Mia Visits - Mom and Dad on Job Search

Mia came to visit while her mom and dad went out to get some business for the crime scene clean up company they have contracted to work for. They have all the gear, the badges, passed the tests, etc. but it turns out it is up to them to market their services on their own. Jaime has been working at the Sheriff's office in a neighboring county as an intern, but it is unclear if that will be much help, other than getting to know some contacts.

Jaime and Sean looked very nice. And it turns out their day was productive. They had meetings with several of the victim's advocates for the Police and Sheriff's departments. Let's see what happens next.

January 2009 - Snapshot of a moment in time

Cold and rainy. Wet and dreary. Head colds and coughs. Bills and taxes on my mind. Haven't felt like blogging but every day is important in its own way. It is bitter cold, killer cold, in the rest of the country, but it is cold here in Florida, too. I know it sounds like whining, but the cold here is damp and seems to penetrate to the bones. Of course, cold rainy days are sometimes followed by warm, sunny afternoons in Florida, but sometimes it just gets colder.

Jaime has moved to a new apartment around the corner. It is only about a mile from her last place and is cheaper and bigger and nicer. There is a small, fenced yard that is perfect for Mia. It is directly across the street from Jonah's school. But, 8-year old Jonah no longer has the big apartment complex to play with his friends or the lake to fish in, or this summer there is no pool. The new apartment is in a small complex on a very busy corner. There is a convenience store, a drive-thru store and the school just close enough to tempt a little boy. There are crossing guards, but not on the corner closest to the school. Someone has to walk him across to school and back again. I have been a nervous wreck over that street, though Jaime tells me she walked home from the same school at his age. I don't quite remember it that way.

Jonah and Jaime on New Year's Eve with Alan in the background

We have been eating chili. Roger's homemade ground beef chili and my attempt at white chicken chili. White beans cooked in chicken broth with onion and big chunks of chicken, chili powder and cumin and lots of jalepeno peppers and jalepeno juice. The chicken got overdone and stringy but the chili was hot and spicey and we ate most of it and took some to other sickies, Jaime and Alan, who both claimed to eat it all. I am planning to try the chicken chili again.

I babysat Mia a lot lately and proved to myself again that I'm not good at watching all three kids at once. Ended up yelling at them and feeling terrible. They don't seem to be holding a grudge, but I hate it when I do that.

Last night, Roger and I went to Beef O'Brady's with Karin and Alan and Joyce. It was fun. Beer and hot, spicy wings. Joyce is still hanging in there looking for a job. It is hard keeping her spirits up, but last night cheered us all up.

Just talked to my brother, Rick, who is working in India for the second round of 6-weeks on and 6-weeks off. He is back for the second round after Christmas at home and health worries about his wife, Darlene. At least he is there safe and promised to call Cory who is dying to talk to him about our football team, the Buccaneers and the firing of coach Jon Gruden. My brother, my son and my husband are all huge football fans.

Well, that is my January so far. Looking forward to the inauguration and high hopes for our new president. Peace to all.

Mommy, Daddy

Jonah and fishing pole

Jill and MiaMia at Halloween in a homemade angel costume

I watched Mia the other night since her mom had to be at work at her intern position at 8:00 in the morning. Jaime is interning at the Sheriff's office in a neighboring county and yesterday was her first day. She spent all day filing fingerprint information but they promised her a variety of experiences of the crime investigation kind. Anyway, I offered to keep the baby since Jaime has been sick and Mia has been keeping her up at night. For some reason at my house we are able to get her to sleep all night. Of course, Grandma lays down with her in a completely dark room and sings lullabys for as long as it takes or until Grandma falls asleep. It took a long time and several false starts the other night. After the first attempt when I was almost asleep myself, she crawled off the bed and said "light." We turned on the light and watched the Tinkerbell video for a while until she crawled off the bed again. She ran down the hall and I caught up with her in the dark kitchen. She was huddled up on the step stool in a dark corner. When I came in she kind of sobbed, "Mommy, Daddy" and allowed me to pick her up and take her to the bedroom one more time. We turned off Tinkerbell and the light. I turned on my side and I felt her snuggle her little body against the small of my back and we went to sleep. I finally crawled into my own bed and Mia slept all night and work up happy. Still, it was so sad to hear that little hopeless cry. "Mommy, Daddy"

I had breakfast at Jonah's school today for Family Breakfast Day. It seems that I have also committed myself to bring the gecko to school on Friday. I didn't mean to be involved but his teacher said, "See you on Friday" so I guess I will bring in the gecko and then take him home again after show and tell. Jonah loves this stuff and I never had time when my children are little so I don't really mind.

New Year's Wishes

A grandchild safely stashed in front of the tv eating oatmeal or chicken noodle soup and watching Dora the Explorer -- a comforting sight for a grandmother when the grown children's problems are much more difficult to solve.

