Use Your Words: Small Celebrations

Hey-O friends!

Today’s post is a writing challenge created by Karen @ Baking in A Tornado.  8 participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words for someone else to use in a post. All words must be used at least once. All posts will be different as each writer has received their own original set of words. No blogger knows who received their words or in what direction the writer will take them. Until today.  

My words are:

music ~ magic ~ dispel ~ dime ~ day-to-day basis ~ punish

They were submitted by the extremely creative Jenniy@ https://climaxedtheblog.blogspot.com  

***             

This little man is graduating with his engineering degree in a few weeks. 

Now, as if by magic, he IS a man. I never can get over how quickly time passes. He's been working so hard in college, and now he's going to be on to his next endeavor.

We'd have to dispel the rumor that COVID-19 is ruining any graduating ceremony or party for him. It doesn't feel like a punishment to call off rounding up family, sending out invites, and expecting gifts from people he never sees.  We've always been a family without grandiose plans. For his high school graduation, Christian wanted to go to...a buffet. No joke. And he was as happy as a clam. I get that it is going to be truly difficult for many graduates this season; I'm so sorry for that.

I decided to plan out a truly grandiose party invite, and then change it up ala our "Stay At Home" orders that are in effect for the next little while.

Congratulations, Christian. Can't wait to celebrate with McDonald's or something. 

Happy Friday, friends. Please stay safe.
-Michele

Be sure to check out the other cool kids participating in this month's challenge:

                   Baking in a Tornado

                   Spatulas on Parade

                   Wandering Web Designer

                   On the Border

                   Part-Time Working Hockey Mom

                   Sparkly Poetic Weirdo    

                   Climaxed 

Words With Friends February 2020: Yum!

Hey-O friends!

Today’s post is a writing challenge created by Karen @ Baking in A Tornado.  10 participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words for someone else to use in a post. All words must be used at least once. All posts will be different as each writer has received their own original set of words. No blogger knows who received their words or in what direction the writer will take them. Until today.  

My words are:

triple, pairings, enjoyed, last, missive

They were submitted by: Jenn @

https://sparklyjenn.blogspot.com/ 
Thanks for the words, Jenn!

***

Attention Employees: Read and memorize this week's missive via Chef Boyar-Jonah.

Chef Boyar-Jonah, circa 2008

Enjoy your weekend, friends,
-Michele

Check out the other cool kids participating this week:

                         Baking In A Tornado

                          Spatulas On Parade

                  Wandering Web Designer

                                  On The Border   

        Part-time Working Hockey Mom

                       Southern Belle Charm  

                                         Climaxed   

                       Sparkly Poetic Weirdo

                           Medicated Musings     

Use Your Words: December 2019: Sweet.

Hey-O friends!

Today’s post is a writing challenge created by Karen @ Baking in A Tornado.  8 participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words for someone else to use in a post. All words must be used at least once. All posts will be different as each writer has received their own original set of words. No blogger knows who received their words or in what direction the writer will take them. Until today.   

My words are: 

wind ~ profit ~ lady ~ base ~ older

They were submitted by Dawn@: https://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com

Thanks, Dawn!

Once in a while, when the wind blows just right, I remember how much I miss teaching. The ache for it happens much less now that I'm older and my energy isn't as high. Still, I stop and reminisce about how much joy I had telling stories, doing activities, and watching children's eyes glow in awe as they learned while having fun.

I'm not working for profit anymore. I'm no longer teaching a room full of young people. But something wonderful has taken up my free time. Grandkids! Like my own children, they won't stay young for long, so I am choosing to soak up every minute I get with them. 

One of the perks of getting to watch my five-year-old grandson, S. three mornings a week, is getting to share with him some of the activities I once did with my students.

This past week, S. and I read four different versions of "The Gingerbread Man". I taught him a song and we acted out the story with little finger puppets. He was able to retell the saga to his grandpa and watch him laugh at S.'s storytelling.

