The One Where Grampa Turns 90……

AND GRAMMA TRIED TO DIE.

So, Grampa’s birthday was last weekend. And it was quite the party.

We planned for a couple or three months to have a nice party for G-pa. We invited all sorts of family members (and adopted family members), set up the Tacoma Country Club, made the menu’s, got the cake, and settled in for a fun reunion.

Blane, Cody, and Marel (Cody’s girlfriend, also a dr student-they were known as “The Doctors”) arrived

But let me back up-

During the afternoon of this day, Blane and the dr.’s were out in the front yard playing Frisbee when this happened-

Do you see the problem here? A car is not supposed to be driven up over the sidewalk and forcibly parked on the decorative rocks of the Valencia Apartments.

So, when I drove up, I saw all sorts of cops in front of my house and I couldn’t get to my house the usual way I wondered what the hell my family was up to now.

Turns out that during the Frisbee game, the old guy pulled out in front of the silver car guy and the rest is history. The Frisbee players all turned around when they heard the noise, and, as Blane tells the story, “Marel took a Frisbee to the dome” Yep, the Frisbee was released just as the accident occured and Marel caught said Frisbee with her head.

Either way, no one, including Marel, was hurt. The boys helped the old guy out of the car and someone called 911. The rest is history.

Who says this burg isn’t happening?

But back to the story of the party-

We went out to dinner with my cousins who I hadn’t seen for a while on Friday, and then on Saturday it was time for the party.

I got the phone call around 9ish that Mother wasn’t well. I called the Dr’s and my sister and we all showed up to the apt. After some talk, we decided that I would take Mother to the hospital as she seemed very dehydrated and out of it. So, I did.

The Dr’s went to get ready and I lined out Dave and Blane on cake duty-

It was a fab cake-

A forest scene.

I got to go see it. For a while. Because I spent all of the day, except for a couple of hours, in the ER. With Mother.

But, I did get over to the party, which was super fab, and got some food and some pics-

 

Family-

Old Cousins

Young Cousins

BFF’s

Garner cousins

Adopted family! (Mara tara…..Those who know, know)

Nina and I were reminiscing about our childhood and Mara said we were “terrible”. Us? Nina and I still can’t believe she would say such a thing…

And my Rosie Girl-

And after all was said and done, here’s Dave, who came down about 3 to sit with me and Mother.

The ER is so much fun.

Mother didn’t do so well throughout the day. And by about 6 we realized, much to our horror, that she was not just dehydrated, but was actually having a massive GI bleed, and was trying very hard to bleed out. Once we figured that out, people moved quickly and off they whisked her to the ICU. Several units of blood later, she perked up, but still remains in the hospital, much to our dismay.

So, today I am off to run, then to the hospital to see if we can expedite the process of springing her from their clutches.

So, G-pa turned 90 but it was a little bitter sweet.

Lastly, we did go the the home show at the Tacoma Dome this week. It was day one, Wed, and the last hour and a half so we basically had the place to ourselves.

The last place we went was the best place-the antique corner.

They had these-

They had all sorts of farm animals made out of recycled tin. But these reminded me of Beyonce-(go here for the backstory)

I wanted to get a farmload of metal livestock but Dave asked where would we put them and was all practical and realistic and a total buzzkill on the tin farm in the backyard. Sigh.

What a week.

New Houses Are Fun

At least mine is.

We are finally, finally getting settled and unpacked. It has taken a while, and we still need to get rid of some more stuff. My sewing room is just a little bit crowded. But, like, really? I can get rid of some of that? Are you kidding?

 

See what I mean? I need some stuff on the walls yet, and maybe a couple of shelves hung up.  But, there is it. Dave bought some shelving for the other part of the basement so I have been able to put a couple of sewing machines out there and off the floor. And I need to rearrange a few more things to get the stash freed up. But I am hot to get sewing again. Very soon.

The rest of the basement is a man cave.

The mirror is up on the wall now, and those boxes are stored in the space behind the couch. But we need to hide them a little bit better.

The upstairs is all done.

Kitchen

Living room

Trixie in the living room…..

Bedroom

Jack….

It’s hard to get a good shot of the bathroom, really, it’s too small even though it’s a pretty big bathroom. So I took a picture of me in the bathroom.

And our office

With the orchid that rode across the county in the back of the car with three cats, two dogs, and a bird.

We hung the little cat picture

Which looks startlingly like Yeltsie

Only happier.

And after all that I realize I forgot to take a picture of the whole upstairs, which is a long hall and another bedroom. Jeesh. And I forgot the back yard. Ok, next blog. I guess I’m still a little lost in my own house.

