We're (Almost) Famous

The Saint Paul Pioneer Press published this story I sent in today's edition.

"Writes GRANDMA JODY:The Little Treasures, New Millennium Style:
All the talk about cowboy hats brought back a sweet memory for me as well. This is a picture of grandsons Nate and Jake on Christmas 2006. I bought the boys 'cowboy' pajamas, harmonicas, pop guns and stick ponies, and had the hardest time trying to find old fashioned felt cowboy hats! My daughter Molly sent this picture out as New Years Cards with the caption 'Have a Rootin' Tootin' New Year!' "

A Big Old Lump of Coal

After all the planning, shopping, wrapping and cooking that has gone into getting ready for Christmas, I missed it! I was visited by the Grinch of Holiday Present, A.K.A. The Flu. I woke on the 24th with a cough and chills, and it all went downhill from there. I got out of bed about 5 minutes before the kids came over on Christmas morning for brunch and to open presents. I didn't feel good enough to wait for the egg bake to be finished , so for the first time in history I let the kids open their presents before breakfast. I then crawled back to the couch and then onward to bed. I planned on taking family pictures, but didn't. I planned on playing with the kids with their new toys, but didn't. I planned on chatting with Emily in Mexico, but I didn't. I even planned on having everyone stay for the big pot of homemade spaghetti, but they didn't. In fact the only thing I did in the last 4 days was lie prone with alternating fever, chills, aches, cough, and a KILLER headache! BUT, I did receive very nice gifts this year: a black patent leather Coach purse from my dad and Twylla; a red patent wallet from Diane; a Kindle from Bob; an installed home security system from Molly and Jeff; and a new portrait camera lens from Patrick, Sarah,Emily,Hannah,and Zach. So Thank You to all! And I shared this very nasty flu with Jill, Hannah, and Diane. You're Welcome! But this too shall pass...

A Very Full Weekend

Sophie and Luke came to visit on Friday. During the day Sophie and I played dollhouse while Luke was at school and Sarah and Hannah went Christmas shopping. (That is my playmobil doppleganger napping on the floor.) Sophie and I went with Jake and Diane to a pizza place for lunch. Poor Luke begged for Sarah to "mark him absent." But Luke came over after school and had an opportunity to chat with Emily in Mexico (via gmail. For clarification, emilykippels is Emily and me is Luke typing by himself. Note the intelligent banter between the 24 year old Fulbright Scholar and the 5 year old boy.):
Dec 17
6:19 PM me: luke
emilykippels: emily
6:20 PM me: poop
emilykippels: pee
me: sophie
emilykippels: tigger bigger
6:21 PM me: poop
emilykippels: haha
me: catpoop
6:22 PM emilykippels: (grandma needs to help ith this one): diarrhea
6:23 PM me: dogpoop
emilykippels: eeeeeew
And on and on.....
On Saturday we had our Christmas at Dad and Twylla's with the whole family (minus Emily). The kids were very excited to open presents as were certain adults who shall remain nameless (AHEM,Jeff,Brian,Michael and Dean) and brought our normal orderly opening of gifts to a screeching halt. In the end. everyone got what they wanted, Twylla had fun shopping for sparkly things (like the dress Hannah is holding),Dad got to play cribbage,the "boys" got their annual underwear and socks, and everyone there had a full tummy when they left. All is good.
On Sunday Jake and Max came over while Nathan played in a BB tournament. Jake and I made chocolate covered pretzel rods and Jake and Max played Veterinarian (note the kitty with Dr.Jake.) We also watched Spiderman for the billionth time. Jeff and Molly brought home lunch. Thanks Audettes. And Nate got to stay over for the day. He spent a lot of time with Hannah and Zach and Tigger to his utter delight. (He mugged for the camera to make Hannah and his dad laugh) Also Zach, Nate and I played UNO. We told him the loser gets attacked with the canister of pepper spray, and when I lost he was more than eager to get me, and more than a little disappointed to find out we were only kidding! Wow!

