Thursday, July 31, 2014

Conversations with the Grandkids

I have been working with Grey and Neve on a new fun concept.
It's called "pick up your toys when you are done playing".
Admittedly, it is a concept that should have been drilled in their heads several years ago, but hey, I am still new at this grandmother gig.
So today we, I mean they, worked on picking up what I like to call Barbie-land-from-hell.
(I know what to call it because Mary and Audrey used to make the same mess.)
(In fact, most of the Barbie stuff IS Mary and Audreys....)
As usual, they were very reluctant to pick stuff up.




It took a lot of encouragement on my part.



But they finally got it done!

Then Neve came over with the Danny doll from the New Kids On The Block, and asked if i could put his Army pants on.  As I struggled to pull the nylon camo pants up the plastic legs, I couldn't help but notice that Danny was still wearing the Brenda from 90210 doll's teal bikini bottoms.
Not being a judgmental person, I merely figured that life is a series of journeys...and Danny was on one strange journey.

We then had the following discussion - 

Neve:  Mimi, I need to make a mess.
Me: What? Why??
Neve:  I need to find the carnade for Ken (Danny).
Grey: Neve, it's a GRENADE!!
Me:  Where are the grenades?  (Sadly knowing the answer.)
Neve: In the bottom of the Barbie tub.
Grey: Why does he need a grenade anyway?
Neve: He needs a garnade because he needs to FIGHT!!!

I wonder where his boots are?
 As a matter of fact, I've seen his undies.

Yep, he may need to fight.....


Check out that smile....

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Things That Mom Forgot To Tell Me

My two daughters are both teetering on the brinks of life changing experiences.

Mary is ready to have baby Henry.  She has been busy feathering her little nest, getting things "just so" for her new little one.  And her new life.

So I took her shopping for a new nightgown and robe because my mom said that it is criminal to go to the hospital for a new baby with an old robe.....

Audrey is ready to move to Australia to live with her love Joel.  She is busy packing and putting things in storage and trying to feather her new nest with just two suitcases.  Two suitcases to start her new life.

So I've tried to be encouraging and helpful because my mom said that you have to be supportive and let them go and get a belly-full.....

But mom never told me what to do when my baby girl excitedly calls to tell me that it's almost time, that it is down to mere hours.  She is finally going to meet the new love of her life.

And mom never told me what to do when I walk into my other baby's room and see that it is nearly all packed up and I realize that it is almost time. Just a couple weeks away.  She is finally going to live with the love of her life.

She never told me how to deal with this overwhelming surge of love and fear and protectiveness.  This wanting to grab both of them in my arms and shield them from life for just a few minutes longer....

They might be grown women, but they are still my babies.

Henry Ellis says:

 "All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on."

Thanks, mom, for not telling me.

I probably wouldn't have listened anyway.....



Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Blast From the Past - Album Art

This morning as we were speeding down I-66 - or going as fast as one can down the HOV lane during a rainy morning rush hour - we were listening to my just arrived copy of "My Son the Folk Singer" by Alan Sherman.  
Boy did that bring back memories!  Alan Sherman was big in the sixties - kinda like a very Jewish Weird Al Yankovic. 
My step mom owned this album and I just would sit and study the album cover.  It fascinated me on so many levels.  I wanted to grow up and look just like that woman. And when  I told Larry about it that lead to a discussion about album covers - How they just don't look like they used to - what with that small area that the CD case allows - they just don't seem to have the same "artiness" that they used to have.  

And then we started talking about our favorite album covers ---


Check out how her foot is turned....women just don't stand like that anymore.  Larry likes the placement of Alan Sherman's foot.  So classic....

This, obviously was Larry's favorite album cover.  Let me rephrase that - it is probably the favorite album cover of all living breathing males of that era... Oh, that Herb Albert..

Much to Larry's dismay, he found that even if you stared at the album cover for hours, the whipped cream would  just NEVER melt....
 Of course, I had my own favorite Herb Albert album cover...


What now my love????

And then there were the ladies of the 70's....Linda Ronstadt and Olivia Newton John - These were Larry's personal favorites - 


I have nothing to say. These ladies speak for themselves.....

 And let's not forget one of my favorites.. ( I just found out that Audrey likes it toooo.....)

Ohhhh Boz....
But if we are going to talk about the all time best most favorite just plain WONDERFUL album covers, I would be remiss indeed if I didn't  include my personal all time favorite album cover....

James Taylor.  Those eyes....


Sweet Baby James, indeed...

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Tragically Un-Hip

I am not hip.
And that's ok.
I am a grandmother.  
I wear Crocs.
And glasses.
And I have decided to never dye my hair again.
But every once in awhile, it's nice to feel, well, cool.
I was kind of cool once...


I was 17 and I rocked this tube top.  

Now my daughter Audrey - she's a hipster.  She wears the clothes that I love but would never dare to wear.

I pretty much live vicariously thru her wardrobe.

The other day she meandered into the kitchen in a sweatshirt that she had just doctored - she cut out the crew neck and it looked cool.  And I thought - why, I could do that and mentally shelved that idea away.

