late on Friday night, none the worse for wear. The children had fallen asleep in the car and so excused themselves to bed almost immediately. Meg and Denis and I stayed up just a tad longer so they could decompress. It was easily 2:30 AM Indiana time before we crashed.
Saturday, we were all late in getting up, as you might imagine. I got everyone fed brunch, then took off with the grandchildren for a shopping trip. Robin (my granddaughter) complained that she only had 100 pages left in a book she was reading, so we started out at Barnes and Noble. We went right to the service desk to ask for assistance, to save excess walking. Robin started spouting titles and authors of books she wanted, and the gal helping us found all but one. Ryan wanted a book, too...but the one he wanted he had already read. He wanted his stepfather to read it. Thus, Grandma bought all four. (They weren't cheap, but there was an added advantage that the Avon Schools were getting a share of whatever was purchased if it was mentioned at the check-out desk. Always willing to help the schools!)
The children get their love of reading from their parents, and the opportunity to do it through the discipline of their stepmother. As a youngster, Megan always had three books going in the house: one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, and one in her bedroom. (I have no clue how she was able to keep the plots separate, but she did!) As an English teacher, I was always trying to steer her AND the grandchildren to good literature instead of the junk that is out there. At one time, Robin had a series of books about fairies. Although she was really into fairies at the time, the quality of those stories was awful. Thankfully, she graduated to better stuff on her own. Both children read way above grade level. Ryan, being all boy, is more into sports than reading, but he holds his own in that department. I never balk at buying books for the kids.
Our next stop was JC Penney's. Since they had mega-snow at home, Ryan had only worn his boots and forgot his shoes. (We had nothing on the ground here. He complained that he needed shoes anyway...) He found what he wanted, but not in his size, so we moved on to the jeans department and bought two pairs for each on Megan and Denis's nickel. Then on to Shoe Carnival. We finally found a pair of shoes that Ry liked...and Robin got some socks...then we came home. By this time, we only had an hour before we were to go to The Coachman Restaurant for my birthday dinner. Everyone was hungry. Good timing!
At The Coachman, we were to meet the grandchildren's Heffelman grandparents. They beat us there! The plan was to introduce Denis to good ol' Indiana pork tenderloin sandwiches. I was hungry for that, too, so most of us had that. However, so many appetizers were ordered that I'm not sure anyone was really hungry by the time the real food came! We all came back to the house for cake and ice cream afterward. Judy and Phil (the other grandparents) gave me a little box with a "grandparent" saying on it that they purchased in Nashville, IN...and Megan and Denis gave me a food scale (which I requested)...but the piece de resistance was a family tree on canvas that Megan had made using some software that Denis had developed himself. It is a one-of-a-kind gift! The graphic is in the shape of a tree, with the names of my ancestors and descendants making up the leafy portion. The only names on it that aren't direct-line ancestors/descendants are the names of my siblings that are on it, too. Actually, Meg gave me two of these--one of which was just the tree. The other had ghost-like pictures of ancestors behind the tree. Very nice! I am working on how to properly display these. No one else in the world has anything like it!
Sunday, I couldn't get any takers for church, so we slept in. The day had been blocked out and planned for Ryan to play with his buddy Jack who used to live next door to me. That worked out okay, although it is never enough for Ryan! For some reason, Jack's younger sister Grace didn't come, so Robin found herself able to snag some one-on-one time to play on the computer with her stepdaddy. I think she liked that!
Monday was departure day. With bad weather predicted for later in the day/night, they really needed to be on the road at a decent hour...but it was a work day for Denis. He had an online meeting with his workplace. (Thank God for my Wifi!) They left as soon as his meeting was over and everyone could get organized. The trip home was without weather and in time for Robin's Girl Scout meeting at home in Zion, IL. Whew!
One good thing about the visit (other than the obvious) was that I learned they would be back for their Spring Break! Megan's birthday comes in there, as well as Megan and Denis's anniversary...and Easter. I am already looking forward to that! I sure hope the weather cooperates. I woke up to 3 inches of very wet snow this morning. Hey! Let's be done with that stuff, okay????
