A Roller Coaster Ride...

... of emotions.

That's the only way I can think of to describe the events of these past 2 weeks.

• Happy to visit my daughter and hand down the crib that was once T's as a baby.
• Scared when T went into early labor on the day we were to leave.
• Worried for the health and well being of T and our 2 new grandchildren.
• Thrilled that I got to see and video both grand babies before they were whisked off to NICU.
• Sadness when we had to return to NE and our jobs. Almost bought a winning lotto ticket! I wish!
• Nervous every time T would call or email me during the week with an update on the girls.
• Excited about the successful bowel opening surgery on Evergreen.
• Optimism for Evergreen's future health.
• Frightened as I received the call from T on Sunday, February 21st concerning the doctors meeting.
• Frazzled throwing together a suitcase to make a 12 hr. (at night) drive with B and C to be with T, M and the babies.
• Ecstatic early Monday morning to see our grand daughters in their see-thru bassinets, crying and sneezing.
• Absolute joy for the next 2 days as I watched these babies, along with T and M, cry, sneeze, sleep and grow.
• Total heartbreak on Tuesday as I hugged my daughter and son in-law, gently touched Evergreens face and left them together to say good bye.
• Anguish until the news of Evergreens passing came from M shortly after 5am on Wednesday.
• Sorrow and helplessness.
• Calm, even through my tears, when I was able to see Evergreen before she was taken to the funeral home. She was so tiny.
• Elation from the news that Carlotta would be transferred to a NICU closer to her home in Radford.
• Relief that T has people (friends and family) that are more than willing to drive her to see Carlotta until she is strong enough to go home.
• Grief and happiness during the graveside and memorial services on Saturday.
• Respect for M as he bravely dedicated his daughters grave and spoke of her short life.
• Gladness that T has an extended family in VA that supports and loves her.
• Surprise at the cost of an infants funeral.
• Stressed until we could come up with funds to help out with the expenses, then I was happy.
• Despondent that I had to leave VA (along with T, M and Carlotta) to return to my job, again.
• Counting the days until March 19th when I can head down for another visit.
• Hopeful that Carlotta will be released by the end of March.
• Annoyed that my basement is flooded, power went out for 3 days (it's on now) and my house is messy (by my standards, not C and B).
• Sleepy.
• Blessed to have a grand daughter as beautiful and special as Evergreen.
• Blessed to have had the opportunity to watch her grow for 10 wonderful days.
• Thrilled to be a UPS Nonnie! Unless I can get them to move to NH!?
• Proud of my T who is showing me that she will be a wonderful mother! Love you T!

Enjoy the above picture of Carlotta! It was taken by Nonnie on February 26th 2010 in the NICU of the Roanoke Memorial hospital.

Evergreen

This morning, shortly after 5, our tiny, 9.5 day old Evergreen returned to Heavenly Father. I'm leaving soon for the hospital to be with T, M and Carlotta. That's all I'll be posting for a while as I come to terms with having to say goodbye, for now, to a beautiful miracle baby. I'm so thankful I got to spend the last 2 days here with my daughter and her babies. It was truly a blessed experience. LOVE.

Why Do I Ache?

I woke up today with very sore, stiff muscles. Why? I don't recall doing strenuous work yesterday. So why then?

Then I remembered I had done strenuous work the day BEFORE yesterday. I shoveled more snow onto our sliding ramp, slid down myself a few times and rolled several giant snowballs for the kids to climb on. Actually, I rolled snowballs with the intention of making a huge snowman, but I forgot how heavy those big snowballs can become, so they are now climbing snowballs!

Here are some pictures to show my work. Trust me, I moved so much snow that I felt like one of the Olympics volunteers in Vancouver! Go USA!

Girls Day Out

This event happened often as my girls were growing up. We'd have a meal in a restaurant that had waiters, shopped (window shopping if money was low), went to fairs or amusement/water parks and enjoyed just being girls.

