March 25, 2011

  • I Am An Optimist. How About You?


    TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    I have always been an optimist.  I prefer to think the best of people and that people really CAN change.  If times get tough, I always think of it as an event to get through and that things will get better.  Pessimists, on the other hand, are people who are never happy.  It's impossible for them to be because their whole outlook is just doom and gloom.  That's the Beast.  It's really the source of most of our problems we had earlier in our marriage (and sometimes is the source of disagreements now...LOL).

    I forgive easily.  I love deeply.  I always make the best of things and think of any bad event as one that won't last.  I love my friends and family with all their faults because I know they have to love me with mine.  If things don't go like I planned, I just roll with the punches and try to enjoy it anyway.  I figure *that's life....unpredictable as usual.*

    I admit I am often disappointed that people or things DON'T change for me or my kids or my grandkids or my friends.  I want the best possible life for everyone and believe that it's possible with a little effort on everyone's part.  I will take a deep breath when something bad or tragic happens and then do what must be done.  That's how I got through the Beast's strokes. 

    I encouraged him when he got depressed over his slow recovery.  It took him over a year to get out of the wheelchair totally.  I reminded him of all the little challenges that he had met and overcome.  I believed he would recover and he did!  Although there ARE times when I think......... well, we won't go into that. 

    I only bring this up because the Beast thinks I am being very stupid not to believe that our way of life may undergo a drastic change in the near future.  Not just us, but everyone.  I told you he listens to and reads all kinds of articles written by economists and world leaders even.  He says the handwriting is on the wall. 

    I believe that, although times may very well get tough for us all in the future, we will be able to ride it out and overcome whatever happens.  It's a *wait and see* kind of thing.  I just thought I would get it off my chest and out of my head.  Fini!

    I had Chewlee for a couple hours yesterday.  It wasn't my regular day to have her but Johnnycakes said he had some running around to do so I picked her up from school and brought her home.  I really do love that kid.  She makes me smile and laugh....a lot.

    She came in the house and went to get an orange.  For some reason, she calls it orange juice.  I told her I had orange juice in the fridge and she came up to me with the orange in her hand and said, *I TOLD you the orange juice wasn't in the frijifrator.*  I laugh whenever she says that.  It seems like no kid under 5 can pronounce refrigerator correctly.

    She brought it into my room and said we could share it.  I peeled it, she threw the peels away, chatting the whole time.  She wanted me to separate the sections (which I always do but she always has to tell me) and she pointed to mine and then hers and said, *See!  We are sharing.*  She ate hers quickly and then leaned over towards me, saw I had a couple sections still on the desk in front of me and said, *You have to share, Gramma,* as she grabbed a section and took a bite.

    Her idea of sharing is what is hers is hers.  What is yours is hers, too, if you don't finish it as fast as she does.  We shared a dinner from Captain D's.  She won't touch the shrimp for some reason but she will eat the fish.  She zero'd in on the french fries, however, and ate those.  She used the cocktail sauce like it was ketchup and even tried a french fry with some tartar sauce, just to see what that was like.  She preferred the cocktail sauce.

    I had eaten a couple fries but, as I went to get one after she had eaten quite a few, she looked at me with a mean face and said, *Those are mine!*.  I gave her a raised eyebrow and said, *You have to SHARE.*  She looked at me for a second or two and then said, *Okay but you only take ONE, not two when you take them.  Okay?  Okay?*  I showed her the one I had in my hand and said, *Grandma only takes one at a time.  *I* am not a little piggie!*  With that I reached over and gave her a little poke and she just giggled.

    She spilled some tea on herself and I had to strip her bottom section and socks off her so I could quick wash them for her to be able to go home later.  She sat on my recliner with a blanket to cover her up so Papa and Baron couldn't see she *was naked* as she put it.  Although she stopped to admire her nakedness in the mirror before climbing on the recliner.  She turned around and wiggled her butt in the mirror which cracked me up but she didn't think it was funny.  She gave me this mean look and then broke into a smile.  She loves to be dramatic.

    She wanted Papa to take pictures of her but our weather is turning rotten.  It's already made a downturn temperature-wise.  I woke up to 33 degrees outside.  I normally would be picking up Chewlee today (it's (bubble gum day....remember, I am writing this on Friday but you will read it on Saturday).  But, I guess Johnnycakes had no plans to go out with friends so he is picking her up instead.  I will have her on Saturday and Sunday because they both work. 

    When you read this, we will be having rain and possible tornadoes occurring in different areas of the Tennessee Valley area.  We are in Alabama but part of that Valley IS where WE live.  It's a shame because the Beast finally put together the big flower box I wanted for the front of the house and mixed some of our regular dirt here with some Miracle  Gro potting soil and some top soil.  I wanted to take Chewlee to the nursery with me to pick out some flowers that are already started and we could plant those and do our seeds, too.

    I guess I will have to wait and see just what the weather is like when she gets here and decide then.  But I know she is going to be really happy about it all.  She is just dying to be able to use the watering can but with it raining tomorrow (today), that part will have to wait for her,

    Love you all and I wish you the best of all possible weekends and this, too:

    May you always have work for your hands to do
    May your pockets hold always a coin or two
    May the sun shine bright on your windowpane
    May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain
    May the hand of a friend always be near you
    And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you. 

     

    Irish Blessing