Guardian Angels

Boy am I glad I wrote the birthday blog early!  At least the sixteen year old got one thing on her birthday that was all about her.  *Sigh* Let me tell ya 'bout having kids.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  I don't have any.  That doesn't seem to get me free of the drama, excitement, worry, anxiety, etc. etc. etc. 

Yesterday morning I was kind of teary eyed.  For whatever reason, I get that way on Ashlyn's birthday.  It's probably because she's the oldest, and growing up at a pace faster than humanly possible!  At least it feels that way to me.  It also makes me miss my Mom, which I assume is because she and Ash were so close, and I just wish she could see the wonderful young woman Ashlyn is.  I assumed that's why my Mom appeared in a dream I had two nights ago.  I don't usually dream about either of my parents, or anyone else who has passed on, unless something is going on in my life.  Let me amend that.  Sometimes it happens right before something occurs in my life.  So I was mindful of it while I was thinking of Ash, but I chalked it up to the birthday.

Then at about 3:00 yesterday the texts/calls began.  Here's the short of it:  Caitlin (Tater), was playing at a friends house.  A company is siding the house, but they were working on the right side.  The three girls went out on the deck (left side) to have an ice cream cone, and a dude on the roof dropped a piece of flashing.  It hit Tater in the face, cutting her deeply.  She ended up having surgery to re-attach two nerves, and a third was bruised.  If that flashing had gone ANY deeper this would be a different blog.

As fate would have it, Taters parents were nowhere near by.  Mom was at home in Oliver, Dad was at work in Duluth. Her friends Grandma rode in the ambulance with her, and her parents met her at the hospital.  Hannah was left out at the friends house with Great Grandma, and I popped out of work to deliver her into Ti-Ti's (Kate) safe and comforting hands until someone could pick her up.  Ashlyn chose to stay at football practice.

By the time I was done at six Tater was heading in to surgery.  I swung by Kate's and picked up Hannah, then headed over to the high school to grab Ashlyn for some sort of birthday dinner.  That is when it happened.  "Auntie, can I go with my friend for dinner and back to her house?"  I knew it was coming.  Ditched.  Oh Ashlyn.  I didn't have the heart to be a bitch ( which I later said to her mother, in front of Hannah, who I then had to pay a quarter because of my language....) on her birthday and say no, so I sent her off with a "I am the adult in charge.  Do NOT get into trouble, and call me later."   

Hannah and I headed off to Kmart, because I don't have any Hannah treats at my house, which turned into Sunny D, goldfish crackers, a card and toy for Tater, and a toy for Hannah.  Then we watched Pocahontas and hung out.  I really needed to take a shower.  Hmmmm.... can I leave this one on her own for five minutes?  Probably.  "Do not open the door to anyone, come and get me.  Here's the cell phone, bring it to me if someone calls.  Don't burn down the house."  Midway through blow drying my hair Ashlyn called to be picked up, so Hannah and I headed out into the beautiful night, lit by the full "blue" moon to get her from her friends house. 

Thus began the moody teenager portion of the evening.  Luckily I am smart enough to know that when a teen asks for earphones they don't want to be bothered, and I can respect that.  Plus the part where she said "This birthday sucks butt. Can I have a do over?"  Kind of clued me in.  Hannah and I snuggled on the couch watching Rikki Tikki Tavi, and left Ash to her own devices.  My brother picked them up around ten thirty, and Caitlin had been released from the hospital at that time too. 

Tonight instead of Happy Hour on the deck I will be snuggling my Tater.  ( plus I hear there is HAM!)  As soon as work is done I have to go and hold that child.  I just have to.  So where does dreaming about my Mom fit into this? It could be that she was giving me a heads up to let me know I would be playing fill in for her again, it's kind of my job description these days, or just a reminder that she's looking out for us.  Which, in the case of Tater, is a full time job.

Sweet Sixteen

Ashlyn

When I was contemplating writing Ashlyn's birthday blog I thought it would be something along the lines of how fast time flies, or something witty about teenagers driving.  I never imagined in my wildest dreams that it would be about my niece being the only girl on the SHS football team!

Me:  Are a bunch of girls going out for the team?

Ash: Nope, just me.

Me:  Um........ why?

Ash:  To prove to myself that I can do it.

