Burnt Toast!

It is a well known fact that Lee likes his toast WELL DONE, or as he puts it High Definition. He sits with a bunch of guys at Jim Dandy on Saturday morning each week while I do weekly shopping at Walmart.


The guys have learned how Lee likes his toast. Lee has learned over the years to get his toast as done as he likes it he has to tell the waitress burned toast and then it comes to him just perfect. Burned as far as most people are concerned, but really good to Lee.

Today at Jim Dandy, a wife of one of the Saturday morning coffee guys was with him and when Lee sat down, she asked if he was the "burnt toast guy" to which Lee answered yes. She said she is glad to have a face to attach to the burnt toast. Apparently Lee is getting a reputation around town! I'm really not sure what kind of a reputation that is, but so be it.

Visitors at Grammy & Grandpa's House

A call came from our youngest son - he was coming to visit. What a treat that is. Because with Nathan comes a little girl we haven't seen for a while. Isabella and her Daddy came to see us and we were delighted to have them here.

This little girl is growing so fast and is all smiles, coos and she just turned 3 months old. What joy to have her here!

Check out the pictures of the youngest Towle!

Isabella's Visit

Grandparents Day, Eden Elementary, Greenfield

We were at Grandparents Day on Friday at Eden Elementary School for Paige. Every school has a different plan, but that makes it all so much fun. We signed in and waited for Paige in the Gym. Her other Grandparents, Kenny & Mary Gregory, Lee & I waited patiently for our little girl.

Our first stop was cookies and punch with her in the Cafeteria. Paige lost her 1st tooth this week and she was excited to show it while sitting in the Cafeteria.

After our little snack, we went back to the gym to have our picture taken with Paige. That went rather quickly and we left there to go the Library for the book fair. Anyone who has grandchildren, probably little girls more than boys, knows that the book fair is a favorite place. And girls like to shop, even if it is at the school book fair - not necessarily for books, I might add.
Paige was successful in convincing a Grandmother to buy her a black & white kitty. And that made the day. Paige was one very happy little girl.

After the book fair, we then proceeded to Paige's classroom and met Mrs. Stevens her teacher. Paige showed us around her room and showed us her picture on the wall that she had colored. When it was time for the Grandparents to leave, Paige showed us the picture of Grandma & Grandpa that she had made. We also were privileged to get a picture of Paige with her very own proof of loss of a tooth.

It was a fun day with our 5 year old Granddaughter! Paige is a sweet little girl and it is a delight to be with her.

Thank you Paige for a fun afternoon. Below are some pictures
Paige and Grammy really like!

Grandparents Day - Eden

Spring on 50 East

I am sitting at my desk this morning. There isn't any rain outside only beautiful sunlight at 7:30am. So I am enjoying the beautiful ornamental pear trees blooming in my neighbors front yard. They are beautiful and remind me how much my God loves beautiful pictures. He gave us so many of those pictures throughout the year!

When will it Rain???

I'm looking for rain. I check every day. I look every morning at the sky. All I see are beautiful, sunny days. I need rain. Well I guess I should qualify - Why - I need rain.

As everyone is aware, a 5.2 earthquake hit southeastern Illinois on the 18th of April 2008. Well like many others in Central Indiana, I fell it and I survived the '08 earthquake. There was some minor damage to my home from that earthquake.

The quake hit as Lee and I were in the kitchen preparing to leave for work that morning between 5:30 - 6:00am. I stopped and asked what was that? Lee didn't have an answer, the noise and movement stopped and we went to work. Later that day when I turned on the kitchen light, there was a small problem - it was dim. So I looked up and wow! Houston, (aka Lee) we have a problem!!! The movement of the house during the quake shook the kitchen light loose as you can see.

There was debate between my husband and I as to how to fix this problem. At the time I was on crutches and unable to get on a ladder to help him. Kids contacted were very busy with many activities. After Dr. O'Connor finally released me from crutches, we decided that we would do it ourselves since I am ladder able.

Now as to why I need rain! This dear sweet man I am married to reaches a certain point in the year when it is "outside time". In other words, he spends his days outside, working in the flower beds, mowing, working in his garden and at times just riding around our property in his golf cart.

To take time to fix earthquake damage needs a day that is rainy and he cannot be persuaded to work inside the house on a sunny day. So I am looking for a rainy day. The first one has been designated as earthquake damage repair day. Now you know where Lee & I will be the next time it rains.

Grandparents Day at J B Stephens Elementary

It was Grandparents Day at J B Stephens in Greenfield this week. Grandpa and I went to school to be with Klaudia. We were so excited to be with her and she had two of her friends join us, Marisa & Sarah. These girls were not able to have their grandparents with them, so we were happy to have them with us. Mrs. Matthias, Klaudia's teacher explained what would happen during our visit. And then we were on our own with the 1st graders. What a delight.

Here is Klaudia smiling for Grandma while her friends read their book.