SNOWMAGEDDON

Why I hate love Minnesota.

"But I Don't Want To See Santa Claus"

It was an outing weeks in the making. First I shopped 'til I dropped looking for just the right outfit for Sophie to wear to see Santa. Sparkly red/green/silver tights. Check. To-die-for soft faux fur jacket from Gymboree. Check. "I Love Santa" T-shirt to match. Check. Then we had to wait for Grandpa to clear time in his schedule to go with us because grandma doesn't do Minneapolis. And Sophie had to have a day off school. Finally today was the day. I was soooo excited. I asked Sarah to bring her over in her pajamas so I could dress her. So far, so good. She ate breakfast, changed into her Santa clothes, and excitedly got in the car. We parked at downtown Macy's and took the elevator to the main floor. Everyone stopped to comment on her outfit and she didn't even ask to be held. So far, so good. We went to the 8th floor auditorium and decided to skip seeing the exhibit and just get in the line to see Santa. So far, so good. She liked looking at the other kids waiting with her. It was finally her turn. We walked through the red velvet curtain and went in. There was the Jolly Old Elf himself! Oh Oh!!! We hadn't asked Sophie if she wanted to do this and she was having none of it. In a panic, I sat by Santa. Then I cajoled. Grandpa begged. Santa schmoozed and gave her a button to wear. Nope! Finally I just picked her up and set her on his lap. I thought she might cry, but instead she froze. Wouldn't look at Santa - or me. Wouldn't talk to him - or me. After waiting and pleading (TICK TOCK TICK TOCK) and getting glares from the elf with the camera, we just took the pictures and left. We got back in line to go through Elf Land thinking it would give us time to talk her into trying it again. Slowly, slowly we inched forward in line. "Grandma, I don't want to see Santa" Sophie said over and over again. She LOVED the elves making candy and mailing packages and trimming trees, but kept on repeating her mantra. Finally at the end of the line where you get cattled through a toy store and a bakery,I asked her if she would like a cupcake, and then we'd go see him. A BIG YES to the cupcake, but as it turned out, a BIG NO to Santa! So bottom line: hours of shopping- $I can't admit it; parking in the ramp-$9; one lousy cupcake with red frosting and sprinkles- $2.50; an adventure with my only granddaughter- priceless! Maybe next year we'll get that million dollar smile. Afterward, we met Diane for lunch because that outfit was just too good to waste. She blabbered on and on about Macy's and the elves. And on the way out we saw my Aunt Janet and Uncle Jim and she had a new audience to blabber to. ( Bonus. I even ended up getting an acceptable picture out of the bunch.)