Tomorrow, Kaya and I will have a Girls Day Out. The rest of her family will be skiing. We will be at the salon (her first time) to get our hair trimmed and be pampered a little. She is so excited! She wants the stylist to know that she is a princess so her hair must stay long! Also, a princess has curls. Ribbons? NO! Ponytail or braid? NO! Just curls!

In the not too distant future, I hope to have a Girls Day Out with my grandbabies! If they have their mothers hair, we could go to a salon. Hopefully, they will be as excited as Kaya and NOT like their mother, who to this day, is fondly remembered at the salon from the temper fits she threw during hair trims!

Do They Look Like Their Mother?

Here for you to enjoy is T at 6 weeks in 1988.

I don't have a baby picture of M.

I thought they resembled the Fisher side of their family, but I'm not so sure now.

Either way, the babies are adorable. And T continues to be cute too.

Happy Voice

I just spoke with T. She was able to spend 3 hours with Carlotta this afternoon, holding her and taking a stab at breastfeeding. I couldn't see her face, but there was a happy, "glowing" feeling coming through in her voice.

Little Evergreen had successful surgery this afternoon so T was doubly happy! I won't bore you with details, I may get them wrong anyway and then T will have to correct me and who needs that hassle? But so far, the surgery was a success. Thanks for your prayers.

Check out her blog or her Facebook page for Ts feelings, thoughts and glowing reports on her daughters progress in NICU as well as possible scenarios for the near future.

Evergreens Needs Some Prayers

Today, little Evergreen heads off to surgery. The "exit" hole, which was previously thought to be an exit for all systems, is not. They will be creating an opening for her intestines to empty. She's been a fighter thus far, but this is the first time that humans will be assisting her. I know she's a strong girl and has 2 wonderful parents with her for support. Nonnie loves you!

T and M, I'll have my cell on the loudest ring so I won't miss your good news later on today.

Valentines Day 2010

This will be a day in my life that will be remembered as a very special, important and surprising day.

B and I became first-time grandparents to TWIN girls! T and M are the proud parents of Charlotte and Evelyn, who will be referred to in my future blogs as Carlotta (because I have to travel in the car a lot to see her) and Evergreen (because she'll never lose her beauty). These are my butterfly granddaughters, especially Evergreen. She is a fighter, floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee! Hang in there baby girl!

We just got home and B is asleep already. Me? A quick shower. Then I, too, will be asleep.

CONGRATULATIONS TO T & M ON MAKING ME A NONNIE! KISSES!!

Snowman... part 2

Frosty made another come back this year! He was easier to make this time and since the actual amount of snow that fell was less than an inch... he's much shorter! I had to use every part of the yard to gather enough snow to make him.

His arms are made with huge branches so he can throw lots of snowballs... IF it snows more!

I got a frantic phone call from Connors teacher at lunchtime. Unbeknownst to me (or his parents), the schools had an early release day due to the huge (hahahaha) storm. Connor needed to be picked up. He handled it pretty good when he realized I wasn't there to pick him up. He's such a worrier when things don't go as scheduled. His teacher took good care of him, letting him help her with tomorrows lesson set-up. He says he didn't mind that I was so late but it took him an hour for him to transform from being quiet and withdrawn into the wild man he usually is at home.

I'm Older Than Money?

Today, the kids fell asleep on our way to pick up Connor from school. I didn't have a newspaper with me to do the crossword puzzle so I was forced to entertain myself for 30 minutes in other ways.

I deleted the recent calls and texts from my phone, I played with the radio stations, dusted my dashboard and I counted the spare change in my ashtray.

It came to about $13 in coins.

My clock told me I still had 25 minutes to wait! ARGH!

I began looking at the dates on the coins, just to pass the time without falling asleep myself.

Out of that $13, turns out I'm older than all of the coins except for 2 pennies, 2 nickels and 1 dime! About 20 coins had years on them where I would've be considered a child, but ALL the rest were from 1989 - 2009!

Whanwhhwh! I'm older than money! What's next... DIRT?

