Gracie Wins a Gold Medal Doing What She Does Best!

Putting up With Nonsense

Rissi:  Gracie, I love you.  You are my BFF.

Gracie:  That's great kid.  But is it necessary for you to hang on me all the time.  A girl needs space...  ya know what I mean Jellybean?

Rissi:  Okay Gracie.  I won't hang on you.  Hey Grammy...  can I take Gracie for a walk through the house with her leash?


Gracie:  Uh oh!

Rissi:  And then can I pretend like she's my dog and keep her on a leash and cover her with my bambi and give her a bone...  and can we watch Sponge Bob together? 

Gracie:  Hey mom!  Can I have a bag of cookies, 2 chew bones, a new toy, and a twice-as-far walk tonight for putting up with this nonsense?

Lying is Wrong!

I know lying is wrong.  But I do what I have to do to keep my pup from becoming literally sick at heart when we go away overnight.  

(At the mention of us going on vacation 

 she will go outside and puke)

Saturday morning:  

"C'mon, Gracie.  Let's go outside,"  I said.  

The minute the door was closed we filled our suitcases and threw everything out on the porch like nothing was happening.  Just another day...  

la~de~da

When I brought her back inside, she was none the wiser.

"We have to go to work now," I lied.  

I guess she realized later ~ when Lindsey and Rissi came over to take care of her that we had pulled a fast one.

Where did we go, you ask?

We went to Pa. where I attended a bridal shower for my beautiful stepdaughter Stacy who will be getting married at the beach in September.  Can't wait!!!  

Stacy and Dad

Today, our local newspaper hosted a Senior Jubilee Expo at the Mall.  We were scheduled to set up there... so it was an early morning out of the house.  I could tell Gracie thought we were pulling another fast one.  She watched computers being stuffed into cases and looked a little disturbed that we'd be leaving again.

We gave away pens...

Candy, bags, and hearing aid batteries.

And then, look who stopped to visit!

My Cupcake

and my Summer Love...

Meanwhile...  I could hear thunder outside and the rains came..

I thought of Gracie at home alone.  I hoped she was not too stressed.  After all, we were only 5 minutes away.

So after the expo, we hi-tailed it home to our pup.

Dear Diary,


Tricked.  Abandoned.  Left to my own devices till Lindsey came and fed me and Cupcake gave me fresh new water and wrote on the porch with chalk.  It was only one night. I forgive.  But I'm scarred for life.  I do not trust.

Today.  Suitcases.  Computers.  pack....  run... go..  goodbye gracie,  be back soon. and i should believe this because...???   thunder. lightening.  rain.  fear.  alone.  Mom:  Why did you poop and pee on the kitchen rug, Gracie?  Me:  It wasn't me. 
Two can play this game.   

Can You Imagine...

Can you imagine.  Talking to your son or your daughter some evening on the phone and having them tell you they're going to a late night movie.  

Can you imagine.  Waking the next morning to the news.  Knowing of the massacre at that very theatre the night before.  Trying to call your child.  Knowing that your 6-year old grandchild may have accompanied them to the movie as well.

Can  you imagine.  Trying to call.  No answer.  Trying again.  Nothing.  Only the news playing out in front of you.  Not knowing.

Can you imagine.  Getting the news.


I found this poem on the Internet...  I really like it.

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
Love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the ones who don’t.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.
If it changes your life, let it.
Nobody said life would be easy.
They just promised it would be worth it.

I'm turning off reader comments for this post.  Please say a prayer for the families...  

A Heart of Stone!

  A kiss for a cookie;  You got any cookies Short Stuff?

You're being abused kid, and you don't even know it.  No kid your age should be without a Nilla Wafer in each hand.  

What's your Grammy's problem?  

I'll tell you what.  Put away your Dolly and we'll play with my Man.  He makes some far out squeaky sounds and I think you're gonna like this....

Just one rule.  Don't try to steal Man from me and I won't steal Dolly from you.  Do we understand one another?

That's it.  Perfect.  Give your Grammy that big beautiful smile kid...  I see cookies in your future.  Seriously.  Stick with me.  I'll show you how it's done.

This is how I do it.  

