Conversation at the Dinner Table

(Eating seeded grapes the size of your fist)

Leslie: Oh, these are seeded grapes.

Daniel: No, technically they're un-seeded grapes. Because for "seeded grapes", they'd have to add the seeds to the grapes.

Leslie: Now, I don't understand this. You swallow the seeds in watermelons, but spit out these grape seeds.

Daniel: These are a lot bigger and harder than watermelon seeds.

Leslie: No, they're not!

Daniel: Besides, everyone knows that watermelon seeds don't grow in your stomach and out your ears. But grape seeds do.

Leslie: Out your ears?!?

Daniel: Yea, ya know ... the vines come out of your ears here and then the grapes dangle out. (We laugh. You should be too, with a mental image like that.) I'm surprised you never learned that in all your biology classes.

Leslie: Oh, well, I never took "The World According to Daniel".

Daniel: Right.

Leslie: Well, I guess I'm taking that now.

Go ahead and covet dinner-time at the Holbrook's, where every meal-time conversation is deep and intellectual.

Grampa-isms Part 2

Grampa-isms:

Daniel: Look, Grampa, there's a cat behind you, in the window.

Grampa (looking behind himself): Oh, look at that, there is!

Daniel: What should we do with it?

Grampa: Shoot it!

Daniel: Here, take your pills.

Grampa: No, they're for you. You're young and I'm a little older than you; you should take the pills.

Daniel: How much older are you than me?

Grampa: Oh, maybe 2 or 3 years.

Daniel: I think I'm going running.

Grampa: By yourself?

Daniel: You wanna come?

Grampa: If you don't run too fast.

Daniel: Do you like to run?

Grampa: I like a fast walk.

(If you could only see what a fast walk looks like ...)

(Grampa has chocolate all over his chin)

Daniel: Grampa, have you been eating ice cream?

Grampa (very seriously): No, I haven't had any.

Grampa (at church, in priesthood meeting, very loudly): Look at that big man on that little table! He's going to break that table!

At church on Sunday, a woman came up to Daniel and told him that in an earlier meeting, she walked by Grampa, and he reached over and pinched her bum. Good thing she was good-humored about it. It could've been an unnecessarily awkward situation. ... Oh wait ...

Grampa: Oh, boy, it's cold, I'm froze!

Leslie: Would you like a jacket?

Grampa: Yes, please.

(Leslie helps him on with his jacket)

Grampa: Oh, boy! Oh, boy! You saved my life!

(Drama-King -- His drama could rival my sister's)

Leslie: Grampa, are you still hungry? Would you like some more dinner?

Grampa: No, I'm not hungry.

Leslie: Well, do you need some ice cream?

Grampa (breaking out into a big grin): Yes, I would like some ice cream!

Grampa has a pronounced sweet-tooth. It's clearly visible when anything sweet is in view ... or in question. His whole world brightens when ice cream is in consideration. It's really cute to see his reaction!

Another time, Grampa kissed a fly-swatter. And then he tried to kiss me. You can imagine how that went over.

Grampa-isms Part 1

A few months ago, about the time we first moved here, I began a new feature in my journal. I call it "Grampa-isms", and I'd like to share it with you. It basically consists of sections of my journal that I devote to writing down funny things that Grampa says or does. And so, without further adieu ...

Grampa-isms:

Grampa (grabbing my thigh): That's a nice leg!

Grampa: How long is your arm?

Leslie (sticking my arm out and in his face): About this long.

Grampa (running his fingers up my arm, from finger tips to shoulder, measuring it with his arms): Yea, that's a good length ... seems right.

(A few days later) Leslie: Grampa, how long is your arm?

Grampa (giving me a look of utter incredulity): How long is my arm?!? (shaking his head, he held out his arm) Like this. (Acting as though it were the craziest question in the world, not realizing that he'd asked me that before!)

Leslie: How do you feel?

Grampa (running his fingers up and down my arm and face): Like this, with my fingers!

Daniel: How old do you think you'll live to?

Grampa: Heck (yes, he really said "heck"), I might live to 100.

Daniel: How old do you think you'll live to? What age?

Grampa: Oh, about to 70. Don't you think that'd be good?

Grampa: I can't tell a potato chip from a horse kip.

Leslie: Grampa, are you crazy?

Grampa: A little bit, a little bit crazy.

Leslie: How old are you? Are you 25?

Grampa: No, not that young. I'm about 38.

Leslie: What if you were 95?

Grampa: Oh, no! I'm definitely not that old!

Grampa (looking at a picture of himself): That man there is balding ... and that's me!

Leslie: Good-bye, Grampa!

Grampa: Good-bye, Gramma!

Daniel: Look at that ant.

Grampa (squishes it): It's gone now.

Grampa: Well, I'm going to bed. There's no point staying up for you! You (pointing to Daniel) can take care of yourself. And you (pointing at me) don't need anybody to take care of you. So, I'm goin' to bed!

