A time to repent and fast.

....and to take a page out a one of my Blister's book, let me share a messaging conversation between me and my granddaughter.

IT'S BACK TO SCHOOL!





Things sure have changed since my kids were in school. For the last couple of weeks I've noticed Target and Walmart have tons of printed lists of supplies required by the different schools. They have them all arranged by class and teachers in a color coordinated file system.

Is this the norm everywhere? I can't imagine the financial dent this must put in a family budget if they have several children.

Since I don't have to worry about spiral notebooks and number two pencils.....I decided to do my part and took my Granddaughter for a back-to-school pedi.







Grandma J just doesn't always sit on the right side for picture taking, but as you can see, her granddaughter is busy reconnecting after a long vacation in So CA.

But all wasn't lost because ...........






Someone else reluctantly agreed because his mother insisted to getting his toes groomed.

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.

Girls Night Out

That was the plan anyway, and believe me when I say Grandma J let's nothing get in the way of a good time.

This post might be a bit long, so go fix that chocolate martini, pour that carafe of wine, or pop open a nice cold brewski. Now pull up a chair and relax, and don't waste too much time or you'll miss the nine o'clock mass golf tournament on TV in the morning.

Since I'm moving at the end of the month, and I'm supposed to drive to Tucson June 1st with my granddaughter and JJ co-piloting, then continuing on to Las Vegas, things were getting a bit hairy and hectic. Normally juggling and multi-tasking is my middle name, but my Vegas buddy, (1SGT John's mommy) is heading to Miami the second week in June, and with the H1N1 swine flu floating around, I figured the scheduling was just too hectic to even pursue. So, I made a deal with my granddaughter. We'd scratch the trip, and I would take her shopping at her favorite mall in Austin, because it's only 77.3 miles away. Not only would I take her to her favorite mall, I would let her buy all the Wet 'n Wild makeup that she can fit in her Coach purse some new summer clothes. And, she could bring a friend.

The deal was cut immediately without any need for negotiations....and we were off.

The girls decided that it would be more fun if we flew down I-35 with all the windows down....and the moon roof open! Then we played loud Country Western music as we sang, la....la...la...la, all the way to Austin.

See? la...la....la.....la!

Then we switched to show tunes....because granddaughter's BFF is quite the dramatic singer...la....la....la....la!

Grandma J was happy as a pig in manure, because for the first time in ages, she recognized the music, and sang along.....la....la....la....la.



When we got to the mall Grandma J left the girls in Nordstrom's as she headed off to J C Penney's Coldwater Creek and Macy's.

We met back at square one when the mall closed, with square one being the Jr. department of Nordstrom's. We were all hungry, and decided to have a good all American Mexican dinner at Abuelo's.

The girls had piña coladas ............



Dinner with plenty of shrimp, fajitas, guacamole and maraschino cherries wasn't complete without plenty of chocolate. Yes, they sat this close throughout the meal, even though we had a huge booth.

We get back on the road at about 10:30 PM........that's when the real fun began.

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Grandma J decides to take the back roads home because it's really dark and isolated bound to excite the girls and maybe they will want to open the windows again and sing kumbaya show tunes, and giggle.




Here is the route to Heaven paved with chocolate the mall. Just your routine 77.3 miles of good old I-35.



This is Grandma J's big idea of a fun drive home....did I mention it was 10:30 at night? Did I forget to say that the alternate route is a two lane highway? How about the fact that Texas doesn't have any stimulus money for street lights...because Texans don't like payback. OK, I made that part up.



All of a sudden the light became dark, and the singers fell asleep were rendered mute, and Grandma J's bright idea was snuffed out in an instant when she came upon a closed road.....because a bridge was out. Back peddling wasn't a big problem, but it was a problem just the same. Big or small, a problem is a problem. There aren't too many FM routes on my way home, but there are plenty of CR roads, but many go nowhere, and this wasn't the time to explore.....I save those trips for JJ. Grandma J wasn't lost in the official sense of the word....besides, she has GPS. Even though it's always been a real friend to Grandma J......last night her GPS asked for a PIN NUMBER! Huh?


That's what made the alternate route a bit unpredictable. Grandma J kept a keen eye on her compass.....because it said she was definitely heading S/E instead of north. Clinging to the E part of S/E, Grandma J forged ahead......into the light. Yeah, when you are on rural roads, a town several miles ahead can be detected by a glow off in the distance, but you knew that.


So with the surroundings looking familiar, excitement filled the air, and Grandma J started singing show tunes as she went faster and faster....

That's when the red and blue lights started flashing, and the party was over.

The officer told Grandma J that she was going 67 mph in a 45mph zone.

Are you wondering how Grandma J got away with just a warning?

She cried like a baby. Yes, she did.

One Silver, One Gold

The Silver was for the Long Jump, The Gold is for the 200 meter.

Grandma J's granddaughter...OK, so it's really JJ's sister, participated in the Texas A&M Consolidated Track Meet, District 12 AAAAA Division, last week. Since it's a three hour ride each way, and Grandma's can't ride on the team bus and we had torrential rain forecast here in Central Texas, we missed it.

Today, I went over to get a few pictures to send to 1SGT John in Iraq. I don't have any stats, but two years ago in 7th grade, Grandma J's granddaughter jumped 16' 4" and broke the middle school record. Now she's on the JV team in HS. Unfortunately the papers only put Varsity stats, and some athletes when questioned say, "I don't know", as a standard answer to grandmothers.

OK, that's enough pictures!

Then A-Ron jumps in and says "One more!"


So one more it is!

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.

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Unrelated important update!
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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!

Saturday Fun

Grandma J loves nothing better than sleeping in rising at the crack of dawn to caravan down the highway for a baseball tournament.

Of course the road to fine sports and family fun goes right by Dog Ridge.

Grandma J's middle daughter loves living life in the fast lane even if it means layers of clothing topped with blankets swaddled all around her.

And no, Grandma J did not notice, nor will she comment on that man's "Mr. Noodle."

A-Roid, formerly A-Ron, with a lethal dose of McNuggets, is in rear form. Isn't it lovely what the wind can do to a full head of hair?

For some reason Middle Daughter and Michelle #2 both keep score....because the team likes to have two scorekeepers. Hello? Yeah, they like to keep two sets of books. Go ahead, your guess is as good as mine.

And because Grandma J is nothing if not kind and generous, she treated herself to her second pedicure in less days than she has toes.

Speaking of toes....OK, so no one was speaking of toes, but lets pretend we were....which leads Grandma J to this question. Does everyone anyone have hairy toes?

And, because she loves Michelle #4, she got the deluxe pedi with the leg mask and hot rock treatment. Michelle is a pro at getting blood out of a turnip.