The Gramzie Chronicles

I should be at the grocery store.  I should be trying to find a birthday present for Ryan. Oh, the things I should be doing... Meh, it will all get done in time. Randy has been on his phone since 7:30, answering birthday greetings. I'm all angsty about food for Christmas. Thankfully, I have the best daughter-in-law who helped me adjust my perspective! I've found that this is the time of the year, in some aspects, to either begin or add to, a collection. It's good due to the sales on almost everything, not so good on the budget and the long wait for delivery.. That did not stop me when I found an item that I'd hoped to add to my kitchen.  Of course, that led to putting in a few other curated pieces. MacKenzie-Childs is normally too expensive to buy full-price, but the sales were too good to pass up.  I follow a lovely woman on Instagram in my actual peer group who has decorated an entire tree with M-C ornaments at $100 a pop. Now, that's an investment! She also has a...

When you live with mental illness, one of the first coping mechanisms you learn is setting boundaries. Let's have a conversation about this. First of all, I'm simply passing on information I've either been given, or have experienced personally. Everyone is different; how they cope, what works, what does not.  This particular topic is interesting to me. Setting boundaries to aid in protecting yourself is not always an easy feat.  It's one thing with which I struggle, mainly because it makes me feel weak at times, knowing there are just some situations that are hard to deal with, but necessary to set some rules anyway. The trouble comes when a simple, small roadblock gets turned into a brick wall of retribution. I hate that word, since we hear it so often, but there it is. For some reason, there are those who do not respond well to being asked to respect personal space, even if said space is in your head. Therefore, rather than a considerate compromise, it becomes somethi...

I hear my title today in the voice of the vintage Wicked Witch as she melts, before we found the "truth" behind the Wizard of Oz. We were, like the rest of the world, horrified by the news yesterday, and again this morning.  It's all become too much; the rampant murder in the world. Needless to say, we did not linger on the ongoing coverage. It's my opinion that the finger pointing needs to stop. What's occurring is not a political issue rather, a humanitarian one.  Oh, it's much easier to just pass the blame as that is what our society has begun to do. We have no solid leadership, no empathy for others. Our society has become so egocentric in its thinking with the attitude of "it doesn't affect ME", even though it most certainly does...at least for those of us who have common sense and any kind of awareness. We are supposed to have freedom of religion and yet, people are dying because of theirs. We are supposed to have freedom of speech and yet,...

This is not a laundry list of complaints, let's be clear right up front.  These are just a few observations I've made in the past couple of days, but none of which are new. First of all, I prefer to be the one to load the dishwasher and also have no problem emptying it.  That said, Randy, in an effort to "help" will occasionally try to put things away. What ends up happening is a counter full of items because "he doesn't know where they go". Now, when we finished the kitchen, and I had things put away, I gave that dear man a detailed tour of what ended where. This resulted in him being able to find what he needs. However, for some reason, he cannot remember where it goes to put it back. I don't know about you, but I'd rather it all stayed in the machine, rather than piled. This is the same man whom I have heard, on repeat, with our kids and now the Grands, in his shop, that if you get something out, PUT IT BACK WHERE YOU FOUND IT.  It would appea...

Okay, mayhem may be a bit dramatic.  We were up at 4:30 a.m. yesterday morning to deal with the snow before the Kiwanis breakfast. Then, I stayed up late, silly me, to watch the end of Chiefs' game. Not a stellar ending to Sunday. Did I nap? No. Did I simply forego the game? Also, no. I'm paying for it today, as those of the same age can testify that we just don't rebound as in days of yore.  Being wakened by a needy dog, clawing at the bed wasn't on my list of favorite things.  Randy made my favorite flavored coffee, typically reserved for Sunday, so that smoothed out a few rough edges. Per usual, I had a pretty good idea of what I hoped to accomplish today, mainly deep cleaning the kitchen   so I could begin the cookie/bread marathon, as well as vacuuming the living room furniture after a weekend of the dog and teens. This is when God decided to get some laughs in. As I'm fond of referring to the mouse and his cookie, things escalated quickly, to the point tha...

  I promised not to get political here. I may be dangerously close to overstepping that line, but my heart hurts. Recently, what's-his-face in the White House called the Minnesota governor a slur so offensive and, in light of the fact that Governor Walz is the parent to a neurodivergent son, simply unforgivable. As children, we'd have had our fannies paddled for uttering the word. Our kids were brought up to NEVER say it. As a teen, I taught handicapped and disabled adults swimming lessons, as well as a few children. I worked for 12 years in our local school system in the Special Education department. That word was never used to describe any one of those humans, by anyone. I've been pretty open about having to delete Facebook several years ago due to the toxic nature of social media, and how it was affecting my mental health. I swore this time it would not get the best of me. In the past few days, I've blocked some of my "friends" over the fact that they found...