Grandpa, Grandma, Klaudia and our adopted friends, Marisa and Sarah toured the classroom. They showed us the eggs in the incubator which will be soon be chicks. We saw the grass and flowers they have planted and are watching the growing process. We checked out the class calendar, also the green, yellow & red cards which Klaudia explained the purpose of these to us. After saying hello to the caterpillars we went on a tour of the school with the girls.

Outside the library, they read their Important Books to us that they had written. We visited the Office, Computer lab, Gym, Cafe' and Playground. We had a really fun visit with Klaudia and her friends.

Grandpa gave up the walking through the school process shortly after it started and waited for the Grandmother (on crutches I might add) outside the library on a comfortable bench. Grandma then raced, well that is a relative term, as racy as I could on crutches around J B Stephens. Then after returning the girls to their classroom, thanking Mrs. Matthias for letting us visit I collected Grandpa and collapsed in the car to recover. Just kidding, sort of.

It was a wonderful time with Klaudia. She is a special little girl.

I had a great picture of Klaudia I was going to show you, but blogger is acting strange and won't let me, and the balance of my Grandparents Day blog will remain pictureless. Sorry Klaudia!

New Inhabitants in the Field

Bandit lives next door to us and used to reside in the field closet to our property. Well Bandit has had to make a move. He is now in the south field of the Johnson's west-side. He seems to be okay. He still runs to see us when we venture over to talk to him. He thinks Lee is his own special friend. See Bandit in his new field!







Well apparently a horse is not enough. There are new farm animals for us to keep track of. Last week two goats appeared, one named Misty and one which shall remain nameless for the simple reason, I don't know her name. One of these cute little farm creatures is going to have baby goats in about 4 months. Won't that be fun to watch. Maybe we will have twin or triplet baby goats by the end of the summer.











Today Jayde and I found out all about the newest farm animals that Chuck now has. Baby chicks. Yellow ones, black ones and yellow and black ones. They really are cute. Check them out!

So now you know all the additions to our world. I know all our Grandkids are going to be so excited to see each and every one of them. I think it will be the most fun when the "kids" goat kids are born! I'll show pictures of them when that event happens!

Lee's Afternoon Driver This Week

Jayde usually is picked up by her Aunt Donna from school. But since Aunt Donna is out of town this week, we have the privilege of having Jayde here after school each day.

Lee is using this situation to help himself.

Jayde is his very own 'personal golf cart driver'. She also has been a 'Grandpa's helper'.

I do think Jayde kind of likes driving the golf cart. But I have observed Jayde doing work for Grandpa. Picking up limbs that were trimmed, taking Grandpa to get vegetable plants growing in Chuck's polyhouse, carrying things for Grandpa and just being a special helper in many, many ways. Jayde is busy these afternoons being with Grandma & Grandpa

It is fun for us to have her here with us these afternoons. She is a very good young lady.

Half Free

I have been using the crutches and (foot) air cast for the past two weeks. Yuck, maybe even double yuck!!!! At any rate, I saw the doctor yesterday for a repeat x-ray to see how much healing has taken place.

Bad News - Good News. The good news is the best - no more crutches!!! I cannot express how free that makes me feel. It is still somewhat of a trial to walk with this larger than life foot, but oh how free I feel - NO more crutches. Guess maybe you get the idea I really didn't like the crutches.

Now for the bad news. The fracture is the same as it was two weeks ago. My doctor says this type of fracture takes a looong time to heal. He wouldn't give me any guesses as to how looong. But I am content to wait for that healing, because now I am walking on two feet again.

I am Thanking the Lord this morning for the fact that I am free of half of my assistive devices!

Take me out to the Ball Game !

It must be summer or almost. Baseball has started and I have a baseball player to watch. Brendon played a game this week and his Grandmother was in attendance, along with other family members. I know I will have other Grandkids to watch later this summer, but Brendon has played his 1st game.

What fun it is to watch our grandchildren playing games we watched their parents play. Brendon played the game I attended this week on a baseball field at the Boys & Girls Club in Greenfield. I attended many games at that field watching his Dad play baseball. It felt just like going home.

Brendon is one of the pitchers for his team. Of course this Gram of his thinks he is perfect. Oh, I know he is still learning at this point in baseball, but he is good and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him play.

Baseball is sort of like football to me - I don't know the rules and so I sort of stumble along trying to figure out why they make the calls they make. Wow that doesn't make much sense, but then neither does the game make a whole lot of sense to me. But I am learning. And I am enjoying the entire process of learning while watching my Grandkid play.

Check out the pictures of my Baseball Pitcher - Brendon!

Baseball - Brendon Style

Shopping for two Handicapped People . . . .

It's Saturday and my kitchen was running out of things to cook for two people. So a plan was made for a grocery store trip. Many years ago, a relative of mine told me don't say 'grocery shop' always say 'food shop'. According to this man in my life - food shop doesn't sound like I am going to bring home the entire store. Whatever - it was time to go get some food to eat.


