Little Football Fan

Never have I seen a baby concentrate so on a football game.  I think I was annoying her trying to video her while she was watching the Gamecocks.  She is definitely her daddy's little girl!

More Hannah and Knee Surgery

I got to visit with Hannah a few weeks ago.  Good thing it was a few weeks ago, since knee surgery has made me not nearly as speedy as the Bean.  She could outrun me for sure now.  I was amazed at how much her language has increased.  She names things constantly and can mime anything that you say.  Which now means that we adults have to watch our language more closely!  When someone asks where she learned "that word", I don't want her answer to be from her Nonni!  I took her a bottle for her baby and we pretended to feed and burp the baby.  Hannah does a great fake burp!  I also think it is wonderful how easily she goes down for a nap or bedtime.  Never any fussing!  And those two hour afternoon naps are marvelous.  I was getting about an hour nap myself.  I love spending time with the Bean and am always sad to leave.  Here are some pics from our weekend which of course included a little picnic at the park.

Feeding  Baby her bottle

Beautiful afternoon on the deck

"Go Cocks" (Really concentrating on that football game!)

The second fun thing this month would be my knee surgery.  It really hasn't been too bad.  More uncomfortable than anything else.  And of course I love walking like Grandpa from the Real McCoys.  That is if you are old enough to remember that show.  Charlie Cat helped Phil take care of me that first day when I sleeping so much.

Guarding my Mama's knee

 

 

Six days after surgery, X marks the spot!

Fall and Southern Vegetarianism

I love Fall.  I love the crisp days when I get to open up the windows and air out the house and cool nights when finally there is hot flash relief.  It is a great time to laze around in the hammock, watching the leaves begin to change into their flashier attire.  Aldi had these pretty flowers on sale for around $4 so I thought I would decorate my dining room table.  My husband even commented on how nice the table looked.  Of course it took him two days to notice the change.

I decided to cook us a vegetarian meal the other night.  My husband is not big on meatless meals, but this one was what I would refer to as traditional Southern vegetarianism. We had macaroni and cheese (not that silly Kraft stuff, but the real thing), pinto beans, sliced tomatoes and cornbread.  It was quite tasty.  The cornbread recipe was one of Paula Dean's, so you know it was good.  Does that woman cook anything that isn't good?  The mac and cheese was my mama's recipe and that woman doesn't cook anything that isn't good either! Except maybe Granny Toast and that is a story for another day.   I think my husband  enjoyed it as much as I did.  I reminded him that it could be tofu chili instead.

 

Latest Hannah Fix

Well, I got my latest Hannah fix in last weekend.  It is football season, which I love, by the way, and I went to keep Hannah so her mom and dad could go to the Georgia Tech game as unencumbered adults.  We had our usual good times.  We read tons of books.  I see a library card in that girl's future.  This weekend's favorites seemed to be In the Night Kitchen and Pete the Cat. She actually sat/snuggled and listened to me read for 30 minutes before bedtime one night. During one of her naps, she snuggled up against her books, holding them like security blankets.  We worked puzzles, played with the the piggy bank, and built with the blocks.  We chased each other around and did a lot of giggling, too.  

Hannah continues to show us all what a clever girl she is.  When I turned the game on the tv, she points right at it and says "Football."  Her daddy's influence!  I also had her saying "Go Jackets", but that didn't seem to help much as GT lost in overtime.  She is talking so much these days, naming the foods she eats and telling you what she wants more of.  She has a new doll and she loves to snuggle with "baby."  Baby even went to the park with us on Saturday.  We took a snack and spent an hour in the neighborhood park.  Hannah likes swinging and bouncing on the seesaw.  She also enjoyed chasing after the squirrels and people watching.  A group of birthday party pirates passed by and they were very entertaining.

Hannah likes to carry her stuff around with her.  At the park, she insisted on carrying the snack container, her water and my water from place to place.  Guess she didn't want anyone making off with our picnic.  

Big girl  ate a whole container of yogurt with a spoon. All by herself!  She wasn't neat, but she managed to get the job done.  It is a good thing that thick Greek yogurt sticks to the spoon so well.   Hannah can be very independent.  She did not want any help with that yogurt.

I was sorry to leave, but I will be going back soon.  You can't get too much Hannah!!

Saga of the Secretary

This whole thing started because a friend suggested I try Annie Sloan Chalk paint.  I painted my bedside table, dresser, and chest of drawers a lovely blue called Provence.  No sanding, no prep, just paint and wax.  I loved the results!  Here is the bedside table.

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 Considering I really did not know what I was doing, things turned out rather well.  Soooo, I decided to tackle my Granny Walker's secretary.  You have to understand that I have loved this piece of furniture since I was a little girl.  All the little drawers and cubby holes were fascinating to me.  The fact that I was not allowed to go rummaging around in all those drawers, probably had something to do with my fascination.  Granny's dogs had chewed on the secretary and it was definitely in need of some sprucing up.   So I decided on two different colors of paint and distressing.  I found a ASCP stockist in Spartanburg at Terris Treasures. I was so excited to find someone who stocks Annie Sloan so close to home.   Terri ( it was meant to be!) gave me lots of great advice and convinced me to try Primer Red over Provence. 

So here is the before picture.  

First I had to put painter's tape around all that lattice work.  That took awhile!  Then a nice coat of Provence.

