Lil' Sisters...Ya Gotta Love Em'

I'm amazed sometimes at the things kids will tell me when I start picking their brain. Whether it be my own grandkids, kids on my school bus, or even kids at the clinic,I've heard a lot of things I'm sure parents wish were never repeated. Just last week it was my job to occupy a nervous 5 yr. old while his mom got adjusted...so I started in on my "20 questions" mode. I found out at about question 19 that he had just spent the weekend fishing at his grandpa's, caught a really, really huge fish named a "Sunnie" that had something he called "bright blue gills" and it was so big that his daddy plopped that huge thing in the freezer and said they couldn't eat it cuz he was going to stuff the son of a gun and nail that sucker to a board of wood and hang it on the wall in his bedroom above his bed (his words exactly!). Wow! Anyway, last night I ran into a situation where too much information was presented without me even asking for it! I called Ryan's to talk to Delaney and Jillian about how their first day of school went. Delaney took my interview first and handled it just as only she would....typical first-born, methodical during my questions, great sentence structure in her responses, kept right on subject and I learned everything right down to her mid-morning snack. Next came Miss Jillian... and this is where the trouble began. Now, the one thing about Jillian that has always impressed me is her enthusiasm.... about EVERY single thing in life. Jillian is what I've always called our family "announcer". If you spend time with her, you'll notice alot of what she says is done in "announcement mode". For example, when all the cousins spend the night she'll come running into the room and announce very excitedly "Hey everybody, we GET to go to bed now!"...while all the others whine about it, or announce "Hey everybody, we get to eat supper now" while everyone else crabs about what we're having to eat. I think she became that way from her love of Dora and her Mom tells me that's what you see Dora doing in her DVD's. Whatever, I really love her spirit....this summer when she and I were teamed up in the run around the cabin with an egg on your spoon contest, we sorely lost. She came up and hugged me saying "That's alright Grandma cuz we did our best".... she just melts your heart. She's such a positive kid and I've always thought after spending time with her that I hope she can keep that attitude through her entire life cuz it will sure make her life alot easier. Anyway, back to the phone conversation. She was all over the map with my questions....and all of a sudden she starts telling me about a new desk Delaney got... and that the desk had lots of drawers...some with school supplies in them but one drawer was a private drawer for just Delaney.....which I took that she was not allowed to ever go into since they share a bedroom together. Then she said "I'm sitting at her desk right now Grandma and you wanna know a secret? I'll tell you one thing that Delaney keeps in her private drawer right now Grandma..." to which by the time I told her that wasn't a good idea she had already opened the drawer and spilled the beans! So now not only does Jillian know what's in Delaney's private drawer so does Grandma! And I swear, I didn't even ask!!! I'm sure they'll be alot more of that for these 2 sisters and sorta makes me remember my days at Camp Linda with my little sister Sheri. Dad built us two small rooms out of one larger upstairs room since we didn't get along sharing. He put a bathroom in the middle with a door on each end...and of course me being the older sister, I got to pick the room with the window facing the lake...she got the window facing the road :-(. My best guess is though, she being the more "Jillian" type and me being the more "Delaney" type, my private drawers were gone thru at time as well :-).

It's Been Awhile

Well school started yesterday and for the 1st time in many years I didn't saddle up in the big orange crate on wheels. I started driving when Ryan was in kindergarten and he's now 34, so that's been alot of 1st days of school for me delivering kids. Didn't really miss it a bit...trying to keep the windows defogged from the rainy morning, having sopping wet kids shake the rain off their backpacks in front of me, dealing with mothers who want to get on the bus and hand-pick their kid's seat for them and then stand in the doorway asking me questions I have no answer for since the District makes the decisions on timing and delivery locations......Nope ! Didn't miss it a bit! What I did get to do was meet the kids when they got off the bus....Well, all except for Katelyn, now an 8th grader, who has informed me "Gramma, don't ever do that...like that would be soooooooo embarrassing"! I also got to do what every Grandma wants do for her G-Kids after school... BAKE cookies and share a milk and cookie snack with them....listen to their stories of the 1st day. I've never gotten to do that either...not even with my own kids since I drove bus every afternoon of their entire school careers. It was fun...up until Cooper asked me "So Gramma, whatcha cookin' us for supper then? I want ham and baked beans!".....hummm....better stock up on groceries, find some new recipes and start using my new kitchen :-)

My Version of .....

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus....

Today is our 2nd anniversary (yes, the one Richard responded "5 yrs." when asked how long we had been married) which caused me to reflect on how each of us has changed in the 4 yrs. we've known each other. Ya know the saying how "soon you'll just be like any other old married couple"....well yesterday, I realized how true it had even become for us. Richard is a weather freak. Knows the forecast for each day before it comes by heart. Must come from being a news route man, BUT ever since I've met him, I've never really had to watch the weather. Every single wake-up call he gives me daily at 5:30 AM includes his weather worries/or pleasure. Even Ria called me once on a trek down to the cities to ask what Richard said the weather was going to turn out like. He could be Mike Lynch's right-hand man on WCCO. It's caused a few arguments cuz I'm more of the attitude "Richard, can you do ANYTHING about it? NO.... so just quit worrying about it and get to sleep"....to which he responds "OH Man, I'm going to have to double bag and seal every single paper I throw tommorrow morning"......to which I respond "OMG Shut-up and go to sleep". So yesterday, on our way home from the Flea Market in DL I'm analyzing our conversation...it went like this:

Sandi: Gosh, I'm so confused on how I should paint the living room... should I stripe the walls? If so, how wide do you think the stripes should be?

