Wild Weekend - January 24, 2015

It was a great weekend, even if it didn't turn out exactly how we planned - but first, reflection on earlier in the weekend and the previous weekend.

With the Snowflake Garage Sale coming up, I decided to sell some of the larger items on the Facebook Online sites for selling/buying.  And - it worked!  I sold at least 10 items and only put on two that didn't sell.  I was thrilled.  It was kind of like making drug deals - meeting at a public place for the exchange of product/money, etc.  Fun!  Ron was good about helping me make deliveries.

Thursday night, we loaded up both vehicles with the treasures to be sold at the Snowflake sale on Saturday.  Took the stuff out there on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. - I was finally done setting up my "booth" at 6 p.m. - just in time to make a dash to Harrisonville to meeting Chad to pick up Peyton and Garrison.  Amanda had planned for a few weeks to come to Clinton for the weekend for a visit and to help me with the sale.  Unfortunately, she had to work 17 hours on Friday - starting VERY early - and she wasn't able to come down until Saturday.  We were so thrilled that the kids still wanted to come anyway and were more than happy to meet Chad for the exchange.

Grammaw went too, and we had a fun, fun ride home, complete with singing and much laughter.

Both kids wanted to sleep with Grammy, so we went to bed and attempted to go to sleep.  Peyton went to sleep pretty quickly, but Mr. Garrison was wound for sound - talk, talk, talk.  Peyton and I were already sleeping on about 1/4 of the bed when Mr. G decided to squeeze his little body between us so he could sleep next to Grammy.  Good thing he is so darn cute!  After he went to sleep, I walked myself around to where he was supposed to be sleeping, and all was well!

I went to the garage sale before 7 a.m. and left the kids with Grandpa and Grammaw.  Amanda arrived around 10 a.m. to the garage sale only to find out she had to be back in Overland Park around 2 p.m. for a big meeting at work (with the CEO), so even though I was disappointed not to get to have a day with her, I understood.  She helped me a bit, and we had a bite of lunch before she went back (the kids didn't know she had been here).  But - the good news was that the kids got to stay!

Ron and the kids came out to the Benson Center around 2:30 p.m. to help me tear down.  Good news - only 3 small boxes of "stuff" left which went directly to the Samaritan Center for donation - nothing came home!!!!!  Yea!   Over $500 profit which was nice!  I had promised the kids we would go to the new Dollar Tree when I got home, so we loaded up the van around 4 isn and went to Dollar Tree and then to Wendy's for a bite to eat.  Grammaw too!  It took an hour at Dollar Tree for them to pick out $4 worth of stuff each.  Such Decisions.  We managed to entertain everyone at Wendy's (again - they are so darn cute).  Came home for baths and early bed since no naps (Grandpa!!!!).

Peyton went to sleep fairly quickly, and Garrison was a better boy getting to sleep only to wake up shortly with projectile vomiting (his first bout).  Poor little guy.  He already had it all over  him, the sheets and the blankets by the time I got to the other side of the bed for the second showing which landed directly on my nightgown and my arms.  It's been a while!  Ron was sleeping in the front room and came quickly when I called him.  Peyton still asleep.  I got Garrison cleaned up and in new pajamas and myself cleaned up, and then proceeded to try to change the sheets with Peyton still in bed!  It almost worked - but.......then she was upset.  Garrison needed to sleep next to his Grammy, and she wanted to sleep next to Grammy too.  Then, she was wide awake and couldn't get back to sleep.  She and Ron watched TV for a little while, then she came back to bed and went back to sleep. In about an hour, it started all over again - except Grammy didn't get covered this time - but the sheets didn't fair so well.

Peyton decided to go upstairs to sleep with Grammaw - but that didn't last long.  After she and Ron watched TV for a bit, they went downstairs to sleep in Amanda and Chad's bed for the rest of the night.  Garrison finally got back to sleep around 2 a.m., and we slept until almost 6 a.m.

I had to go to church to play the gathering music, but I went alone.  Garrison had a little water and threw up in the living room all over my new recliner and the carpet.  Thankfully, it was only water by then and wasn't hard to clean up.  Poor little guy.  We rocked for a while before I went to church.  Everything went fine while I was gone - Garrison took a little nap.  Then the diarrhea started, and his bottom hurt.  I felt so badly for him.   As day went on, he felt better and ate some banana, applesauce and rice.

We took the kids home, and both slept most of the way.  Visited a while and then started home with a stop at Kohls

Mom had a good week - no heart pains.  New medicine seems to be working.  she enjoyed the weekend with the kids but is tired.  Rehab starts again tomorrow.

Root Canal and Visit to Overland Park - 1/10/2015

It was a busy week.  Mom continues to go to cardiac rehab 3 times a week, and on Tuesday, I had to go to a specialist in Springfield for a root canal.  Debbie Sieger took me, and we had a nice lunch and shopped a bit before coming home.  My walking partner, Esther, came over to visit with Mom in the morning, and Ron was home for lunch, so she was covered.

