Summer break ends: What changed while I was away

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Summer break ends: What changed while I was away

Grandma’s Briefs is back! Yep, the summer break I announced at the start of June is officially over.

While I was away from the site, a few changes took place. Some big, some small. Here’s a (relatively) quick update:

For starters, one blog change is that Grandma’s Briefs hit the 10-year mark in July! Hard to believe but true, as you can see from my very first post, published a decade ago.

Another blog change is that you’ll see a few new faces in the Meet the Family section of the sidebar, those being of Andrea’s new …

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A new home!

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A new home!

A new home!

I don’t want to say too much, for fear of jinxing things, but we found a new home!

A home that’s half the size of the one we currently live in. Which is perfect.

PLUS… the GRAND Social link party for grandparents.

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Doing it!

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Doing it!

Doing it!

Jim and I are doing it. Finally. We have finally accepted the fact the home we love and have lived in for nearly 12 years is too big for us, has too many stairs, too large of a yard, too much space for two. Especially two with trouble walking about.

Which means we are doing it: We are moving to a smaller place… somewhere (TBD) in the same city. Yes, we are downsizing. Though I prefer to think of it as my most recent Silver Sneakers newsletter called it, rightsizing. Our current home is 3,600 square feet. The homes we’re considering…

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Stag party at Grandma's

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Stag party at Grandma's

Most evenings, just before dusk, our deer neighbors make a pre-dinner visit just across the street from our house. Deer as in doe a deer, female deer, that nibble and nosh on the grainy goodies our human next-door neighbor—right or wrong—puts out for the local wild ones.

Sometimes it’s two or three does, sometimes more, sometimes their little ones, too. Occasionally a buck butts his way into the fray, but it’s typically all gals as the guys seem to favor a supper spot farther up the street.

One snowy afternoon last week, though, it was the big boys who stopped by.

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Letting go

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Letting go

Letting go

I saw this sentiment on Instagram Sunday and was immediately smitten. It’s bold and brief (my favorite sort of inspiration) and gorgeously displays the grandeur of fall (my favorite season).

It’s a lovely reminder of the need to let go. And I have a lot of letting go to do.

Much of what I need to let go is related to…

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Too soon for snow?

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Too soon for snow?

With Labor Day in the rearview mirror, who's ready for snow?

Too soon?

It's not too soon in the Pikes Peak Region!

On Sunday (which, admittedly, was before Labor Day, not after), Jim and I headed to the park bright and early for the annual Labor Day Lift Off hot-air balloon festival in Colorado Springs (which is where I captured these colorful shots in 2015). We set up our …

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Throwback Thursday: Rock on!

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Throwback Thursday: Rock on!

This #TBT feature originally published on Grandma's Briefs June 15, 2012. Thank you for reading this rerun!

Jim and I had overnight guests Wednesday night. It was a short and simple hosting stint as we were merely the midway stopping point for extended relatives going from here to there. Nothing draining, as guests—even the most beloved, most welcomed—can often be. Once our guests left and the house was empty, though, I wanted nothing more than to grab my cup of coffee and sit out on the back deck in my rocking chair.

So I did. I…

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Throwback Thursday: Long live Grandma's hoya

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Throwback Thursday: Long live Grandma's hoya

This #TBT piece by Lisa Carpenter originally published May 9, 2013 on Grandma's Briefs.

I've never been very good at growing houseplants. Because of that, I felt quite nervous and unduly obligated when the care of an elderly houseplant was informally included in the deal when we bought our current house nearly five years ago.

The sellers told us upon our agreement to buy the house that they were leaving the plant they had inherited when they bought the house, a plant started by the original homeowners when the house was built in 1975. Story was, according to the sellers — who had no information on what the plant was, only a stern warning to not let it die — that the plant bloomed only once a year and "thrived on neglect." I'm pretty good at neglecting plants, yet I still...

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Snow, buds, and the truth about #SpringtimeInTheRockies

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If you've been on social media a bit lately, you've likely come across the hashtag #SpringtimeInTheRockies here or there. If you live someplace other than the Rocky Mountain region, the hashtag may have conjured romantic visions of some sort or another.

For residents of the Rockies, the hashtag reads #ThatCrazyPsychoBullshitOfSpringtimeInTheRockies, the italicized part an unwritten given for those who know what springtime in the Rockies truly entails.

To wit:

I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado — the Rockies. On Saturday we had snow (which I shared on Facebook):

On Monday, there was sunshine and...

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