Exhaustion, perspective, and GRAND Social No. 67

Our kids regularly put things in perspective for us. That doesn't change once the nest empties out, I was reminded once again yesterday.

I spent nearly all day Saturday in my yard pulling weeds. We have a large back yard and the recent downpours rains left us with an equally large number of weeds. So I tugged and pulled alongside Jim, ridding our yard of the unwelcome weeds. It wore me out. It wore us both out. Saturday evening, Jim and I moaned and groaned about our sore bodies and sheer exhaustion following our marathon weed pulling session.

Then, Sunday morning, our youngest daughter put our marathon complaints in perspective — by running a marathon herself. A real marathon. Well, a half-marathon, to be precise, but that's 13.1 miles of running. Non-stop. Finishing in just a bit over two hours.

 

Now that would be exhausting. And that would leave one's body sore. And that is something you'd never, ever catch me even attempting. Which makes me doubly proud of my Andie — and grateful her boyfriend, Matt, shared photos of her accomplishment.

Yes, there are far more exhausting things than pulling weeds. (Though I'm still quite proud of what Jim and I accomplished... despite it taking us far longer than two hours to accomplish it.)

Nowhere near as exhausting as running or weeding is the GRAND Social! Thank you for joining me. Let's socialize!

How it works:

• All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

• To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

• You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

• Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

<a href="/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

• The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.


• If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

• For another grandparent linky, visit Connie's Grandparent's Say It Saturday Link Party each Saturday.

Weekend woes plus GRAND Social No. 66

Sometimes the weekends don't go quite as one might hope they would. This past weekend was exactly that way for my daughter Megan and her family.

The weekend started off all wrong for poor Megan. After a long first week of school, she arrived home Friday afternoon to find Mac in bad shape and Preston furiously scrubbing blood from Mac and Bubby's bedroom carpet. Just moments before, Mac had jumped from the night table and came down hard on the wood bedframe around Bubby's bed. Down on his mouth. His upper gum, to be exact.

Megan zoomed Mac to Emergicare while Preston scrubbed blood and stayed with Bubby. Emergicare turned her away, saying, "Get that boy to the pediatric dentist now!" She took him there, X-rays showed no broken baby or permanent teeth, and the poor little guy left with an open wound (technical term for the ouchie: degloving) that will supposedly heal relatively quickly.

Scenes from the woeful experience:

Tiny Mac prepped for the dentist.

The ouchie — after seeing the dentist.

As one Facebook friend said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" I hope she's right. Not so sure Mac learned his lesson, though, as despite the pain, Mac still was a chipper little fella, evidenced by this photo taken immediately after the one above of Mommy holding back his lip:

Still smiling.

The weekend woes didn't end there for Megan and the gang. Next up was a bad-hair day — for Roxy, the family dog, who normally looks like this:

Roxy — July 2013

Megan texted me a photo Saturday afternoon of Roxy, who now, thanks to an "oops!" by the groomer, looks like this:

 

Not the best weekend ever. But as Megan said about the turn of events: It could be worse. Cheers to perspective — and to Mac's mouth healing quickly. (And Roxy's fur growing fast, too!)

Plus... Cheers to one and all joining me today for GRAND Social No. 66! Time for the party!

How it works:

• All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

• To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

• You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

• Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

<a href="http://grandmasbriefs.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

• The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.


• If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

• For another grandparent linky, visit Connie's Grandparent's Say It Saturday Link Party each Saturday.

Bells will be ringing, plus GRAND Social No. 65

Today the school bell rings and Bubby sets out on his education journey. First stop: Kindergarten!

That's the proud student at his Open House last week as he got his first glimpse of his classroom and teacher. (Do note that the sign in Bubby's hands, pre-photo editing, had Bubby's real name not his bloggy name, handwritten by himself. So cute!)

Meeting a new teacher can be a wee bit scary for little ones, but not Bubby, for his teacher is none other than his mom! This will be Megan's first year teaching at a public school rather than private, and she and Bubby both lucked out with her kindergarten assignment.

Good luck and best wishes to Bubby on his first day in kindergarten! Good luck and best wishes to my daughter Megan, too.

Cheers to a great year for all kiddos and all teachers as the school bells ring!

And for all us grandparents and other Grandma's Briefs readers, cheers to GRAND Social No. 65! Thank you for joining me!

How it works:

• All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

• To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

• You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

• Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

<a href="/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

• The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.


• If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

• For another grandparent linky, visit Connie's Grandparent's Say It Saturday Link Party each Saturday.

K minus 7 days, plus GRAND Social No. 64

In seven days, Bubby starts kindergarten. I simply cannot believe it. How did we get from this...

Gramma meets Bubby — June 2008

to this...

Bubby and Gramma — July 2013

so darn quickly?

I have a feeling all grandparents — and parents, too — are similarly flummoxed by how quickly time flies. Bittersweet in so many ways.

Speaking of time, it's time for GRAND Social No. 64. Thank you for joining me!

How it works:

• All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

• To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

• You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

• Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

<a href="/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

• The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.

• If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

• For another grandparent linky, visit Connie's Grandparent's Say It Saturday Link Party each Saturday.

Meeting the Queen, plus GRAND Social No. 63

I'm back from BlogHer and have much to share. I must say, one of the high points of the conference was the warm reception I received from brand representatives I spoke to about the wants and needs of the baby boomer and grandparent readers of Grandma's Briefs. More than once I was told, "That is exactly the demographic we want to reach!" And I promise you it wasn't makers of hearing aids or walking aids saying such things, which was quite refreshing. Good things to come.

Another highlight of the conference was, of course, the Voice of the Year ceremony, hosted by Queen Latifah. There were a few disappointing glitches in the ceremony, but it was indeed rather cool to be standing next to the Queen. In the picture below, there's a woman — my friend, beautiful and talented Sandra — between the Queen and me (on Queen Latifah's right), but for one brief moment, Sandra stepped forward to give direction to the photographer, and I scooted over and stood right next to Queen Latifah. I considered fighting Sandra for the spot when she returned, but I decided to play nice and let her have her original spot back.

Group photo courtesy Ellen Gale Williams, http://www.sisterhoodofthesensiblemoms.com/

I'll share more in the coming days and weeks about other highlights of BlogHer and such, but a highlight of today is GRAND Social No. 63. Cheers to getting the show on the road!

How it works:

• All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

• To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

• You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

• Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

<a href="/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

• The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.

• If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

• For another grandparent linky, visit Connie's Grandparent's Say It Saturday Link Party each Saturday.