Both Jonah and Jill stayed over last night and Jonah and I indulged in an old tradition of watching Jurassic Park and eating chocolate milkshakes as we did when he was little. He was never afraid of that movie even when he was two. I don't know how or when he saw it for the first time. I only remember that the part where the dinosaur tries to eat the children alive was his favorite. He and I knew the dialogue by heart and were both asleep in no time on Friday nights when we popped it in the VCR. We had popcorn and chocolate covered peanuts last night instead of ice cream. Jill watched it with us and somehow didn't get scared once or wake up with nightmares. Her natural fear seems to have been overcome by her enormous desire to do everything that Jonah does. Jonah is eight now and it has been a year or so since we watched this movie together. This is probably the last time for this particular ritual.

This morning we built a beautiful fire and made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. With all the problems and worry in the world, it is these little moments that mean the most to me and that I hope the children will remember. Roger seemed to enjoy them, too.

Tonight I hope to have dinner for Karin and Alan for New Year's Eve and a belated anniverary party. I hope Alan feels well enough. We will pick up a bottle of champagne and I cooked some chicken and red wine yesterday. It smelled wonderful. I had trouble saving it for tonight. I imagine we will also babysit for Mia so her parents can celebrate a little.

I wish everyone a safe and warm New Year's Eve with someone they love and a Happy and Hopeful New Year for 2009.

Inspirations - Mary's house

Mary and friends

We lined up the Teddy Bears and took a picture to sell on Craig's List at Chrsitmas. No luck.

Lion Cut

I've discovered a whole new world of blogs and am busy adding my favorites to the list. It is so much fun to take a peek at other people's homes and lifestyles. Here are a few images from one of my real life inspriations, my friend Mary's house and her cat with it's lion cut. She said the kitty was uncomfortable with the cut at first but it helps "cut down" on cat hair in the house.

Melancholy Christmas Songs

Riding and singing in the car

Christmas day on the new tricycle

I have a special love for sad, bittersweet Christmas songs. Once I started searching for them, I noticed there are many. That makes sense I guess. After all, Christmas never matches all of our hopes and expectations after the age of about five or six. Once you begin to doubt Santa, a whole new stage of life and view of Christmas begins. One of the first hard lessons is that life is not fair, but we have to find a way to make the best of it anyway. So here is my list of favorite Christmas songs. You may not have heard of all of them.

1. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Perferably Judy Garland's or Frank Sinatra's versions

2. I'll be Home for Christmas - The soldier's homesick Christmas song. Frank Sinatra?

3. Blue Christmas - Elvis, of course

4. Please Come Home for Christmas - Bluesy, Rocky, Don't remember the first artist, but I love the Eagles version

5. If We Make it through December - Merle Haggard. Popular when I was broke, newly married and a new mom

6. Hard Candy Christmas - Dolly Parton. Technically not a Christmas song, but I love it anyway

7. Pretty Paper - Willy Nelson. Not really one of my favorites, but I do love Willie.

I know there are more. What's the one that ends with Auld Lang Sine? I know this is spelled wrong and can't think of the title of the song right now.

Other favorite Christmas songs remind me of my children and have now been taken over by my grandchildren. We love to sing them in the car.

1. Old Toy Trains - Roger Miller. Popular the Christmas my son was two years old (1973). I used to rock and sing to him and he would "sing" along. Later I sang it for Jaime. I got a CD a couple of years ago and when Jonah and Jill heard this story, they begged to hear it over and over again and we always sang it in the car.

2. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer - Popular for obvious reasons, but my mother especially loved this song. The kids sing it at the top of their lungs.

3. Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms. Our favorite for 2008. The radio station had a contest to win $1,000 if they played it twice in a row. We didn't win, but we sang it anyway. I even heard little Mia singing it to herself yesterday.

4. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee. Our other Christmas favorite to sing to. Sometimes we get it mixed up with #3.

I will try to figure out how to attach a url for one of these songs.

Merry Christmas

Jonah's best present. There is a baby gecko in there if you look carefully.

Nibbles and Squeaky Toy

Mia and robot

Karin, Alan and Joyce

Jill with cookies

Erica

Connor and Vannon and stockings

Christmas morning tree.

Christmas mantel

Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas chandelier and Santa Elf

We had a happy Christmas Eve day with many friends and family. I literally cooked for two straight days and managed to not get stressed out. I WAS worried about where to put all the people and the two dogs who were coming. And the noise. With the parquet floors, sounds in this house tend to ECHO. But everyone helped. People just came in and started setting up, washing dishes, helping with the last minute cooking and putting it on the buffet table. Without this help, I could not have managed. Thank you to everyone. Somehow it all worked out. Of course, Jaime did everything including cooking a beautiful prime rib. We both think she is the reincarnation of my mother who was the queen of everything Christmas. It kind of skipped a generation with me so thank you, Jaime.

We also had phone calls from Roger's children and grandchildren up in Michigan in blizzard conditions. Martin made the most of it by going skiing and April and Ken and the kids got through the snow to spend Christmas with her mom and grandma. Cory and Troy called, too. They all thought it was funny when I told them Floridians sometimes truck in snow and people line up to play in it. It's true!

Merry Christmas everyone!