Josiah's First Step

Family day at Josiah's new school.

I can't believe my little angel is going to kindergarten.  

Donna Mare asked me to join her for the festivities.  It is brand new bilingual charter school.  The first for this state.  It was hot in the hall of the school due to all the people and this ridiculous  heatwave.
We stood in line for him to get his passport and his school list.

 

Josiah got his picture taken and he had to get his passport stamp with each place he visited in the school. 

 

He met his first teacher .  I cant tell you her name but she was very nice. 

He had to go to the library the nurse the technology room music room.  Getting his stamp along the way.

At the end of the tour, we went to the gym and they got some pizza and water ice.  They played and even got their faces painted. 

What a great school!  I am so excited for him and my daughter entering a new phase life.  Olivia was just as excited.  People have commented, if they are twins.  They are so close to each other. 

Josiah will start writing.  When did that happen?  When my kids were entering school all they needed were folders, crayons, and scissors.  Now they need composition books, pencils, and etc.  I don't know I think it is too much for kindergarten.  Aren't they just to learn the rules and structure of a school environment? 

Who am I am just a grandparent. Times have changed.  My grandson is more than ready.  Maybe its me that is not ready to see him become a school aged child.  Josiah is after all my first little angel.

  Abbie's New Mantra


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Next Level

I bought this photo printer. 

I have about 4 memory cards filled with pictures but I haven't printed any of them.  I opened the box and read the directions.

Isn't it nice? I can read them in three languages of my choice.  NOT!  I wish I knew French.  It is a beautiful language.  I took it in high school, but that was for conversation and not for instruction manuals.

It took me a couple of tries and wouldn't you know the sample film cartridge gives you enough for 5 pictures. That is not right. Good thing I got it right by the 4th picture.

My son is planning to visit at the end of next month and I wanted to add some pictures to his room. I also printed some pictures that I have been meaning to display. I love it. I can take the pictures and print them out right away. I know this technology has been out but I am just getting into this technology. I have always taken my memory card and before that film to get it developed at the local Walgreen. This is so much better.

The only thing I need to get is an adapter for my card to fit the machine. I am currently attaching the camera to the devise. The con is that I can't adjust my picture on the machine. I like the ability to crop, take the red eye out, and center the picture. You can do that on the computer. I have to add the software.

A lot of opportunities are coming up for photos and I am so looking forward to put this machine to work!! 



 All Set Abbie 

First Time

Today I treated my daughter to pamper day.  Funny word pamper.  When I first used that word about her, I was changing her pampers.  Now I am pamperng her in another way,  Donna Marie is going back to work on Monday.  Six weeks go by so fast. 

Back when my daughter was single, she would go get her nails and toes done a regular basis.  She has the most beautiful hands.  I think she could be an hand model.  Rings and bracelets look great on her.  She would do all sorts of colors.  Experimenting with different designs.  Donna Marie is the epitome of a girly girl.


When she got married and started having kids, the visits were less and less.  She even started doing  it herself.  She would make little designs on her nails.  I wanted to spoil her a little. 


I called her one day and said if she would like to go with me to the nail salon. I wanted to get my nails done.   I could have knocked her over with a feather.  I was going for the full set and i wanted to share this experience with my daughter. She was tickled pink.  I have never had my nails done professionally.  I would put nail polish on, if they were of decent looking.  This was the extent of a beauty regiment.  


It was the first time I did something like this with Donna Marie and I loved it.  We chit chatted.  I asked for her opinion about what I should do next.  The nail person was asking me questions and since I didn't know I asked my girl.  She was so knowledgeable.  I loved it.   


My daughter was getting her pedicure and enjoying every minute.  She sat in a massage chair reading a magazine and being treated like a queen.  Its good to be the queen!!


I showed her the final product and I think it looks good.  My hands are no were near  like hers but I felt pretty.   Donna Marie was pleased and felt happy about her results as well.


It feels a little weird and typing is cumbersome.  The price of beauty!  haha


I wonder what my next girly thing I should do next? Any suggestions?

Rookie Abbie

Jackson and the broom

I was watching Jackson and Joaquin on Saturday.   Joaquin was taking a nap and Jackson helped me with hanging the laundry.  I don't know, if it is helping, when he goes straight to the garden hose to play with the water. 

The hose wasn't turned on.

After I put my clothes on the line, I go inside and I take the broom out to sweep the floor. 

My Jackson must see his mommy with the broom because he knew what to do with it.

He is Abbie's little helper! He will make a good husband some day!!

