Cold Stone Creamery

It comes as no surprise that Baby Boy likes ice cream!

Wet Wednesday

It was rainy this morning, but being the hardy sorts we headed out anyway.

The Grand Traverse Lighthouse is gorgeous. I love it there.


Seems like Baby Boy liked it too.

Grand Traverse Lighthouse

Yes. The lighthouse is a fabulous place.

But the beauty all around it certainly out did the lighthouse!

I absolutely love lilacs. Coming here, I got to enjoy them twice. Once in my own neighborhood, and once again up here, where they are in full bloom.

It smells WONDERFUL.

Wednesday Morning

This morning was rainy.

We drove up the east coast of the Leelanau peninsula.

Son-in-law shot these pictures in the town of Northport and at the Grand Traverse Lighthouse.

What beauty, all around us!

Pool Time

Tonight ended with a dip in the pool.

Son-in-law, Daughter, and Baby Boy too!


Baby Boy seemed to like the pool water better than the water in the bay.
He's really good at floating!
I think somebody is going to sleep well tonight!

Tonight at the Bay

Tonight was warm.

We went back to our private beach.

This is the West Bay of Grand Traverse Bay, on the Mission peninsula.


Baby Boy enjoyed all the love.


THGGM tried to wear him like a hat, which Baby Boy delighted in.
Notice that Baby Boy is wearing the outfit his grandpa bought for him.

He wasn't too sure about the water though.

The rock behind them appears in pictures we have of our children swimming in the bay.

The water was deeper then.

Company!

Look who came to see us today!

Baby Boy and his mommy and daddy!
Today we went to Sleeping Bear Dunes.

I ran on ahead (hahahahaha).

THGGM has Baby Boy. Daughter has the stroller. Son-in-law is in the background taking pictures of bugs and flowers (which, by the way, turned out fabulous!)
The weather changed every 15 minutes.

Humidity. Fog. Cold. Thunder. Rain. Sun. Heat.

We had it all!
The views were beautiful! We had been to Sleeping Bear Dunes many times, and every time the weather has been different. But this was the first time it all happened within a few hours.

It was really a gorgeous day to be out and about.

Cute Barn

We passed this painted barn yesterday. Today
we drove back so I could get a picture of it.

I can't be sure, but it looked like migrant
housing in the middle of an orchard.

Behind the barn were a flock of fancy looking
chickens and some small goats.

Memoriable Morning

This morning was much like any morning we would have had at home.
THGGM needed a cell-phone charger because he left his in Illinois.
I cannot recall how many places we went to try to buy one, but after many wild-goose chases (stores not open, not where we were told they were, didn't have it) he found one.

Plugged it into the car-jack only to discover that it doesn't work. Neither of them.

Went back and got the kind that plug into the wall. That seems to be working, so if you were expecting a call from us and didn't get one, that's why.

All that stress (haha) caused me to need to draw. There's a Micheal's
right down the street from us, and I remembered to bring my 50% off coupon.

So, I am in the lovely air-conditioning (it is TOO hot to be outside right now) drawing while THGGM relaxes at the pool.

Can you tell that we are missing Baby Boy?

I couldn't resist this book!

And Grandpa couldn't resist
the already on-sale plus an extra 20% off outfit.

For being a resort town on a holiday, we were the only people in the kid's store in the mall.

We made friends with the helpful sales woman.

They had a shirt with a crab on it, and the word "Crabby". THGGM pointed it out to me and said "Oh, look hon, maybe they have this in your size!"

Without missing a beat she responded "No. We don't. But we have it in YOUR'S."

I liked her. Maybe we will have to go back and get the crabby shirt for Baby Boy. Although, I've never seen him crabby.

And, for the record. I AM NOT CRABBY! I'm just an INTJ who thinks the world would run a bit smoother if people (who?) would just buy the cell-phone charger in their own hometown! You know, where we KNOW where the store is located.

On the First Day of My Vacation...

Here we have The Husband God Gave Me being a human sundial.

Notice. It is about five past my sandals.

Time to go back to the hotel and watch the "Law and Order" marathon. Oh goody. If you know me, you know that I do not LIKE "Law and Order". It ends right when I want it to start.

But, there is wireless in this hotel. Youngest Son graciously let me bring his laptop so I could put my pictures on it. What a nice surprise to be able to have wireless, so I can have something I enjoy doing while he watches the marathon. (and, i do not have to hold the laptop over my head and aim it just a little past the ice cream shop to have it connect - oh, those little blessings!)

Tonight we ate at Shelde's. THGGM had steak and shrimp. I had a stuffed chicken breast. It was stuffed with crabmeat and asparagus and had a lovely cheese sauce.