Ok.  I will accept that one, and you will too, unless you want to deal with me, and trust me.....you don't, especially where my kids are concerned.  :)  If she is able to hang with the big boys, then she should be allowed to.  The end.

So Ashlyn went to football camp. Her mother told me that she sat in the car for awhile, debating if she should actually do this.  I can't imagine how hard it was for her, as this girl is not an extrovert...at all....not even a little bit.  When she finally got out of the car her mother did mention that maybe next time she shouldn't wear mascara.  Immediately after that Ash learned another valuable lesson, printed underwear shows right through white football pants. :)  (Oh Ashlyn....)

She absolutely loved camp, and although she was trying out for kicker, they had her practicing at wide receiver and corner, where she currently is playing.  This concerns me.  You aren't supposed to touch a kicker, she would be fairly safe.  The other positions involve a lot of touching. 

Me:  How are the boys handling having a girl on the team?

Ash:  Good.  They are kind of protective of me actually.  It's cute.

Me: Uh, you do realize the other team is not going to be protective of you?

Ash:  Yep.

Me: Especially if they realize you are a girl?

Ash: Yep. I've got this.

Me:  Ok.......... 

I thought maybe Ash would change her mind before practice started in August, but nope, there she went merrily along.  I haven't heard anything about kicking the football.  The coach has her in at wide receiver on offense, and corner on defense.  This last week she was talking about tail-back.  She will be playing on the JV team, where she says she is more comfortable, but she suits up with everyone else for the Varsity games in case they need her.

I'm writing this birthday blog a few days early (It's the 30th) because I don't want it to be late. Her very first game (varsity) is tonight, and it's an away game, so I wont be there in person, but with her in spirit.  I used to play a lot of football myself growing up.  It was unheard of to let a girl play on the actual team, so I played, with the boys, without pads, and gave just as good as I got. 

So happy early birthday my sweet girl!  Uh..... I mean, you tough butt kicker!  Junior year in high school, and soon to be driving, the time has gone so fast!  I am so proud of everything you do, and I am proud that you proved to yourself you could do this.  I'm glad you've gotten so much support, from your coaches, team, family, and friends.  From little angel in a sundress playing in a mud puddle, to mascara wearing wide receiver for SHS.  Who would have thought?  Can't wait to see what you come up with next!  ♥  

P.S.  You are now "Baby Pigskin Pignose."

All My Love,

Auntie Pig Nose  xo

Windfall

My Grandma Lenihan has been dead for over twenty-five years now, but periodically she pops into my life just to let me know that she still has an eye on me.  No, I don't see dead people, but there are some people who have gone on that reach back from time to time to give me a nod or a nudge, in a way that I know it's them, and she is one of them.

This time I'm not the only one she helped.  My eldest cousin got a phone call from an insurance company a few months back.  It seems Grandma had taken an insurance policy out on our Uncle John, of which she was the beneficiary.  None of us knew about it, and it wasn't in any of her files, or my Mom's.  My Uncle John had schizophrenia and was institutionalized for most of his adult life.  Grandma, and then Mom (and then myself and my sister) were his legal guardians.  There is no immediate family left, so the ten of us cousins had an unknown amount that we needed to claim/share.

My sister rounded up all the addresses and sent out all the paperwork, but the insurance company couldn't release the amount of money we were inheriting.  It was fun to dream about thousands, but we knew the reality, split ten ways, would be more like $50.  Not that I would sneeze at fifty bucks!  Found money is found money, and when (as my Father would say) "the wolf is at the door" you take what you can get!

Yesterday I got a call from the insurance company.  They wanted to verify that we were the only beneficiaries.  When we were done going over the fact that my entire family is gone from that generation (lovely) she asked if I had any questions.  Well duh!  How much is the check?  Turns out more than fifty bucks!  Not tons more, but I no longer have to wonder how I'm going to finagle paying both renters and car insurance this fall.  (Thanks Gram!)

Then my other question.  When on earth did my Grandma take out this policy?  Turns out it was in 1941.  So a decision she made in 1941 saved my bacon in 2012.  That's some ripple effect! 

Choo-Choo

One of the words that CeCe will communicate is train.  Ok, she doesn't say "train"  she does the arm motion of pulling the whistle and says "Woo-Woo".  It's cute, and even more so because you know that she understands exactly what that is. She does it when she sees them, or hears them.  Her Dad is a railroad engineer, and kind of a train enthusiast  nut. 

