Over Keyed!

 Last Tuesday, we got the call from the VW dealer...

My car keys were done and I could come and get my car!

If my arthritis wasn't so bad, I would have done a happy dance.

Sad part was I didn't have anywhere to go...

Mr K didn't have a key to his car, but he could always find places to go...

I considered renting him my key to his car... 

On Thursday, I took Locklan and Teagan to visit Henry and Luca!

Oh my goodness, Henry was so happy to see them he kept hugging them and giggling.

Luca got plenty of attention...

I didn't think Locklan was ever going to let him go!

I finally got them all to sit pretty still...

Every time I look at this, my heart sings!

Oh my, grandma life!

Lots more going on but I have things I have to get done before Mr.K and the dogs get up!

Here's the Key

 Actually, there is no key.

Let me start at the beginning, or even before that.

Last Friday Mr.K went to Tractor Supply for dog food.

Later that day, Mr. K could not find his car keys.

In this house, we have two complete sets.  We each have keys to both cars.

On Saturday I took my keys apart and handed him a key for his car.

We were fine...well, almost fine.

That's when he noticed that his inspection sticker expired in JANUARY!

We made it through the weekend and then Monday morning I was headed to Tony and Mindy's to babysit Henry while Mindy took Luca for his one month check up.

I grab my purse (where I always keep the keys) and hit the ignition.

It says the key is not in the car.

A quick dump of the contents of my purse on the front seat.

Nope, no key.

I asked begged Mr. K to help me find the key.

No key to be found.

The only car we have with a key is his out of inspection Kia

(that incidentally is parked in the drive because Kia recalled it and said not to park it in or near structures because of fire danger)

I jumped in his car and drove (very carefully) to baby sit.

This morning, the first available time for inspection the car was legal!

Still no key for my car.

Mr. K started making phone calls.

Finally, he spoke with Nationwide.  They agreed to help find a towing company that could get my car out of the garage and tow it to the VW dealer where they would program the new keys...when they come in on Monday or Tuesday.

We were just getting ready to eat dinner with a guy comes to our door.  He came to tow my car to the dealer.

Now, I usually park in the garage with my window open.  Don't ask why.

The guy knew how to put the car in neutral, but he could not get the window up!

Mr. K helped him put plastic over the window!

So there I was...

Watching my darling VW on the back of a tow truck...

Headed for the VW dealer to be parked in their lot with the window down?

Until Monday or Tuesday.

Somehow I could not make sense of it all, but in guy-talk, I was wrong...

The service manager (and I have plenty of bad experiences with them)

said he would send someone out to throw plastic over it.

The key is...there is no key!

But to brighten my day...

Henry and Luca took their first bath together!

~sigh~

Grandma life!

Corgi Day?

 This morning my newsfeed announced that it was National Welch Corgi Day.

I begrudgingly thought it was only appropriate to honor Miss Shirley...

But then I saw that International Corgi Day was scheduled for June 4, 2021...

What the heck, another day to honor her?

I did find yet another day, 

International Corgi Day is April 20!

Shirley said it's going to be a big celebration so she's cleaning house...

And getting supplies...

It's going to be a big one!

Which is making Winnie rather disgruntled...

How about that?!?

One whole post without photos of grandkids!

Think again!

~sigh~

Grandma life!

Scraps of Life...

 Just some bits of this and that from the past week...

Photos the kids shared, things I did...

Places my brain went...

First off, I'm in up to my wazoo with my mom's estate.

So many things to do, questions to ask, STUFF to deal with.

I remember that for the past ten years, each time I visited my mother  she tried to give me things out of her house.  I usually refused, saying I had more than enough STUFF at my house already.

Now I see that it would have been easier to take the contents of her house piece by piece than to deal with the whole mess at once!

I'm learning...look out kids!

It's been difficult working on the legal stuff.  I've known my attorney for for than 55 years.

He was a fuss budget in junior high and has only gotten worse.  We're both old and cranky.

I think he should have retired years ago...just kidding, Stephen!

Of course, there was my Tuesday dinner with Locklan.  Wouldn't miss it for anything.

I try to find something to play while we're waiting for our dinners.

This week it was dominoes!

He loved it and took the tiles home to play with his mom.  

He claimed he usually won but occasionally Teagan won.

Yesterday afternoon, the kids stopped by for an afternoon visit.

Within minutes, they gathered furniture from every room to set up their theater.

They took turns as master of ceremony and performing.

Teagan danced, Locklan sang.  The big problem was that when Teagan was Master of Ceremony, she would introduce herself, introduce the performers and thank everyone for coming.

That included going out and hugging everyone in the audience which included 3 bears, 2 cabbage patch dolls and a few stuffed animals.

