Grandma's Day Care

Years ago, I took a class at Community College. At that time, my kids were all in school and I think I was seeing the future  – ‘The Empty Nest’ syndrome and it scared me. Yes, I was afraid of the emptiness, especially with having nine children around, all in close age. Little did I know that I wouldn’t need to have a formal Day Care and I wouldn’t need to be accredited by the state?

I have been watching grandchildren from the time I watched my oldest granddaughter, who is now 20. Sometimes, I would have one or two babies around. At one time, I even watched three of my grandchildren at once with the babies being one month apart. It was like a flash back to my old days when I had twins, each in their own baby seat, me in the middle feeding them their bottles at the same time. Now, I was doing it with my little granddaughters.

Despite the chaos of my old life…looking back at it I realized that it was the most joyful part of my life….babies and children. Now I get to enjoy it all over again with my grandchildren!

Once again, my house is still set up from when I had little kids…lots of toys and books, a high chair, and baby seat. Unfortunately, about 2 months ago, my crib was taken down. My daughter gave me her Pack-n-Play for a place to put down a little grandchild for a nap. But, I have enough beds for the older grandchildren, a toy room filled with toys, lots of paper and coloring books with crayons, paints and brushes, board games, doll houses and dolls, garages, farms, a zoo, tiny cars and the biggest life saver – Playdough!

My back yard has a basketball court to play or ride some of the toys and the big wheel on it. I also have a swing set, hammock, and a small playhouse.

Yep…I might not be on the states radar to watch kids but I am on my kids’ radar to watch the grandchildren.

Psst: I wouldn’t have it any other wayWithout States’ Accreditation

Panera's - My Muse

My biggest lament is the fact that there are no book stores in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh. I miss the old Borders Bookstore that used to be located at the Northway Mall. Borders was my daily fix, where I used to go and write in their Café, while drinking coffee and munching on one of their pastries. After hours of writing, I would end up picking out a few books and magazines, pay, and leave the store. This was basically what I did during most of the week.

Now, I go to the library to work but it just isn’t the same experience for me. I don’t feel inspired or creative there. I usually get drowsy and have a hard time staying awake. My writing drive isn’t there.

I can drive up to Barnes & Noble in Cranberry, which I do at least every other week and write but it isn’t the same. It might take 20 minutes or so, depending on the traffic. It isn’t like the five minute drive that I had to Borders.

So, I have been going to the old Panera’s on McKnight Road to write. Despite the fact that they took out their televisions and that they no longer have WiFi – I somehow manage to write. Maybe it’s the hum of talking or the pleasant aromas of food. But Panera’s has become my Muse.

I still miss the old bookstore but at least I have a place to write, drink coffee, and munch on some food.

Rhythm of the Jobs

The past year, I worked part time at the greenhouse and part time at a catering kitchen. At both places I work alone. If someone else is in the kitchen, we work doing our jobs at our own prep table.

What I like about my jobs is the rhythm of both of them. In the greenhouse, I love working on planting the baby seedlings. First, I water down the trays and pots of soil, poke a hole in the soil, place the baby plants and pinch the soil around each. When I finish planting each tray, I place the trays in rows on the wire plant tables, and then I water them again. Once I have the rhythm down, the job moves quickly.

My kitchen job has its own rhythm. First, I pull out the puff pastry box from the freezer and pull out a number of sheets to thaw. Then I mix eggs, liquids and spices and return the mixture to the refrigerator. I place the soufflé cups on parchment on long baking sheets, cut the pastry to fit the soufflé cups, pressing the pastry to the cups. When this is done, I sprinkle a mixture of four different cheeses on the bottom of the cups and pour in the mixed egg mixture, ¾ of the way. I bake the soufflés, rotating the sheet trays after 15 minutes. Once the soufflés are finished cooking, I let them cool down. After, I wrap three soufflés in kitchen plastic wrap and place the soufflés in the freezer to be used later at the Deli, in town. 

 

 

I love the rhythm of the jobs that I do, but I especially love the end results.

Another Life's Milestone

My twins are turning 40 today and I can’t believe it!

It seemed just like yesterday when I went to the OB and he sent me for a sonogram and saw two babies. It took two weeks for the news to sink in and for me to mentally accept it. I already had four other children, all under the age of 6.

Eventually I did accept the fact that I was going to have twins and my body took on a life of its own. I would end up like one of those whales that washed up on the Pacific beaches.

Despite the babies being two-and-a-half weeks late, they were fine and together they weighed a whopping, 17pounds! No wonder I felt and looked like a large Orca Mommy.

Brian and Michael kept me hopping. They added chaos and bedlam to an already crazy and noisy household. They had their own twin talk. They helped each other to climb on each other's back and reach things that were taboo. And fecal smearing became their preferred art form.  But in all these 40 years, they brought me laughter and tears and filled my heart with chaos and love.

Happy Birthday, Brian and Michael! Thanks for the memories. Love, Mom

My Dad, a Hole, and a Buried Treasure!

I have been writing and editing a book about my family and my hometown. Once a person sits down and starts writing, it’s amazing what one can remember. In my writing and my memory, I recalled a time ( a very long time ago) when I was in grade school, I went to work with my Dad.

My Father was a carpenter and when we first moved to Cleveland, he would find jobs, building houses. One summer, he took me to work with him. My Dad wore his khaki colored Oshkosh overalls, put on his blue baseball cap with the Cleveland Indian logo, and buckled on his tool belt. I wore my jeans, t-shirt, tennis shoes, and carried his large black lunch box out to our tan Buick. My job was to pick up the nails, stack the wood, and sweep up the sawdust, or be a gofer for whatever my Dad and the other carpenters needed.

At lunch, my Dad and I would sit side by side as we shared salami sandwiches and cookies. Sometimes, he would let me try his coffee; coffee with sugar and a lot of milk. This is pretty much how I like my coffee now.

On one of those job sites, my Dad tried to keep me busy so that I wouldn’t get bored. On this one particular day, my Dad told me that there might be a buried treasure in the back yard of the house that he was working on. He told me that I could use his shovel, and whatever treasure I found, was mine to keep. Eager to see what kind of treasure that I could dig up, I started digging small holes. At first, I found pennies, then nickels, a few dimes and some quarters. I ran up to my Dad and showed him what I had dug up. Then I ran back and started to dig an even bigger hole and eventually, I started to find dollar bills! Each time that I dug up money, I would run to my Dad. Each time, he would tell me to go back and see if I could find more. I’d run back to my hole and dug harder, and made even bigger and wider holes, and I would find more money. I’m sure that by the time I finished, a person could have built a small sized swimming pool in that large hole.

At that time, I didn’t know my treasure was being buried there by my Father. I would find out later that my Dad and the other carpenter buried that money. After work, when we got home, besides being dirty and in need of a bath, I found myself rich and tired.  I ended up not eating dinner, went directly to bed, and fell asleep. And I bet I was dreaming about holes and buried treasures!