July 2015

July 2015
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Archive for July 2015

Crafting Time at Camp Grandma’s

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Renee Spindle

It’s Summertime here at Camp Grandma and we’ve had a few crafty adventures over the past few weeks I thought I would share today. We’ve been painting, coloring, blowing up lots of balloons, squeezing in some swimming, and eating lots of popsicles and snow cones. It’s been hot and humid here recently, and we all know how popsicles can cool the soul!

The first thing I did to make Camp Grandma a little special this year was I made a box, and each week when the Grand-kiddies come over (they are with me on Thursday’s and Friday’s) there’s some sort of crafty surprise or something fun to-do in that box. This has been a fun way to start the day, as the kids look forward to finding out what’s in their special box.

The first week the box contained paper plates, balloons, big crafting sticks, and some duct tape. We used the contents that week to make and play Balloon Pong – which I had read about at Grandma’s Briefs. I will admit that the grand-kiddies had fun blowing up all the balloons, but they had even more fun ping-ponging the balloons around. They didn’t have a lot of success hitting the balloons to one another, so Evan made a contest of seeing how many times he could “pong” the balloon before it hit the ground.

The next week at Camp I had put balloons, colored paper, scissors, tape, and the pattern to make balloon feet. We were making balloon people. They were so cute. Madison really enjoyed telling me what she wanted me to draw on her balloon. Evan made his into a group of the Avengers, which I did not get a picture of. Boo on Grandma. This crafty project was discovered by yours truly at Grandma’s Ideas. The balloon crafts have been really fun, and just plain blowing up the balloons and using them like volleyballs around the house was a great activity too.

For two of our weeks together we have done some painting. We used tempera paints, sponges brushes, sponges, and I splurged on some thick watercolor paper for my little artists. This is really the first time I’ve had a chance to paint with Madison. She loved putting the colors on paper and painting with everyone’s favorite colors. Madison’s favorite color is pink, and she know mine is purple. She’s always telling anyone who will listen that her Grandma’s favorite color is purple. Evan had fun being a mixologist, and discovering what colors he needed to mix to make other colors. He had a lot of fun being the paint scientist.

I am blessed to be able to have some special time with my grand-kids each week right now. This time together creates memories that will last for a long, long time. As they start to get a little older and as they move on to do their own independent activities, it will be good to know that we’ve had this time with each other.

Have you spent time with your grand-kiddies recently? Did you get in any crafting time with them? I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to this summer.

3 comments Posted in Crafts

It Was Time to Retire the Firestick

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Renee Spindle

When I was growing up my parents took us on so many very, cool vacations. We got to see quite a few of our national parks and wonderful sights. Our mode of travel was normally some sort of camping. We had a station wagon and a pop-up tent trailer for a long time, and then when my parents retired they ventured into the RV world and bought a beautiful Rexhall motor home. You can read all about their adventures on my Mom’s blog, Joan on the Road.

One of the highlights of our camping experience was always having a camp fire. Building a fire, keeping it going, and eventually roasting the marshmallows for a great s’mores treat. I think one of my Dad’s favorite parts of camping was building the bonfire, I mean campfire, for the evening. He would build pretty big fires, and he was the one who kept it going. I know for myself I couldn’t wait until there were some lovely coals to roast my marshmallows next to. I prefer them lightly roasted, thank you. When we were on vacation we always had our guitars with us, and would play and sing around the fire. We loved to sing John Denver tunes. Oh those were the days.

Fast forward to my Mom and Dad’s RV-ing days, and they kept the campfire tradition going. Most times when we would visit them we’d have a fire, and maybe roast those marshmallows or a hot dog. One thing that was always with my Dad for his campfires was some sort of strong stick that he could use to stoke the fire with. It was a coveted stick, and as we all got older sometimes we would take turns stoking the fire too. What a treat.

When my Dad passed away and we were helping my Mom go through her RV and decide what she was keeping or not, she gave me my Dad’s last campfire stick he used for stoking the fires. It’s really a personal memento for me. It helps me to hold on to the good memories of our family times together around the campfire.

These days Travel Man and I have a trailer of our own that we like to take out for the weekends. We always have the coveted “Fire Stick” with us to stoke our campfires. But on our last camping trip we noticed the Fire Stick was starting to get a little short. I kept catching the end of the stick on fire, and it seemed like it was getting shorter and shorter and fading away. I suppose in the back of my mind I was worried that if the stick got shorter and went away the memories of camping with my Dad would fade a little bit too. So we made the painful (well for me anyway) decision to retire the Fire Stick. We will be keeping it in the trailer with us when we go out on our camping adventures. And eventually I think I will figure out a way to hang it on the wall.

It’s a wonder to me that a stick could hold memories that are so dear to my heart. The memories of your loved ones that are no longer with you are the ones that you hold onto the tightest. You never want to let them go.

3 comments Posted in Family

Sam’s Club Shopping Joy

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Renee Spindle

This past week I tried an experiment. I had been wanting to try using Sam’s Club’s online ordering system which they now call Easy Reorder, for a while. (It used to be called Click ‘n Pull) My grocery shopping efforts, somewhat like my menu efforts, lately have been a little wacky to say the least. So I decided it was high time I shake things up and try something new. I have done a lot of ordering on Amazon.com so I’m well aware of the beauty of just having things arrive at my door.