We are trying to decide if we want to go to the fort in Mackinac City tomorrow to watch the reenactment of an Indian raid during a lacrosse game (we saw this while on our honeymoon) or, stay in air-conditioning. It will be 90 and very humid here tomorrow. I don't do well in heat. And THGGM feels that if you've seen 300 marauding Indians once in your life, that's enough.

Just Two and One Half Hours from Home

Woods for me,
Beach for him!
Flowers in the sand for me.







Notice the closeness of the beach to the woods.

Oh, what a lovely vacation!

This is the very beautiful Mission peninsula on Memorial Day weekend.

A deserted public beach on Grand Traverse Bay.

It was 91 degrees on our car thermometer when we began driving out on the peninsula. At this beach, it read 61 degrees.

I just CANNOT understand why no one else was there.

Not that I minded!

The Differences We've Reconciled

Most assuredly, this will not include as many as the differences we haven't reconciled. Human nature being what it is, and all.

It would be remiss if I were to lead you to believe that it has been an easy journey, this twenty-eight years of living with THGGM.

Maybe that's been the biggest reconciler of all. Knowing that God gave him to me. And, I am not holding that against God.

It has also helped that we went to years of counseling. Years. It was most helpful.

But, I truly believe that one of the biggest helps for us was realizing the differences in our personalities. I am an Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judge (meyer/briggs type indicator) THGGM is an Extroverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiver.

The Introvert/Extrovert is the difference that drove me to distraction when we were first married. THGGM could not - absolutely could not - stay home. We were running running running right up until we had three children and not enough hands to corral them all. I crashed and burned. At home, he was dull and tired and seemed sullen. But then we would go out, and he was all happy, energetic and talkative. I was happy, energetic and talkative at home. When we went out, I was the dull, tired and sullen seeming one. Knowing this was just a personality trait helped us to deal with this.

All of our fun and most of our faults lie in that iNtuitive letter 'N'. We both LOVE to dream. Our minds are loaded with ideas. We both fall down on this one all the time. And, this one also lifts us up! We 'know things' but we don't know how we know them, we just do.

The Thinking/Feeling difference is a strange one for us too. Generally, men are the thinkers and women the feelers. Not so for us. Once, while watching a truly horrid movie, I leaned over to whisper in THGGM's how sappy I thought it was. He was sobbing. Oh yes, he would agree that it was sappy, but that didn't stop the tears. Anyway, it really showed up on the day our grandson was born. Son-in-law came out with Baby Boy and handed him to me. My first response was a thought - 'This is my grandson!' THGGM could not even hold him, he was crying so hard. His first response was a feeling - 'I'm overwhelmed with love for this child!' I'm not mocking him, I wish I COULD feel stuff the way he does. But, I can't.

The Judging/Perceiving one is another roadblock to the supposed 'happy life'. I think things 'should' be done a certain way. He likes to fly by the seat of his pants. He's spontaneous. I want a schedule. Although, we have learned a lot. He is now following a strict budget, and financial spontaneity is out the window for good. I've laid back a bit more, but I do think that is due more to medication than to any sort of growth on my part. I've a looooong way to go.

Tomorrow we are off to a much needed vacation. One with equal parts beach/woods and mall/quaint shops. And a whole lot of antique shopping. We are heading in the same direction that we went on our honeymoon. North. Twenty-eight years ago it was also a Saturday. We plan to come back the day after my birthday, just like we did then.

And, I still can't find our wedding pictures.

I Seem to Have Misplaced My Mind, and My Wedding Pictures

Can I vent here?

Of course I can. It's MY blog.

Some idiot (me) put our wedding pictures somewhere.

I do not know where.

I cannot find them ANYWHERE! (yes...a dr. seuss-ish poem would be great here, but i am too too ornery to write one!)

My plan was to photograph this very nice wedding picture of THGGM and myself all thin and happy.

And young.

Nineteen to be exact.

But, alas, this is not to be.

I can tell you where they are not.

They are not in any of the eleven suitcases I stack as tables and use for storage.

They are not on any of the seven new bookcases we purchased this year.

They are not in the shiny pink dresser. That is empty and in the garage.

They are not in any of the six old wooden boxes, nor are they in the two cabinets we recently purchased.

Not in either of the buffets in the dining room, nor in any of the four drawers under the windows.

They aren't in the bookcases on either side of the fireplace. Nope. I've looked at least 10 times today.

I even looked in the dresser we use to store stuff in in the kitchen. They were in there, not all that long ago - when the dresser was in the living room.

I have looked high and low, deep and wide, inright outright upright downright.

I cannot find them.

Presently I am really mad at the idiot (me) who misplaced them.

THGGM spent a pleasant evening on his porch swing.

