JJ's Big Adventure

Continuing on the subject of JJ, Grandma J wants to share with you JJ's first trip to California. 

The five a.m. start time isn't exactly JJ's cup of tea.  Grandma J gets the stare-down for the first hour, or until she pulls into McDonald's.

A quick stop in Fort Stockton Texas, and a photo op with the giant roadrunner only intensified JJ's disdain for birds.


As often as  I go to California (yes, Grandma J jumps from first person to third person quite often), JJ usually gets dumped dropped off in Sierra Vista, Arizona to spend time with his bio family. But this time, circumstances with the bio family were up in the air.  Being a military family, they were in transition.  CSM John was coming back from Korea, and they would be on the move, or simply put, getting the boot from their home on post.  

So, with just a brief stop over for the night, we were on the road again.   Does anyone know when Grandma J's AZ grand kids got so tall? 

  JJ hates long road trips, but the California grand kids have never met JJ, and they will never have a dog due to their mother's phantom allergies.  Grandma J promised to keep JJ away from the afflicted person and the kids, since it was summer break,  were thrilled to keep JJ occupied.

As soon as Grandma J and JJ rolled into the driveway, they were greeted by Elise and her allergy suffering mother.   I kid you not, that is the face of an allergic mom. Grandma J thinks a fear of dogs can have the same results.

Elise and Christine loved taking JJ to Wagsdale Dog Park in their hood.
This dog park is part of their association, and it's only for residents of their community.  JJ had a blast visiting all the local dogs every day.  Christine discovered that all the "regulars" show up at 6 pm, and they are a nice bunch.   So, we started going at 6 pm every day and Grandma J really loved how much fun the girls and JJ had.   Christine and Elise were the only children, but the adults loved how they played with their dogs and were so anxious to pick up after the dogs....yes, these girls really did like being on poop detail.

This group has a monthly birthday party for the dogs, and even though we heard bits and pieces about it, Grandma J reminded the girls that we were visitors, and we weren't going to invite ourselves.  Well, we got invited!!  Christine and Elise  were over the moon.....JJ was quite nonchalant.

We made a trip to PetSmart and bought gifts for the birthday dogs......Frankie, Pickles, and JoJo.   Honestly, the girls were more excited about this dog party than Christmas.

Christine said that everyone was bringing treats for the people.  So we decided to make something that the girls love.   Rice Krispie Treats......

A summer/picnic version.

Let's get this party going! Oh yea......this is a party for people.....

And their dogs.......

Elise and Christine loved all the dogs.

JJ had the time of his live, and I think he misses all his California friends.

Babysitting, Water Parks and Dogs

So, Grandma J's daughter is out of town lounging by a pool attending some kind of State Tournament for A-Ron's baseball by day, and attending karaoke marathons more games at night.

During these critical family events, A-Ron's sister usually goes along to sit and text her friends cheer on her brother, but not this time. She has a three week vacation planned along the shores of Orange County CA with her cousins.....giving her Monday free to babysit some sweet kids and their new puppy.

Of course whenever there aren't any parents around, Grandma J likes to stay at her daughter's house in case said granddaughter or JJ decide to accidentally have a party get scared.




While Grandma J foolishly agreed to take all the kids to the water park for the day, she didn't figure a new puppy into the mix. She decided that the best babysitter and role model for the new little puppy called Buttons was...........

Yours truly......JJ. And if we could read JJ's mind he would be all, "and you are paying me how much to do this?" JJ looks so not happy.

Being a good sport, JJ takes Buttons under his paw!

Buttons immediately gets in JJ's face.....and by in JJ's face, we're talking literally

Uh Dude....when I said get out of my face, I wasn't giving you any ulterior choices. Hello? I'm talking to you little guy.

JJ does his best to let Buttons know that this isn't funny because JJ has no clue since he was fixed before he could walk about what Buttons is trying to do. Don't make me get mad little guy......

OK, we can wrestle....I'll even let you think you can take me down.

Does anyone think little baby Buttons is getting the best of JJ?

Like, is JJ turning into a wuss?

Looks like JJ is hightailing it outta there! How embarrassing.

