Less than one week has gone by

and we've had another loss in our family. My grandma Martin passed away yesterday. She was 88 and suffered from Alzheimer's. In a way I'm glad she's gone - she's no longer held to the limitations of her illness.

I just wanted to share a couple of my favorite things about my grandma from when I was a kid.

FAYGO. On any given day, at any given time, you could go to my grandma's house and find an assortment of Faygo pop that would rival most grocery stores. And we could drink as much as we wanted.

Chop Suey. My grandma made the best chop suey EVER.

Fried taco shells. If we had tacos, my grandma would fry flour tortilla shells in oil just long enough to make them a little crispy, but still flexible enough to wrap. YUMMY.

Lipstick. In the "pink" bathroom (my grandma made the main bathroom in her house pink, with girlie accessories, while my grandpa got designated a small "man bathroom" near the garage), my grandma had this lipstick holder. It was a pink poodle, and it held a whole bunch of lipsticks. I would spend HOURS in that bathroom trying on lipstick. My grandma probably wondered how on earth she went through so much toilet paper. You know, since I had to wipe off the "evidence" before I came back out of the bathroom. I couldn't find any pictures online of the lipstick holder, this was the closest thing I could come up with. I wonder whatever happened to that thing anyway?!?

Her sense of humor. My grandma was pretty wild back in the day...and she was always one for a laugh. One year at our family reunion she did (what she called) an Indian dance on top of one of the tables (after drinking some "fire water"...LOL). Yeah, I doubt too many kids can say that about their grandma.

I'm thankful I got to have her around for so long. It's not every person in her thirties that can say she has all of her grandparents. I was fortunate to be able to say that until last night.

If you drive like I do...

You may be in need of an auto body repair shop. (Case in point, last summer I backed into our basketball net's post and put a huge dent in the rear quarter panel of my van.)

There's a cool new site that helps you to find a great auto body shop in your area. Let's say you live in Long Beach, CA. Click here: long beach auto body shop. There you will find a pretty cool interactive site that gives great tips on finding the right repair shop to suit your needs.

Ande can tell you, especially if you have a leased vehicle, getting someone good to do the work is KEY! He see bad paint jobs all the time. Don't let that happen to you!

If you're not in Long Beach, you can find a body shop in your area by contacting Collision Repair Experts at the number listed on the website.

I'm so excited!!

Tomorrow I get to go to my first MOPS group! I haven't ever been to MOPS before, but have heard some great things about it. My friend Cindy is going to be there, too! Whoo-hoo! I bet there will be a lot of laughs are our table.

Our girls will be the hit of the nursery, I'm sure. (Fortunately, Puckey has gotten over whatever "bug" she had yesterday, so she'll be able to go, too!!)

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

Several years ago, Ande's grandma had brought out lots of stuff for the kids/grandkids to go through to see if they wanted any of it.

I LOVE "old school" stuff, so when I saw this book, I had to have it.

This edition was printed sometime in 1959. It's got a lot of great tips in it, as well as some stuff that just makes me laugh out loud. I recently decided that I should start sharing some of these tips, hence the "Tuesday Tip O' the Day". I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Today's tip:

"Plastic hangers are very ornamental and available in a variety of colors to match closet accessories. Designed functionally, with rounded corners, they are easy on your clothes. So easy to keep clean - just wipe with damp cloth."

WHAT? WHO ON EARTH CLEANS THEIR HANGERS???

Tune in next Tuesday for another tip.

7 Random Things

My friend, Cindy, tagged me on her blog. I have to tell you 7 random things about myself. So, be prepared to learn 7 things you never wanted to know didn't know about me.

1. I hate tomatoes but I love salsa.
2. When I was a kid, I could stick 2 pennies (side by side) in the gap between my front teeth. (Surprisingly enough, I never needed braces)
3. I am the youngest of my paternal grandparents' grandchildren.
4. In the year I lived in Ohio (during college), I lived in in 6 different houses/apartments.
5. A family cookbook that goes back generations on my maternal grandma's side has something like 28 different cheese ball recipes. (No wonder I like cheese so much. It's in my blood.)
6. I am currently washing the sheets that Puckey threw up on an hour ago.
7. My older kids are visiting their dad for the ENTIRE week this week, and I already miss them.

There, don't you feel smarter now?? LOL My life is generally so random, I had a hard time coming up with 7 things that weren't too 1) Gross, 2) Personal, 3) Sad, or 4) Embarrassing. (I'm sure there are other words I could have come up with, too.

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 other people. As is true to my form with MEME's (does anyone know why they are called that?), I will randomly choose 7 people whose blogs I haven't read before to participate. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

• Jenny, at Yet Another Blog - she's got some cool recipe cards that she posted. Someday when I get organized, I am SO doing that!
• Larry, at Larry and Hope's Motorhome Travels. Maybe Ande will get inspired to work on our motorhome some more...
• Darla, at Family and Flowers - she's got some great photos on there!
• Matt at Miller's Time Killer - he's a pastor, and he and his wife just found out recently they are expecting TWINS! How fun!
• Andie's Garden, at Happy in the Garden - she makes beautiful quilts!
• Christine, at These are Days! - she has four little cuties.
• The Collard Green Queen, at The Collard Green Queen. I found some great craft and decorating ideas on her blog!

I hope at least some of these random strangers will participate - that's how I met some new friends last time!