Happy almost-Friday! Today is my "Friday" as we took tomorrow off so we could go up to my parents lake home for the weekend for a big celebration - see details below. Here's how our week shaped up!
The book I finished was Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb. This was his sophomore novel (his debut was The Violin Conspiracy, which I really enjoyed). His books are classified as musical mysteries/thrillers. I'd say they are heavier on the mystery aspect although this recent release had more of a thriller aspect to it - which I think was a little bit overdone/overdramatized. But I still really enjoyed the book. You don't have to love/understand music to appreciate these books, though, but it will add to the experience if you have knowledge of music.
The high of my week was the beautiful weather we've had! Spring/summer/early fall nights are far superior to the cold months of the year because we can be outside after dinner. If it was up to Will, he'd live outside. He wakes up crying to go outside and asks to go outside as I'm giving him his final kiss goodnight in his crib at the end of the day. So the more we are able to be outside, the happier everyone is.
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| Will watering my Mother's Day petunias |
The low of my week was nothing in particular. It's nice to have a week where there wasn't a glaringly obvious low point! If I had pick something, I'd say challenging toddler behavior (often related to wanting to be outside instead of, say, taking a bath or eating breakfast).
A show I watched was the finale of the show, A Million Little Things. The finale gutted me and made me cry and that says a lot because I do not cry very easily. I'd recommend this for fans of This Is Us. Phil would describe it as "emotionally manipulative" (ha!) which is how he described This Is Us, but I loved the show. Besides that, I've been watching Top Chef. I'm loving this international season! They've been in London so far but will go to Paris for the finale which thrills this Francophile!!
For workouts I ran on Monday and that's it unless I can count chasing my kids around as exercise! I'm hoping to get a couple of runs in this weekend but I also want to enjoy the limited time we'll have with my parents (we'll get there around lunch on Friday and leave Sunday morning).
The best money spent was on greeting cards for the MANY May birthdays we'll celebrate - my nephew, MIL, sister and grandma all have birthdays in the span of a week! And holy moly, greeting cards have gotten EXPENSIVE!
My plans this weekend include CELEBRATING MY GRANDMA'S 100TH BIRTHDAY! Yes, all caps is warranted! She turns 100 today and we are having an open house celebration for her on Saturday. I grew up about 1/2 mile from my grandparents and spent TONS of time with them as a child. I didn't realize how lucky I was at the time, but as I've gotten older, I can appreciate the charmed childhood I had. My grandpa had a shop next to our house where he'd renovate antique engines with his brothers. So I would mosey over there during the day and talk their ears off. And then I'd bike down to my grandparents house and talk my grandma's ear off while enjoying cookies, fruit roll-ups, and the occasional ultimate treat - my very own can of Coke!! We did not have soda in our house much so getting to have my very own can of coke was quite the thrill! 2 of my 4 siblings will be at the celebration this weekend and I'll get to see a lot of extended family, too. I know Paul will be thrilled to play with some of his older cousins. Oh, and Phil and I also will celebrate our 6th anniversary tomorrow but we won't do anything special as we'll be soaking up time with family. I'm hoping we can finally go on a date to belatedly celebrate it this summer. My retired co-worker's daughter would like to babysit our boys so we are hoping to schedule something once school is out as she's busy with track and end of year activities.
Do you have any living grandparents? Did you grow up close to your grandparents? My mom's parents lived about an hour away. We saw them pretty frequently but there's nothing like having your grandparents a short bike ride down the road!
I'm so glad there was no obvious "low" this week. That's a really nice feeling!! Love those petunia's and isn't Will just the sweetest as he waters them <3
ReplyDelete100 is just incredible; I know you've mentioned it hard for her as she has lost her eyesight and her husband over time, but I'm so glad everyone will be able to celebrate her very special milestone birthday.
Both my grandfather's passed long before I was born; one grandmother lived in the US and I didn't see her often (not a bad this; she was rather ornery), but my other grandmother lived about 5 hours away and I would see her 3-4 times a year and she was just the picture book grandmother. She'd cook special treats, let me watch TV while I ate my lunch at a TV table, take me on outings, plant flowers in the garden. She was just a gem of a lady. Unfortunately, she developed dementia and the last decade or so of her life she wasn't really able to communicate, but I remember her mostly in her younger years when she was warm and loving and always (ALWAYS!) laughing.
Hope this weekend is wonderful and Happy Anniversary <3
Congratulations to your grandmother! My husband’s grandmother lived to 100. My mum’s mother lived next door to us in a house my dad built for her, so we really could pop in and there was no fence between our houses so her yard became an extension of ours for games of chases and hide and seek. My mum’s dad died the week before my parents wedding so we never knew him. Dad’s parents lived about 15mins drive from us. They always had a massive lolly jar we got to choose something from when we visited.
ReplyDeleteHooray for spring weather and special celebrations! Happy centenary to your grandmother!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gift to have grown up a bike ride's distance away from them. My best friend growing up had her maternal grandparents next door and I was always so envious.
I didn't know my maternal grandparents well -- my grandfather died when I was in third grade. We visited my grandmother a few times when I was growing up.
I knew my paternal grandparents better. They lived nearer -- only two states away, ha! -- and we seemed to visit them yearly, and they sometimes came to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with us. I have very good memories of spending time with them in the summers. My grandmothers both got to meet my husband, which I am very glad for.
My husband's grandmothers lived longer and I met and knew and grew to love both of them. His maternal grandmother even got to meet my daughter, which is a memory I treasure.
