Actually I've been thinking alot about Gram for a while now.. As many of you who know me already know.. Gram.. hasn't been doing well lately (or as well as she could be).. On April 10th she celebrated her 90th birthday (sorry I don't have an up to date picture.. she's refuses to have her picture taken). She recently told me she'd love to live to be 100.. Wouldn't that be spectacular.. 10 more years of love and affection.. Well, over the past year and a half because of her diabetes's she's suffered circulation problems to one foot and yesterday endured her 4th surgery. 7 months ago she had to leave her home of almost 50 years to stay with my Aunt & Uncle. With her foot and frailty it was no longer safe for her to live alone. Today however, when she's released from the hospital she'll be going to her new home.. One where she'll meet lots of friends and have people cater to her for a change. "Maplewood Manor" a nursing home. The good news is.. My SIL is a social worker there and my MIL (the 2007 volunteer of the year !!! Way to go !!) volunteers there twice a week.. So I'm 100 trillion percent confident she's in good hands. It's just a sad reality.. This is the card I made for her to take to her on Saturday when I see her.. The background is Night of Navy, Bordering Blue and Whisper White. The flowers I colored with my matching SUP markers, huffed and stamped. The lighter flower's were stamped off (stamp twice without re-inking).. For the stems I used the Old Olive marker. The sentiment is a $1 stamp from Michael's. I hope she'll like it. I'm going to bring her a beautiful bouquet of spring flowers. She always says she wants her flowers now when she can enjoy them.
On a lighter note... How about a little blog candy..
Here's my little contest..
When I hit 1000 views to my blog I will surprise someone with a little blog candy. Not sure what it'll be yet but I will post a picture when I get it all together. All you need to do is post a comment to this post with a fond memory of your grandmother. I'll start with mine.. My brother was graced with being the first New Year's baby in 1960.. Every year my grandmother would have a huge New Years day dinner/ birthday celebration with the entire family and made her famous lasagna. No one's lasagna has ever come remotely close to beating Gram's.. YUMMY.. Why is it that so many fond memories surround food?? HUMM just a thought. LOL
If you'd like to send a RAK to Gram to wish her well on her newest journey, please email me and I'll happily provide the address.
60 comments:
Let's know it..
My grandma is 93. She just moved into a nursing home a few months ago after a stroke. She also wants to live till 100. My grandma is a very simple lady. She never learned to drive and she has never been more than 100 miles from her home. She also doesn't believe in Daylight Savings Time. So when I would go to visit her, her clock would be an hour off!
Thanks!
Cheryl KVD
I lost touch with my grandmother (Nan) a few years before she passed (long story) but one of my fondest memories (even though at the time I thought it was "lame"), were my sleepovers at her house. We would drink tea (mine with LOADS of sugar) and I would sit on the back of her couch behind her and comb her hair while we watched Lawrence Welk!!! Weird, right? But it makes for nice memories now.
Congrats on your blog and I'll help you the best I can to get to 1,000 hits!
Hmm...I don't have many memories of my grandmas. One passed when my mom was 16. The other was a schizophrenic who had many episodes when I was growing up. She did however always remember to write cards and little notes...I wish I was more dutiful and wrote her back!
My grandmother died 19 days before my son was born in 1986. Most of my memories of her revolve around the "play house" that they had in the side yard. My grandmother was born in London, England and was not at all affectionate with her grandchildren. She believed in children being seen & not heard so often when we went to visit she would let us play in the playhouse & bring us gingerale & cookies for a tea party.
I'm glad that my son will have memories of a grandmother who played with him as well as playing "honky tonk" with him. (My mom liked playing Donkey Kong with my son and she always calls it honky tonk.
Hey Lisa - I love the card!!! My mom's mother died in 1979 at the age of 80 - it's been so long and the memories have faded but we both liked the Beatles - she liked Ringo and I liked Paul so she bought us each a Beatle doll representing our favorite Beatle!
I also remember seeing her naked from the waist up after having one breast removed due to breast cancer - not a pretty sight!
My dad's mom died also at the age of 80 but many years earlier. All I remember about her is her Cockney accent which stayed with her until the day she died.
