Category: Love being Grandma

Weekend Coffee Share; Enjoying March!

On By DianaIn Living life, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share14 Comments
Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives with old friends and new!

Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I just finished up a nice hot cup of coffee as it’s been cool out, the best weather ever to be honest. March is really a beautiful month and I am enjoying every day. We have had some rain which we always need and the sunny days are so enjoyable at the perfect temps between 60F – 70F (15C – 21C). Yesterday it was a little blustery and the sky full of clouds. There was a 10% chance of rain and never rained in my town but it was very cool. Today it is sunny and not a cloud in the sky which I will enjoy in a little bit as I will head to the barn before the morning disappears.

I have been thinking a lot about my garden and I have about 4 containers and 2 have flowering plants in them and I have decided the other 2 I am going to continue on this theme and plant more flowers. I have not had much luck with veggies in the past and with the attention these types of plants need I decided I am just too busy to be consistent with watering and such things that I decided I will just try for some pretty flowers. I know there are a ton of choices out there for flowering foliage and I LOVE flowers so much and have taken many photos that I’ve shared, so that is where I am heading in my gardening adventures!

On to sharing what’s been happening and if you haven’t guessed what I am about to share it’s what I do every day! Haha, more horse adventures. I took another video that I want to share because I can’t help myself! I find it so FUN! I’ll start with a couple of photos first. 😀

I am going around on the same block but went out the other direction. It is interesting to see the block from the other eye and that is how horses see things as each eye for them works a bit more independently than our eyes.

As we headed out on the trail instead of turning right we turned left and so this is the same block I shared in my last video share only I am heading the other way. I have had my horse walk quietly by things one direction and when we head by it with the other eye she can sometimes spook or be like “what is that” as she sees it with her other eye. Yes, they have monocular and binocular vision and have a far greater peripheral vision than humans because they have their eyes set on each side of their head. They have a small blind spot directly in front of them and behind them. Because they are prey animals they need to see far and wide to stay safe and flee if needed from predators. They can see things we may not and you can wonder all day long at what has ruffled their feathers if they get upset. You can’t know what they sense as we are not as attuned to our surroundings as horses! Our training involves them feeling safe in our presence and this is a subject that people make a living on or write novels about, understanding horses and being able to work with them so that we have a safe ride. Haha, I don’t want to write a novel on training today! 😀

Heading down Hillside on a beautiful trail ride on this cool day!

I Like how you can hear the birds in the video and even though I call the day blustery there was a little bit of wind that actually picked up as I arrived back at the barn. The wind was cool, which added to the wintery feeling. Now it is officially Spring! We will be slowly warming up but I don’t mind if that takes some time. I absolutely LOVE SPRING! I am already seeing some beautiful blooms and so am excited as I already mentioned to plant more flowers.

As I rounded the corner I came upon the field that I usually pass first. Remember I rode around the block the other direction so now this big field is the last part of my ride. I did not let Chloe take a bite of grass, it is only a treat every once in awhile! I wish sometimes I had a super nice camera for days like this where the clouds in the sky and the sun rays hitting the hills with the lush wild flower field all fell into place and was just gorgeous. My phone camera doesn’t do it justice, but I snapped the photos anyways! Here are my photos ~

The clouds shimmer with the sun and you can see the wild flowers all blooming with a yellow and purple hue!

I am enjoying Miss Chloe immensely as I am sure you can tell. I am so happy and in a good place in my life right now. I feel very fortunate and never want to take anything for granted, I truly feel blessed. I am going to end this coffee share with you today with my grandkids. My son provides such wonderful photos, I just have to share. My son said the weather in AZ is good too, not too hot yet so they are out going for walks and enjoying it before the heat sets in there. They sure bring me warm fuzzy feelings and huge giant smiles as they enjoy being outside! I think my granddaughter’s photo says it all! They both are so ADORABLE! ❤

Loving my Grandkids! Love you sweet Teddy and Alice!! ❤

Thank you for visiting and enjoying coffee with me this weekend. I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and enjoy the week ahead. Thank you Natalie for hosting the coffee shares and if you would like to connect up with others the link is here!

Trail Riding Cowgirl, and Grandma!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Nov. 26, 2020 – Thankfulness

On By DianaIn Love being Grandma, weekly smile15 Comments
Table is set, turkey in the oven and sides waiting to be baked! What are you thankful for?

Welcome to my weekly smile where I not only wanted to share some smiles, I also wanted to share some thankfulness. I am truly thankful for being here today with good health and a loving family. I try and stay positive and optimistic in these difficult times where family is spread apart (missing my family and grand children in Arizona) and knowing they are only a phone call away or even a video chat. Speaking of video chat I had fun visiting last weekend and my granddaughter took me to her room which she was so proud of cleaning! They have their Christmas decorations up and she was showing me the tree and all the ornaments. A cute snowman and a pretty Christmas village. It was a great time and chat. So thankful for technology!

