Hugs and "Hi, Miss Puff!"

No, Christian, Great Grammy Polly has NOT had her hug today!! 
Somehow the day never goes quite the way it needs to without a good hug.  A hug from anyone will do, but that hug from someone special just puts an oomph in your day that nothing else quite does!!!  My grandchildren give the best hugs in the world, at least it seems to me they do. 
I am positive it IS just me and that every grandma thinks her grandchildren have hugs as sweet as honey, but I swear when I get those big bear hugs from the boys, I just feel like asking, "Okay, now, Lord, what can I do for you today?" 
Michael is a teenager now and has always squeezed me so tight I could barely breathe, and I always tell him how I miss those big bear hugs when I don't get to see him for a while!!!
How I got from 'hugs' to this is a mystery to me as well as you, but I am thinking of the time Michael told me once when he was quite small that I reminded him of Miss Puff.  He had to go into a long explanation of how Miss Puff was on Sponge Bob!!  I thought it was so sweet ... Miss Puff!! 
AS I walked through the living room one day where he was sprawled watching cartoons he said, "Wait, Grandma, Miss Puff is going to be on here."  I was so excited and sat with him till my namesake made her entrance into Sponge Bob's watery world. 
I was shocked speechless when I saw Miss Puff was a big fat blow fish!!!!  I had envisioned her as an angelic little creature with such a sweet little name!  I was not about to let my little guy see my disappointed face as I exclaimed cheerfully how cute Miss Puff was and anyone worth their salt should be honored that their grandson was reminded of her when he saw Miss Puff!!
We still laugh about that and just a few days ago, I had a Facebook message from him that said simply,
"Hi, Miss Puff."

Be sweet!

Sunshine Award

Mary Anne Gruen of the Starlight Blog gave me the sunshine award!!!  I love this award!!  It is so colorful and to me also full of meaning.  I am happy to receive this award and feel very honored that Mary Anne chose me as one of her recipients.  If you have not been to visit her blog, I hope you will and I can guarantee you will find a gorgeous blog loaded with great pictures.  I have to tell you this ... Mary Anne has a dog named "Virginia".  Don't you just love that?  She has posted a picture of Virginia sitting beside a branch that had fallen from a white pine.  I just love the story in that post and now I love her dog as well!!  My name is(are you ready for this?) Virginia Paulette!! 

Now, most people wonder how in the world anyone ever got "Polly" from that!  My mom told me that my grandpa started calling me "Polly" when I was only a few days old and soon everybody followed suit.  I have lifelong friends who don't know my name is not actually Polly.

When I was a child, my dad would call. "Polly" and if I didn't answer or come right away, he said in a voice that could not be ignored, "Paulette!"  You better believe when my dad called me Paulette, I knew for sure I had best get moving!! 

My sweet little daddy stayed with me the last 2 years of his life, because he was so lonely and almost grieved himself to death when my mom died of a massive heart attack.  They not only were husband and wife, but best friends.   He came to my door one day, knocked (which he never did) and I asked what was he doing out there knocking, to get in here!!  He said, "Sis, can I stay with you for a couple of days?  Every where I look I see 'my buddy' and my doctor says I have to be out of the house a few days, because all I can do when I am home is cry and think of your mama."  I said , "Why are you asking?  I love you and you will stay as long as you want or need to." 

He could not even go back to get his clothes.  Bless his sweet little heart.  I went to get his clothes and whatever else he needed and he never went home again!!!  He stayed with me until he went to Heaven to be with 'his buddy'. 

I said all that to say this ... even when I grew into an adult with children of my own, when my daddy said "Paulette!"  I got moving!!  When he became very sick and needed something, he would call me and if I didn't hear him or respond the first few times he called me, I will never, ever forget, he would say in that voice that simply could not be ignored, "Paulette!" and you better believe I went running!!!

All this because Mary Anne has a dog named Virginia!!  Now I know why I tell my kids I haven't lost my marbles, but they are pretty well scattered now!

Thank you for the Sunshine Award.  That has quite a ring to it ... a Sunshine Award from the Starlight Blog.

Be sweet, all!

Mama's Gonna' Be Grandma

This is my youngest, Brent ... our little "surprise", and what a pleasant one he was!!  He is the youngest of 6, so there's no need to go into all the details of how his older brothers and sisters had him walking and talking at such a young age even they were amazed!!! 
The fun really began when I learned not only was I going to be a mom again, but also a grandmother for the very first time!!  Yes, my daughter in law, Carol, and I were pregnant at the same time!!!  I was both happy and embarrassed.
I found my oldest daughter giving me sideways looks, laughing, looking away, back again and saying, "You ARE kidding, aren't you?".  I will never forget the first time I wore maternity clothes!!  The kids and their dad were going to a ball game and one of them asked, giving me "that look", "Mom, are YOU going?".  It was such a wonderful, delightful time looking forward to a new baby and so excited that I was going to be a grandma too!!  I had stopped coloring my hair, but told my doctor the first thing I was going to do after leaving his office was go buy some hair color!!  My baby wasn't gonna' have a gray haired mama!! (Actually I started getting gray at age 16, by the time I was in my 30's I had salt and pepper hair!!)
After I learned I was going to also be a grandma, I couldn't decide what to do about the hair color, but the vanity won and I put that color on my hair and always told everyone my color came straight out of a bottle and as long as I could bend over to wash it out, that is how it will stay, no bones about it.
Brent is still my baby, just like the rest of them ... they are all my babies, he is just the youngest .
The happiest days of my life was when I was raising my children, I thought I would fall off the face of the earth when they started growing up and leaving home, one by one they grew up and made lives of their own, which is the way it is supposed to be.
Debye, my oldest daughter, had moved to Texas and we would talk on the phone till the wee hours of the morning.  Once, I was still on the phone with her when the first light of day began coming through the window. She told me, "Mama, you've got the 'empty nest syndrome' baaad, Honey!"
I cherish those days, treasure the memories that I am ever so grateful to have.
Be sweet!!! 
 

Easter Belles

 

I think of the garden after the rain;

And hope to my heart comes singing,

At morn, the cherry blooms will be white

And the Easter bells will be ringing!

-Edna Dean Proctor-

I love this vintage graphic.  I like to call it "Easter Friends", though I do not know if it even has a title or name.  It is such a sweet picture with the girls peeping at each other around the egg and the old fashioned bunny hopping merrily away!!  I hope you enjoy it as I do and remember, it is Easter, so be sweet!!