Please Excuse Me

Some of you already know that I lost my Father a few weeks ago, but most of you probably did not know and may have been wondering where I have been. Well, here I am, sitting in this fog of grief.

Even though my Dad's death was expected, this is so hard, I never imagined how hard it could or would be, especially for this Daddy's Girl. I am finding it hard to function other than just going through the motions of my day to day life. I put on a good front that I am ok, but deep down inside I constantly ache. I struggle to remember simple things, let alone put two sentences together in some semblance of coherency. So bare with me, please, as I struggle my way back into the land of the living. I know that I am capable, strong, and resilient, I just need time.

It would be very easy to just lie in bed, pull the covers over my head and let the world go by, but my dad would come back from the afterlife and really let me have it. I know that he would want me to go on—to live my life. Isn't that what the grieving process is about, learning to live my life, not without my dad, but with him in my memories, in the traditions and love that I pass on to my children and grandchildren, and especially through the love that I still feel for my dad.

But where do I start, how do I find my way out of this grief, my way through the holidays without my father, and the strength to help my mother, siblings, and my children do the same.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4

I certainly don't feel blessed because I am mourning. I took a hard look at the last part of the verse: "for they shall be comforted." That means God will provide comfort when I'm hurting so badly I feel like I can't take another breath. He will sustain me and carry me through this time. He will provide what I need.  So I go to Him for my comfort and am blessed for it.  And I'm truly blessed for having had a father who taught me to turn to God for my needs and comfort.

So please excuse me while I take some time to grieve the loss of my Dad.  I will still post periodically, when I feel inspired, and hope to once again be filling these pages with vintage cheer very soon.

Life With A Toddler

I had great plans of sharing some of my Fall decorations with you, but as many of you know, I have a toddler grandson living with me, so even the best laid plans and all that jazz, yada yada yada.

While sitting in my room the other evening, I hear a big crash, several thuds, and a squeal (of delight) from my grandson.  I jump up to see what had happened as I hear my son scolding him.  No blood curdling screams so I figure the child is alright, therefore the crash has to be something that I am not going to be too happy about.

As I enter the dining room, I see my son on the floor starting to pick up my tablecloth.  Hmm, seems like that was on top of the table earlier, how ever did it get in the floor?  I stomped my foot, hands on hips, and asked my grandson, "What did you do?"  He giggled.  My son said, "It's not funny, you messed up Nanny's table." My grandson says "Uh-oh" as my son brings up one of my favorite bowls from the floor. It has broken into several pieces.  I sighed and said, "I'll get the broom."

That bowl had been sitting in the middle of my dining room table and was holding several gourds, pussy willows, and pheasant feathers.  I was quite proud of it, but my grandson envisioned a different layout apparently, because when I came back with the broom, he had been helping his dad pick up the mess and had created his own masterpiece with the gourds.

Later in the evening, I heard his dad scolding him yet again.  I ventured into the room to see what debacle had taken place this time and discovered that he had de-flowered a good portion of my mum that I had placed in a basket, along with a pumpkin and a few styrofoam pumpkins that I had picked up that afternoon. He had gotten the pumpkin out of the basket, rolled it aside and had proceeded to eat the styrofoam ones. Apparently the kid's a weirdo, what can I say?

With my Fall decorations dwindling fast, I thought about sharing my lovely basket full of fruit that I had placed on the island in the kitchen.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered a little munchkin had nibbled on said fruit and placed it back into the basket.

So, there you have it, my Fall decorations.  Given the fact that I am living with a Tasmanian Devil, you will forgive me if my Christmas decorations do not make an appearance this year.  Although, you know this Nanny can't deny him the fun of terrorizing the whole house.  Bless his heart.

Artsy Birthday

We just celebrated my granddaughter's 4th birthday and I thought I would share some of the details with you.  She wanted to have an art party which made for a very colorful event.  You can see last years, Hungry Caterpillar party here.  

