Remembering My Grandparents

Yesterday would have been my Grandparents 70th wedding anniversary. There are so many things that I could tell you about William Edgar and Sylvia Lucille Harper and even then I could not show you how much I love and miss them. My memories of them have always been wonderful. I know from my mother that as parents they had a hard time with 3 boys and 2 girls and did not always treat them like they treated us as grandchildren. But I think that is the way it always is with parents. You just have to be tougher than you would ever be on your grandchildren.

I was very lucky in that I got to spend lots of time with them as I grew up. We lived fairly close when I was younger and almost every Sunday afternoon we would go and visit with them. They lived in a small white house with a hand built carport and what my Granddad called the pump house. It was named this because of course it had a water pump in it to get well water into the house. Also behind the pump house was a coal pit. You ask what that was. Well, for a very long time the little house was heated through a coal furnace that sat in the middle of the main living room. (More about the living room thing later.) So every month a truck would come and dump coal in the coal pit. During winter I know that I carried many a bucket of coal from the coal pit into the house for Granddad to pour into the furnace. That was grandchild duty by the way.

The front of the house had a porch that went from one end to the other and had a white swing where we would always gather after a meal or just to hang out. Also, in the back of the house was a very large tree under which was built a storm cellar into the ground. My grandparents lived very meagerly but somehow they managed to have someone dig out and build a storm cellar for them. We played there alot as kids and I remember a couple of times running into it during the middle of the night in my pajamas. A couple of tornadoes passed over head during my time down there.

This little house and these other locations sat on the front right corner of over 4+ acres of land that included a large swampy area and a forest section. During the summer another grandchild duty as you got older was to get on the riding lawnmower and cut the grass on the areas that were not flooded. Of course, Granddad always stood out in the middle of the yard pointing out where you should go and that one blade of grass that you missed. We all learned to drive that way.

There were more oddities about this house. It had two living rooms. You would come off the front porch into the 1st living room that most often was quiet as it held the better furniture. Off the left of the room was a bedroom where my cousin and I would sleep when we were older and just be silly teenagers. If you went through the 1st living room you would go to main living room which really was just a continuation of the 1st one because all that separated them was a large arched entry. In this room was the comfortable furniture, the ancient TV and the furnace for many years. Straight through was the kitchen. To the left of the main living room was a small area off of which were two bedrooms and a bath. No shower in this bath room folks. What I remember most there was the green walls, the absorbine Jr that Granddad insisted cured everything and the wonderful smelling powders that Grandmother always used.

The back bedroom next to the kitchen was their bedroom and it always had two full size beds in it. What was great about this room when we were kids is that we could sleep in the smaller bed in the same room and they always slept with their heads at the foot of the bed. Can't really remember why but it was neat as a kid. Another thing, the main cooling supply in the house was a large window fan that was in the kitchen window. You could not hear yourself think when that thing was running. Later they purchased a window air conditioner for one of the front windows on the house but Granddad didn't really want you to use it. I remember one day he was out and Grandmother told me to go turn that thing on before we all roasted.

Grandmother was the most loving and caring woman that I ever met. If she ever told you anything that she found out to be wrong, you would know that she would call and apologize and make sure she had told you correctly. She always wore some kind of high healed slingback shoe when going out and I spent many a Saturday with her at the beauty shop while they put her very long grey/white hair up into a bun. Every night you could find her bobby pinning paper towels to the back of the bun to keep it from getting messed up. She had a sweet laugh and could always be counted on for a hug.

Granddad was just always so funny to me. He was often very serious but when it came to us grandkids he was mush. He would take us walking down the road and tell us all about who lived where. He showed us how to make whistles out of twigs too. My brother's favorite memories includes us walking to a local convenient store where he would buy us a drink and chocolate candy footballs. He was once a truck driver and he always had issues with moving his arms above his head because of how he had to hold his hands to drive a truck. When Grandmother passed away we knew either he would go soon or he would fight and enjoy life! There would be no middle. We were right but surprised. He decided to fight and did so up to his last moments.

There is so much more like how there was always Dr. Pepper, pork skins, Pringles and very red hot dogs in their house. Other things like the kids table that would be set up in their bedroom because it was next to the kitchen. Scott had to sit with me in there even after we married. We were still too young! Oh and the very interesting relationship that they had. My grandparents married in their early twenties which was later than most and for all the years I knew them they had separate checking accounts. Whenever we went out for lunch they would each pay for their own meals. They also each paid different household bills. It was just so strange considering when they grew up. They seemed very equal in how they handled house cleaning, financial matters and just living together. You could tell even though they were not overly affectionate that they loved each other and us too!