Baby Teddy is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up and walking along the couches. He is starting to say dada, and is growing every month. He is 9 months old now and I am hoping I will be able to visit at least once here soon. I may need to get tested if I fly there, but what ever it takes to be safe is no problem at all. Here are a few photos, so adorable!

I was going to crop these photos but decided to leave them. I was looking at the kitties at my house on right side of the photo. Teddy is making a silly face, thought these were cute!

What makes you smile? As we give thanks here for Thanksgiving today, with a bountiful of food and good times. After we ate, the 4 of us were all in the kitchen together as my hubby tore apart the bird for leftovers and I was putting away food and then started washing dishes. The fine china was hand washed and I had help with drying and stacking to put back in the cupboard. It was such a great feeling as I said aloud, “what wonderful help in the kitchen!” As all this was going on, my daughter was preparing dessert. A peach cobbler was put in the oven. How can you not smile! 😀

Dinner is done and after the clean up, peach cobbler fresh from the oven! Yum!

I feel like I have so much more to say but that I will save for another day. I really wanted to get these photos of our day together shared as another Thanksgiving has elapsed and I know that no matter where you are or what you are doing we all should be grateful for another day. I hope you and your family have had a wonderful day the best way possible as I know this has been a crazy year. My sister’s and brother all group text and stay in touch so of course it was a Happy Thanksgiving and Love to all! I’ll end with a few more photos of the day!

Another cute Teddy! I think he is looking at us and dinner! YUMMY!

Thankful Happy Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Better Late Than Never!

On By DianaIn Living life, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share25 Comments
Welcome to my weekly coffee share! I have a lot to share and I am a bit late to the party!

Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am trying to catch up and didn’t want this last day to share in this group to slip by without sharing the most wonderful week. To be honest, this whole month of October has been really good to me. Last week was incredibly busy with family in town as we celebrated my 60th birthday! I still have some cake, would you like a piece? It was delicious. I will share some birthday photos as I have a lot to share. It was a beautifully fun, very horsey celebration. I felt like a kid again! A great way to feel when you are turning 60! 😀 😀 😀

A very HAPPY grandma and papa, little Teddy and cutie pie, Alice!
Not every day you turn 60! What a FUN day!

The necklace I am wearing in the photo is a gift from my son and wife and it is stirrups, which are on an English saddle. I love it! They also gave me a beautiful scarf with horses on it and my hubby got me wireless earbuds. My daughter gave me a cookbook from a favorite cook and the picture of her and my granddaughter which is behind the cake in the first photo! (You scrolled up and looked! I did! Haha) My sister who lives out of state, her gift was all our food that we ordered from a wonderful BBQ restaurant. Oh my, I hope I am not forgetting anything as it was a wonderful day, with beautiful weather, food and fun times! Here is the horses with Alice!

Chloe just Loves children. She actually really Loves people!! Sweet Girls these two!!

Zack (my other horse) is around too, but I didn’t catch him in any of these photos. We didn’t have a lot of time to ride and so we walked around a bit and gave Chloe pats and hugs. Alice helped me put together their grain buckets and then put them away as we needed to head back to the party. I am glad we had this time together. I also am glad the weather was nice, not too hot or cold. Just perfect! I want to share the next day after my birthday. My daughter, son, hubby and I went to Long Beach for lunch and then went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Only the outdoor exhibits were open and we had to buy tickets at a reserved time which is how they control the crowds. So there were not too many there at one time for safety.

Love the dolphin fountain out front of aquarium. And Penguins!
My hubby and I standing and my daughter and son sitting! ❤ ❤ ❤

It truly was the most wonderful week. I forgot to mention I got to babysit baby Teddy Monday before the birthday party. It was so wonderful to have him for the day as my son and wife with her side of the family went to the San Diego Zoo with Alice. I just have to share a couple more photos, I can’t help myself!

Loving my grandkids!!

They are just so adorable. But before I close I had told you that I had a surprise and I didn’t realize when I mentioned this surprise what it all entailed. Because of this I thought it best to wait to share until I had 100% confirmation and now that it is all confirmed and all the important people know I can share my surprise! It is a surprise because I have made a decision to look for another job. It’s a surprise because I can’t believe it, but YES! I have acquired a new job and it is a day shift position. I can write a novel about my job history (I will share that in a separate post soon!) as I think it may be interesting and something that would be fun to have written down. I have been working night shift (grave yard shift) for 30+ years with only a couple of breaks in between. How have I done this for so long you ask? Perseverance!