I spent the evening unearthing all sorts of goodies, but none of them our wedding pictures.

It's our 28th wedding anniversary today.

Where could those pictures be?!

Your Friendly 'Seven Months Until Christmas' Reminder

Yes. It's true. Only seven months until Christmas.

This year I did not put my Christmas idea books away.

They take up the bottom shelf of the book case in the den (books one looks at for ideas), and a shelf in the living room (books one reads).

I left some of them in the bathroom where I can see them several times a day and be reminded of what I hope to make.

Today I plan to start my shopping. I want to get some hardwood blocks for Baby Boy.

I'll most likely need to sell something to buy them, but he is worth it!

If all else fails, I suppose I could let him play with my "Merry Christmas" blocks!

What I Did This Weekend

THGGM had Friday off. The weekend began for us Friday morning. He went to the doctor, who is sending him to a sleep clinic in hopes that his snoring can be stopped by some other way than me killing him in the night. After the doctor, we went thrift shopping, where I bought Baby Boy a very nice copy of "Rolie Polie Olie" for a quarter.

Friday night was Craft Night at my church. I made more of these pins. I actually wanted to stamp, but I had just sorted all of that stuff back to it's proper place and the thought of messing it up again caused me to deeply desire not to.

Saturday morning I got up early to go to work. After work, we went to breakfast with Baby Boy and his family. He was very talkative at breakfast!


After breakfast we went shopping for flowers for our front porch. THGGM spends his summer free time on the porch. Usually, we plant our own baskets But this year we bought quite a few.







Saturday we had family over, including family visiting from Wisconsin. We had a WONDERFUL time. They met Baby Boy for the first time. And, he was incredibly charming.



After church THGGM and I strolled through a local antique mall. I found this darling 'baby' pillowcase. I now must search for the perfect place to put it.

Sunday night we went to our Care Group. I don't think there could be a better way to end a great weekend than to spend it with a small group of delightful people.

Sprinkled in among all of our weekend activities was WAY too much in the way of ooey gooey desserts. My blood sugar is much higher than my IQ.

I'm tired. Baby Boy comes to play in an hour. Must get more coffee.

Now it's your turn. What did YOU do this weekend?

Five Things MEME

Oshee tagged me for this!

Five Things in My (husband's) Car:
(i do not have a car)

Map of Antique Stores in Michigan
Prescriptions
Navy Blue Purse (must have fallen out of box going to thrift store)
Diet Coke
Pennies

Five Things in My Purse:

Key Chain Boggle Game
Calligraphy Pens
List of Books I Want
Emergency Phone Numbers
List of My Parent's Medications

Five Things in My Closet:

Norman Rockwell Plates
Service for Sixteen Luncheon Set
Franklin Mint Animals
Two Black Beaded Dresses from Oldest Son's Wedding and Daughter's Wedding
One Red Slipper (the other one has to be SOMEWHERE!)

Five Things in My Fridge:

Chicken Salad
Potato Salad
Lemon Fruit Pizza
Lots of Yogurt
Vanilla Creamer in a Baby Bottle

Five Things in My Head:

Grocery List
Plans for a Shadow Box
Happy Thoughts
VBS Craft Ideas
Handful of Brain Cells

Feel Free to Tag Yourself!

And if you do, leave a link in the comments.

Porch Swinging

THGGM had Friday off.

This means he got to spend some time swinging on the porch with Baby Boy.

I'm not sure who enjoys it more!

Now What Am I Supposed to Do with It?

Dear Somerset Studio and all of your magazine spinoffs,

First off, I must tell you that I LOVE your magazines! I do not always like the art, but I ALWAYS learn something that I find very useful. ALWAYS. I save every issue. I treasure them.

Okay. Now here is my dilemma.

What am I supposed to do with all of the stuff you inspired me to make?

In the years that I have known you, I have made shadow boxes, paperdolls, shrink plastic pins, book necklaces, tiles, scrapbooks, paper crowns and hundreds of cards, just to name a few.

I've also labeled just about everything I own with Scrabble tiles, and have altered books, pictures and games. And how could I forget the paper purses and paper baby shoes?

But, I don't know what to DO with all of this stuff!

Of course, I've given it as gifts, I'm only talking about what I'm left with!

It is overflowing. Overflowing. OVERFLOWING I tell you!

There was a time when I thought I might have to get rid of one of my children just to have enough room to hold all of my works of art.

But, I couldn't decide which one to get rid of, and then they moved out.

Not so with my art projects! They reproduce like rabbits!

One paper crown begets two paper crowns, and those turn into ideas for altered board books, which require that I have a bunch of artsy stuff always on hand.

