WW: Grandpa {Linky}

Last Tuesday I didn't post a WW because I was miles away at a funeral. I thought about not posting this, but death is part of life. I wrote about my Grandpa passing away, but never wrote about his funeral. I say - he lived to 93 years young. I have nothing, but happy memories from my Grandparents on my Mom's side. My Grandma died many years ago from Alzheimer's. My Grandpa just like most people at 93 was really forgetful. The brain has to age just like the rest of your body.

Just this year I taught Grandpa how to take Selfies.

A few months back he went to the hospital, and lost 1/2 his blood. Even the doctors were surprised he made it through that.

This time he fell really bad. He was all bruised up, but didn't break anything. They did find a tear in his vertebrae by his neck, that was from an old fall. He was doing well, sitting up, and eating, had a massive seizure, and that was it. I'm so glad he went that way. They wouldn't have operated on his neck. Living with pain isn't the way to go.

I felt like I was doing ok at the funeral. Mica was a Paul Bearer for the first time.

My cousin asked if they should line up in age order, or height order? Mica at age 14 is 6 foot.

Isaak wasn't a Paul Bearer, but sure was cute. 

He's with his youngest cousin Edison in this photo.

I saw my Great Uncles and lost it. I know they are so close! One lost his wife, his daughter, and now his best friend and brother, my Grandpa. The other had just gotten out of the hospital two days prior to the funeral. On all there were seven of them.

To top it off, when we went to go to the graveyard one of my Great Uncles was using a cane my Grandpa had made for him. The cane broke, he fell, and had to be rushed off to the hospital. He's ok. Just a big egg on his head!

We had a military service. My Grandpa went into the Navy.

Kind of random, but my Grandpa always had a stash of hard candy in hidden in his car. He loved Root Beers, Butterscotch, and Coffee. I passed a few out to people I was around.

Each Paul Bearer left their boutonniere on the casket. I have no idea if that's a tradition, or not.

We left roses on our family member's graves. My Grandma was Dorothy.

So much of me thinks of life being like a circle. One person dies, another is born. Just like seasons, and our calendar revolve in a circle. 

Who is the closest person to you that's passed away? 

I'd have to say my Grandma Dorothy was to me.

Random Tid Bits

1. I had a past student pass away. It just breaks my heart. He wasn't ready for college when he went to school. That doesn't mean he was a bad guy. His sister went to the school as well. He left behind two very small children, a wife, his sister a young brother, and his mom. I don't know what happened, but I feel for their family! 


2. Since school started 3 kids have died because they got hit by cars at crosswalks. One had no reason to be in the middle of the street by themselves (that one was a 1 year old). It breaks my heart!
   
   We had a close call. Travis is in a mini class. He got accepted into it through a grant. He had a critique of his work. He was at a stop light about to go. Someone went through a red light. Had Travis gone he would have gotten hit. With metal sculpture in his vehicle, that would have more than likely been really bad!
   
   Be safe! Drive safe! 


3. I won these chocolate bars off Instagram. I wasn't expecting to get so many! For breakfast I give each of us 3 or 4 bars off a big bar. I started with Blood Orange. None of us tasted orange at all. It was still good though. 











4. I had to break up some talkers in my first year class. It's hard because I don't like to tell my college students what to do. They are exploring adulthood. I want them to make friends. I don't want to treat them like children. But when they act like children...
   
   A group of 5 students were standing around shooting the breeze for an hour or more. I let it happen. Then when they got together in the afternoon I said something. I happened to notice that a girl behind them was trying to work. She had her headphones on, and looked annoyed. They just wouldn't shut up. A few of the people in the group didn't do all they could for my other class, and weren't far along in that class. I said, "Ok...enough chatting. Time to get to work." I do have progress grades. That whole group didn't get the full points for the day. 


5. Travis decided he was going to shave his stache all strange.
   
   Get this...Mica's now the same height as Travis. He's 6 foot. He just turned 14. How tall is he going to get? My Dad was 6 foot 3 inches before he shrunk.
   
   
   
   
   

Random Tid Bits

1. I had this student like maybe 5 years ago. Time seems to slip away, where I don't know how long ago I had them. Anyhow She got pregnant about 3 years ago. I offered her Mica and Isaak's crib. I knew she was low on funds. Travis kept bugging me to get it out of the basement + we're way done with having kids, and if we have grandkids some day we can get a Pack n' Play.
   