Grampa: I'm hungry. But I can't say anthing.

Aunt Liz: Oh, you're full of bologne!

Grampa: Well, that's what I've been eating.

Grampa (to me): You're a clown! (I don't even remember what I was doing to deserve this title. But at least it was probably making him smile.)

Grampa: Bob, I've lost my mind.

Uncle Bob: Have you?

Grampa: Yes, and after breakfast, I'm going to go find it.

And, just for good measure, a picture of The Old Man himself.

For whatever reason, this particular day, he thought it would be a good idea to wear 2 slippers on his left foot. He was like this pretty much all day!

Denim Rag Quilt

So, I have been working on a raggedy quilt of late, made out of old jeans. It's been a long project, and I'm still not finished with it. But my mother asked to see pictures of what has been done so far. So, this is me fulfilling that request. 

I tried doing the diagonal stripes thing ... but I wasn't that into it.

I tried flipping blocks over to show the flannel that I love (that's the backing) ... but that was over-kill.

This is the final setting (see how I used quilting terminology, Mom?): completely random. If you can call it random, I did place them that way intentionally.

All the rows, sewn together.

Sewn rows laid out. Next step: sewing the rows together.

I will post more pictures of the completed project. I'm very excited! Raggedy quilts are so cozy, aren't they? I think it's going to turn out smashing!!

A Subtle Sweet-Tooth

Sometimes, I take Grandpa shopping. 

Sometimes, when I take him shopping, he develops a sweet tooth. 

Sometimes, when we go shopping and he develops a sweet tooth, he grabs things. 

Like today. 

When he put the following in our shopping cart:

And, of course, we humor him. He is, after all, 95 years old. Spoiled Old Man!

Here is the result of his sweet tooth (you know I had to take a picture):

Just as a side note: one time, he grabbed a snicker's bar and put it in his pocket. It's a good thing I caught him, or we would've been in trouble when we tried to leave the market!

Halloween

We had a pretty low-key Halloween: 

we didn't dress up (well, I was wearing black and orange ... doesn't that sort of count? And my make-up is funky. Isn't it a rule that you have to be outrageous with your make-up on Halloween?); 

we did pass out candy, but we ran out at 7:30 and had to go inside and turn off all the lights; 

we did carve a pumpkin, but ... well, you'll see.

Carving a baby pumpkin

Eating candy on Halloween ... Appropriate, yes?

Baby pumpkin. It's cute. I like it.

Hope you all had a fabulous Halloween!

Happy, Happy Birthday ...

This is what I did on my birthday:

Watching Gpa on my birthday was mostly quiet ... thankfully!

This is what I had for breakfast (Aunt Liz is pictured having a little taste of birthday breakfast goodness):

Bananas with peanut butter and chocolate chips ... doesn't get any better than that! And isn't her little banana chocolate tree adorable?

This is my birthday cake (it's not pretty, but it was DELICIOUS!):

It's Chocolate and chocolate with chocolate drizzle, and best of all ... completely animal product free!

This is what Daniel gave me for my birthday:

Sweetest birthday present ever!

This is what I bought for myself on my birthday:

A Halloween shirt! Perfect!

Also, on my birthday, Daniel took me to Red Robin for dinner and to an awesome corn maze and Halloween Festival. I wish we had brought our camera for these other birthday activities, but ... alas, so goes life. It was a wonderful birthday!

It's a Good Thing He's So Cute!

I decided the other day that it's a good thing he's so darned cute. It helps to balance out the frustrating things that we have to deal with. Take a look at this! He was so funny and cute!

I was cracking up!

I'm Bored

I'm bored with our blog. I think it's because we haven't posted anything in a while. So, here's a quick update of things we've done recently:

Cirque show with Daniel's firm, VERY cool!

The Getty Center in LA. An art museum. We took Gpa, and he was scared. He kept saying how he was lost, and many kind people offered to help us ... even though, really, we didn't need help.

Uncle Gary has 17 chickens in the back that keep getting out of their pen. So we clipped their wings. It hasn't completely worked. Chickens still get out. Blasted chickens!!

Going to the LA temple. Beautiful!!

More adventures to follow...

A Book Recommendation:

The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo Buonarroti, by Irving Stone

Was everyone getting uncomfortable with the David? How 'bout a little variety and something else to look at?

Michelangelo: the greatest sculptor, painter, architect the world has known. I can't wait to go to Italy someday and see his work in person!!

PS: the book is fascinating! What an incredible and hard life he lived!

My First Success...

... as a Seamstress!

When I graduated from High School, my mother bought me a sewing machine as a graduation present. Well, the above machine is not that which she bought me before. Long story short, she bought me the above machine (a Pfaff Creative 7510, or something) this summer, which is significantly better than the one she had bought me before. (did you get all that?)

I've been quite anxious to read about how to use it and to finish a project I started months ago at a Relief Society activity: namely, making a denim skirt out of an old beat up pair of jeans. Now that I have my own sewing machine, and in my possession (THANKS MOM!), I got to finish it the past couple of days.

