Preparing for Bubby

Bubby's guest room awaitsToday I'm in the desert visiting Bubby. On Sunday, he and I will hop on a plane together and head for the mountains. It will be his first plane ride without Mom or Dad, his first visit to Grandma's without Mom or Dad. We're all pretty excited ... yet anxious to find out how our little guy will do being away from his parents for a few days.

Jim -- aka PawDad -- and I made a few adjustments and enhancements to house and home in preparation for his visit:

1. Removed the box spring from the bed in the guest room, to lower the bed to a height that's easy for Bubby to get in and out of.

2. Set up the baby monitor in the guest room so we could hear any sounds in our bedroom ... which is only two doors away but ya never know.

3. Purchased new Matchbox cars and a nifty rug printed to look like a happy little neighborhood with wending roads just the right size for Matchbox cars.

4. Scrubbed and shined -- to the degree you can shine plastic -- some of the old toys left in our shed by the previous owner. Including a fantastic Fisher Price play kitchen set (sink/stove/fridge combo!) last used 15 or so years ago, but perfect for Bubby ... who would have loved such a thing for his birthday but Dad nixed that idea and he got a cute little BBQ grill instead. Well, Dad, Bubby will be playing with a kitchen set at Grandma's because we certainly can't let a good kitchen set go to waste.

5. Stocked up on 100% fruit-juice fruit snacks, goldfish crackers and Vitamin D milk (instead of our typical 1%). Stocked up on diapers and baby wipes, too -- things I've not bought in more than 20 years.

6. Added fresh batteries to two baby glow worms and a Teletubby (a Teletubby which no one in the family knows how it came to be part of our toy stash).

7. Set the DVR to record a few episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba and Chuggington.

8. Purchased the super-size bag of popcorn kernals for popping in the popcorn machine -- a specific request from Bubby. He surprisingly remembers our popcorn machine and its movie-theater-popcorn goodness from his visit in March.

9. Cleared the calendar of anything and everything except hanging out with our favorite little dude.

Our house and hearts are ready. Wish us luck!

Today's question:

When you have guests scheduled to visit, what is the first item on your preparation to-do list?

This post was linked to Grandparent's Say It Saturday.

Waste not, want not

Because of a recent trip to the grocery store followed by a patio party in which lots of people left lots of stuff, today I have the following fresh produce in my house:

• black grapes

• red plums

• cantaloupe

• watermelon

• lemons

• limes

• tomatoes

• cucumbers

• onions -- red and white

• zucchini

• summer squash

• leaf lettuce

• carrots

• celery

• bananas

• green peppers

• green onions

• cilantro

• mint

Ugh! All that for just me and Jim!

With Jim not being much of a fruit or veggie eater, looks like I'll be making a visit to Crunchy Betty to come up with ways to use some of the goods on my face and body -- not just in it -- before it all goes to waste.

Today's question:

What fresh produce do you have in your house right now?

9 grandparenting ideas from 9 grandmas

I've met such fantastic grandmas through blogging, all with abundant wisdom and more to share.

Here are nine of my favorite -- most useful! -- posts from nine of my favorite grandmas around the web:

1. Grandma Susan, guide for About.com: Grandparents, offers up Baby Supplies for Grandparents. If the little ones will be visiting your house on a regular basis (lucky you!) or even just occasionally, Susan's list is a great starting point for stocking up.

2. All grandmas want to be Super Grandma, to be the provider of mega-memories for our grandkids. Donne of GaGa Sisterhood shares a hard-learned lesson on taming unrealistic expectations of yourself in Super Grandma Vacation Advice: Pace Yourself.

3. Scrambling for toys to entertain the grandkids? Grandma Ronda Kay of GrandGifting shares the giggle-and-grin inducing Unconventional Playthings in Unexpected Places.

4. Reading picture books together is a given, when it comes to grandmas and their grandchildren. Consider taking it a step further -- extending the time engrossed in the story as well as the enjoyment of each others' company -- with this Story Wheel activity from Grandma Lizzie of Grandma Lizzie's House.

5. Being a long-distance grandparent is much harder than it looks -- on the heart, the pocketbook, the relationship between Grandma and grandbaby. Grandma Sue of GrandLoving offers up a super collection of ideas for Long-distance Love and staying in touch across the miles.