The plan was that the injured woman would drive them to the store. The 'semi' blind man would push the food cart. And the injured older female would drive the motorized cart. Seemed like a
plan that would work. So we started out for our local Walmart. Yes for those of you who think only 'old, slow' people are at Walmart early on Saturday, that is where we headed. You probably know who you are that maybe think like that. Anyway on with the story.





Remembering that person I know (and probably a lot more like him/her), I was aware I had to keep it moving. At my age, I didn't want to be associated with those OLD folk who take a long time to make decisions, go slowly through the store and take extra time at the checkout - slowing down all the young folk needing to get home to their little children.


I was moving on out, pedal to the medal - well maybe finger to the control, since this cart moved with my hand. I would occasionally look behind to make sure the man of this group was keeping up and pick a convenient place to stop and wait for him when he lagged back, then press on. We went from one end of the store to the other, getting everything on the list in record time. I felt so proud about how well we did.

We left the store with a cart full of food, (the man of the group in charge of the cart, the woman now on crutches and veeeeerrrry slow, wishing for that motorized cart), loaded all the food in the car and headed home.


Once at home the food made it to the pantry via that wonderful man I am married to and then with his incredible help it was all put away in very short order. What a man - giving up his early Saturday morning with the guys at a local restaurant to help his wife get food for them to eat in the next week.


My man then stopped at the door to the pantry and asked me "Did you have that cart moving at its top speed?" Me: "Yes, was I going too fast?". My Man: "Well, I found myself wishing for a rest several times throughout the store". Me: " I had to keep us moving as fast as possible. I didn't want us to be labeled as old, slow, Walmart shoppers". My Man: All I can say, I'm glad Dr. O'Connor says this is only for two weeks." So am I Lee, so am I.........no crutches can't come soon enough!

Learning to be Thankful !

You never know what you had until it is gone. I have heard that comment sometime in my past - not sure exactly when, but that is certainly a reality in my life at the moment.

Several years ago, I limped around, had constant knee pain, used a cane to navigate and generally experienced a 'USED' feeling where knees and legs were concerned. Then Dr. Jeffrey Pierson did his magic on my knees, assisted I might add by my very good friend, Dan England and all the misery I had with bad knees was history. Unfortunately I forgot what it was like to move around with difficulty.

WELL - now I am remembering. Ten days ago, I fractured a metatarsal in my right foot. I heard the snap and thought "oh great, I think that just broke". With minimal swelling and just a little pain I figured I would be wasting the Doctor's time and my money to go get a x-ray. It didn't seem to get better so, two days ago, I saw Dr. O'Connor and now you know the rest of the story - I am paying the price.

Now I am trying to get around on crutches which on a 1-10 difficulty scale - for me is about an 8. Not good. So I am learning to be more thankful. Thankful for bones in one piece that a person can walk on.

Now I know what I had - and it is gone!

DARE Graduation - Harris Elementary School

Jayde's DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Graduation was today, Wednesday, April 9, 2008. For the second day in a row the Grandparents attended an event at Harris Elementary School.

Cpl. Steve McCarley is the instructor for DARE. He spoke briefly regarding what DARE is and what it teaches the kids. Following that, he distributed Diploma's and DARE t-shirts to each one of the 5th graders.

Each student is required to write an essay at the end of the semester telling what they learned in DARE. Four students were awarded a medal for having written an out-standing essay. Jayde was one of the four who won a medal.

Grammy and Grandpa enjoyed our visit to Harris this morning. We are so proud of you Jayde! Good job in your DARE classes

Below are pictures taken.

DARE Graduation - Harris Elementary

The Latest in Fashion Accessories...

As you know, yesterday afternoon Lee and I attended Grandparents Day. After that event was over - we were introduced to the latest in fashion accessories.....

We went to see our favorite doctor - Dr. O'Connor. The first announcement was brought in by Tammy, his nurse...check this out...here on the right.....

As if that wasn't fashionable enough the good Doctor made it clear that this ~~~beautiful~~~ boot would not be complete without a set of these here on the left.

All I can say is Thank the Lord I am past the portion of my life when I worried about how good I look.

One little confession, I had predicted that Kansas would win the NCAA basketball tournament because I like the color of their uniforms. Lee told me he would take me out to eat if I was right. Well you know who won, and he wanted to take me out last night. Before I could go, I had to ask Lana if I looked 'dorky' (if that is a word) in my new fashionable attire that the doctor seems intent on my wearing. When Lana replied I looked fine, I ventured out and we had a great time dining out - and I didn't even have to do the dishes.

So much for Tuesday afternoon and evening. Today is another day and I am all ready to face the day wearing my new "stuff".

Grandparents Day, Harris Elementary School, Greenfield, Indiana

Today was Grandparent's Day for Harris Elementary School in Greenfield. Since Lee and I have a young lady who is in the 5th grade at Harris we were in attendance.

We went in and made our way to Jayde's classroom. After we found Jayde, she showed us chairs and we were two of maaany grandparents who were there. Mr. Murphy and two other 5th grade teachers had a presentation for us to enjoy.

After the event in the classroom, we went to the gym for the annual, necessary Grandparents with our girl picture. Jayde will be bringing the pictures home later in the week, one for her and one for us.

