THIS & THAT

It’s been about a month since my last blog post…can’t believe it’s been that long!  It’s been a busy summer with lots of grandmother duties plus I just haven’t had anything interesting to write about!  I’m sure I’ve lost some of my followers by now but hopefully a few friends will drop by to visit.

It’s not been a great summer.  Two of my best friends fell (in separate accidents) and each broke a leg.  A third friend fell and scraped herself all up…all three fell in June.  I’m beginning to think it’s bad luck to be my friend!

I am now in line for a root canal and I fear dentists like the plague.

 Plus the weather here has been hotter than a cat in heat and drier than a thirsty camel. 

Anyway….here are a few pictures to share.  Hopefully soon I’ll have something more exciting to write about!

Yes, this is our grandson!  It was WACKY WEDNESDAY at Soccer Camp!

Granddaughter M loves to color, paint, & draw.  She really has become a budding artist.  Give her a box of crayons and she's happy for the day!

Fun with AlkaSeltzer!

Put a little warm water in a film canister (Fuji works best); add 1/4 to 1/3 of an AlkaSeltzer.  Quickly replace top, turn upside down, & place on ground.  Wait a few seconds....and it shoots into the air.  Tons of fun for very little money:)  Grandson R loved this!

Dress Up Day!

Magician in training!

This was his wizard outfit.

Recent projects...I love bird cages.

Yes, I do have a life outside of grandkids...well, sort of!

I’ve really missed blogging, both writing them and reading them.  I hope to be able to give it more time soon.  Hope everyone is having a great summer and that all is well with everyone you love.



GRANDMOTHER TIME

It’s been awhile since my last post…I hope my blogging friends haven’t forgotten me!  BLOGGER has been giving me issues plus there just hasn’t been much going on.  Now that school is out and summer is here, my GRANDMOTHER

duties have taken over.  Trying to keep two young ones occupied all day is no small feat!  I thought I would use this post to share some of my

FUN WITH GRANDMOTHER

ideas in case I might give some of you other grandmothers (and mothers) some ideas you can use…and hopefully some of you might share more ideas with me.  I can use all the help I can get!

                        ( I consider myself a hip grandmother!)

SCAVENGER  HUNT

This is one of our favorite activities.  I type up a list (with pictures) of various things that can easily be found outdoors in and around our neighborhood:  a green leaf, big rock, old bird’s nest, piece of paper, something red, etc.  Then we set out on the golf cart to explore and find all our treasures which are checked off on the list (grandson’s favorite part) and placed into our Treasure Box.    You can also have a Magazine Scavenger Hunt or An ABC Scavenger Hunt….especially good for rainy days.

SCIENCE  FUN

Last summer we made SLIME & FUNNY PUTTY  (see my post HERE ) and other such icky stuff….definitely fun and worth the trouble.  You can find many recipes for Slime as well as FLUBBER, FEELY GOOP, & FUNNY PUTTY.  Here is one recipe for SLIME (from Martha Stewart):

         Mix together:  1/3 cup warm water

                                            ½ cup Elmer's glue
                                4-8 drops food coloring
         Stir thoroughly & set aside.
         In separate bowl mix together:
                                ¾ cup warm water
                                2 teaspoons Borax
         Stir thoroughly.
            Pour 2^nd mixture into 1^st mixture, stirring continuously.
        Remove glob from bowl and work with your hands 2-3 min.
        Store in resealable plastic bag or air-tight container. 

COOKING

Cooking with kids is great fun, plus you can throw in some reading and math skills and they never even suspect itJ  Cookies are an easy (and delicious) treat…and you can eat the cookie dough too!

Another fun recipe for kids is PUDDING  POPS.  Here’s one recipe from www.kraftfoods.com.

