What a Week! Modesty, Mammograms, You Can't Marry Your Mommy

Random Thoughts about My Week...

Blogging from the bathroom...I am writing this post from my glider rocker...sitting in my bathroom!  My granddaughter is spending the night tonight and she loves taking a bath in Nanny & Papa's jacuzzi size bathtub.  I am a paranoid grandma so I wont leave her alone in the tub.  She is six years old and probably well past the stage of potential tub drowning, but like I said, I am a paranoid grandma.  I figure it's better to be a bit on the paranoid side then the negligent side.  Just last week I heard about a grandma that left her pool gate open and somehow didn't notice when her infant grandchild was out of her sight while babysitting.  The baby drowned.  I could not live with myself after something like that happened to one of my grandchildren...so here I sit with my laptop in the steamy bathroom.

She doesn't care that I am here.  When we were filling the tub with lavender scented bubbles Little Miss was stripping down to her birthday suit in anticipation.  Then she suddenly remembered that she did not grab her basket of bathtub toys from the kids bathroom.  She started to head out of the bathroom naked so I called after her to wrap up in her towel before she ran streaking through the house.  She said, "Oh yea!" then instead of wrapping in her towel she placed her open hand over her little butt crack and ran off to the other room!  I can only deduce that she felt the butt crack was the most important thing to cover to retain your modesty!

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"If you can't marry your Mommy..."  Last night my 4 year old grandson spent the night.  My daughter (their auntie) and I are sharing them this weekend, giving them each a little alone time, separate from each other.  Last night over dinner Little Man told me that his mommy said that he could not marry her when he got older because boys are not allowed to marry their mommies.  So he decided that when he got older he would marry ME instead!  I think he missed the point of the conversation and I didn't want to confuse him more, so I told him that I was already married to Papa.  He replied with a little laugh like 'I' was the silly one, saying, "Nanny, I mean when Papa gets old and dies, then I will marry you."   How sweet that he thinks I am never going to age... can't say the same for poor Papa.

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Annual Breast Squeeze... This week I had my annual Mammogram...two months late, but at least I did get it.  I don't know why some woman make such a big deal out of getting one.  My aunt use to request Valium from her doctor before the procedure, just to calm her down.  She said it was so painful.  I had my first one when I was in my 30's (due to a suspicious lump) and it wasn't painful at all.  She said it was more painful for her because she had such small breasts (B cup) and mine were very large (HH).  Well at the age of 36 I had a breast reduction and I can tell you from the perspective of both large and small (barely a B cup) breasts that it was not painful.  A little uncomfortable maybe, but the whole thing from "undress from the waist up, to the "We'll send you the results in about a week" takes only 15 minutes.  So I have decided that my aunt is just a weeny.

Mobile On-Site Mammography Truck

If you are 40 or older you need to get a mammogram every year...give it to yourself as a gift.  I usually schedule mine every December, but this year we were so busy I didn't get to it until February.  I have a friend who has had breast cancer twice!  She survived the treatment after the first breast...she says the treatment is probably worse than the disease.  She was was lucky with her second one and only needed to have the breast removed.  Both times a mammogram was how she discovered it.  She is alive today because she had annual mammograms.  Have you had yours this year?

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My Homemade Chili...Tonight we had my homemade Three Bean Turkey Chili with Corn bread.  I love the combination of Pinto beans, Garbanzo's, and Black Beans in my chili.  Top that with crumbled sweet corn bread and I am in Heaven!  I was a little nervous about serving it to my granddaughter because she can be a picky eater.  Turns out she LOVES corn bread and ate most of the chili simply because she had corn bread crumbled on top.  She even said it was better then her mother cooks...Oops, I wont share that part with my daughter.

My Three Bean Turkey Chili

If you want to make this Chili just cook a pound of Lean Ground Turkey, add one packet of your favorite Chili Seasoning Packet (the lower the sodium the better), 1 can of each Black Beans, Garbanzo Beans, and Pinto Beans (approx 15 oz size) drained and rinsed, 1/2 diced Green Bell Pepper,  1/2 cup frozen southwest corn, black bean, & peppers mix, 2 cans diced tomatoes (15 oz size), 2 cans of tomato sauce.  Allow it to simmer for about 45 minutes.  Serve with sweet corn bread -mmm mmm good!

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One last random thought tonight.   

Kitty Bonds are very strong...  This week I got a crazy idea that turned into a total disaster causing me to lose two nights sleep -literally.  My granddaughter wants a kitten really really bad.  My daughter and I didn't think she should start out with a tiny kitten.  I have 4 older kittens (8 months) that know her already...so I thought why not give her one of my kittens!  It sounded like a great idea at the time.  Well it turned out to be a horrible idea.  On the two nights that I stay with the grandkids while mom works, I thought I would bring one of our kittens to my granddaughter.  We arrived on Wednesday at my granddaughters house with Molly, the kitten that likes her the best. Molly did not mind the three hour drive because she got to cuddle with my dog Piggy (they have a strange dog-cat bond).  But once we got inside the house Molly freaked out.  She did not like the house at all.  She immediately hid.  Then began crying out for her brothers and sister.  She could not be soothed at all.  The crying went on all through the night.  I got no sleep -although the grandkids slept like logs.  By morning when my daughter arrived home from work, Molly was so tired that she crawled in a dark space behind the bed and slept all day!  I on the other hand did not get to sleep that day.  On Thursday evening she began crying again, calling out for her housemates who she has never been separated from one day in her life.  So Thursday night I got no sleep again.  Friday afternoon we headed home with our kitty Molly.  My granddaughter was disappointed but I promised her that kitten season was just beginning and we could find the perfect kitten for her if she could just patiently wait a few more weeks.

Molly (on the left) getting some much needed sleep with her sister Madeline (on the right).

Molly is back home with her sister and brothers.  No more crying, no freaking out and hiding.  She is so happy to be back home with her kitty family...never to be separated again.