On another day, we made paper gingerbread people and tried to come up with solutions on how to make sure the Gingerbread Man would stay in the oven until the old lady could take him out to decorate. (The old lady in the story, not me.)
S.'s solution was to tape the base of the cookie to the pan! Haha. We finished that morning decorating gingerbread people.

decorating and tasting Gingerbread Men

Putting the Paper guy who's taped to the pan in the (turned off) oven,

On the last day, we decorated a gingerbread house, discussing what rooms might be inside and which window the "real" gingerbread man might have jumped from.

 S. was engrossed the whole time. You know it might be going well if your sugared-up little man keeps his attention focused for large chunks of time.

I was in charge of the glue.

Some might say, "Big Deal, you had fun. It's just a little kid. What does that have to do with teaching?"
My answer is that the whole thing was teaching/learning. Without calling it what it was, S., age five, was learning:

*What a beginning, a middle, and an end are in a story."
*How to retell a story.
*How to talk about how four different stories of the same Gingerbread man can be different.
*Learning the words to, and reciting a song.
*small motor skills of decorating tiny ginger people cookie.
*small motor skills of cutting and gluing paper gingerbread guy. (and taping him to a pan!)
*Hypothesizing the ending of a 5th story based on the other versions of said story. (Using prior knowledge).
*Coming up with solutions to problems. (How would we keep him in the oven?) 
*Spatial skills/Problem solving (Imagining where rooms are located in the Gingerbread house and knowing that the Gingerbread man escaped through a window, where the kitchen might be.

*Senses: How the cookies smelled, how the candies tasted sweet and sour, hearing and singing notes in a song, how cookies feel (HOT!) coming out of an oven, and how the house and cookies looked with different colored decorations.
*Sharing: retelling the story to Grandpa, and later, to sisters and brothers. S. took all the cookies home, so I'll assume he shared those cookies with family.

Those are some skills, man! Children are incredible.

What in the world does any of that matter? Sometimes we underestimate the capabilities and hands-on knowledge that little people gain, simply by playing/experimenting. No written tests needed. Just experiences.

Ugh. Those sweet little hands.

Lord, I've missed it. Thank heavens for grandbabies. And for the simplest of stories.



Have a sweet weekend, friends.
-Michele

Links to the other “Use Your Words” posts:

                     Baking In A Tornado

              Wandering Web Designer

                     Spatulas on Parade

                           On the Border 

                                Sarah Nolan

                   Southern Belle Charm  

                                     Climaxed   

     Part-time Working Hockey Mom           

Fly On The Wall May 2019: Young at Heart

Welcome to the May Fly on the Wall Group Challenge. This month, 5  bloggers and I are describing what it would be like if you were to take a peek inside our homes...

Have a "look" around mine, and then go visit the other blogger's pages. There's always something fun, sentimental, or better yet, embarrassing going on. It's like your house, only we're admitting to the craziness. You have our permission. Buzz on over!

The cast:
Mark: the man
Me
Alex: Oldest daughter
J.: The teenager
Christian: son (21)
3 grandkids :)

Young at Heart:

***

I'm not sure if it's because the man and I are now grandparents, or if we've always been this way, but I've decided the adults in our family often act like kids; in the best way.
Here are a few examples from the blur that has been Spring:

After Easter, I found a 12-pack of Bunny Ears that I forgot to use. Mark and I, our three kids and 3 grandkids put them on (because, BUNNY EARS!) After 5 minutes, the little ones and the teenager (not cool, man!) took theirs off. The adults, however, kept them on for the remainder of the night. One of us almost wore hers to bed.

Only serious adults wear Bunny Ears.

***

For a million reasons, I haven't been back to my hometown in years. A lot has been going on back there, so Mark and I decided to fly out to Michigan for a short 48 hours. For health reasons, I haven't enjoyed making that long flight. Mark surprised me and upgraded our tickets to first class. WooHoo! Although I'd like to think it was for me...