Most of the time I seem to act fairly calm about them being gone and I feel that I need to as it affects my mother so hard sometimes but for some reason today I just want to cry because they are not here and I so don't want to forget them. Maybe this post will help a little.

WEP

WEP is a new word that my friend Kristy and I have come up with instead of using the hated word diet. We have decided that we will be serious about weight loss and will be starting Weight Watchers on Thursday of this week by going to our first meeting. She only wants to lose 15 pounds and that is great. I however, want to lose more. Fifteen pounds doesn't even get me below an acceptable number much less into the good area.

It will be great to have a friend to do this with and hopefully my overwhelming knowledge of counting points and eating only the right things will rub off on the family. As I am the main shopper it could be they will be forced to eat better or have to buy their own food!

I also started up my meditation exercises again.

You see it really hit me Sunday night when I tripped over a cord and fell down scraping up my legs and jarring my body! This weight does nothing but hurt my body and soul! It has to go!

Bring on the WEP!

Feel Like I Am In Tyken's Rift

Today started off fairly well. Got up, enjoyed breakfast with my family, nice long shower and then got the Irish stew started. Around that time is when things started going downhill. Erynn was very emotional and everything was making her cry. Luckily Jen worked on lunch while I worked on getting some pics on our Shutterfly website. But I started feeling rough myself around that time. We managed to get ready for a party Erynn had to attend but we almost did not get out of the garage because Erynn had another meltdown and I had to dig deep to put on the patient face. The party was fun for the kids and Erynn had a great time even though she was in tears at least 4 times during it. I noticed later that I was not the only mother who looked like she was tired and needed a break.

I just felt like today that I would easily lose my mind. No true pain today but the meds effect my sleeping patterns and when I want to sleep I have a child to spend time with or am at work. At night when I should want to sleep, it takes a little more effort and I don't sleep longer than a couple of hours at a time before I wake up again! Therefore Tyken's Rift. Of course, only truly devout Trekkers will understand this reference. Honestly, I remembered the episode and not what exactly caused it so I looked it up. In the 4th Season of Star Trek:The Next Generation, there was an episode where the whole crew started acting crazy and violent. Eventually they figured out that they were caught in Tyken's Rift and were not getting REM sleep. I always remember this episode when I am waking up constantly in the middle of the night. So today I will be Dr. Crusher and push through until it is resolved.

Get me out of the Rift!

Goals

Recently I discovered that I am the heaviest that I have ever been. When Scott and I married in 1993 I was in a size 2 people! Today you can add a zero to the back of that! Horrible! I am concerned about my heart health and my overall health due to this. I could blame part of it on the medicine I am taking now and maybe that is true but honestly my eating habits suck! They are based too much on thinking I am hungry and eating more than I need to at a sitting. Exercise comes and goes for me. I have to do better and I will! I plan to document on the blog what I am doing in hopes that it will force me to follow through.

Need your support! The worst are the flabby arms! Seriously annoying! I have begun doing arm exercises with weights every morning in hopes that will help also.

Smaller portions! Better food! Exercise!

Catch Up, Losing Weight, Finally a Potty Breakthrough

Ok, I need to do better on this. Not sure if the Cymbalta is working as well as it did before. I have to take the Lyrica also on time or I start the burn again. The last week has seen me with ice out again but at least it is still not as bad as before!

I need to lose weight desperately. I know what to do. Eat better, smaller portions, watch the junk and exercise. However knowing and doing are quite different! It is amazing to me how I have such willpower with other things in my life but food is not one of them. I am determined to do better! Every time you see me, ask how I am doing on the weight loss so I keep going!

My darling daughter has finally mastered all potty skills! Keep in mind that she has been going to the potty on her own for well over a year and that at school you would not know there is an issue. The child has only ever wet on the bed twice since she started going on her own. However, many of you know about the main issue. It seems that all children have a problem with pooping in the potty. There is some feeling of loss of fear about it and Erynn has taken this to the extreme. We were at the point where she would not even tell us but would go to her room change out of her panties and put on a pull up just to do the poopy thing! Folks this is called stubbornness! But it appears that we have finally overcome this issue. Last weekend she wanted to go see Gnomeo and Juliet and just before we got ready to leave she had to go. I convinced her to sit on the potty for this. It worked out well and she was completely surprised! She was lavished with praise by everyone and told all her grandparents that she really was a big girl now! Since then she has been marching herself in the bathroom, picking out a book and having her time without help until cleanup! I am so proud and excited that maybe the pull up days are completely over! The patience it took to get through this, I did not realize that I had!

I promise to talk more!