   The student had her cute baby, and got pregnant soon afterwards. They were still hurting money wise. She got harassed at work because she had kids out of wedlock, her boyfriend is black, and her kids are mulatto. I so thought we were passed that! Anyhow I told her to talk to her boss about the harassment issue. She shouldn't have to put up with that!
   
   Her second baby was 4 months old. Last Friday her boyfriend went to pick her up to feed her. She was unresponsive! They tired mouth to mouth, called 911, and she was pronounced dead. They had lab work done, but they haven't found anything, and ruled it as SIDS. I crushes me. I keep thinking of her. She put out a message on facebook about what had happened after she told some people personally. My heart aches for her. I keep thinking about it.  4 months old is like the cut off for the scare of SIDS. It's a nightmare! I'm sending positive vibes to Brook, her baby that's passed away Seren, her two year old Mimri that won't be able to understand what's going on, and her boyfriend Reggie.
   
   She was breastfeeding, so now she's going to go through the pain and emotions of drying up. Oh I just want to cry tons of tears for her.
   
   This was a post she posted way before her sweet baby passed away:
   
   
   
   
   Have you ever known someone that had a child pass away? I had a nephew that passed away in 1996. He was an infant that had what Emerson has - Trisomy 18. Losing a child is NEVER easy! 


2. A car was driving all crazy like in Des Moines, Iowa. A few people called 911. Cops chased them, but they wouldn't stop. It turns out a 10 year old was at the wheel, and his 7 year old brother was in the passenger side. They didn't stop until they crashed into a pole. Thankfully everyone is ok. Their punishment happened at home.
   
   I couldn't imagine Isaak driving a car. He's in the 97% for height. What if the kid driving was in the 5%? Crazy!


3. Do you remember Mrs. Clean Freak? I've posted about here here and here. She's at it AGAIN! I've gotten lists a few days in a row.
   
   
   
   
   I feel like I'm Mica getting a list from me - his mom. I'm not freaking 12 years old. She's not even my boss. That's one of my biggest complaints here: Too many bosses!
   
   My coworker next to me said, "Don't turn in the list until the end of the day. She'll just give you more to do." I saw her coming to see me on list number 2, and I walked away. She left a message. I listened to 1/2 of it, but left it still blinking like I didn't listen to it at all. I just want to escape from her.
   
   I already took all the books out of boxes, flattened the boxes for her, and counted the books out to make sure we had them all. I cleaned the student fridge and freezer, 5 microwaves, and 3 big sinks with stuck on acrylic paint that I had to scrape off with a spoon. Now I have to clean electrical poles, check chairs, drawing tables, and white tables, and clean metal doors.
   
   I've about had it! I feel like pulling an Amelia Bedelia on her ass! If you don't know who Amelia Bedelia, she's a fictional character that misinterprets things. Example: Draw the Drapes. She actually draws them on paper.
   
   
   
   
   I wouldn't go that far! Even though I so badly want to! I just may hold things off, or work ahead possibly. Like she wants me to check the tables and chairs, I'll put on the table tops - even though it's not on the list. I know she'll want me to do it anyhow. Knock 2 birds out with 1 stone, so to speak. I don't mind doing odd jobs, but what is she doing besides giving me lists? 


4. I'm sucked into the show The Missing on Amazon Prime. Are there any shows you're into?


5. Mica started this thing with hand washing dishes where he only rinses them, and sets them in the rack to dry. Ummm...no! I actually don't mind washing dishes, but he needs to learn. What's a cleaning job you hate to do?

Random Tid Bits

1. What a week! I'm writing this ahead of time. It's Wednesday. It snowed last night. I walked into the classroom, and not one of my student's was in. I suppose I don't blame them. It was pretty slick out, and staying in bed sounds really good right about now!
   
   
   
   
   I have one student that has been gone 4 days out of 5. That's not cool! There are a few others that have been gone 3. When they get this far behind it's hard to catch them up!


2. I have a blogger friend that passed away this week. I would message her to chat on Facebook at times. So long Jacqueline Mitchell. You were a good friend. She had Parkinson's Disease. Somehow towards the end of her life her trimmers started to stop. She had a weak heart, and passed away from that. I never met her, but I feel like I did. She was one that would comment on almost every picture I posted. She'd comment often, but the trimmers made it hard for her to type.
   
   That's the second blogger friend that's passed away. Judy passed away quite some time ago. She was a twinless twin. Her twin passed away years before she did. It makes me sad.


