Grandma Life: Latest News from My World

Guests for dinner, starting a Pinterest account, dealing with a computer meltdown, delighting in seeing my yard uprooted. There’s a lot going on in my grandma life, and I wanted to share some tips that are keeping me afloat.

Welcome to my Pinterest Page

While I’ve been on this social media platform for years, I started my “Call Me Grandma” Pinterest account just last week. I’m looking forward to showcasing my ideas, and curating my favorite pins from other pinners to share on my boards. There are so many talented and creative people on Pinterest to admire, be inspired, and learn from.

I hope you’ll visit and become a follower. My user name is OfficialCallMeGrandma.

Landscaping Thrill: We’re Getting a New Yard!

Living in drought country, we stopped watering our lush, green lawn quite a few years ago, and have tolerated the straggly remains. On Monday, we began our landscape renovation, focused on creating a Provençal garden. We will replace the grass with pea gravel and plant drought-tolerant, Mediterranean trees and shrubs. We’re working with the talented Joe Couture from Janet Moyer Landscaping, specialists in urban landscaping.

Some Tips for Working with a Landscape Designer

While I can’t claim success, since our yard is under construction now, here’s what has worked for us, to date:

• Make a list of what you like and don’t like in a garden to hone your taste and style.
• Save photos of gardens you like. I pinned my images on Pinterest and shared the link with our designer. I also shared my books on Provençal gardens to communicate the look and feel I was after.
• Once the garden is designed, with plants selected, google the list of plant varieties proposed for your garden, to ensure you understand plant care needs, and can envision the height and width of the plants as they start to grow.
• If you are someone who can visualize from just looking at rough concepts, ask if you can see early, rough sketches to ensure you are on the same design wave length as your designer. This ensures that you aren’t wasting the designer’s time (and billable hours) to present a finished work that might be completely at odds with your dream garden.

I’ll share photos of our progress in a few weeks.

Friday Night Dinners, Revisited

The children’s other grandmother is visiting from overseas, so I wanted Friday night dinner to be a little special, but not fancy. Our traditional Friday night dinner is a no-fuss, weekly family affair; sometimes, just takeout pizza. The point is to connect as a family once a week.

Since my son’s mother-in-law would be in town for quite a few weeks, if we had pulled out all the stops, she might think she was imposing to accept future Friday night invitations. I wanted her to feel like family

If you want an easy recipe for Friday night dinner, try the San Francisco classic, Joe’s Special, made with ground beef, spinach, and eggs. Make two pans for eight people.

Joe’s Special

So, I made Chicken Marbella, the iconic Silver Palate recipe from the ’80s. It was as easy and delicious as I remembered from the days when it was my go-to company dish. With herbed rice and a green salad, that was the whole meal.

One night we will have a proper guest dinner. But not yet. I think, mid-visit.

Computer Crash: Hail the External Drive!

A public service announcement: don’t neglect backing up your computer. You never know when some fluke, like simply updating your operating system, could wipe out all your work. This is what happened to me a few weeks ago. Fortunately, my external drive restored everything.

Also, I highly recommend using a back-up service for your photos. I use both iCloud and Google Photos because pictures of my grandkids and my family are more precious than anything.

Grandma Life: What I’m Working on Now

Among the projects in the works for “Call Me Grandma!” are two that I’m have great fun with. One is the renovation of the dollhouse for our clothespin dolls that Miss T and I worked on last year during virtual Camp Grandma. Recently she has renewed her interest in the dolls and dollhouse, and I realized that we had been making room vignettes, but not a complete house. So, I emptied out a couple of shoe boxes and we will be working to decorate the rooms on two floors.

The second is a fairy lantern. I’ve figured out how I want to make it and I’m excited to be putting it together. I’ve been noodling this idea around awhile, thinking through the challenges of construction. This could be a project for a child that you can do together, a kit you can make for a child, or one you could make completely yourself as a gift from grandma. More to come next week!

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