October 07, 2019

A grand goose egg

October 07, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

A grand goose egg

Bumps, bangs, and boo-boos are part and parcel of the toddler stage as newbie walkers get their land legs. I get that.

Goose eggs are entirely different story as far as I’m concerned, though. Yet every. single. one of my grandsons got big ones at one point or another. Benjamin’s point came Saturday when he bonked his noggin …

October 03, 2019

Oh, yes we did: Bracelets with boys

October 03, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

This past weekend, Jim and I kicked off fall with a quick visit to see our grandsons in the desert, as I’d mentioned here was on the calendar. During the visit, I did indeed make bracelets with the boys, just as Declan had requested.

Thing is, despite his enthusiasm upon seeing the paracord bracelet kit I’d brought in my Grandma Bag, Declan bowed out of the bracelet making in mere minutes. Which worked out for the best as bracelet-making was quite a feat for a five-year-old. Well, a feat for this grandma — who’s 10 times that and more — as well.

September 23, 2019

Grand twins

September 23, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Grand twins

No, one of my daughters hasn’t recently surprise me with twin grandkiddos. I do, though, have grand twins of another sort: a grand niece and a grand nephew.

And yesterday Jim and I attended their very first birthday celebration.

Here, my grand niece and grand nephew — kiddos of my …

September 16, 2019

Weekend accomplishment

September 16, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Weekend accomplishment

Who here believes that a weekend without accomplishment is a wasted weekend?

I do, I do!

I’m unsure why I put such pressure on myself but if I don’t accomplish even the smallest of somethings from Saturday morning through Sunday evening, I feel I’ve squandered time, talents, and opportunities to git ‘er done. Whatever ‘er might be.

I’m not talking massive achievements like …

September 12, 2019

Gramma learns a lesson: boys and bracelets

September 12, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

My long-distance grandsons have what they call “the home phone,” an iPhone Brayden, Camden, and Declan all have equal access to for communicating with friends and family (approved by Mom and Dad).

Occasionally my phone dings and pings over and over as I get a flood of gifs and goofy emojis texted from “the home phone.” As my grandsons don’t indicate who it is doing the texting, I have to guess according to what the message contains. If text is included, it’s typically Brayden …

September 05, 2019

Summer's end: Mark it with a B

September 05, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

As Labor Day weekend signified the end of summer for most folks — despite there being, technically, three more weeks of the sun-filled season — I must say my summer didn’t close with much of a bang. It did, though, end with a few other B words of note. A few of my favorite B words, in fact.

May 13, 2019

A new home!

May 13, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

A new home!

I don’t want to say too much, for fear of jinxing things, but we found a new home!

A home that’s half the size of the one we currently live in. Which is perfect.

PLUS… the GRAND Social link party for grandparents.

April 15, 2019

Doing it!

April 15, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Doing it!

Jim and I are doing it. Finally. We have finally accepted the fact the home we love and have lived in for nearly 12 years is too big for us, has too many stairs, too large of a yard, too much space for two. Especially two with trouble walking about.

Which means we are doing it: We are moving to a smaller place… somewhere (TBD) in the same city. Yes, we are downsizing. Though I prefer to think of it as my most recent Silver Sneakers newsletter called it, rightsizing. Our current home is 3,600 square feet. The homes we’re considering…

April 08, 2019

Be yourself!

April 08, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Be yourself!

This week’s extra special message, best expressed by James.

Plus…

GRAND Social No. 347 link party for grandparents

IMPORTANT NOTE: InLinkz, the app I use for link parties, has changed their format, unbeknownst to me until I created this post/party. It seems folks who add links now must sign up with InLinkz when adding links to a link party (simple enough using your email address or your Facebook profile—and InLinkz cannot post on your Facebook page). If you have trouble linking to the GRAND Social, please let me know and I’ll do my best to help you out.