Greatgranny and Greatgrandaddy

Greatgranny and Greatgrandaddy...

Two of my most favorite people in my life.  Greatgranny was such an influence on me.

A Tale of Two Papa's

Early Sunday morning we scooted back in town from the cabin to watch little Rio, helping Briana out while she worked MadeTulsa's booth at Blue Dome.  Gladly we watched Rio!  She has had a very eventful week this little sweet-pea.  Her first tooth finally erupted, she started crawling and can get from her tummy to a sitting position.  Oatmeal is also becoming a favorite thing with her favorite fruit of peaches.  My, my, my they grow up so fast.  

She did some bonding time with her Tulsa Papa and Clayton...

and then a few weeks ago time was spent with he other PawPaw!  She adores him.   

I'm OKAY!

I am here, trust me.  Feeling so much better.  I've just been kind of quiet with the blogging lately and not sure why.  I don't know if I'm depressed or just content with everything around me.  Life is good!

Valentine's Day has come a couple of days early for me.  The Hubby decided he wanted to get me some roses before they were totally picked over and I am a happy girl.  He is the best for sure.  I love my partner in life.  He makes me so very content and HAPPY!

The little kiddo in our life now, Rio, is growing by leaps and bounds.  I can't believe how she is changing, daily.  What a cutie she is.  Her smile just makes my insides just jump for joy.  Kiddos are awesome and you would die for them, but those grandkiddo's....YEEHAW!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Grandpop

Rio Rae

She's here, she's here...sweet Rio Rae!

That precious little peanut firmly grasping her daddy's finger made her appearance yesterday, October 1 at 10:59 p.m., weighing 7 lb 12 oz.   

She was just a few days late but made an impressive entry in the world.  B had crampy labor pains all day long and then as the contractions got about 4-5 minutes apart they headed to the hospital.  Dilated to a 3-4 there was not a rush that she would be there anytime before 4 am the next morning but Rio had other plans.  After a whirlwind 5 hours labor and going from a 4 to 10 in less than an hour B had the natural childbirth that she didn't think possible.  Too late for the epidural she was a champ and sailed through bringing this precious little bundle into our world.   

Introducing our first grandchild, 

Rio Rae

What-da Ya Call It?

I'm in a bit of a quandary and probably making a mountain out of a molehill.  It's also a bit early to be worrying about it but I do.  What-da ya call it?  That is my question and I am in need of an answer, maybe.  The time is drawing very near for little granddaughter to make her sweet appearance into this world and I thought I knew what I wanted to be called, but last night I started questioning that in my head.  I know FOR SURE that I don't want to be called MiMi!  That belongs to my mother-in-law.  I do not want to be called grandma as that has an old image in my head that I do not like!  I'll tell you the history of grandparent naming in my family.  There is actually a kind of theme to it.  On my mother's side of the family the trend is:  Granny and Greatgranny and so on.  On my father's side, it goes Grandma and Grandmother, etc.  I really thought I would follow the Granny trend, and besides that side of the family has the best memories for me.  Grandmother or Grandma is stuffy and old and I don't want to be called Gran as that is my sister-in-law's name and GiGi seem's to be everyone's name and I don't like it.  Oh, I'm in a pickle with this.  Do you just let the little babe decide or do you start the process by instilling the name over and over and over again?  What is the process?  Can anyone give me some help PLEASE!  I mean I could push the Granny thing but I might end up as Gran or Nee or G or I DON'T KNOW!!!!!  Suggestions!

We're Pregnant

Yes, you read that right we're pregnant...wait...I'm not...our oldest and her dreamy hubby, B and B2 are expecting by the end of September.  We are going to be grandparents!  So excited.  We promised that we would not announce anything on the Internet until she was in her 2nd trimester and she has hit that mark (15 weeks), so we have been given the go ahead!  I've got to dig out the baby blankets and start a bit of crocheting!  I/we're so very excited!  My baby's having a baby!

Grandparents

There was a day when I knew nearly all of my great-grandparents and had all of my grandparents.  Now a days that just doesn't happen because people start their families so much later in life.  Grandparents are awesome and someday I hope to be an awesome granny!

Today's subject on NaBloPoMo is to tell about your grandparents!  Here we go.