I am not sure why I thought nights are the best hours and to be honest I have been a supervisor at this laboratory working nights for over 15 years. The money is good and I just always thought this was the best for us, the family. But as I am getting older, and a bit burnt out, the stress of supervising and working night shift led me to the decision that I should look for a day shift position. I am beyond EXCITED!! I shouldn’t be surprised I got the job because it is a laboratory job in Chemistry, my cup of tea and I will be taking care of instruments and working swing shift so I can take care of my horses in the mornings. No more night shift, and another plus, no more weekend work! I won’t have any excuse to missing another Weekend Coffee share again!! I just have 2 weeks to go and I will be like other humans, and living a more normal life! YAY!

I had a lot to share today. I may be writing about the difference between night shift hours and living and working day shift and sleeping at night! Haha, I still can’t believe it! I owe a lot of this wonderful decision to my daughter. Everything just fell into place and that’s my surprise!! 😀

MY SWEET GIRLS!!!

Thank you for sharing coffee or tea with me today. My life is full of changes. I know changes can be hard but I think changes are good. I was getting so burnt out at my job. I was also feeling like I was not taking care of myself by working these crazy hours. I started to think why don’t I take care of myself? I worry so much about others, I forget about myself. I think we should all take some time and look at our situations and see if there isn’t some way to make things better. After all, we are worth it! ❤ ❤ ❤

Excited, Loving 60 Grandma!

~Diana

My Weekly Smile; Aug. 18, 2020 – SURPRISE!

On By DianaIn Love being Grandma, weekly smile14 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekly Smile! What are they looking at? A surprise at my house!

I know a rather unconventional opening but I really wanted to make this a surprise as my smile post this week is about the most fabulous weekend with my family. So if I used one of my other photos I will be sharing, then you would guess right away why I have the biggest SMILE right now. I am so excited to share! 😀

As we try and make sense of things with all that is happening in this crazy world my son and family decided they needed to come to California to visit my daughter-in-laws grandfather who is unfortunately very ill. My condolences to their family as he only has a short time with liver failure. I hate making this sad occasion into one of my happiest, I feel like I should apologize as this was not my plan but I can’t help but feel overjoyed because I finally met my baby grandson!! AND it was wonderful to see my granddaughter Alice! ❤ (I think I will be forgiven.)

  • Teddy has chubby cheeks!
  • He is pulling my hair, those little hands!

Oh my goodness! They only came for two days with one day spent with her family and the next they spent the afternoon at my home. So much FUN! Thank you dear Lord, I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally meet baby Teddy. Isn’t he just adorable? Well, I am prejudice I know but I just had to share as these are my only grand children and so any minute I can see them, hold them and share some love makes Grandma’s HAPPY!

  • He is such a cutie patutie! He is on a blanket his great aunt Bonnie made for him! ❤
Mom and son! Beauty and Cutie!

I have some more photos to share, selfies with my granddaughter. They aren’t bad, a little blurry here and there. I am sharing anyways! This is what makes me smile as I am remembering this last weekend. I welcome this kind of surprise any day! I didn’t find out they were coming until last Friday. It all worked out so great.

She is getting so big! Love you so much Alice!

As I was getting ready to write this blog post my phone rang and it was my son calling and Alice wanted to talk to me and tell me about her kindergarten class. It is online and she was telling me on the phone about this cookie jar. It was so cute talking to her as we have not done this often. We did video chat the weekend before this which I always love as well. I just wish we lived closer so I could help more and babysit to give mom and dad a break. In time, we will see what the future holds.

Thank you for visiting my wonderful smile post this week. I have been meaning to get this together. I have been dealing with a heat wave here where we live, it’s been really miserable trying to take care of all the animals. We had to take one of my dogs to the vet for skin problems. He is okay, got some shots and is on antibiotics. It’s always something, I don’t talk about the always something but I know we have these in our lives. I hope you all can find something that makes you smile? We all need smiles, I’ll end with how I began as these two make me smile as well! 😀

  • Thanks for stopping by! Chloe and Zack say thanks for the treats. I gave them some for you!

Happy Cowgirl Grandma,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Aug 5, 2020 – Birthdays!

On By DianaIn Love being Grandma, weekly smile18 Comments
  • Happy Birthday!

Welcome to my weekly smile! And what makes me smile this week is BIRTHDAYS! YES! It is birthday month. The first birthday this week which has been celebrated is for my beautiful grand daughter, Alice. She turned 5 and I can’t believe she is 5 years old and is starting kindergarten. I was able to get a care package together with lots of presents for her and some extra gifts and baby clothes for her baby brother. She is so special to me as grand children are and I know not everyone is a grand parent, but it makes me wish as I think back that I was able to see and be with my grand parents. They lived states away and I rarely saw them. May they rest in peace.