Have fun at the party! I love your stories about your grandmother and hearing how close you are with her. I know in the past you have also talked about how you used to play games with her and that has given you your love of games and puzzles etc. It's a pity her eyesight is not good but how sweet that still have such a great relationship with her. My grandfathers both died when they were ~ 60, so they have been gone for a long time, and of course my mother's mom died a couple of years ago.
ReplyDeleteI was never as close as you are with my grandmas, both physically and emotionally! My mom's mom lived in Massachusetts, so we saw her about once every five years. My mom's stepmom lives in Baltimore and we see her about once every five years and my dad's mom lives in the Bay Area, so I probably see her a few times a year, but I am not super close with any of them. They were always there and when we are together we have fun, but none of them are the kind of relationship where we speak regularly.
Happy Anniversary! It seems like just yesterday that you were getting married!
Oh happy birthday to your grandma! What an incredible milestone! I hope you have a wonderful celebration, how very lovely to have your grandma still with you. All the things she must have seen in her life! Wow!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to have a weekend with no lows! And next weekend with your gran will be all highs, I think! What a wonderful occasion -- I'm very happy you can all get to celebrate!
ReplyDeleteHappy, happy birthday to your grandma! How special it is to celebrate with her <3
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad to hear that your week didn't have any glaring lows. My week has/had a tinge of sadness to it because my good friend's husband passed away last weekend so we had to say our goodbyes. In other words, nothing bad happened at work, or at home, but the week had an overall sense of sadness to it. He was a such a good man.
Can't wait to see pictures and hear about your grandma's 100th birthday!!
Wow, 100 is amazing!!! How special!!! I hope you have a wonderful family weekend. That sounds just great. It is so lovely to have better weather now too, isn't it?! I'm currently reading Peter Attia's book "Outlive", so maybe I can pick up a few tips to follow in your g-ma's footsteps. Haha. ;)
ReplyDeleteHow nice to have a week without any big lows! I think the nicer weather is helping everyone. But especially Will- that's funny about him asking to go outside at bedtime.
ReplyDeleteI know I've said it before but Happy Birthday to your Grandma! That's a momentous occasion and I hope she enjoys it. And I hope you enjoy the weekend. To answer your question, my maternal grandparents lived about four hours away- but we went to visit them several times a year, and we always loved seeing them. It sounds like you have an incredible relationship with this grandma- please let us know all about the weekend!
Yay! I'm so glad the weather has turned around and Will can spend as much time outside as possible. Frankly, I'm glad for all of us humans in the upper Midwest that the weather has turned! I'm definitely enjoying the nice temperatures and sunny skies.
ReplyDeleteMy husband's grandmother is still alive. I think she's 102 now? Anyway, she repeatedly tells me she'd like to not be alive, so I sort of think very old age is overrated! Ha! Happy birthday to your grandmother and what a wonderful way to celebrate her to have her surrounded by her loved ones.
Yay for a good week and glorious weather. I am glad you got a run in, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd how exciting that you're celebrating your grandma's 100th birthday. What a milestone.
Unfortunately, I don't have any living grandparents anymore (only my "surrogate grandma")... but I did grow up with at least one set of grandparents near by. We spent a lot of time with them.
100 years old!!! woooo! what an amazing celebration. you must have genes to live very long too!!! do you observe any special thing she does that would explain living to 100+? i'm always curious about that.
ReplyDelete100! That's amazing! We had grandparents in town that we aw every day and grandparents 5 hours away whose visits were so special. Definitely took my in town gp's for granted-- which had to drive them bananas on some level. But when my mom's mom died (she was the far away grandma) we found the nicest, most generous letters from my dad's mom to her sharing the mundane details of our lives because she knew my maternal grandma was missing out. I teared up typing that-- so sweet and wonderful of her since I bragged all the time to her about my far away grandma.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday to your grandma. What a milestone birthday - the kind many of us won't get to see. 100! Is she still living independently? We all could only hope to live as long as she has - AND feel good, too. (My aunt's grandma was very old when she died, in her 90s, but she had so many health struggles and was just READY to go, lol.)
ReplyDeleteAll of my grandparents have passed away. My paternal grandfather passed when my dad was 15. My paternal grandma when I was in high school. And then my maternal grandma and grandpa died in 2015 and 2018 respectively. It's odd to not have grandparents anymore, especially my maternal ones, as they were such a big part of my childhood/early adult life!
Happy Birthday to your Grandma! I have no living grandparents and I miss my maternal grandparents so much. I never really got to know my dad’s parents, but my mom’s parents lived two houses away from me my whole life. My grandpa died when I was a freshman in high school and then my grandma died when I was 21. It was very rough losing them as they were such a part of my adolescent years. I feel that Welles is so fortunate to have my parents living close by and that he has had the opportunity to spend the time with them that he does. When we had him do 2nd grade virtually, he spent every day with my parents. Part of the reason we pulled him out of school that year was because we wanted to keep my parents safe and expose them to as few germs as possible. Although I sometimes wonder if I made the right choice, I always remind myself that Welles will always have those special memories with my parents that he otherwise would have never had.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! Wow wow wow. I'm amazed by your grandmother and her long life. I hope that the celebration was all joy and that you enjoyed your time with family. :) I did not know my paternal grandparents, and my maternal grandfather had severe dementia so was essentially a shell of a person for the entire time I 'knew' him... and my one remaining grandparent was not the same kind of grandparent as yours...all of that to say, I'm glad you realize how lucky you were. <3
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