Tigger the Great

(Back-story: Our almost 14 year old cat Tigger has been feeling out of sorts lately. He was having issues with his litterbox which were driving Bob crazy. We tried new food, new litter, and a new litterbox. Nothing helped. Last Wednesday Bob and Hannah took him in after he looked like he was feeling worse. They did all sorts of tests, to the tune of $300, and came to the conclusion that he had diabetes and needed insulin. He also has heart arrhythmia. On Friday we had to take him in again because he hadn't left his bed for 2 days. No eating. No litterbox. No spirits. The vet tested his urine again and didn't find what she thought she's see. Right now it's up in the air whether he actually has diabetes or not. )
Today, FINALLY, he seems better. He reached up to put his hand on my cheek when I greeted him. He groomed himself. He walked out of his basket on his own four feet and stopped to get a bite to eat. I feel the need to tell everyone right now what an amazing cat he is and how lucky we are to have him. We got Tigger when our neighbors, the Sandbakkens, had a new litter in March of 1997. We chose the runt of the 3 with the expectation that he was a she. As it turned out, Daisy was really a Tigger. He always was a friendly cat, purring with little provocation. He was our first family pet. In August of the same year, his mom had kittens again. We decided to take another one because the kids were going back to school and we were working and thought Tigger would be lonely. We got a black tabby this time so we could tell them apart. We knew this kitten was a pet for Tigger, and we named her Tigger's Shadow. Tigger and Shadow were inseparable right from the beginning. Shadow used to find Tigger and curl up next to him. We would walk in on them and say "Oh, look, how cute!" and he would start to purr. This made Shadow knead his stomach and try to nurse on him. He would let her, looking at us as if to say,"Well, what can I do?"And when he had enough, he would plant one of his big feet in the middle of her forehead and push her away. He has remained best friends with Shadow. When he is in his basket and she walks by, he lifts his paw and invites her in, placing his arm protectively around her.They groom each other, eat together and sleep together. And he is our best friend too. We love him, especially Zach, who slept with him every night until he left for college. Whenever we talk to him he purrs. When you stop to say hi, he will reach out and pat your cheek with his paw. When ever we get close enough, he licks our faces. He comes when he is called. He can hear turkey from the deli unwrapping from 3 rooms away. He let the kids almost pet the fur off him. He lets us put costumes and hats on him. When they were teens, he didn't mind when their friends came over and made him "dance" in their videos. When Hannah took him to bed with her when Zach had an overnight, he licked a hole right in the middle of her forehead. (Actually he kept licking her when she fell asleep and she woke with a raspberry on her forehead, but the hole in the head makes a good story!) We fight over who gets him first when we come back from vacations. When we had grandkids, he is our only cat that will let them play with him. He lets the kids carry him to the couch so they can lay with him. He is without a doubt the best cat in the world, and I don't even care if Shadow and Cinders read this! He is 17 lbs of pure and unconditional love and I hope we have many more years with him.

Tangled and Blue

We had to take Tigger to the Vet for the 2nd time in 2 days. He hadn't eaten, drank only when I put the bowl in front of him, and hadn't used his litter box for a day and a half. Yesterday they called with the results of the first tests saying he has diabetes and a heart arrhythmia. We started insulin yesterday, but he seemed to be worse, so off we went. Sophie had never been to a cat doctor before. She liked the Vet's office, especially the jar of doggie treats sitting on a table. She asked where the lollipops were, because that's what kids get at the Doctor, and cats LOVE lollipops. We left Tigger for more tests and Sophie, Bob and I went to see the new Disney movie "Tangled", based on the fairy tale Rapunzel. (I didn't know until later that it was Sophie's first in- theater movie.) During the previews she knelt in her seat and looked around at the other kids, but cozied down in her seat between us when the actual movie started. Sophie loves her Disney Princesses! She asked for popcorn, but we had bought her a bag of gummi bears, and she seemed happy with that. At one point she whispered to me that she had wanted to see The Little Mermaid instead. Then she wanted something to drink, but we only had a bit of the movie left, so she waited. After the movie we went to Granite City to eat. Sophie ordered the chicken strips, but by the time they came she had already eaten bread and butter, chocolate milk, bites of my soup, and her appetizer of carrot sticks and dip, so she just picked at the fruit plate that was ordered on the side. I ate my cup of Cheddar and Ale soup (delicious!) and half of my Cheeseburger, and Bob polished off his pita and most of his waffle fries. On the way home she fell asleep in her car seat, making it difficult to pick up Tigger from the Vet. As it turns out, Tigger wasn't released yet anyway, so we came home and put her to bed. New update:Tigger isn't passing ketones in his urine, but he is one sick kitty. The vet is at a loss. Seems like something else besides diabetes is bothering him. In fact, she now thinks it's a possibility he may not have diabetes at all. We'll find out for sure when and if he recovers from this and goes for a blood sugar curve in a couple weeks. In the mean time, it's insulin every other day for Tiggs. (And alot of worry for me.) Sarah, Luke and Sophie are staying overnight tonight because of the snow. So I am going to bed soon too. It's been a long day.