Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law
But who really owns it?

Now isn't that the question of the day.  Or at least it was for Grandma J.

When A-Ron has a baseball game and it rains.....the game goes on!  That's the way it is here in Texas.  The umpire doesn't call the game unless there is lightning.  The players make a point of sliding in the wet red clay.  It's an Oxy Clean day!

Here's the real kicker....

Grandma J bought a really nice collapsable chair last year.  She bought it specifically for occasions like ball games so she wouldn't have to sit on alluminum bleachers.   More specifically, she bought one with a canopy to block the hot sun in the summer and the wind and rain when Mother Nature was on a rampage. 

So, she shows up for A-Ron's game last night.....

Boy do I recognize that chair!   Someone thought it was theirs because it was in the back of their Tahoe.   Queenie doesn't  No one budges!!

Luckily there was an umbrella handy.  And that's how it was....alluminum bleachers and all.

Do you have similar rules of possession in your family?

It's What Champions Do

When your baseball team becomes State Champs, and summer is over, you start football practice at school.

But, come Saturday.....




You trek on out to the middle of nowhere. Down isolated country roads twenty miles from the nearest Starbucks civilization.






You travel past other kids, just waking up, and not quite ready to meet the day. You feel their pain when your grandma honks her horn your passing car causes them to stir.





But then you get to your destination.....your practice field....your field of dreams.

Early Saturday morning wake-up calls are worth it for once again, Starbucks your grandma to take you to practice....baseball practice.






Nothing is more rewarding than a three hour practice in the middle of a hidden, covert field in the middle of Texas. It's especially rewarding knowing your grandma can't get close enough take any tight shots.





Unless it's of the dragon fly that kept her company and amused all morning.




There's nothing fancy about this practice field....just plenty of room with makeshift batting cages and diamonds. No league to tell you your time's up, or coaches from other teams lurking.

Sadly, the property is for sale. The neighbors don't like all the riff raff.





These neighbors.

I can see how this practice field is bringing the neighborhood down.
click on the picture to see the ritzy estates.





Then it's lunch at Fuddrucker's in the mall. It's really hard to eat and smile with a mouth full of a 1/2 pounder!

We Interrupt This Blog...

.....because Grandma J, aka Grandma Deluxe, is busy popping vicodin at night, and slurping caffeine by day having fun climbing around in deep caves 75 ft. beneath Central Texas, and braving raging rivers and waterfalls.

However, just a reminder that the name of this blog, is basically ignored ask grandma j, was not an accidental fluke. So, to keep with the original intended format for just one day, Grandma J would like to answer a recently asked question....mmkay?

Pat Jenkins asks: how did a-ron do in his tourney?

Grandma J: Thank you for asking, Pat. As it turns out, A-Ron's team won every game, with A-Ron getting six doubles. Unfortunately, no one from the hometown press cared enough to follow the team to Ennis, Texas for the State finals. The coaches are putting something together for the local paper, and I will publish the link if and when they print it. In the meantime, this should tell you how excited we were.....




And, of course, A-Ron's mother takes the long way to work and back, and may never wash her car again.






No, not ever......



vacation events and activities are currently underway....stay tuned.

A Summer Saturday


Grandma J could have traveled to Giddings Texas for a AAU Track Meet that her granddaughter was competing in, or stayed on the home front with A-Ron who had morning baseball practice.





So she stayed home and took A-Ron to practice, and her middle daughter went to Giddings for the track meet.


Practice ended at one, and we headed straight to McD's for A-Ron's lunch because Grandma J had a salad at home....BUT! They decided not to go home, but headed straight for the theatre to see a movie.




We both agreed that Land Of The Lost sounded good. Grandma J was a bit leery because we all know about Will Ferrell and his language can be pretty raunchy, but the movie was rated PG, and A-Ron isn't a baby anymore....




He treated his grandma to ice cream at $3.50 a scoop. She had a double scoop of butter pecan.




Since they still had over 30 minutes before the show started, they grabbed a table to sit and eat their ice cream......yeah, by they, Grandma J means she....because A-Ron wandered off.

To play arcade games. ummmm hello, your ice cream is melting.