Grandma & Grandpa, my Daddy's parents 

Grandpa, wasn't he a handsome dude.  Grandpa was loved deeply by his kiddos and grandkiddos but he had a past we really didn't know anything about.  In fact, I think this is the youngest picture I have of him.  He kept his younger self pretty quiet.  In fact, I didn't even realize that my Aunt Dea was Daddy's half-sister from a previous marriage(!!!) until I was senior in high school.  Divorce was an unknown word for me. 

Grandma...I know it's small but it was a very tiny picture.  Grandma was an awesome grandma who ALWAYS had candy in the house.  There were candy bowls everywhere and pop and ice cream.  Kind of like the Hansel & Gretel witch who had the candy house!  When she died and they cleaned out her bedroom drawers and closets she had secreted bags of candy, BAGS! 

This was Grandpa's daddy, Joe Ben (feels like a Walton episode). He was gone well before I was born.   

Now here was my greatgrandmother Hattie Jane.  I do remember her but only from a wheelchair and a nursing home aspect.  She passed in 1963 so I was only 7.

Now we get to my grandma's parents.  The guy on the right is my grandpa with is father-in-law, Clyde.  I didn't know Clyde, he was long gone when I arrived on the scene.  

Now we have Grandmother was a bit intimidating.  You always acted proper around her, she was the matriarch of the family.  They also called her Little Grandma. (She's in the middle of her kiddos there.)

Now to my mother's side of the family. 

Here are my mother's parents, Granny & Granddaddy holding my mother.  She was an only child.

Granddaddy was AWESOME!  What a great guy and he died way too early.  In fact he died June 1979 just 3 months before his first great-grandchild, our girl B was born.  So sad, because he was so happy about that.  Granny was who we all three learned all of our etiquette from.  She taught me how to sew, iron sheets, and manners, manners, manners.  In fact, when I was born she gave me a book called "Manners for Moderns".  She was a tyrant about that, as my mother knew all too well.  Granny was a fantastic granny but as a mother she was extremely hard on my mother.  Granny was also a bit on the OCD side and tried to make Momma tow that line too.  It was very hard on Momma and the effects of her upbringing and the bad parts of it came back around when Momma was close to dying.  It was not pretty.  She still had so much anger towards her mother, even though she loved her dearly.  Her love was intense for granddaddy though and they had a wonderful father-daughter bond.  He was the softness between mother and daughter and when he died mother was forced to deal with her mother.  It was very hard.  I loved them both deeply. 

Now here we have granddaddy's parents.  I briefly remember her but not him.  Sort of American Gothic, don't you think. 

Now we come to my favorites!  Here is my Greatgranny, my mother's mother.  Greatgranny was my hero.  I loved her intensely.  She taught me so many things and it was pure joy to spend our week during the summer there.  We learned how to milk cows and feed them; how to strain the milk to get the dirt and junk out so you can have cream and fresh milk.  We learned about barn swallows and saw that lots of bird nests around the farm had Greatgranny's beautiful white hair in them.  She would brush her hair then clean the brush and put the hair on fence posts and the birds loved to use the hair in their nests.  She had bug and butterfly collections which inspired me to have them too, briefly.  She would play with a tarantula, flipping him on his back to show us his mouth, ICK!  She let us (us means all of the cousins and more that would often be around) ice store bought sugar cookies using her multitude of flavorings.  When we ran out of cookies then we iced saltine crackers.  The table was usually covered with iced things.  She taught me the love of poetry reading out of my Aunt Margaret's high school literature book (I have).  She was a GREATgranny for sure and I aspire to be like her someday. 

This was GreatGranddaddy, yes we called him that!  A handsome, quiet guy.  He was very tall and I thought he was sort of a giant.  In those days the men were taken care of and the women kept house, cooked and didn't rock the boat.  I have a picture somewhere of GreatGranny standing at the table feeding all the men while she waited by the table. 

