The mouth of babes

Who wouldn't want to live
with such a cool Grandma??

I took 4 days off this week to watch my 3 grandkids during the day while their mom was at Girls' Camp helping in the kitchen. I'd come prepared with a pile of library books, craft projects, videos, exercise routines (the 9 year-old did an hour of P90X with me every day!) and nourishing meals and snacks. We went to the indoor pool every day from 3-5 p.m., which was fabulous, as the 3-year old went from a non-swimmer to a fish by day two. Driving to the pool one day, I was singing along to my Oldies station ("Good morning, Starshine! The earth says, Hello!") when Chase (age 3) said, "Gramma, you sing good!" Well, no one tells me that, so I took it with a grain of salt, but it still made me feel good. Then later on, the 9-year-old asked me if they would come live with me and Grampa if both their parents died. I said that was a decision that their parents would make and to talk to them about it, but we would certainly love to take care of them. Then I asked her who she would like to live with if that happened and she immediately said, "Nana and Poppa (the other grandparents) because they have a sweet little cat that I am not afraid of." Nice. Okay, then. Keeping me grounded.

Free Association

I was walking through Cabelas the other day and passed these wintergreen mints. It immediately triggered a memory of my Grampa Grant, who had a stash of these always on hand in a little dish by his lounge chair. We even referred to him as Candy Man! Grampa was always reciting poetry (his own and others) and telling the accounts of his trip around the world with Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet. His favorite poem I recently discovered was NOT an original, but I will forever associate it with him just the same:

My Get-Up-And-Go has got up and Went!

How do I know my youth is all spent?

My get-up-and-go has got up and went!

But, in spite of it all, I’m able to grin

And think of the places my getup has been!

Old age is golden, or so I've heard said,
But sometimes I wonder, as I crawl into bed,
With my ears in a drawer, my teeth in a cup,
My eyes on the table until I wake up.
As sleep dims my vision, I say to myself:
Is there anything else I should put on the shelf?

 

How do I know my youth is all spent?

My get-up-and-go has got up and went!

But, in spite of it all, I’m able to grin

And think of the places my getup has been!

When I was young, my slippers were red; 
I could kick up my heels right over my head. 
When I was older my slippers were blue, 
But still I could dance the whole night through. 
Now I am older, my slippers are black. 
I huff to the store and puff my way back. 
But never you laugh; I don’t mind at all: 
I’d rather be huffing than not puff at all! 

How do I know my youth is all spent?

My get-up-and-go has got up and went!

But, in spite of it all, I’m able to grin

           And think of the places my getup has been!

I get up each morning and dust off my wits, 
Open the paper, and read the Obits. 
If my name is missing, I know I’m not dead, 
So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed! 
 

For a Wise Purpose

Just got an email from my sister with this accompanying map. It reminded me of the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon translation that Martin Harris got from Joseph Smith. God knew hundreds of years before that incident that He needed to prepare a second set of plates to replace the 116 pages that would be lost, so he had Nephi make the Small Plates of Nephi (see 1 Nephi 9:3-6), then he inspired Mormon to include those plates with his abridgment. (see Words of Mormon1-6-7). I don't know when these school district boundaries were made, or what the initial reasoning was to create this little "bump" that goes into Cortland County, but they have certainly served the greater purpose of allowing our Toby to attend a school that will be beneficial to him. I'm glad someone followed the prompting they must have gotten to do it!

Finding a Rachel in a haystack

The crowd at pageant--a sea of bodies

Picture this FULL of people,
Rich at the right where the stage begins
and Rachel straight back, in the middle
 of the field this side of the road.

Saw this article on the Hill Cumorah Pageant and it had some cool photos, which I downloaded to illustrate the miracle that took place almost 28 years ago now. We were at Pageant with our three (at the time) kids and my mom. Three adults + three kids: easy, right? Each of us thought one of the other of us had Rachel, only a toddler at the time, but, you guessed it, no one had her. I ran like a chicken with her head cut off wildly looking and calling. Rich went directly to the front of the crowd, where the stage began, which had a slight elevation, said a prayer, then looked out over the crowd (it was dusk and the people were milling about everywhere). His eyes immediately zoomed in on her tiny figure at the outskirts of the seating area, all alone. He raced back to her, scooped her up in his arms and wiped away the small tear sliding down her cheek. What a blessing to have found her so quickly (or at all!) in that mass of humanity! We will never forget.

Just say, "No!"

"Just once won't hurt." It's just a little bit, it can't do any harm." Word of Wisdom temptations? Nope-- Dairy! After four months of no dairy, and feeling great with no post-nasal drip or congestion, I made a casserole containing Ricotta, Gruyere, and Parmesan. Yikes! Less than an hour later I couldn't breathe out of my right nostril and the post-nasal drip was giving me a sore throat. I stayed home from work the next day due to my "cold" symptoms, but the coincidence of having them come on so suddenly right after my dairy splurge convinced me it had to be an allergic reaction. After two days I was ok, (what cold only lasts 2 days???) with just a bit of mucus still bothering. So I'm back on the no-dairy wagon, sure now that it's not just the lactose, but the casein as well. So glad it's something I can control via diet and not have to be on meds or suffer seasonal allergies anymore!