A good day!

Today turned out to be a pretty good day in many ways.  Originally, today was going to be spent cleaning, tidying and organizing.  I did do some of that.  And we accomplished a lot, my husband and I.

In the morning my mom and I helped my grandmother take her car in for a repair.  While we waited for it to be complete we went to Walmart and the local grocery store for a few items before heading back to my grandmother's apartment.  Once the car was repaired we went and picked it up and we headed back home.

When I got home I found that my husband had been very busy cleaning and tidying our bedroom...or his side of the room anyway.  I pulled him away and we worked together to clean and organize the little girls' bedroom.  There was so much STUFF hiding and creeping in that room. It was scary!  And we found the source of the smells.  Ugh!

Beds are made.  Extra blankets are folded.  Stuffed animals are in their bin.  Rugs are vacuumed.  An over-the-door hanger is up and holding all of their dresses.  (They used to be thrown into a plastic bin.) Dirty clothing was picked up and put into their laundry basket.  All the toys were picked up and placed in their proper bins.  Sigh! It feels so good to see it clean!

It's amazing how quickly a room can get OUT OF CONTROL!  It only takes a few days and it's complete chaos...toys, books, blankets, pillows, dirty clothes, shoes, candy wrappers...the list goes on and on.  And then it takes so much more time to tame it and clean it again.

I'm so thankful that the 4 year old is the baby...the last of the crew.  There is an end in sight.  Eventually I know she will pass the "dumping" phase.  You mothers know what I mean! And I look forward to those days...all...the...time.

The next part of my day I had forgotten that I had planned.  Thank goodness for notifications on my calendar!  I was able to talk on the phone to a dear friend for a while.  I don't do that often enough and I was reminded today just how much I enjoy talking with this friend.  She always has great insight and so much knowledge and wisdom to share.  Plus she makes me laugh.  That's a great blessing!

Friends are so important.  Each of the friends I have made in each place I have lived have helped contribute to the person I am today.  I'm grateful for that!

At dinner time my dad and mom came down and brought us some homemade lobster stew.  It was a great treat!  Plus, the best part is getting to visit with my parents on a regular basis, since we moved back home.

Here I sit, with a smile on my face, truly appreciating the good day I've had.  It has been simple.  And it's the simple things that really make a difference.

Have a great night!!

Check out this awesome song!

#agreatdaytobealive
#goodtobealive
#smallandsimplethings
#friends
#dearsweetfriends
#family

Take care of our aging family members

I'm sitting here at the kitchen table. My new mug is beside me, filled with hot chocolate. As I sipped it's chocolaty goodness I pondered the day. Our plans originally for today were to go out to lunch and a movie...the 3 generations of us...my grandmother, my mother, my sister and me.  My grandmother has been sick for the last couple of weeks.  So when I called to check up on her to make sure she was up for the trip to lunch and movies she sounded hesitant.  She really didn't feel well.  But she was ready to go out if we were still going. My sister, who is pretty quick on her feet, made the executive decision that we would bring our grandmother lunch and play games with her at her apartment. Gramma loves to play games. So that's what we did!

We gathered the materials for our lunch and drove to her house.  We enjoyed our lunch together and then played two games of Yatzee.  That was a lot of fun.  Most of us hadn't played it in a long, long time.  It took a while to really get the hang of it.  My sister smoked us the first game.  We had some good laughs.

We finished that and Gramma asked us what game we wanted to play next. She really didn't want us to leave quite yet. We decided on playing a round of Golf.  It's a lot of fun!  My mom kicked our bumms!  

I think the best part of the day was being able to brighten my grandmother's day.  She lives alone.  She enjoys her independence.  She also really enjoys having company.  She would have had us stay for another hour or two, but we needed to get back home.  

It made me realize how much just calling her each day is important.  She still needs to feel needed.  She needs to feel loved.  She needs to know that she's not forgotten.  She needs to know that we care. It's so important to take care of our aging family members.  And not only are we taking care of her but we are creating memories and bonds that weren't there before.  We are getting blessed by our time spent with her as much as she is blessed by us being there.  

And as this is New Year's Eve I think it's a wonderful time to add this to my goals for the new year.  What's are some of your goals for the year? Post them in the comments.  

#newyearsresolutions

#takecareofouragingfamilymembers

#threegenerations

#spenttimetogether

#familytimeisimportant

#weloveplayinggames

#familytime

#iamamormon

#iamlds