GreatGrandaddy kept the garden, very large garden going. He would get out in the thing with his tiller and his overalls on and work it, producing what they lived on. They lived off the land only buying eggs and a few oddities. They had milk most of the time from Pet the cow and her one calf a year provided beef. Big Dan, their son, my great uncle, kept them in wild game of rabbit, squirrel, deer, fish, turtle, and snake. They also had their allotment of government cheese and peanut butter. They totally lived off the land. GreatGranny & GreatGranddaddy lived with Big Dan and Ree, as the house was theirs. I didn't even know that until I was married some 10-15 years. I always thought it was their house and was devastated when I learned that, thinking we might inherit the land. I love that place probably more for the memories than anything. It is empty now, the house falling in and the land overgrown, but the memories will last a lifetime.  

Salty or Sweet

Memory Lane.  That is where we are going this morning. 

I was sitting on the screened porch flipping through yet another cookbook I may never use.  It was the second cookbook by Trisha Yearwood, awesome and fattening recipes that look very yummy.  I came to the dessert page and there was a recipe that was basically iced saltine crackers with chocolate.  Wow, memory, fun and delicious memory. 

Greatgranny's kitchen was a treasure trove of just stuff when we were kiddos.  She had curtains over the cabinets instead of cabinet doors.  I have that in my kitchen at the cabin in honor of her decorating technique which was just the way it was really.  I remember one shelf on the wall had every kind of Watkins flavoring you can imagine.  We kids loved to utilize that shelf for the tastes we never tried before.  Sometimes the afternoons were kind of boring and while Granddaddy would take his nap while listening to the baseball games we got to cook.  We thought of it as cooking but really it was mixing.  Greatgranny would get out the graham crackers and vanilla wafers, powered sugar, milk, food coloring and the Watkins flavorings.  She showed us how to make icing with the ingredients, especially the flavors and start icing the graham crackers and wafers.  When the graham crackers and wafers ran out and the icing was plentiful then she would bring out the saltine crackers.  We would have the dining room table completely covered with the brightly colored iced things.  We would get a plate and put some on it and go around the house and the yard and serve to whoever was around.  There was no way we could have eaten all of the iced treasures.  It was so much fun and hopefully, one of these days I might get to do that with some grandchillin's.  Greatgranny was an awesome lady. 

Happy Halloween

Yes I know I posted that I did not like this day but at least I can say "Happy Halloween" to those who do.  Happy Candy Day! 

This week has been pretty busy with work and various functions in the evening like a nice evening out with some girlfriends to celebrate a birthday.  Last night was a 25th Anniversary celebration with another group of friends.  It was fun and was filled with wine, good food, and lots of smiles and laughter with friends.  We missed a weekend night at the cabin but will be there shortly.  The Hubby is going to stay most of the day in town to do a bit of office work which only means that Monday at the office I will be busy, wait, I may have to go in on Sunday (tomorrow) to make sure it is in the mail...Nooooo!  You do what you have to do when you are self-employed.  I've also been a drawing fool the past few days, completing several sketches for future paintings.  Now I need to slap some paint on canvas.  The problem is that I'm finding time fleeting and my confidence too.  I'm proud of one sketch, my Daddy sitting in the lawn chair fishing (previous couple of posts back).  It is going to be a cool painting I think.

Speaking of Daddy, he has indeed reached his destination and hopefully will stay planted at least for a couple of months of the six he has promised.  This week I will begin the process of packing and tossing stuff in his home.  We had his mail forwarded to our house and that has started.  His first bill arrived that I need to pay.  The Hubby kind of ticked me off a bit the other night when we were discussing the process that is going to happen at the house.  He started talking about getting stuff packed and that he wants to get some of our guys over there to move the furniture out but that I needed to sweep first because it was so nasty and didn't want the guys to see it like that.  WHAT!  Well, I know it is nasty but you know what, it was MY home and I know it is but I'm not embarrassed by it.  I grew up in that house and if he wants to find it icky WELL!!!  Excuse me I don't know what got into me but I was angry I can tell you.  My parents are the 2nd owners of that house and have owned it themselves for about 46 or 47 years (my grandparents owned it before that.)  They were smokers and my mother was not a very good housekeeper.  She was completely the opposite of her mother who was a bit OCD with her house.  It was kind of weird but it is what it was and nothing can change that.  That relationship and really my mother's relationship with the house is done.  We are now going to fix the house up a bit for Daddy, to make him happy and comfortable and to kind of give him a new start.  I think that is what he is looking for, a cleansing.  He loved mother but he is ready to push ahead with life and I'm glad for him.  He talked the other day about when he comes back to town and taking some lady out on a date that he used to go to high school with.  Yeah, wrap your head around that.  51 years of marriage and it is a difficult concept but it happens everyday and I'm glad he's moving forward.  It is time.  I think the process of cleaning the house out and setting it up again with be good for all three of us "kids". 

