Summer is winding down

July is half over and the County Fairs are done. I have started seeing "Back to School" ads on television and in the stores. This summer has been filled with lots of warm, hot, humid, sunny days. The kids should have had their fill of the swimming pool by now. This is just about the time of summer that they start getting bored with all of the summer activities. Little League is done, Youth Football will start soon. The High School Football Field will start being a busy place with lots of activity, soon. We live a hop, skip, and a jump from the High School weight room, football, softball, and track fields. It's been busy over there all summer with the kids at the weight room and the area citizens using the track. I head over there around 5:15 am and it is a steady stream of people using the track. That all-weather track is wonderful to walk or jog on, so much easier on your joints, and I have old joints that don't care for concrete streets or sidewalks, anymore. I have noticed that the spiders are really busy out in my backyard spinning their webs all over the place. That is something that usually happens in late August and in early September. Do they know something that I don't? I am assuming that means an early fall with cooler weather coming soon. It seems we have been about a month ahead on just about everything this year. April felt like May, May like June, July like August. If it follows suit, then August should be cooler. I am not wishing for cold weather, just cooler temperatures, so I can turn off the air conditioning. I am tired of having the house closed up and equally tired of giving all of my money to the Electric Company. I am not complaining mind you, I would not give up my air conditioning for all the tea in China. I am getting bored with my summer attire. Capri pants and t-shirts just don't excite me much. One of Son Frank's good friends is getting married in mid August and I had to go shopping to purchase a much needed dress for the occasion. If you remember my previous blog on shopping you know just how much I detest shopping. I went with my daughter, Ashley and she provided a much needed opinion about what did and didn't look good on me. She also picked out a couple of choices for me, which went right back to the rack. I finally found something that looks appropriate for someone my age, but is going to need a little help with the neckline. It is going to have to have some attention to close it up a bit. I am not "into" showing all of my "parts". I am very conservative with my clothing. I figure if I don't want to look at that, then others don't want to either! Trying to find clothing that covers these days is quite an adventure. Its either cut too low, or the hemline is too short, or looks like it should have been put on my Great Grandmother! Something in between dressing like a teenager or an elderly person would be nice! Now, if my kids are reading this right now, I just know what they are saying to themselves, "But, you are old, Mom!" Ok you two, just cut it out. I am "older", but not "old". Big difference! Frank and Casey are both in this wedding and it will be held in Springfield. We are working out the babysitting schedule for Demi. We will have her on Friday night and Granny Hornstein will be keeping her on Saturday night. I have had her a couple of times all night. She is so cute, but if you plan on getting much sleep while keeping her, forget it! At least during the nighttime hours. During the day and evening, she sleeps like crazy, then around the time you are ready for bed, little Demi comes alive! I call her "the vampire baby". Or, that she is practicing for her teenage years, already! She doesn't scream, she just doesn't sleep, much. She loves to sleep laying on me, much better than in her bed, that's for sure. We call her Demi the Diva! When Jack is over too, and I am holding Demi he says, "Grandma, done." Meaning, "Put her down, Grandma, cause I want to sit in your lap, and not with her up there too!" He only tried to sit on top of her once and threw a blanket over her head another time. Needless to say, Jack is not left in a room, unsupervised with his little cousin. I am pretty sure he would like to send her back where she came from! And, he really gets mad when his Mother is holding her. Just watch out then! I had them both all night a couple of weeks ago. That was an interesting night to say the least. I put Jack to bed and slept downstairs with Demi and tried to keep her quiet as to not disturb her cousin sleeping. It didn't take me long to figure out the sofa isn't the best place to sleep. When we finally did get to sleep, around 3:30am to 6:00 am, one of my husbands friends "phoned" the house and woke both of us, with some silly question about something, or other. I told him if he ever phoned my home that early on a Sunday morning again, he might just disappear like a certain mafia figure, that has yet to be discovered. Don't mess with a tired Grandma that early in the morning when she has only had three hours of sleep. Needless to say, it took me four days to catch up from that night. How did I do it when my kids were newborns? I sure don't remember being up that much, but as I have said before, a person's memory seems to "block out" all of that! I just know that I fared much better at missing sleep when I was younger, a lot younger in fact. Age does matter!
On a sad note, for those of you who don't know, our family was hit with a blow on July 5th. My husband's Sister, Tammy lost her dear husband, Mark Craig. Mark was a really great guy who knew everyone and had a big smile on his face all of the time. I used to ask my Sister-in-Law, Tammy, "Does he get up that way in the morning?" She told me that he was like that every day of his life. Mark ran the Sunoco Station here in Gibson City for many years and helped a lot of people out with their vehicles. He was a great mechanic. I know he worked on keeping our old heaps running for many years. He was especially a "big hit" with the elderly women here in town. He would go to their homes and pick up their vehicles, bring them back to his shop, fix them or service them and take them back home. That kind of dedication and service is really hard to find these days. Mark was the happiest person I ever knew. I never remember him saying a bad word about anyone and he had more friends than any person I ever knew. He lived his life the way he wanted. He loved to Golf and spend time with his family and friends. The town of Gibson City will miss him and so will our family. Mark had one daughter, Stacy Johnson of Paxton, her husband Chad, and grandchildren Hunter and Valeree. The world will be a much quieter place without Mark, he had a laugh you could hear a mile away and he laughed a lot and loud. We all could take a lesson from Mark. Enjoy life, do what you enjoy, have lots of friends, work hard, and just laugh loud and long.