CHOICES

I am finding that as I go through my days now I am starting to look a little more for the good things rather than fussing about the small stuff. If I know I am going to write about something, I look for something good to write about.

Today is about a choice I had to make. Addie called this morning to see if I was feeling okay and could she ride the bus to my house after school -- of course she can. I love spending time with her but I find as I go through the day I start both dreading and looking forward to the time the bus will come. Dreading--she is infringing on the time I could be doing absolutely nothing and Looking Forward To--she is full of life and fun to have around and she really seems to like being at my house and deep down I don't want to miss out on grandma-granddaughter time. That would just be silly.

So here she came today full of excitement at getting 100% on a math test and getting a can of root beer as a reward and having a substitute teacher that gave her a pencil. And she gives such great hugs. She brought her American Doll magazine with a picture of a triple bunk bed her daddy is going to make for her and wanting to know if we could make the blankets and pillows. I assured her we could but we should wait until dad has it sized and in the works so we will know how big to make them. She was fine with that but a few minutes later she says, "Grandma, I want to learn how to sew. Will you teach me?" She knows the right heart strings to tug on.

My mom didn't sew much and I don't think I even thought of asking my grandma to teach me so my learning experience was a 4-H club and one of mom's dear friends, Nola Hepworth.

"You bet, sweetheart. What would you like to sew?"

She wanted to do a doll blanket. Straight seams--no problem. I drug out the material. She chose one she liked and I got out the sewing machine. I made some straight lines on a piece of paper so she could practice keeping the needle on the line and we were off on our own little adventure. Four crooked, stop and start over seams later (she could tell when she was getting off and would stop and fix it herself) we had ourselves a doll blanket--a small version of a baby receiving blanket and she loved it. I helped her sew a cute little fancy stitch around it and she took home her first sewing project. I took some pictures of her but can't get the camera's memory card to work so pictures are forthcoming.

Okay let's think about this--sitting all afternoon doing absolutely nothing because I don't want to do the dishes or clean the toilet OR a couple of hours with a little sponge soaking in everything she could about a new experience and then watching her take a new doll blanket home to HER special doll.

Thanks for the fun afternoon Angel Addie. I love you to the moon!
Oh, I did make the right choice.