snowy day

Love, Val
 

the week

These two--the older one is back to college, semester off to a start this week. The younger is back on distance learning starting tomorrow, due to the pandemic.   So many positive covid tests, though nobody we know is dangerously ill, it is just a lot.  

Probably this is a wise decision, but their anticipated return date of January 25 does not seem likely.

Oh, and her lizard. Kari has a lizard that I was  80% sure was dead when I checked on it yesterday while she was gone.   Oh, boy.  Not good.   But then later I went upstairs and Lillian was quite undead, running around looking quite beautiful.  Whee.

Monday I donated blood, which is something I've been meaning to do for a very long time, and finally it is done, and it was pretty easy--from the scheduling and location, to the process itself.  I intend to do this on an ongoing basis.
 

The reason this is important is because this thriving little beauty of a child was fighting for her life four years ago.  After recovering from RSV, which was life threatening for her as a wee baby with a heart defect, it was realized that she really couldn't go on any longer with her heart the way it was, and before they sent her home, her heart was repaired.  She was like nine or ten pounds, just a wee little minute of a girl.

We were told it was a typical heart defect often seen with Down Syndrome, but it was still overwhelming! Her little heart was like the size of an acorn and someone had the knowledge and skills to repair it.

Amazing.

And look at her now, at three!  She received blood so many times during all that traumatic winter, and here she is, living it up.

In the news today was this--they are opening up an Ice Road up in the northern angle, that weird little piece of Minnesota that intrudes across the Canadian border.  It can't normally be reached other than driving over into Canada and around, and with covid, I guess this was a problem.

(There's not much going on there other than wilderness, but there are people who love their wilderness, true.)

Anyway, Lake of the Woods is very big, and very deep and this Ice Road is twenty two miles long.

I was very intrigued by the story, but guess who will never be traveling there or EVER going on this Ice Road in a million years.

Dan sent these pictures of the puppy, June.   

Dog obviously knows how to live.

He said she's pretty naughty a lot of the time, but you'd never know it by these pictures.

Had lunch with these two today, very fun.  We laughed, and ate, and it was great.

Tomorrow is Friday, best day of the week.

We've to the halfway point of January now, cruising along.

Love, Val

basketball

Made it to some games this weekend, very fun.

It's also fun to see that youth basketball does not change.   It's the same as it was thirty years ago.

Love you all, Grandma

 

kids

Monday I picked up a few kids to spend part of the day here, change of scenery for me and for them, let their parents work in peace the last day of winter break.

All the toys in this house, this is what they spent hours doing--wrapping stuff.  Every year there are a few extra gifts, usually small things like candy and bath bombs, lotion, you know.   Well, they wanted to box and wrap these things.

At first I felt nervous and irritated them all in my space.  But seriously, Val?  Scraps of wrapping paper? Little boxes, which were in a bag by the dozens?  Dollar aisle bath bombs?  Who cares?

It kept them busy, concentrating and working for a very long time.

And then Jay took them home while I was on a long call because a computer goof up was threatening to cut off our life insurance policy. They said we owed $18.00.  ???  We've returned every statement with a check. None have been overlooked. (Cancelling us over $18 anyway? That's not even late?) So confusing and obnoxious.

We think that's straightened out now. We'll see.

Happy January, 

Love, Val
 

quiet january

After the snow it turned very, very cold, no surprises.  

We've got this going on, ice on the windows, ice under the edge of the back door. The kitchen floor is super cold, with just crawl space underneath and being on the north side of the house.   The living room floor feels drafty.

But this only affects about ten or twelve days in an entire year, so we just wear slippers and overlook it.  The house was built in the 1940s, and good enough.

The tree is bundled back in that giant bag again.   We haven't brought the striped chair back yet.  Maybe next week.  Clean up of this fake tree involves no mopping up of water or needles flying everywhere.  It's pretty undramatic.

This tablecloth was bought from a Facebook group.  It's cute, more faded than anticipated, but give it time.  

The lady who sold it said she'd been saving it for granddaughters and tea parties, but had given up on the idea.  I told her if things change and she wants it back, let me know.  I'll send it back to her.

In a little while Julia has a zoom meeting with her math tutor--grade is up to a solid B+, so this is great.  Jay's up at the cabin so he can attend the Lake District meeting in the morning, says he's not freezing to death, space heaters are working nicely.

Onward. 

Love, Val
 

a suspenseful game

It went frantically down to the last few seconds.   Parents were screaming, kids kept getting flustered and making mistakes, and making baskets, back and forth it went. 

What a night.

Buddy, you did good. That was stressful.

Love, Grandma and Grandpa

day after new year's

Today we invited ourselves over to their house.  They were gracious and kind and said okay. We brought Christmas cookies and cheese and crackers.  John made taco dip and there were bars.

We played pool on the new pool table, and Life, and One card poker.   The kids are full of energy and so sweet and funny.

This is him in the back with his fort building kit his mom's brother gave him.  It was cool.  A lot of work went into constructing that fort.  The big box is the one the pool table came in. Not sure what he's doing with that.

 And then we came back home again and Jay made pancakes and sausage, and fried egg sandwiches for supper.

Tomorrow  is back to reality, back to normal life after the holidays.

We can do it. We know how.

So much love, Grandma and Grandpa