Just a Little News

I'll let T blog about her trip to the UVA doctors today. I'll only say that I'm pleased with the progress the 2 little ones are making while growing in T's oven. Lucky T, except for needing to pee more often, it appears that T has not had to suffer through any of the ailments that plague most pregnant women such as heartburn or backaches.

I'm excited to see T & M this weekend. Of course, Mother Nature is putting her two cents worth into the mix. So far, it looks like our driving time will be sandwiched between 2 storms, one in NE on Thursday and the other in VA on Saturday. We'll need to wrap the crib and the other stuff we're bringing in plastic so the salty road spray won't ruin them.

We need to be back home before 5pm on Monday. We have an appointment with the director of Sylvan to discuss the need, if any, to continue with C's tutoring.

It's Fixed!

Finally, almost a year after buying the Saab, replacing the coolant system, dealing with mechanics who couldn't figure out WHY the coolant continued to leak even after the repairs, C found a little "out of the way" repair shop (not a dealer) that only repairs Saabs and European cars. They were able to locate the problem, find the part for it and fix it within 2 hours. She now has use of a car that doesn't need coolant added every day. Yeah! It's fixed! And it didn't break the bank either! Good job C!

Drumroll Please...

First Gogo: $26

Second Gogo: $12.50

Sticker Only Lot: $2.28

Total: $40.78

Shipping & eBay fees: $4.50

Paid $1.99

Profit: $34.29

Not enough to quit my job, but not bad. The last Gogo is at $6.50

Update of My Gogo Experiment

Ok. There are just over 2 hours remaining on the Gogos I put up for auction on eBay a week ago.

Where does the bidding stand right now?

One Gogo is at $19.49 while the other is at $8.01! Both are being "watched" by several bidders, so I think the final, winning bid will be higher than I thought it would be!

The lot of 48 stickers is standing $1.04.

The Gogo I placed up for bid 2 days ago is already at $6!

Not a bad return on my investment.

Skelintins at Nihgt

Here's Connors story that has earned him a spot in the city wide writing competition.

Skelintins at Nihgt

by Connor S.

Ficshin

Dedacktid to Colin

On Halween nihgt I wit trick or treting wit my friend. He ses that thar are skelintins and I sed no thar codit be.

Win we wit trick or treating I lookt away. Win I lookt bac my friend was at a dirk house.

Than again win I lookt away he was gon!

I sed 3 times war are you and I got lost.

I ran for a log time. Than I stambald alog a gravyard. I tok a rast on one of the graves.

I tucht the grave and the grave startid to gloe.

I was scard but I trid to be brave. Than a scelatine came up from the grave.

Than I ran and ran intill I was tired. I made it home. Than I shut the door and I had a plan.

My plan was to trap him and it workt.

Than everybody came back.

The end.

He had a picture on every page and I spelled everything just as he did, minus the 1st grader penmanship. I loved it! Hoping he gets more than honorable mention!

I'm going to have to find a story from when T was 7 yrs old and print it for all to read!

Soon, not today!

The Blanket Pictures

Here are the photos of the baby blankets we had made for T and M twin girls (our first grandchildren) by Willow Creek Studios. My amateur photography doesn't do them justice, but I LOVE the way they came out! The back of the blankets, not shown, are made from cream colored chenille.

Ladies and Germs...

Germs. Little microscopic things that can make even the healthiest of specimens bow to its power.

Viruses are the worst for the little ones. Miss Jen and Mommy can't make it feel better or make the pain go away.

Rubbing their tummy, placing cool cloths on their forehead that is hot from fever and letting them suck on ice cubes or Popsicles only make them feel loved, but not better. Medicine can only do so much.

Connor was home sick today. Now the waiting game begins. Who will fall next? Whose body has the weakest immune system that can be attacked?

I want it to be me! Why? I need to be healthy and over it by the time I go to VA next week. T doesn't need any germs in or near her system.