 Abbie

Twitter Wars

My husband Bill loves technology.   He is on facebook and twitter and loves it on his phone.  He has a small following and follows his friends and family.  Twitter is something I am slowly getting into it.  I sometimes have a hard time of coming up with things to write on my blog.   I couldn't think of what to write on twitter.  I don't think twitter people  would want to hear what I may tweet . 

That is not to say I don't follow.   I love to follow and see what other people are thinking.  People come up with funny creative things.  Bill and my son Sean are on it and what they say make me laugh and makes me think.  What would I say?   Nothing like them, I think I would be boring to follow. 

But I digress, Bill has been on twitter for a while and has reached a milestone.  He is up to 1200 tweets.  I think an impressive amount.  My son had about 200 when he declared that he would keep twitting until he reached his dad.  Well, my phone has been going off all day.  I get notified on my phone when he tweets. 

I have been using twitter to respond to him and now I am up to 180 tweets.  I know it is lame but I was down to 80 when this all started.

Whatever possesed Sean to do this, I am exptrememly grateful.  I have heard wonderful moments in my son's life with my granddaugher and his time with his girlfriend.

I miss him and this way Sean doesnt seem so far away.  In a way, I hope he never reaches him because when he does the tweets will stop and I will lose the closeness I have with him.

 Hopelessly Devoted Abbie

Curiosity Killed the cat

If you ever heard of that expression,  it is so true.  Have you ever been shaken to the core?  Did you ever feel like you were ever kicked in the gut?  I know this is full of cliches but this afternoon all of these sayings happened to me. 

I don't want to go into to detail.  All I wish right now is to push a  reset button.  When the choice came down to if I should look, I would have said  no.  It was so innocent.  Little did I know, I was going to read something that would  turn my world upside down.

Something told me to stop but I honestly didn't think it would turn out like this.    My head is all F@#$ ed up!! 

I have tried to justified it.  Maybe I read too much into it.  Maybe it is my warped way of looking at things.  Maybe it is nothing at all.  My self esteem took a big hit.  My security has been incredibly shaken. 

I want to go back and start the whole day again, when I was happy  and looking forward to spending a lovely evening.  Instead I have to find me and pick myself up and figure how to forget and move on. 

If  only I could forget...

Lost Abbie

Weekend mornings

One of the joys, we had in Ireland was getting poached eggs.  Bill's cousin Annette would cook poached eggs for breakfast. 

I had never had it before and I wasn't going to complain.  One less thing to do and she didn't want me to do anything.  I was surprised  by how delicious it was.  I normally like my eggs runny and over easy.    

On the weekends, I usually make a nice breakfast.  Fried or scrambled eggs with some selection of meat while Bill is watching tv.  One weekend he asked if he could make poached eggs. He was missing Ireland and wanted to have a little reminder. I quickly said "hell yes, I would love it."  I would make the toast and he would do the eggs. 

Myself, Annette, and John

Since we have been back and when Bill is not working on the weekends, we make breakfast together.  I so enjoy my time with Bill and now I have him in the kitchen with me and we are cooking.

I am very glad we went to Ireland and not just because it was gorgeous and we were visiting family but it bought us closer.

Sous chef Abbie

Harry and me

Harry Potter has been in my life since 1997.  Captivated by a boy with a scar on his head.   I stood in line at the local borders for my copy with the hundreds who pre-ordered the book.  I would read the book in two days.   I introduced him to my boys. With the next few book in the series, I would read it to them at bedtime.  after awhile.   As the years went by, Sean wanted to read it on his own and Denis didn't care for it anymore.  Sean would read it first and them Bill and I would have a turn.  We loved the series.

The books were so hugely popular they started to make movies of each book.  I have watched every movie and yesterday we saw the movie with the millions of fans -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two.  The movie was wonderful.  

Melancholy and bittersweet are what I am feeling.   It is an end to an era.  I have seen the actors grow into adults and I have seen my children do the same.  It's like last bit of my children's childhood  is gone. 

I guess everything has to come to an end.  It was nice while it lasted.

Busy Bee

Don't know what bee got in my bonnet but I have been on a roll this week.  I heard on the radio awhile ago about having too many bees in your head.  It made me think that is what I have and I need to do something about it.

I cleaned out my car of mail.  How it got bad in the first place?  I would pick up the mail on the way out and would put it in my car on the passenger seat.  I usually pay everything online so the paperwork is the backup, in case I forget.  The pile had gotten so bad that only I would be able to sit on this side of the car.  Bill joked that it could be a fire hazard to have so much regular and junk mail in one spot. 