6. Button, button, are you a grandma with lots of buttons? Oma of Travelin' Oma shares her ideas for keeping grandkids entertained by pulling out the button box -- or tin or jar -- and making the very most of Button, Button.

7. If you have grandsons to entertain, Grandma Shelley of Grandma's Little Pearls has the absolute coolest idea for the guys. She even calls it The Perfect Outing for Little Boys. Regardless of the title, though, I'm pretty sure little girls would consider it the coolest of cool, too.

8. Grandma Nina of Grandma Ideas has so many nifty ideas for activities with grandkids you likely won't even know where to begin. But as the older kids are often a little more difficult to entertain -- and impress -- you can't go wrong by checking out Nina's Video Fun with Teen-aged Grandchildren.

9. One of the quickest and yummiest ways I found to impress the grandkids -- and their dads ... and everyone else -- is with the Fried Egg Treats from Grandma Judy of Bible Gal. They don't involve eggs or frying, but you'll just have to click on the link to see what they really are, as I'm not at liberty to divulge the secret here. Click on the link then scroll down the page and you can't miss them. I bet you'll be impressed, too.

The greatest thing about the advice and ideas from these grandmas? You don't have to be a grandma to put them to good use -- they work just as dandy for moms, grandpas, aunts and more!

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Today's question:

If you could live in any children's book, which one would you choose?

My answer: "The Secret Garden" would be the place for me.

9 things I've kept 'for the grandkids'

My daughters have been grown and gone for quite some time now, but there are a few useful things from their childhood that I just can't throw away.

I'm pretty sure -- or at least I'm bound and determined -- that these items will one day come in handy, that they'll one day provide fun and frivolity for Bubby and his future siblings and cousins.

9 THINGS I'VE KEPT 'FOR THE GRANDKIDS'

1. VHS tapes of children's movies and shows.Space Jam, Fluke, Casper and more. I can't see throwing away tapes I know kids love, but I sure don't plan on replacing them with DVDs or Blu-Ray discs (except for the Disney and Pixar ones, of course). Show time at Grandma's will be comparable to projector films back in the day, right? As long as I hold onto a VCR, too!

2. Craft supplies and instructions. Stickers and papers and paints, oh my! Plus a gazillion craft ideas torn from magazine pages ... most of which I never got around to doing with my daughters.

3. The keyboard. I have a piano now -- and never really played the keyboard anyway -- but the grandkids will love the electronic version that still bears the note stickers that helped the girls learn a tune or two. I still have the Disney songbooks, too, from which those stickers came.

4. Jell-O egg mold. It makes full-size Jell-O eggs for Easter! So cool! So colorful! And so nearly never used with my daughters. I just might have a Halloween-bat mold hidden away somewhere, too.

5. Halloween costumes. Witches, devils, monster masks. I got rid of the French maid costume, which was a bad idea the first time around. Kept the sari, though.

6. Puzzles. We -- okay, I -- like to do puzzles, and one day I just may pull out an old one to share with a new companion who's not yet grown bored with Mom/Grandma's 1500-piece challenges.

7. Sleeping bags. No doubt there will be slumber parties at Grandma's, with passels of kids lining the floor. I can dream, right? Sleeping bags are for those dreams.

8. Children's books. Does this one count? Does anyone get rid of books anyway? Not in this house! In fact, I keep adding to this collection ... for the grandkids.

9. Records. I still have the vinyl (!) recordings of children's music the girls listened to as youngsters -- Mousercise and more! -- plus a few 45s of pop tunes they played again and again as preteens. And yes, I do still have the record player ... and sometimes even still use it.

Today's question:

What have you held onto that you no longer use, simply because it just might come in handy one day?

This post linked to Grandparent's Say It Saturday.

Five grandparenting mistakes

I recently read an article on Grandparents.com about some of the mistakes made by grandparents. Titled "5 Mistakes Even Good Grandparents Make," the article warns Grandma and Grandpa to watch out for these issues that mar a near-perfect grandparenting record:

1. Encouraging tantrums
2. Agreeing to do too much
3. Getting frustrated
4. Falling for the hype
5. Breaking too many rules

Well guess what? I don't do ANY of those!

