Mason and the snowmen

Mason likes the snowmen across the street from Grandma and Baba's house (good Carl's).

Also....

Here are a couple of pictures of Mason at Prim's during story time. He is so cute, sitting still the whole time Miss Pat tells the story!

Lunch at Noble

Leslee had a checkup at Noble today so we (Leslee, me, Liz and Janice) decided to meet Dora and Barb for lunch today. I really miss the daily interaction with these girls. The above picture was taken of our department Christmas party in 2005.

Janice retired in 2006. This picture here is at her party.



Memories of a better time at Noble Hospital.

Facebook Phobia Class

FACE YOUR FACEBOOK PHOBIA
Monday, November 28, 2:30-4 p.m.
Baystate Health Education Center
361 Whitney Avenue, Holyoke
Your kids and grandkids are on it. Your friends are
using it to connect with friends and family around the
globe. Are you missing out? You might be. Join Jay Lord,
eHealth analyst, Baystate Health, for a discussion and
demonstration about Facebook, the popular social
media website. You’ll learn how easy it is to stay connected
and protected, including do’s and don’ts, special
features, and how to “friend.” Many of your favorite
places, like Baystate Health and Health New England,
even have their own Facebook pages, offering you
another way to connect and possibly enhance your
health care knowledge. Refreshments served. To register:
1-800-377-4325. FREE!

When my friend Leslee from work first told me she was going to this I laughed out loud. Facebook Phobia Class. Well, I decided to go with her and it was actually fun. Most of what was discussed I already knew, but you can always learn something. We told them afterward that they need to have a more advanced class too. I haven't been able to do anything like this in years. I'm beginning to like being "retired."

Sunny

Kris, Toby, and Marley's cat Sunny (a.k.a. Sunny Man) likes to sit on the stair bannister post.



Silly Sunny!

Shazam

Kristen told me about a fun app for the iPhone called Shazam. It can identify music playing and give you the name of the song, and sometimes the lyrics. You can also download the song from iTunes. We went for a ride to Vermont today and I had fun playing with it. This song was Beauty is Only Skin Deep by the Temptations. So cool!

Pat-A-Cake

Lately Mason has been saying Pat-A-Cake. He is so cute saying it and I really wanted to get it on video but it's hard enough to get him to stay still for a picture, never mind a video. Tonight Kristen was talking to Marley at Stacia's house and she put Mason on speaker phone. We asked him to say Pat-A-Cake for Grandma Stacia and Amy and since he was sitting in a chair next to Kris' phone I took a video. It's not the greatest quality and you can hear people talking in the background, but it's better than nothing, and you can hear his sweet little voice.

Thanksgiving Day

Another Thanksgiving. It seems like this year just flew by. Today was a good day.

Mason arrived with a turkey hat that he had made at Junie's (daycare). I don't know where Junie gets her energy but she always has something cute for the kids during the holidays.





Marley is always asking me to tell her stories from when "Mommy and Uncle Mark" were little. This week I was telling her about the hats that they wore one Thanksgiving. This picture was at my grandmother's house. It was 1977, so Kristen was 5 and in Kindergarten, and Mark was 3 and in preschool. Wow, that seems like so long ago.



We had Thanksgiving dinner from Memo's for the second year and everyone agreed that it was really good; a new tradition has definitely been made.

Izzy was very interested in our dinner when Paul brought it home.



It comes ready to heat up, with instructions on how long to heat everything and at what temperature. What can be easier than that?



There were 13 of us here for dinner including me, Paul, Dot, Big Baba, Kris, Toby, Marley, Mark, Janelle, Mason, my father, Stacia and Amy (Janelle's mother and sister).



Dot and my Dad.



This was the first time that Dot has been to my house since going to the Atrium and she was great. She was happy, social and interacting, and she stayed until 6:30, way after dark which she hasn't wanted to do for the last few years.

After dinner Mason, Marley and Mark (!?!) had a tea party. Mason loves the little Dora tea party set that Marley has at my house. Marley usually will play with this with him but today was special having Mark play too!





How come the men get to relax after dinner?



Poor Amy wasn't feeling good today.



I know this isn't a good picture but it cracks me up. Kristen called this the "technology room" - everyone was on some sort of computer, even my father! Too much.



Marley actually went home with Stacia and Amy tonight. Stacia invited her to make Christmas cookies with her on Friday.

We had a good day. I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Half day

Half day of school. Parents working. Grandma not working. This is part of my new life; the good part.

Marley seemed excited to see me, another good part (or maybe she was just happy to have a half day of school!).



I will be sad to see her leave this school.

Thanksgiving shopping

Paul, Mason and I went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving. Mason was a big help keeping track of Grandma's list.





Can you tell he is saying "cheese" in this picture?

Memo's Restaurant

Today Paul and I went to Memo's for "brunch." We haven't been there in years.

When we were first married, Memo's was open for dinner. Back then I got out of work at 4:30 at Wesson Women's Hospital in Springfield. Paul would bring me home to Agawam, and have to be back in Springfield for his part time job (he was still in college) by 6:00. So.....there wasn't much time for me to cook supper (which I was okay with) and we would stop at Memo's on quite a few days. When they stopped staying open for dinner we basically stopped going there.

My father-in-law raves about Memo's. We even got Thanksgiving dinner catered last year (and we are going to this year) from Memo's.