My Granddaddy, (Momma's daddy) in front the house before siding and when they owned it.  Notice the date August 1955, a little less than year before I was born.

After the siding a few years ago.  Now the huge pine is gone along with the nandinas that Momma loved. 

Still digging through old stuff

I've been a scanning fool for the past few days, finding pictures that evoke an Ahhh or Ohhh, a sob or a smile. Hope you don't mind if I share a few from my past.

This picture is of my sister with our beloved dog, Paisan. This was the sweetest little dog and he dearly loved we kids and would protect us to his death. The only problem was that when he walked into the house he would hike his leg on the hot water tank nearly every time. Had to keep an eye out for him. He was also the most tender little dog. When our cat Susie had a batch of kittens he treated them like they were his, gingerly taking them in his mouth and moving them to a better bed. Great dog.

Now, this is a picture of our Granny and Grandaddy (in the hat). They were attending a KVOO shindig honoring Purina Feed store owners that had helped to increase the company profits. There was a BBQ dinner and awards. The feed store was an awesome place for us kids to visit. He always had baby chicks in the store and the smells of the feed was intoxicating. He had a turkey farm at one time in the outskirts of Tulsa and delivered fresh turkeys to the doorstep in Midtown Tulsa every year for Thanksgiving.

This picture is of Granny's parents, Greatgranny and Great-Grandaddy at our favorite place to visit, Rattlesnake Hollow. This was G-Grandaddy's old truck that he would take us in to get eggs at the chicken house or to town for groceries. You took your life in your hands when he was at the wheel. Pretty scary driver. In the summer he would back the truck up to the house like this and they would drag a thin mattress out of the house for the bed and we would sleep under the stars right next to the open windows where we could SCREAM if we were scared. It was awesome. I found out in some of my digging that my Great-Grandaddy was a Justice of the Peace in Arkansas. He also used to be a post master somewhere too. Amazing people.

Here is yet another picture of my wonderful broken leg. Check out how high up the cast went. Boy did my leg itch and when we finally took it off there was a forest under there. Yeah, my first introduction to a razor. The fat fluffy cat in my lap was our sweet Pagliacci, as in the opera, but we called her Polly. My mother loved opera and named her. She was one of the daughters of Susie (later) and Mother thought she was so ugly that no one would want to take her but she turned out to be one of the most beautiful cats we ever had and so fluffy. She was smart too and loved saltine crackers. I taught her to roll over for a saltine, Polly want a cracker. Mother used to get her down and brush her and vacumm the hair. What a fluff-ball. Not going to say anything about my hair, our aunts were beauticans.

Here is the aforementioned, Susie the Cat. The picture was taken December 25, 1966 and we were in our quilted Christmas P.J.'s. Sweet Susie was my Daddy's cat. Susie was our little Momma cat. She had four litters of kittens for us. The first three litters she had three kittens but the last one there were five and Mom said that was enough so we had her fixed, finally. She was an awesome momma kitty and we loved to watch her give birth in Daddy's sock drawer every time. She also had no bottom teeth. When she was a kitten she had some kind of worms and an abscess in her jaw that my Daddy took care of but she lost all the teeth and so her tongue always slid out and drooled when she was happy and purring. She also was a great mouse and rat killer. Momma wrote a story about it one time and sent it in to Reader's Digest but it was never published.

The newspaper article was from the Broken Ledger, October 16, 1952. My Momma is the 2nd from the left. They were honoring the Golden Jubilee (Momma called it the Cotton Jubliee). She came in 2nd place. The Golden Jubilee evolved to what is now Rooster Days and the Miss Chick contest.

This picture is of the Union Consolidated Schools (Union Public School now) High School marching band. My mother is somewhere in there either playing the piccolo or riding in the car as the Band Queen. All it said on the pic was she was there. It was downtown Tulsa and notice the Saied Music Company store.

