CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER

All Christmases have memorable moments. Some sweet and some not so. We had an unusual situation occur that caused us for probably once in a lifetime to be able to have our granddaughter her with us on Christmas Eve and CHristmas Day. What a stroke of luck. The reason for this luck is not so good. She was sick with fever and viral symptoms, bad cough, running yucky nose etc. so she could not be around the new baby. Which meant she needed to be with us or with her other grandmother. She was contagious, so other grandmother said no, she can't stay here because our son or we may befome ill and I have to get everything ready for the gathering on the 24th. . We said of course she can stay here. I was already sick with a cold and Wayne has immunity to most everything, and besides, she needed care. Well, as the time wore on, it got closer and closer to Christmas Eve. Their family tradition is to have a big gathering at the other grandmothers house that includes the oldest members of the family who would also be highly suseptible to the virus, so the only recourse was to have our granddaughter stay with us. That means Santa would have to pay a visit to our house as well as to her mama's house. Her mama was beside herself fretting over how this would all work out. Well, it worked out fine for us. We had a wonderful Christmas morning, taking all the time she needed to soak up what was hers and what to do with the items she got. We eventually went to my mom's and after a nice lunch, we started over with gift exchange. She had a ball.

horse and carriage ride

We tried for two days to get The GIrl logisticated to the horse and carriage ride we promised. The first time we went on the adventure, we were too late for the last ride before the traffic stopped for the fireworks. SHe liked the fireworks. They were loud and she saw some pink ones. We petted 5 horses. One named Rodney will nod his head yes if you ask him if he wants some candy. Of course, he wanted some candy so we had to give him some. His big ole nostrils, soft "muzzle" with whiskers, and big soft lips were very interesting. We had to leave them there on the side of the street because it would take an hour after the fireworkds to even start the rides again and we were down the line a bit. So with a bit of wailing and kicking, we left with a promise to come back the next day. We stopped at some friends "camp" down the river for some supper and visiting. She had a ball. We toasted marshmallows and made smore's, swang ona glider, rocked on the porch rockers and so forth. By the time people were leaving she was leaning out the screen door saying " Bye , see you later". She and her PawPaw ventured down to the boat dock and sat on the party barge. She was very impressed with floating on the boat. The next day we ventured back up the road. CHecked on the schedule of when to expect the horses to line up and went to find something to eat. While we were eating we were entertained by the longest rendition of the 3little pigs you could imagine. There is no telling how many times that big bad wolf came back to the pigs houses. We eventually got back to horse and carraige. This time we met Rock and his driver Stephanie. We had a good ride around the old part of town and then fed Rock some left over bread we saved from lunch. Then we went down to the river bank and gave the ducks some pieces of shortbread cookies. Then we hit the road again. She had a good nap on the way home. We got to the other MawMaw's house where she helped take care of the new baby. She had the biggest grin on her face from the moment she saw the baby till MawMaw had to take her to change her stinky diaper. Then she was off to play with her bubba and uncle.

Sleeping like an Angel

As I lounge in bed getting ready to go to sleep for a well deserved bit of rest, I see my granddaughter, THE GIRL, asleep between us. Yes she has her own bed, no I am not putting her there tonight.She is sleeping peacefully. She has the beauty of an angel face, and sometime an angel attitude too. Sometimes she is just normal and sometimes she is a bear. but her bear moments are getting less frequent. You have to keep her fed and rested if you know whats good for you. She had a busy evening. She and her PawPaw whent to EL CHICO to eat since mawmaw had an office function to attend. They ate, she worked mostly on chips and dip. Prior to that she helped us sign our papers to refinance the mortgage. Then, when I got home, she took her bath, her medicine, and we watched Wiggly Christmas for the upteenth time.She tried to pet the cat, but he was extra wary this evening and got out of the room before she could shut the door. That wascally cwitta.

Pink Eye Rules

The SD gets Pink Eye more than anyone I have ever heard of. How she keeps her eyes from rotting out is beyond me. Of Course, if you really have Pink Eye, you feel terrible and your eye looks terrible. Most uncomfortable. And contagious. Evidently the only thing the SD remembers about Pink Eye is that is is highly contagious until you have been using the drops for it for 24 hours. If a child has Pink Eye, they can not go to school, because, right you are, it is contagious. So the best thing to do is to find SOMEONE who can keep your child for you for at least 24 hours so that the child doesn't get the Pink Eye too. and that would also mean that you wouldn't have to look after your child for that same amount of time....Hmmmmm. No mention was made of what the SD was going to do about the 10 day old infant she has at home that might also get the Pink Eye. Guess she can't pawn her off on anyone at the moment. The paternal grandmother lives out of town, I don't even know if she was around for the birth. The maternal grandmother would actually see the Pink Eye (if it were there, that is ) and run the risk of bringing a contamiinated child into her own home, where she has a 10 year old child. The good news is that we get to have the girl with us some more.
Pink Eye Rules.