We both loved it there today. The food was great, service was great and the place was decorated so nicely. On the menu was the history of Memo's (which you all know is right up my alley) and also in the foyer there were some newspaper articles about when this new couple took over Memo's and moved the restaurant a couple of doors down the street. For those of you who are interested, this is the article.





P.S. Coincidentally, the girl went to high school with Kristen. Small world!

Marley at Bible Quiz

Tonight when I went to pick up Marley at Bible Quiz, I could see her in the window of the church.

Alice's pig t-shirt

Alice is one of the girls at the crop I go to every month. She collects pigs. Today she showed up in this pig t-shirt and announced that this was going to be her crop shirt (could it be because we basically eat all day while scrapping?).

Ready or Not

"Ready or not, here come." This is what we heard from Mason after he stuck his head in the box. I'm not sure who he was talking to though!

Speed Cleaning

Today I started my "every other week cleaning" of Kristen and Toby's kitchen and bathroom.

I brought this cleaning book with me that I bought a couple of years ago. It was kind of a challenge to "clean by the book."

It all started with me getting a new iPhone believe it or not. I had decided that I wanted to get an iPhone when the new one came out. This was before I knew that I was getting laid off. When Kristen heard about my impending lay-off, she said, "I think we need to barter." So......the deal is that I clean her bathroom and kitchen every other week, and she adds me to her family plan and pays my monthly bill.

Works for me!!

Leslee

Today I spent a good part of the day with my (ex)co-worker Leslee. She needed to have a little procedure done at Noble Hospital and I brought her. My other (ex)co-worker, Liz, met us there. While Leslee was being worked on, we had break with the girls that we have had break with for 14 years (!) and I also had lunch with my lunch buddies. It was bittersweet. It was good to see everyone, but also a bit sad. I have such mixed feelings. I actually like being home, but then again, I miss the people. I guess only time will help.

I love clementines!!!

My father-in-law brought me a surprise tonight. First clementines of the season. LOVE them!

Old trees and post offices

Today was Paul's second Monday off since my "retirement." I had an eye doctor appointment in the morning, then we had to go to Noble to sign some papers. I had a hard time going there. It really hit me today that I do not work there anymore.

Then we headed off for a ride to Vermont; that always makes me feel better. The picture above is of really old trees on Rt. 112 in Worthington, MA. I love these trees. I don't know what they are, but in every season they are beautiful.

I love this quote -

"A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit."
                                                                        -Elton Trueblood (1900-1994)


We took back roads all the way to Bellows Falls, VT. It was a very relaxing day.

More Post Offices......

Colrain, MA


Grafton, VT


West Townshend, VT


West Wardsboro, VT


I love doing this collection of post offices. They are all so different!

Ettie's visit with Dot, Day 2

Last night Kristen brought Marley over to visit Dot, etc. and today Mark brought Mason. We had our own little "living room" all to ourselves.




We all really had a good time together. There were a lot of laughs and, when leaving, a lot of tears. I hope that we can do this many more times for Dot and Ettie.

Ettie's visit with Dot, Day 1

My aunt Esther (I call her Ettie) came for a quick visit with Dot this weekend. She lives in Delaware, about 6 hours away, and doesn't make the drive by herself anymore, so her daughter-in-law Tammy brought her up.

Dot has been doing very well lately. She hasn't packed up her room or taken down her pictures in quite a while. Well.........today when we got there she said she was all packed up to go home...and she was. Pictures off the wall, closet empty, bathroom toiletries packed up. I couldn't believe it. I felt so bad for Ettie; I wanted her to see how well Dot was adjusting.

It was fleeting, though. They came around to get them into the dining room for snack, and by the time snack was over, Tammy and I had put her whole room back together, and Dot never mentioned it again for the rest of the weekend.

My family has always been known for being loud. Even when I was a kid my grandmother would go around shutting the windows in the summer because "what are the neighbors going to think." When my aunts and my father get together, we are loud. This evening during sing-a-long, we all got laughing because my dad and Esther were really getting into singing, but they couldn't hear the music well and were a couple of beats ahead of the music, which made the rest of us laugh. I think we were the entertainment for the whole place!



It was a good day!

Springfield Science Museum

Today Paul and I went to the Springfield Museums with Mark, Mason and Marley. It was Veteran's Day and Mark and Marley had no school.

The first time we took Marley to the museum, I took a picture of her inside this Indian tepee. She was 18 months.



Each time we go, I take the same picture. Today, as seen in the top picture above, she is standing in the middle and her hand is coming out the top of the tepee. Yikes, she is getting tall.

The first time Mason went to the museum was last February. He was 20 months. He wouldn't go in the tepee to get his picture taken (he wouldn't go in this year either). But, last time he wasn't afraid of anything. This time, everything was scary. He didn't want to go into the dinosaur room. Marley finally told him to close his eyes and we would go through fast (to get to another part of the museum). Marley used to be afraid of this room and for years I had to lead her through with her eyes closed. The African room was "scary." Even the dioramas at the front of the museum with the stuffed animals was scary at first. By the end of our visit, he was okay with most of them.

It was an interesting day. For something like this, the age difference (10 and 2) is pretty pronounced. We ended up splitting up for a little while, but, all in all Marley enjoyed just showing Mason around because as she says, "I know this place like the back of my hand."

Here are a few pictures....