This is how I went about my experiment. I set a dollar amount that I wanted to spend for my first online experience. Oh and by the way this order was to be picked up in the store, and not shipped to my house. I put together a list of my “pantry essentials” that needed replenishing, and then went online to put my order together. Now what happens the first time you click on the “order” button is you have access to your past purchases in the store which creates a “grocery list” for you. This is how I approached my online shopping for this session. I could delete or add any other items I wanted for this order, and remember I’m working to stay within my dollar amount ($200). Once I completed my order I was then able to schedule a pickup time that was convenient for me at my favorite Sam’s Club.

Once my completed order was submitted I received an email with a confirmation of the items in my order. After this I was able to just go on about my day and wait for the email or text message confirming my order was ready to be picked up. Once I arrived at Sam’s Club to pick up the order, I went to the customer service desk to let them know I was there to pay for the order and pick it up. After the order was paid for, I waited for just a minute or two and then out came the carts with a cheerful employee with all of my groceries. Boom! Now off to the car to load up and head for home.

I set my stopwatch when I walked in the store to pick up my order, and start to finish it took me 20 minutes to get in and out of the store. I was totally impressed with the time factor here. Normally with the size shopping I was doing I would normally be in the store for over an hour. Only because I am walking the aisles, browsing, and maybe stopping for some lunch. After my online experience I am presently in shopping land heaven. I like the price breaks we get at the big box store, but lately I have dreaded doing this task by myself.

I am pleased to report that this experiment was a complete and huge success for me. I will do the online shopping again with no hesitation. My order was complete, correct, and the gentleman who brought my carts out , there were two, helped me take them to the car and loaded the groceries for me.

Boom! I’m loving this service and it saved me so much time that I can spend doing other things I love to do. Writing crazy stories, swimming, and hosting a camp grandma or two.

Have any of you ever tried this service? Let me know is you liked it or not. I hope everyone’s week is off to a great start.

This post has been shared at the #MidLifeLuv linky party.

8 comments Posted in Around the House

Barefoot is Best

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Renee Spindle

The heart and soul of summertime can definitely be defined by what kind of shoes you are wearing. Here in Southern California we are blessed with many days of sunshine and warm weather. I find myself sporting sandals and flip-flops for more months out of the year than all of the rest of you do in other parts of the country.

I am admittedly a barefoot person. If I find myself at home, and I have nowhere to be in the near future I Am Barefoot! It is the best way to be in my personal opinion. Now don’t get me wrong, I do wear shoes when I leave the house. Normally sandals or flip-flops in the summertime, and shoes that cover my toesies in the winter months. Oh, and also I rarely wear socks. This is a budget saver for me. You know it must be cold outside if I have actually put some socks on. In California world this would be when the temps are below 60 degrees. That’s our version of “freezing”.

Now I also have to admit that I am passing my love of bare-footedness onto my sweet granddaughter. When she comes to stay with me during the week here at Camp Grandma and we venture outside to play and explore, and it’s warm enough I always tell her, “Let’s take off your shoes. Barefoot is the Best.” This is the mantra I am passing along to Madison. Hopefully these will be words she’ll remember me by. It is so hilarious to watch her walking across the fire pit area of our back yard barefoot. This area is a gravely substance, and her Pop-pop cannot believe how she just meanders across the little rocks with no shoes on at all.

Much to my dismay I have tried on multiple occasions to garden barefoot with not a lot of success. I always end up putting my sandals or flip-flops on out since this is out in the furthest part of our backyard. I have to avoid the thorns, and a possible nails or even glass buried in the dirt.

So now tell me the truth are you a barefoot junkie? Do you wear your flip-flops or sandals 24/7? Or are your more traditional with your footwear? You know, do you stick to the tennies, socks or some sort of close toed shoes? Let me know what your favorites are. I’d love to find out how many of you aspire to my barefoot theory.

9 comments Posted in Around the House

My Menu Planning has Gone Haywire

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Renee Spindle

Menu planning has been a part of my weekly “to-do’s” for a long, long time. It makes the grocery shopping easier, fewer trips to the store, and if I have a good reserve of menu items in the pantry and freezer it makes it much easier on my brain to get the meals on the table day in and day out.

However, lately the menu planning structure has not been working all that well in my Domestic Engineering endeavors. Do you get into cooking ruts? Can’t figure out what to make for dinner? Tired of going to the grocery store? How do you pull yourself out of it?

Our dinner time can be quirky at The Spindle Ranch. Sometimes I’m home by myself, many times there are just two of us for dinner. If everyone’s home for dinner I’m cooking for 4. If a friend or family member stops by we can have 5 or 6. Crazy menu planning right? Has your household dinner-time ever run like this?

Not knowing how many people to cook for on any given night can boggle the brain. It makes for a wacky menu plan. Will I cook too much food, or too little food? I have my arsenal of weekly “go to” recipes that can handle a crowd or just a few people. My second dilemma arises when I feel like I can’t think of anything new I’d like to try, or my recipe arsenal feels tired and boring. I really do not like to use going out to eat as part of my menu planning for the week. I would much rather be at home sitting around the dining room table having a great meal and good conversation.

My oldest daughter, Naomi totally amazes me with her menu planning. Every weekend she is trying new recipes, and giving us her pictorial reviews on our family Facebook page. I really have to draw some inspiration from her, and just dive in and try new recipes. If anyone needs me I will be perusing Pinterest, or maybe The Tasty Kitchen to seek out new recipes for my arsenal of goods.

If your menu planning’s been a little wacky lately can you let me know how you pull yourself up out of the rut? How do you find that little spark that entices you to try to cook something new and / or different? I’ll be here waiting to hear from everyone.