I made her a rainbow cake and cupcakes.  We set the cupcakes on paint palettes and placed sprinkles in the trays which allowed the children to decorate their own cupcakes. I also made "paintbrushes" by taking pretzel sticks and dipping them in chocolate.  To stick with the painting theme, we dropped by our local Lowes and picked up various paint chips and created holders for our napkins and eating utensils, then we used the left over paint chips for decorating the tables.

We got the acrylic paint and the pinata from Walmart as well as the tableware.

We picked the canvas' up at Michael's and I ordered the aprons, paint brushes, and palettes from Oriental Trading. We let the children take all of these home with them, as well as watercolor paint sets for thank you gifts.  

Everyone seemed to have a really good time, especially the birthday girl!

Our Newest Family Member

I have a new grandson!

He was born Friday morning.

He makes my 8th grandchild.

It's still just as exciting as the first.

Our family is overjoyed.

We are truly blessed.

I am one happy Nanny!

My son and I with his sons.

My son with his new baby boy.

My son with his boys.

Bonding with Daddy

So much love!

Pirates and Madagascar

My five grandsons all have birthdays within a couple weeks of each other which they just celebrated recently.  Both of my granddaughters birthdays are later in the year and within a month of each other and I have another grandson due to be born in a couple months, so his birthday will be in between the others.

Being that all of the boys birthdays are so close together, it is hard for this Grandma to find the time to bake that many cakes.  Luckily, this year I only needed to make cakes for two of them so I thought I would share those with you.

This first cake was for our grandson that just celebrated his 1st birthday with a Madagascar themed party.  So I made him a lion cake to represent Alex.  It was so simple to make and he loved it.

The second cake was for our grandson who was turning two.  He absolutely loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates so he had a pirate theme.  I thought about fashioning Jake out of fondant for his cake but then I decided that I would just purchase some of the character figurines instead because then he would be able to keep them to play with.

They were both pleased with their cakes and I enjoy making my babies happy - not that Grandma would ever spoil them. 

I am glad that our birthday season is over with for a little while.  Somehow, maybe, possibly, I think it could be the reason for my recent weight gain.  Apparently, I can overlook having to move my belt over a notch though, because I am looking forward to just baking for the fun of it, without worrying about how to decorate them.  Sometimes my greatest creations come out of my every day - "for no reason at all" - cakes.  Plus, I have an idea for a recipe for a chocolate cake that I want to try out.  If it works, I will share it with you ladies.

What about you, have you been baking lately?

TVs 5 Greatest Dads

In honor of Father's Day, I have listed 5 of my picks for best TV dad. They aren't ranked into any particular order, all of them are equally great in my mind, and are from shows long since ended but still living on in re-run heaven.

Andy Taylor - The Andy Griffeth Show ran from 1960 - 1968 but lives forever in syndication and I'm sure everyone is familiar with Andy's fathering skills. He was a great dad because he was involved in Opie's life, teaching him right from wrong and disciplining when necessary. The lessons involved life, love, and everything between, with Andy imparting a lot of useful wisdom. Plus he always made time to take Opie fishing! 

 

Charles Ingalls - Little House on the Prairie ran from 1974 - 1983. Charles "Pa" was father to Mary, Laura, Carrie and Grace and in later episodes also adopted several children. The show is loosely based on the books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder about her family life in the 19th century American West. Charles cherished his family as well as his wife. I feel that part of being a good father is teaching your children to treat their mother well, and what better way than to lead by example.

 

Howard Cunningham - Happy Days aired from 1974 - 1984. Howard handed out his parenting, not only to his children, but also to their friends. He was stern but loving, generous but not over indulgent, teaching values and letting his children learn from their mistakes. He was always available, making time whenever his kids needed him.

 

Ben Cartwright - Bonanza aired from 1959 - 1973. Ben had three sons, all from a different wife which passed away, so he was raising his boys on his own. (Well, there was Hop Sing, the cook, but mostly Ben was alone.) He taught his boys the importance of family and caring for one another as well as the importance of community and helping others.

