Redneck Medical Journal Entry by Bubba

Bubba wrote the following after he and Joe went oystering for medicinal purposes, I'm sure.

Oysters are good for your health. First you benefit from the salt air when you ride in the boat to get to where they are. Then you benefit by walking in the mud.  That works leg musclea and your heart beats faster.Then there's the salt spray in your face back to the landing.  When you shell them, you exercise your hand muscles,arm muscles, and chest muscles.  Also when you eat them, if your digestive system is not right it will clean you out.   Then you will be ready for for a new beginning. From Dr. Bubba.    Sent from my iPad

Joe's new boat was deemed "perfect" for oystering.

Bubba is working hard to stay healthy.

And so is brother Joe.....

In fact, it made them feel so good that they will probably do it again soon!

How Long Until Another Rainbow?

Well, we had a couple of weeks of Christmas festivities and returned home on a Saturday morning to a house still full of Christmas "stuff".  Bubba left after we unpacked the trailer to go with his brothers to look at a boat that Joe was hoping to purchase.  And I was left alone missing Amelia already.

Amy's old dollhouse is back in place.  When Amelia is here, it usually sits on the coffee table or in the middle of the living room floor with all kinds of toys scattered around it.

Amelia's craft table sits awaiting her return.  She loves to cut and paste, color and paint, staple and stick.

  

Our third bedroom is Amelia's room.  The stickers on the wall are starting to come loose, but we spend time before she settles down at night to get them stuck back.  One night when we were talking before I read her story she told me, "Nana, I think my bedroom is beautiful."

Someone asked me the other day what was the one thing that Amelia got to eat at grandma's that she didn't get anywhere else.  Well, it is not something to eat, it's something to drink.  We always stock plenty of "yoo-hoos" before she comes to visit.  Amy told me not to let her have too many and I didn't.  We still have one left!  Look, it says its rich in calcium and vitamin D right on the carton!

This is where Amelia plays bookstore/library.  She calls her patrons in one at a time (me or Paw-Paw or Amy if she's here) and allows them to get one picture album of her baby pictures.  She has to do a lot of writing and calclulating before you can leave with the book.  No matter what we are doing, if she calls out that she is ready for a customer we have to respond.

This is a sample of the paperwork required to get a book.  The first line is my age (64).  Next is my name. (Note the curls she has started putting on her lower case 'a'.)  Next she asked my dad's name and the final question was who I was married to.  

It is not so easy to get a good book these days.

This is what I was referring to in the title of this blog. Amelia loves to draw rainbows.  Now I'm looking forward to February when we see our precious granddaughter again!

A Cousin Reunion

We arrived at Frank Jackson State Park to find Joe, Judy, John waiting for us.  Amelia, who had not seen John in two years, jumped out of the truck and ran to give him a big hug.  This, of course, was totally unexpected by John who immediately blushed with embarassment  I think at that point he was beginning to wonder what lay ahead for him in the next few days.

After the delicious lunch that Judy had prepared we all went to their trailer which is quite a bit bigger than ours so that John and Amelia could get to know one another and enjoy playing together.  Let me also include that it was icy cold and windy all week long so playing outside was out of the question.  In no time at all they were having a good time together.  John (age 7) had received an i-pad for Christmas and Amelia had her mom's.  They began to compare games and take turns swapping them back and forth.  I was afraid that Amelia was taking advantage of John, but he assured me, "She has some cool things on her i-pad that I don't have."  There were so cute together.  We often observed Amelia resting her head on John's shoulder while he showed her something on the i-pad.  They played inside together for most of two days without any whining, tears, or melt-downs.  I give John a lot of credit because he is older and was very patient, but Amelia did well at sharing and taking turns also.  Kudos to all parents involved!

Thursday we carried them to a Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch and games.  After pizza, they took their tokens and mostly went to different things to play rather than going around together.  It was a good day although an adult should be tranquilized before going into that place.  It sure was noisy, but a good time anyway.  That night as we left their trailer, Amelia hugged Joe and Judy and then she turned to John, who, this time was waiting for his hug.

That night I was so tired when putting Amelia to bed.  She has a way of stalling the process somewhat.  During a lengthy conversation about our day she told me, "Nana, John doesn't like girls, but he loves me!"  Also in this conversation while she rested her head on my chest, she said, "Nana, you're so soft and wonderful." and then after her prayer and "Jesus Loves Me" and "Sweet Dreams", she called me back again, "Nana, I just want to give you one more hug."  She sure has a tight hold on our hearts.