Below are a few pictures that I was able to snap for our memory book! Better than that - now that I am learning to scrapbook, I'll try to use them in a scrapbook! Thank you Jayde - you were a perfect hostess and we enjoyed our day with you!

Grandparents Day, Harris Elementary School

Spring Yard Work!!!!!

I didn't realize that it has been so long since I blogged. Guess nothing very exciting has been happening at my house. At least, I haven't been keeping up to date with "stuff".

Lee told me this morning that I would be needed to help him this morning and afternoon. This morning I picked him up at work, we stopped and fed Jewel & Bandit, the horses. Yeah, we are on horse duty this week. After that I helped him by sending three 16' pieces of trim through the router. Messy, messy job. Sawdust EVERYWHERE.

Then this afternoon we spent two hours picking up stove wood and stacking it out behind the shop to dry this summer. It had been in the parking area of the driveway all winter. And now I am absolutely worn out. It is only 6:45 and I am ready for bed - I will be hitting the sack as soon as I finish writing - no typing. I am tired because even though Lee is the only one pictured picking up wood, Bette picked up her fair share of that wood and I'm tired, and not only from typing. Although now that I think about it, typing this is even making me feel weary. As my Cindy used to say when she was just a little girl "Just kidding". But only kidding about the typing part of this paragraph. Wow, I must be tired. I'm sounding like a broken record - repeating myself. Time for bed.

Just a few pictures of my man while he packed the wood. I couldn't get a picture of me handing it to him and for that I am totally grateful.

Moving Stove Wood!

HE IS RISEN!

We were so blessed this Easter Sunday morning

to hear some of the most beautiful music by our choir.

Kirstin our oldest granddaughter was able to attend

church with Lee and I and we were so happy to have

her there. Kirstin brought us some beautiful

spring flowers. Thank you Kirstin!

Nathan, Stephanie & Isabella visited the grandparents

on late Saturday afternoon before Easter Sunday

Derek, Lana, Brendon, Bryce and Paige visited us this

afternoon and it was great to see them.

I only have one picture to share of Grandchildren, dressed

for Easter - well the young lady was in her Easter finery and

her brothers surrounded her quite nicely.

The Grandmother to the Rescue

In my early life (and I might add - a much younger Bette's life), I was a Indianapolis Checkers Hockey fan. And before that I was loyal to the Indianapolis Racers. Does anyone I know even remember the Racers or the Checkers? I guess that is something about me I fail to tell people. Especially since my sons went in different sporting directions. You know football and basketball were the sports of choice for those Lee Towle boys. Yeah, hockey probably isn't very important (yet at the time hockey seemed vital to me).

Recently my two oldest granddaughters have found out they like,(really LIKE hockey - Indianapolis Ice type of hockey. Leanne was kind enough to inform the girls that their Gram might be someone that would take them to a hockey game sometime. Thank you, Leanne. Jay and Leanne took them one night, so I think she thought she should share the joy......

That day arrived and I attended a hockey game for the 1st time in 26+ years - just for my granddaughters. Unfortunately Cindy was unable to attend that night. But Gram took Kirstin and Lauren, her friend and we headed to the Pepsi Coliseum at the Fair Grounds to attend the hockey game. Well that was an experience! I'm still in shock that I stayed up that late, followed two teenage girls around snapping pictures for them (I didn't even know I could do that kind of stuff anymore), came home and went to bed so tired I felt like I had aged at least those 26+ years that I previously mentioned.

If you have time check out the pictures. Thankfully the grandmother was the one snapping pictures, so none were taken of this 'very old looking, extremely tired, haggard grandmother escorting these young ladies.

A Hockey Game

Bette's #1 Retiree

Back a loooong time ago, well about 14 years ago, Lee lost his eyesight. At that time Dr. Wilson said "You can no longer drive". Fortunately there were two drivers in the Towle Family (the parent Towle's, that is). Driving became Bette's job.

Everything went well for about 2 days. Then the comments started.....

1. Watch, there is a car coming out of that driveway.
2. Be careful. The road is probably a little slick.
3. You shouldn't be driving so fast.
4. Can yoooou seeee okay? It's getting dark.
5. Watch.....
6. Be careful.....
7. Watch....

On and on. It continued for about 6-8 months. There were times when I thought "Oh my goodness, will this ever become normal".

I came across a comment in a magazine about that time that somehow just fit the situation.

Warning:

"Retiree on board. Knows everything and has plenty of time to tell you all about it!"

That's my Lee! Now 14 years later we have a wonderful driving relationship. Bette does the driving and Lee occasionally gives instructions.

Lee has given me a postscript to this story. "Bette, please add to your #1 Retiree story what I want on my tombstone. 'Gone on ahead. Waiting to give you all needed instructions when you get here'."

Parker Wade

Well, those pictures of Parker's birthday have just vanished in the wind or in the outer reaches of Bette's new PC. I wanted you all to see a picture of Parker and the only one I can find is one taken with my cell phone and one with one of his big sisters, Cindy.

