jAnUaRy 8

Monday morning. The girls and waffles, with homemade whipped cream, syrup and blueberries! Did I mention how much I love being a grandma? They weren't here too terribly long before their Dad came to get them and the Mr. and I were left to our own devices. Wandering into the office after they were gone, I surveyed all of my half finished projects, now arranged around the room in a loose sort of order. That is to say, that last week I did some reorganizing, and although the room is not tidy, at least my project pieces are not scattered all over the place. The puzzles are with the puzzles, the paint by number is off to the side, my glues are all in one place. My musical accessories (tuner, capo, finger picks, etc) are all together on my desk, with the guitar nearby, although I haven't played in a very long time. The jewelry stuff is all put away under the desk, hidden away for now. I don't know if I will ever make jewelry again. Maybe when the girls are older and want to learn how to make things. My paper cutting project for the TPCC village church is all one place, complete with all the tiny cutouts. I have been careful not to lose those, because I am looking forward to the day I can complete that one. But that day is not today. Today I am gluing all these puzzles to puzzle boards. I am tired of having these giant puzzles on top of my dresser, always getting bumped and in danger of being destroyed because I haven't done anything to preserve them. I suppose I could put them back in the box, but where is the fun in that? Also today I will be assembling the Christmas photos I took into the frames that will house them. 

So I put on some pretty guitar music and got to work. And I must say it was very satisfying to get some things off of my hobby plate. The two puzzles are now safe to move around and maybe stack against the wall until I can hang them? Where? There is no wall space in my house? Hmmm...The pictures are in their frames and looking pretty spiffy. 

Then I got out my paint by number and painted until I got a phone call from Katie asking me to get the girls. She had an appointment at the dentist, she said. So the girls came to our house for a couple of hours. The dental appointment turned into something more serious and she went from a hurting tooth to an abcess, with tooth removal and a bone graft, and a root canal in two weeks. She looked like a sad little chipmunk when I saw her next. The girls came upstairs to the bedroom and took off their backpacks and shoes. The TV hadn't come on yet nor had dinner been made. Claire had asked if they could play with the kinetic sand on the office table. I sighed. Such a mess. But I had promised last time they came over that I would let them play next time they came over and that time was now. So I said yes, of course. Claire, who was across the room spread her hands out and bounded over to me and then the most unexpected and beautiful words from that six year old little girls. Thank you, Lord, for such a beautiful day! she said, and then gave me a big squeezy hug. I love you, Grandma! she said. Both the Mr. and I were touched and amazed at the depth this child shows. She shows understanding of who God is. Obviously she is talking to Him, because that was a prayer directed above, not just mindless childhood chatter. Certainly she hears me thanking God all the time and she is listening. Maybe she is imitating me. That's not a bad thing if that is what she is learning. As a matter of fact I find it lovely. There are worse things she could pick up on. 

Did I mention how much I love those two little girls? 

So I was hosting the ladies for Bible study the next morning. I spent most of the time after the girls left getting ready for that. The house was pretty clean. The kitchen was spotless. I even had a few minutes to make a breakfast casserole. It was all going so well. Until it wasn't. The ladies were at the door and all of a sudden things erupted in a chaotic explosion of loud voices and emotion and tears and door slamming. As the ladies came in the explosion was exiting out the back door with some not very nice words and it was at the very moment that the dog decided to take a dump on the living room floor. 

What. The. Heck! 

With a very heavy sigh I cleaned up the doggy doo and apologized to the ladies. Fortunately they are very down to earth and a little yelling and dog poop didn't phase them. We had a good study and the breakfast casserole was out of this world. We ate every bite. Later on amends were made with the angry one. But it was a long emotional day before those amends were made. She came home with her friends and made homemade French onion soup for them. She came upstairs crying because just as it was ready they left. They just...left. After she spent all the money on the groceries to cook and the effort to cook it all, they just...left. She even had it served up in the bowls, just out of the oven. They just...didn't care to stay, I guess.

I was so mad at them...How thoughtless. She asked if we wanted any and we were hungry, so we said absolutely! Her French onion soup is legendary. I don't even like French onion soup, but I love hers. So we had a great dinner and poop on those boys that couldn't stay long enough to enjoy it. 

For some reason, despite the fact that I slept very badly last night I woke up in a fantastic mood this morning. I had nothing to do, nowhere to go. The house was clean so I had no housework to do. It was raining outside so I sat in the office and did some more Bible study. I had planned on working on the Paint by Number, but Katie sent me a text that Dollar General was having a 70% off sale, and so you know I had to go. And I did. And I spent. 75$ worth of 70% off stuff, that I really don't need. But how could I resist? To be fair not all of it was for me. I saw some things that I know Katie uses that were on Clearance, so I got her a couple of things. And the Christmas was discounted, too, so how could I not take advantage of that? 

I really intended to get some more stuff done today, but in the end I fell asleep in my chair. And tomorrow I will be cooking all day. I still haven't cooked anything for Dad and my time is up. We will be seeing him on Saturday morning and woe is me if I show up without the sausage balls! 

I did see the girls for a couple of minutes today. Katie pulled up to the curb to get the things I had bought her at DG, along with some stuffed animals for the girls. I leaned in and Katie said Claire has learned a new song, Grandma, do you want to hear it? You know it! Of course I do? I leaned in a little further, not sure what she was going to sing. I thought it might be something from school, or something she heard off of the radio...however I was not expecting...I'm Henry the 8th, I am, I am...And she knew every single word. I looked at her little tan toothless face as she sang with great glee, and heard Katie joining in. I looked at Arya's precious little face and it occurred to me that a month from today she will be nine years old. It doesn't get any better than this. And in the words of Claire. Thank you, Lord for such a beautiful day.