2019 Joy Journal

March 27, 2019 I have delivered our Wyatt personal tax paperwork to Taylor's office.  Walked with Bertice.  Did a little writing that I found fulfilling. Got a text from Kennedy --- she said she has some good news. Heard from Morgan. She is going to be off on Fridays from now on and is going to come volunteer with me on Friday.  Noah's team won yesterday.  Evan and Chelsea and Jaden and James came over last night. James gave big smiles and is holding his head up strongly. Jaden just enjoyed running around in the back yard, throwing the ball. He loves jumping down from the fireplace and looking at each one of us to make sure that we are each clapping. At one point, he came and got each one of us by the hand and took us back to the family room so that we could play the game again.  Evan starts as Assistant Manager next week. 

April 17, 2019 Had a really nice chat yesterday with a lady that works for Amazon. I was appreciative and it made her happy.  Went and had my hair done. Stopped in at the Flour Girl bakery and thanked them for the cupcakes they donated to the tennis tournament.  Had a nice email visit with Adele Brown. Brittany started her first day at HDR today! When they were here for Second Sunday Supper I said, and "Jon Marc's going to take a picture of you." When she sent me the picture, she siad, "Jon Marc said, 'My job is done. I did the one thing Grannie told me to do."  Beverly and JA made it safely to San Diego and have their new address. She's not sure they'll stay in that RV park, but it is less than ten miles from the jobs that most excite her, so they're going to give it a try.  Got to hug Kennedy. She's getting ready for her pop up show tomorrow night.  Little text visit with Tori. She's still fighting her cough, so we laugh...

July 30, 2019 Annette posted some pictures of the Spartan race she and Brittany participated in the past weekend. She said it was an amazing race. Got to have a nice long phone visit with Beverly yesterday. The work three shifts at her clinic, and her shift ended early enough yesterday for us to have that visit. The girls have chosen dates for their trip to California, and she is pretty excited about that. JA is happy about his new job. They created the position for him, he will be going to Minnesota for some training, and shouldn't have to be on call as much as he has in times past, and shouldn't have to put in stretches of sixty and eighty hour weeks. Angela and Tori and Josh drove in Saturday evening and left early Monday morning. We went to Oriental Palace --- Tori and Josh liked the Long Island Iced teas, too. Lots of laughter and easy visiting. We played Mexican Train dominoes and came up with our own house rules. ;-) We spent an afternoon at Firefly --- Tori an...

June 19, 2019 It wasn't perfect --- wasn't unrushed or unpressured the way I would like for things to be, but we still got to watch the sun rise over the bay, and he got back to the yard before he was antsy. Some of the pressure is just about adjusting the schedule and getting things figured out. The coffee part worked this morning, so that was progress. We still didn't get to have coffee because the pot wasn't in position correctly and it made a mess, but still --- progress. I swam this morning. I don't have anywhere I have to be today so my hair doesn't have to be dry. It takes longer to swim than it does to walk, when you throw in the changing and the showering, but I feel so much better, and I think that I really do have the time.  J.A. sent a text and thanked me for his Father's Day card. Zak and Kennedy and Evan and Chelsea are all coming over for supper tonight! 

June 6, 2019 Did I tell you already that Ashley Ezell said I was the most productive volunteer she'd ever worked with? I feel pretty much the opposite, so I've kind of enjoyed that. Evan and Chelsea brought Jaden and James over for supper last night. Jaden started lots of games with us (hiding in the cabinets, etc.) and James smiled a lot. We got take out from Taste of Thai and just laughed and talked and caught up a little bit. James was teething on his fist, so I gave him an Oreo. After he'd had a minute I said, "I should have asked his mommy first!" and Chelsea said, "That's all right. You're the granny. You can do whatever you want."  I got to have a nice phone visit with Annette this morning. I could hear in her voice how much she and Andrew had enjoyed her trip to California.  Heard from Tori. She said they had just finished a walk around the neighborhood, so I said that I was sending them each a star. Heard from Shawn. He said ...

June 5, 2019 Ashley Ezell said I'm the most productive volunteer she's ever worked with. :-) (And that she always appreciates my sense of humor.) Heard back from Elaine, so we'll have our lunch soon, I think. Heard from Annette this morning. She sent me the most loving message / gifs.  Faith sent me a text --- she got to open the store this morning. Chelsea came over with Jaden and James. Barry thought Jaden might like being able to walk in the shallow end of the pool while it was filling up, but Jaden wasn't interested in that. He was having fun running in the yard and going down the slide. He climbed up on the hearth for the "1, 2, 3, jump game." James was full of smiles. Kennedy came over and spent some time yesterday afternoon, so we got hugs and a fun visit. 

April 29, 2019 Yesterday, at Goodtimes, we took a break in our card game for Faith and Michael to make the brownies. Noah and I were standing at the end of the kitchen table, talking, when he just put his arm around me for a hug.  Kennedy came and I got some hugs.  Faith said Daniel had wanted to skip Goodtimes to go out in the boat with his girlfriend to celebrate their 6 month anniversary, and she had stressed to him the importance of going to see his grandparents.  Got to see Kim and John when they brought Noah. As they were leaving John said, "So you told all those kids that you had a car full of stuff and no one is helping you?" And then he called Noah and they got the groceries in while Kim kept Holly from escaping. Skyler had planned to come but she got a bad sunburn on Saturday. She was here on Saturday with four of her friends so they could swim, so we did get to see her.  I got a text from Angela this morning. Amber put an article about mana...