Parker is such a sweetie, I just had to show everyone a picture of this newly four-year-old.

Jayde is a Star Basketball Player

Jayde really likes to play basketball. She played on her regular 5th grade team for Harris Elementary School this winter. Since then she has been playing on a traveling team here in Hancock County. They travel all over central Indiana playing every week and Jayde has had a lot of fun with that.

This past weekend the championship game was held in Connersville, Indiana and Jayde's team won. Of course I am excited for our granddaughter. Click on the picture below to see some of the events from Jayde's winning game.

Way to go Jayde !! Grandpa and I are very proud of you.

Jayde - Basketball March 2008

Horse Feeding

Lee was asked by our neighbors to feed the horses while they made a trip to Tennessee. That has become Lee's extra job over the past few years. Bette feeling sorry for Lee since it is cold decided she would help him complete this job.

The pictures below tell the story of the horse feeding event of March.

Horse Feeding Duty

Happy Birthday, Parker

Today is Parker's birthday. Parker is our now 4 year old grandson. We were there when he had his cake and you can see he was a very excited little boy.

(Well, I have a confession - I had the cutest picture of Parker with Brett on his birthday - THIS COMPUTER has eaten those pictures, I guess. I cannot find them. The folder that says Parkers Birthday 2008 - is empty, at least it says empty - but, they have to be there, and I cannot find them. FRUSTRATING! So until I get new Parker pictures you will just have to take my word for it. They were good.)

Hope your day is very special, little one. Well not so very little - a big 4 years old now.

Love from Grammy B and Grandpa Lee to you Parker!

Happy Birthday, Leanne!

And then there were 3!

Another birthday celebration for the Towle's. Today is Leanne's birthday! March 6, 1967 was a great day at the Towle house!

When you were born, we were absolutely thrilled. I had my girl. We had boys who were 2 and 3, and I was excited with the birth of this little girl. You know all frills and lace and everything 'girl'. How good is that! I can tell you it is the best. I am not so sure you were always excited as a little girl for me to be using the lace and everything pink. But for Lee and I that was a wonderful day.

So many things Leanne and I have shared through the years. She was my absolute rock at the passing of my own mother. There were times during those days I wasn't sure I could make it. Thank you Lan for being there for me (forgive me for using my nickname for you, but sometimes using 'Lan' expresses what I feel in my heart).

We spent some really fun trips watching her younger brother play basketball for U of I. Thanks for those times, Leanne. Now she is raising the next generation basketball player.

Leanne then as Bette's girl and now with Jayde, her future basketball star and Jason. This was just before Jason's marriage to Jennifer in Savannah, GA.

Hope you have the very happiest of birthday's, Leanne

Love from, Mom and Dad

Computer Difficulties

For three months now, my computer has been acting STRANGE! That is the only way I know to describe it. For absolutely no reason at all, the mouse will lock up, it CLICKS very loudly and then a blue screen appears and announces (well not out loud), but in capital letters DUMPING ALL PHYSICAL MEMORY! That is distressing. And some programs refuse to work at all and it is all very frustrating.

After talking to several different people - you know those tech savvy ones - I have decided the end is coming. I just don't know when. One person said, that is not good news. One said it is getting ready to crash (when asked how soon, no response). And one told me that is the blue screen of death.

What to do!

The computer crashed 3 years ago, and I had a new hard drive installed. But the rest of the insides are 8 years old. I think I need a new computer.

I went shopping online. After finding one I thought would work, I went looking for advice on what parts to upgrade to. My son has a friend who is one of those computer types and he told me what I needed to upgrade to and what would work fine for the kind of stuff I do.

So I made my order. I tracked my new computer from El Paso, TX - Fort Worth, TX - Champaign, IL - and finally Indianapolis, IN. Well now I was getting excited. It was scheduled for Saturday delivery. So I cancelled all trips to anywhere and stayed home. I was sitting at my desk gathering up all the CD's to programs I would be installing on my new computer when out the front window I saw the FedEx truck go past our house - actually traveling quite fast. No turning up my drive at that speed. So I thought, he'll be back.

Long story short - I finally checked the tracking results:

Mar 1,2008 1:26PM Delivery exception - Customer not available...

Excuse me - how did that happen. I am not sure how that driver determined I wasn't available going by my house so fast. Where was my policeman son when I needed him. That guy needed a ticket for speeding.

I told this story to let you all know - I am tempted to tell Hewlett-Packard they have the wrong delivery service. I want "My Big Brown Opinion".

He's Baaaack.....

Lee & some of his Catalogs

My gardener is back. It must be spring! I realize it doesn't look like it, it doesn't feel like it and it certainly doesn't say it is spring on my calendar yet. But since my gardener has arrived, it must be spring!