Well it is gone!  I have shredded,  filed, and organized the mountain of papers.   I am quite proud of this feat because it was the sheer bulk of material I had to go through.

Second, I have started walking.  Why I would pick the hottest day of the summer? So far I do not know, I again think it is the bees. 

  

I am walking in the evening with my Lando. 

The sidewalk does not have the sun beating down on it and burning my Lando's toes.  He gets to do his business and I get to exercise with a companion. 

The only problem is squirrels. The terrier in him makes go after these prey. I am afraid he will get run over by a car.

For some reason, there are a ton of squirrels this year running amok and he feels the need to get them all.  

Other than that, he is a perfect walking companion.

Third, I got my crockpot out and cooked  a Cuban dish. It is called ropa vieja.  Translation old clothes.  It doesn't sound appetizing but it is delicious.  It made the house smell wonderful with the peppers, sauce and tender meat cooking all day.  Yum yum!!


I think I have cleared most of the bees in  my head. I still hear some buzzing but it is more manageable. 

Bee-Keeper Abbie

Being a girl

Sounds simple and yet complex for someone like me.  I was a tomboy for as long as I could remember.   My mom hated that I was a tomboy.  She would try to dress me up and all I cared about was playing with the kids and dirt. 

The only way to entice me to buy a dress was to bribe me with shoes.  I loved shoes.   I think that was the only girly thing I had going for me. I rough housed  with boys and I was in a lot of fights.   Makeup came into play in my teenage years but only because I wanted to do want other girls were doing. I grew into my own style but not to the extent that most girls do. 

I would apply makeup and when it wore off it wore off.  No reapply for me. As I got older, raising a family, working and doing mom stuff were not conducive to my looking my best.  It would take a beating sometimes. 

Now that I do not have to fret with mommy duties on a regular basis,  I can turn my attention to someone who has been neglected.  That someone is me.

I love shoe shopping.  That is something that has never left me but I didn't buy when the kids were young.  All my money went to the kids.  I spent most of my life in flats and sneakers.  I love heels.  No less than three inches. 

I can buy without guilt.

I buy makeup but it is required.  Girl is a little ragged around the edges.  I tease Bill that I need time to sand, spackle, prime, and seal before I go out. 

Purses.  I love purses.  I love the textures, styles, and colors.


My daughter laughs and said I have grown a lot this year.  My girl is a girly girl.  She loves doing all things that girls normally do.  Where did she come from?

Donna Marie and I normally have a lunch date once a month.  I asked her if she would like to go with me and get my nails done.  I want nails nice long nails.  I think I heard her mouth hit the floor. 
She is so excited.  So am I.

We are going in a couple of weeks.  I enjoy being a girl.

Can a grandma feel like a girl? 

 Beauty Queen Abbie

No Substitutions

I survived another night babysitting my youngest grandchild. Donna Marie and the rest of her family went to the park.  It was in the last afternoon.  She wanted to keep Joaquin out of the heat and humidity.  It was going to be a long night.  He had just fed and was sleeping.


 Joaquin slept for a couple of hours.  When he woke up, he made me earn my keep.  haha
As he was slowly opening his eyes,  I was speaking to him.  The most curious look came over him.  He blinked and scrutinized  me.  This is not my mother I think was his expression.


I got close to his face.  I have often heard that babies need to see things at close range.  It is the same  for me but  I have old eyes.  As I spoke, he gave me smiles. He scanned my face and just smiled. This  made .me laugh.  It lasted for only a few minutes but left a huge mark on my heart.


Joaquin ate, poohed, and burped for the next hour.  The last hour, he was just a fuss bucket.  He wanted to eat, but did want the bottle.  I burped him.  I held him in many positions.  Nothing would appease him.  I started to give him kisses and I sang to him.  He would stop and just look at me.  I think he liked it. Joaquin would look at me while I sang to the tune of Hello Dolly.  But instead of Dolly, I said Hello Mommy.

Donna Marie finally came home. He heard her and  he became still.  Like he was listening and making sure it was her.  I handed her the baby.  The image of him in her arms was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.   He was so content just being in her arms.  Joaquin missed him mama. . 

I was updating her on his evening and they were just looked at each other.  When the spell was broken, Donna Marie told me it was time for his last feeding and he was ready to go to bed.    The light bulb went on in my head. The problem was Joaquin was done with his visit.  He wanted mom.

Can't blame him, nothing beats your own bed and being with your mother.  No one can replace mom that is for sure. 

I have to accept my demotion.  I have a role its just not the primary one anymore.

