dark and cold

That's what we've got tonight.  Jay cooked supper. We worked on taxes.  It's dark and cold and quiet here.

Here are some kids in the family room, also very quiet.

 Racket galore here:

 The storm door is all iced up.

 Here's a view of the hockey rink, obviously nobody is up there skating at -6 degrees.

 Bernie?  Pretty  quiet.

 Why in the world are these towels ALWAYS on the floor?  Always? Why?

 This is my briefcase, still waiting to be dealt with. Successful closing yesterday, zero problems.  I'll address this rat's nest later.

 But I did extract this from the mess.  I bumped up a level in sales, which was very gratifying.

 Okay, here I asked Sidney to smile for a picture.

She sneezed.

Then threw herself down.  Not necessary, and also not a smile, by the way.

 And this brings us to this evening where the taxes were worked on.  After I get the forms all pulled together, then I have to deal with the rat's nest aspect.

 It was cozy at least, space heater going, mechanical pencils, calculator, spread sheets.

It'll be fine.  I've done it before.

January 15th has come and gone.   We're on the downhill side now.

Next week it's going to warm up and we'll come back to life again as we head into a couple fun birthdays.

Love, Val

- 10 and babies in the house

It's so very cold these last few days, not even up to 0 F

But inside the house it's a balmy 72 degrees, and no problems.

 The babies bounced and rolled in that pile of pillows while they ate crackers.  While they were in the high chairs, everything had to be shaken out and the hokey run over the rug.

 And this little dog went back to Florida on Saturday. She was here with Kirsten for a month, and I got used to her.  She's easy company, well-behaved and friendly.  Today I kept looking for her, worried that she was outside and freezing her ass off.

Umm, that would be no. It's supposed to be almost  70 degrees there tomorrow.

Sam, always wanting to be where the dang kids are.  Earlier she spotted all the abandoned and half stomped on crackers, and stormed that barricade bench, knocked it right over, woke up the baby sleeping on the couch.

Doggone dog.

 One's taking calls on the Dora phone, the other wore shorts today.  First thing her aunt said when she came home from work, "Shorts?  Is that a good idea?"

And her mom, first words out of her mouth, "Are you wearing shorts today??"

The child told me, when I asked her, "Who cares?  We're not going anywhere, are we?"

No.  We are not.

 This little baby doll fell asleep in about four minutes of cuddling.  I wrapped her in a blanket and put a little pillow pet on my chest, invited her to put down her head.

She did, and I checked Facebook on my phone while I patted her back, and then slid her over onto the pile of pillows where she slept in a heap until her mom got back. She woke up all red cheeks and damp hair.

And that brought us to the end of a beautiful Monday afternoon.

We watched Judge Judy after that and I worked for a few hours.

Onward.

January, you have fully arrived, I can see this.  Not sorry you're almost half over because that brings us just that many weeks closer to spring.

love forever, GRANDMA, aka Val

adjusting the blurriness settings

 I tried some different settings.  I couldn't find the directions, but they're online, so when I have time I can look them over for ideas.

 The changes I made seemed to help a little.

Love you kids, MOM

grandma?

Okay, this is the back story.

My old friend, Maureen, and we go back like thirty years, told me this story about her kid.  She and a friend or relative were carrying in a mattress into the house. She was hugely pregnant, so there was this belly in the way, and a mattress, and it wasn't fitting easily around the corner coming into the house.

She described the scene, the sweaty awkwardness of it, how the mattress was fighting back and then she said her sweet little daughter appeared near her elbow, "Mom?  Can you tie my shoes?"

???

Of course, and when I'm on fire, how about you ask me for a glass of water?

I thought about this today when some girls came flying through the living room and told me a candle votive glass had somehow gone flying off a table and broken.  They didn't know how.

(It's some dollar store trinket, no big deal.)

I told them they could get the shop vac and clean it up while I continued amusing the baby sister, or they could amuse the sister and I could clean it up.

They opted to entertain the baby and me deal with the glass.

Well, the shop vac wasn't picking up that well, seemed full.  I took it outside to the trash can to empty it.  I tucked the motor between my knees and tried to shake out the filter into the trash can and shake out the hose.  It had started snowing and if any of this got wet, then all the nasty dust in the world would start to clump up, so I was hurrying.

The screen door smacked me in the butt, and there she was, "Grandma?  Where are the granola bars? Can you find me a granola bar?"

Sure.

Me in the snow, two hands full, another part held between my knees, yeah, sure.  I can find you things.

Maureen, I thought of you and threw back my head, laughing, and was not rude to the child. I said. "I'm in the middle of this. Give me a minute and I'll help you."

(That's Maureen in the middle of those kids.)

The child disappeared and the door whammed shut. I shook out the filter and put it all back together before it could get wet and headed back in.

Here's the thing.  Kids don't change.

We don't change.

Life is good.

Happy January, cold and bright.  love always, Val

breaking out babies

 We all congregate in here when we're watching the babies. It's a safe spot for them, new rug, nice and soft.

They ate waffles and put up with it for a while.

 But then they get on this barricade bench and just want to leave.

 I either need to find the direction book for this camera or get a new one.  I'm over it.

 Anyway, they're both cute and determined.

Happy Tuesday.

love, Val

This made me laugh very much.

Happy New Year.

Love, Val

stupid-ass, random party

Yep.  Happy New Year to you too.

It did make me laugh a lot.

When she got up at noon and realized the whole family was descending shortly, that's what she snarled at me:  "I'm so sick of these stupid-ass, random parties for no reason."  Then she ran upstairs to take a bath and get dressed.

Well.

There's nothing I enjoy more than a day with my family, honest-to-God, nothing.   It doesn't feel stupid-ass, or random to me.  Nobody's working today, everywhere is closed.  We're happy to cook a meal and enjoy an afternoon together any time.

Shortly my parents leave for Florida, and Kirsten will return to there soon too.  Time is not unlimited.

Not that I don't get her frustrated impatience with the racket and horde. I do understand what she's saying.  I have a different perspective on it, but I also see how it feels to be her.

So--here are some pictures, mostly damned blurry, of the Stupid-Ass, Random Party:

 This is the gang last night, playing Clue.

And blowing horns at midnight. See p.j.?  She didn't make it.  I helped her upstairs to bed after this.

 Her and her monkey:

 Here's the feast from today, and it was incredibly delicious, true.

 A bunch of people played Dominos.

 And others played guitar hero:

 Blockaded into safety--and yet the babies resent this so much.  It reminds me of why I was sad when play-pens went away.  Toss a baby in a play pen with blankets and stuffed animals and toys, position it in view of the kitchen and the TV.

No choke-able hazards anywhere near the little darling.

But play pens went out of style, for some unknown reason.  Whatever. We've created the same safety zone with benches and bins of toys.

Oh my goodness.

Onward?

2016?  I do so hope you're going to be a friend of ours.  2015 wasn't an enemy at all, but still kind of threw us around by the shirt.

Happy New Year! Best wishes and love always, Val and Everybody