No new pictures

No new pictures to share – still haven’t got my new computer all set up with the software, etc.  Just thought it had been long enough since my last blog that I thought I should write something.

Went to the Greek Festival today with my mom, Josh, Amanda and Malachi.  My Greek friend, Maria, has a 5 year old daughter, Persephone, who was dancing at the Festival today.  She looked so cute in her authentic Greek costume that her grandad (that’s Papoo in Greek) brought her back from Greece.  She wasn’t into to too much, but it was still cute to watch.  Maria was glad that I was there.  Her family has “adopted” me and calls me an Honorary Greek (I tell them my last name is Greenopolis!).  Afterwards, we went over to my friend Kathy Murphy’s place.  Kathy is moving and all kinds of stuff to give to Josh and Amanda including a badly needed loveseat.  It was like Christmas day for Amanda!  She got lamps and occasional tables and all kinds of stuff.  I’ve been spending a lot of time with Amanda lately and surprisingly, we have gotten rather close.  Her relationship with her own mother is very strained, at best.  We’ve been talking and I’ve delved into her past a bit.  I understand her a lot more now and some of the things that she does that I thought were just for “shock value” are more now out of habit because apparently she has spent her entire life just trying to get her mother’s attention.  So sad that her mother has missed out.  Amanda really has a very big heart and is just looking for someone to love that will love her back.  We’ve shopped and talked and talked and shopped and I’ve done my best to let her know that I will not judge her and that I can be trusted.  I think it’s working!  I’m glad, because it makes my relationship with Josh much easier – he doesn’t have to feel torn between his mother and his wife.  And I’m glad too, because Amanda has a lot to offer and I’ve gained another family member to love.  And then there’s Malachi.  That kid is so cute I can hardly stand it.  There’s nothing like having little 8 year old arms around my neck waiting for a kiss on his little blonde head. 

I’m satisfied with my day today and now I’m where I like to be best, at home with Jackson.

Leaving for Vegas this Friday!  I will have pictures to post when I get back!

That guy loves loves loves guitars!

Josh with his new toy and his Meemaw

My mother believes in music.  She always got us whatever instrument we wanted to play and took us to lessons.  I got a piano when I was 4 and took lessons until I was 17.  I also did a couple of years of the flute in elementary school and I so wish I had kept that up!  My son Josh idolizes my boyfriend, Gary.  Gary is a very accomplished guitarist and vocalist and has been playing in local bands since he was about 14.  He began teaching Josh a little guitar about 5 years ago.  Josh has a second-hand Fender Squire (not a great guitar) that he has had for several years.  My mom asked me the other day “if I was going to get Josh a really really good guitar, what would I need to look for?”  I told her he would like a Gibson Zakk Wylde Bullseye, but they list for about $12,000.  That’s right, I said twelve thousands bucks!  Sheesh!  But Epiphone makes one (they are a division of Gibson) for about $900.  Still pricey, but she had me get right online and order it.  When it arrived, I called Josh at work and told him that he and I had been summonsed to mom’s house and I would pick him up from work.  Scared the poor guy to death!  He called twice after that asking if I could figure out what he had done wrong that his grandmother wanted to see him about!  Too funny, but it was so effective!  I picked him up from work and took him to mom’s.  She brought out the guitar and I thought he might actually have a heart attack!  He is one happy little guy (little….right!)  He has hardly put it down since he got it.  Of course, he brought it right over for Gary to play and Gary is in awe too.  Thought you might like to see the pic of Josh with his new prized possession and his grandmother who made him so happy!

Just some random thoughts

I’m having Malachi’s birthday party today (check back later for pics).  He’s 8 years old, his birthday was July 2, but we celebrate on the 4th, because who wouldn’t want fireworks for their birthday??!!

Josh’s birthday was June 7.  He was 29 years old.  My oh my, where does the time go?  He and I have gotten so much closer since he has moved back to Ohio.  Amanda calls him a mama’s boy and says we talk on the phone “like, 40 times a day”.  I did tell her that if a boy is good to his mama, chances are he will be good to his woman.  I hope she thinks about that one for a while, seeing as how she has 3 boys.  I don’t know how it would be to have a daughter since my daughter didn’t get to live.  It was 31 years ago yesterday.  I woke up mad, thinking about how her father probably doesn’t even remember the day, but then he is the world’s greatest jerk.  But I do know how it is to be the mother of a boy, and for me it is great!  So here is a photo of Josh and Malachi.  I’m crazy about the both of them and they bring me a lot of joy.

Two of my favorite guys!

One more….

Ok, seems like maybe I can post a pic or two!  LOL!  So here is one more.  This is probably the last one with my hair this long.  I’m going Wed to get it cut – not too much, about 3 inches or so.  And I’m getting new color.  Haven’t decided which shade of red, but going red!  Probably dark red with some copper highlights.  Just need the change…..

The two in the previous post were my grandson, Malachi and my great-neice Allura.

Just a few

I hope I can do this.  I seem to be a little challenged when it comes to wordpress…..hopefully I can upload a few pics.

It’s been awhile

I haven’t posted in quite a while.  I’ve been trying to wait until I get my camera software hooked up again.  I guess Jackson must have accidentally deleted in while he was doing stuff for school.  I have some new pics of my nieces and nephews that I would like to post here.  They were here last week for a few days.  Man, that is one wild crew when they all get together.  My grandson, Malachi, came over to play in the sprinkler with them last Saturday.  And I had popsicles for them and they had been munching on them about every 10 minutes, but lo and behold, they hear the ice cream man’s little “Turkey In The Straw” song playing and you would think they had been ice cream and popsicle deprived.  So yeah, I run in and get them dollars so they can buy from the truck.  Kids crack me up doing that!  For some reason, it tastes better when you buy it from the ice cream man.