I finally heard the message. I was told to prepare for seed ordering. The catalogs have been arriving in our mailbox for nearly two months, between 50-60 different ones. Who would have thought there were that many places selling garden seeds. I have tried to ignore that the day was getting closer. Last fall when the last of the garden was pulled down, and the last tomato and pepper cages were carried to their winter resting place, I was told that our 2008 garden would be MUCH smaller. I doubted the message and the messenger. Why?? Playing in the dirt is part of Lee's personality. I wondered - could a smaller garden be in Lee's future?

We sat down to order seeds. Brett, our oldest son is a big lover of "HOT" peppers to quote Brett. Brett had already brought over his pepper seed order before this day arrived. So we looked at tomato, pepper, cucumber, green bean, swiss chard, summer squash, winter squash, and zucchini seeds. We made decisions regarding all these seeds, I made my lists and told Lee I would go online in the morning and order his seeds for him. Surprise, surprise it really isn't much smaller - Lee's 2008 garden.

The next morning at breakfast, Lee made the declaration - "Do not order tomato and pepper seeds for me. I am buying tomato and pepper plants. Just get ALL those other seeds."

The orders have been sent and Lee is now eagerly awaiting the arrival of his seeds. He is already planning his garden on cardboard, so we are READY. Yea!!

Happy Birthday, Derek!

February 21st is Derek's birthday!

This is again a special day at the Towle House. Derek was born, in Moline, Illinois just 15 months after his older brother was born! At the time I thought - Wow - I have two boys, 15 months apart - I was 22 years old that day in February.

(When I posted a Happy Birthday to our oldest son, Brett in November, I was chided just a small bit about leaving out the year....Well that was 1963 and 15 months later, Derek in 1965)

As all can see, I was able to see both my boys grow up to be men to be proud of.

Derek is our resident Police Officer. He takes care of all 'police type' stuff for me. He currently is a Captain with the Greenfield Police Dept - filling in as Interim Police Chief - until one is appointed. Derek provides "quick" travel for me when I need to go to the hospital (like in the middle of the night), and provides eyes and strength when his Dad needs it and I can't perform as needed and always comes right over whenever I call saying "I need help". Thank you for all you do for us Derek. We are so proud of you and hope your day is a very special one.

Derek with his Dad and older brother, Brett in 1965 ~ ~ and ~ ~ Derek now as our favorite Police Officer! (I am so thankful that my abilities as a photographer and equipment have improved immensley since 1965.)

Happy Birthday, Derek, with Love, from Mom & Dad

Gene

We have been blessed the past 14 days to have Lee's brother visiting with us from Long Beach, California.

Gene made only one request before he got here - and that was to have some snow - which really was not my preference. But ... apparently God was listening and He sent - SNOW! Not much, but almost enough to say it really snowed.

While Gene is at our home in Greenfield, I am on vacation. I only have to do the cooking... you know, meals, homemade cookies and homemade bread. That is small price to pay for all the things Gene does for me.

This brother-in-law of mine takes care of many things for me. He is my main driver. I get to sit in the backseat while he is in Indiana - and I really love that! He takes me wherever I need to go, he takes Lee to his various activities and becomes our very own personal driver.

I never have to do the dishes. That is Gene's job when he is here. What a joy that is. I do the cooking, and then when dinner is completed, Gene cleans up the kitchen. I was unable to get a picture of him doing dishes. He yelled at me ( well 'yelled' is a relative term...) but he very FIRMLY told me I had to delete the one I took. He even threatened me - with the camera he gave me last year and I was using to take pictures. So I gave in and deleted the pictures I had taken of him doing the dishes.

Getting the mail and paper every afternoon becomes something Gene does when he is here and I am always delighted at that. You know the Post Office motto - "Neither snow nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their rounds" and Gene does that for me, as shown in this photo on a cold, snowy, windy Indiana afternoon.

The fact that I have been sick the entire time Gene was here was frustrating, but we managed quite nicely. Lee took care of Gene's noon lunches. Gene was there for Lee in the shop all the times Lee required "eyes" and I was keeping my bed warm trying to get rid of whatever has invaded my body.

I am aware that he mentioned to someone at church this past Sunday that he has a "few complaints". Guess you need to know Gene. While relating this to me, he laughed real big. As my granddaughter Cindy used to tell me when she was only 2 years old "Just kidding". Early in Gene's visit we were talking about something and I gave him a little harrassment and his comment then was "I'll get you Bette". Guess he got me at church this past Sunday.

Having Gene here has been a true joy and we are always excited when he says he is coming east to visit us. Come again Gene and safe travels back to Long Beach.

This - That - and the Other !

I'm all alone in the house this morning. And I am not expected to be anywhere, anytime today. Thank the Lord for both blessings. Aloneness , quiet and no place to go.

Getting up this morning I thought I was well. Been up about 3 hours - and no - I guess I am not well yet, better but not well.

Lee and Gene have gone to Indy to visit our newest grandchild. I was not allowed to join them due to whatever has invaded my body. The Mommy and Izzy do not need any extra things to deal with.

Speaking of Izzy and her mother - here are a couple of new pictures. Isn't she just wonderful. I guess being Grammy allows me to show off my beautiful little grandbaby.