As I am smiling at the wonderful photos I will share, I am also smiling at all the birthdays this month. My brother’s birthday was this week also. He lives in Reno, NV and we do not visit as often as I would like so am hoping some day I can visit all my relatives more often. Something that I was planning on doing this year until travel was stopped or hampered, darn it all…. but let’s talk about smiles! Stay on track, Diana! Lol 😀

  • Beautiful, special, loving grand daughter!
  • She’s funny, happy, playful, silly and oh so ADORABLE!
  • My favorite! ❤ ❤ ❤

Missing her like crazy! My son has asked me if I could come and babysit these cutie patutie grand kids some time soon as he would like to take his wife out camping for a weekend get-a-way. I would absolutely Love to do this but it is all just in the planning stages right now, so I can wait patiently and hopefully something will fall into place. The way things have gone this year its really flipped everything upside down and this is my weekly smile so let’s keep on smiling, shall we? YES! What makes you smile? Here is more!!!

  • This is my best friend, Sally! It is her birthday next week!

The celebrating continues as next week is my best friends birthday! She reads my blog posts so “Happy Birthday Sally!” She will be surprised to be one of my featured photos! She brings me SO MANY SMILES as she is my companion with her beautiful horse Gracie. We will be trail riding later this morning. I CAN’T WAIT as ya’ll know how much I Love my ponies and my trail rides! I will help her celebrate next week because that is what friends are for, right? She is like a sister to me as we have been together since we were in grade school (over 50 years!) we have shared so much together. I’m SMILING from ear to ear! 😀

I’m going to wrap up my smile post today wishing all my relatives a Happy Birthday. There are 2 more sister’s with birthdays this month. One is August 23 and the other is August 26 and to be honest I can never remember who’s is on what day, but Facebook will remind me and/or I will look on my calendar list of birthdays. My nephew’s birthday is Aug 14th and I believe my other nephew’s wife has a birthday this month too, busy month. HAPPY BIRTHDAY family! ❤

  • The brother’s holding hands! 😀

Thanking my son for the wonderful kitty photos, these brothers are so adorable. I am so thankful I have a place to share all my smiles! I thank you for visiting and am hoping you all have a wonderful week and to remember to smile and enjoy each and every day!

Feeling grateful, Happy Smiling Grandma!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; July 29, 2020

On By DianaIn Love being Grandma, weekly smile6 Comments
  • A new rose bloom! Makes me SMILE! Love roses perfume!

Welcome to my weekly smile and as I set out on my walk this morning it was wonderful to feel the sunrise on my back. It was a nice 60 degrees and as I passed the school across the street there are many trucks delivering dirt or whatever they need to fill in a new parking lot. So many trucks coming and going and as I walk I feel and hear the rumble of their diesel engines as they idle waiting their turn. As I pass all this organized chaos I finally get far enough away to hear nature that is out cackling away. The roosters crow in neighboring yards and the morning doves are cooing away keeping me company as I walk the block. I giggled as one rooster cock-a-doodle doo went hoarse near the very end. Haha, sure made me smile as I took in the morning! 😀

I’m smiling as my teeny tiny garden is really flourishing. I get so EXCITED! The tomatoes are waning and I am thinking all my watering may be a little much for the one tomato plant – but that’s okay because it has given me plenty of tomatoes and since the two bell peppers are thriving, it is now time to see these babies grow bigger and I will have a ton of bell peppers as I counted over 20! I will be giving some away to my friends as I can’t eat them all. I know I can cut them up, flash freeze and then store in freezer if needed. But I want to share them too. They make me smile! 😀

  • Morning sun on my bell peppers!
  • Growing!

I am also excited this week as I am going to see my daughter and have the rest of the week off from work. My youngest son and I will be driving the 3 hours or so up North to spend time with her and buy presents to send to my granddaughter. My granddaughter turns 5 next week and so we will send a nice care package and virtually celebrate this year and I have to say I feel truly blessed to have these beautiful grand children in our lives. I am hoping that I will be able to visit these grand babies next month as my son is trying to plan a weekend where I can baby sit so that he can take his wife camping in northern AZ for some time together. I am excited, and can patiently wait for a date. Here is that cute grandson, growing every month!

  • He is so ADORABLE! ❤

Teddy is such a cutie patutie and as he is still so small, it makes my grand daughter look so big. I can’t believe she is turning 5 years old. ❤ As these weeks fly by (can you believe it is the end of July?) I can’t believe it will be August next week. I have been following the weather very closely the last month or so and I did not realize that in AZ it does not cool off at night. It will cool from say 110 degrees high, down to 90 degrees at night! WOW, and if it is say 101 degrees high, it will go down to 80’s at night. SO HOT!

