January 13, 2014

Baby bump surprise and Grand Social No. 87 link party for grandparents

January 13, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

As many of you know, my third grandchild is due in June. Mommy-to-be (for the third time) Megan, in her fourth month of pregnancy, texted a photo to me Saturday of the baby bump.

This is the photo:

baby bump

Ummm... She was sporting...

January 11, 2014

Saturday movie review: 'Lion Ark'

January 11, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

Humans can inflict unimaginable horrors of cruelty upon animals. Thankfully other humans — better, kinder, compassionate humans — can lift those animals that suffer at the hand of the unscrupulous out of deplorable conditions and into a life that, though not what natured intended for them, is the next best thing.

Lion Ark the Movie The documentary film LION ARK chronicles cat rescue on a grand scale. BIG cats. As in African lions held captive, tortured, neglected, underfed and abused in all manner of ways by the illegal circus owners of Bolivia. Even after...

January 10, 2014

Ode to my eldest daughter

January 10, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

Fridays are typically when I pontificate here on what I learned during the week. What I learned this week is this: My eldest daughter is one of the most kind-hearted, deserving and — most importantly today — resilient women I know.

eldest daughter When Brianna was a teen, Jim and I often marvelled at the manner in which she could come under the wrath of her parents — for, like all teens, Brianna certainly did some wrath-invoking acts of idiocy...

January 09, 2014

40 Things to do when visiting your grandchild's house

January 09, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

Jim and I chatted with our grandsons via FaceTime the other night, and one thing I mentioned to Bubby and Mac was that they should come up with some ideas for fun things to do when PawDad and I visit them next month.

40 things to do when visiting grandchildren

As I don’t want to leave the boys fully in charge of the agenda for our visit, I set out to make a list of options myself. I first considered perusing...

January 08, 2014

Sunday morning warming

January 08, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

Sunday morning was cold.

Too cold to drive to church.

Too cold to do anything but read our (spectacularly delivered) newspaper.

And do our best to stay warm...

Like this...

dog by the fireplace

Today's question:

How have you enjoyed staying warm during (most of) the country's deep freeze?

January 07, 2014

So hard to wait

January 07, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

Why are Megan and Mac so sad?

sad mom and sad son

It can't be because Megan must wait forever before seeing her Mom and Dad.

And it can't be because Mac...

January 06, 2014

Special delivery plus GRAND Social No. 86 link party for grandparents

January 06, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

link party

It's often the little things that make you smile. Yesterday, for me, it was the delivery of my newspaper.

Like much of the country, it's been cold and snowy in Colorado (though admittedly not as snowy as many spots farther east). My newspaper is usually thrown from the delivery person's vehicle into my driveway, meaning I must walk a ways to get it. Yesterday, though, it arrived...