And at what age do boys lean over an empty cup to catch the drippings?

So, who wants to know about the movie?

I was hoping no one would ask because I can't even begin to review this movie. It was probably budgeted at $9.95 and their was some change left over. It was terrible......the story line was about traveling in time, but not back in time or forward in time, but sideways in time.

The cast of four, and one being a monkey-ish person/thing, ran from one scene to another, being chased or dousing themselves in dinosaur urine. Honestly it was so bad Grandma J caught A-Ron with his shirt pulled up over his head so he could text someone....he was bored.

Here....take a look......

This is an example of how lame the movie was. she actually thought there was something on the other side of the door. If you go see this movie and like it, please tell me why.

Waco Late At Night.......
......the witching hour

Sometimes A-Ron's baseball tournaments start early...and here in Central Texas, early means Friday night. So the team, along with Grandma J, and the rest of the extended team heads fifty miles up the road to Waco Texas for their first two games....back to back, starting after 7 p.m. It's important to squeeze as much baseball into each day, because 7th grade boys, who start school before eight in the morning have no business slacking off before midnight.

Once again, Grandma J is amazed at the beautiful diamonds that the boys are privileged to play on. There are at least eight of them in this complex.

Scores? First game, our Texas Tribe wins 14-1. Second game, Tribe loses 10-6. No doubt the Tribe will come back strong, just like last week in Round Rock, where they took second place.

By the time the coach had his pow-wow, and everyone loaded up their vehicles, it was time for some of us to get some grub. Right about now Grandma J would like to send out a prayer petition for a more diverse menu Sunday...McNuggets doesn't agree with everyone after midnight.

McD's it was....a very busy location right off the infamous I-35. But Grandma J was encouraged by this sign......

Inside, not so much....there was one line....a very long line. This poor child was having a rough time.

Her manager was definitely a team leader wannabe. There were orders no one was claiming.

The manager kept double checking the screen trying to make sure they had the orders right. Hello.....Grandma J shouted under her breath maybe they got tired of waiting and left.

This guy? was getting very impatient waiting and started to fidget and rumble a bit.

Michelle #2 befriended him by asking him if he wanted to follow her on Facebook. Michelle #2 is such a people person.




We finally got our food...just coffee for Grandma J, and decided to sit outside. Three ball players, two moms, one sorry he came dad. How do you spell fun?

Grandma J got home at two in the morning, read one blog then hit the hay.

It's a rainy Saturday in Texas, but we are up for more games tomorrow, back in Waco. Maybe we can eat at Rudy's BBQ.

What The .......? again!


I was at A-Ron's baseball game the other night, and I really wanted to get a good shot of A-Ron hitting the ball. It's difficult to do because the pitches are so fast and Grandma J doesn't have one of those expensive cameras.....and she really, really needs one.






So, when A-Ron smacked that ball for a base hit, this is what I got. Yeah, I know....a blurry A-Ron laying down his bat as he high-tails it it first base.

But wait...what's that? Click on the picture and take a closer look. It's Mr. Noodle! Yeah, the same one......

BASEBALL & BAKE SALES

Two things Grandma J thought she knew all about. You know how it works....you make some three hundred cookies or cupcakes and sell them for fifty cents. At the end of the day, you have enough money to go have pizza to pay the entry fees for the next tournament two states away.

Since the ball players had to actually do all the selling because the fathers were busy negotiating a group rate at a hotel for the team and family members, and the mothers were busy practicing Karaoke washing uniforms and packing for the upcoming tournament weekend.



So, A-Ron asked Grandma J to make something different...and by different he wasn't talking about Grandma J's famous fortune cookies. He wanted her to make something special that would taste good for a change. One of his favorite snacks.... So she did.

First you melt stuff......

Then you make it blue.......

Then you add secret ingredients and ....Voilà! You have a Cookie Monster Rice Crispy Treat.

Or two. A-Ron hawked them off for $5 each. He said they sold like hotcakes and he could have sold ten more.

Now, let's play ball!!

Special Moments Like This....





........are just about the only thing that can make the rest of the world fade into the background...even if you are at a ball game, and you are supposed to be keeping the score book, and your son is pitching, and you also happen to be A-Ron's Mommy.