I only knew my grandma from my dad's side. She was a very strong woman easy to love yet hard to like. I don't have "fond" memories of her but I admired her because of her hard work ethics. Sandra Lew-Moll
I have so many fond memories of both my grandmothers that it's hard to know where to start, but here's a random one: when my brother and I were young, my dad's mom would take us to the park to play frisbee after family dinners (while our parents did the dishes).
I sure miss my grandmothers, but I was lucky that both lived well into their 80's. One of them played with us when we were young & always took us to the park or camping. She was so much fun:) The other was Italian & I'll always remember her big spaghetti & meatball dinners & freshly baked breads. She always cooked and sewed for us. I loved them both dearly.
My grandma just turned 79. When I was in grade school, during the summers I would go to their house for a week of grandparent fun! My favorite times were when I would go to the beauty shop with her, and she'd buy me an orange soda to drink (from the bottle!) while she had her hair done. I always felt so grown-up sitting on the metal chairs by the front windows, flipping through magazines.
My grandmother was an awesome lady!! At the age of 99, she moved from Florida, her home for some 30 years, back to Michigan. Get this: She had to quit her job & sell her car to make this move!!!!! She moved into an apartment, took care of herself and others (saying there are a lot of old people with walkers & canes here!lol) We had an awesome 100th birthday party for her and she blessed us with her love & inspiration until two years ago, when she passed away at the age of 104! She was an inspiration to always keep busy, with SOMETHING!
Ilene B.
My Grandmother (my Dad's mom) was the most caring , christian woman I have ever known. Her family came first and she raised 8 children by herself after my Grandfather died in an automobile accident 3 weeks before my Father was born. She always let me help her cook and also, taught me how to can and freeze garden produce. Lifetime skills that I use and love to this day.
Pat
My grandmother ran a Chinese grocery store inthe heart of Washington D.C.'s Chinatown. She defined multi-tasking ~ stocking shelves, making Chinese pastries, fixing store machinery, constructing new shelves for her store, chopping roast ducks and roast pigs, delivering to local restaurants, crocheting sweaters and sewing for new grandbabies (with no pattern!), and her most important attribute ~ loving 25 grandchildren. She had a heart of gold for not only her family but others. One Thanksgiving, a family came in to buy a Roast Turkey but had not placed an order. We were sold out. My grandmother sold our family turkey to them ~ not to make a buck but so that the other family would have something. She always thought of others. She passed while visiting my home in 1996. She is my hero.
What I remember most about my Grandmother is her hands. I remember sitting at the table with her and looking at her hands, they were hands that comforted family and friends, worked so hard at home keeping and farming, enjoyed cooking, shopping and holding her Great Grandchildren. Her hands were wrinkled, covered in age spots and beautiful.
Claudia F.
WELL I have no GRANDPARENTS left ....They all have passed ;( But I do have lots of WOnderful memories of both grandmothers ...Memere M well the Best memories were Having supper at her house every SUnday she would invite the whole family for supper and we would play games and just enjoy being together
Grandma M WEll she loved camping and would take us camping with her and make sure all us kids had tons of fun !!!!
I miss them both soo much!!!!
mmmmmmm, well i would be the only one to spend as much time during the summer at grandma lane's house. Sometimes, we would just lay on the bed and I'd listen to her talk and tell me stories about her husband (my grandfather who died when I was 3) since I was the first and only grandchild he ever knew before he died. She would always tell me not to tell my mom that she was talking about him because her daughter didn't want her to be depressed, but honestly looking back on that now, it probably helped her a great deal. I give her so much credit for having 4 children and raising them all by herself after she became a widow and never remarried. On the other hand we would play card games like kings in the corner and rummy 500. She had a built in swimming pool and she would hate it when I would swim underneath her while she was floating to tickle her feet. Well I could just go on and on, but I stop for now.
Yes, I would like you to send me the snail mail address so I could send a RAK to your grandma.
My grandma used to bake cookies with my sister and I. We loved to make gingersnaps with her. When we would sit down to eat them afterwards my grandpa would giveus a hard time for not washing our hands because the cookies were dark.