3. My nephew Emerson has been back in the hospital this week. We were just thinking he was doing great, and then another infection happened. A surgeon had this great idea to dig into him to put this tube to help clean out his gut. Well it keeps getting infected (twice now, since his original surgery). The surgeon didn't believe my sister when she called to have the office treat him. She was bitchy at the doctor the first time, this time she was livid and turned the office in for neglect. I don't blame her at all. They wanted to do yet another surgery, but she and another doctor over road their decision. He's been on IV antibiotics, and they are letting the fluid drain. She made them do a culture of the fluid. They found out he also has a Strep infection in it. He got that from his oldest brother. I've been worried about him. He gets out of the hospital tomorrow (Thursday). I hope he stays infection free!
   
   
   


4. I oftentimes forget that I have pens or pencils in my ears. Do you ever put pens or pencils behind your ears?


5. Isaak usually has better handwriting. But I found this quickly written note in his coat pocket at his basketball game. It's all about how his team needs to be more serious at practice. If they clown around Isaak was going to call them clowns. 

Random Tid Bits

1. Our car was in the shop getting an oil change. I wrote on the drop off form to check the breaks. There was a squeak whenever I stopped. They checked them, and it needed back breaks because they were paper thin. Travis gave the ok | thumbs up for them to put on new back breaks. Travis is a pretty serious guy. If he ever jokes around it's because I came into his life. Ha! I know how to mess with him. I paid for the car. He came home with our other vehicle.
   
   I said to Travis, "I can't believe you'd pay that kind of money at that shop!" *Really it wasn't all that much. He said defensively, "But we needed new breaks. They were paper thin." I said, "That's what they said. Did you think to check them out at another shop?" He said, "Alissa they weren't that much." I said, "Got ya!" I got him for sure. Yes I'm a punk like that.


2. We went to see my parents during Mother's Day. Mica said, "Grandma you look really pretty in that color!" It sounded like a compliment.
   
   He then said, "When you die we should put that color of dress on you. Then we should find an amethyst necklace to put on you."
   
   Instead of me closing the conversation I said, "Mica she doesn't like to wear dresses. She can't wear her special shoes with a dress." - She had Polio.
   
   My Mom said, "They don't bury people with shoes on."
   
   I asked, "Well...how will you walk through the pearly gate then? I guess you won't be doing that."
   
   We were all laughing. 


3. We have an ant problem. I've been trying to keep the counter clean. It's just hard working full-time, and always making our own food. I've been wiping it down with vinegar, which ants are supposed to hate vinegar. Then I put Boric Acid with syrup around on bottle lids. What do you do for pesky ants?


4. Isaak said, "Mom when I grow up I want to be a movie maker, a movie actor, and a hair stylist. I also want to have a family. How will I ever have time for all that?" I responded to, "Welcome to my world son." What did you want to be when you grew up?


5. I was at Michaels with Isaak. They had all these classic books right by their cash register. I said, "Isaak why don't we get these to celebrate your class birthday." He picked out 12 Secret Garden books, and 11 Tom Sawyer | Huckleberry Finn books for his class. 

Source

A Sad Weekend

I'd like to say that this weekend was practically perfect in every way, but that would be untrue.

My Mom's cousin was laid to rest last Thursday. The funeral and wake was 3 hours away, so I didn't go. They had a ceremony here in our town on Saturday. I went to that. I saw this woman probably 3 times a year, but grew closer to her in this last year because she commented, or liked nearly every facebook post I wrote.

I cried, not for myself, but for her Father/my Mom's uncle that she was super close to. I can't imagine what life will be like for him now. Thankfully he does have good friends, and my Grandpa is still here for him.

My Mom's cousin was a single lady, with no kids. I take that back...she had lots of kids. She was a school teacher for special education. She touched the lives of kids, who I've never met. Since her dad is older, and her only sibling lives in Maryland we were nominated to go through her things. While it felt odd going through someone's things that had passed away, I felt another closeness to her to.

She liked dolls. She actually made doll clothes that were sold world wide. Dolls were found, Barbies in their original boxes were stored away. I told my Aunt to hang onto them. I got one Kewpie type doll.

Travis helped carry big furniture things away with my cousin who just bought his first house.

Mica was sucked into her movies. We carried a bag full of movies home. He's a movie buff for sure.

Isaak wanted her colored pencils, a few adult coloring books, necklaces, and board games. We now have to learn how to play Clue 2 (which I never knew existed), I have to reteach myself how to play Taboo, and Cribbage (which I've heard of, but never played). 

