I can sit up now in a Bumbo but it is very hard. I only like to sit here for a couple of minutes, no matter how many toys I have.

Cute Bunny! I’m about to yawn

It is still very cold outside in mid-March. This hat is almost too small for me now.

Giada is doing well and is growing like a weed. She will be 4 months old on the 23rd. We can hardly believe it. She sleeps well from midnight to 7 or 8 but is very fussy at night. I call her Fussy Pot.

Same here except we had no TV, or if you did you had two channels. We did play Hearts ( I was the best ever, ) Spades, Bridge, 31 for a dime, and Trippoly, usually on Sunday with Jo Bowers, Paul, Mom and iss Sue. I don’t know who cried the most. However, I always sold a good hand.

If you are 40 or older, you might think this is  hilarious!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears  with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were  growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every  morning….Uphill.. Barefoot…BOTH ways, yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,  there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that  on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it! But now that I’m over the ripe old age of thirty, I  can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today. You’ve got it so easy!  I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don’t  know how good you’ve got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have the  Internet.  If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and  look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!! There was no email!!  We had to actually write  somebody a letter – with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way  across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to  get there!  Stamps were 10 cents! Child Protective Services didn’t care if our parents  beat us.  As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also  had permission to kick our butts ! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3’s or Napsters or iTunes!  If  you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and  shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the  radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it  all up!  There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car..  We’d play our favorite tape and “eject” it when finished, and  then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that’s how we  rolled, Baby!  Dig?

We didn’t have fancy crap like Call Waiting!   If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal,  that’s it! There weren’t any freakin’ cell phones either. If  you left the house,  you just didn’t make a call or receive one. You  actually had to be out of touch with your “friends”. OH MY  GOD !!!  Think of the horror… not being in touch with someone 24/7!!!   And then there’s TEXTING.  Yeah, right.  Please!  You  kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID either! When the  phone rang, you had no idea who it was!  It could be your  school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, the collection agent… you  just didn’t know!!!  You had to pick it up and take  your chances, mister!

We didn’t have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video  games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!  We had the Atari  2600!  With games like ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’.  Your screen  guy was a little square!  You actually had to use your  imagination!!!  And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one  screen… Forever!  And you could never win.  The game just kept  getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!  Just like  LIFE!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to  find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel  surfing!  You had to get off your butt     and walk over to the TV to change the  channel!!!  NO REMOTES!!!  Oh, no, what’s the world coming  to?!?!  There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only  get cartoons on Saturday Morning.  Do you hear what I’m saying?  We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little  rat-finks!

And we didn’t have microwaves.  If we wanted to  heat something up, we had to use the stove!  Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play…  all day long.  Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort.  And  if you came back inside… you were doing chores!

And car seats – oh, please!  Mom threw you in  the back seat and you hung on.  If you were luckily, you got the  “safety arm” across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop  suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for  calling “shot gun” in the first place!

See!  That’s exactly what I’m talking about!  You kids today have got it too easy. You’re spoiled rotten!  You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1970s or any time before!

Regards,

The Over 40 Crowd

Giada met Bonnie, Brad’s stepmother, for the first time on our trip to Orange. Nonnie has lots of other grandkids but was very happy to meet Giada for the first time.

We came back to Brad’s home town, Orange, Texas for Ann’s memorial tree planting at Shangri La Gardens. As we pulled into town, Brad’s first order of business (as always) was to get to Casa Olé as soon as possible, to get queso flameado. Now, I consider myself a connoisseur of Mexican food, and really… this queso flameado is not that great; however, I assume it is like my deep love for the Taco Bueno bean burrito and chalupa (now they call it a tostada), a teen staple.

Brad was going to “run in” and get his food before we headed to the bead and  breakfast while Giada and I stayed in the car. 15 minutes later, I’m like, “What the hell?” Giada is awake and fussy and I thought I might as well go in and change her diaper. I walk in and here is Brad, margarita in hand, regaling the crew about his Casa Olé days! A moment’s disgruntlement was allayed by my  own margarita. We took lots of pictures with the crew and said a wistful goodbye as the Casa Olé chain has yet to make it to Dallas and it is unlikely we will return to Orange for a long time.

We took Giada out of her Moses basket in the bassinet and she slept last night in the bassinet only. She did pretty well. We are still not able to get her down before midnight but she is sleeping til about 10 am. I wish she’d flip her schedule!

This is one sweet baby, right? Check her eyes out closely and you will see big ole fat tears! We had a photographer come to the house and Giada did NOT cooperate. Partly because the photographer wanted her on her tummy which she is not a big fan of. Eventually we had to call it a day. Our own professional photographer, Brad the Dad, got these shots though which are very sweet.