It's not much, but I'm very excited about how it turned out! And I'm very impressed with my little machine!

 

Looking forward to many more fun and exciting projects to come!

Cute Grandpa

Some people post about their children on their blogs, because their kids are cute. We post about Grandpa ... because he is cute!

Magic Mountain

Daniel and I got discount tickets to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain on Saturday. It was Mormon Family Day, which I thought was pretty cool. So, of course, we went to MM and had a blast. We both love roller coasters a lot! 

After our first coaster of the day!

We were then ready for bigger and better coasters.

Daniel, waiting in LONG lines for Viper.

I can't remember which coaster this one is... but it was fun. And You can tell we're excited.

 

I insisted we go on the Log Ride. Isn't that a rule? Every amusement park has one, and you just have to go!

After the Log Ride. You can't tell from this pic, but we are soaked.

Yea, we got pretty wet. Daniel was not happy. I was!

Waiting in big, long lines.

At first we were a little worried because we have noticed that we tend to get more motion sick than we did when we were teenagers. But after the first couple of rides, we were fine, and having a BLAST!

Follow Up

I am happy to report that the base of the toilet is now clean. Yessir! It is dead cockroach free! Their little buggy bodies are resting peacefully in my vacuum cleaner (the only way I could get myself to do it was to suck them up with the vacuum hose; that way, I was a safe distance from them). Yessir! The toilet is looking brand-spanking new ... or very nearly so.

This post is dedicated to my Wonderful Mother! Love you, Mom!

PS: if you are confused, look up the post from a few weeks ago on August 29, 2011 entitled "I'm Not Going There!".

Take Me Out To the Ball Game

 Daniel got tickets to a Dodgers game last night. Free! The benefits of working at an accounting firm.... (sigh) Someone in his office had 4 tickets to the game they were not using. So Daniel took them. We had Grampa Duty last night, but we just took him with us. He resisted. The whole way there. Proclaimed that he WOULD NOT go to a baseball game! "Like h***, I'm going to a baseball game at this time of night!" His words, not mine. We took him against his will. I guess you could say that was kidnapping (or grampa-napping?); kidnapping him to a baseball game.

But once we got into the stadium, with all the noise and crowds and excitement, he cheered right up. He was just as excited to be there as we were; he loved commenting on the number of spectators, the baseball players, the game, the night, etc. We had a great time at the game and with Grampa!

Grampa and Daniel (look how happy Gpa is!)

Daniel and Me

Daniel, eating a Dodger Dog. Delicious!

Grampa enjoyed a Dodger Dog, too.

Me and Grampa

Daniel, with a mini Dodger's Cap on his head

We were on field level, amazing seats!

Grampa's Fixes

On a Sunday about a week ago, Daniel and I decided to take Grampa for a drive. He needed to get out after a weekend of being cooped up inside. We drove through some scenic canyons to the ocean, and on the way back, Grampa got onto a fix ... a counting fix. (He often becomes fixated on something, and then he repeats over and over whatever it is that he's fixated on. One time, he was fixated on us all being friends. He even toasted us being friends over some cranberry juice. This one was really funny!)

He started counting, starting at 1 and going to 100. Then he would start over at 1. At times, he would get distracted by something, and I thought for sure he would lose track. "34, 35, 36 ... Boy, look at those mountains! They're beeeeaaaautiful!" Then, "...37, 38, 39..." It was incredible! He rarely skipped a beat!

This video is pretty funny. It kind of shows what he was up to. You really should watch it to the end, he says some funny things!

Some Fun Pics!

Going through Gpa's stuff, we found this. Sweet, huh?

Daniel and Gpa at the ocean

Leslie and Gpa at the ocean

On Daniel's birthday. We drove around Beverly Hills, feeling very Californian

Leslie and Gpa on Daniel's birthday, after singing to Daniel

These blocks are the toys we give to Gpa to keep him amused and occupied

This is Daniel's latest creation. Lovely, isn't it? Truthfully, we all play with them.

I'm Not Going There!

While we are staying at Grandpa's house, we are helping to clean up the house. And it's quite an adventure.

Today, I tackled the Master Bathroom. I HATE cleaning the bathroom. It's the one chore that I really hate doing. But, it was needed. And my mum taught me how to clean the bathroom right: clean off the counters, wash the mirrors, scrub the tub, the works. When cleaning the toilet, you must clean around the base of the toilet and all around it.

But as I was going to clean the base, I found this:

What IS that?!?! Let's zero in on it!

Ew. Ew. Ew. EW!!!! No.  My mommy taught me right, but this is where I draw the line.  I love you, Grandpa, but THIS is where I draw the line!

And this is how I felt:

PS: lest you get the wrong idea, my Grandpa has a really nice place. Big house, 1 acre,  the best of everything. But, it just ... needs a little TLC. But, there are a few things I won't deal with.