up with the birds!

 There's nothing like waking up to a baby crying.  But when you're an old grandma, wow, it brings back memories...that feeling of disorientation, in the middle of a dream...I HAD to run into the bathroom before I got Miss Ruth Eleanor out of her little bed, quick quick quick, I remember now!  Everything done so fast!  But Grandma got lucky this morning, Miss Ruth fell back to sleep, or she got hold of her pacifier, and was quiet, long enough to even brush teeth.  

I sneaked down the hall, still quiet, good.  I washed some grapes and put them in a baggy, packed a cheese stick and a yogurt, an ice pack, and four Oreos in Charlotte's lunch bag, let the dogs out, back in, fed them, made coffee, swept both the living room and kitchen, wiped down the counters, and Miss Ruth was howling again.   A diaper change and a warm bottle, some smiles...

She crawled around a bit, the pooped.  She doesn't like to lie down to be changed, she does crunches.  She wiggles and grabs and contorts, so Grandma sings  You are my sunshine, my only sunshine..., and it distracts her a bit.  

She needs brekky, how does one cook an egg while holding a baby?  Well, THIS baby is ten months old, and very grabby, so into the walker she goes, then voila, a nicely scrambled egg, she ate every bite.

She's crawling around again, jabbering and jabbering,  and saying, aaahhh, mom mom mom, ah ba ba ba...she's been here a week, and you know how babies blossom right before your eyes...she grows and changes and I fall more in love with her.  

Being a long-distance Grandma these days is easier in some ways, because you can still see them, face time them, see videos and pictures all the time.  It's not like when I was younger and my older brother lived in Nebraska and my mother's first grandchild was born there.  We would get the long-distance calls on Saturday morning, and pictures in the mail.

But, seeing them in person, and hugging them, kissing the tops of their heads, scooping them up when they bump or fall, reading them stories...

Well....it's night time now, what a day.  Sonja watched Ruth while I went on a few errands with Benjamins and little Elise.  I came home with pepperoni, Hershey kisses, heavy cream, and a few outfits for Ruth.  

I wasn't home for too long before it was time to go up to the house we are working on, with Paul.  Sonja and Camille took Ruth to Target.  Sonja put her in the baby carrier, and Camille climbed into the cart halfway through the store because she gets tired on those crutches.  (They go back to the outdoor furniture and she climbs up on a chair, she's quite nimble).  

We painted for about four hours.  I primed a door, painted trim around windows, and washed some of the spindles on the stairway railing, then painted a few of them.  I painted a closet door, and the trim around it.  Paul put some cabinet doors on, sanded the stairs, wiped them down, and primed some of the backs,  and cleaned things up.

We got home, and oops.  We brought home a can of paint so I can paint a few more cabinets that we decided can be rehabbed, and...oops.  Paul dropped it in the driveway.  

 It spattered all over the front quarter panel of my nice car.  I will be googling how to get it off, as scraping it was taking the paint off.  After all that painting, my feetsies were hurting, and I was out there trying to clean off the car when we got home, hadn't eaten a thing all day yet, then I walked up the deck steps, and dang, Paul had walked into the house to get a wash cloth for the car, and there is blue paint up the steps and across the deck.  I sighed a big sigh, and thought, All I want is for things to be nice.  

Ah well.  At least I'm not mad at him, because what good would that do?  

(The other day the paint can top came loose when we were bringing it from here to the house we're doing, and he thought it was because I pounded it on with a screwdriver instead of the big mallet.  So shh, I was super glad that he was the one who put the top on it before this happened...I'm actually not sure how he dropped it, if it just slipped, or if the cover came loose as he was carrying it...the handle of the can came off somehow, so it was tricky....)

In any case, I am not mad at him.  It's kind of funny, really, because you know that I LOVE my car, I really do, it's the nicest car I've ever had, and likely ever WILL have, and I try to take good care of it.  But in the big scheme of things, all of us are just passing through this life, can't take any of it with us.  And, isn't this the day that the Lord has made?  Aren't we to "rejoice and be glad in it"?  Or is that only for when things are going swimmingly well?

Dinner:  Sonja K. made a fresh mozzarella and tomato, pepperoni pizza for her, Camille and Charlotte Claire.  I made scrammies again:  bacon all cubed up, browned with a few sausage links cut up, dump in a bowl.  Chopped green pepper and onion browned up in the bacon grease, dump in the bowl, then eggs scrambled up with heavy cream, minced onions, shredded cheese, salt and pepper, then add the yummies back in after the eggs cook.  Two pieces of Ezekial toast, and mmmm.

Ah well.  Tomorrow I'm sure Ruth will be up with the birds again, so I better not stay up too late.  Sonja and Char are going to be gone all day, doing work at church, Paul is going with Mariel up to the house to work, and I'll be here with Camille and little Ruth.  Sam and Jonathan will be arriving at the house we are working on, with the moving truck from Virginia.  The house isn't finished, but there is one room finished enough to pack their stuff into.

Next week, yay, we're going away for a few days, to a cabin up on Lake Ontario.  Sam and Grace will be here with their kids, so they will look after the doggies for us.  I think we'll really really appreciate the little vacation....