facts and figues rule

The support enforcement officer that my son and spouse saw ruled that the amount of child support son should be paying is %197.35 per month. With the combined amounts of what we pay to day care ($89 every other week) and what son has agreed to pay ($50 per month to day care directly) the current amount is $238. We do not wish to decrease what is currently going toward child support. But if the SD wants to pursue action through support enforcement, she would actually be "getting" less than she is now. I am thrilled that the officer agrees with us that what we pay counts toward support. I am pleased that the SD failed to mention to the officer that we were paying anything at all. The problem is that she wants son to physically hand her money, and that is not going to happen at this point. When the girl is out of day care and in regular school, we will figure another way to get the money to the SD, but that is more than a year away.

what goes around

Last week, in a fit of rage, the She Devil withdrew the girl from our company. The SD's mother did not know this had happened, and when I told her about how unfair it was to the girl for the SD to keep doing this, the mother spoke to the SD about it. The SD called me and attempted to apologize for her screaming and cursing and all round disgusting behavior. She said that we could have the girl anytime we called. I elected not to call. Prior arrangements were made for us to have the girl on Tuesday, the 12th. for dance class and perhaps for afterwards, depending on what the girl wanted to do. Well the SD's mother called me today apologizing for the misunderstanding about the day care bill. She talked about how the girl needed to be in day care and to see her friends and to have a better schedule than she has at home. She told me that she and her husband and learned the truth about the bill, and that it was paid and up to date. There was some discussion about how the SD went over the deep end when she got mad etc. I did say that the good news was the girl would be back in day care and the bad news was that the SD got her way - that is someone else to pay for the day care instead of herself. Later on the SD herself had the girl call to say she wanted me to come pick her up. Of course I said that I would be there later. What I have found out since is that the SD's father checked her mail box and found a letter from the day care, which he opened. He then learned that the SD was being turned over to the day care attorney for failure to pay the owed amount. Of course, the SD's father does not want that to happen and he called the director and got an earfull. NOW they know that the SD was lying about who was paying what and who was behind, that she has gotten 5 notices this year alone about paying up or the child would be expelled, etc etc. Sooner or later, what goes around comes around. I would hate to be in the SD's shoes when it comes around.

forgotten birthday

It was brought to my attention rather abruptly that I totally forgot the birthday of a person very important to me. M y favorite and only neice! Mind you, I would have thought that someone would have planned a "do" for this person,since it was a decade marker, and I would have gotten wind of it in order to make plans to attend, but that did not happen. She and her spouse celebrated, but evidently no one else, not his family or her family did anything about it. God, what happened? In another life I would have been quite in tune to the date and it's importance in our family. I even was reminded recently of my son's girlfriends birthday this month. Her birthday and our grandbaby's mama have the same birthday. That is an odd cooincidence it itself, but the girlfriends' son shares the same birthday too.
Most everybody likes to have their birthday acknowledged. Tsk Tsk. Back in the day, we did not put up the Christmas Tree until after her birthday so as not to take anything away from the impact of the moment. I admit that I am immersed in crisis and stress more unusual that most times lately. BUT that is not a good enough excuse. I was so embarrased and hurt that I had forgotten. I can't really make it up financially at the moment, I can send a card an d she can read this, but durn it durn it durn it.

IHTB

The She Devil has no recollection of screaming and cursing me over the phone the other day. When she told me that today I had to remind her that she goes crazy when she gets mad. ..and that she is mad at my son, but focuses her anger on me, since I am easier to reach. I pointed out that it is not a good idea to be a nasty bitch to the one person in this world who she can count on to help with her child, my dear grand daughter. I told her she can not use the child as a weapon in a war of wills, because the child is the one who gets hurt, now and later. When she was screaming, she told me we would not be able to see our grand daughter until her father had been to his appointment with the support enforcement person. That happens to be next week, but she did not know that when she was screaming. When I dropped The Girl - acutually The Best Big Sister in the Whole World - off at the other mawmaw's, I told the mawmaw some of what had happened, and that it was not fair or right to have the girl withheld from us. She says she didn't know anything about it. Of course, the She Devil only tells her part of any story, that's part of her modus operandi. Anyway, she did mention it to the She Devil, which is why the SD called me today. I have decided to let the girl stay away and enjoy visitng the new baby and being with the other family and not make an attempt to get her until the next dance class, and she will probably want to spend the night, which is fine. Then she will go back to her mother's since said mother won't pay her part of the day care bill. IHTB. The SD said "I'm not sure who's weekend it is" which is her way of getting me to say it's my weekend. I did not say it or offer to pick her up. Let the SD keep up with her and the new baby for a while. Maybe it will go well and I will be proven wrong, Just keep your fingers crossed that The Girl comes out of it unscather. Like I said, IHTB.