A little bit of randomness

What a day!!  I babysit my granddaughter Olivia almost every day after school. I have been watching since her mom went back to work after she was born. Eight years ago.  Today, I also agreed to help out a neighbor and watch her two children. I do this on occasion when her regular sitter in not available.  This week the kids have early release so they are off the bus at one o'clock. It is only 2.5 blocks from my house to the bus, but I always meet the bus. Today...............I was not there when the bus came. I did not forget, really, I knew I was going to pick them up but I took a moment to put dinner into the crock pot. I did not check the clock so I did not see it was time to head down and pick them up. Just as I finished and was sitting at my counter for a moment, the door opened and Olivia hollered GRAMMA!!! Oh my gosh, I jumped! I looked at the clock and it was 1:11!!! I ran down the stairs and they were in the entry way, all three of them. Katie on crutches!  I apologized to them over and over.  I think I was more upset than they. I called my daughter at her work and asked her to tell the other mother.  They work together and I was REALLY worried how she would react. Fortunately, they both forgave me. I admit, I shed a few tears over this. We went upstairs and made some juice with my juicer and had juice and cookies for a snack.  Food always makes things better.
Tonight, I opened an e-mail from my son in law. I had asked him and the boys to come over for Resurrection Sunday dinner. They live about 100 miles from us.  Unfortunately, I had asked after they had already accepted another invitation. He told me to give him a little more notice so I shot back another mail asking if they would come for Christmas, hoping that would be enough notice.
The one I opened tonight was him accepting. I cried again. It will be our first Christmas without her. Theirs too and it really touches me that they would agree to spend it with us.
The tears are streaming now. I can barely see to type.  Better go wash my face.  I really wonder how long it takes for me to not melt into a puddle of tears over the slightest thing.
Oh yes, one more thing.  We are having an adoption this weekend. I won't go into to much detail because I am sure my daughter will want to write about it first.  But....I am knitting these for him.

His mommy asked for them a long time ago. I told her I would make them when we knew he was ours. I am about 2/3 of the way done. Have to have them finished by Thursday afternoon.  Guess I better get back on them.

Apparently today is World Down Syndrome day.

So, I thought I would re-introduce my precious Sister Miss Megan Marie Higgins
She went to heaven on January 31, 1999. Our family jokes she was not Y2K compliant. She left us just before midnight.
She was so amazing and I feel sorry for people who see a flawed person instead of the beautiful woman she was. She was smart, funny, sensitive and in our eyes beautiful.
She has been gone for 13 years but she is forever in our hearts.
I know you are dancing in the middle of one of those golden streets while Mama  watches. I'll bet you have even gotten Kris to join you in your dance of joy.
We love you Miss Meg and are counting the days until we see you again.

My Latest Dress a Girl Dress

Happily modeled by my sweet neighbor friend.

One thing I can say about my life is that

I am rarely bored.

A week ago Sunday, I decided to make potato salad for dinner. I put the potatoes and eggs on to boil and went downstairs to change my laundry around.  I was only down there for a minute or two when I started hearing a buzzing noise.  I stood and listened for a while trying to figure it out.  It kept getting louder and louder. I turned my washer off thinking maybe something was wrong with it, but the buzzing continued and grew louder.  I figured out it was coming from upstairs, still not knowing what it was, I started up the stairs to investigate. Just as I got to the landing, there was a bright flash and a loud popping sound. This is what I found in my kitchen.

 The burner had burned all the way through and exploded throwing pieces of it over about a four foot area.  If you look closely at the burner, you can see about 1.5 inches that is totally burned off and then the ring is melted half way through the second third of the burner.

                                                               Burning my floor. There are a total of 17 burns. These are two of the four worst ones.
                             

And melting my pot to the burner.

`

The insurance adjuster came on Friday. He measured my entire house.  Apparently they pay to have the entire floor refinished because it is so hard to match an existing finish. That is my kitchen, dining room, living room, hall and master bedroom.
We are going to replace the stove.  I have been wanting to convert to gas. It is already piped into the house as the heat and hot water are gas. In fact there is a valve in place for hooking up a range. We think we have found what we want at Judd and Black.
A new set of pots at Costco is $175.00. Replacing what I had. Same brand.  I am not sure I will buy exactly the same set, but that is what they cost.
We did not think to mention, and I hope they realize that we cannot stay in the house when the floors are being refinished, so there will also be the cost of lodging and meals.
Who would have ever thought it would be so involved? I certainly did not.  Goes to show how much I know.
We are waiting now for the Insurance Company to give us a settlement amount.  Hope we do not have to negotiate with them.  Hope they just give us enough to take care of everything.

Poor Pepper, it scared her to death. Not literally, but she shook for at least two hours. She would not let me put her down and when Stan came home she wanted him to hold her. Any loud noises this past week sent her over the edge.  Even the toaster popping up made her nervous.  She is better now and back to lounging on the couch.

Africa Fundraiser

Even though I have almost 18 months before I go to Africa, it is time to do some serious fund raising. This is what God gave to me as a fund raiser. I will run this until April of 2014. For your donation, depending on the amount, you will receive one of the below items. Knit in your color preference. In either acrylic or wool. You can make checks payable to Bryant Community Church, making your donation tax deductiable. 
My pictures did not load in the order I wanted them to, and I give up on getting them there. So I will just put a comment under each picture.  If you are interested in any of these, you can contact me through this blog, or at grammasrightagain@gmail.com

$20.00 Donation

$20.00 donation

$15.00 donation

$10.00 donation. S,M, or L

$35.00 donation

$100.00 Donation. Knit from very fine wool or wool silk blend yarn

$20.00 donation.  School colors?

Slouch hat, $30.00 donation

$50.00 donation. Knit from fine yarn.

When God places a storm in your life, He always sends a Rainbow

Our Rainbow, Isabella Katherine was born the day after He took her Aunt Kris into heaven with Him.

Two months and one day old.

She is a reminder and she also dulls the ache.

Her mommy went back to work today so she and I are attempting to establish who is in charge.

You may wonder why she is wearing a boys shirt.  I know, I know, you really can't tell in this picture. Daddy grabbed her and forgot the diaper bag.  So glad it was not the other way around.  Anyway, her cousin Jayce who is 8 months old went through his clothes that were a tad bit too small and brought them down.  He tried to pick out those that were not to boyish.

 In other news, Stan and I would like to have a piece of property on the East side of the Cascade mountains.  We often go over on Saturdays to see if there is anything we would like. These pictures were taken on Blewett Pass where we focused our search this time.

This rock is across the highway from a piece we went to look at. The kids would have a blast climbing it.

This is the stream that ran through the property that enticed us across the mountain this time.

But the piece was just to rough to try to find a spot to build on. We want some wilderness, but we want a flat building site.

We continued across the pass and turned up a road where we knew there is a small mining community called Liberty. 

There were several pieces of property up there that may work, depending on the price. The pictures here are just taken within the town.

On the way back out, I saw this stump. I believe the beavers were hard at work on this before someone ruined their fun with a chain saw.  I am sure they did not want the tree (s) falling across the highway. I am impressed with how far they got through the tree before man intervened.  The tree was laying on the ground beside this stump.

The sunset as we headed West across I-90 into Issaquah. 

The city of Bellevue as we merged from I-90 onto I-405 and headed north towards home.
This picture was taken at about 65 miles an hour through a very dirty windshield.

It was a productive day and we did find some property to check out. Maybe by summer we will be 
 property owners.

Two Months on March 9

A happier time when she thought she was cancer free.  With her Grandma who left us 2 years ago in February.

I miss you as only a mom can.