It has been a while since we have had a baby. A couple of posts ago, I told you about Paige. She is the next youngest baby we had and she is now 5.

Parker, Brett's son, is only almost 4 - but since he and his Mom and sister joined our family in October, I missed all the fun baby stuff with Parker.

I must try to get some laundry done today. And the bed, couch or recliner is calling me, so I will be a responsible adult and get my work done, so I can go horizonal. Enjoy your Saturday and Sunday.....from this Upstreet Grammy

Family has arrived!!!

Last week I feverishly did as much spring cleaning as I could manage to fit into the week. I felt like I was progressing quite remarkedly for an older female - I thought..... When I 'think' sometimes that is not a good thing.

I went to bed Saturday night thinking, one day of rest and I can finish preparing for my family who will arrive to visit - from California.

Woke up Sunday - before my feet even hit the floor, I thought "Oh, boy, this isn't good. " Something hit me overnite - nausea, dizziness, weakness - and I thought - ?the flu? Maybe only the 24 hour stuff. I'll be okay tomorrow.

Tomorrow arrived and I still wasn't okay - in fact I'm still not okay 6 days later. But Dr. O'Connor was reassuring - it isn't fatal, so you all are stuck with me. Just Gastritis which the good Doc says can last from 1-10 days. At day 6, I'm ready for it to leave.

Well cleaning was over. I managed to dust, vacumn, make the guest bed, clean the guest bath on Monday & Tuesday with Lee's help, and then back to bed I went.

Gene, Lee's younger brother from Long Beach, CA arrived Tuesday late and between he and Lee have survived without my help. I have spent most of the time in bed. Finally I am feeling a little better and managed to check my e-mail, blogs and 'you know' all my "important" stuff. Then I decided to blog, not for sympathy, just to forget all the stuff going on.

Gene has been out this afternoon doing road repair on our driveway as this picture shows. Lee always has a list of jobs for Gene to do while he is here. They are busy completing the list. They did mailbox repair yesterday. In a recent storm, the snow plow wiped out our box. Today it is driveway repair - I guess it is on with the list for the next 10 days that Gene will be here.

I think that is all the news from Upstreet and I just might go check out how warm my bed is. Have a good weekend. Catch you all later!

From the mouth of Babes....

Or in this case a five-year-old.

I took down all my Christmas decorations the first of January. It is now the 2nd of February and all those decorations are waiting in the exercise room - stacked around in piles, overflowing various containers, lining the edges of the room, hanging from the walls and the furniture, an absolute disaster of a mess. As you know from my previous post - I have been scrapcarding and apparently not tending to my normal duties as a housewife.

Last night Paige was visiting and during the course of conversation, all of a sudden she announced.

"I have to wake up early tomorrow, run downstairs,check the weather and see if the groundhog saw his shadow"

I asked her "What happens if he sees his shadow". The answer came very excitedly from this little girl, "Then we will have six more weeks of Christmas". Isn't she adorable? ( Of course I am her grandmother and all my Grands are adorable, handsome - you know - wonderful children. )

But what a relief. I may not have to worry about packing away all that "Christmas Stuff" in my exercise room. We just may have six more weeks of Christmas. I know because Paige learned it at school and told me herself.

Here I am - and all is well....

It has been some time since I last posted and even though I check every day to see if my friends have posted and read theirs....Oh, my goodness gracious....I am so lacking in my very own posting - - - - I really hate to admit it. But the secret is out. I'm moving slower after that BIG number birthday last summer.

All of that being said. I was inspired at Christmas 2007 by a very dear friend of mine, Martha who helped introduce me to Scrapbooking last summer. I am not very good, but I do like doing it. Every bit of it....what fun. Wish I had known about it when my children were small. Oh well, that means I have 44 years of pictures to scrap to catch up.

This is what was my inspiration this past Christmas looked like. Isn't Martha clever and so very talented. I was so impressed! I decided I want to scrap my cards for Christmas 2008. But I am definitely not as exceptionally gifted as my friend. So when I found a Greeting Card Project Pack - named "Boughs of Holly", I thought hmmmm....with help I just might be able to pull this off. So I have been making Christmas cards along with spring house cleaning this month, and like I mentioned - I'm slow. Therefore I haven't been posting any blogs. Not that there was much to blog, but I guess I can always find something to talk about. And some might even find it interesting. That is part of the fun of blogging!

You can check out the picture below for some of the cards I have managed to create so far. If I do all 70 that I usually send out, I have to keep busy every month of the year doing some, or who knows it could take 2 years to finish the cards for 2008. By then - who would care? Yeah - that's what I thought....Nobody! So hopefully I will manage my time better in the next few months and find time to blog as well as my scrapbooking, errr - scrap carding!

Bette's 2008 Christmas Cards.........so far

Towle "January Birthdays"

We have several birthdays in January

Kirstin Erika Renee - on January 8th.

Bryce Andrew - on January 21st.

A new January grandchild - Isabella Sue on January 21st of this year.

Cynthia Kay - (aka known as Cindy) on January 31st.

