Winding down in AZ

I want to start by saying that where I was over the past three+ weeks is the first time in the history of our family that I have had the opportunity to stay with one of my children's family for this length of time, and when none of the time was a vacation for their family. I lived with them and watched their family dynamics day by day. This has been a great experience.

I know all of us live on hectic schedules and the Eurys in AZ are no exception. Their week days being at an astonishingly early hour. The baby in the family, Bella, who is almost 4 now, wakes first, somewhere around 5:30AM every day, as if she has an alarm clock that goes off at that time. From that point on, it is one mad dash after another but done very smoothly. Sofia, who just turned 12 while I was there, is the first to go to school. Usually Cris takes her to her school downtown leaving at 7:00 while Tag and the other two are still getting breakfast squared away. Then Alex has to be driven to school before 8am. Cris tries to be home by 10:30 in order to nap Bella for about an hour. Soon it will be time to pick up Sofia and Alex around 3 (although, sometimes Sofie gets a ride home).

My time of better than three weeks were filled with fun, reading to grandchildren, playing games with the family, waiting on Tag to get home from is extended work/class days. Grabbing a taped Oprah or two late in the evening after kids were in bed, and learning about a self-help healing therapy called Jin Sen Jutzu (Sp?) and all that goes with it.

This was coming to an uneventful close until early Saturday morning, May 10, as I was tying to quietly take Bella down to the kitchen to get her something to eat (it was 5 AM), I slipped on the stairs near the bottom of theI made m and broke my right ankle in 2 places. The rest of my stay was spent being waited on and helped with every move I made after I took a trip to an ER and got the bad news on an x-ray that I had fractures. They placed me in a splint and sent me on my way. I flew home Monday morning, the 12th, and have been in recovery mode since. I had surgery on my "breaks" with screws and plate on Monday May 19 to get me on the road to recovery faster. I also had JSJ to help with this healing process, thanks to Cris and her tireless devotion of teaching me what I needed to know in order to speed up the recovery.

It was a wonderful trip and time well spent. Yes, I would have loved to have left on a healthier note but it sure gave a challenge to my son and his wife taking care of me for those last two days. They were wonderful and I know they were relieved when I boarded that plane allowing them to get back to just their hectic schedule. Thanks, Guys!! Pics will come later...

May Day AZ Day 12

While it is already Friday(day 13), I am going to blog about Thursday. Yesterday was May Day and in the Waldorf schools May Day is celebrated by dancing around the May Pole. I don't remember ever having the opportunity to do that but I do remember that there was a May Pole with ribbons around it for dancing around that some children did somewhere in the world. I regret that neither Cris nor I remembered to bring cameras so we got no pics. It was a sunny day [like every day isn't sunny in Phoenix :) ] . One of the grades played May Day songs and another grade sang them. Alex danced around with his first grade classmates. All wore flower wreaths around their heads. It was so very sweet. Guess you had to be there to really appreciate the mood of the day.

I also attended Bella's play group all morning. The teachers direct the children with soft singing voices. This is a Waldorf concept that I feel keeps the room atmosphere calming and soothing for those children who might be challenged by the need for uniformity when teaching. Remember, this is an age group of 2-3 year olds. They are barely out of infancy and we all know what that is like for a child. All mommies are present and participate with their child, somewhat. It is very sweet. I get to be Bella's "mommy" next Thursday because her mommy will be at a training workshop.

I am really enjoying this time I am getting to spend with our son and his family. I read to the these grandchildren daily (yes, even Sofie sometimes gets a charge out of some of the books in their household when she hears me reading to the two youngest). I can hardly wait until they move to Florida where it will be a lot easier to visit and be visited by.

Today we are going to go with other Baha'is on a teaching trip around Phoenix. The children will be with us. Should be exciting. Bye for now.

Finally Ikea AZ Day 11

Today was the day. I trudged out on my own and went to one of our favorite stores, IKEA, that we have really missed since moving from Chicago in 2005. I was looking for a certain type of S hook to use in our kitchen at home. I was also looking for a pot/pan rack that one suspends from the ceiling in one's kitchen. I was not able to use a riding buggy because they did not have any. What? I said to the employee. Come on guys get with the program... all stores these days have at least one buggy for us old folks to ride around on, don't they? Anyway, I got a cart to hang onto and began pushing it through the store. I started on the 2nd floor and found nothing of what I wanted. Went to the 1st floor and found a rack but it didn't look exactly like Tag's so I wasn't sure it was sturdy enough. I asked where the S hooks were and the sales person sent me on a wild goose chase to "Home Organization" saying everything would be there. After 15 minutes or so of searching I determined she had led me astray and at this point I was beginning to have a lot of back pain (occurs when I walk on concrete for too long without being able to sit a spell intermittently). In fact, I hurt so bad I just wanted to get out of there. I had planned to eat lunch there but lost my appetite. I did purchase some nice wooden coat hangers for use at home
(gee, I hope I can get all 8 of them in my suitcase). I also found a set of three small multicolored boxes with lids that will make good storage items for, whatever. And finally, I bought an apple corer for the Eurys because theirs was broken and they eat a lot of apples.

I got in the van and drove back close to home and because I was terribly thirsty, decided to find a "Jack-in-the-Box" fast food to get me a good drink and a good hamburger. My iced tea (with lemon) and my sirloin melt on sourdough bread were both delicious. Then I found a Target and hoped to find S hooks there but there were none. Here though I got a can opener that cuts off the lid and leaves no sharp edges. I had not been able to find one at the house so I hoped they would like it.

I came on back home a bit frustrated with Ikea but when it was time to pick up Sofie from school I asked Cris if we could go back to Ikea and maybe she could help me find those S hooks. By jove, she did find them and we found more things to boot to go with the rack (that we must order online because it IS too big for me to carry in my luggage).

So, my day was rewarding after all. Tag came and joined us and we ate supper at Ikea where I had my favorite, Swedish meatballs. It is now 11:40 PM AZ time so I had better hit the hay. Nite all.