Priorities

Mark: "Isn't this nice? Watch closely as I put this tea away and enjoy 17 Bloody Marys". 

For me, having a restroom so close and being able to move around made the flight much more pleasant. I'm sure that the other "regular first-classers" weren't thrilled to watch Mark and I trade up our pretzels and almonds like they were marbles or golden treasures. 
Me: (later, out loud) "A warm washcloth and Ben and Jerry's for dessert? Where has first-class been all my life?"

***

Even though our time at home was short, I was able to accomplish most of what I came for. Including stopping at my childhood mall to see if the large bronze hippopotamus still existed. And it did. It's the little things, people.

Priorities 

***

Me: (Yelling downstairs) "Hey Mark? Can you help me move this desk?

Mark: "Yes, in about an hour. I have some things to finish up with work."

The teenager: (5 seconds later)"Hey Dad? How does this video game work again?"

(all I hear is running)

Priorities

***

Our foster granddaughter's birthday party fell on Mother's Day. I asked my daughter if she was okay celebrating it at our house on that day. She was thrilled. Plus, I promised the granddaughter a dinosaur cake. I wasn't able to find a "dinosaur bones" mold, even though I swore they existed. Five craft stores and one disappointed grandma later,  Christian used some fondant and created the bones. He's the real MVP. I'll always be amazed at the incredible abilities of my children.

I put crushed cookies and graham crackers on top so the kids could go looking for bones. Mark and I figured the granddaughter would love it since he and I had so much fun trying it out first.

They seemed to like the cake!

She found the bones and the boys ate them.

***

See that small table in the bottom right corner of the next pic? That was for the grandkids. Notice that they aren't at any table during the birthday craft time. Instead, the rest of us (minus the teenager) were engrossed in coloring wood dinosaurs.

***

The culmination of the day was to be a "paleontologist" and carefully break open an egg (made of plaster) to find a toy dinosaur inside. It was 10 times harder than any of us thought. We eventually opened all of the eggs, but it was a ton of work. Alex's face says it all.

"Thanks, mom, for this super fun idea."

***

Mark made a run to the store and asked if I needed anything. I told him I'd love a candy bar. I know I shouldn't eat them, but I'm weak, man!

Mark: "What kind do you want?"

Me: "I don't care. Just something chocolate."

After shaking his head at my indecision, he left for the store and returned with a big smile. He poured out a bag of various chocolates as if whatever he brought home would be wrong.

Trying not to take offense, I look at the pile. 

With the most serious face, I ask, "Where are the Almond Joys??"

Again people, priorities. 

Are you young at heart? Let me know in the comments.
Have a sweet weekend, friends. 
-Michele

Buzz on over and visit other participants of this month's Fly :)

                  Baking in a Tornado

                  Never Ever Give Up Hope

                  Menopausal Mother

                  Spatulas on Parade

                  Bookworm in the Kitchen

Fly on the Wall: August 2015

Hello, Friends!  Welcome to the August Fly on the Wall Group Challenge. This month, 13 awesome bloggers and I are describing what it would be like if you were to take a peek inside our homes....

Have a "look" around mine, and then go visit the other blogger's pages. There's always something fun, sentimental, or better yet, embarrassing going on. It's like your house, only we're admitting to the craziness. You have our permission. Buzz on over!

Cast:
Me
The man
Alex, the eldest 
Micah, Alex's husband 
C., The middle (son, 17)
J., The youngest (son, 10)

The fly on the wall was in a lot of places this month. The last bit of summer seems to have that effect on insects and people.

Sarcastic Convos and Dreams: 
Whether big or small, everyone had something to celebrate this month.

Micah, the son-in-law, was offered a coaching job at a local high school. According to him, a job pertaining to basketball is something that he has always wanted. (Well, besides having the undying love of his in-laws, but that's another story for another day.) Seriously, we are so proud of him.