Oh, and hasta luego, chica! Have a great trip!

Happy Birthday Turtle!



Her Dad gave her that nickname, and now Grandma J will call her oldest Granddaughter Turtle on her blog.



Don't ask me how this happened, but Turtle turns 17 today. She was born in California, but transplanted to Florida. Even though for most of those years she was on opposite coast from her grandma, we always saw each other often.

This is Turtle's kindergarten picture. One of my favorite pictures of her.

These cousins have shared many Christmases together...

Here's Turtle with Grandma J and her (blind in one eye) dog, Charlie, that same Christmas, (1994)

Connecting for another memorable Christmas and remain good friends .

They have traveled to California from Texas and Florida for summer fun on Catalina Island with their favorite grandma.

Turtle and her dad are best of friends. Her dad even got a small tattoo of a turtle, which makes Grandma J thankful that he didn't nickname his daughter "Princess". I love they way they still hold hands at Disney.

Grandma J's granddaughter loves to surf on both coasts.

Here she is with her dad and younger brother. She's becoming such a beautiful young lady.

The same two goofballs on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe on New Years Day.

I love you Turtle, and I miss you too. So, since I can't be with you in California for your birthday, I want to send you lots of love and a recipe for Turtle Candy. The same ones your Dad buys you every year....but this year maybe he will make you some! Ummm, yeah, let me know if that happens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BETTY CROCKER EASY TURTLE CANDY

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 2 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Chocolate

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
4 oz Pecan halves (about 72)
24 Caramel candies
1 t Shortening
6 oz Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 300ø. Cover cookies sheet with aluminum
foil, shiny side up; lightly grease. For each candy,
place 3 pecan halves in a “Y” shape on foil. Place 1
caramel candy in center of each “Y”. Bake just until
caramel is melted, about 9 - 10 minutes. Heat
shortening and chocolate chips over low heat just
until chocolate is melted. Spread over candies and
refrigerate 30 minutes.

Happy Mother's Day, Rita

Today it's all about Rita. She was the mother of five rowdy brats and I know my brother is treating her like a queen today.

Some of you know some of the silly and not so silly things Rita has done, but some of you don't. Here are the links to my posts about Rita.

The Rita Chronicles, Part I
The Sprinklers

The Rita Chronicles, Part II
Pumping Her Own Gas

The Rita Chronicles, Part III
Bus v. Rita Incident

The Rita Chronicles, Part IV
The Enforcer

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy...I love you and miss you!

*Here's a list of special freebies for all the mom's in Southern CA. See? Grandma J is always looking out for her homies.

Ride 'Em Cowboy

I pulled into a parking space in the crowded parking lot at H.E.B on Saturday afternoon. It's one of the only two places I can get fresh meat in this town. The other place is Walmart and "fresh meat" at Walmart means packaged and shipped in from some meat packing plant south of Disneyworld along the Kissimmee River. Really, all I wanted was some ground beef for my taco salad....just the thought of having to go to either crazy zoos gave me heartburn. But someone was looking out for me and my thirst for blogging material...yes they were.



If you are a Dallas Cowboys fan then please seek help don't read this. I love you, and Rowdy the Dallas Cowboys' mascot, and don't want you to desert me, but I wonder about people who do this to their car.

Now, I understand having a favorite team. I've been in a huge football pool with about forty other peeps for years, and I love watching football all day on Sundays. I have my favorite teams, and I have some sweatshirts and hats....but doing this to your car is a bit over the top.

The woman who stepped out of the car happens to be someone I recognized. She works at the local bingo hall. When I say she "works" at the bingo hall, I mean it's a paying job here, not all volunteers like California. Luckily she didn't recognize me when she got out of her car, and I kept my head down because I wanted to take pictures. I could only get two because my phone started ringing, and the only camera I had on me was the one on my phone. BTW, the back of the car had even better stuff including the woman's name! The inside was decked out too.

I'm curious.....just what kind of radius would be safe driving this car? Say I put that crap on my car...how far would I get on my way to Denver next month? Have you ever met a Broncos fan?