For some reason it's not working Short Stuff.  You're Grammy aka the Nag Mom has a heart of stone.  Forget her.

      

 Let's Roll...  Ready...  set...  

Play!

Summer and Gracie's birthday wish to Samson

Summer is in full swing.  

And speaking of Summer...  my little doll spent the night last night.  She's the perfect baby.   At 8 PM she was in bed and she woke up at 7:30 AM.  She's always been a good sleeper.  

She had fun playing in my 'yard sale find' ($8 and like new).  I love yard sales but this year it's been rather hot.  I pass on really hot mornings.

Below is a 'video birthday card' that Gracie sent to her boyfriend Samson.  Inger, I hope you can open it from here.

I hope everyone is savoring Summer.  I sure am!

Puddles

When someone makes me laugh till I cry, 

it's worth mentioning.  

  One word.  Puddles.  

She cracks me up!  Go check out her post for Friday

 and LOL!  

The Thing About Coffee Filters...

The thing about coffee filters is...  

They don't belong on the living room floor.

If you happen on a stack of them on the living room floor...

Then you can assume your dog was up to no good.

"So my name's not Gracie anymore? It's Bad?
My new name is Bad?
Coolio!
I've been wanting to change it anyway."

If you suddenly lose track of where your dog might be resting hiding....

Just follow the trail of man guts...

And don't forget to call her by her new name!

R.I.P Man!

Dear Diary,  I'm leaving.  I'm heading for Golden Pines where dogs are people too..  Or maybe I'll run away to the Desert Canyon and shack up with my one and only true love Samson.  Let's see...  food. check.  treats. check. angry bird and wally. check. blankie. check.  belly rubs...  umm..  belly rubs...  hmmm.  Dad gives the best belly rubs in the world and Mom just fried up some chickie bird and she said she'd let bygones be bygones since Man is not dead, he's just brain dead because it's only his head that's been ripped apart.  Maybe I'll stick around a while and see how things go.   Gracie.

What If

If someone would have told me fourteen years ago that I'd soon be getting a divorce after 20 years of marriage I would have told them they were crazy.

Unbeknownst to my pre menopausal self, I'd soon be living on my own and entering into a journey that would take me out of my comfort zone and into the world of the unknown,  and I'd be struggling to make sense of it all...  But how was I to know this fourteen years ago?

 If someone would have said to me, 'You'll meet someone online who lives over 550 miles away and then you will marry him over a year later'...  I would have said, "yea... sure I will."

Who would have known I'd have a dog that I would actually be permitted to keep inside as a house pet??

If by chance, the future could have been predicted, and I was told...  'You'll endure many years of heartache as you watch your new husband go through a literal hell seeing his daughter be destroyed through parental alienation...'

Would I have even believed it?  Probably not.

If a crystal ball could have predicted the events of the last fourteen years of my life, I would have laughed and said, 'yea right... that'll happen!'

Three grandchildren have appeared in those fourteen years.   I can't imagine life without them, but fourteen years ago they did not exist.

Fourteen Christmases.  Fourteen winters, springs, summers, falls.  Fourteen years.  How can life change so much in fourteen years?

If someone would have told me fourteen years ago that I would own my own business and have my own blog...  I would have said, "I work in a sewing factory...  what do I know about running a business?  And what in the world is a blog?"

And I  never would have believed someone saying to me that I'd write a book about it all.  Seriously, me?  a book?

Isn't it funny how time slips away and life can change so drastically in just a decade and a half?

What were you doing fourteen years ago?  How has your life changed?

If you were wisked away in a time machine to a future place fourteen years from now, would you recognize who you had become?

If you could go back in time, fourteen years earlier, would your choices be the same going forward?

"Gracie's Diary," the book, is about life, choices, and a dog named Gracie who shares her perspective as each chapter ends.

It is being edited once again, and taking longer than expected but (hopefully) will be published early fall.

When I view my life then  (fourteen years ago that is) and look at where I am now, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has petitioned me to write this book about my journey.

I still feel sad about what happened.  I dream about the little girl that became lost and then disappeared from our lives.

I think about choices.

I wonder...  what if...

 ...And I look at my life and thank God for where my journey has brought me.

...  and I count my blessings