Richard: Man, look up ahead...see those 4 perfectly formed white thunderclouds? See how even they are spaced apart? Just perfect for the storm we are supposed to get. (Mind you, these clouds are so far in the distance... like way by Bismarck somewhere, yet he can see them... I can't really)

10 mn later...

Sandi: Can we stop at Menards? I want to check out some paint colors for the living room... I'm thinking I will go with those stripes..... maybe in a nice khaki.

Richard: Wow...those thunderheads have really stretched out...see how they are now sorta connected? Sposed to get a couple of inches of rain by tommorrow morning.. wonder if I'll pour cement or not due to the weather.

5 mn later...

Sandi: So...look...Country Furniture is having a going out of business sale...I want new living room furniture...do you think we should just get 4 chairs or do you need a sofa to sit on?

Richard: Man, the upper winds must have switched now..see how those clouds have straightened out now and have points on the end of them? That means the upper winds have switched to the North like they said they would.. yet the lower winds here on the ground are still stiff from the south.. must be gusts up to 30mph.

10 mn later...

Sandi: OK then... so it's four chairs instead of a couch with striped walls in a nice khaki and white to go along with the scalloped wall trim we bought earlier this summer...wow thanks for helping me decided honey (to which he has no idea of what I'm even deciding since he hasn't listened to a word I said while he's concentrated on his "clouds".)

Richard: We better hurry home...the storms are coming sooner than they said it looks like...see how they've changed color? There might be hail in them clouds....

And so life goes on...the old married couple...one planning a living room in her mind and the other still worrying about the weather.

Happy Anniversary to my old married man.

Great Find!

Right after we moved back, Ria's kids were over checking out our new home. One of the first things Cooper said to me was "Oh yeah! Now we can have easter egg hunts around the little lake again!" It just made my day that he had remembered the tradition we had when I lived here 4 yrs ago as he would have only been age 3 and 4 back then. I got an even better surprise when unpacking boxes the other day, I came across this picture...haven't seen it in 4 yrs as there were several boxes I had not ever unpacked down in the cities. We even had one that year when there was still ice on the lake! Look how little Kennedy was! Can't wait til next spring when we can do it again and cousins Delaney, Jillian and Elliott (aka Joe-Bud) can join in the fun with us!

Ya Never Know.....

So Mom, do you recognize the lady in the picture? I took Richard to his first RedHawks game on Sunday Afternoon and guess who we sat right by? She's IN LOVE with Hawkeye she says... going to have her 80th birthday party in October....fun to see old neighbors from my childhood. Richard thought the game was a gas and was thinking he should get a job working there next summer....hummmm....until he saw the ushers had to dance on top of the dug-outs between innings...luckily, his workaholic nature evaporated right there. He also had another "first" on Saturday night. Since I had made plans with gal-pals down at the lakes, he was solo for the first time on a night off from the Forum --- about Thursday he asked me if I knew where the town of "Lisbon" in some county called "Ransom" was out in ND somewhere..... of course I chuckled and told him "ya, you betcha". Turns out he was going to head down to the Ransom County Fair and attend their demolition derby, since we had just been to his yearly favorite one down in Farmington the weekend before. So I head off to Pelican Lake, while he heads west out of Fargo. Soon I get a call... he's lost... asks me if I've heard of the town of Kindred and Leonard...seems he thought a shortcut down County Rd. 18 out of Casselton would be the quickest way... as I'm telling him "doesn't Highway 46 just take off from I-94 and take you straight to Lisbon?" He's not sure... so I call my Mom since that's her hometown...but she's gone. When I arrive in Comormant I get another call telling me he's in a darling little town he called "ENDERLING".... to which I just had to chuckle thinking my Dad must be laughing his head off up in heaven somewhere...anyway, he made it to the derby...was disappointed they only had 17 cars compared to the 110 they had in the Cities but said I was certainly right when I warned him all he was going to find out there was cowboys and indians....

He's 34 Today - The Reigning Wild Marsh Golf Champ!

So I'm sitting there sipping my coffee around 7 AM on this day off from the clinic remembering 34 yrs. ago today when this handsome young man arrived in my world. All of a sudden this great commercial comes on of this young dude, about 13 yrs. old with curly, light blondish-brownish hair, standing in front of a mirror in his new school clothes admiring himself all while practicing his come-in line to the girls the first day of junior high school... and I couldn't help but crack a laugh thinking of how much it reminded me of Ryan at that age...and realizing too how much that young man sorta looked like Carter and how quickly Carter & Cooper would be in that stage of life...I think it was a K-Mart commercial...whatever, it's one that'll make you smile. All of a sudden another commercial comes on...and I'm thinking as I'm watching it "hey now that lady is living the life that I was born to live"...she's driving her light blue fancy convertible down an oceanfront road with her hair in a scarf and her big sunglasses on with her cute white puppy hanging out the back seat...wow... that's the life I thought. Haven't quite gotten there yet, but guess there is always hope. After all, my baby boy is only 34 yrs. old today! Happy, Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ya know you're in North Dakota when....

Last week I had my first experience with that true feeling of "oh yeah, ya bectcha I'm back" in North Dakota when closing the clinic up one afternoon. We offered massage therapy back in Chaska as we do here in Fargo. When patients would call for massage work back in the metro they'd be very specific..... requesting a swedish massage, a reflexology massage, or a myofascial release massage or even a hot stone massage. This is the phone call I received from an individual here in Fargo ! "HEY yeah...ummmm lady... do umm... you got that girl there still?" I'm now thinking does he mean the female chiropractor? so I say "Excuse me sir?" and he goes on to say "yeah, you know that girl you guys got over there.. .you know the one that does that back-scratchin?"......to which I had to put him on hold so I could get my belly laugh out!