I asked my son if it was like this last year, he said he thought this year is worse but they have only been there a couple of years. He was saying it felt like when you are snowed in and you can’t go out, with Covid and now the heat – they are stuck in the house. It is hard to go for walks with the kids when it is 90 out at 8pm. UGH! this does not look like a place where I want to retire with my horses. We are weighing all options and are starting to look at other options. I don’t think my son with his family are going to make AZ their permanent residents, who knows what the future holds! I have to consider everything, so we are taking our time. I was just shocked how very hot that state is at least the lower half of that state. Northern AZ is higher elevation and better weather. We have time. (as I complain how fast time flies! Haha!)

  • One more rose photo! So happy I have some new blooms!!

Thank you for visiting my smile post! What makes you smile? I just had to share one more bloom. This photo is a small bud which just makes me smile. I hope you all are doing well and are healthy and happy. I know we all have our struggles in this life so to stop and smell the roses (couldn’t help myself from using that phrase, hehe) is one way to slow down and take in the day. Have a wonderful week! Stay safe ❤

Happy Smiling Grandma,

~Diana

My Weekly Smile; June 9, 2020

On By DianaIn Love being Grandma, weekly smile18 Comments
Welcome to my weekly smile! What made you smile this week?
Courage is not having the strength to go on; It's going on when you don't have the strength.  Theodore Roosevelt

I thought an inspirational quote would be a nice way to start out my smile for this week. This is particularly appropriate for me as I am working an extremely long work week as I am covering for a vacation in my department. And it is extra busy at work, so much so that I am having to dig deep to muster through it all, but I will succeed with a smile. Why? because that’s the way I roll. I want to complain, and it slips out here and there and there isn’t much any of us can do about the crazy busy work load. I guess everyone is needing to take their pets to the vet! Who knew it would go from really slow to exceptionally busy?

I am going to make some chocolate chip cookies to bring to my employees tonight, they will be surprised and I know that will put a huge smile on my face! 😀 I have been trying to find a day that I am not too tired to bake and today I have the time to not only write my smile post, but to bake up some cookies! YUM! Now that’s something to smile about right there! 😀

I have been able to get to the stables almost every day. Today my girlfriend took care of the horses so I am able to be home to bake and write! I have been thinking a lot about our plans to move to Arizona, and the 37 acre idea has been scrubbed. We will figure it all out, but I sure miss my grand babies. I think of them often. I try and stay in touch as much as I can and I have a new photo to share. My garden is coming along, lots of tomatoes and it seems it may be a bit too hot for bell peppers. I have a grouping of roses I will share. I let these bloom but pruned the rest of the plant.

The last of my blooms for awhile! So pretty and they smell divine!

I know I am rambling. I am feeling a bit tired with the very long work week. I was too busy to write over the weekend and/or any other day. I really enjoy the SMILE POSTS! So I am happy I can get this put together to share. I’ll end with baby Teddy! He is now three and half months old, missing him and his sister so much. I know I’m one of millions of grandma’s missing their grand children. I’m so thankful of instant photos and video chats! 😀

Now there is a SMILE!! ❤ ❤ ❤

Thanks for visiting my smile this week. I hope you all have a wonderful week and if you want to share what makes your smile, that would be great!

A little tired, keep on smiling grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; A Very Busy Week

On By DianaIn Family is important, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share27 Comments
Thinking about my Grand babies every day! I can’t help myself, he’s my lead in to my coffee share!

Welcome to my coffee share where we share the weeks happening or what we will be up to this weekend. I have had such a busy week, I think I am getting busier instead of what most people have been doing and that is staying inside and probably fighting boredom. I am not trying to defy the staying at home orders and those that follow me know that I am a essential worker and work full-time in a Veterinary Lab and I own two horses. So I am always on the go and I enjoy my gardening too! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I just had to share baby Teddy again, to be able to hold him in my arms, oh my, just thinking about that makes me sad (because I’m so far away) and joyful all at the same time! Love you grand babies!! Missing Alice, my grand daughter too. ❤

I have so much to share! I have my tiny garden which is in containers this year and I am having really good luck and so far nothing is dead and things are flourishing. I am going to share some photos as I should get tomatoes and hoping for some bell peppers too! I am really excited.

This is my tomato and bell pepper container. The photo on the left I just took this morning and the photo on the right was taken last week. What growth in one week! I am so excited they are thriving!!
Photo on the left is my tea rose which hasn’t bloomed in a few years! It has been going crazy with blooms. On the right my container of flowering perennials. Pretty!

