While I'm thinking of it...

I'm going to put down some family "things'. Just ramblings...

My Grandma Puckett met her husband Walter Puckett when he was boarding in her parent's home. Her parents were Winstons. Their first names escape me now but I do remember her mother..( Great) Grandma Winston. She lived in Franklinton, NC and was a tiny woman. One time she put her hand up to mine & her fingers barely went over my first digit.

********Donna (my sister's) kids both have tiny hands...*******

Grandma P. had Br. & sisters. Robert, Maynard, Pricilla ( ok that was Grandma Winston's name...they called her Miss Prissy)Ella & Vashtie. Ella lived with Grandma Winston, was a nurse & took care of her. Don't think Ella ever married.

Anyway, Grandma Puckett's Father was never very successful. I never met him. But when my Mom was married to Bill, she made a camel colored wool suit for the wedding for herself & used buttons that ( Great) Grandpa Winston had made from pecan shells for it. I had the suit in my basement for a long time & just a few years ago Mom cut the buttons off & she has them now.

My Grandma Puckett was a bit "hoity toity" if you will. She always dressed to the nines & I grew up thinking she was a refined, well-to-do souththerner. Not the case. She grew up dirt poor...in the literal sense. She was the oldest child & she worked as a teenager to keep shoes on her brothers and sisters.


I never met Robert or Maynard, or if I did I don't remember them.When Grandma P. was dying of cancer, those brothers made sure that she was able to pay for her apartment in Seattle for dignity's sake. Dignity was Grandma's middle name:) Not really..It was Dolly Madison Puckett.

Like I said, Grandma P. met my grandfather, Walter while living at home as a teenager & helping ( Great) Grandma Winston with the boarders in Franklinton, . She got pregnant with my Mom & they married. I didn't know all of that until Mom's 70th B-day which we celebrated in Las Vegas. Mom's brother, my uncle Walt ( nicknamed "Bink"), told us. To be honest I didn't think it was very funny although he & Mom laughed about it.

See, Prissy ( my aunt..Mom & Bink's sister) didn't come to Vegas. The joke between Mom & Bink behind Prissy's back was that while Mom and Bink were " mistakes", Pris was not & she was the ***"screw up" of the family . Bink was born while Grandma P was in her 40s. Never understood the meanness toward Prissy. I love all three of them, Mom, Pris, & Bink.

Prissy lives in Texas now, just had a pre- cancerous tumor removed from her colon , has just sold her house in Seattle & Mom just got a check out-of-the- blue for $13,000 last week. So did Prissy's two boys & a few others ( not ME! Darn!!!)

Which got me to thinking of all of this soooooo I'm done . But I want to say that I always was intrigued by Prissy. She is a middle child & over the years I have picked up tidbits of wisdom about how to live your life from her.


***"screw up" defined as being scrappy ( NEVER had a penny & barely a pot to piss in in her early adult years ( 20- 45) ) , liked her men, divorced her first husband, married the God father of her oldest child, ( Joe Wodzinski... nice ring to it ehh?). She worked until she was 65 & when Joe died a few years ago she inherited a SHIT LOAD of money.

The colon thing is just a bump in the road , I think. I hope.

Later,

M

We're back:)

Connor and Grace were soooo good. It was nice to have Jessica with us too. We went to The House of Bounce where they have these HUGE blown up things to jump on. Jess had to go in after them to find them a couple of times.

Jamie & Ryan just hooked up skype ( webcam?) so are able to talk to the kids, although the connection wasn't always the best. They are having fun in Hawaii ... who wouldn't?

George & Cheryl got into Rochester about 6:00 last night. The 4 of us ( Jess went home yesterday) stayed up until 11 or so last night. Both Cheryl & George are talkers & they have some great iron range stories. I laughed so hard. It was fun.
≈
We took an alternate route back home. I'm planning the motorcycle route to Rochester for my WOW group for the last weekend in September. I'm glad we did that because some of the roads I THOUGHT were good were crap... so putting that all together...

Back to the grind soon .........

Flash.

The most precious thing.

Just happened. There is a bedtime routine in this house. Two books for Grace at 7:30
( we're a little late) & the same for Connor but at 8:30.

