Dogs, raccoons, and grandchildren--in that order?

When it rains, my dog shows his displeasure with me by dumping his food bowl off the step where I feed him. He did that last night, and when I went to let him in for the night, I saw a small gray animal--at first I wondered how my cat got out. But then an unmistakable face looked at me--a raccoon who skittered off into the night as I opened the door. I scolded Scooby saying someone would eat his food before morning. Tonight repeat of the same scene--it's been raining, and the food was dumped.
Spent much of today, in odd moments, making dips for tomorrow night. It amazes me how long it's taken me to learn some things. But lately I've scorched so many dips and things that this time I did everything in the double boiler--easy! I could let things simmer while I went about my business, then let them cool, rinse out the top of the double boiler and move on to the next dish. So my cooking for tomorrow night is all done. I didn't want  to have to cook all morning tomorrow and wear my back out so that I'd be a grouch in the evening.
Jacob arrived in a cheeerful mood tonight, and we had fun. Since last week, at brunch at a restaurant, he had literally snatched the bacon off my plate, I decided to make him a BLT. His mother assured me he would like the lettuce and tomato, but he didn't, ate the bread with mayonnaise and the bacon and a bunch of blueberries. He's gotten over telling me his mom says he can only have three blueberries--which she never said. Then a couple of hours later, he wanted pbj. Tonight I was determined he wouldn't stay up till midnight, as he had last week, so I was quite firm, which led him to tell me he was going to tell his mom that I am mean. Told me he didn't like to sleep here anyway. But when we cuddled, and I scratched his back, he said, "I want to stay here forever." The contradictions of a four-year-old continue to amaze me. But what fun!

A day of small pleasures and accomplishments

My Saturday was to consist of a trip to the grocery store and keeping Jacob tonight, but other things came along. Mary Lu called from Dallas, said she'd be in Fort Worth, and could we have lunch--we did, at Carshon's, the local deli and one of my favorite places. We had a good visit and I had comfort food--a half of an egg-salad sandwich. When I got home I found Fed Ex had delivered an author's revisions to final copy--I swear he just got it yesterday. But I entered the revisions and got the whole project off to the publisher by email. I dealt with two manuscript proposals on my desk and had a long phone conversation with a physician I'd been trying to contact for some time to get information for my chapter in the osteopathic history. He had a couple of wonderful stories that will be great additions, and then we talked about the future of both the local ostoepathic college and the profession. Since osteopathic medicine has always been part of my life, that was really interesting to me.
And I got a good nap, rode my bike before Jacob came, and generally felt well pleased with the world.
Getting Jacob to eat his supper was not such a success--he rummaged in the backpack his mom had brought and found a tiny box of raisings, plus a bag of trail mix which he brought to the dinner table and I finally took away. I think his dinner consisted of a few blueberries and a few green peas (I'll use the rest of the small can for pea salad for lunch tomorrow). I saved his dinner--untouched hamburger with cheese on it--thinking his mom might want to reheat it for lunch tomorrow. Best part of the meal? I let the cheese on his meat (which I cooked longer than mine) melt a bit too much and some dripped into the pan and mixed with some crisp beef crumbles. I scraped the whole thing--less than one good bite--off the pan and saved it until I was doing dishes. So good!
One of my small triumphs was getting Jacob to try raspberries--he declined, saying he had tried them at "my home." Well, I knew better than that, because his mother never buys them. But I popped the last one in my mouth, which of course, led him to say, "I want one!" He ate two--a good start. I'm determined to enlarge his taste beyond that of his parents.
We had a peaceful evening, and as far as I know (and the monitor tells me) he is quietly in bed, leafing through a book. We read one chapter--about pirates--before I said goodnight. Someone wrote me today about learning patience, and I replied that grandchildren can really teach it to you. I've learned to cuddle with Jacob--somthing I rarely had time for with my own children--and to patiently sit with him when he's on the potty, to concentrate on him at meals rather than read a book (well, he's turning to watch the Disney channel all the time). But I am also a firm grandmom--when I tell him something I expect him to obey. We're having a battle now over throwing his sippee cup of milk on the floor when he's through with it. Tonight, he looked at me to see if I was watching and then deliberately dropped it. I told him, in no uncertain terms, how disappointed I was, and he kept saying, "I a good boy." If he does it in the morning, he goes to the time out chair--which he has told me is dirty!

Wow! What a day!

I started the day with an 8 a.m.dental appt. for cleaning--only cleaning, nothng more. But I've had some traumatic dental appointments in the last six months, and even the idea freaked me out--and called forth my anxiety. I could barely make it down my own driveway, though I did so by devious routes. The receptionist in the dental office is one of the sweetest persons I've ever met, so when I got there I called and asked her to come out and walk me in. She did, and walked me out, and said she'd be glad to do it anytime. I spooked myself--and I think the staff--by taking a colossal pratfall there several months ago. But it was after a very long session (three hours?) of mostly drilling, and both the dental staff and my own doctor told me it was not unusual to be unsteady and disoriented by such a prolonged time in the dental chair. But still the incident has spooked me, so now I'm leery of going in and out of the office. That, my friends, is how phobias develop!
When I got back to the office, we had staff meeting at which I garnered a whole lot more chores and then we went to the monthly book luncheon sponsored by Human Resources. This time, I was the star and the program was about my cookbook/memoir. Shari, a good friend from HR, decided that we would do a demonstration, so we made Colin's queso and finally passed out samples for everyone. The lunch dishes were from my book--Doris' casserole, a green salad (not from the book), and bundt cake, although they used white cake mix instead of the chocolate I usually use. But everyone liked it, especially the casserole. Shari asked me questions, and then the audience did--44 women and 1 man, larger group than usual--and it was fun answering them. Shari announced afterward that I am comedic, but I told her it was only because I had her to play off of. But everyone did laugh a lot, and it was lots of fun. And I sold 19 books--not bad at all.
After all that I came home and took a long and good nap. But I had used up so many many Weight Watchers points that I couldn't think what I wanted for dinner--and Jacob was coming to spend the night. So I made myseslf creamed tuna, and served him a tiny bit of it, half an avocado, some spinach rotelle, cheese, and cottage cheese. He arrived crying, glued on the TV, finally came to the dinner table but was obviously unhappy about the DVD--kept saying "I want out." So I changed the DVD. He ate a bit of cottage cheese and that was it. Later in the evening he did brighten enough to play "Where's Jacob?" and then put his froggie over my face and we played "Where's Juju." I finally got him to bed and got a sweet good-night kiss but he insisted on leaving the light on so I have to sneak in and see if he's asleep so I can turn it off.
The Fort Worth ISD has closed all its schools from tomorrow until May 11. Since Jacob's pre-school follows the ISD I'm not sure what will happen. And I'm not sure what to think about this swine flu epidemic and/or scare.
Yes, folks, I'm ready for bed myself. A nice but tiring day.