Next weekend is the big partay for the G-pa’s 90th b-day. Relatives are coming from all over. Should have some fab bloggage after that.

I ordered a cake from here. So I thought I should probably go there and make sure the goods are cakeworthy.

Oh mandy. I almost had to have a lie down just being in the place. They had samples of some orange cake with mousse that was to die for. We took the sampling very seriously. Probably more seriously than the Cake people had intended.

I did buy some cupcakes. And I can honestly say they lived up to my exacting cake standards. We saved some for my sister who came for dinner on Monday.

And she proclaimed it cakalicious.

I can’t WAIT till Saturday!

 

More Catching Up to Do!

And may I say Go Seahawks? I am still reeling over the Packers poor performance last night. Sigh.

But anyway, back to the story.

When I last left, we had just finished travelling. Now we are here and have been here a month. We finally got furniture on Jan 3rd. 10 days late=$1000 check from United Van lines. That wasn’t too bad. Sleeping on the air mattress, then pullout bed, then air mattress again was not the most pleasant. But that’s over now. You never know how much you love your bed until that kind of thing happens. But I suppose, if you had to, you’d get used to it. If you had to. I don’t have to.

But before that was Christmas! Yes, I have not blogged Christmas-

First off I went over to Nina’s and brought a little gift for her and one for Rosie-girl.

I bugged Rosie for a while…

 

Took a couple pics  of Rose and Garrison

Then made Rosie photograph Nina and me-

That’s us looking swell on Christmas (without our big glasses)-then Rosie told us to look funny but Nina said we were too old which cracked us both up-

We do our share of laughing.

Then off to the G-pa’s for the rest of the family Christmas-

 

This giant chocolate Santa showed up-we didn’t eat him since we had a boat load of other things to eat!

Yum! Our delicious Christmas lunch.

Cody was there, as was Dave

 

There were some presents-

And girl vs boy puzzle contest

Girls won.

It was a wonderful day and so nice that we can be all together without all the hassle of flying and vacation and getting here and there. I love that. (Well, I suppose the next gen of cousins have to fly in, but that’s not us and we are down with that!)

Jack also had a little Christmas adventure

Some things never change.

New Year’s came along and I was supposed to run a race Jan 1st and guess what? I had a stomach bug! Me! I never get a stomach bug. But my stomach hurt, I had chills, I had to come home a little early and New Year’s Eve found me in bed on my air mattress by 8! Fortunately, I survived to tell the tale.

Since then, things continue to go along-

Had a nice afternoon at the G-pa’s and took this pic

Here are dogs on beds before furniture-we had a couch, ottoman from downstairs, chair from Bay 10 (storage at my sister’s) and dog beds. They were happy. Dave’s feet were happy too.

We also had a table in the dining room, complete with lawn chairs and Jack.

Dave loves holding Jack like a baby. (See my reflection in the window?)

And we did end up getting furniture, which I will show in the next blog because I haven’t really finished unpacking it-especially in the sewing room. But Dave did manage to get my stash shelving up. With help from you know who….

That can NOT be comfortable.

In a final note, Laura continues to be my blog muse from a distance. She sent me the ultimate Christmas present-

Pictures of the farm. Sigh. You know how I love me my cows.

The Mix farm has been wild with calves this year. They have quit trying to limit the birthings to days where temperatures are  less than 12 degrees with wind chill of –20. It’s now become a year long calf fest.

Of course, now they have another farm, the Jordan place (aka Laura’s new home-I can say that here because she’s miles away and can’t hurt me when I refer to farm #2 in that way) The point is, there’s room for another few hundred head and they are getting a grand start here.

And seriously, aren’t they cute? Dave doesn’t think so either, but I do.

Look at this little cow getting warm….

 

And these having a little snack.

This part doesn’t look all that much fun. Still, Mrs Mix gets to play with calves all day, which seems ok to me. Except it’s cold out now….

Ha! I can’t believe how much the calf-love has not rubbed off on Laura….

In other news, Cora turned 4 this month and had a fab b-day. Sad I couldn’t be there as I have been there for the last 3-

(I stole a pic from FB!) Abby Cakes strikes again-remember this one?

That girl can make a fab cake. I wonder if she ships…..

Anyway, that’s all the news today. Off to unpack more boxes and try to figure out what the heck to do with all my stuff. I still have a basement to fill and I fear too little room, too many boxes…..

Have a fab week. Hoping to be able to get on the weekly schedule again.

The furniture is urging me on.