 So far, so good.  It was tight painting in that small corner of our bedroom.  All the drawers were painted in the guest bedroom where there is a bit more working space.  Next came the Primer Red.  Can we just say that I hated it?  Primer Red is the color of dried blood.  Sounds great, huh?  I wanted to cry but convinced myself to go ahead with the project.  When the whole thing was a lovely dried blood color, I got out my sandpaper, sanding sponge and wet t-shirt.  No, I was not wearing the shirt.  Having no training in distressing furniture, I tried a bit of everything I had read about in various blogs and seen in YouTube videos.  Maybe next time, I should try taking a class or actually buy one of Annie Sloan's books.  My point is that I had no idea what I was doing.  It was very distressing. Pun intended!  I sanded and wiped and sanded and wiped some more.  Then I put on two very light coats of wax.  Of course there was lots of waiting in between the various painting, distressing and waxing phases.  I am not a patient person.  Especially since I was not expecting to like the finished product.  Funny thing though, somewhere along the way, it started to grow on me.  I decided that I liked it after all.  The color matches my new quilt and curtains and doesn't clash with my rusty orange gooseneck rocker, another of Granny Walker's hand-me-downs.  So here is the finished secretary.  It was hard to get a picture of the whole thing that would show up the distressing.  It is a tall piece of furniture.  

I made these photos with my phone and I don't think they really do it justice.  I like my "new" secretary very much.  Now I am wondering if we could paint the rocker or maybe the front door.  I find myself cruising Craigslist for old (cheap) furniture.  My, my.  Is there a support group for ASCP addicts? 

Just because it makes me laugh....

Blame it on 4th Grade

Obviously I need to come up with a good reason for not posting since Easter.  I am probably the world's worst blogger.  How do those people who write in their blogs every day do it?  So here are my reasons for not writing:
1. I am lazy.
2. Too many books and not enough time to read.
C. The cat is sitting in my lap and I can't type.
D. My Netflix video came to day.
5. You cannot type while laying flat in a hammock.
6. Shopping! (Not at the grocery store, either)
G. It's another Law and Order marathon.
H. I am busy losing yet another Words With Friends game.
9. I am reading other people's blogs.  There are a million of them out there!
10. The REAL reason is my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Huff.

In fourth grade we were expected to do "creative writing" every day.  Here is your paper.  Here is you pencil.  Write  a zillion words about such and such.  Have I mentioned that I do not perform well under pressure?  I HATED creative writing.  There is not a creative bone in my body.  It should have been considered cruel and unusual punishment.  I threw up every day before going to school.  My mom, smart and no nonsense lady, would then put me on the bus and send me to school.  To the dreaded creative writing.  To this day, I am traumatized to write anything, especially anything that someone else might read.

And that is where my excuse for not writing goes down the drain.  Cause nobody but me reads my blog.  I am sure my kids think my brain is turning to mush or at least getting mushier with retirement.  Maybe writing will help slow that down.  We'll see.

On a final note, guess what my favorite part of the kindergarten day was?  Writer's Workshop!  I just loved watching my students learn to write.  Hope I didn't traumatize any of them!

Easter Fun

Well, I've just come back from another babysitting weekend in Atlanta.  This one included Hannah's first Easter egg hunt, at the governor's mansion, no less.  That Hannah is one classy little girl.  She looked so adorable in her polka dotted dress and tiny pink flowered sandals.  She was without a doubt the prettiest girl at the hunt!  I made lots and lots of pictures but here are a few from the Easter egg hunt.

Personalize a slideshow

And here is another Smilebox with more Hannah photos and a short video. We had so much fun playing. Hannah is so busy now, always into something. She would crawl away from me toward the stairs or some other off limits place and turn and grin at me, like she was saying "Well, aren't you going to chase me?" She is a very smart girl, too. She may not be saying much that we understand right now, but she understands what we are saying to her. I love that girl something fierce.

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Cruisin'

I am back from another babysitting weekend in Atlanta. Hannah has become very speedy with her army crawling. Usually the first thing she heads for is the cabinet with the china or Harley's new chew rope. Mostly she is standing these days and cruising the length of the couch. She is pulling up on everything. She talks all the time and has the most infectious giggle. You cannot listen to that girl giggle without cracking up yourself. Just remembering it makes me smile. I have got to get a video with that giggle. Matt and I took her outside to swing on Saturday. She seemed to enjoy it. She loves riding on her tricycle. She sits and someone pushes. Going around and around in the house makes her happy but a trip around the block is even better.

By the way those are my awesome new walking shoes in that photo. Good thing I was wearing them. There are way too many hills in Matt and Katherine's neighborhood.

Hannah is enjoying a wide variety of new foods, but I believe her favorite may be graham crackers! Wouldn't it be wonderful if the sweetest thing we all ate was a graham cracker. Imagine craving graham crackers instead of chocolate cake!

No babysitting blog post would be complete without video of Hannah in the "circle of neglect".  It took forever to upload this video and it is sideways!  Guess my blogging skills still need some work.  Just turn your computer sideways and enjoy!

It was a great weekend.  I didn't even mind getting up before dawn on Saturday.  Mornings with Hannah are worth it.

Gotta love that smiling face!  Hannah's, not Matt's, although we love Matt's face, too.  He is a great dad!