Now I have to give a shout out to where we went to dinner last night. We were heading to Ciao on Brookside when I mentioned that we had not eaten at Hibiscus Caribbean next door. So we went there. YUMMY! Robert had some jerk shrimp that were to die for and a mixture of collard greens and cabbage that I could have had a whole plate of. I had a grilled salmon that was of course covered with a spicy sauce. Again, YUMMY. I also had fried plantains that were delicious. I highly recommend going there and trying anything. The owner Vincent came over and we had a nice chat and I said I would mention it here. For something really different try Hibiscus Caribbean Bar and Grill.

Just One Day

A week ago I received the newly released Better Than Ezra CD, Paper Empire. I love these guys and was thrilled to get some new stuff from them. The main singer/songwriter, Kevin Griffin is just gifted. I love his voice, his music and his lyrics are just AWESOME, he's a poet. One of the songs is called, Just One Day. I have been playing it over and over again because I love the music but I love the lyrics and they have got me to thinking, and that can be a dangerous thing. I haven't been able to find them on the Internet so I listened and typed, stopping and starting until I had them down:

Just One Day by Kevin Griffin - Better Than Ezra

If you could change your choices that you made
Would you do it, today
If you could spin the world the other way
Could you do it, on faith
If time, could stand still
What would you do
What would you say
If everyone you love came back for just one day
How would it feel, if every dream came real
And all the scars you had fade away
For just one day
Imagine all the times that you could take back
What would you have done differently
Thoughts in your head you never said
A heart that you broke and left for dead
If all the pain you had could be released
How life flies by
What would you do
What would you say
If everyone you love came back for just one day
Then how would it feel if every dream came real
And all the scars you had fade away
For just one day and a night
All the good times and the fights
All the take and the give
All the moments that we never got to live
What would you do
What would you say
If everyone you love came back for just one day
How would it feel
If every dream came real
And all the scars you had fade away
For just one day

The words about changing the choices you've made in your life would you do it, turn back time so to speak. For me, no I would not change. I think I have made the right choices in my life. That is, I have taken the paths that were right for me. I'm happy! Then it goes on to talk about if everyone you love came back for just one day. That is something I have seriously thought about. I would love for my Granddaddy to come back, just one day to see my life. He was an awesome man but he was also an old fashioned man who did not see me going to college, or amounting to much more than a married woman with children. I would want him first to see the success that The Hubby and I have made with our business. We have exceeded all our expectations in our business and I'm very proud of the hard work we have put in to our livelihood. And, yes I did go to college and finishing was sort of to prove to him I was a smart girl too. I also know he was not too keen at first when we told him we were expecting our first child. He wanted us to wait a bit. He never got to see that child because he died 3 months before she was born. After his death, I found out that he was absolutely overjoyed at the prospects of a great-grandchild. He had a coffee can in a cabinet that he dropped his change into every afternoon when he came in from his real estate office. That little coffee can was given to me after her birth by my granny. In that can was close to $300 that I started investing immediately and it became the beginning of her college fund. She received her masters in December. So, yes, as the lyrics state I would have that dear man here for just one day to see how our lives turned out. I think he would be proud of us, our girls, and our lives.

Black Friday Thankfulness

I am not going to do the usual Black Friday Maddness hitting the malls and stores for the good deals this year. Actually, I haven't done that in a few years instead choosing to go to the cabin. This year we are still in town and plan on staying here mainly because we are still grand dog sitting.
MONDO LUIS SHEPLEY

I'm also sick with a stupid head cold and it is confined in my HEAD! I really don't feel bad but just sleepy. Last night Mondo got me up twice and The Hubby once to go outside, so sleep is something I will catch up on today along with my mountains of my laundry that have accumulated. The Hubby does his own so it is MY laundry. Tomorrow I have to go to a bridal shower too that I really don't want to go too, but I MUST.

