Monday Mumbles 39

1. My Granny (Dad's mother) passed away Thursday, April 10th. As she is in the photo below (circa March 2011, her 90th birthday dinner), she was the centerpiece of our family gatherings, the hub to our spokes. All nine of her children are here with her, my father on the far left in green. You can read about her here.

2. For a closer photo of her, here she is in 2010 with Evelyn. Handing the new babies over to Granny always felt like a rite of passage to me, for some reason.

3. Long overdue, we bought Hubs a new suit for the mass and funeral. I'll admit he looked alright in it. 

4. The kids were very good throughout the very long days that existed between hearing the news and the funeral. They were in the car a LOT, and aside from getting restless at the visitation (who wouldn't, watching a bunch of 'old' folks coming in and out, chatting about nothing in particular?), they were fantastic. 

5. My two brothers flew in from respective states (Florida and Indiana), so there was an upside getting to see them, along with one sister-in-law. My mother was also very helpful throughout, watching the kiddos and giving them a reprieve from the torturous talking.

6. Aside from work and Granny, life is fairly steady. Evelyn still has attitude and a LOT of hair. Owen occasionally gets safe seats at school but is learning how to be a better helper and leader. Turner continues to skate through with his usual ease, playing basketball and taking piano lessons. 

7. I've been doing the #100happydays challenge, with some nudging from my brother. I like getting to watch my day and find something that makes me happy. If we don't take time to focus on something that makes us happy, some days will pass us by feeling completely void of joy. 

8. Hubs had me watch a comedian Saturday night, a South African named Trevor Noah. Pretty funny kid, and cute to boot. If you're into stand-up, try finding a few clips on-line.

9. My hair is unreasonably long. I've been very lazy and it's now a decent pony-tail length and touching my shoulders. 

10. I need not go shopping. I find myself having a hard time saying no, sometimes. Meaning, I have three new dresses in my closet and probably shouldn't.

Monday Mumbles 38

1. I'm not sharing the new car very well.

2. I did let him have it on Saturday, as I said I would, but it hurt. I had to force myself into my Pilot and I had to force myself to stop thinking about how poorly he might be driving it, or how loudly he might have turned up the radio. Oh it hurt.

3. I went into the office for a few hours Sunday morning and I took Evelyn with me. That girl has attitude and I refuse to take all the blame. I refuse. She spends way too much time with her dad for this to be all my fault.

4. The one thing I need to remember about her is that if I give her tasks or hobbies that are similar to things that I do, she'll most likely be content. She was getting extremely restless in the office and I finally moved her chair up to my desk like me, gave her a folder that had a notepad in it, and allowed her to "take notes" like the ones I had in front of me. Saved my efficiency.

5. I cannot believe that Owen turns six on Friday. I just pulled out a few photos for him to share at school this week and had a 'moment'. I sent in some one year old pics and it made me want to kiss his little one year old face.

6. Does anyone else have a problem sharing their food or drink? I specifically asked Hubs yesterday if he wanted something to drink when I was picking up my soda. He said no. And then he proceeded to pour half of my soda out of my cup and into his own at the house. P.I.S.S.E.D.

7. And no, I won't 'just get used to it' because we've been together so long. It's annoying as hell.

8. My brother convinced me to do the #100HappyDays - post a photo a day of something that makes you happy - challenge. Today is Day 5. I'm posting it on both Instagram and Twitter and I have fun each day thinking in the moment, and realizing that most moments provide me something to capture.

9. I can probably guarantee that one photo will be Evelyn's hair.

10. And if I can figure out how to capture her attitude, I'll post that too. Because it rocks.