Potpourri Friday

A while back when I first discovered I was going to be a grandmother, I wrote a post about how I was pondering my "grandma name". I wanted something different and unique that would fit me. Grandma last- name sounded too formal, grandma first-name didn't sound right either. I liked Nana but it is too used.

After searching and trying names out I finally chose Mia. And I like it. It is short. It will be easy for the babies to say. And it just sounds special to me.

To my ear it sounds close to mama (my favorite name in the world). It's different but the same if you know what I'm trying to say.

My son-in-law wasn't sure about it until we found out that Mario of the video game world calls his grandma Mia. I think that helped him. :)

After writing my post back then I was really surprised at the strong feelings people have about grandma names. Some think grandma is the only name appropriate. Some thought my quest was ridiculous. Some folks thought I was being a bit too stupid concerned about it. I got a lot of opinion about it in real life too. But interesting enough, I have been amazed that the most popular google search that brings people to my blog is "grandma names". Just yesterday I had 11 searches that found my blog that way. It totally amazes me. In fact if you google "grandma names" you will find dozens of web pages about it. Here is just one of the fun articles. So apparently I am not the only grandma out there looking for that special name! I'm not sure that there isn't some kind of way to make some money off this. Maybe I should write a book about the whole topic!

And many thanks to all of you who shared your books suggestions for babies with me. I can't wait to go book shopping for Tyler and Ava Claire. You all shared such wonderful books and I have made a list to carry with me. One real life friend even brought me two pages of books including color pictures of the covers! You are all too good to me!

Speaking of books, the other day I wrote this post. I was totally surprised to find a comment from Nancy herself thanking me for my review of her books! My goodness. This blogging thing is really something! I have no idea how she found my blog.

Well wait a minute. Now that I think about it, maybe she was googling grandma names!

Anyway, if I had known she was going to read my review I would have spent much more time on it and tried to sound more savvy or something! But it sure made me feel special that a real-life published author would stop by and visit me. And I really do like those books. Thanks Nancy for stopping by!

This week, after a long break, I got back into my sewing room. And guess what? I started sewing pink! It might sound funny but sewing pink has an entirely different feeling than sewing blue. I have started Ava Claire's quilt that is actually the girl companion quilt to the one I made for Tyler.

Tyler's has sailboats and Ava Claire's will have flowers. I just feel so blessed to have a grandson and a soon-to-arrive granddaughter. People always told me "Just wait. It is the most incredible thing." And they were right it is. Like nothing else I have ever experienced. I can't wait till little Ava Claire gets here - I'm dying to see what she looks like!

This has been quite a week for me. My sweet dog Josey gave birth to five little puppies last weekend and one of them has been struggling. He just will not nurse. Josey kept taking him out of the box which is never a good sign. So my daughter Jess and I have been taking turns tube feeding him every three hours around the clock. I'm still worried about him. He is not losing weight but he isn't gaining anything either. His brothers and sister are double his size now. He stays at 3 1/2 ounces. So small. But he remains active. And as long as he is trying I will keep trying too. This is definitely the down side of breeding puppies. And after spending so much time and worry on the little guy, if he makes it, I have to sell him. It's hard not to get attached to the ones who fight so hard to live.

My husband is coming home today! He spent the week at Boy's Camp being the chaplain. The theme was The Wild West, so he took his horses up with him and for each sermon he included an object lesson that he shared about training horses. He called earlier this week and he was so excited because the boys are just loving it. In fact at the first chapel service he said about 3/4's of them responded to his altar call! He said he was just so surprised that in this technological world that there were so many kids still interested in outdoor things. Maybe the fact that they were up in the mountains with no tv's, iPods, or video games, helped them see that there is more to life than electronics.

This will be a short weekend for me as I have to work on Saturday. Bummer. But I will try to find the time to write a little, sew a little, and read a little.

Happy weekend!