You have devoted issues to the organized art studio which I have followed to a tee. But, these people apparently knew what to do with their finished art work.

I haven't a clue.

Please. Devote an issue to what one should do with what one has made before I have to go out and purchase a backyard storage shed to keep it all in.

PLEASE!

I BEG you!

And now I am off to carve my own stamps...

For Him:

For him:

I will sing all the verses of "The Wheels on the Bus"

I will smack my head during "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"

I will read all of "Green Eggs and Ham" and will not skip ahead

i will walk when I would rather rock

I will allow fingers entwined in my hair

I will suck the thumb I'm offered

I will accept drooly kisses

I will 'buzz' my lips until I hyperventilate

I will pray without ceasing

Never Try This

In my post below, I mentioned that I had a piano to polish. I write this for all who have or will ever have to polish a piano.

This piano is a Yamaha grand with a SATIN finish. Please do not ever buy one. Oh yes, the sound is AMAZING. But do not ever get one with a satin finish.

I do not know why it is called a satin finish, it should be called 'even angels passing through will leave greasy finger prints which will not be able to be removed except with large amounts of really expensive polish which can only be purchased at piano shops'. The name would be cumbersome, but truth in advertising should always come first. Or, it could simply be called the 'satan' finish.

My church bought the afore mentioned piano many many years ago. I hear it was a great deal.
I know why.

Now, what brings this up.

A few weeks back, someone was watching the movie "Pretty Woman" at my house. I have only seen the somewhat cleaned up version of that movie, and I cannot watch it. Because of that scene in the hotel lobby where Edward and Vivian 'do it' on the grand piano.

Aside from all that is appalling with this movie, I cannot watch it because...

OF THE PIANO.

Yuck.

If just picking up a piece of sheet music can leave fingerprints that take Herculean effort to remove... Oh, just the thought causes me to scream.

Yes. "Pretty Woman". Rated "R" for Random Acts of Repulsive Grossness to a piano.

Hopefully, it did not have the satin finish. I'd like to think that it was sprayed down with copious amounts of penicillin and bleach.

And then tossed into the trash.

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day began with me waking up to the too loud sounds of NPR radio. It began like every other day.

Did I get breakfast in bed, you might ask? No. I made my self a cup of coffee and guzzled it down while standing in the kitchen. I still had work to do. Eleven glass doors to wash nextdoor, and a piano to polish.

It was an exciting morning. Baby Boy was being dedicated at church. I was in the nursery.

After church, 23 people came to our home for dinner. We had a 'taco bar' and it went over very well. THGGM, who has been ill all weekend, still took the time to make his specialty for dessert. Fruit Pizza.

A highlight of the day for me was holding Baby Boy while he slept. I have held Baby Boy while he sleeps for almost every day of his life, but it was special on Mother's Day. Last year on Mother's Day we had just found out about him.

Another highlight was when Oldest Son and Daughter-in-law called from Illinois. Last Mother's Day we had a college graduation openhouse for them.

My mother seemed to have a good Mother's Day. My sister got her this really cool hat. I took a lot of pictures of her posing in it. It looked great on my dad too, but he made sure not to get his picture taken in it.

At 10:30 I met up with THGGM in the kitchen. He was making his lunch for today. I was making the coffee for today. I realized that except for passing him in doorways, I hadn't seen him much. I inquired about his health. He still felt icky. We realized that we hadn't eaten since 2:00.

There were two pieces of fruit pizza left. We ate them.

Next year on Mother's Day, I want a large travel mug of hot coffee brought to me in bed. I want a bouquet of dandelion's in a juice glass on the tray. I want two brown sugar cinnamon poptarts WITH FROSTING and an apple. Then, turn around and leave me there with a stack of magazines and a book of short stories.

It was a GOOD Day, and I am quite sure that by next year I will want to do it again.

Quite sure, yet not totally convinced.

Finally

I finally finished "The Genesee Diary". Finally, I say, because the book kept disappearing! The culprit was THGGM, who kept putting it in Youngest Son's book drawer. I found it last night and finished the little bit I had left.

Of course, I could never be a Trappist Monk, but that did not stop me from drawing deeply from this book (perhaps there may be monkettes?).

I was going to list a few of the things I enjoyed so much from this book, but there are just too many. I did skip over a few things that just did not interest me, but I dog-earred so many pages that the book no longer closes. I bought it used - which I always enjoy - because it only cost me a dime and it came with many of the good parts underlined.

When I was about halfway through the book, I flipped to the back to read the conclusion. I do that a lot with nonfiction books. I enjoyed that so much. Below are the first two paragraphs of the conclusion.




Run out and get yourself a copy of this. You don't have to agree with everything. But I think you will find much value in it.