December 08, 2022

Grandparents: 5 Heart Health Tips for the Holidays

December 08, 2022/ Lisa Carpenter

Food, drinks, gifts and time with family make the holidays a merry occasion for people across the country. However, all that celebrating can sometimes become a distraction from maintaining heart health.

November 18, 2020

Brayden, T1D, and a warning for grandmas

November 18, 2020/ Lisa Carpenter

It’s taken me more than a month to figure out how to share this news. It’s serious and breaks my heart, yet I don’t want to come across as despaired. I hope to warn others but wish to not seem alarmist. And I want to share the challenge confronting my oldest grandson and his parents every single day forever going forward without suggesting I have any doubt they’re up to it.

My daughter, Megan, is so up to it, in fact, that she provided me the perfect tool by which I can share the news without racking my brain for the right words, right sentiment. That tool being the video below.

See, my grandson Brayden, the active and healthy 12 year old who first made me a grandma, who …

September 25, 2020

Outback Men's Sun Protection Hat from Wallaroo Hat Company (review)

September 25, 2020/ Lisa Carpenter

Summer may be gone but the need for sun protection when outdoors certainly isn’t. Especially for fair-skinned folks like my husband.

Despite the inevitable sun damage he’ll incur when out and about, my husband — who not only has fair skin but hails from a family with a history of skin cancer — eschews wearing sun screen of any sort. “Too greasy,” he complains. Which drives me batty.

July 15, 2020

Chopped!

July 15, 2020/ Lisa Carpenter

Well, I did it. I finally got up the nerve to get my hair cut. It’s only been <ahem> 8 months or so since I visited a salon.

I typically do go a very long time between cuts because, well, it’s just hair and ponytails are my friend. (Jim has no idea how lucky he is to have such a low-maintenance wife). This time, though, was an exceptionally long time from one cut to the next, thanks to Covid. First visiting a salon was impossible; now …

April 06, 2020

Keep pushin' on

April 06, 2020/ Lisa Carpenter

Keep pushing on

Well, I’m about done with this whole virus thing. The social distancing, the masks, the not seeing my loved ones in person, the sheer sadness of the lives lost and overburdened healthcare workers trying to limit the loss.

Yep, I’m done.

I bet you are too.

Unfortunately there’s not a darn thing we can do about it … except plod onward. Things will get better. We just gotta keep pushin’ on.…

Plus … GRAND Social No. 385 link party for grandparents …

August 22, 2019

In other news: On Botox, Thailand, and ALS

August 22, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

In the first post I published here after returning from summer break, I shared a recap of some of the bigger changes that took place while I was away from the blog.

I didn’t tell you everything, though. A couple happenings just didn’t seem to fit in the bits I previously passed along. Those being the following…

BOTOX

I got Botox shots in June! In my …

March 06, 2019

Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month: My MS and me

March 06, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. Though I have MS, I don’t write much about it because, frankly, it’s long been just part of who I am, not what defines me. There are far more informative bloggers when it comes to all things MS—my dear friend Cathy of An Empowered Spirit foremost in my mind—so I typically stick with grandma-focused sorts of stuff.

Yet, with MS becoming a bigger (sometimes overwhelmingly so) focus of my life in the time since last year’s MS Awareness Month, I figured I’d spend at least one post sharing the relatively recent changes to my MS and me. Perhaps doing so will put…

January 28, 2019

Battling the bug

January 28, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Battling the bug!

My three grandsons from the desert (and their parents) spent the long MLK weekend at our house, to celebrate Benjamin’s baptism. It was a fast but fabulous family time and I have much to share of our couple of days together. But I haven’t yet… because I’ve been battling a persistent bug of a stuffy, snotty sort ever since the boys headed home. I’ve had neither the energy nor inclination to post the pics nor share the story, but hope to—nay, plan to!—soon.

Not only has my battle with the bug kept me from regaling you all with shots and such from my…

October 24, 2018

Risque rehab

October 24, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

On Monday I visited my mom in the rehabilitation facility where she’s been staying since an especially difficult setback in her lung cancer journey a few weeks ago.

As I sat on the edge of the bed next to her, we perused the papers left by a CNA which listed various activities meant to get the patients up and about and socializing. I read the options for group entertainment to her.

October 03, 2018

Grandbaby ETA draws near

October 03, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

Brianna is officially at 37 weeks and two days today. Yesterday I had the privilege of attending one of her final ultrasound appointments—an exciting opportunity for me, considering my first three grandbabies were born 815 miles away, making this my first such experience.

I got to watch Brianna undergo a neonatal…