***

This is a panorama of Alex's new classroom. She starts her dream job of being a teacher on Tuesday! Of course she still has dreams of being a dentist, an acrobat, and a hot air-balloon driver. She would also like to be related to the man who invented cheese curds. One day at a time, girl. 

Texts from Alex during the week of her teacher training. She has just recently given up sugar and white flour (during the most stressful week of her new career.)

Alex: Mom. I'm hungry and the district is catering. My salad is mocking me.

Alex: Mom. They brought in bagels. And cookies. Is this a bad joke?

Alex: Errr. Pizza. You brought me up to never turn down free food, mom. Why is this happening?

Alex: Pasta today :(

Alex: I'm feeling better. Confident. I can do this!

Alex: Ok. The freaking Waffle Cart is here!!! 

***

C.'s dream came partly true this month. He wants to finish school and become an astronautical engineer. He spent the better part of our trip to Florida at the Kennedy Space Center. 

One day, he will be an employee.

C. says that he would drive this van and tell people he manned a vehicle for NASA.

He also said he'd even work the grill at the "Orbit Cafe," a restaurant at the space center. 

C.: "I'll tell everyone I work for NASA. I'll say, "I'm pretty important. Without me, NASA wouldn't even function. You could say that NASA runs on my work. The instruments I work with get pretty hot, but it's a sacrifice I make daily for America.'"

C. in the hotel with his 9 dollar space blanket. Sucker.

***

J. has dreams too. He wanted to see a spacesuit. He wanted to live in Canada. (Don't ask.) He wanted to stay up all night and watch the Food Network. He wanted to fly on an airplane long enough to finish a movie. Oh, and he wanted to eat a pretzel as big as his head.

He almost got it all.

Who needs the Space Center when you can pose with a familiar name?

Canada ala' Epcot Center

Pretzel. Check.

J.: (on the plane): "You know what? I'm going to tell my wife to drive the kids when we go on vacation. I'm going to tell her I'll fly and meet her there. We probably won't fight that way."

C. : "You probably won't have a wife that way."

Finally:

The man: "Our anniversary is coming up. It's a big one! What are you thinking you'd like?"

Me: "Something big and shiny."

The man: "Something that will make people ooh and ahh?"

Me: "Yep."

The man: "Something bigger than your current ring?"

Me: "Um, yes!!"

The man: "So we're on the same page?"

Me: "After all these years, I certainly hope we are!!"

*

*

*

*

*

Yes. Yes we were.

Happy Friday, Friends! 

-Michele

Don't forget to check out the other participants of this month's fly!

Baking in a Tornado                          

Spatulas on Parade                          

Follow Me Home                          

Menopausal Mother                          

Never Ever Give Up Hope                                   

Just a Little Nutty                                 

The Momisdes                                       

Someone Else's Genius                           

Sanity Waiting to Happen                                  

Southern Belle Charm                      

Searching for Sanity                       

Juicebox Confession                             

Go Mama O                                           

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy                                          

Fly on the Wall: April 2015

Hey-O!  Welcome to the April Fly on the Wall Group Challenge. This month, 14 amazing bloggers and I are describing what it would be like if you were to take a peek inside our homes....

Have a "look" around mine, and then go visit the other blogger's pages. There's always something fun, sentimental, or better yet, embarrassing going on. It's like your house, only we're admitting to the craziness. You have our permission. Buzz on over!

Cast:
Me
The man
Alex, the eldest (daughter, 21) 
C., The middle (son, 16)
J., The youngest (son, 10)
Lila and Henry, the dogs

***

It will be a breeze...

That's what the man and I said when we decided to take down the playhouse that's been in our backyard for 10+ years. We had a week off for Spring Break and figured this would only take a day or so. Holy Hannah, people. We were so wrong. 
So. So. Wrong. (This story is getting its own blog post.)
For now, here's a picture of the result:

Yep, that's a dumpster. Full of a playhouse.

Easter:

It was a really good day. Those of you familiar with my struggles with depression can understand how big this was for me.

