some memories of times with my Grandpa Art & Grandma Calma

Grandma would curse those damned blackbirds!  (they took food away from the birds and squirrels she liked)
Grandma had the most fantastically delicious oatmeal...indescribably good!  And she never gave me the secret.  Oh, she acted like she did, but it never worked.  So that oatmeal will live on in my memories and only in my memories.
Grandpa driving us (slowly) to the Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone, on warm summer evenings
Pink mints
Playing cards - Grandma cheated.  She had a slanted mirror that she'd use to see our hands.  She denied it but nothing stopped her.
Helping Grandma clean the church.  I loved being in the church when no one else was there.
Daisy
Having tea (juice) in the tea set in the basement
Grandpa's John Deere tractor collection...I loved those tractors!
The giant cookies that she kept in the big jar on the floor by the fridge...molasses were my favorites
Her perfumes and the pretty bottles they came in.  They smelled so good! 
The push mower and the water barrel were endlessly fascinating
She knitted us (Stacey & I) ponchos and we put on our Sunday best and went to the Hub for brunch with Grandma and her card ladies
Grandma's sassy sense of humor and ability to tell stories
Her laughter...she really did have the best chuckle ever
I miss that.

some things I remember about time spent with my Grandma and Grandpa Blessum

Fields of tiger lilies...as far as my eyes could see
Being scared of the noises in the furnace room - we were sure Grandpa was hiding some scary creature in there
Being thrown up in the air by my grandpa when we drove out to the farm to bring him lunch
Grandpa rubbing noses with me when I came back down into his arms
The smell of my grandpa's garage...gas, dirt, oil, heavenly
Grandma's cat's eye glasses and flaming red hair
Great Grandma making donuts all over her basement house, her VW Beetle, sleeveless shirts and many necklaces
Everyone smoked...even my Mom tried to fake it
First thing when we got to Grandma's house, we'd look for salamanders in the window wells and usually found some
Playing in the dirt behind grandpa's garage with our little cars
Singing together in Grandma's piano room
Running all over town, without supervision, ultimate freedom!
Grandpa catching us between his legs and vibrating us till our teeth were loose
Grandpa making french toast
Grandma having grapefruit sectioned and sweetened for us every morning
How we'd get all dressed up for Xmas Eve when we were there for Xmas - I thought my Mom was so beautiful!
Family/cousins EVERYWHERE!!
Hugs...lots of hugs
Grandma would wave us good-bye until she couldn't see us anymore and we would wave back
I miss that.

I'm growing some whiskers!

I have a little whisker growing on my chin right now.  It's distracting.  I keep fondling it!  It's so weird to be getting these odd little hairs/whiskers here and there.  Part of the joy of aging from what I hear.  I certainly didn't expect this to happen when I was in my 20's!  Yeah, a wrinkle here and there, some fat and some sags.  I expected that.  But not the little whiskers on my chin. 

I can tell it's a whisker because it's dark and thick, just like a whisker!  I pluck them out.  I don't need a collection starting on my chin.  Ken might find that to be a turn off.  Or would he?  You never know with that man!  He can be perverse!  I have to keep up with the plucking/trimming because if I don't, I'll start looking like one of those women they use in films to play evil teachers that scare little children.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  Yes, you do!

I have to trim one of them because I've plucked it twice and ended up with a heinous ingrown hair that turned into a boil.  It looked like a boil.  Or a heinous zit.  Or something.  It was repulsive!  So it will be trimmed daily.  What will happen when I'm old and senile? Who will know to trim versus pluck my whiskers?  I probably won't look very good when I get senile.  But I'll be senile so I won't care.  Small favors right?

There aren't enough whiskers for me to do anything fun with them.  Like stroke them and do evil laughs. Curses!