She's amazing...

We had fun but I was beat after all that excitement!

I was happy to see Andy helping put my house back in order!

Tony sent me this...

Brothers having lunch?

Last night, he shared this...

I think they like him!

Wow!  That was a week!

Next week I get my second covoid injection, Mr. K has had both of his...

And (grandma) life goes on!

~SIGH~

Grandma and the Cricut

 I've had a vinyl cutting machine of one brand or another for 6 or 7 years.

I really didn't use them much until grandkids came along.

I did monthly baby shirts...

birthday shirts...

And even holiday shirts...

(the shirts were good, the kids were not)

Henry's dad (Tony) is a Nationwide agent.

Henry is obsessed with Nationwide.

He even tells the knock-knock joke:

Knock-Knock

Who's there?

Nationwide

Nationwide who?

Nationwide is on your side.

Mindy and I were talking,

she thought Henry would enjoy a Nationwide shirt.

Like this?

He was delighted.

So was Luca...

On Sunday Tony and I were talking about Blue's Clues.

Henry loves it and while he was napping, Mindy made him 'clues' out of construction paper...

That gave me an idea...

A Blue's Clues shirt.

Oh, yes, he's playing golf with MeMaw's walking stick!

Don't stand still, MeMaw will probably decorate you.

~sigh~

Grandma Life!

How do you say Netflix???

 How do you say Netflix in Spanish?

A few weeks ago, I tried to watch a movie on Netflix...

Everyone was speaking Spanish!

I remembered the time Mark, my late husband, changed all the settings on my mother's cell phone to Spanish.

I know that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...I accused my sons, of course.

I played around with Netflix for a few days.

Then I signed out, only to realize that I didn't have the password to sign back in!

I clicked on the 'forgot password' or at least what I believed was the right button...

I got an email telling me where to go or what to do...

It was all in Spanish!

By this time, I was ready to cancel Netflix.

I tried calling them, only to sit my non-Spanish speaking hind end on hold.

Then the very next day, there was a strange profile for a Juan Gonzolez on my account.

I called them again, this time I didn't speak Spanish and she didn't speak much English.

She couldn't tell me who Juan was or how my account turned Spanish.

After an hour, we finally got it switched back to English and I deleted Juan...

Oh...and I did get Tony to admit that once he heard that my account was Spanish, he invented Juan...

So, if you have read this far, here's a treat...

Henry and Luca!

Grandma life!

Home Sweet Home

 Yesterday afternoon, I made the 25 mile drive to Tony and Mindy's house...

( I really do miss having them 2 miles from me)

My job was to play with Henry while Tony went to pick up Mindy and Luca.

We didn't tell Henry where he was going.

When they came in, Henry and I were in his play room and Mindy came in to greet him while Tony got Luca out of his car seat.

Then we took Henry out to the living room.

He seemed stunned when he saw Luca.

At first, he just stared...

But before long...

My heart just melts...

~sigh~

Grandma life!

Under Arrest!

 Every Tuesday I grab Locklan, take him to kickboxing

And then we go out to eat.

Every Tuesday, same restaurant, same table, same server and we order the same food.

He loves it!

This week, Tuesday was also his sixth birthday.

I bought him a hat and badge...

Our server fussed over him.

He was having a ball.

While we were waiting for our food we played a game with coins.

We make it up as we go along.

I had my back to the restaurant when I heard a man's voice

saying, "I hear there is a birthday boy in here!"

I turned around to see four state troupers walking towards us,

cookies in hand.

One by one, they gave Locklan a cookie and then posed for a photo!

This kid was over the moon!

It was a birthday to remember!!!

~sigh~

It's been a while since I told you

I LOVE BEING A GRANDMA!

Grandma Jan Reporting In!

 Yesterday I got this text from Tony...

Yes!  Baby Luca is here and all is well.

He weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces and is doing well, Mindy too.

Grandson #4, grandkid #5.

So many other things going on...I hope to drop in and get everyone caught up.

Until then,

Granny Jan signing off!

Weldist?

A few weeks ago, Andy sent me a video of a man welding.

I recognized the surroundings as Andy's 'man cave' and assumed it was Andy.

We bought Andy his first welder when he was 16 and he's been welding ever since.

His welder is to Andy as my Bernina (sewing machine) is to me...

At the end of the video, he lifted his hood and to my surprise, 

It was Locklan!

Andy said he spent the day welding

 (or whatever you call it when they weld-after all the new thing to call someone who sews is sewist, not sewer, should I call him a weldist?).

Locklan later told me that he made me a present.

On Christmas eve, he proudly presented me with this...

A Basset Hound!

He did admit that it's ears were too small, but isn't he amazing...

He's not even 6!