Travis took some tools, and a bin that held many of her craft things.

I took a few kitchen items like a small bread pan, a Spritz Cookie Press, and lots of mason jars for canning pickles and June Berry Jam.

It was bitter sweet. I feel blessed to have been able to go through her things.

Do You Believe in Bad Things Happening in 3's?

My husband and I disagree when it comes to some things. I believe in ghosts, angels, afterlife, karma, and bad things happening in 3's. I even think it's possible to be reincarnated. Can you be a Christian and believe in reincarnation? According to my old pastor, the answer would be, "No." Ya he wasn't too happy about me asking about reincarnation during confirmation. My mistake. I thought confirmation was about learning about your religion. My argument is, God can take and put a new breath of life into each of us, and put us down her as something new. There have been so many people that have dreams, or visions about being someone else. Who am I to judge them, and say they are wrong? It's a possibility. One person's interpretation of a book like the Bible is different from the next person's interpretation. There are a lot of other religious books out there that existed around, before and after the Bible to.

Last week I found out my Mom's cousin passed away. She was a single lady who showed up to many of our family gatherings. We have a small family overall. I only have 6 first cousins on my Mom's side, and none on my Dad's. My Mom's side of the family gets together for all major holidays, my inner family gathers for all birthdays, and we have a family reunion once a year. My Mom's cousin liked and commented on my facebook posts daily. She was a school teacher, and was liked by many! Her death was sudden. All we know is that she was sick with the flu.

Her friends found out about her passing before her family because she didn't show up to work. Her friends started commenting on her facebook wall, and that is how her brother found out about her passing. How sad! I'm a facebook person, but I always wait to comment on anything sensitive like a death after family has posted. I usually wait a week before posting.

My Aunts have been over at her apartment cleaning all weekend. They found a box filled with thank you notes from her students.

This weekend I found out my Mom's cousin's son passed away. It's a different cousin. He was only in his 40s. He was a Navy Seal, so fit as a fiddle! He was up training on a mountain. They were driving back down. He was in a jeep, someone was driving behind him. All the sudden they noticed he was hunched over, and was driving off the road. The driver behind him put his car in park, and tried running towards his vehicle, but there was no saving him. He left behind a wife, and a son that is a college freshmen.

The funerals are about the same time, in different states. So some can't go to one when they'd like to. :(

Yesterday my Grandpa was lead out of church because he didn't feel well. Thankfully he's ok.

I'm just hoping that this bad things happen in 3's is just a saying. Are you superstitious like me?

I Do Like Fall, But...

I do like fall, but I hate that I have less time for photos. It's not even daylight savings time yet. It starts getting dark around dinner time now, and in a few weeks it will be dark when I get off of work.

I have no good pictures of the boys with pumpkins, or a fallish type theme yet. Leaves have just started turning colors here.

I love all things pumpkin. I dislike death. When I think of fall and winter death comes to mind. Grass dies, leaves turn pretty colors, but they fall only to turn brown and crunchy under my feet. Branches are left naked. Daylight is short. Veggies and fruit are slimmer at the store...why because many are dying for the season. Towards the end of winter I'm so sick of eating only bananas, apples, and oranges. At least there are cranberries, pomegranates, and holiday grapes that are out during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Here's some oldie shots of my boys with gourds. Isaak loves gourds because they have texture.

 

What have we been up to? Like I said I don't have a lot of pictures. We've been busy though. Here's 5 things we've been up to:

1. Last night we bought a car. A blue Subaru Outback. We were going to get a Toyota Rav4, but the visibility wasn't as good as the Subaru Outback. So long to our 12 year old Pilot. The boys went to bed at 9 last night because of the paperwork at the dealership. Boo! They might possibly be grouchy today. They could also be happy because they are going to be taken to school in their first new vehicle. I told Mica it was expensive, so he offered me money. LOL



2. On Sunday I never got dressed because I was working on my Halloween costume. It won't be as good as my others in the past, but it will be fun. At least it's not something you can go out and buy. I'll be unique. 



3. On Saturday we celebrated my Mom's birthday. It was big family gathering. I was asked to bring a veggie. I made jack o lantern peppers, with strips of carrots, celery and orange cauliflower stuffed in them, and around them. Plus dip. Apparently at family functions when people ask me to bring a veggie they want a hot veggie to. My bad. My sister was like, "I thought you said you were bringing more than one veggie. I'm like, "I did." There were carrots, celery, cauliflower, and peppers. I swear sometimes I'm like Amelia Bedelia. You have to be specific with me. If you tell me to draw the drapes, I may just draw on them with Sharpies. Luckily she didn't make a big deal out of my lack there of, of veggies. She made green beans. I just felt bad. 