My "Nana" and I were very close, we also seemed to be awfully giggly when we got together. One of my favorite memories with her, was when I was a little girl and I would go over to her house to play store. We also played cards together alot, and she always was trying to change the rules to suite her. Lol, boy do I miss her lots! Thanks for this time to remember the good times with her :)!
Hugs,
Catherine
I didn't know my dad's mom, she died when I was very young. My mom's mom though I got to know well. One thing that I always found funny was how proper she was about some things! For example whe cooking she would let us all have tastes but she would never eat, except to check salt and such! Also she would cook, lay out all the food then off she would go to have her wash!
YM
i would love to send your gran a greeting. gremhog@yahoo.com
My grandmother was the best. My father died when I was 4 months old and so my mom and I lived with my grandparents for about 5 years and then for years afterwards I would spend weekends with them. I have so many fond memories but i'll limit it to one.
My grandmother had meds to take that left her mouth feeling bitter. So she's always carry the little Nestle Crunch miniatures in her purse. We would be sitting in church, see her reach into her purse (a very proper British woman, she was) and we knew she was "snackin". So our hands would quietly stretch out as we kept our eyes forward on the speaker. She would place one Crunch in our hands and our church "service" would be complete. Grandma died the same day as my son was born, but I was able to call her hospital room from my hospital room to tell her she had the first Great GrandSON (oh how she loved boys, and I had given her 4 great granddaughters already).
So my girls and my husband went to the funeral home without me that first night and into her hand they placed a regular sized Crunch bar and she was buried that way.
OK...I need a kleenex.
Love to your gran! susan Hatch
My fondest memorie of my Grandma's is the clock she owned. It played a song every 15 mins and bonged on the hour. I would love to own a clock like that someday.
My grandmother was born in 1886 and died in 1976; She was beautiful and strong and lucky to escape the Nazi horrors of the Second World war ... she also was THE greatest cake baker!
Enjoy yours - Grandmothes are special people
Vianna
Shogee at Rocket Mail dot com
Hi, first I want to say thanks for visiting my blog! It is always great to see who is visiting!
I was fortunate enough to grow up right next door to my grandma. My parents still live in the same house and so do my grandparents so whenever I go home I still get to see her alot. She works so hard for our family and is amazimly stong! My greatest memory is probably the "tradition of tea and sweets" which as I got older got to join in with my mom and my grandma. After a long day they often sit down together, talk, drink tea, with a little something sweet. Once again food!! It is a good time to catch up and just be together. Sorry so long!
I was very fortunate to get to spend time with both of my grandmas growing up. I was 25 when my Mamaw died and my favorite memory of her was spending time in the summers with her. I also loved that she could laugh at herself (even though she didn't always know why she was laughing at herself as she got older). The grandmother in While You Were Sleeping was SOOOO her right down to the dinner conversations. However, I think the thing I miss the most about her is that whenever she experienced a tough time (esp. after Papaw died- she lived 2 1/2 years beyond him) was she would always say "this too shall pass". Whenever I'm struggling with something her saying that always runs through my mind. My Grandma I didn't get to see as much because she lived further away but I remember going to take family vacations in Pittsburgh and going to see her. We would go out to dinner and to Pirates ballgames (I'm a Braves fan so I had to make do). I lost her to lung cancer (but she wasn't a smoker) in 2004. It's hard to believe it's been 3 years. I was 28 when she died. I miss them both so much. However, my fondest memory of my grandma is that she supported me 100% no matter what I did- she was my biggest cheerleader and her faith is what sustained her! Thanks for helping relive memories of my grandma!
Last week marked the 3rd anniversary of my grandmother's death. Something great about my grandmother? What wasnt' great? One great memory...
I lived down the street from her. One day when I was in middle school, I had to go down to her house before school to run an errand for my mom. She had made cookies and put some in a baggie for my lunch. My friend and I left to go to the bus stop. A minute later we heard her familiar "Yooohoooo!" Turned around...and saw her RUNNING down the sidewalk to catch up with us...just to give my friend a baggie of cookies too! My friend was so impressed that a grandma would RUN! much less think to give cookies to a friend of her grand daughter.