I got help this last week with weeding. My hubby gets out there with his weed wacker and boy, he makes tedious work go much faster by using this tool. He has a nice gas powered one which he tackles all areas where we have tons of weeds that grow. Then I tend to the roses with pruning and I water too. At this time we don’t have too many things growing that need watering. We use to have automatic timer watering but that was back when we had a front lawn. We are definitely conserving water since the lawn is long gone. We are going to landscape eventually with a water friendly decor. Not sure what that will be, or when this will happen, haha, something on our to do list for our house!

How’s your coffee, need a refill? I forget for some it may be dinner time, but then I know many that drink coffee with their dinner! I would be drinking ice tea with my dinner, speaking of dinner I need to figure out what’s for dinner? I digress, I really wanted to share my busy week with all the horse back riding I’ve been doing. 😀

I have been asked by a really nice horse woman at the barn I left recently to help her with her horse. She is around my age and new to riding (hmm.. I keep forgetting to ask her background with horses, I must ask her the next time we meet) but needless to say she has had some scares, falling off a time or two and has some fears and does not feel confident especially riding the trails. NO PROBLEM I tell her, I will help you gain confidence and tackle your fears!! She has hired me to ride her horse and give her lessons. I am taking on more, but it is something I am very passionate about, HORSES!

This is Ava, my clients horse. I am not in the training business but will help when people ask and this mare is a ton of fun to ride!

I am having a ton of fun riding this pony. This photo was the first day I rode her and after this day I lengthened my stirrups as they are rather high for western, I had to ride her “English style” in the western saddle. The horsey people who follow me should understand. I think I will just write another blog post about my horsey fun and training, and giving lessons to this super nice lady who just wants some help with her horse. She wants confidence and I told her I would love to help her. The little extra money I will earn will go directly to my horses, their grains I buy and shavings for their stalls. It will mean some extra time out of my days off but worth it I think!

Crochet linen place mats for my daughter! So FUN!

I keep so busy, if I am not at work which is night shift, at the stables most mornings, tending my garden mid-afternoon, I am probably crocheting before I head to bed! I need to fit in sleep on my work days but some how I manage. I Love crochet and my daughter bought this yarn and it is fine so I can make these pretty place mats. When I visited my daughter last weekend we went online shopping and she found this yarn in pretty pastel colors. Perfect for her house and I may need to make some for my house too! I’ll have to buy more yarn! FUN!

I’ll finish up by saying that I am enjoying our beautiful Spring weather. We have had only one heat spell where the heat spiked and now it is much better. We have had mild heat this month and I am very happy about that. I was able to visit the ranch and ride out on the trails today with my girlfriend. I’ll close with a couple of photos of my silly horses. Fun, fun, fun! I hope you are having a good if not great weekend. I’ve so enjoyed having coffee with you and sharing my busy week and am getting in some relaxation this weekend!

Haha! Love my horses! Miss Chloe and Zack giving ya’ll a lick! What a great shot!!

Happy Grandma Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; April 15, 2020

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, Love being Grandma, weekly smile15 Comments
THE SUN! Makes me SMILE 😀

What a difference a week makes! I had to look back at last weeks smile partly because when I looked at my stats, last weeks smile was viewed and read by many, and so I thank you all for the reads. I also am grateful and thankful for all who comment. It was so wet last week, so much rain. This week is sunny and bright! The sun has finally decided to stay for awhile and I can’t tell you how happy the sun makes me feel. I think this is true for us all, we all need the sun!! I have a lot to SMILE about this week!

My smile this week also goes to my family. Sunday was a fabulous day as I was able to video chat with my family in Arizona. Oh my, it was THE BEST MEDICINE in these times. I laughed so much as my grand daughter was so entertaining! She watches her mama put on makeup and she gave her some so now she has her own. Her mama also watches makeup videos and so Alice was explaining how to put the makeup on! She did a great job considering, but had me in stitches as she applied eye makeup to only one eye, and blush to one cheek and lip gloss. I suppose you had to be there, makes me giggle just thinking about it!

I am really blurry, so much so I took myself out of one photo. I think I like seeing both of us though as you can see how much fun we have together!

She is so adorable, I can’t say enough about being able to spend time with family even remotely! Baby Teddy was very sleepy. He opened his eyes literally for a minute before dosing back into mama’s arms. I didn’t get a good photo of him this time, such a little guy but just as adorable as ever. Of course I am prejudice as ever, loving my grand babies, I’m in grandma heaven! ❤ ❤ ❤

The next day, Monday April 13th was my hubby’s birthday! We ordered an early dinner from a nice restaurant and he bought a pie too. We are continuing the celebration of birthday week as I made a chocolate cake today which I will frost after it cools. The next day April 14th was my daughter’s birthday! We video chatted and she was able to celebrate with her best friend who she also works with so they see each other every day. I am so thankful her friend was able to make her birthday a special day, and these birthday’s will be longed remembered – Birthday’s – during a pandemic.

