My Face Is Still Red

Still no pictures-

Sorry-

Maybe next time!

Each week we pick up our eleven year old grandson from school ,on Mondays and Wednesdays, and he stays with us. We then take him to school in the morning. This year he has mentioned several times a little girl in his class on which he has a crush. He has told us more than once that she lives in the Country Club area ( don't let the country club title impress you---there is a country club around but the area of homes is huge and the homes vary in size and grandeur from the top to the bottom of the spectrum- here is where I would like to pretend we are on the top end but truth be told the only thing we are on top of is the altitude. Our home is at 7200 ft. ) and rides the bus. This past Monday after picking Chandler up and pulling into the entrance of our neighborhood we see the neighborhood bus just ahead. Chandler asked his Grandy ( grandfather ) to follow the bus so we could see if Morgan ( crush girl ) lived near us. Grandy complies but due to the icy roads from a previous snow storm Grandy ends up losing the bus. Yes, indeed, he loses a school bus. The driver was going much too fast, in our opinion. However,  most of the time when driving, Grandy is more than cautious. Chandler told me on Wed. I was to drive and we would follow again as he knew I would not allow the bus to escape. Soooooooooooooooooooo fast forward to Wed. and we are all together with me at the wheel. We patiently wait on the bus corral to empty. I pull out and follow all the buses. We pull in behind the bus in our neighborhood and the adventure begins. Stop after stop children get off but no Morgan. Now remember, I told you the area is huge. We have been following this bus for about fifteen to twenty minutes. The bus passes our street , at the top of the area, lets off one more child and heads back down the mountain. As we are going back down the mountain, the bus is driving considerably slower than previously. My husband, Chandler's Grandy, comments to me that the bus driver probably thinks someone has reported him for driving too fast and we have been sent to follow and check it out. On down the mountain we go but no stops by the bus driver. No site of Morgan but there are still children on the bus--we can see their heads. Why aren't any more children getting off the bus? As we are approaching the main road we decide they might be going back to the main road and pulling in another entrance to the Country Club area. Bus turns on to main drag. We follow. All of a sudden, I hear a siren, look backwards and see a cop car directly behind me pulling me over. Not only was there one cop car but three.  Now all of us are in a state of shock. The first officer arrives at my window. My husband has already told Chandler and me we are explaining why we are following the bus. Explain is exactly what we did---should say I did---not a peep from Chandler in the back seat. All of this as three other policemen and a detective approach the car. Thankfully, the first officer waved them away as he realized we were really not a threat to anyone but our own sanity. He took my license, ran it and ask us if we could understand why the bus driver would have been concerned. " Well, yes, officer!" How da  da dumb could we have been? This bus driver did exactly the right thing. Protected the children from possible harm. How did he/she know there were just caring grandparents and a fifth grader out on the hunt for where a cute girl lives. All the officers, detectives, patrol cars left. My face was literally hot all night . I could think of nothing else. I was so very embarrassed that I had not realized the situation we were causing. My husband was the same.  It was brought up over and over again. Chandler told me it was his fault---Fifth grade love---what are you going to do????? He had a few other darling comments. Shows us we are getting very old. Things are not what they used to be when we were kids. Following a bus to find where someone lived was not stalking. It was fun and cute. Now days it is criminal. We made a mistake big time. We will be staying as far away from buses as possible. I told Randy I wanted to sell Toby ( Chandler named our truck years ago) or at least have it painted so I would not stand out to the police around town. Today is Saturday. This happened last Wed. and my cheeks still get hot. What were we thinking??????? We were thinking about our sweet grandson that was too shy to ask a little girl where she lived. Well, we won't make that mistake again!!!!!!!!! Smile. At least I am getting to the point where I can smile while shaking my head at myself.  From now on Chandler is on his own with his love life! Let us all have a safe and happy day. 

Frustrated

Maybe it is my age. I am not sure. I like to have my type large. That, however, is not what I am frustrated about. Here is the frustration-

I have been trying to post the outside pictures to the cottage I have been sharing. I have to do this on my old computer as the pictures are loaded on that computer. Well, there is a reason I purchased a new computer and it is being confirmed over and over again. I have twice uploaded pictures only to have them never "DONE", for upload, before a message appears on my screen telling me the website can not be found. I am now giving up since my tech guy is not here. This will be a rambling post as I have decided to just chat awhile since I am at a loss about the pictures----

New Computer: On my list of things to accomplish during the first month of the year was get a new one. The old one is so slow and on and on that--

I started researching. Personal friends and family told me once they worked on a MAC they would never go back to a PC. Randy, ( husband/tech guy ) decided to give it a whirl. I would be the Guinna pig. I am a lap top girl. I started looking at all the options on Macs and decided to get the newest, smallest lap top and load it up with memory and speed. I also decided to buy the extended warranty. The biggest negative, so far, to the Apple, was the cost!!!!! There were two deciding factors in making the final decision. One of these was that the apple will run the windows operating system. I figured the worst that could happen is I would have paid a bunch of money to run windows if I did not like the apple operating system. Now, for the very important part. The keys are quiet. Yep, that's right. The keys do not make a loud clicking sound. My husband is a little anal when it comes to noise and a few other items. As I write this though, I am hearing the space bar click and this concerns me.  I have not done much at all on my new computer. We ( meaning my husband) set it up and I watched, or was close by) I am able to email and basic tasks but my pictures and data have not been transferred. I have not a clue how to go about doing this. 

