My Grandma, The Bug

I've been in Virginia for the past ten days, enjoying my time with my son, Greg, and his three children, Taylor, Kaden, and Zac, while his wife, Michelle, was in Illinois, working at building their new business, FroYo Creations in Bourbonnais, IL.

My grandchildren are the cheapest forms of entertainment I know (as you might have surmised from some of my other blogs), and once again I find myself having to relate yet another occurrence of "How do they come up with these things?"

Having been away from Audrey and Nolan, I was looking forward to seeing them again. Audrey and Nolan are pictured here in dress-up on the day they performed their own version of American Idol while their mom, Brittney, and I attempted to watch the show in front of them. You can read about that day HERE.

But getting back to the Grandma plays a bug story (which is a very short story, by the way), here's what happened shortly after I came home yesterday:

I was unpacking my suitcases when Nolan came into my bedroom swatting around a hockey stick. Just as I turned around to see it, he said, "Hey, Grandma, pretend you're a bug!"

The New T-Shirts

I've always loved wearing comfortable clothes. For decades I lived in t-shirts on days when I didn't have to work, and I still find them the most comfortable of clothes.

I recently found some funny t-shirts (some of which might be called nerdy shirts) –  guaranteed to cause some heads to turn – that would be real conversation starters. Imagine for a second me wearing one of The Hangover t-shirts (from the movie, The Hangover) pictured to your left. Cracks me up just thinking about walking around wearing it.

Several years ago one of my daughters gave me a Beatles t-shirt, which I still own because I love it. I also wear my grandma t-shirts that my grandchildren give to me and my "Proud Mother of a Marine" t-shirt. The nice thing about t-shirts is that they come in a variety of colors and styles, and some of them are profound, some are thought-provoking, and some are quite humorous.

As a matter of fact, a lot of the t-shirts I see recently come with funny sayings. One of the ones on this site is not only funny, but probably true. It shows a graphic of a man holding a cup of coffee saying, "On the Internet I'm a 15 year-old girl."

Not all of the shirts on this web site are nerdy or funny, though. One says, "Reading is for awesome people." And they have other items like hoodies and belt buckles as well. (As a proponent of reading, I am providing a link to Oprah's book club for you.)

As long as we're talking about reading and t-shirts, if you want to learn more about t-shirts, click the about t-shirts link. You'll get a brief history, information about t-shirt trends, the environmental impact on t-shirts, and more.

By the way, on the Internet, I'm a glamorous and award-winning writer ;)

Saving Nolan's Privates

Oh, so many times, I find myself cracking up over pretty much everything my grandchildren do. So when Nolan walked into the dining room where I was sitting, looking like he does in the photo on your right, I practically fell on him to get to my camera.

As "they" say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I really don't have much to say about this photo other than that I'm glad he's being potty trained right now. He had taken off his underwear to go potty, and then, instead of grabbing his Superman underwear and putting them back on, he grabbed this toy stethoscope instead. You're probably wondering why he placed it around his waist. I have no answer for that question.

I will add this: I never thought I'd have to use a "pasty" to cover part of my grandchildren in any of my blogs, but, as you can see from the photo, I had to do it this time. And I'll leave it at that.

Trying to Watch American Idol With Two Spinning Children

Every Tuesday, because my daughter Brittney is home from work, we watch taped episodes of American Idol that we missed from the week before. On Tuesday night, another episode of American Idol appears, so we have to get ourselves updated on the progress of the show in order to watch the new one on time.

But the way we have to watch the show is probably somewhat different from the way everybody else watches the show. Because between my television set and my couch spin two small children who sing, dance, and put on their own American Idol auditions. Audrey and Nolan also love making themselves dizzy repeatedly and flopping to the floor in front of us.

You might think I live in a one room apartment where they have no other place to play, but you would be wrong. My mobile home has a living room, a dining room, a family room, and four bedrooms. My living room, where my television is located, is a good size. Of all the places in my home, the one place the kids decide to dance, sing, and spin out of control, is located between the television set and the couch where my daughter and I sit to watch American Idol.

So last Tuesday, while I was watching an episode from the week before, instead of repeatedly asking the kids to perform their little antics in another room, I watched them instead of American Idol.

Nolan (2.5 years old) held two tiny books in one hand and one tiny book in his other hand as he held out his arms and stared at the one book while he spun round and round. When he could no longer stand, he fell to the floor and watched the room spin around him. Audrey (5) spun faster than her brother and fell to the floor more quickly. Sometimes they fell on top of each other and laughed uproariously when that happened.

I watched my daughter move her head from one side to the other as she attempted to watch American Idol around her children, oblivious to the fact that they were spinning out of control in front of her. My grandchildren were unaware that I was watching them.

At this point I had to ask myself to define entertainment. After all, I was quite amused that my grandchildren were performing acrobatics in the very spot that blocked our view to the television set, and I was equally entertained by American Idol.

I felt as if I were at my own home circus. Where else could I be doubly entertained?

(photo is of Audrey and Nolan at Christmastime wearing their SpongeBob pajamas)