4. On Friday Travis cleaned our Pilot out to be sold. I made a big dinner. Later we drank root beer - beer and played Scrabble. I won. It was probably the alcohol. I usually never win. It was a landslide win. Spelling was not my strong point in school. 





The beer was good, but it won't be something we drink often. It has too much sugar in it of course. It was a nice mixture of beer and root beer. Source is here.



5. On Thursday we went to the boy's school. It was a curriculum night for Mica's grade. It didn't go the best, but that's a whole other post. We made a special trip to World Market. Omaha used to have 2 stores, but they've both been gone for quite some time. We got one back again. It's my favorite store, so I'm happy about that. :)

Getting Old

Isaak was taking a bath this morning. He decided he wanted to stay in there and play, and play some more. I told him to get out. He said, "Just a little longer Mommy."

I said, "Isaak you need to get out. Your fingers are going to get all wrinkly. You are going to turn into an old person."

He showed me his fingers, then looked at them himself. When he looked at them he started crying. He said, "You are right! I'm turning into an old person."

He stopped crying when I told him that his fingers would go back to normal; after that he got out of the tub.

That was in the morning.

Fast forward to bedtime.

At bedtime Isaak started crying once again. I was thinking his door got shut. He hates his door being shut. His door was wide open. I went in and asked him, "What's wrong Isaak?" He said, "I'm afraid of all the people I know dying and wonder what's going to happen to all their houses?"

I was thinking, Gee wiz isn't he too young to be thinking about these kinds of things? He hasn't watched any scary movies, no one has passed away in our family since the fall when Great Grandma Kent passed away. The only connection I could think of with his thoughts is me telling him that his bathtub wrinkly fingers would make him old. He was really worked up. I said, "Isaak everything is ok. You have nothing to worry about."

He then said, "That one Grandma died. Will my Great Grandpa die to? He's old." I said, "Isaak he is old. Just because he's old doesn't mean he'll die anytime soon. He could live until he's 100 year old, or more. We don't know when he's going to die. If he does die we'll all be sad, but he would have lived a very good life. He has kids, grand kids, great grand kids that all love him."

I told him that everything is alright once again, hugged him and he went to sleep.

I hope I didn't traumatize him with the bath tub wrinkly old man fingers.

Today I'm Sad

Isn't crazy how emotions can go up and down? Two nights ago I found out that one of my students lost her nephew. It was a still birth. My student had tears in her eyes. I wanted to say, "I know how you feel." Of course I don't exactly know how she feels. Everyone experiences things differently. She's wrapped up in finals and couldn't be there for the birth and death of her nephew.

With everything we've gone through with Trisomy 18 - I feel for anyone losing a baby! I felt so scared even when my own boys got sick! With Mica they didn't know what to do with his staph infection. They didn't know why his neck kept getting bigger. With Isaak they couldn't figure out if he had bacterial or viral meningitis. It was so scary seeing those white blood cell counts go up and up.

Then this morning I checked Facebook and one of my students I had a few years ago just passed away for breast cancer. That's what mad me really sad! She met her husband here at school. She found out she had breast cancer in her late teens, early 20's. They did radiation. She lost all her hair, a ton of weight. She tried so hard to just LIVE LIFE. Her husband and her were a perfect match. They made each other laugh. He didn't have to marry her knowing that she was sick. He stepped up and did what was in his heart. I really respect people that are like that. I stood back on the sidelines rooting for them. When someone gets breast cancer that young, I know there's a good chance that it will take over their existence. It did.

Here my student is...she was a fighter.

Then my sister (Aunt Terra) called me and asked if I'm going to the preschool graduation tonight. Isaak and Cousin Elijah are not graduating yet. Terra knows how I feel about preschool graduations. I think they are WAY overdone! You can read what I think on them here if you'd like. We'll be going. Then Terra tells me that a little girl in the boy's class just lost their baby brother or sister. It was a still birth. I just saw the happy pregnant mom at the Mother's Tea just 2 weeks ago! Terra's sending her a note. I started to think about how the preschooler is more then likely confused why there is no baby and why mommy and daddy are so sad. It just makes me so sad.

I'm going to end with a video that really makes you appreciate life and death.