Yesterday morning I had to come in from the country to do a few things at home before heading out to a different part of the country to Tater and Ashlyn's birthday party.  I kept hemming and hawing over how much time I needed, and I finally just decided to go early so I could handle everything. (crabbily I might add....again, not a fan of things to do on a Sunday)

The drive was uneventful, until I reached the railroad crossing right outside of Superior.  Cars were stopped for two blocks already from a long train that was slowing down.  It comes to a stop and I shut off my car, obviously I wouldn't be going anywhere for a little bit.  Ten minutes later the train was still at a dead stop, but there were some whistles blown so I thought we would have progress.  Suddenly I hear a train.....but "my" train isn't moving.  Ohhhhh it's another train, and "mine" must have had to stop and let it by before it could switch onto that track.

Then my brain started thinking.  "Hmmmmmm  don't they know when and where these trains are?  Couldn't someone have stopped "my" train before it hit this crossing??  I posed this question to CeCe's father, who answered that "Yep, they could, but the person who handles that is located in Texas."  Now that doesn't seem real safe to me....... but what do I know?  Does it seem logical that the person handling the trains running up here doesn't even know the area, or what he/she are blocking off?  What if there's a computer problem? 

All in all I sat for twenty some minutes, for a total of ten cars that were actually blocking the track.  The people up front would have been there more than a half hour.  In the realm of reasonable, that is pushing it.  So I didn't get a jump start on the things I needed to do, and was about a half hour late to the party.

On the last leg of my journey toward the party I got stuck on another country highway by another train!  This time it was a reasonable ten minutes, but it struck me that maybe the universe was trying to tell me something.  Something like, slow down sister!  Enjoy the moments and the people in your life, early or late, what does it matter, really?

An older couple that I've known for years, and actually bought a home from once, lost their nine year old Grandson on Saturday.  He was hit by lightening.  I can't even imagine the devastation that family is going through.  Take your time, appreciate your loved ones, don't auto pilot through life, embrace it, and enjoy the beauty of a summer morning when you are unexpectedly stopped by a train!  

Hype

Boy am I glad that I didn't pay one cent for the Fifty Shades books.  I'm probably about three quarters through the first one now.  This is the type of book I could have easily read in two or three nap times when I was working at the Y, and yet I can't seem to find the will to pick it up and finish it.  First, and foremost, because it isn't well written.  I actually did hear that from several people, but of course I had to look into this myself to see what is so interesting to all these women.

What you don't know:  I was an avid (and that word doesn't cover it) historical romance reader from the time I was twelve until....... maybe thirty-five?  I called them "brain candy" and devoured them as fast as I could get my hands on them.  These are what built my skewed view of relationships, and men in general.  That, however, is a different blog. Then I switched over to Chick Lit.  I read to relax, not to purposefully learn.  That being said, I can not tell you how much useless knowledge is floating around in my head from the historical novels!  My X and I were at some high faluting event once and the mucky mucks were talking about something that you would assume a preschool teacher would know nothing about. (No, I don't remember what it was.)  I put in my two cents and got some very impressed looks.  The X even took note and asked me later in the evening how on earth I knew anything about the subject.  I just shrugged my shoulders and said.  "Historical Romance Novels."

The other thing:  I wont read "crap".  Which I guess means that if it isn't well written, or doesn't grab me by page ten it goes into the give away pile.  This is the main reason I am struggling with the series.  Missy Christy, a former co-worker of mine said it best. "There was way better stuff in the books from the little glass room."  Which made me laugh.  She was right though, there was.  The little glass room was a room at the Y where we would do our planning, and there were shelves in there where we also shared books.  There were some doosies in there!

Plus:  Well, I'm not going to get very personal here, but things in that department are way more than fine thank you very much. :) (read as: smokin' hot)

So: I do get why these books are so popular, but that has much more to do with women and repressed sexuality than a well written book.  I haven't even seen anything so far to get in a tizzy about, but I am not part of the above category.  I was going to bring the entire series back to Sandy Hughitt tonight, and I might still if I run back home before Happy Hour.  I read so much less these days, and I certainly have better things in the house (twenty at least) to curl up with.

In Conclusion:  As my friend Mary pointed out, there's a lot better free erotica right on the Internet. :)  So if that floats your boat, you're welcome.  (Mary was always a good one for leading people astray......)