Yesterday I was feeling achey and sore throaty and shivery, so I reached into my closet to grab my green sweatshirt.

My green sweatshirt with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd on the front of it.  I got it at a thrift shop for Mary more years ago than I care to remember.  After it fell out of favor with her, it just naturally found it's way to my closet.

I think I wore it to nearly every horse show when it was chilly - 

I also always wore this blue scarf....


And it was evidently the sweatshirt that was hanging out in the car because I wore it to the beach - on more than one occasion - 

Like this time - 

Check out that red hair and those glasses!!!
And this time - 

I have to admit that I added this picture because I think that Larry looks sooo great!

So it was just second nature to pull it out of the closet when I needed to snuggle down.  I yanked it over my head and after I knocked my glasses off I remembered the one thing that I hated about this sweatshirt - the stinking neck was too tight!

But wait - I had a remedy - if it worked for Audrey, it would work for me!

So out came the scissors and I cut that neckline out, and for good measure, I cut off the binding around the waist too. Of course,the whole time I was battling the thought of my ex-stepmom who was sitting on my shoulder horrified that I was cutting up a perfectly good shirt....

Afterwards I put that baby on and it felt soooo good.  So soft and comfy and sooo easy to pull over my head!

Then I looked in the mirror and sadly realized that I didn't look like a hipster at all.  Just an older lady with a cut up sweatshirt.

Audrey came home later and kindly suggested that it was probably the picture of Bugs Bunny that was doing the injustice - that if  I turn the sweatshirt inside out it might look a little more fashionable - you know,like something out of Soft Surroundings - so I did it and darned if she wasn't right - 

Sminky crawled right up on my shoulder and cuddled up and fell asleep.


Well there you go! 

At least my cats think that I'm hip.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Happy Anniversary - Back by Popular Demand!!

Larry and I will be married for 34 (that's THIRTY FOUR) years on Friday!!

I borrowed this from Audrey a couple of years ago because I love what it says about Larry and me and because I love how it is written.  I came across it by accident when I finished reading something else that she had written back when she was writing on the Bread and Circus website.
I read it.  Then I read it again with tears running down my cheeks.  Then I printed it out and made Larry read it.  And I feel the same way every time I read it!

Ok,  I am the one who wanted to read this again - 

I hope you all enjoy this as much as Larry and I have!!

Here's to thirty-four more years!!



My mom never takes off her wedding ring. Bathing, washing dishes, polishing the silver, dying her hair, painting the kitchen, gutting a turkey. The ring stays on. I would see her occasionally fidget with it, trying to pry it off. Unwillingly, it twisted up just enough to show a sun pardoned indentation, the result of twenty-eight years of solid location. Then she would slide it back into place, where it was simply another part of her finger, not a gleaming gold band.
She told me that, in her first marriage, she would take off her ring before doing any dirty or wet job. She was afraid of marring its shine or flawless surface, she said, but mostly I think she was just afraid of losing it down a drain… or up a turkey’s ass. She was staying with her in-laws while her husband was at basic training. Her mother-in-law always commented on how she would lose her ring if she kept taking it off. My mom brushed it off as one of many snarky comments. One day, before taking a shower, she took her ring off and left it on the sink. While she was in the shower, her mother-in-law came in to get something, lingered at the sink, and left. When my mom finished toweling off, she saw that the ring was gone. My mom confronted her mother-in-law, but the woman looked at my mom as if she was speaking a different language. All her mother-in-law said: “You’re nineteen years old, a mother, and a wife. You should be able to keep track of your belongings.”
My mom says that’s when she knew her marriage wouldn’t last.
I didn’t lose a lot as a child. I kept toys and books and school work, clothes and shoes and sunglasses. But I always lost rings. They’d end up at the bottom of the pool, or down the shower drain; or I would absently leave them on the sink after I washed my hands, walking away and forgetting I put them on in the first place. Sometimes I would put them on the night stand before bed, and not find them again for years.
Earrings, bracelets, necklaces, even belly rings and brocade pins always found their way back to my jewelry box. But I have lost every single ring I’ve ever owned. My mom wears one ring. And she never takes it off. As a kid, I firmly believed my mom’s ring was the strength that kept her marriage together. I was thoroughly convinced that if she lost that ring, I would lose my father.
And so, I thought that a ring would be the test for whether or not a man was to be “the one” for me. If he were to give me a ring, and I didn’t lose it immediately, he would be the keeper.  And I would never take it off, because I would want to keep him forever. Just like my mom and dad’s marriage, mine would be as strong and stable as the ring on her finger.
Today is their 32nd anniversary. Like their rings, their marriage has become an irreplaceable, permanent part of their lives. Something that they can twist and maneuver, but can never take off; something that gets marred and scratched, but still gleams. Best friends, partners, parents, but most importantly, two people who love, cherish and respect one another more with every year they’re together. They’re inspiring. And I’m beyond lucky to have been raised in their example.
Happy anniversary, guys.
We look like we're twelve!!!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Electronic Family

Just to prove that the babies never really stop needing you (or at least your wallet...)  I offer the following Facebook exchange between Audrey - and a few unwitting participants - and me!

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