Happy Birthday, Love You! I can’t wait until I can come and visit, hopefully soon!

I want to continue my smile post with more things I found to smile at which includes the flowers I like to share that I found on my walk this morning. The sun hitting them as it rose in the sky. I am trying to motivate myself to get to Home Depot to buy some starters for my container garden. At one point some weeks ago there was long lines to get in and I totally understand why as they were only letting in so many at a time. I will have to set aside half of my day just to buy or shop for what I’d like to plant, my how things have changed. Praying for a return to normal, for us all.

On my walk this morning! That’s the morning sun making flowers bright and beautiful!
Same flowers from above but really close up! This is my phones “live focus” feature. ❤

I will end with the last photo my son sent to me of the brothers. For those of you who follow my blog, these kitties were split up (in my family, different houses) and then reunited. I have the sister kitties which I share often and are doing great! I hope this week finds you well. What makes you smile? There must be one thing or some things? I am staring out my front window of snow peaked mountains, as the snow has not melted away yet from last weeks storms. The world is a beautiful place, the plants blooming from spring rain, and we all need to stay strong as we can get through this and we can do it with a smile! 😀

Brothers 😀

Smiling, happy, grandma!

~Diana

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My Weekly Smile; March 25, 2020

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, Love being Grandma, weekly smile13 Comments

I wasn’t sure what I was going to share this week for my weekly smile. And then my son was able to chat with me and I am so thankful for today’s technology. We video chatted and I was able to take some photos I want to share. I was so excited to chat with my grand daughter and see up close baby Teddy! I took a lot of photos, they are not the best but worth taking and I thought I would share. Today was so fun as it is amazing how it almost feels like you are there visiting, video chat is AMAZING! 😀

Baby Teddy was asleep and Mom picked him up and he just fell back to sleep in her arms!
Hi Alice! Grandma sure misses you, we had so much fun today!

My smile goes to this wonderful technology and to my beautiful family! I miss them so very much but this really brings us together. Baby Teddy will be one month old tomorrow! WHAT! Wait, it’s been a month already? I can’t believe it but he is doing great. I will share more photos. I was in grandma heaven today!!

We chatted for awhile, sharing and laughing together and then Teddy woke up!
I Love this photo of baby Teddy! ❤

We had so much fun and we got to catch up with everything. We have been painting the inside of our house, so I could show them with the video chat. We also showed each other the kitties as we made the kitty exchange back in the beginning of the year. Now I have the two sisters which are doing great. They have the two brothers which are also good. I’ll share a photo of one brother and one sister. 😀

Wolfie asleep in Arizona and Duchess on the couch at my house.

My son showed me how they have rearranged some furniture in the downstairs and they also showed me the Chore Chart they have for Alice. This is so good for young children and she really likes doing her chores and earning rewards. My son was explaining this to me when Alice asked him if he could have grandma watch her do a chore! She is just so adorable, so I was able to watch her as she loaded up the washing machine. Yay! Good job, well done! ❤

Alice showing me how she is doing her chore for today! So cute!

I just had the greatest time and was elated we were able to spend so much time together. Yes, we have done this many times before but the last few weeks have felt like months. It felt like a long time ago the last time we chatted. I think its just the overall craziness of what we all are going through that makes each day seem even more precious and since I can’t travel which breaks my heart, this all makes up for that. It definitely fills me up with happiness. Was there anything that made you smile today? I hear of many good deeds happening these days, people stepping up and helping elders in grocery stores and other wonderful things.

One last photo, HAHA! It was truly a blast to see these kids!! ❤

I really wanted to share and help bring a little smile to your day. Thank you for visiting my smile, and maybe this brought to you some cheer today! Take care of yourself and enjoy the rest of your week, the best you can. We are all doing our best!

Stay Safe, STAY STRONG!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; March 3, 2020

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Love being Grandma, weekly smile15 Comments
What makes you smile? I so enjoy sharing and I have to thank Trent who hosts the Weekly Smile so we have a place to meet and share!

I can’t believe it is March already, wow, see how the time flies? I think its crazy but I think its because I am so busy that these weeks just fly by. But it is a good busy, and so this week my smile goes to my horse Zack. He gets a super fluffy, thick winter coat every winter. It is really a bit too thick for the mild winter we have here in southern California.

I had already clipped him once in October and I did this clip called a trace clip which is just removing the hair along the sides of his body and up the bottom part of his neck and under his belly. In this way when he is exercised he stays cool while the rest of his coat all along the top half of his body will keep him warm on the cool nights. Now that it is March, he is shedding buckets of hair so I decided to clip all his hair off. This made me very happy, I am smiling for me and for him! 😀

I took a photo before I finished up on this side, his hair is so thick!