April 23, 2019 It is a beautiful day. It was a little chilly this morning but has warmed up nicely. I didn't sleep well last night, and so slept late this morning. It will make getting everything done a little dicey, but I think I'll be all right. The thing I did yesterday was to prioritize my walk. So, I got to the office later than I intended. More like 1:30. But I spent a little over an hour on the Melton Center. I didn't accomplish too much --- typed up notes from our advisory board meeting and rearranged what I have reviewed for our fundraising committee meeting.  Beverly had a successful interview yesterday for the job she wanted a Planned Parenthood.  Heard from Brittany --- she said she had a happy Easter. Amber sent me a text --- "Just got a great call at work. ...Accepted into an accelerated Exercise Bachelor's Degree program online through Franklin University. Accelerated means I will finish faster than the normal and be eligible for a combined...

March 4, 2019 The house is straight, and easily so. The weekend chores are done, and I put some extra Wonderland time in, and so made some project progress there.  Barry and I spent some time at Firefly. The deck is almost finished. We spent some time together in the greenhouse, planting seeds.  I got to talk to Beverly a little bit on Saturday.  Evan, Chelsea, Jaden and James were over for a few minutes Friday night. Jaden smiled at me and wanted to play chase.  I got a text from Andrew. We got to talk to Angela and Tori for a few minutes early Friday evening. They both seemed pretty happy. Angela said that she works alone on Fridays and so is usually behind all day long, but this Friday had been easier. Tori had told me she was in meetings and so I asked her if that meant she was telling people what to do. She laughed and said that she was coordinating with more people.  Morgan posted some pictures of Mardi Gras, and a videos of Davis laughing an...

February 27, 2019 When I was taking my walk last night, I could see Chelsea from a distance, so I called out to her. Visited with her for a few minutes, and then Evan came out, and then Jaden came to the door. It was dark, so I don't think he could see me very well, but he recognized my voice and came up to me when I asked him if he wanted to give me a kiss. I got two kisses on two different runs and then he was busy playing. I haven't heard from Shawn, but Perry did call to let Barry know that Shawn and his friend Chris had played a trick on him, so it was good to hear that he seems to be doing well. Chris said that Tyler was doing his at home support work for Read Write.

February 19, 2019 Kennedy is listed on Escambia Reads website now, as the Program and Marketing Assistant. She was assigned to them as part of her school work program. Now they have her more in the art department, but it looks to me like ECARE really wants to hang on to her. I went to the mall yesterday morning and had a nice walk with Bertice. I went to Publix and stocked up on the cereal that I like, and the fibre cereal that Daddy gave me, that I can't find anywhere else. They had pistachios, too, so now I finally have the ingredients for my regular breakfast concoction again.  I picked Skyler up from school on Tuesday and we got to visit a little bit. She is taking piano at school. Kennedy may be over this evening.  Noah responded to my text re: his soccer game this afternoon. Chris and Tyler and Wylder stopped by so Chris could get some of his mail. Tyler gave me a cord he found that had fallen on the ground, and asked if Mama Cat liked her ca...

I got to take two walks at Firefly this weekend, and that was fun. I walked down the pier and back, then around the perimeter of the cleared property and down the pier again, etc. I was grateful for the pretty weather, and for the nearly completed pier.  We saw Evan and Chelsea when we went to Waffle House for breakfast.  I heard from Noah re: his soccer game, and got a text from Skyler, and had a little Facebook chat with Tyler. 

I finished my little art book! It was a surprise because I hadn't looked ahead to see how many pages were left. Mission accomplished!  Barry and I went to the Brazilian steak house last night. We think next time, we might just do the salad bar. There is really a lot on it. Monday nights are comparatively quiet, which made it nice.  Beth came over at 8:30 yesterday morning and the three of us rode down to Firefly and enjoyed the pier and beach. There was a place in the sand where bird tracks and puppy tracks came together and looked like it had caused one of them to make a big wet spot. That cracked her up! Morgan met us at Waffle House for lunch. She usually goes to see Davis, and usually goes to her car to feed him, and it was rainy, so she didn't really want to do that.  Evan and Chelsea came over last night with the boys, so we got to hold James and play with Jaden. Evan said his managing shifts had gone well, even if it did include a small setback. (Something ...

Morgan, as part of conversation about dressing babies up for grandparents and great grandparents, and Goodtimes: "We spent so much time in Papa's T-Shirts! That's still my favorite thing to wear to sleep! 2X" Brandon said, "She even wears it out sometimes." Morgan added pretty quickly something like "Just to the ComPac."  Kennedy said that Saturday was her first day being paid to work in the art department. :-) Work study program.  Beverly and I got to have a nice long phone visit Friday night, and Angela and Tori called us that night, too.  Kennedy came over yesterday afternoon and she and Barry spent some time out in the pottery barn working on her gun project. She said her art teacher said he could see it developing into graduate student work.  Saw Beth on Facebook a little bit. She'll be here sometime Wednesday and will stay for a few days. It will be so good to have her home. Morgan and Brandon and Davis came over yesterday and s...

January 4, 2019 Barry said that when Kennedy was walking across the driveway with him she expressed appreciation for all of the years of support of creativity.  Morgan, thanking me, "Thank you so much, grannie! I love you so much!!! Everybody needs a 'grannie,' I swear!" Jaden, reaching as far as he could on the kitchen counter to get to a glass.  Evan and Chelsea came over with Jaden and James last night and stayed and had supper. Kennedy and Shawn were with us, too, so it was a full, happy table. James snuggled down in my arms and slept while Chelsea ate, and then Barry took him while I ate.  My progress during my Wonderland hours was stalled due to printer connections, and internet connections, and updates that needed to be downloaded. Even at that, I was able to catch up 3 weeks worth of settlements posting and credit card receipts, etc. Almost. I wasn't quite able to get through the last Lowes statement. I'm excited because I think that on mo...