The next morning both sets of grandparents headed to carry their little ones back to their parents.  We met Amy in Mobile and Amelia was very happy to see her.  We were grateful that they allowed us to have her for this week.  I hope that Amelia and John will be able to have more good times together.  They are two very special children.

Paw-Paw and Amelia enjoy a rousing game of Hi-Ho-Cherrio

Christmas Continues

I've postponed writing about the rest of our Christmas activities because I just wasn't sure what I wanted to write.  I must say that I enjoyed Christmas this year more than last and that I really have nothing negative to note.  Good news, right?  Last year was a little melancholy for a Christmas blog.  


Bubba and I were at home alone on Christmas Day, which was really fine. I had to go to work the next day and we were tired from the past weekend which involved camping in Opp so it was a low key, but enjoyable day.

I totally surprised Bubba with an i-pad.  I bought it Thanksgiving in Baton Rouge, had Darryl set it up for him after we went to bed at night, and hid it in a clothing drawer ever since.  During the past month, I don't know how many times Bubba said to anyone who would listen, "I don't want anything to do with any computers."  To say the least I was a little nervous about the reception this gift would receive.  I was the one surprised.  He has taken to it like a duck to water.  By the end of the day, he was  e-mailing back and forth with his brother and sister and Amy.  He discovered the world of Netflix and is enjoying the number of documentaries that are available to watch.  He uses GoogleEarth and Thursday night enjoyed Facetime with Amelia.  He is learning to Google things he is interested in.  I want to put a book on it for him, but so far I've not talked him into that.  It was a good day and we were looking for Amy, Darryl, and Amelia to come on Thursday.

Bubba smoked a ham (his second) and we enjoyed a Christmas Meal together when they arrived.  Amelia was eager to open presents as soon as possible so we obliged her.

Our big present to Amelia was a Camper that is an accessory to her Loving Family Dollhouse.  It opens up and has a bathroom, beds, a living area, driver's seats, etc.  We included the grandma, grandpa, and little blonde granddaugter with it for playing camping trip.  It seemed to be a hit.

As with any toy, it required some assembly which Paw-Paw was delegated to do.  Amelia appears to be appreciative of anything she is given as a gift.  Now, she can't possibly "like" everything she receives (who does?), but she knows how to make the giver feel good.  (Smart strategy, right?)

She comes with lots of hugs and kisses.  They are very addictive.

On Saturday, Amy and I went to see "Le Mis" at Pier Park Movie Theater.  We had seen it together on stage many years ago and have been looking forward to the movie.  We were not disappointed.  If you're not big on musicals, you should try this one.  It is amazing how involved you can become in a story told entirely in song.  By the time it got to the end, I was almost doing my ugly crying.  I was not the only one, you could hear people sniffing all other the theater.

Amy and Darryl returned home on Sunday leaving Amelia with us for the next week.  Sunday was a restful day.  I watched "Polar Express" with Amelia and we ate popcorn.  I'm drinking coffee from my mug Amelia gave me for Christmas.  It is a nice big mug with some of her artwork on the side.  I love it.  Amelia loves popcorn.  She will eat the whole big bag of microwave popcorn by herself.  She accompanies it with hot chocolate or chocolate milk.

Monday was spent getting ready to go camping.  Amelia and Paw-Paw had some quality time together that day.  She loves the tire swing that he built her.

Amelia wanted to take Paw-Paw's picture on the swing.  She's a pretty good photographer.

She is really contemplating this flower she picked.  She explained that it was a special flower with special powers -- it can make it snow.  She handled it very carefully as she explained that you have to spin around very fast, make a wish, and then when you throw it on the ground it will start to snow.  She never demonstrated how it worked, but she was very sincere about it.

Paw-Paw also introduced Amelia to a new way to enjoy ice cream.  They got two spoons and dug into a half gallon of Blue Belle Nutty Chocolate.  All Amelia could say was "ummmmmm."  They did a lot of damage to that half gallon.

We finished up the day by loading the camper and preparing for an 8:00 getaway to Opp, AL, and our favorite camping spot.  

Joe and Judy and grandson John were going to be waiting for us.  Judy promised Ham, Black-eyed Peas, Potato Salad, Sweet Potatoes, Turnip Greens and Fried Cornbread. Yum!! Maybe that is why this is our favorite camping spot?