I took Josh (and Amanda and Jackson) to Cincinnati last week for a Cincy Reds Game to celebrate Josh’s 29th birthday (GAWD, I’m OLD!).  We all had a terriffic time and no one enjoyed it more than Josh.  But at 2am that morning, I bolted upright in bed and had to puke my guts out.  I missed half a day of work Wed and all day Thursday.  Today is Saturday and I felt almost ok until about 8:00 tonight, then BAM – here is it again.  I guess it’s just a virus, but I’m not convinced it wasn’t a tainted hotdog that I got at the game.

Tomorrow is the Blues Fest at the Fraze Pavilion (a little outdoor ampitheater not far from my house).  We are going to go and mingle and dangle our feet in the fountain until 7, when we will get to see my favorite blues-rock guitarist, Joe Bonamassa.  Dude, that cat can PLAY!  I have had my tickets since early April and counting the days.  Next month we are going there to see Ringo Starr!  Can you believe a BEATLE is going to be in Kettering, Ohio of all places?  I like Ringo well enough, but my thought is that half the Beatles are dead and I’m fairly certain that Paul McCartney is not going to be playing the Fraze, so I’m going to lay my eyes on a Beatle before they are all dead.  Plus, Edgar Winter, Billy Squier, Hamish Stewart and a few others will be with him.  ALL worth the ticket price.

Jackson and I have decided that we are going to refurbish my old falling-down deck in the backyard.  We are going to replace the lattice, paint the whole thing a dark green and lay indoor-outdoor carpet on the floor of it since the wood is so rough and old.  I’m going to wait until fall when all the patio furniture goes on sale and then I’m going to buy a table and chairs with an umbrella.  I think in the spring I will put up a privacy fence in the back to block the view of the unsavory neighbors that live behind and catti-cornered from us.  I’m really pumped about doing this project.  It will add a little outdoor living space and probably improve my property value a bit.  I am thinking about putting an arbor type thing in the back of it and planting wisteria – I love that stuff.

The hummingbirds are still kind of sparce for us.  I have identified at least 2 females and one little male that Jackson has named Hummer Simpson – how cute is that?  I did manage to get a photo of the male while I was sitting on the swing with my nephew Willy, who by the by, is now a convert to hummingbird watching!  It’s addicting, no matter what age you are!

Hope all of you are having a great weekend!

We have Hummingbirds!!!!

Friday night was so very nice here in Dayton.  There was a slight breeze and the temperature was just right for sitting outside just before dusk.  Jackson and I were sitting on my lawn swing watching “Thumper”, the little brown bunny that lives in our yard.  He was over by my birdbath nibbling on some tender new shoots in my flower garden.  I have several hummingbird feeders hanging around my yard, but as of yet, no sightings although I do know from the migration map that they are in the area and have been since late April.  I had my camera and was trying to get some shots of Thumper as he would ssstttrrreeetttccchhhh his little brown neck out like he was showing off for us.  While I had the camera up to my eye and was trying to focus him in, Jackson said “honey, honey, honey!!!!”  I knew from his tone that it was “Humbelina”, our little female who is always the first to show up.  And sure enough, there she was on the feeder hanging by the birdbath!  She flitted around to all the feeders, like she was trying to decide which was the tastiest before she would fly up into the pecan tree in my neighbors yard.  We watched her until right after dusk when she must have climbed into her little nest for a night of hummer slumber.  We had two little hummer visitors yesterday, both females.  So the males are off galavanting around somewhere, but I know they will be here soon.  Ah…summer.  My favorite time of year!

maybe, maybe….

It was a beautiful day here today.  It was warm and sunny and I got to sleep until noon!  I heard Gary and Josh talking in the living room and that’s what woke me up.  I got out of bed and made coffee so that I could enter the world of the living!  Josh had been to my mom’s and did some work around the house for her.  He had Triston and Malachi with him.  Then Josh cut my grass and helped me put up my swing.  The boys got sunburned!  I have been out on the swing today watching for hummingbirds, but none yet.  I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Remembering my grandmother

This past weekend was of course Memorial Day weekend.  Jackson and I went shopping and got steaks to grill and veggies and I just couldn’t pass up the watermelon.  When we got finished eating steak, I was just too full to eat my melon, so later on I got mine and went outside on the swing to eat it.  The first bite was so sweet and juicy and it took me back and I mean WAAAAY back to when I was a kid going to my grandmother’s house in Eastern Tennessee.  We called her Mama Mage.  It just wasn’t summer at Mama Mage’s without watermelon.  She loved it and always kept some in her old ice box in the summer.  After dinner she would cut us kids a great big piece and send us out on the porch to eat it.  Being the only girl between two boys, I had to keep up with all their shenanigans….we would have “watermelon seed spitting contests”.  It was GREAT!  We would be covered with seeds by the time we finished bombing each other and my mom or some other equally tired adult would come out with a dishpan and fill it full of water and pour over us trying to get the “sticky” off before bringing us inside to take a bath. 

As I sat outside on my swing yesterday eating that watermelon, I hoped that my grandmother was somewhere in heaven feasting on her own watermelon, looking down at me and remembering too.