Thursday, September 13, 2007

Too Busy for Tea, But Not to Serve Others


Tuesday night, before I went to bed, I assembled all of the ingredients for Autumn's favorite muffins. The plan was to wake early, bake the muffins, have tea with Autumn, and have her at
the orthodontist by 8 AM.





I woke up at 7 AM. Still, I was determined to do something special for her. You see, this time of year gets hectic. Collin has football, Mac has cross country, and Autumn stays home most evenings with Abigail and Grandma. Sure, she gets out to do fun things too, but I appreciate what she does for me, and I wanted to show her by making a special breakfast tea party just for her.




I baked the muffins, and gave up my shower. Autumn and Abigail ended up enjoying the breakfast tea that was supposed to be for Autumn and me. That's okay. At least they enjoyed it.

We rushed to the orthodontist, and then headed straight back home, as I promised Grandma to take her for a haircut at 11 AM.




After I grabbed a quick shower, Grandma and I headed back out the door for her appointment. She wanted to do some shopping, so we hit the nearest store. Grandma was looking for a heavy cardigan sweater, or a light jacket. On Sunday, my uncle, her youngest son, is picking her up and she will stay with him for nearly a week. She wants to be prepared to go. We didn't have any success at the first store, so we drove 15 miles north, and I took her to lunch.

Grandma seemed to enjoy herself. After lunch, we walked across the street to a local clothing store. This place has been in business since the 1940's, and the service is still wonderful. They wait on your every whim. The ladies are quite old, and I wonder if they have worked there all this time. Grandma did find a jacket, and I thought it looked quite nice on her. The sales woman and another customer all agreed. Gram was thrilled with the compliments, and decided to buy it.

We ran to another boutique in town as well. I had never been in there, and we got a real laugh about it. Let me tell you that we live in a depressed area, and the t-shirts in this boutique were $86! They had a cute little coat that went for $455! Too rich for our blood. Grandma felt much better about the price that she had assumed was alot for the jacket that she bought!

Next stop, Wal*mart. Grandma wanted to look for a tote bag to carry some of her essentials while travelling. It's such a good thing that I was with her. I dropped a prescription off at the pharmacy for her, and then met her in the purses. She was looking at a navy tote bag. She said, "Well, this one seems nice enough."

I pointed to the one above it, and asked, "Do you like Tinkerbell?" The bag was black with a pink Tinkerbell design.

Grandma seemed a bit offended, and said, "I don't want to carry a Tinkerbell bag!"

"Do you realize that the one that you were looking at has Eeyore on it?"

"NO! How about that one down there? It's just black and purple. "

"Grandma, look closely. It has a skull on it."

"What do you mean?"

" A Skull, Gram. Look. It's the head of a skeleton. The tag says Pirates of the Caribbean."

"OH! No, I don't want that!"

So, I suggested that I make her a bag because that was the entire tote bag selction at Walmart.
I left her to shop while I ran to pick Mac up at school and took him to the orthodontist. Sigh.

After picking Grandma back up, and heading home for a quick supper, I started working on Grandma's tote bag. She came out while I was ironing the fabric, and noticed that it was a black and white ticking. I don't think that she was pleased judging by the look on her face, but when I took her in the finished product, she was thrilled.






It's very roomy, and has a Velcro closure at the top.








So, I went to bed knowing that although
my day didn't go exactly as planned, I did make several people happy, and that was a blessing to them, and to me!

13 comments:

Karen said...

That's very sweet of you! I really like the bag, too. Did you make up the pattern? It looks very roomy.
We're looking at getting braces for Alaina soon. This will be the third, and last one to go through it!
It sounds like you had a blessed day. Sometimes a change of our plans *is* best.

Anonymous said...

You are just a saint! I think you deserve an extra jewel in your crown my dear.

I love the tote. My daughter had a nice bag she was carrying today. I tried to convince her it would look very nice on my shoulder. It didn't work out very well...Maybe I should check out the selection at Walmart :)

Momma Roar said...

Your family is very blessed Tracy!! The tote bag looks wonderful - much better than the selection at the store. :)

The tea party in your last post looked absolutely wonderful.

Emily said...

What a lovely thing for you to do Tracy! I'm glad the girls enjoyed their muffins. The story about grandma picking out Disney bags was hilarious! Have a very blessed day - I've missed reading your blog!

Suzy said...

We are called "to be servants" and I think you qualify !!
I loved the conversation with Grandma over choosing a bag...Sounds like me and my mom, she's 89.

randi said...

Your handmade bag is MUCH better than a WallyWorld bag! You are such a sweetie!

weavermom said...

You had a great day! And got a lot done!

I love hearing about your struggles and triumphs with your grandma. It just makes me smile when you are able to help her smile. :)

ellen b. said...

May God bless you richly for your service to all the loved ones in your house! What a busy day Lady!
Wonderful tea, shopping, and sewing. Sounds like the Proverbs Woman to me...

Abigail said...

I enjoyed it, and am glad that Grandma likes her bag.

Ways of Zion said...

I went to Walmart to get Magoo a baseball cap and they all had guns or skulls on them! Ahh! What is it coming to!

I found a set of 2 PLAIN navy and red ones....on the floor!

Jennifer in MS said...

Ahhh....you did have a busy day serving others! You are so thoughtful! I love the tote you made! It looks perfect!!

Lori said...

Sounds like you had a busy day.

I do the same thing as you when getting ready in the morning. My kids come first. If I'm not ready (like this morning) I get ready after dropping Megan off at preschool. The only thing I had time to do for myself this morning was get dressed.

Jodi said...

It sounds like you had a lovely day despite it (the day) having a mind of its own. Your bag is darling. I'm sure you'll miss your grandmother, but enjoy your week and your break from the usual responsibility. Praying you'll feel much refreshed at week's end.