Random Rambling

Well, Wednesday is almost history. Sort of. The 5:30 pm news is about to come on – in my world, the day is nearly done.

Younger daughter and I were just talking on the phone about it being nearly time for school to start.......and at least one of the grandsons slept until 4 pm yesterday. I used to make the kids get into “school zone” for a week or two prior to school starting – get up at the time you'll get up for school, go to bed at school time. Did it work? Not particularly – but I tried! This one is going to regret mixing up his days and nights when school starts!

I enjoy my quiet little world. It's so much different from the days when my kids were still at home. Older daughter and hubby went on the cruise last week, and we kept their kids. Now, he's back at work and she's busy with pre-school-year meetings as a fifth grade teacher. That's plus the running with the kids and their activities.

Younger daughter and her hubby are frantically getting ready for a nine-day trip to Seattle for a big bi-annual conference for their professional fraternity. They fly out Friday morning, so they're pretty much in that last-minute frantic mode. One's a planner, one's a procrastinator. You can imagine what that's like!

Son is working six days a week. Normally, he'd get two days off a week, but they seem to have an issue at his work keeping a full staff – so the mid-management level (son) ends up picking up the slack when they are short handed. At some points this year, he's worked 13 straight days between days off. On Super Bowl Sunday, he was playing basketball in his driveway with his 14-year-old son and son's friends. He rolled his ankle and ended up being on crutches and off work for over three weeks. Goodbye, 2013 vacation!!

Here at our quiet little home, it's just pretty routine day in and day out. We like that. We have a leisurely early morning, do our daily podcasts, then go walk. Activities between then and lunch vary from day to day, depending on what household chores need to be done. Now, once lunch is over and I watch “The Chew” (I've become addicted to that show!), I'm getting on my computer for an hour or so with my new online class. It got a lot more in-depth today, so I need to amp up my attention level!

My biggest challenge this week is deciding what food to fix for this weekend's family reunion. Mom and her first cousins (on my grandmother's side of the family) have congregated every August since 1954 for a reunion. It's great. There were originally 26 first cousins. Many of them are gone now, but the remaining ones enjoy this annual get together. These active cousins, with the exception of small few, are in their 80's and 90's. The three that live in western Kansas don't get back often – two of them were in attendance last year. There are some other states represented out of the family of 12 children who plan their yearly get-together to coincide with the reunion. I hear some of them will be here this year.

There aren't a lot in my generation who still attend, but it's always nice to see them. I don't know if we'll be able to keep this reunion going once the generation ahead of me is gone or not. But it's always good to see each other once a year – even for those of us who live near each other! It's amazing how busy we all get that even living within 20-30 miles of each other, we don't see one another other than this once a year!

I about have my menu planned – and that's good! That gives me time to get to the store on Friday or Saturday and get everything made. For those coming to the family reunion – bon appetit!