Or maybe it's not too late to reconsider the size of your family. Or maybe your husband has been in Iraq too long, and too many times. But........




These special moments are even more special when you know you can hand the baby back to his real mommy because you have teenagers, and you've survived so far.

A GUY IN NEED

Sometimes, after a full weekend of hanging out at ball fields...translated into three games each day, with hurricane force winds, a guy needs a break. Or in the case of Grandma J's main squeeze, JJ, a bath.

Sunday night, when I took my hot shower, I could actually see all the gritty red dirt from the ball field coming out of my hair and off my skin. the wind had coated me from head to toe with grit. On top of the wind, it was cold, and my bones felt like they were frozen. That hot shower felt soooo good!

Yesterday, after lounging around all morning vacuuming and washing my floors, I headed on over to give JJ a bath. He had been at the ball fields with us all weekend, and he needed a bath more than ever.


When I got to my daughter's, A-Ron was fixing himself a pizza. Evidently he was so sore, and had muscle spasms from pitching and playing so many games in the weekend hurricane, that he got a "rest day".

I had to hunt JJ down to give him his bath. Why is it dogs hate baths so much? How do they know what your intentions are? I haven't given JJ a bath in at least a year. He usually goes to the groomer, or my granddaughter gives him a bath. But he knew, and I had to trick him by laying on the couch and pretend to sleep, just to nab him. Ser.i.ous.ly.


After his bath he ran in to share the pizza climb under the covers with A-Ron. just don't let your mommy know you were up on her bed all wet...



But A-Ron must have kicked him out, so now JJ was telling me I owed him, big time! just don't let your mommy know you were on her couch all wet....

It was a warm day, so I took him for a ride in the car to help him dry off.


He loved it, and once again, all was well and good in JJ's kingdom.

A - Z MONDAY...The Letter



Yes, the letter M is this week's A - Z letter. But Martin, who supplies me with most of my letters uses a beautiful bird for the letter M. Martin is so silly!


But silly or not, Grandma J will use another one of Martin's educational tools to pose this question about the letter M. Because Grandma J searched high and low for the M bird, but to *no avail. *And by no avail, Grandma J is disregarding birds like mocking, mallard, magpie and macaw.

And so, like Martin, Grandma J will post about M(b)irds for letter M Monday. Here in Texas we have plenty of these....and Grandma J put herself and her precious grandchildren in harms way by pulling off the highway in Dog Ridge TX to take these photos.

Can you believe what she found out about these fowl birds? Unlike Turkey Vultures, these Black Vultures in Central Texas are killers. Not only do they do carnivorous stuff on dead animals, they kill small mammals too....like baby cows.

So maybe Martin's M is for Murder Birds.....maybe not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unrelated important update!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So many of you were all worried and concerned about Grandma J's swollen feet from her ultra spa pedicure Saturday.

You were right, the photo does raise the question, does grandma J's feet always blow up like a balloon? Is she drinking and all the gin settles in her big toe? Could it be those feet have been subjected to botox?

The answer to all of the above is NO. Here's what happened. You see, Grandma J's granddaughter had a driver's ed. class at four in the afternoon on Saturday. So we rushed back sixty miles from the baseball tournament, and since we had an hour to spare, we stepped next door to our favorite nail salon. That's right, the driving school is in the same strip mall with our nail salon. SAAAAA.WEEEEET!! Now, it's 3 p.m. on a Saturday! Michelle #4 is very popular and Grandma J had to wait over an hour! No problem because she had two hours to kill...and, Tony, who happens to be Michelle's boss, and who happens to have a huge crush on Grandma J's wallet feet, and the feet of all her relatives, let Grandma J sit in a spa chair to soak her calloused feet for an hour while she waited. I just won for having the longest run on sentence in blog history! That, and the hot towel, and hot stone treatment added to the visual.

Well rest easy....here is a picture taken the next day. Not the prettiest feet, with all the different sandal and flip flop tan lines......but not swollen and red like the day before. I know you all are breathing a big sigh of relief!

Brought to you by A - Z Monday. Come join us!