My parents had to tell me that my Grandma told them to tell me that I was cute. I don't remember her cause she passed away of cancer when I was very young. My other Grandma always knit us socks for Christmas. Now that I am older I realize how much time she put into doing this for all of us.
I only remember one of my grandmas. I remember she had an outdoor screen house in the shape of an octagon - complete with the fake grass. I thought it was the coolest thing. The lawn furniture in it was so comfy, and we would sit out there in the summers a lot. It brings back great memories!
Love your card! My MIL is 92 and bless her heart she still insists on working every day in her drapery shop with my 2 SIL's. She is determined to stay active even though her osteoperosis is so bad she can't stand straight. I wish your grams well...enjoy every minute you can with her. Take a tape recorder with you one time & ask her to tell you all about how she & your grandpa met..Thanks
The fondest memory of my grandmother was that she made my wedding dress for me 3 years ago. I flew out to New York for a week and the whole time was spent on her making my dress. :) It turned out beautifully! I'm glad you popped in on my blog, now I can visit yours daily!
Both of my grandmothers passed away when I was a child so I have very few memories. One grandmother was bedridden whenever I visited her...but she always was happy to see me and had a great smile on her face. The other Grandma lived on a farm and I remember my cousins and I always following her around because she always had chocolates. TFS
My maternal grandmother turned 87 on her birthday in December. She still lives alone (in our basement apartment)and is doing quite well. The only health problems she has is angina. My paternal grandmother lives next door to me. She will turn 86 this month - still living alone. I am very glad that they live so close and that my children are able to have a great relationship with them.
Hey Lisa! It's Teri aka alohagirl from Big Ideas from a little girl blog...did you see that you won my blog candy??? I've posted and named you the winner but haven't received an eamil from you with your address. Please visit me and send me the info so I can send you your **candy**...thank U!!
SO GLAD YOU ENTERED MY BLOG CANDY! GOOD LUCK! WELL MY GRANDMOTHER ALWAYS MADE APPLESAUCE MEATBALLS WHEN THE FAMILY GOT TOGETHER FOR BIRTHDAY DINNERS OR JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT. BUT SHE WOULD NEVER GIVE OUT THE RECIPE FOR FEAR THAT WE WOULD EAT IT SO MUCH AT OUR OWN HOMES AND IT WOULDN'T BE AS MUCH OF A TREAT TO HAVE IT AT HER HOUSE. PLUS IT WAS THE ONE THING SHE KNEW THAT EVERYONE LIKED AND WOULD EAT. MY COUSIN'S ARE PICKY EATERS PROBABLY BECAUSE MY AUNT ALWAYS MADE A DIFFERENT MEAL FOR EACH ONE OF THEM EVERY NIGHT.
I WILL KEEP YOUR GRANDMOTHER IN MY PRAYERS. SOUNDS LIKE SHE'S IN GOOD HANDS
I have a wonderful grandma. She has created so many memories for me & is the most generous and selfless person I've ever met. She babysit's my own daughter a couple times a week & has tea parties with her. Like myself, I'm so lucky & grateful that my little girl is sharing so many wonderful times with my incredible grandma.
Thanks for visiting my blog! And for the link to yours. How sweet. I'll definitely be checking back in. My favorite memory of my Gran (who is still loving) is that she would always brush my waist-long hair for me and make me home-made chicken and dumplings. She's quite a funny one too. Great sense of humor.
Mary
Both of my grandmothers are still alive, but they are getting around much slower these days. My best memory of my Grandmother Trigg, was when my sister and I we younger (elementary school age) my parents would drop us off there every weekend to spend the night. My grandmother would always let me eat vanilla ice cream with butterscotch topping all over it. It was in the same special little bowl each time. I ate this as I watched Love Boat and Fantasy Island (which scared me half to death!!) I slept in the canopy bed and she always fixed us a good breakfast the next morning. This sticks in my mind because we did it so often.
My grama collects nativity scenes and my favorite is every Christmas she puts her newest ones for the year on the dining room table and I love looking at them. When I was younger my cousins and I used to love going through and counting them all. The last time I remember counting I know she had well over 300. Who know's how many she has now!!