Does that make me the perfect grandparent? Not by a long shot.

What it makes me is a long-distance grandma. A long-distance grandma physically incapable of committing such mistakes. For each of those mistakes -- with the exception of No. 4, but I'll get to that -- requires a grandparent to see his or her grandchild on a regular basis. And I definitely don't see Bubby often enough to rack up the faux pas, at least not those presented by the article.

To wit:

I've never committed No. 1 because Bubby is the perfect child who never, ever throws a tantrum. Okay, that's not true. But because I don't see him often, he's usually on his best behavior when he's around me and I can honestly say I've never seen him throw a tantrum. So I certainly can't encourage them.

The No. 2 mistake is impossible for me to make because I simply cannot agree to do too much. Believe me: I'd love to babysit too much and all the other "too much" issues of which the article speaks, but unless Megan were willing to send Bubby to me as an unaccompanied minor a few times a week -- or pay for me to fly to the desert a few times a week -- there's no way in cuss I can do too much.

No. 3? Well, the article notes how easy it is for a grandparent to become frustrated upon having to hear an Elmo CD again and again and again. I don't get to hear Elmo singing at all ... which presents frustration of a different sort, but not to the degree nor manner of which the article speaks. So I'm clear on No. 3.

No. 4 is one I could commit from afar. But I don't. I'm not one to fall for the hype when it comes to buying Bubby high-tech or uber-educational toys. In fact, I'm probably guilty of getting him oddball creative crap, er, cuss, that most grandmas may not consider. Witness the Bilibo I'm getting Bubby for his birthday. Actually, I've bought him two Bilibos for his birthday. Yeah, I choose weird gifts. Sorry Bubby, sorry Megan. But at least this grandma's not committing Grandparenting Mistake No. 4.

And No. 5, the mother of all grandmother mistakes, doesn't happen either. I see Bubby rarely enough that I don't feel compelled to break all the rules and try to instill the "There are no rules with Grandma" rule. I just go with the flow of the family and do what Bubby is used to. No sense upsetting the norm just because Grandma's around for a few short days is my thinking. Now if Bubby lived nearby in the mountains -- or when there are local grandchildren added to the family tree -- things may be entirely different. But I'd never admit that, of course.

On the surface it appears that I surely must be the perfect grandparent.

More truthfully, though, I'm just mistake-free by default, by a technicality, by 819 miles in between me and my Bubby.

And I have no doubt at all that I'm screwing up in hundreds of other ways, the ways long-distance grandparents screw up.

Hmmm ... Now that I think of it, that is the list I should be consulting. But I've searched and there doesn't seem to be one anywhere online ... yet!

Coming soon to Grandma's Briefs: 5 Mistakes Even Good Long-Distance Grandparents Make. You won't want to miss it!

Today's question:

What's one mistake you've made in the past six months that you're willing to admit?

My answer: I burned Jim's bacon on Sunday, Father's Day, his Father's Day Breakfast bacon. He likes it crispy and I went a little too far in trying to please him.

Wheat, chaff and baby teeth

As I mentioned yesterday, Jim and I spent Saturday with three of Jim's five siblings plus a couple nieces and nephews clearing out the storage shed that held everything from the last apartment Jim's mom lived in, her last home and the place she resided when a stroke unexpectedly ripped her from her life and plopped her down in a hospital bed to wait out her days.

My mother-in-law was always a fastidious housekeeper, a truly tidy grandma. But the unexpectedness of the emergency medical situation meant she never had the chance to tie up her life belongings into beribboned bundles or to even discard such things as drawers full of hair-color conditioner tubes and expired grocery coupons. Which meant her kids had a lot of stuff to go through, a lot of work to do paring her possessions into piles to pass along to her children and grandchildren, honoring her by not pitching it all into the charity bin.

To be honest, it was a relatively quick task as Jim's mom lived a spare and simple life. And, as Granny prided herself on being ever the educator, the task indeed taught me a few lessons about getting my own things and my own life in order so my kids and grandkids have an easier time separating the wheat from the chaff once I'm gone.

