Not Where I Intended To Go

When I started this entry I intended to compare these two pictures. However, it took me an extended period of time to find and post them. And now I that I see them side by side, I am not even sure they look as similar as I thought they did. So this is really more a testimony to my inept computer skills than a look at how some babies look extraordinarily like their mothers.

Newer, Hipper Version

I am still adjusting to the idea of being a grandmother. Equally it is an adjustment for those around me. Imagine how old you must be if your sister is a grandmother. Or if your wife is a grandmother. (I don't even want to think that I am sleeping with someone's grandfather. :P) Or if you're in sixth grade and your mother is a grandmother. So Alex has been comparing me with other grandmothers he knows. This past weekend he held the door for a grandmother at TaeKwonDo, and he held the door for me as well. Then he remarked that I was in the same class as her, but I was a younger, hipper version. I think that was a compliment. At least I am taking it as one. So here is the new picture of me that I am going to use in my profile. It is a newer, hipper picture taken by Claire Marie's grandfather.

I've still got pretty good ankles for a grandma.

Serendipities

Today we planned a trip to see the leaves. Along the way we saw a road side spring, took pictures of our shadows, walked in the woods, climbed on rocks, saw the sun rise and set in spectacular fashion, ate french fries and gummy bears, dropped in to visit some friends, and just by chance saw a painted rock in the Tionesta River.

Who would paint a rock in the middle of the river? Okay, it looks like a giant frog-shaped rock, but who goes one step farther and actually paints it? And then it occurs to me that any one of my brothers would do this. And any two of my sisters if they were together would think to do this. And several of my children would seriously consider doing this. And I wish I had done it.

And Alex would throw rocks at it.

And for all the planning, the best moments of the day were the surprises. And being together to share them.

Yesterday Was A Very Good Day

I had a great day yesterday before 7:00am. First, I had my name tag from work for the first time since last Friday. I clocked out at 7:30pm on Friday and drove straight home. I clocked in at 7:00am Saturday morning without the use of my name tag. I have been looking for it and clocking in and out without it ever since. (As an aside--don't ask me how I can clock in without my nametag, but you might find it useful to know that a barcode reader can't distinguish between a laminated barcode and a photocopy of it.) Yesterday Alex pulled my nametag out of his backpack. Someone at school gave it to him and said it had been found at the football game. Here's what happened near as I can figure: When I arrived home on Friday evening with my nametag in my purse, I parked on the street because Jimmy was parked in the driveway and I didn't want to park him in. Because I wanted to get as close to the curb as possible, I had to duck out of the car under a tree. I think my nametag fell out then. Since I came and went in the dark, I never saw it. Someone who parked there on Saturday for the peewee football games picked it up, thinking I had dropped it on my way to or from a football game. Somehow it made it's way to school with a classmate of Alex's from last year. And eventually back home to me. (I didn't ask how many days it was in the backpack.) So yesterday when I pulled my nametag out of my purse to clock in, I unwittingly dropped a ten dollar bill out of my purse. As I'm going down the stairs I hear a gentlemen's voice call out, "Young lady!". Of course, I just kept walking, because obviously, he wasn't talking to me. But when he repeated it, "Young lady, going down the stairs," I stopped to see what he needed. He asked me if I had dropped some money. I immediately answered yes. He knew of course that I didn't know I had dropped it, and I knew he did know I had dropped it. With a quick glance in my purse , I knew it was a 10 dollar bill, and he had already been too honest to keep it now, so he returned it to me and I thanked him. (I hope God rewarded him later or he just had a good day knowing he did the right thing.) So here are the good things: I didn't have to buy a new name tag. I didn't have to get a new picture taken. (One of the advantages of keeping your nametag forever is that your picture reflects a much younger you. The picture I have currently is not too bad, though. The one I had before that...the time the security guard returned it after I had dropped it down the elevator shaft ((Don't even ask)) he remarked how much better I looked in real life than in my picture. I have a photocopy of it if you don't believe me.) I had ten dollars to lose. My lost $10 was returned. I clocked in on time. And someone called me a young lady. And all before 7:00am.
Last evening I had a grilled stickie a la mode and I treated a friend to a grandma's apple pie sundae. I used my $10. All in all, a very good day.

Just for the record, One time I dropped my name tag into the mail box along with some letters. The USPS returned it. One good thing about my nametag is that it has my name on it.

Would You Rather...

..open your dresser drawer and find 100 black widow spiders OR find six large rats that jump out of your dresser and scurry under the furniture?
I chose the six large rats because there were fewer and because they got out by themselves and hid.
I'm not sure this was edifying conversation, but it's what Alex and I talked about last night at bedtime. Just before I dozed off he shared the additional information that rats are very agile and some larger ones have a bite as strong as a small shark.

Sweet dreams to you too, Alex. The tooth fairy may never come.