Second Rate Abbie

My Achillie's heel

I wanted to put a disclaimer for this post.This is not my normal take on my kids or grandkids.  I wanted to vent.  Just say what I need to say and move from there. 

I found out that I will have relatives from out of the country (Peru) coming for a visit.  I am so excited. I haven't seen them since I was two.  Lets say it has been 40 years since I have seen them and sadly I do not have any recollection of them .  My uncle, on my fathers side, will be arriving with his wife and daughter. 


I am excited about planning a party.  I like to do the little details and now with a little more coin in my pocket I can really go for it.  The only bee in my bonnet is my mom.
  
There was a post I read from Maxabella's blog.  It was about having the house in perfect order when we expect visitors.  Why do we put up a facade, if it is not always that way? 


I tend to clean prior to family and friends for the occasional party.  I am guilty of this charade.  Now that I have any empty nest, my house is not that crazy all the time.  Though it did, when I was watching my grandchildren for two weeks straight. 

The illusions of a perfect home need to reappear.  Now why would a mid forty woman grandmother to five want to go the extra mile?  My mom!  She has a way to make me nuts without saying a word. 

My mom is a very formidable woman.  How can a woman in her mid 70's control from such a distance?  She live in New york.  It is hundreds of miles away.
 
They plan to only be here for one day but I know that she will be watching everything I do, say,  and wear.   Why do I still seek her approval?  Sshouldn't I already have it?  Do I think I will lose it, if I don't do, say, and wear everything I think she will approve .


I think what will drive me even more crazy is the next day.  I think what I am dreading is the phone call.  Most people will call and express to the host, they had a great time.  My mom will tell me the good, but most of time it is to critique.  If it is good, it sounds like she is surprised that I pulled it off.  I don't know how to take that sometimes. I want to say sometimes "good lord woman what will it take before you see that I am a grown woman who can and does take care of herself."

Soooo mature.  I know.

The bad, which is most of the time, why did  you do it this way?  Where was so and so?  Why did you have this? My, you have gained weight, but if you want to look like an elephant go ahead.  She used to be worse and would tell me that my husband would leave me if I kept this weight.  Her way of being supportive. 

She would respond with "I am not telling you what to do. I am just advising you.  I want to warn you that you might lose your husband, but if don't care about your looks I don't care either.

Its just that I never asked her for her advise!! I already knew what she thought.  My mom hasn't been on me about my weight for these last few years.  Now it is the gray hairs, she wishes I would dye it.


On one hand, I am looking very forward to meeting my relatives and on the other hand, I am anxious about the scrutiny I will be under.

 My husband built a bar in the family room.  It was a hit at many of our parties.  I plan to visit my bar regularly. 



Under the microscope Abbie

Jackson and Lando

Jackson has started to learn how to play fetch with Lando. 

Do you see the arm on the kid?  Do you also see how close Lando is to Jackson?  That is because Jackson throws that far.  He loves to throw things.  I have to be careful with him because things have a way of flying by my head.

This is Lando's favorite ball. 

Lando has managed not to destroy it.  Lando has ruined many toys lately within in an hour of receiving it.  But for some reason, he loves this blue ball. 

Jackson picked up the ball and Lando was very eager to catch it.  He would throw it and Lando would chase it.  He would growl and want Jackson to chase him but the growling deterred him from giving chase. 

Lando being so astute decided he would lay the ball at Jackson's feet.   Jackson would pick it up and throw it.  At times, Lando would catch it in midair. What a dog.!

Sometimes Jackson would grab another ball to entice Lando, if he didn't drop the ball. 




This went on throughout the evening. As I watch this interaction, I begin to realize that this is the start of a beautiful relationship!


Witness Abbie

Abbie's eyes

Joaquin is a doll. He eats and sleep most of the time. This is very good for a babysitter like myself who has a very active 18month old that she is watching at the same time.  Jackson was walking, climbing, and getting into everything.  

When  Joaquin did wake up,  I would hold him and he would stared at me.    He would study my face and I just loved touching his nose with my nose.    I love his eyes. I thought he had my eyes. 

I declared it each time I saw him, much to my daughters amusement. A small way,  when I pass on, a little bit of me is still visible to the world. My legacy, if you will. 

 

In just a few weeks, I have seen that they are not my eyes.  I think they belong to his paternal grandmother.  blah

Sorry a little green here. 

Joaquin is still beautiful no matter what shape his eyes are.  He is still my angel.

It was glorious though that for a few days one of my grandchildren had something that was from me.

  Green-eyed Abbie