Saturday, Ron, Mom and I went to Overland Park to see Amanda/family.  Amanda and Chad visited with us for a while before they decided to take advantage of shopping without 4 extra little hands!  We played and played, then we took the kids to McDonald's with a play area.  They loved it, and played before and after we ate!  Garrison didn't want to leave.  After we returned home, Garrison took his nap, and Peyton and I played nail salon.  She picked out the Elsa blue color, and polished my nails first, and then I polished hers - Elsa blue with white polka dots on the thumbs and a glitter coating on the other fingers.  She was quite proud.  While Ron and Mom napped, Peyton and I played Madagascar - a complicated game!  We could barely get through the instructions, but we had fun.

Ron, Mom and Peyton made snowmen out of play dough and had a good time with that.  We had a short visit after they returned home from shopping, and then it was time for us to go home.

Ron and I went to the bank "holiday" party at the Elks Lodge after we got home.  We only stayed about an hour, but the food was very good - heavy hors devours.

Ron and I went to church this morning, then to Walgreens, then he took the recycling and washed the vehicles.  I posted a few things on the Clinton Swap Online selling site on Facebook and sold everything in less than 30 minutes!  Sweet!

Ready for a new week.  We are blessed.

Before Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Week After Christmas 2014

It's been a long time since I updated the blog, so bear with me.

The Monday before Christmas, Grandma Mintun and Grammy went to Overland Park to spend the day with Peyton and Garrison at their house.  We had a blast playing, having lunch at McDonald's, baking Jesus' birthday cake, making a rice krispy wreath, making some craft projects, cooking in the Easy Bake Oven and having some good old-fashioned fun.

Christmas Eve, the day started with a phone call from Amanda that she was on her way to Urgent Care due to a case of the pink eye!  Holy Moly!  She and I were supposed to play a piano/organ duet at church late in the day, however, that had to be cancelled.  She obtained some medication and was able to come to Clinton for our family Christmas - she was a real trouper, as she wasn't feeling very good  but the party must go on - right?  Shortly after they arrived, we opened Christmas presents, and then Joe and his girlfriend, Nicole, joined us for the rest of the day.

We all enjoyed baked turkey sandwiches, ham and beans, meatballs, cocktail weenies and many other snack-type foods throughout the day.  Nicole was so sweet to Peyton and played games with her all day - Olaf Trouble, Go-Fish, etc.  The kids warmed up to her and Joe very quickly, and we all had a fun day of visiting.

Everyone went home around  5 p.m., and Ron and I went to church where I played the organ for the 7 p.m. service.  We went to the Siegers after church for our gift exchange and for Italian Cream Cake and custard.

On Christmas Day, Mark and Tom joined us for the day.  I fixed a fried chicken lunch which we all enjoyed.  It was nice to have them here, and Grandma really loved having them.  We had a nice visit before they went back to St. Louis.

On Sunday, I played the gathering music at church, and then we went to Overland Park to pick up the kids for a Clinton visit through Wednesday.  Grandma didn't want to go with us, so Kelly came over to visit with her for a couple of hours while we were gone.

We had a blast while the kids were here.  Peyton was into cinnamon/sugar toast cut into shapes with cookie cutters.  We must have fixed at least 8 pieces of toast over the 3 days - then Garrison wanted to get in on the act too - too cute.  On Monday, Grandpa and Peyton went to Walmart and to the bank to run some errands.  Then, we went to the Aquatic Center and enjoyed the kiddie area.  Both kids loved going down the big tornado blue slide this time - Garrison even did it by himself!  They liked the little duckie slide too, but it was kind of lame after the big blue one!  They enjoyed the lazy river and Garrison liked stepping on the spurts of water coming out of the floor.  Monday night we watched the Charlie Brown New Years special on TV.  Tuesday we went to Warrensburg to eat at Burger King but most importantly to play in their play area - for 2 hours!  They loved it.  They liked seeing where we went to college, cows, hay, etc. on the trip.  Grandma went too.
On Wednesday, when I took Grandma to her cardiac rehab, Grandpa took the kids to the Donut Palace for breakfast - and they had a great time!  We made loop pot holders, and Peyton did her entire one by herself - she was so proud.  We made homemade play dough out of corn starch and hair conditioner.  They loved mixing it up themselves and making "muffins" in my muffin tins and putting them in the oven to pretend bake them.  They would go and check on them, getting them out of the oven with pot holders and putting them back because they weren't done.  So cute.  They helped me make octopus hotdogs and macaroni and cheese for lunch on Wednesday before we started back home.  We played Olaf Trouble.  We had a great visit - just too short.

On Wednesday after lunch, we loaded up the van and took them home.  After visiting for a bit at their house, we all went to Stroud's for an early New Year's Eve late lunch/dinner  - even Grandma!  Delicious food and a fun time.

We are blessed - a wonderful Christmas holiday for 2014.  We missed seeing Mary, however, we talked to her on the phone a few times during the season.