 

Ozzie Nelson - The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet ran from 1952 - 1966 and starred the real life Nelson family. While the series focused mainly on the family's run of the mill problems and was the epitomy of family values with Ozzie handing out great advice, what truly makes him a wonderful dad in my mind isn't really about the fictional father that Ozzie portrayed, but the real life Ozzie who came up with the shows concept because he was a busy bandleader and wanted a way to be able to spend more time with his family, more time being a husband and father.


And that's really what parenting is all about, spending time with your kids, being there for them, teaching them right from wrong, teaching them to love each other and to treat others with respect, and to have compassion for others. And to remember to have fun and enjoy the life you have.

Life Gets In The Way

Do you ever plan to write a post and just sit in front of your computer, staring blankly at the screen?  This is where I am at lately.  I have several ideas floating around in my head, but somehow they never make their way out my fingertips onto the keyboard.  They usually just get lost in the jumbled, stressed out mess that is my brain at the moment.

My father's illness is taking a toll on our entire family, and I know that we are just at the beginning of this journey.  Our lives have been put on hold and all of our energy is focused on his health and well being, which is the least I can do for the greatest man in my life. Each day we have left with him is a blessing that I will cherish.

But, it does tend to diminish my creativity and consume my thoughts.  I would like to keep Retro Gran as a happy place, a refuge from every day life, if you will.  Lately, my posts have become sporadic in their scheduling because I am trying to maintain the atmosphere I hope to portray here, but my heart is far from being in a happy place.  When the mood and time allows, I try to seize the opportunity and create several posts at once before the moment is lost again.  I hope that you, my dear readers, will be understanding of this and stick around.

With that, I would like to leave you with lots of love and happy thoughts.  Here is a photograph of one of my grandsons enjoying his time on the beach.

Sean and his rubber ducky having a grand time at the ocean.  Photo taken by me.

Happy Birthday To My Man

Today is the Mister's 60th birthday! I thought it would be interesting to learn what was taking place in 1953 so I did a little research and this is what I came up with. First, I found a site that told exactly what was happening on the day of his birth:

It was Friday, under the sign of Taurus. The US president was Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican). In that special week of April people in US were listening to The Doggie in the Window by Patti Page. In UK, I Believe by Frankie Laine was in the top 5 hits. The War of the Worlds, directed by Byron Haskin, was one of the most successful movies released in 1953.

I was still interested in what else happened the year he was born so I looked further and found out that the Chevy Corvette was invented that year.

From Here To Eternity was released that year and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture the following year, with Donna Reed winning Best Supporting Actress and Frank Sinatra winning Best Supporting Actor from the same movie.

Roman Holiday was also released that year and Audrey Hepburn took home the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Princess Ann.

In April 1953, Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published in the U.K.

On June 2, 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place at Westminster Abbey.

On June 19, 1953, American Communists Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage.

In December 1953, Hugh Hefner published the first issue of Playboy magazine, which featured Marilyn Monroe on the cover.

Wow!  What a year!  So many things that are icons today were just starting then. And best of them all, my husband was born.  Happy Birthday dear!

Stressed!

Lately, I have been a little frazzled...well, ok, a lot frazzled.  I have some major stressors in my life at the moment and most days I just want to go to my bedroom and crawl into bed and hide, but I can't.  There are people counting on me to get up and function as a human being.  Darned responsibilities!

I have been dreaming of a stress free life.  Literally, I have dreams of sitting on a dock, the sun streaming down on me, and my toes dangling in cool water.  

And yes, in all of these dreams, I am THIN and either wearing a vintage bikini or shorts and a cute midriff shirt.

I also dream of escaping to a serene cabin deep into the mountains, far from civilization.  I think I just want to run away and hide from everyone and everything.

I yearn for a simple life with peace and tranquility.  I pray for it, wish for it, and dream of it.

Will I get it?  No time soon, I'm sure, because I am a working woman, a mother of six, a grandmother of soon to be eight, and have a father with a terminal illness.  But a girl can dream, can't she?