Not only did I make Zack more comfortable by clipping all his hair off, I made my life easier as grooming is super easy now and I don’t need to spend hours brushing and trying to shed all the hair off of his body. The poor guy would just stand in his stall and sweat on hot days as the days are getting longer and hotter. Now he is sleek and beautiful, I am so happy I decided to do this now. I usually just suffer through the shedding season and he suffers too. Well, he doesn’t suffer that much, but it was totally worth clipping him.

I am so happy I was able to do this and my ponies always put a huge smile on my face. I was able to get a few trail rides in before more wind came and I think the wind is gone for now. What makes you smile this week? Anything fun happening?

After clipping, I gave him a bath. His color is called flea bitten gray. He has tiny brown flecks all through his coat. I think he is so handsome!

I really wanted to share a smile this week and I can’t help myself as I have one last smile to share. And that is my new little grandson. My Loves, my ponies and my family which is growing and I feel so truly blessed. I hope you are having a wonderful week and thank you for visiting my smile!

Sleeping like a baby. Love you sweet boy! ❤

Always Smiling Grandma,

-Diana

Weekend Coffee Share; Babies 2020!

On By DianaIn Family is important, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share19 Comments
Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new). Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? It’s been a busy week!

Welcome to my coffee share and I have an announcement to make, I am a Grandma again! YES, my grandson came early this last week and what a crazy week. I also am noticing that I am writing this on 2/29/2020 leap year! 2020 is truly an exciting year as in my family there are many babies due this year. My Niece had her fourth son two days before my grandson was born and this grand nephew? I think he would be to me? was born on my oldest sister’s birthday 2/25! EXCITING! Everett is the son of my niece and two days later on 2/27 my grandson Teddy was born. I AM SO EXCITED! I may explode!! HAHA! I JUST LOVE BABIES! ❤ ❤ ❤

We had made plans for my youngest son who is in-between jobs to fly out this last Thursday evening to be in Arizona to help with my granddaughter while they are in the hospital delivering baby Teddy. My oldest son had planned this time with the help of doctor visits, Teddy wasn’t due until 3/9 so they thought this last week would be a good week to get brother out there to help. Around 7am mom’s water broke! OH NO! she is going into labor and my son isn’t going to arrive until that evening to take care of Alice.

So it was decided that he drive out (5 hour drive) as his ticket was basic economy, the cheapest and there was no standby option. He would have to buy a whole new ticket which was pricey. He made it in time to pick up Alice at the hospital and take her home. Teddy arrived 5 hours later. What a crazy week!!!

Welcome Theodore “Teddy” David to this world! 7lb 1oz birthday 2/27 ❤
Love these two SO MUCH! Photo taken before Teddy arrived in the hosptial!

So EXCITING! Such a great time for these young’ins. I remember those days, being pregnant and giving birth to some wonderful children and now it is their turn. I labeled this post as babies 2020 and one of my sisters has 5 grown children and they are all married with kids, but 4 are not done growing their family’s. The oldest has 3 girls and won’t have any more. How is your coffee? or maybe you are sipping some tea? I am trying to take in this last week, it’s like pinch me, grandma again!

I thought I would run down the list real quick. I already mentioned one niece had her 4th son on 2/25. My nephew’s wife is due 3/21 with a girl, and the next nephew’s wife is due 5/25 with a boy. Then there is one more niece due sometime in September and we do not know yet the sex so I have some time for home made gifts. My best friend has made baby crochet/knit items to help share with all these babies and I will make another baby blanket and baby hats to go with more baby booties. OH MY, so many babies this year! My oldest sister has a spreadsheet she keeps updating and sends to us and this family is blooming!! She will be busy updating it this year! 😀

Completed baby blanket for baby Teddy! I will make another with a different blue for niece or nephew. Maybe I will make two, it would look cute with purple yarn too!
Kitty thinks it is a nice blanket too! KITTY -follows me all around!
Here is booties and baby hats for a girl or boy. My best friend knitted the booties from my Mom’s pattern. My sister knows how to knit these booties too. I don’t knit, only crochet. Need to mail these out soon!

Thanks for visiting my coffee share as I am just so incredibly proud and very happy my family is growing and that everyone is happy and healthy. My youngest son will stay and help out for a few weeks and then come home. I’m so curious how my granddaughter is going to feel with a new baby in the house. She was the only one for the last 4 1/2 years, now baby brother will take time away from her! I know this will be very good for her in many ways. I am so excited for my son and his family. We are still working on moving to Arizona but the planning and figuring everything out is very daunting, never giving up on our dreams. Just need to take things one day at a time and keep plowing away on our goals. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. 😀

Excited, grateful, proud Grandma!

~Diana