I will get my blogging act together and be prepared for each birthday on the appropriate day in the future. But for this January I will be blogging about each one of this wonderful grandchildren of mine at the end of the month.

Isabella Sue Towle - has arrived!

A beautiful little bundle arrived for our son Nathan and his wife Stephanie at 1:42pm on the 21st of January. Everyone is doing well and so very happy to have this little girl with us. It seems so long while a family is waiting to see her - and then when she is finally here it seems like she has always been a part of us.

We were able to go see her shortly after she was born, and she is a beauty. Paige is excited that she is going to be a big cousin to this little girl.

Mom decided two hours after this little girl arrived wasn't a time for her to pose with Izzy, but Dad agreed to let the Gammy take a picture of him with his daughter.

Congratulations

to both Nathan and Stephanie!!

Answer to "An Alert" Problem.....

These kids of ours are wonderful. Knowing we were having back door issues, they have come to the rescue.

Brett called earlier in the week saying he was coming over and we decided Friday night would be a good night for him to visit. I wasn't sure at the time, why he was making an 'appointment', but agreed that Friday evening would be good.

Around 6:30, Brett & Christy with the kids arrived, along with Leanne, Jay and Jayde. Being the person I am, I made the comment, "To what do we owe this honor" - sort of kidding, and Brett tried to act like, "no big deal, Mom" - "We are just visiting". When Derek & his kids showed up, I was pretty sure something was up, but just not sure what. Nathan & Stephanie were unable to attend this 'Family Meeting' due to Isabella's imminent arrival. Lana, Kirstin and Cindy also had previous plans and were not here.

I must add a confession - I panicked just a little. Some time ago I informed Derek that when he observes that I am no longer driving safely (like down the road MANY, MANY years, kids) that he could take my car keys away from me rather than let us be on the road - an accident waiting to happen. So I thought, maybe the kids are gathering for some terrible announcement like - "Give us the keys, Mom". I am sort of "Just Kidding".

Anyway, soon it was made clear. They gave us a card with money to purchase a new back door along with the promise of installation help. Aren't they all great. We sure do love those kids of ours. The adult ones and all the younger ones also.

Check out the pictures of the

"Kids"

My Kids - Big & Little

"Dreams"

It has been almost 14 years since Lee lost eyesight in both eyes and was forced to retire. Since that time his dreams have been consistent. He dreams 4-5 times a week and unlike me he remembers them when he gets up the next morning. And he tells me about them - every one of them.

His dreams have been consistent! They take place at various places around Indianapolis, but it is always the same - he has lost his truck. He is always looking for the last place he parked it. Poor Lee. I would tell him. Lee, you don't have to work anymore, so tell yourself that and quit spending your nights looking for that truck.

This past November Lee announced one day. I want to sell the truck. I asked if he was sure that was what he wanted to do and he answered in the affirmative. So he asked me to make a sign for the window and he drove it down to the front of the yard by the road with the sign proclaiming "For Sale". It wasn't long before someone stopped, made a deal with Lee and the truck was gone. We talked about how good it would be. Now he could sleep without dreaming about that truck. All went well for 6 weeks. No dreams about the truck.

He got up this week and informed me while I checked his blood sugar that he is looking to buy a truck. I stopped - looked at him - and said "What?" He 'dreamed' he was looking to buy a truck. I told him, "you sold it. If you wanted one why didn't you keep that F150". You would have to know Lee to understand his answer. He claims, " it just sneaked in and my subconscious is lonely without the truck and now is looking for one to buy in my dreams".

Oh, my goodness gracious!

Could only happen here - it's life with Lee Towle.

Those Wonderful Grandchildren

Some of the Grands came to visit us the other day. I bowled several games with all of them and Brendon assisted me in making my very own personal Mii. I bowled mostly to spend time with my grandchildren, but also to prove I can keep up with the Queen of England. I read recently where she has taken over Prince Williams' Christmas gift - a Wiii - and bowling is her favorite game. She is 83 (I think) , so I guess I have a lot of bowling in my future to keep up with her. But ......

While the older ones continued to play in the living room, I went into the kitchen to make some strawberry jam. I had one little one who wanted to help. We pulled up a stool and Paige assisted Grammy in making jam. Or to be more correct - Grammy assisted Paige and she did a great job.

Grandchildren are so much fun. Fun to play with and fun to cook with.

Happy New Year - 2008!

God has a way of giving people their desires. My previous blog stated that I was so happy with my "Green Christmas", and I thank God for giving me the desire of my heart, at least for that one day. I even had the picture to prove how lovely it was.

Well that brought comments from some of my much younger friends as to how they wanted a "White Christmas". They like to play in the snow and I understand that. There was a time in my life when I shared that same feeling.

While preparing to take down my Christmas tree this afternoon. I looked out of the window and what did I see - SNOW - so I took this picture to prove that God listens to all of us. And those of you who wanted a White Christmas - I sincerely hope you are enjoying this beautiful White New Years' Day.

Happy New Year

to all my friends and family