How about when I drive from Texas to Virginia in July? I'll be passing through Tennessee and maybe I'll stray into Falcons, Panthers and Redskin turf. So, I guess if you stay in your own hood, you can get away with sporting your team all over your car.

Of course I have some pretty nutty friends like this one back in CA. Can you figure out who her favorite football team is? She actually travels to their opening home game every year....and she still loves me even though I make fun of her Steelers wallpaper and shower curtain. Yes I do...and yes she does.

Easy Go...Easy Come
It was sad leaving So CA...

My whole reason for going on this short but sweet junket was to babysit so HSH could go to Dove Chocolate School and a Dove Convention, then spend a few days with my son and his family, and meet up with old friends that I miss terribly.

Things started out fine with am American Girl Birthday luncheon...and a Superbowl bash the next day.

Then I watched the same Beauty nap after a long day at school.

I got to the beach once with Little one.


...and delighted in her love of her baby.

I was amazed at how grown up Pooper was with his typical eight year old love of Nintendo DS. And spent time eating junk and seeing a movie with some awesome kids.

My daughter-in-law was recovering from surgery, and before we could even think about having much fun...


she ended back in the hospital with internal bleeding problems...to keep it simple.



This replaced any plans for personal pleasure with visits to the hospital.

The weather turned cold and wet...reflecting the turn of events.

If you were are one of my friends that I neglected to call..I'm sad that I couldn't pop in for a hug and maybe go to lunch at In N Out.

Rebeckah, my neighbor wouldn't dare try to infringe on my patio while I'm gone, ever again...no never!

Oh, and once I get caught up on dirty laundry I'm planning to leave again the end of March for Denver. I'm gonna drive this time....maybe spend a day in Santa Fe on the way. Of course I have to honk my horn at Hollywood as a pass through Albuquerque.... Wanna come along?

A To Z Monday.......

....on Tuesday

I know, I'm behind schedule again. What's even worse is I missed the letter D last week.

So here we are with the letter E....in sign language. I chose this version because it represents how speechless I was when I saw this.

That's right...it's the END of the rainbow, and it's right smack in the middle of a road in So CA.

brought to you in part by A to Z Mondays.

The Honest Scrap Award

I know what you readers are thinking.....what did Grandma J do to deserve that award? And of course, I say to that......who cares? very little. All I know is, I'm grateful to Treasia at Confessions of a Mid Life Trucker's Wife for her kindness and thoughtfulness. Thank you.


Here's what the Honest Scrap Award is all about:

I'm supposed to pick seven blogs that I find brilliant in content and design. I know that was a difficult task for Treasia, but for me it's impossible! I admire a zillion different blogs and would like to leave it up to each of you to decide if you would like to rat yourself out tell us all ten things about yourself....honestly.

I have done a whole lot of memes moomoos since I've been blogging so some of the ten things I list will be reruns because I can't remember the details of all the different outpourings I have done....

Here are ten things about Grandma J that you may not know.

1. My hair was totally grey by the age of forty. If I let it grow, my mustache would probably be the envy of most men.

2. I am retired and blog full time in my spare time.

3. I moved to Central Texas when I retired from a job as a civil servant in Orange County CA. And yes, I knew what I was doing....sort of.

4. I used to hang glide, go kayaking and I miss the ocean.

5. I've been to three continents. I still want to get to Ireland.

6. I used to smoke like a chimney...and I used to be thin!

7. Since reaching the age of "Oh, God!" umm yeah, I have a whole new respect for velcro.

8. When on vacation in Mexico, I babysat for Barney and Wilma's a friends Iguana .

9. I love sleeping in, and staying in my pj's all day....here in TX I would not be out of place in Walmart in my jammies....no I wouldn't.

10. I try to go to the movies once a week, sometimes bringing Phillip Johnny Bob. This is something I did less than once a year before retiring......it's a real luxury and I love it because I hate watching movies on TV.

10.1 My cell phone became my land line 6 years ago. Saving mucho dinero and talking more!

10.2 I love it when my granddaughter sends me a text message that was meant for her boyfriend. BWAAAAAA!

10.3 And for those of you who never knew, I'm the granddaughter of a wanted man!