My family--daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren--arrived very late on Friday night, none the worse for wear. The children had fallen asleep in the car and so excused themselves to bed almost immediately. Meg and Denis and I stayed up just a tad longer so they could decompress. It was easily 2:30 AM Indiana time before we crashed.
Saturday, we were all late in getting up, as you might imagine. I got everyone fed brunch, then took off with the grandchildren for a shopping trip. Robin (my granddaughter) complained that she only had 100 pages left in a book she was reading, so we started out at Barnes and Noble. We went right to the service desk to ask for assistance, to save excess walking. Robin started spouting titles and authors of books she wanted, and the gal helping us found all but one. Ryan wanted a book, too...but the one he wanted he had already read. He wanted his stepfather to read it. Thus, Grandma bought all four. (They weren't cheap, but there was an added advantage that the Avon Schools were getting a share of whatever was purchased if it was mentioned at the check-out desk. Always willing to help the schools!)
The children get their love of reading from their parents, and the opportunity to do it through the discipline of their stepmother. As a youngster, Megan always had three books going in the house: one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, and one in her bedroom. (I have no clue how she was able to keep the plots separate, but she did!) As an English teacher, I was always trying to steer her AND the grandchildren to good literature instead of the junk that is out there. At one time, Robin had a series of books about fairies. Although she was really into fairies at the time, the quality of those stories was awful. Thankfully, she graduated to better stuff on her own. Both children read way above grade level. Ryan, being all boy, is more into sports than reading, but he holds his own in that department. I never balk at buying books for the kids.
Our next stop was JC Penney's. Since they had mega-snow at home, Ryan had only worn his boots and forgot his shoes. (We had nothing on the ground here. He complained that he needed shoes anyway...) He found what he wanted, but not in his size, so we moved on to the jeans department and bought two pairs for each on Megan and Denis's nickel. Then on to Shoe Carnival. We finally found a pair of shoes that Ry liked...and Robin got some socks...then we came home. By this time, we only had an hour before we were to go to The Coachman Restaurant for my birthday dinner. Everyone was hungry. Good timing!
At The Coachman, we were to meet the grandchildren's Heffelman grandparents. They beat us there! The plan was to introduce Denis to good ol' Indiana pork tenderloin sandwiches. I was hungry for that, too, so most of us had that. However, so many appetizers were ordered that I'm not sure anyone was really hungry by the time the real food came! We all came back to the house for cake and ice cream afterward. Judy and Phil (the other grandparents) gave me a little box with a "grandparent" saying on it that they purchased in Nashville, IN...and Megan and Denis gave me a food scale (which I requested)...but the piece de resistance was a family tree on canvas that Megan had made using some software that Denis had developed himself. It is a one-of-a-kind gift! The graphic is in the shape of a tree, with the names of my ancestors and descendants making up the leafy portion. The only names on it that aren't direct-line ancestors/descendants are the names of my siblings that are on it, too. Actually, Meg gave me two of these--one of which was just the tree. The other had ghost-like pictures of ancestors behind the tree. Very nice! I am working on how to properly display these. No one else in the world has anything like it!
Sunday, I couldn't get any takers for church, so we slept in. The day had been blocked out and planned for Ryan to play with his buddy Jack who used to live next door to me. That worked out okay, although it is never enough for Ryan! For some reason, Jack's younger sister Grace didn't come, so Robin found herself able to snag some one-on-one time to play on the computer with her stepdaddy. I think she liked that!
Monday was departure day. With bad weather predicted for later in the day/night, they really needed to be on the road at a decent hour...but it was a work day for Denis. He had an online meeting with his workplace. (Thank God for my Wifi!) They left as soon as his meeting was over and everyone could get organized. The trip home was without weather and in time for Robin's Girl Scout meeting at home in Zion, IL. Whew!
One good thing about the visit (other than the obvious) was that I learned they would be back for their Spring Break! Megan's birthday comes in there, as well as Megan and Denis's anniversary...and Easter. I am already looking forward to that! I sure hope the weather cooperates. I woke up to 3 inches of very wet snow this morning. Hey! Let's be done with that stuff, okay????
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