         1 small pkg. chocolate instant pudding mix

         2 cups cold milk
            6 Oreo cookies
         ½ cup thawed Cool Whip or other whipped topping
         Beat pudding mix & milk in large bowl with wire whisk 2 min.
         Place cookies in resealable plastic bag; seal bag.  Use rolling
         pin to crush cookies.  Add cookies & Cool Whip to pudding; stir
         just until blended.  Spoon into 9 small paper or plastic cups
        (bathroom size is great).  Insert a wooden pop stick or plastic
        spoon into each for a handle.  Freeze 5 hours or until firm.
        Tip:  to remove from cup, place bottom of cup in bowl of
        warm water for 15 seconds.  Press up on bottom of cup.


Some other easy, but fun, things to do include: 
      visit the library for great books
      play board and card games
      go on a picnic and/or nature walk
         paint seashells & rocks
      blow bubbles
         play in the sprinkler
         wash the car (they think it’s fun & you get a clean car!)
          have an un-Easter Egg Hunt (just like a regular hunt, just not
                   at Easter)
      build a fort

I have a warm feeling after playing with my grandchildren. It's the liniment working. ~Author Unknown
That should be enough to keep you busy for awhile.  Have fun and let me know how things go.  Any ideas to share????

JUST BECAUSE

Has anyone ever (besides your family) given you a gift  JUST  BECAUSE?

Well, that’s what happened to me yesterday!  I got a  JUST  BECAUSE gift…and it is  FABULOUS!  This is what came in the mail….

I tore into the box lickety-split and when I saw this I knew that something good would be inside…

And I was right!  Look at this beautiful  BOX !

And then inside….look at all of this…can you BELIEVE it?

Now to see what was inside all these special little WRAPPINGS…

French-made LACE, beautiful  RIBBONS, a floral HANKIE (to add to my collection)…

I think there’re CHERRIES on this sweet lace, don’t you?

A sweet little BUTTERFLY & butterfly cards (from an old tea company)…

Look at these adorable MONOGRAMMED cards…wonder who these people were…

More sweet goodies…

And, saving the BEST for last….

I love, love, love everything but this DOORPLATE is my absolute favorite!

By now I’m sure you’re wondering who sent me this fabulous gift.  Well…..

I can’t tell you!  Sorry, but she asked me not to.  She’s such a sweet & thoughtful fellow blogger who doesn’t want any “glory” for sending this to me.  I will tell you that I have been following her blog for awhile and it is just soooo beautiful.  I have also been leaving her comments for awhile and something I said must have caught her eye because she sent me a note telling me she wanted to send me a gift  

JUST BECAUSE  

she enjoys my visits to her site.  Now, have you ever heard of anything nicer?

I enjoyed my special gift so much and it gave me some FOOD for THOUGHT!  I’d like to make someone feel just as special and happy as my blogging friend made me….so one of my followers out there can expect to receive a little gift from me sometimes soon.  A few years back Oprah had this “thing” going on…maybe you saw it…RANDOM  ACTS  of  KINDNESS.  She encouraged people to do nice little things for others for no reason other than to make the world a nicer place and to share the  MILK of  HUMAN  KINDNESS .  Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if more folks took part in that?  And why should we???

JUST  BECAUSE!!!

Thank you so, so much…to a sweet & special blogging friend.  You made my weekJ

A NEW LOOK

After much FEAR and hours of WORK I finally have a new LOOK for my blog!  Don’t even think about asking me how I did it because I couldn’t tell you if I tried.  I spent literally hours trying to figure out how to change the header and background with no luck.  Then all of a sudden I did “something” and there it was!  I do have a slight problem, however....I somehow lost my favorite BLOG LIST on my sidebar.  I hope I can figure out how to find those of you I have been visiting regularly...maybe if you leave me a comment that will help.

I hope I like this look for awhile because I don’t have it in me to do this again…at least not for a l-o-n-g time! 

My Neck of the Woods

Nothing much is going on in my neck of the woods; therefore, there’s nothing interesting to blog about.  So I’m sharing recent photos, just to let you know I’m still in the Blogging World! 

Wildlife seen in our yard recently…..

These frogs live under our deck umbrella!

We can watch this baby bird right outside our kitchen window:)

Easter pictures of the grands….

Grandson's Ballgames....his team beat an undefeated team last night!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!