Disneyland Birthday Bonanza

It was soooo much fun celebrating Jackie's birthday at Disneyland. They make a really big thing of it and you literally wear around a pin all day so that everyone knows it is your birthday! She was all set with her autograph book and ear hat that said "It's my Birthday"

I tried.........

I have actually spent almost 2 hours screwing around trying to get a couple of pictures on here so I could write a little story about them. I got the new camera hooked up to the computer and I was actually viewing the pictures on the computer screen! I have almost 400 pics on there, so it took some time to sort thru them. I was humming to myself, smugly planning my layout and story. For some reason, when I tried to download them, they were not going directly onto my computer. After endless fiddling, I only downloaded a couple, that ultimately shot onto a program that I really don't even know how to access. (this all occurred after so much time passing that I could have screamed!) I am spoiled by my old Kodak that just popped them on and it was so easy to maneuver.

When I finally thought it was all handled, I decided to go ahead and try to start my little story. I clicked on gadgets, browsed the computer and scoured everywhere to even find the flipping pictures. At this point, my eyes were literally twitching and my fingers were cramping! After a MARATHON, I finally get one ready to go and pop it onto my blog. I squeal triumphantly! Yes, I have done it! I click on to view my blog and blink when I don't see the picture at first. Oh,wait, there it is and it is the size of a postage stamp! My elation gave way to a weary defeat...............I tried.

St.Patrick's Day Blessings

St. Patrick's Day for my family is always a celebration. Actually, all of my life it has been an important day. When Deb and I were in grade school, it was Disneyland Day for the Catholic schools, which meant a day off of school. When I was in seventh grade, it was the first time I got to go to Disneyland alone with a friend. I can still remember my utter excitement at the prospect. My best friend, Jenny McFarland, spent the night before with me. We did our hair up in curlers and sat on the bed with a notebook and a map of Disneyland planning out our day, moment by moment. We were absolutely giddy at the thought of being in complete control of our actions! We could do what ever we wanted to! We were going to take our time going down Main Street. We were going to browse in the shops as long as we wanted, without our dads telling us to hurry up and keep moving. We stayed up late. too excited to sleep. It was one of those days that was just as much fun as you had thought it would be. Forty years later, I can still remember the feeling.

Today as I watched Jackie's excited little head skipping into school wearing a green shirt, I thought back to my own excitement on this special day. I thought back to Minnie's little head doing the exact same thing when she was little. Many times as I look at Jackie it is as though Min is still that little girl...............It is just one of the many wonders of a grandchild.

We always have given each other cards and small gifts on this day. We have corned beef and cabbage and as much green food as we can for dinner. We watch leprechaun movies and drink green lemonade. It is so wondrous to see Michelle with her little girl, passing on these special traditions. Jackie and I sat at the table tonite and talked while she colored a beautiful picture for Min and Scott, to go in their card. She was chattering the whole time about her plans for an elaborate leprechaun trap. Seeing her innocent little face light up at the thought of actually catching one was priceless! She was so excited, she wanted to sleep in a recliner to watch her trap. (needless to say she is now headless)

This has been a wonderful day and I thank God for my St.Patrick's Day Blessings.

New Technology at Work!

I've been operating on the new computer for a couple of days now and it is actually way better than I had it pictured. There are not many times that this can be said.....I guess the bottom line is that I did not realize the true dinosaur level of my old computer. I thought that the slowness of it was because DSL did not work that well in the mountains. Jackie had this website called Pixie Hollow (from Tinkerbell) where you create your own fairy, that she has been wanting to go on. Dino (old computer) would huff and puff, spin the hourglass for at least 10 minutes, or possibly shut down completely in an attempt to get to the website. During many tries, we never even made it there. Tonight she wanted to try it on the new computer and we were literally designing her new fairy within a minute! Her teacher had given me the website for her to go on and do extra science work at home. It was pointless to have considered it in the past, but now it will be a full go! Greg was clicking around on some of his work stuff today, answering e-mails at light speed. In the past, he never even went on when he was at home because he could not bear the crawler speed. The screen is so big and clear I don't even need my glasses at all! I guess a lot of progress has been made in the last 6 years! I am sooooo perky to have this going you will never know!

Still in Transition

I had thought that by now I would be up and running on the new computer. Downloading my pictures has been MUCH more of a project than I had ever imagined. I had them all on my Kodak program listed with different album titles. Some of the albums had as few as 4 pictures and some as many as 36. These pictures were from 2004-2007. I did not have dates on them and the were listed in alphabetical order, all 186 albums. I decided that I wanted to have them on the CD's by year for future scrapbooking. I went thru and viewed each album and inserted the proper CD for the year, downloaded it, and then wrote the album title and number of pics for it on the CD sleeve. I then deleted the album to the trash, to keep organized as to where I was at. I had all 8 CD's numbered with a corresponding number on the CD sleeve. I had them all neatly arranged on the desk, so that I could finish up the project this morning. (You will later see why all of these details were necessary for me to list.)

