One of my big projects this week was building a bookshelf and rearranging the office. One of the hardest parts of completing this project was not putting the bookshelf together. And it was not emptying my desk so that it could be lifted by a human being, and not a forklift. No, it was dealing with all of the paper that seemed to come out of nowhere as I was doing all of this. Stacks of it just kept popping up everywhere.
Where in the world did all the paper come from? About once a week I go through my desk and recycle or shred stacks of paper. I regularly file bills (the ones that aren't electronic) and important items. But when I had cleaned out my desk, I had stacks on two office chairs and a huge pile on the bottom shelf of our new bookshelf. And this did not include items already in file folders.
The only explanation I can come up with is that paper in the office (much like wire hangers and tiny Barbie accessories) breeds like rabbits. Does anyone know where I can take the paper (and the wire hangers and Anna's tiny Barbie accessories) to have it spayed or neutered? Please, help me prevent paper overpopulation in my home!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Only three remain
This morning my grandmother called me, and I knew something was wrong from the tone of her voice. Her sister Margie passed away last night. I realize how strange it may seem to some people that I am so saddened by the death of my great aunt. How many people really know their great aunts? But I count myself as lucky that I had the opportunity to know all of my grandmother's sisters during my life.
My grandmother is one of 12 children, and there were 6 girls: Ethel, Lola, Mabel, Augusta (my grandma), Margie, and Polly. There was only about a year between the births of Mabel and my grandma, and then again between Grandma and Margie, and they were very close. The three of them and Ethel stayed in the Charlottesville area, while Lola took Polly to upstate New York after their mother died. I have memories of all them.
Ethel babysat me before I started Kindergarten. I still remember running around her house, playing with the fake fruit, watching Bob Ross on tv, and walking over to the city park that was right next door to play. She was like a third grandmother to me.
Lola may have lived in upstate New York, but I remember her visiting my grandmother all the time. She would come down and stay for a week or two. My most vivid memory of her is when I was in elementary school. My grandmother found a tick on my head, and Lola thought the best way to get rid of it would be to burn it off. I still have a small bump on the right side of my head that may or may not be scarring :) She also made me and my cousin beautiful quilts when we were little. I was always amazed at how well she could sew.
Mabel went into a nursing home when she was relatively young, maybe in her 60s. I don't remember what her illness was. I do remember that my grandmother went to visit her all the time, and took me with her sometimes. Mabel's experiences in that nursing home were the reason Grandma told me that if she ever needed to be put in one, I should take her out back and shoot her.
Margie and my grandmother were really close, and would talk to each other on the phone all the time. Margie used come to my grandmother's house to visit a lot when I was younger. Margie came to my bridal shower. The picture below is of Grandma and Margie, and Grandma is holding my nephew Alex. Polly was there, too, and the three of them won the contest to make a wedding dress out of toilet paper. I remember the three of them cracking me up as they were using my grandmother as the dress model. I also have a picture of Margie "wrapping" Grandma, but all you see is the back of Margie's head.
My grandmother is one of 12 children, and there were 6 girls: Ethel, Lola, Mabel, Augusta (my grandma), Margie, and Polly. There was only about a year between the births of Mabel and my grandma, and then again between Grandma and Margie, and they were very close. The three of them and Ethel stayed in the Charlottesville area, while Lola took Polly to upstate New York after their mother died. I have memories of all them.
Ethel babysat me before I started Kindergarten. I still remember running around her house, playing with the fake fruit, watching Bob Ross on tv, and walking over to the city park that was right next door to play. She was like a third grandmother to me.
Lola may have lived in upstate New York, but I remember her visiting my grandmother all the time. She would come down and stay for a week or two. My most vivid memory of her is when I was in elementary school. My grandmother found a tick on my head, and Lola thought the best way to get rid of it would be to burn it off. I still have a small bump on the right side of my head that may or may not be scarring :) She also made me and my cousin beautiful quilts when we were little. I was always amazed at how well she could sew.
Mabel went into a nursing home when she was relatively young, maybe in her 60s. I don't remember what her illness was. I do remember that my grandmother went to visit her all the time, and took me with her sometimes. Mabel's experiences in that nursing home were the reason Grandma told me that if she ever needed to be put in one, I should take her out back and shoot her.