Watching my husband set up my computer and fix little glitches about my email, etc. has also caused my anxiety. I don't know what I would do without him. I have a built in tech guy. I hate to admit this but I think it is the thing that makes me the most panicked when I think about losing him ( well, you know, besides loving him, companionship and all those other important relationship things) I have not been using a computer that long and it is so very obvious all of the things I do not know. It seems I have to have help almost every day. I know I control my thoughts so I will just have to practice not thinking about it. I am doing the best that I can in all areas of my life right now and there are much worse things to have anxiety about. Not being able to post on my blog should not be high priority--right???!!!

Now, some of you know and others don't but all will soon--there is a LOT, and yes, I am shouting the word LOT of family stress in our lives right now. Might elaborate about this more at a later time but the jest of this message is this---

I was on a low dose of Paxil for a couple of years. I loved it. Just took the edge off of life's little ( and helped with the big) stresses. One gets older and hormones change, in us women. Am convinced this occurs with men too but not on men right now. For some ridiculous notion I decided to try life without it. After all, I never was on the drug for major depression. Figured it would just be one less pill to buy and swallow. I will not go into the problems encountered with the withdrawal process of going off this drug. Not my purpose at the moment.  My purpose is this. Just as there was a reason for buying a new computer, there was a reason I was taking medication for anxiety.  Also, little did I know, a major time for anxiety ridden family difficulties, was on the horizon. Back to the Dr. On Well Butrin now for about three weeks. I am happy to report I am now able to get through most days without crying and again able to know things are what they are and my husband and I can only do the best that we can in dealing with them. 

By the way, I am a big fan of counseling also. Counselors help people by giving them the tools to help themselves. We have had the same family counselor for over twenty four years. When we started in counseling our daughter was preteen. During the early years, with our daughter, we were in intensive counseling for a long time. Now we just go back every now and then for a booster shot. 

I am advocating treating one's mind with the same respect one treats one's body.     

I did not start out thinking I would post about this today. It just spilled out of my hands.

My guys have just come in from snowboarding so I will close. This means I will not be pouring over and questioning what I have written. Hope it makes a little bit of sense!

The Tour Continues

Remember Me?
Tucked Away

The Most Important Room Downstairs Albeit The Smallest

Another View of the Powder Room

The Second Most Important Room Downstairs
Suzi (she had her own catering business once) , Scottye and Jerry Planning an Open House

Look Closely at the Shelf Paper

Plate Rack Above the Door Entry

The Kitchen Leads to the Hallway, Dining Room and Fireplace Room

How about a close up look at the Old Fashioned Beautiful Canning

Downstairs Guest Bedroom
Look at the Darling Armoir in the Guestroom

Bath For Guestroom

Come out of the Guestroom and Go Up Stairs

Master Bedroom

Another View

Now Look at this---a Sweet Little Hideaway Room off the Master

Twin Bed for a Precious Grandchild Sleepover

Also used as a Meditation Room

Let's go back out to see the Rest of the Upstairs

Here we are back in the Master-Let's go Look at the Bath.

OOps- Forgot-Want you to see the Precious Desk-

You can Peek into the Bath from here though

Here we are

Love the Covered Ottoman

Looking Out Over the Backyard

Ah So Sweet- Vintage, Vintage, Vintage Everywhere

And More

That Window Again

Look at the Shower Curtain with the Little Ruffles

And the Last Room Upstairs-Another Guest Room/Computer Room

Want You to See the Metal Bed and the Yard Long Mirror Hanging Above

The View Outside From the Upstairs Guestroom

Another View

I Will Miss This

I will miss my snow and the constant fires in the fireplace.

I will miss my grandson's 11th birthday on Tuesday. I am leaving a hand created card at school this morning, for his teacher, to place on his desk next Tuesday. We will celebrate his birthday next weekend. Like Christmas, we are missing his birthday for the first time. Makes me sad but------- one of my dear friends, Bonnie, has taught me to spread all the celebrations of an occasion out as long as possible. So now I am doing the same with Chandler. We will take him shopping for some golf clubs sized correctly for his body. He and his grandfather like to play golf. We have been taking him to the golf course since he was three. He is no Tiger Woods but he and his Grandy seem to have just as much fun as Tiger and his father used to have. The following weekend he gets to go snowboarding again and invite his best friend. He wants me to go and watch in the lodge. Guess there will not be golden silence this snowboarding day BUT I won't be missing out on the birthday celebration fun either. Thank you to my angel of a friend, Bonnie, for teaching me this valuable lesson. It has certainly been helpful to me this year!

And From The Dining Room

Remember those leaded glass doors-

From the dining room they lead to-

This little one knows where to stay!

The Fireplace Room
Lucky kitty to have a place like this to relax!

See the double doors-they lead to the screen porch which will wait for another day.
The single door, however, we will travel through now-

This is the room I would make my studio. Notice the ceiling of sky lights?

We are now back in the fireplace room. This darling vintage half door ( yes, the top can be opened while the bottom stays closed) leads to the laundry room.

Inside the laundry room one finds another door which leads to-

Lucky puppy to have such a great place to relax.

The room the Crooks call " The Conservatory"

If you look back at the pictures of the front of the home, in my last post, you will be able to pick out the whereabouts of this wonderful addition.

I don't care what the room is called ,in my opinion, it is pure joy. I only dabble in gardening. I am afraid I am one of those people that wants my landscaping and gardens to just appear ,with maybe a little digging in the dirt. If I had a room like this I might be tempted to try a lot more digging. I would at least move my computer out to this room every now and then just to take it all in while I clicked.

But then there are still yet places I would love to be clicking inside this charmer.

Stay tuned later in the week for more.