For Grace.... you have to lay on the floor by her little bed & she holds your hand for a little while. I tell you, that little hand in mine with Enya playing in the background about melted this tough old broad into a puddle of butter.

Sometimes it takes just a split second to set the world right again.

Camp Grandparent has BEGUN!!!

And all of the grandparents brought the kids to Day Care. George & Cheryl have set the bar high- no crying so far ( on the kid's part anyway!!) .

You should see the directions for the remotes... quite the schematics.

f

So HOW wrong is this?

While conversing about going to Rochester for Camp Grandparent, Dan looked at me the other night & said with a twinkle in his eye, "I'm going to dig through their freezer and find me a BIG steak to grill".

Just now as I was emptying the dishwasher I thought to myself, "I'm going to go through their liquor cabinet and find me some HIGH priced booze for a mixed drink.".

It's kind of like reversed naughtiness, isn't it?

Flash!

Fried eggplant from the garden tonight!!!

Also from the garden & in a pasta salad tonight:

White & red onions, cucumbers,tomatoes, zucchini & dill.

The eggplant recipe ( from Dan the gardening Man):

Breading : Mix together
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
garlic powder ( use sparingly)
salt/ pepper

Slice the eggplant 1/8 inch thick. Leave the skin on.

Run water over a slice of eggplant, shake off excess water , roll in prepared breading until covered completely & put on a plate.

Repeat with each slice until you have a plateful of prepared eggplant slices.

Cover the bottom of a frying pan with olive oil. Heat it hot enough so that when you put the eggplant in it fries. We use the 5 setting on our stove. Eggplant will soak up a lot of oil so the following trick is important:

Once you have placed all the slices of eggplant on the bottom of the hot frying pan flip them over right away.

Fry on this side until golden brown, then flip back over to the side you started with & brown that side. Place on a paper towel. Serve hot.

I personally like the following on the side ( but Dan does not) . I learned to like it while in Turkey and sometimes I double it & put sliced cucumbers and onion in it for a cool, summer salad:

In a glass bowl blend:

1 cup plain yogurt
1 generous tsp. garlic paste ( you buy it in a small jar.. it is soaked in olive oil)
2 tsp. sugar

Stir to blend thoroughly by hand. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least a day, stir it a few times.

It gets better as it ages ( like us).

Kids.

First.... CNC situation is under control. Lisa has rallied & has good friends ( whom she trusts) helping with details. They had a will. Lisa is hoping to get out from under the properties ( sell out) & find a small condo near her doctors.

1) Danielle has a kidney stone. She has been experiencing pain & discomfort for a few months. Several things had happened simultaneously to confuse what was going on. 1) they moved. 2) they hiked down the grand canyon & back & drank some H2O from the CO river 3) She started using the Nuva ring for BC. 4) She had a UTI that cleared up.

I always know something is up with D when she calls me. She never calls just to chat... so this is a bit of a relief of sorts. One of her friends had convinced her to go on a crazy diet to quel the symptoms & she lost about 10 lbs. So when she was here in July for that wedding she really scared me. As a matter of fact, the reason I never posted any picts. was because she is scary skinny. She's off the diet & sees the urologist next week. Hope it is the stone causing her symptoms.

2) Jess is crazy writing essays for PT school. Her writing test score was good. It amazes me that she does not recognize traits in herself that make her a great candidate. Things like determined, persevere, confident etc. escape her. I think not making the first round of choices kicked her in the ass a bit. I see it making her stronger. I think she is beginning to see it now too when I critique her essays and believe it!!! Which is all that really matters.

I had a weird dream last night.... that Jess got pregnant and that Matt was lazay fair about her continuing to pursue her dreams. It pissed me off.

Let me tell you, if she is not accepted somewhere, it will definitely NOT be for lack of TRYING!!!! Which also, in my opinion, is all that matters. Do your best. And that is all anyone can ask.

Side note..... I told her to take a shower yesterday.... she stinks from being in the "zone". ha ha.

3) Jamie.... getting ready for Hawaii!!!! WOOT!! The kids are looking forward to what J & R call "Camp Grandparents". Cheryl/ George down there T- F. Dan & I F- T. George & Chryl T- whenever they get home.


I've been working on school stuff & realize that somehow we have all gained an extra work load. THREE preps. E3, Reg class, Honors class. Thanks.

Later,

Flash.