because I really can't get enough of myself

I have one grandma that loves telling us stories, but my other grandma never thinks her stories would interest us and therefore keeps them to herself.   Now that she's aging, she's sadly starting to forget the stories.  And besides that, she's wrong - her stories would very much interest me. My grandma Deonna (Morgan) Van Nosdol, my dad in the middle, and my two uncles. Sometimes I try to get tricky and ask round about questions to get her to tell me stuff from her past.  She gets upset when she can't remember certain things.  But then sometimes things just come right out. For instance, a few weeks ago I was talking to her about a frustration I was having with one of my kids, and asked what my dad was like when he was younger.  Grandma started talking about how my dad was a very calm and serious child.  He would go outside behind their house, over by the clothes line, and build stuff all day.  He had wood and nails and he would keep himself ent...

We've been making changes around here lately.  Because I was tired of feeling like we were constantly playing "why is life going too fast, how many things did we forget today, and can't I just take a nap?!"  (It's not a very fun game to play, and yet we seem to be doing it a lot.) So I made a meal plan - complete with assigned children helpers (because my kids should really know how to cook stuff by now).  And we listed ideas as a family, and individually, on what we could work on.  Then I made "expectations of...." papers for each person that are now hanging on our wall.  (Not that everyone always follows through on what is expected of them, but at least now no one can claim, "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to shove my dirty socks in the crack between my dresser and the wall!" and "You never said I had to shower more than once a year!" and "What homework?") I also made some work goals.  Among them was finally l...