~Melissa
My favourite memory of my Grama was Valentine's Day. Every year we got a small plastic heart container filled with cinnamon hearts. Can't find those containers anywhere now...
My grandma has a lot of spunk and I like that about her. My favorite memory is one night when I stayed with her we went to see Crocodile Dundee. We got home and were laughing so hard about something in the movie and we both had to use the restroom, she laughed so hard she didn't make it to the bathroom! Ok, hope nobody got grossed out. Then we laughed about that too! Her husband thought we were nuts.
Sadly my grandma passed away 8 years ago. But, my favorite memory of her is when she was 80 years old, she was complaining...full fledged all-out whining....to me that she was GETTING...not HAD..but getting crows feet around her eyes! Oh if we were all so lucky!!!! She had the most perfect and soft skin until the day she passed. She was beautiful not just inside; but outside as well.
Thanks for the memory.
~Lana B.~
lanastamps on SCS
I remember my grandma had the softest skin and I would love to touch her arms. People say I have soft skin now too. It reminds me of her. She passed away about 18 years ago.
GREAT blog candy!
My Grandma lives in another state so over the years we have not been close but I always remember from when I was a kid and they (Gma & Gpa) would visit my brother and I would come home from school and the house would be filled with the wonderful smell of Grandma baking. She made the best cinnamon rolls. My Grandpa passed away last year and Grandma has been visiting family members. Over Christmas my family went to my mom's in AZ and got to spend time with Grandma. And of course she made her wonderful cinnamon rolls. Grandma was so impressed by all my brothers and my bragging that the four months she was in AZ she kept everyone stocked with rolls. They were so sick of them by the time she left (but would NEVER tell her that). Grandma's are great!
I lost both of my grandmothers many years ago. My one grandmother (my mom's mom) lived with us for many years when I was a kids. She had Parkinson's disease, and at that time (I'm 45 now) there weren't as many treatments as there are today. There was a new med. available down in the states, and I remember my mom and my aunt (who lived in CA) arranging so my mom could bring it over the border for my grandma. It had such a positive effect, she was able to start doing needlepoint again. I still have the first project she had been able to complete for years, because of the meds.
Those were the days!
Heather L.
Unfortunately I never knew either of my grandmothers. I didn't really know what I missed until I see my children with their grandmothers. I'm so thrilled they have the best grandmas in the world! (Thanks for the Martha Candy. Her collection is beautiful.) LorieR
My Grandma just turned 90 on April 16th. One of my many memories of her is sleepovers, we'd walk to the town library to pick out books, then we'd lay in bed and read until we fell asleep.
one of my fav memories is when I was little I was very mischievies and I ran our of my Grandmas apartment and I rang the buzzer for her place I told her I was out side and could she please let me in! She came running out side to get me. I ran around the building climbed over her railing and and locked the front door. I was 6. good times LOL.
My grandmother-in-law makes danish pastry for the holidays and this year she invited me into her kitchen and gave me lessons. A new memory, but a wonderful one nonetheless. A full day of flour and butter and endless dough rolling...my grandmother-in-law jumping in to help troubleshoot when I didn't quite get the dough folded right and my father-law peering over her shoulder (Yes, yes! I will make you danish, too!)
My gram is 78 this year. She is one of my best friends and I call her every few days. My favourite memory of my grandma is walking on the beach with her every Saturday morning. We used to hand her shells and rocks and she used to put them in her pocket until we got home. Little did I know, grandma still has most of those shells and rocks today! In a few years time grandma will be moving in with my family. When I was little I promised to look after her. I always stick to my word.
What a lovely thing to share. Thanks for asking this question.
My favorite memory of my Grandma is when I was about six I used to get to go to Grandma's and my sisters couldn't come with me. It was just me and my Grandma. :-) We would visit and she would listen to my dreams and aspirations but most of all she would let me do her hair and make-up. Oh, it was so fun but unfortunately Grandma never went out of the house after I did her up... I wonder why?
My grandma used to make up stories and songs about me (and of course of her other granchildren as well). I always felt very special sitting on her lap and listening her...
