What I learned this week: Quote me

Of all the things I learned this week, the how is nowhere near as important as the what.

So rather than explain the genesis of each lesson I recently learned, I'll simply share with you the bottom-line lessons themselves — via the words of folks who became wise in these areas long before I.

(One exception: the last lesson, which is in my words and my words alone.)

And my messiest lesson of all:

Seriously!

All of the above, my friends, is what I learned this week.

Enjoy the long holiday weekend. Best wishes for a safe and memorable farewell to summer!

Today's question:

What did you learn this week?

Get your answers here: Letters to grandchildren, extra servings of Lisa

I like to help folks out. Because of that, I'm always pleased to see that some of what I offer up here on Grandma's Briefs meets the wants and needs of those seeking answers online. I'm talking about the search queries that lead folks here and the answers I (sometimes unintentionally) provide.

For quite some time, one of the top search queries that lands seekers on my site is related to writing to grandchildren. For example, in the past week — just the past seven days — these are a sampling of the searches in that vein that show up in my blog stats:

• letter from grandmother to grandson
• letters to a grandchild going away to college
• grandmother letter to granddaughter
• i love you message + to grandchild
• letter from grandma to grandson
• letter to grandson from grandmother
• letter to my grandson
• letter from grandmother to granddaughter
• little letter to my grandson
• letter to my newborn grandson
• what a great grandmother writes to her first great grandchild
• how to write a letter to my new grandson
• letter to granddaughter on her wedding day
• letter to your newborn granddaughter
• unborn baby letter from grandparents
• 1st birthday letter for grandson
• love letter to unborn grandchild
• message to unborn granddaughter
• ideas for letter for grandchild starting kindergarten

I noticed the trend a while back, wrote about it a while back, and now offer the answer to that particular search, regardless of how it's worded, right here in How to write a keepsake letter to a grandchild.

I also get a lot of search queries related to food. I like food. I like to share food answers, otherwise known as recipes. In the past week, I received several queries for no-crust cheesecake, breakfast pizza, and blackberry cobbler — though it's a blueberry cobbler recipe they find here, with info on using any fruit, so I guess it serves up their answer just the same. I'm happy to help out any time anyone wants a recipe, if it's one I have in my Recipe Box.

I'm also happy to help out any time anyone wants information on Zori Sandals. What? Well, I reviewed Zori Sandals a while back, and it has been at the top of my search query list for quite some time. In fact, in the past seven days, six people have landed here in their search for such, despite my review — the one right here — being more than a year old.

There also are other miscellaneous searches for grandma things that I've provided answers for in the past week, things such as (in the exact search terms) a list of things grandmas need at their house, modern day names for grandmothers, gardening with grandchildren, and countless other "grandma" sorts of stuff.

Queries such as those are easy to answer, easy to see how folks ended up here. What's not so easy? Well, try these recent queries on for size — all searches that resulted in web users landing in my little corner of the online world:

• it seems that grandmas always need a little one to hold (meh... kind of reasonable, I suppose)
• mothers of daughters like me
• "spanking spoon" diapers mom
• And the real kicker and ultimate head scratcher: but i wont do that underwear (Surprisingly, there were two searches for that!)

Ultimately, though, my favorite recent search query had to be when someone simply requested "extra servings of lisa, please."

I hope that seeker found all she'd hoped for and then some — especially because she said "please"!

Today's question:

As I mentioned, I enjoy helping folks out. So what would you like to see more of here on Grandma's Briefs? More grandma stuff? More recipes? More giveaways? More essay-type posts? More this and that related to... well... you tell me. What kinds of "extra servings of lisa" would fill you up when visiting Grandma's Briefs?

Picture this: Summer's B-side

Caught in the act: Crafty critters staking a claim in summer's sweet spots.

Today's fill-in-the-blank:

The sweetest spot for me this summer has been _____________.

Missing the magical ordinary days

Today marks six weeks since I've seen my grandsons. It seems so very much longer than that, as I'm so very much missing the magic of their ordinary days.

Days that looked like this last time I was with them:

It will likely be a while before I get to hug my grandsons — or their parents — again. Thank heavens for the hundreds of photos and videos I take when I'm with them. They keep me smiling from one hug to the next.

Today's question:

What is keeping you smiling today?

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.