Alex and her husband spent the night before coloring eggs with us.

After all of these years, I still Google the directions on boiling eggs.

I would show you all of the colorful, finished eggs, but Alex was ready for deviled eggs. These are my Pinterest-FAIL chicks. Eh, they were still delicious.

After church, Alex and her man came over for brunch. The weather was gorgeous. We were able to sit outside and eat in the sun. I may have mentioned this before. But when my children are wrapped around my table; when they are laughing at everything and nothing at all, I am at my happiest. My whole world was right in front of me. My heart was full.

The best laugh of the day was watching my children; all grown with their lanky bodies, pushing each other over to grab up plastic Easter eggs. There was yelling and pouting, racing and hiding. That was just the married kids. All for candy-filled plastic eggs. OK, so we may have mentioned the cash hidden in some of them...

The rest of the month was busy. Alex is finishing up her last few weeks of college. C. is cramming for his AP finals and J. is enjoying the rest of his fourth grade year. Other than J., I have to keep up with the others via text. Here are some of my favorite ones:

Texting with the kids:

Me to Alex: "I'm going to have to go ahead and agree with you. That woman has issues."
Alex: "So does Satan."

***

Alex to Me:"Do you have the recipe for your buttered noodles?
Me: "Yep. Are you ready? Cook noodles. Add butter."

***

Me to Alex: "I have a conundrum. I want to be a good citizen and all-around nice person,  but I also want to punch someone in the face."
Alex: "That's easy. Voo-doo Dolls. Can someone say, "Craft night?"

***

C. (from work): "Some person dropped an entire case of beer and I had to take it to the back, so if I come home smelling like Bud Lite, um, that's why."

***

Texting with my friends:

Me: I'm going on Tuesday for the Colonoscopy.
Friend #1: "I hope everything comes out all right!"
Friend #2 "That's a pretty crappy situation."
Friend #3 "Good Luck today! (with the poop emoji.)

***

Me to my Forever Friend: "I was flipping through channels earlier and saw the movie "Flowers in the Attic." I immediately thought of you. How old were we when we read those awful things?"
F.F.: "We had to be twelve. I can't believe we got away with reading that trash! I heard the movies are pretty cheesy."
Me: "They are. So I recorded all four."
FF: "Yes! Our poor kids. They'll never be able to remember such things. What will they say to their kids? 'Hey, remember when our moms let us go to the mail box by ourselves? Remember watching that rated PG movie?'"
Me: 'Hey, remember that time we went down the stairs without holding onto the railing?'
Our grand kids will probably be wrapped in cotton and bubble wrap. Rebels.

Finally:

We took the dogs for their yearly physicals. While they had lost a bit of weight, it wasn't enough to make the vet happy. He explained (again) to me that I'm not showing love to the dogs by giving them extra food. I nodded, knowing that's exactly what I do.

Out in the car:
The man: (patting his stomach) "Did you see the vet look at me while he was talking to you about food not equalling love? I swear he was looking at me."
Me: "Oh, that's not true. He's an animal doctor. He could care less how we look. Now let's get home. I just made you an apple pie."

***

Thanks once again for reading. Thanks also to the Fly's AMAZING creator, Karen @ Baking In a Tornado, aka "The Blogging Original", for hosting this challenge! Would you like to join in the next FLY challenge? Click on the FLY button on my side bar. Karen will  take care of you.

Take a look at what the other bloggers have going on inside their homes. Go on! Leave them a comment. You know you want to!

Baking In A Tornado                          

Spatulas on Parade                          

Follow me home                           

Menopausal Mother                          

Stacy Sews and Schools                        

Battered Hope                                   

Just A Little Nutty                                 

The Momisodes                                        

Someone Else’s Genius                            

Disneyland in Kentucky                                

Searching for Sanity                    

Sanity Waiting to Happen                                

The Sadder But Wiser Girl                             

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy                                   

Juicebox Confession                       

Happy Friday, friends!
-Michele