Margie and my grandmother were really close, and would talk to each other on the phone all the time. Margie used come to my grandmother's house to visit a lot when I was younger. Margie came to my bridal shower. The picture below is of Grandma and Margie, and Grandma is holding my nephew Alex. Polly was there, too, and the three of them won the contest to make a wedding dress out of toilet paper. I remember the three of them cracking me up as they were using my grandmother as the dress model. I also have a picture of Margie "wrapping" Grandma, but all you see is the back of Margie's head.
Polly is the only girl besides my grandmother that is still alive. She was the youngest girl and the baby of the family. I remember going up to New York to visit Polly and all of her kids and grandkids when I was younger. Polly and her husband Donald moved back to Charlottesville for a while, I believe when I was in high school, and lived in a house on the same property as my grandmother. I would see her all the time. She was a nanny for a UVA professor, and for my college graduation that professor got seats for her and Grandma at the stage at Old Cabell, where they could see everything (even me!). She moved back to New York a few years ago, and due to heart problems she's not allowed to travel back down here.
I am so blessed to have had so many experiences with my great aunts. How many people can say that they hung out so much with their grandmother's sisters? Those women would fight and get mad at each other, but they loved each other and were always there for each other. It makes me so sad to think that there are only three children left out of twelve (my great uncle Maurice is the only boy left). But at the same time, look at the extended family that they have created. I am so lucky to have had them all in my life.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Something funny happened when we walked in the shoe store...
It is amazing how fast kids' feet grow. We bought Anna tap and ballet shoes that were a little too big for her in early September, before her dance class started, and in January I couldn't even get the ballet shoes on her. We bought the girls tennis shoes around the same time, so I figured it was time to get some new ones.
We ended up at Saxon shoes for several reasons: 1) Lizzie's feet are too wide for your run-of-the-mill Target, WalMart, or KMart shoes; 2) they have a pretty big selection; and 3) they give out balloons (this is really the most important reason, you understand).
Ms. Peggy measured Anna's feet, and she had grown almost a size and a half! We walked around looking at shoes she might like. I zeroed in on the pink ones initially, because pink is her favorite color. The last time we went shoe shopping, she wanted pink shoes. But she didn't seem to want any of the ones we were showing her. Finally I asked her what color she wanted. "Green!" Ok, that's odd. So Anna ended up with green shoes. Actually, more like neon green, seem-to-emanate-their-own-light shoes.
Lizzie had also grown a size and picked out some blue and red tennis shoes (pretty typical for her, since she likes blue). When we went to check out, Ms. Peggy asked the girls what color balloons they wanted. Once again I was thrown for a loop - Lizzie wanted pink (not blue or purple, but not really strange since she likes pink, too) and Anna wanted... green? What in the world? I mean, I'm happy she's moving away from pink, but this is so unexpected! Had something magically changed when we walked into the door of the shoe store?
After we got home, I asked Anna why she got green shoes instead of pink. I was told that green is her next favorite color, and from the extremely long (and hard to understand) explanation that followed, I think she wants her shoes to be a different color, but everything else to be pink. I guess green and pink are complementary colors (well, maybe pink and a normal green, I'm not so sure about the green on her shoes), but she certainly is happy with them, and I guess that's all that matters!
We ended up at Saxon shoes for several reasons: 1) Lizzie's feet are too wide for your run-of-the-mill Target, WalMart, or KMart shoes; 2) they have a pretty big selection; and 3) they give out balloons (this is really the most important reason, you understand).
Ms. Peggy measured Anna's feet, and she had grown almost a size and a half! We walked around looking at shoes she might like. I zeroed in on the pink ones initially, because pink is her favorite color. The last time we went shoe shopping, she wanted pink shoes. But she didn't seem to want any of the ones we were showing her. Finally I asked her what color she wanted. "Green!" Ok, that's odd. So Anna ended up with green shoes. Actually, more like neon green, seem-to-emanate-their-own-light shoes.
Lizzie had also grown a size and picked out some blue and red tennis shoes (pretty typical for her, since she likes blue). When we went to check out, Ms. Peggy asked the girls what color balloons they wanted. Once again I was thrown for a loop - Lizzie wanted pink (not blue or purple, but not really strange since she likes pink, too) and Anna wanted... green? What in the world? I mean, I'm happy she's moving away from pink, but this is so unexpected! Had something magically changed when we walked into the door of the shoe store?