Here are a few of those lessons:

Keep a notebook or journal -- placed in a prominent spot -- detailing which possessions you'd like to go to whom. There were thankfully no arguments over my mother-in-law's goods, but we all could only guess what her desire may be ... and I'm pretty sure we missed the mark on at least a few. A will may be the answer, but how many wills go so far as to say which kid gets the red afghan versus the white or the flowered teapot versus the striped?

Always label photos with the names of those in the pictures and the date. As we perused the hundreds of photos, we were at a loss again and again without Granny around to let us know which baby belonged to whom and why one wacky woman wore the getup featuring what appeared appeared to be a bikini-clad sumo wrestler.

Minimize the mementos from your children's early years. Mother's Day gifts made in preschool, unidentifiable art-class and woodshop projects and every scrap of sentimentality have their place, but it's a very limited place. Save only those that really tug at the heart strings, not every crayon-scribbled, glitter-pocked piece of paper.

Speaking of paper, get rid of (most of) it. There's no need to save every single greeting card, every single receipt, every single recipe that one may have intended to try but never did. A paper shredder -- of which we found an unused one in Granny's possession -- comes in handy for such things.

Same goes for toiletry samples and hotel freebies. As Jim and his siblings chuckled about the blue tube after blue tube of the Clairol conditioning cream that comes with the hair color but is far too much for any normal woman to use as directed on the tube, I had to fess up that I have a handful, okay a basketful, of the very same conditioning cream tubes in my own bathroom cabinet. I'll be pitching those ... soon.

Thank you for these lessons and more, Granny. I'll do my best to soon institute them in my life, my home, my piles of stuff. I'll do it in honor of you -- and to nip in the bud the giggles, grins and guffaws sure to come from my daughters if they were to one day discover the Ziploc baggie I have filled with baby teeth individually wrapped in tissues, all deftly pulled from under pillows by this grandma formerly known as the Tooth Fairy.

Today's question:

Which of the "lessons" from above are you most in need of instituting in your life?

Grandma tools of the trade

The other day I bought a few new tops (gotta love JCPenney sales!). When I got home and removed the tags, I took the little packets of extra buttons that came with and added them to my button tin.

That's when it hit me: I really am a grandma. Grandmas have button tins, button jars. Here I am with a button collection all of my very own. Hence, I'm a grandma!

It got me thinking about other grandma tools of the trade, the accoutrements that show a woman has reached grandma status.

As a relative newcomer to the grandparenting game, I've not yet gathered enough of the required goodies to be considered in the Pro-Nana class, but here's what I've got so far, the things that put me firmly on the playing field, striving to move from the Amateur level to Pro:

• Rocking chair -- I have three, actually, plus two gliders and a rocking recliner

• The aforementioned tin o' buttons

• Afghans -- I have too many to count (thanks, Mom!)

• Jelly jars -- a box leftover from my pomegranate jelly adventure

• Super-size stock pot -- ideal for making jelly AND crowd-size pots of chili

• Stock words of wisdom -- My favorites: "The key to patience is finding something to do in the meantime" and "To have a friend you gotta be a friend"

• Grandfather clock

• Bobby pins ... lots of them (forget that I never even use them)

• A cabinet filled with craft options -- colorful paper, paints, crayons, markers, kid-size scissors, various glues, stickers, embroidery thread, fake flowers and floral tape, paper-making supplies, fabric remnants, and lots of pages of ideas torn from magazines yet never executed

• Enough spare sheets to cover each bed three times over.

• Enough dish towels to dry each dish with its very own towel.

• Bi-focals -- I have two pair ... progressive lens, as I claim to be a hip grandma

• Flannel jammies -- although since recently buying them after years without, I think the flannel jammies should wait until well past the hot-flash, perimenopausal phase. Flannel jammies are definitely for grandmas in the Pro-Nana class

• A recipe box filled with yellowed clippings from magazines plus handwritten cards from 30+ years ago when my handwriting was a bit easier to read

Yep, I'm an amateur. And I'm not even sure what additional tools of the trade I should be collecting to progress to the next level. I've always been a bit of an overachiever, so having no set list to which I should aspire can be a bit daunting at times. Any suggestions?

Today's question:

What are some tools or traits you associate with grandmas, something every grandma should have, do or be? Something you, your mom or your grandma possessed?

My answer: My grandma and my mom both have wigs they wear occasionally ... I'm definitely not there yet.