Sunday Dinner, July 1, 2007 & Emmy Pics

Sunday Dinner time again, folks. Where did this week go? For that matter, where did the month go? July 1st already, hard to believe.

Might as well start the new month off right, I suppose. Notice the question mark on the waiter's serving tray in my new Sunday Dinner Button? That's my subtle way of letting y'all know that I ain't cooking for Sunday Dinner this week.

I don't care if we go out to eat, if everyone pitches in for Kentucky Fried Chicken or if we come back here and scrounge around for what we can find. It'll be root hog or die if we do come back here because I don't know if I even have any of that Southern staple, baloney.

Now, what are your plans for Sunday Dinner this week? Just post your plans in the comments, everybody.Besides the fact that I'm just plain lazy, I do have one good reason I'm not cooking for Sunday Dinner this week. I'm T-A-R-D, tired.

Remember that project I've been threatening to work on for a few months here in my computer room/spare room/Emmy's room? You know, cleaning, sorting and just generally mucking out the mess in here? Well, I've worked on it all week in fits and starts and I finally have almost everything done in here. I still have a couple of loads of laundry that need to be rewashed because they were clean but laid heaped up on the bed in here so long they're wrinkled and have accumulated a coat of cat hair. I also need to put away a few clean, folded clothes and vacuum. Otherwise it's done, hallelujah!

It's such a relief not to have that major cleaning job hanging over my head anymore. And I can actually see the floor again in here!

Another reason I'm tired is that I went shopping Saturday morning for my monthly staples. You know, silly stuff like paper towels, toilet tissue, washing powder, shampoo -- frivolous things like that. We went to Cici's Pizza for dinner (I believe I've mentioned the fact that "dinner" is the noon meal here where I live in Northeast Arkansas...) before we came home so I'm not cooking supper tonight either. I feel all rebellious and devil-may-care-ish, LOL!

It does me in to do all that walking. My knees are not happy at all. The fact that it's trying to storm isn't helping my arthritis at all. But, on the good side, it's raining! Not pouring, but a shower is better than nothing. Hopefully we'll get more rain before this system passes through the area.On to the Emmy pics and developing news concerning Jessica and Emmy.

I took all these pictures on Wednesday, June 27th, family and anybody else that's keeping up. Emmy will be 8 weeks old Tuesday, July 3rd. The last picture in this bunch is my favorite, I think.

I don't know about anybody else, but I can see Emmy changing and growing from week to week.

She's grinning now and almost laughing out loud. She's holding her head up almost all the time and she coos and tries to talk.

You can see her concentrating, trying to make her mouth form sounds, but she hasn't quite got the hang of it yet.

Emmy will be 2 months old on July 8th.

Now for the news. I mentioned that Jessica's neighbor was supposed to babysit Emmy while Jessica worked. Well, that didn't work out so well.

For one thing, the neighbor lady and Jessica agreed on what Jessica would pay for babysitting. But, the woman kept upping what she expected to be paid and she only kept Emmy for 2 weeks after Jessica went back to work!

Then, on a Friday night before she was to babysit Emmy on Saturday she told Jessica she wouldn't be able to keep Emmy. Jessica had to scramble to find another babysitter that she trusted, with very short notice.

By now Jessica was becoming very disillusioned with her babysitter, and understandably so.

To top it all off, the babysitter left Emmy unattended for a time. A short time, but a newborn should never be left alone, for any amount of time. That was the straw that broke the figurative camel's back, so to speak.

Fortunately Jason's Mom was able to take up the slack and keep Emmy while Jessica and Jason worked for the next few weeks. Jason's Mom's work schedule was just right so that they could make it work to everyone's satisfaction.

But -- and there always seems to be a "but" doesn't there? -- Jessica interviewed for and was offered what promises to be a great full-time job in an office with good benefits, room for advancement and steady hours. It doesn't hurt at all that her salary hiring in will be double what she was making at her former part-time job.

Now who in their right mind would turn down an opportunity like that when it's almost literally dropped in their lap? Of course Jessica accepted the job offer and gave notice at her other job.

Now she had a dilemma. Who would babysit Emmy? Jason's Mom couldn't watch Emmy during the daytime hours because of her own job. The neighbor lady was completely out of the picture. No way would Jessica risk Emmy coming to harm under her care again.

And so....Just call me Grandma, the babysitter. For the foreseeable future, anyway. I had told Jessica before Emmy was born that I would like to keep Emmy part-time, but I didn't think I was up to it physically to watch her if Jessica ever went to work full-time. But honestly, just the thought of some stranger watching Emmy was giving me waking nightmares. Jessica couldn't even trust someone she thought she knew well, how could she entrust an 8 week old baby to a stranger? Plus, Grandmas tend to work cheaper than other babysitters and almost any daycare.

Starting this Monday morning I'll be babysitting Emmy from about 7 am every morning until 5:30 pm or so every evening. Jessica will have one day off every week,usually Wednesdays if I understood her correctly, plus most weekends. But Jessica has to study and pass the test to get her real estate license for this job. So the next several weekends she'll be taking classes in preparation for the test to get her license and I'll have Emmy on those weekends as well as during the week.

I'm so glad Emmy's still so little and isn't mobile yet. I already told Jessica I would do this as long as I was physically able but there may come a time when I'll have to give it up and Jessica will simply have to find another trustworthy babysitter. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy this unexpected but very welcome blessing. And it is a blessing to be able to have this precious time with Emmy. I am very aware of that blessing and thankful for this opportunity to spend so much time with Emmy.Did I mention already that I'm TARD? I'm going to put this Sunday Dinner post to bed and go scrounge up something for a snack. I know I mentioned that I wasn't cooking supper tonight! :-)

Happy weekend, ya'll, and may God bless you with all you need, and enough to share.