On Saturday, Michelle and Jackie went and had St. Patrick's Day pictures taken. Scott had to work, so they were having a little mother daughter fun. Michelle came home and showed me the pictures (which were darling!) and I put them on my desk. (Are we noticing a pattern here? HINT-things of importance on the desk) Sunday morning I was in the kitchen making breakfast, while listening to Miley, my dog, whine from my bedroom. We have a gate and keep her there so she is separated from Hannah, (Min and Scott's dog) some of the time and so that they are both not just running thru the house. I finish making breakfast and go down the hall to my room, where a sickening sight meets my eyes. The envelope and most of the St. Patrick's Day pictures are in a mangled, torn apart pile on the floor. Miley is off to the side, dozing contentedly....... Needless to say, by the end of my rant, she is cowering behind the rocking chair.

This morning, after having taken Miley with me to Costco yesterday, (just so she would not be alone in my room) I decided to leave her alone for literally 5 minutes while I made coffee. I sprint back down the hall when I finish, because of course I am worried about what she might have gotten into during my absence. To my HORROR, on the floor as I enter the room, is one of the CD sleeves from my downloaded pictures all chewed up. My stomach tightens and I think my my brain actually contorted oddly, as I looked around and saw the actual CD across the room chewed up. I lost it! Greg comes running out of the bathroom yelling at Miley, who quickly retreats to the corner. He actually says to me, "Why did you leave it laying out?" I am sure I need to go no further as the rest of the conversation can be easily imagined.......

I will be spending today going thru my computer trash of approximately 2,000 pictures, looking for the ones chewed by the dog. Miley will be spending the day, if not the rest of her life, in the dog run.

A Fun Day

This is one of my favorite days of the week. It is the day I go and work in Jackie's classroom. All of the kids call me "Jackie's Grandma" and you can see how perky that makes her. While I am there, they are working at stations, which is groups of four moving from center to center doing different projects. I usually am sitting at one of the centers to help with one of their projects. Today it was having them take turns reading to me out of their little weekly Scholastic mags and then answering the questions on the back. It brings back the old days of playing school and it is still just as much fun as it ever was! First graders are one of the most adoraable age groups! The kids are so sweet and innocent, yet smart and interesting, too. Mel, you are so lucky that you will be doing this for your job!

It is so funny, because even at this young age you can see ahead to who they will be in high school. The clown, the jock, the nerd, the flirt, the brain, the beauty, the runt, the fart and so on. They all love to talk and I love to listen. Sometimes it is hard to concentrate on the work, as they can have me roaring over their stories. One little boy, (the clown and the doll in one) is always doing weird voices and getting the crowd going. His staunchest fan, ( little Miss Trying too Hard) waits adoringly for whatever his next move will be so she can lead the giggles. The funny thing is he is well aware of her and "plays" to her accordingly. Two little girls who sit together and are practically joined at the hip were in a huff today. They stalked over to the desks and sat down at opposite sides. I asked them if their were in a fight and they both dramatically squealed out, "Yes." I asked one of them what was wrong and as she began to tell the story, the other one snarled out, "Don't you roll your eyes at me. I KNOW what that means!" It was all I could do not to burst into laughter. The stories go on and on. As I said, I look forward to this day all week long.

A Day in the Life......

This is the fourth time I have started this post. I have been doing dishes, cooking dinner, putting groceries away, looking for some microscopic horses of Jackie's, picking up a dog gut pit, and trying to type this all at the same time, it seems. How I long to be that in control woman quietly doing her chores, humming softly to herself as she goes. When everything is all done and settled for the night she comes to the computer to read, chuckle as she gives a knowing nod, and type helpful hints to others. Instead, as I arrive home from shopping and seeing a movie, I pole vault into the room where the computer is. (I need to see if there is anything new on the blog before I can begin my nightly chores.) During my absence the dog has strung my crocheting all over the room and chewed a hole in my pajamas. My newest book has been reduced to confetti and a cup of coffee I left on the nightstand has been spilled. The dishes are still on the kitchen counter where I left them this morning, when I had to leave in a hurry, because I had lost track of time. Dinner ends up being a hodgepodge dig from the fridge. I am sure I had some sort of a point when I started this but, in keeping with my feel on this day I can't remember what it was...........