Creative genes or crazy genes?

Did I mention I love being a grandma?

 

We Got Them Going!

Back in July I got a kick ass deal on digital photo frames...

So I got everyone one, even me!

During the holiday season, they were the farthest from our minds...

But Mindy being Mindy, she's always busy, as soon as her tree came down 

(Mine is still up), she started loading photos into hers.

Henry LOVES photos, especially of him, but he loves Teagan and Locklan too.

So it was a huge hit with him...

He even talks to it!!

I got a text from Ashley...

Her kids were fascinated as well!

Of course, I had to set mine up too...

Now last year I bought my mom one but since she didn't have internet access, you had to load the photos into hers...

Ours has wifi...we can send pictures to each other's frame.

Oh what fun!  Mindy got to see Tony's second grade picture!

Simple pleasures...

 

I'm Really Trying

 I've been trying to get back to blogging, I really have.

The hard part is that I like to talk about my day, what I have been doing...

These days are filled with my mom.

Her estate, bills, insurance, condolences and questions...

Last week I spent three hours with our attorney, who also was a high school classmate.

I spent one whole day tracking down papers and records.

I spent one whole day with my brother, packing up the kitchen.

I used to call my mother every evening, chatting for an hour...

It was easy, this is not.

Moving on...if you have been here for any length of time, you know...

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year!

I love Christmas so much that I offered to send my kids to their respective in-laws

for all other holidays just so I could have my entire family together for Christmas eve.

It's been a tradition in my mom's family as long as I can remember.

We cleaned and mom and my aunts baked.  We decorated and planned...

We sang, oh did we ever sing!  We waited for the nightly news and 

the announcement that Santa was in the area!

This year, this might be the first time we won't be doing this...

So many things standing in the way...

Hit me like a ton of bricks...

I can't wrap my head around adapting...

My gifts are bought, not wrapped.

My decorations are finally down from the attic but not unpacked...

Teagan and Locklan came yesterday and decorated the tree,

Oh my, what a mess that is!

It's in the middle of the living room floor.

Only one tree...

Only ONE tree!

One tree must mean it's almost Christmas...

If you have read this far, here's a reminder that even though we're all nuts, Jesus is the reason for the season!

Back soon.

Read Me a Story

Last week Mr. K and I were invited to have dinner with Tony and Mindy

and of course, Henry!

After a delicious dinner, Henry got out the books...

First I had to read a book about hockey...

Then Pappy had to read The Hungry Caterpillar which I think Henry had memorized.

He is so smart and so funny...

Grandma Life, I love it!

I did find out how to keep Teagan and Locklan busy...

I gave them each little lighted magnifying glasses.

Locklan dragged a stool into the middle of the living room

and kept finding things to 'investigate' 

It kept them busy for at least 20 minutes.

Considering they are 2 and 5, that's amazing!

And of course, there is always Teagan's hair...

~sigh~

Did I mention that I love being a grandma?

 

Let's Clean Up!

 I know that I have so much to talk about

but I'm still playing 'catch up' after being out of commission for all that time...

But I want to keep in touch, and I want to share my family...

Now I don't know if you know, but I'm a Norwex junkie!

Just before Ashley was going back to work and I was going to watch Locklan

My neighbor introduced me to the products that would clean your house with just water...

No Chemicals!

I fell in love.  I had a crawling baby...I didn't want chemicals on the floors!

It took a while, but little by little Ashley fell in love with them too.

She's now a consultant, which means we own at least one of everything they sell...

But seriously, after 5 years...

She posted these photos...

Now I don't know about you, but if I found a 'magic' cloth that would make my kids want to clean...

I'd buy two!

Seriously...

My boys were very helpful around the house.

Once, when my dad was in the hospital, his pastor said the would stop at the house for coffee.

Before leaving for the hospital, I wrote a note for the boys...

"Pastor Jeff coming.  Please do not leave your dishes in the sink."

That afternoon I came home to find the sink full of shoes and the dirty dishes on the floor beside the back door...

Kids...and you were wondering why I stopped at 4?

Okay, time to get busy...

Love to all...

I Missed You Guys!

 I know it looks like I dropped off the face of the earth...

I did not.

So much going on, from Mama Drama (issues with my mom)

to getting really sick and chalking it up to stress (it was not)

to fearing Covoid (I was tested negative)...

My life was almost normal for a bit, and yesterday was one of the high spots.

Remember this day?

            Henry's big announcement?

Yesterday was even more exciting...

Remember this?

When Tony hit that golf ball that revealed Henry.

Since Henry loves to golf, yesterday he got to hit the gender reveal ball...

Yes, Henry's brother will be here in March.

Needing a nap, talk to you later.

Love ya!