After we got home, I asked Anna why she got green shoes instead of pink. I was told that green is her next favorite color, and from the extremely long (and hard to understand) explanation that followed, I think she wants her shoes to be a different color, but everything else to be pink. I guess green and pink are complementary colors (well, maybe pink and a normal green, I'm not so sure about the green on her shoes), but she certainly is happy with them, and I guess that's all that matters!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Magic of Disney
This afternoon Anna helped me organize the pictures for our Disney World album. And yes, if you are scratching your head because you remember us going to Disney World in spring of 2010 (over 9 months ago), you are right. It has taken me that long to get my act together, get the pictures printed, and put them in the album. (Click here to see the pictures on Picasa.) But that's not the point of this post.
The point is that it continues to amaze me how much of an impact that trip had on Anna. She had recently turned 4 before we went, and my assumption was that a couple months after the trip was over, she wouldn't remember anything, except a vague image of castles, princesses, and a life-size Mickey Mouse. I had originally wanted to wait until the girls were older (Lizzie was only 18 months old), but Dad's health was failing and he really wanted to take them, so off we went.
While putting the pictures in order for the album, Anna gave me a narrative of various parts of our trip that apparently stood out in her mind. I didn't have to prompt her. She pointed to the first picture of the table we sat at at Cinderella's Castle and said "We ate lunch there!" She remembers visiting Mickey Mouse's "house" after we got our picture taken with him. She happily talked about shooting Seth with a water cannon at the kids water play area at the Contemporary. She exclaimed "That took us up into space!" when looking at a picture of Grandma and Granddaddy on the Spaceship Earth ride at Epcot. There were a few things she didn't remember, but it is amazing to me how much she does. When looking at a picture of the restaurant in Norway at Epcot where we had our final princess-themed dinner, Anna said she would like to go eat dinner there tonight with the princesses, and could we please go catch a plane?
And speaking of planes, I'm not sure when this started, but if she sees a plane fly overhead now she yells "Take me to Disney World!" at it, as if it's supposed to land in our cul de sac right then so she can hitch a ride.
It won't be this year, but it looks like we need to plan a trip to Disney World again soon. And I know Dad will be there with us in spirit. And when I think about telling him how much Anna remembers of the last trip, I can almost hear him say "Of course she does!" in a condescending tone, as if he knew all along exactly how much of an impact it would have on her little growing mind.
The point is that it continues to amaze me how much of an impact that trip had on Anna. She had recently turned 4 before we went, and my assumption was that a couple months after the trip was over, she wouldn't remember anything, except a vague image of castles, princesses, and a life-size Mickey Mouse. I had originally wanted to wait until the girls were older (Lizzie was only 18 months old), but Dad's health was failing and he really wanted to take them, so off we went.
While putting the pictures in order for the album, Anna gave me a narrative of various parts of our trip that apparently stood out in her mind. I didn't have to prompt her. She pointed to the first picture of the table we sat at at Cinderella's Castle and said "We ate lunch there!" She remembers visiting Mickey Mouse's "house" after we got our picture taken with him. She happily talked about shooting Seth with a water cannon at the kids water play area at the Contemporary. She exclaimed "That took us up into space!" when looking at a picture of Grandma and Granddaddy on the Spaceship Earth ride at Epcot. There were a few things she didn't remember, but it is amazing to me how much she does. When looking at a picture of the restaurant in Norway at Epcot where we had our final princess-themed dinner, Anna said she would like to go eat dinner there tonight with the princesses, and could we please go catch a plane?
And speaking of planes, I'm not sure when this started, but if she sees a plane fly overhead now she yells "Take me to Disney World!" at it, as if it's supposed to land in our cul de sac right then so she can hitch a ride.
It won't be this year, but it looks like we need to plan a trip to Disney World again soon. And I know Dad will be there with us in spirit. And when I think about telling him how much Anna remembers of the last trip, I can almost hear him say "Of course she does!" in a condescending tone, as if he knew all along exactly how much of an impact it would have on her little growing mind.
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