I don't have a lot of memories of grandmothers. My dad's mom passed a month before I was born. I was named after her. My mom's mother lived 300 miles away. We visited them one week-end a year. I remember she was a great cook and she made us a bed to sleep on the floor.
I have two. Making homemade tortillas with my Maternal Grandma in my "dolly" apron, covered in flour. And once when I was little and the neighborhood older kids made fun of me or something, I went inside sat on my Grams lap; told her what happened and she said "I'm Sorry!" I remember being mad at her because it was not her fault but she kept apologizing. The other thing she would say is "If you stick that lip out any farther, a little bird is going to sit on it and poop on it!" I liked to pout.
Grandmothers are wonderful beings, and we should all be blessed to have them in our lives. I grew up with only one grandma, who was my dad's mother. We spent a great deal of time with her, and as I grew I saw how very much I resemble her...the good and the bad!! =) I always remember my grandma being 'old' in that she had wrinkled skin and looked the way Grandma's look (not how my mom looks to my kids however!). I remember the few times that Grandma would babysit my brother and I, and my parents would always ask how we were, she would always reply "They were as good as Gold". The other thing that makes me smile and think of my grandma (who has been gone 12 years this summer) is that when we would get messy, or make a mess, she would say "You are a mess and a gom" Don't know what a 'gom' is necessarily, but I've since passed that phrase onto my 2 daughters. My oldest thought it would be perfect to use on her Papa when she was 2!! The tradition lives on. I miss my gradma terribly, and I will say that her funeral was the hardest thing I had ever had to endure. It sounds like your grandma is a wonderful woman, hold on to her while you can. Thanks for the opportunity for Blog Candy!!!
Well, I am first generation Canadian and all my relatives live in England, so I didn't get to see my grandma very much while she was alive. But I do remember she and my grandpa coming to visit when I was 5 or 6 and we all went to the zoo, as a family outing. She made us all matching aran cable-knit sweaters (it was fall) and she pushed me around the zoo in my orange stroller! She is gone now but it was a wonderful day that I will always cherish in my memory!!
i mostly remember about my grandmother the fact that she was a painter and artist. she even had a craft room in her and my grandfather's hi-rise apartment in houston! i remember going over there and spinning in her sewing chair!!
I lost my grandmother a while ago, but here is one of many great memories: My brother and I would stay with my grandparents every summer (and usually Christmas vacations, spring breaks......sometimes even three day weekends). Anyway, the bathroom was an "out house" type of bathroom. So as kids, when we went to take a shower, we had to remember to take our clean clothes and towel with us to the bathroom, other wise once you got out of the shower.....oops! So it never failed, that at least once while we would be at her house, my grandmother would call for me or my brother to bring her a towel because SHE had forgotten to take one with her for her shower. And everytime this happened, my brother and I would walk to the out house, open the door so just our hand would fit inside.......and hand my grandmother a Paper Towel from the kitchen.........then we'd giggle like crazy (EVEN my grandma!)
Let's see one of my favorites would be my dad's mom calling us Sugar all the time and going camping with them. I miss hearing her call us that, I should go call her now.
I also loved my grandma's cooking (mom's mom) and her nickname for me - Cee-Cee. I really miss her.
My grandma is such an awesome person in my life..to come up with one memory..is very difficult. I have to say i remember all the sporting events we went to! Plus when I use to play she would be bring TONS of goodies. From where ever. It didn't matter..if she knew it was my favorite..her and my papa would drive to get it..and bring it to me for after the games! SIGH..my grams is the best!
My Nana was the BEST!! I loved sleeping over at her house...we had baked beans and franks every single Saturday night and then we would go to the dairy farm for really special ice cream! And, she had an Air Stream travel trainer in her backyard which I love to play in...the sink was so tiny!
My Grandma used to take me and my two sisters and my 3 boy cousins every Good Friday on a big outting. She'd load up the car with the 6 of us kids, some of our favorite music 'tapes' to listen to, a couple bags of snacks to keep us well-fed and she'd drive us all over town. She'd take us to the top of really tall buildings to let us see the view. She'd take us to the courthouse to see an actual court case in progress. She took us all over and we thought she was just about the coolest! I love this memory of her!
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