Okay, now back to the thankfulness of the day:

1. I am thankful for my life in general
2. I am thankful for The Hubby: he does his own laundry, his own ironing, cleans up after dinner, makes me laugh, loves me
3. I am thankful for my two beautiful girls that give me joy to no end
4. I am thankful for my Daddy, Bro and Sis (even though she can royally piss me off)
5. I am thankful for my friends
6. I am thankful for my in-law family; I couldn't have paid for a better Mom-in-Law or Bro's in law
7. I am thankful that the path in life I have chosen to walk down was the right one for me, that it has given me such an abundance of love
8. I am thankful for the beauty of a spring morning (which I can't to see again)
9. I am thankful for the influences in my life that supported me in everything I have accomplished in my little life
10. I am thankful!
    

Saturday and Sunshine

It is 9:32 am Saturday morning and I am sitting in my favorite chair in town. We didn't go to the lake/cabin as B had a girls weekend at our place. The sunshine is just streaming through the dirty windows of my room but will I clean them, I don't think so. It is quiet except for my fingers tapping away here on the keyboard. I've got my I-Tunes up listening to some relaxing spa music but I can also hear the washer chug-chugging along with my clothes and Neo the canary is trying to outdo the sounds of a household. The Hubby had to take a drive to the cabin as there is a board meeting up there this morning but he will be back for the birthday for our great-niece this afternoon.

This has been a fairly easy week with not much happening. The MIL finally is settling down in her new digs and unpacking boxes. The service that is running her estate sale at the house has been hard at it with today the last day of the sale. The Hubby said that it has been going well and thinks nearly all of the leftover stuff will be gone. The realtor called The Hubby yesterday and said there was a really, really good nibble on the house and so he's milking it and hopefully there will be a contract in a few days. It is about time. The house has sat on the market since October 2007. It really is a great house but she put it on the market at the wrong time and then the ice storm, then the rains, then the economy. It was really just bad timing but it will sell, eventually. The Hubby has been over there many, many nights and days trying to fix different things and he is just exhausted. The middle bro has been there too helping her with the move, he's a designer, that was his expertise. I helped with the packing and the move. The oldest bro and his wife have not even peeked their little eyelids into the whole operation. Oh I will not start there.

Tomorrow will be my little girls birthday. Twenty-three years ago I was approaching the birth of a most beautiful girl, A. I am very proud of her and miss her terribly as she lives in California. She is making her way in life and that is what you raise them to do. When I had my children I just knew from the start that I was raising them to leave home. I had to make sure to teach them about life and ALL the little things in it, but that is a lot of stuff and a lot can be missed. I knew that I/we needed to teach them to be self-sufficient and pioneers in their own lives. Both of my girls can manage quite will on their own. A struggles a little more than B but there is 6 years difference between them. The thing I really missed out with is a little more about managing money and what all of it entails. I realized yesterday that A is getting paid like contract labor and warned her that she needed to put money back to pay her income taxes. That is just one of those gliches you find out about and don't really think about. I'm just glad I'm here for consulting for my girls. That is what my parents and grandparents were there for and it was wonderful.

Gosh I miss my Mommma. When my girls were little I would pack them up in the car early in the morning on Saturdays and we would spend the entire day at Momma and Daddy's. We would sometimes spend the day in their wonderful back yard where Daddy had set up a swing set or play in the kiddie pool or hose. We would garden in their large garden where my kids got to learn why a snapdragon was called a snapdragon or pull carrots, dig potatoes, or pick red ripe tomatoes. Sometimes we would make a trip to the greenhouse to find the new plant for the season to or go to the gardens for fresh produce. We would get bushels of green beans or corn and go back to the house to process all of it. I learned to can green beans (wouldn't do it by myself today) or blanch corn and cut it off the ear in anticipation of the coming Thanksgiving and fresh creamed corn. We cooked, napped, laughed, and my girls got to know the absolute joy of their grandparents. My grandmother was still alive too and the girls would take turns staying the night with her, mostly B as she was older. Grandparents are awesome. I miss those days. It was a rich upbringing for my girls and for me.

I had that kind of experience when I was little going to my Greatgranny's. There are pictures on the side of my blog of the house and outhouse. They did not have a working bathroom till I was a senior in high school. In the summers the bath was taken at the creek in ice cold water. Food was an interesting array of garden fresh vegetables and a variety of meats that consisted of squirrel, venison, rabbit or fish. Sometime I will write more of those experiences here as I could make this entry go on forever. Keep reading