On another note... I'm very proud of Connor. It was parent/teacher conferences today. Krista came home super excited. It seems that her son wrote a story, with pictures, that won him a spot in the city wide writing competition. He will be his schools 1st Grade representative for the competition. Good for him! I like to think that all my reading aloud to him over the past 3 years had a lot to do with his success. T wrote nice, interesting stories at a young age too. Does she remember "Mad Mom" ?

Don't Ask...

Failure. Huge failure.

I got the supplies. I have a steamer for cooking healthier food.

I cooked and seasoned the meat perfectly. I have lots of chili powder now.

The masa dough was the right consistency. I have masa flour that maybe I'll use to teach myself how to make tortillas. HAHAHA!

The husks had been rehydrated and were ready to go. The remaining dried husks will be used in my crafts in the fall.

What went wrong?

The dough doesn't spread on the husk nearly as easy as the videos showed. I tried several of the shown techniques. One took me over 15 minutes just to spread the masa.

The meat didn't sit nicely in the middle when rolling the husk. It squirted out the sides.

The rolling? With the husks in such varying sizes, I ended up with some huge tamales and some pencil thin ones.

I "made" 8 tamales.

They are currently in the steamer. Why? I might as well see what all the fuss is over. These 8 tamales better be the best thing I've ever tasted!

I'll be making pulled pork/chicken sandwiches with the left over meat. They'll be a little spicier than what we're accustomed to, but I'm not tossing 8 lbs of meat. ( well, it was 8 lbs of meat including the discarded bones and fat and gizzards) I'll be freezing some too.

Sorry M and T. There'll be NO tamales. I'm never going to try those again! It was not fun. It was hard and it will not be a family tradition of mine.

Baby Blankets!

Willow Creek Studio made the 2 baby blankets in record time! Two weeks ago I shipped the materials to them and now, I have in my possession, 2 of the cutest blankets I've ever seen. Granted, it's going to take a few washing to get a "slept in" feel to them, but overall, I'm very pleased. I'm excited to be able to bring them with us to VA next weekend. I hope she likes them.

Got to go now. Tamale making awaits me.

It Has Begun

Just a quick entry before I go to work today.

The pork and chicken tamale meat has been cooked, pulled and mixed with spicy stuff. The broth and meat are in the fridge. My tamale adventure has truly begun.

I hope I come home in a good mood. Then the masa dough will be able to be made tonight and I can steam the tamales before I go to bed. Fingers are crossed.

Have a great day all!

Tuesdays Happenings

Nothing much.

The final season premiere of "LOST" is on TV tonight. I'll be watching that while the tamale meats are slowly cooking in the crock pots.

Krista continued her recovery at home today from her wisdom tooth extraction and her pulled back muscles. Kids do act differently when she's in the house.

T had to drink more sweet goo for her gestational diabetes test followup. Results next week.

B is at his monthly Scout meeting at the High School.

C begins her sessions with a tutor at Sylvan Learning Center tomorrow. Her Stats teacher quit this week and the sub knows even less about Stats than I do. Thank you to those who have offered your time and knowledge. If the tutor thing doesn't pan out, we'll be checking back.

Gogos are holding steady. Nothing new to report tonight except I put another one (see above) up for auction.

Me and my Gogo's Crazy Bones

I've been collecting Gogo's along side the boys. It gives us something in common to do together and it makes me look cool when I know what they're talking about.

Curiosity made me check out eBay to see what these things were selling for online. I was amazed! A "rare" figure had sold for over $60! A package of 3 brand-new figures and 3 stickers sells for $2 each. Of course, one doesn't know what's inside the package until after you buy it, but that's part of the fun! This company has a great marketing ploy!

I had two duplicate "rare" figures, so I decided to try my luck and see if I could sell these "rare" Gogo's with the stickers for more money than what I paid for them which was about 67 cents each. Within 2 hours, I had a bid on one for double my money. A day later, it's up to almost $3! There are 6 people watching it. I expect that by the time bidding ends on Friday night, I'll have made quite a profit. The other one took a bit longer to get that 1st bid, but it's up over $4 now.

I'll let you know what the final winning bid was on Friday night.