A day in the life of Gramma's hilarity.

It's hard to believe that it has been a year...

2008-04-11T10:40:00.002-04:00

It seems like only yesterday that Gramma was living with us still and yet a year has passed. While she is no longer with us in person, we often talk about the funny things she did or remember silly stories. Ryan has a little photo book of family members and there is a picture of Gramma in there too. She's always be an important part of our lives and she still makes me smile everytime I think of her.

Toronto Star Article on Gramma

2007-06-08T17:21:00.000-04:00

Feisty Gramma had many fans - Granddaughter's blog described a 100-year-old who was eternally young at heart

May 17, 2007
Catherine Dunphy
obituary writer

The blog – and it is extraordinary – started a year ago January when Joanne Clemente told a friend another funny story about her grandmother. It was about the time Gramma filched popcorn from the bag of the woman in front of her in the movie line. That's it, the friend said, time to start writing down all these great stories.

And that was the beginning of thefeistyfinagler.blogspot.com.

The relationship it details began in 2003 when Joanne, a newly minted MBA grad whose parents had moved to California, needed a place to live and so moved into the Thornhill condo of Billye Maver, her then 96-year-old grandmother, who had been widowed for 10 years.

"I thought it might not work," said Laura Culley, a friend of 50 years. "But they had an incredible relationship and it wasn't just a matter of duty with Joanne. (Billye's) friends here looked on with awe."

An avid bridge player, the de facto head of the condo's stitch 'n' bitch group (its proper and unused name was the Ladies Craft Group), Maver had always been a people person, a party person. Family photos show her hamming it up – posing model style on stairways with her adult son and his family with that trademark big, wide, mischievous grin.

She danced along to American Idol. Loved the Blue Jays and going to movies. Always watched The Bachelor because she preferred men under 50. (She refused to join an over-50 church group when she was almost 70 because she didn't want to hang around old people.) Loved reading trashy novels, the kind with Fabio on the cover.

Still told jokes, stories and talk sprinkled with salty "hells" and "damns" spoken in the accent of her native New Jersey. Lied about her age to the point that her friends were totally baffled when they discovered she was receiving an old-age pension. Told people what she thought of them. Drove until she was 93 and long past the point where she obeyed stop signs. "If there's no car coming, what's the point of stopping?" she told a startled Culley, her passenger at the time. Still sported a honey brown cap of hair, even at her 100th birthday party in December, courtesy of her hairdresser of 40 years.

No ordinary grandmother; no ordinary roommate.

Marc Clemente, Joanne's future husband, was understandably nervous when he met her. Gramma pronounced him okay, but added – loudly – that his moustache and goatee would have to go. Nevertheless, after they married in 2004, Marc, still with his facial hair, moved in with Gramma. "We were a package deal," his new wife said. "It wasn't an option."

"I was nervous but I adored Gramma," Marc said.

Their first Halloween together, Marc was a pirate and Gramma, giggling, put on a clown wig. "She was such a ham," said Joanne. "From then on we did crazy things. Every holiday we would dress up."

Flag hats for Canada Day, Italy shirts for the World Cup, Christmas cards featured the threesome in Santa hats, reindeer headgear and this past year, elaborate elf hats. The blog was full of photos of Gramma in her jerseys and headgear, with family and friends.

But Maver's health was declining and gradually the relationship changed. "There was a point where the role of grandparent and grandchild changed," Joanne said.

And that's when it started becoming beautiful.

"The way they looked after her, they way they treated my mother – they felt the same joy at seeing her the way you feel with your small kids when you come home from work. It was clearly a relationship of total enjoyment," said John, Maver's only child and Joanne's father. He and Joanne's mother and her two siblings all live in the States. "But it stems from my mother."

The eldest of six kids, Augusta Rummler was 11 when she unilaterally decided to call herself Billye after a revered grandmother. She went out to work after Grade 8 at Prudential Insurance, where she later met her husband, Jack, who was 10 years her junior and at one point, her employee. They married in 1943 when he was home on a three-day pass from the Army. Their son was born when she was 40 and in 1950 they moved to Thornhill.

On the surface she was the archetypal suburban housewife – a stalwart of the country club and of the Thornhill Presbyterian Church and its choir, member of the Scouting auxiliary, home and school association, a regular at all her son's teams games. But also fun, she was always fun. "She bought a pink shag bathmat for the bathroom, cut a foot off it because it was too big and made a hat out of it that she wore to church with her mink coat," recalled her son.

She had breast cancer and a mastectomy in 1960, prompting her and her husband to join the Thornhill branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, where she visited other women with the disease. She visited psychiatric and mentally ill patients, taking them on outings every two weeks after her own sister was institutionalized for the rest of her life after suffering postpartum depression.

She and Jack sold their house but stayed in Thornhill, moving into the Gazebo condominiums, where she enjoyed bridge and a strong sense of community. In fact, Marc and Joanne postponed buying a house because she was so happy there. But with a baby on the way (Ryan Jack is now 3 months old), they moved to a new home in Whitby this year that they had re-designed to accommodate Gramma.

Before leaving for work, Joanne gave Gramma photos of her caregiver, and of Gramma with the caregiver, so she wouldn't become confused. When they came home at night, they would prepare and feed her dinner, often singing "You are my –" and waiting for Gramma to supply the word "sunshine."

"The definition of a best friend is that both sides feel they are getting the best end of the deal and Joanne and Marc believe that they did," said John Maver. "They are an inspiration on how to enjoy the elderly as opposed to put up with the elderly."

Gramma was hospitalized on April 5 with pneumonia; she was 100 when she died on April 11. Joanne had posted photos of Gramma on Easter morning in rabbit ears, lying beside her newborn great-grandson. Then she posted the death notice. The response astonished her.

"I am just a random blogger from Nunavut who found this blog quite a while ago and have loved the stories you shared about your Grandma, wrote one reader. "I, who have never met Gramma, will miss her very much," said another. And: "She showed us that growing old does not mean old."

The blog has received more than 11,000 hits from everywhere from Wack Wack in the Philippines, to Thailand, Australia, Belgium, all over Canada and places like Augusta, Ga.

"It was just to share the stories we thought funny and we were always surprised that other people thought so too," said Joanne, who always signed her posting as A Proud Granddaughter.
"I won't add anything to the blog but I won't delete that one ever."

http://www.thestar.com/article/214555

It's hard to sum her up in a few words

2007-04-12T18:41:00.000-04:00

Here is her obituary:
Maver, Augusta "Billye"
On Wednesday, April 11, 2007, Billye passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 100. Billye was the beloved wife of Jack; caring mother to John and his wife Diana; doting grandmother to John (Jill), Joanne (Marc) and Marilee (David); and loving great-grandmother to Hannah, Zoe, Andrew, Ella and Ryan. Billye's infectious laugh, feisty nature and compassion brightened many lives. Her positive personality, willingness to help and her ability to make you smile made her a force with which to be reckoned. She was youthful throughout her life and was deeply loved. Billye will be sadly missed by her family and her many friends. Enjoy more about her at http://www.thefeistyfinagler.blogspot.com.

Billye's life will be celebrated at Thornhill Presbyterian Church, 271 Centre Street, Thornhill, on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 1:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated by the family.

Rest In Peace Gramma

2007-04-11T08:26:00.000-04:00

Gramma passed away last night around 4 am or so in her sleep. While we are incredibly sad, we are happy that she passed away while comfortable and breathing well. Having these last few years with her has been one of the most amazing things in Marc's and my lives. She made us enjoy the little things and she was definitely a good sport. She made us realize that age is just a number and not something to define yourself by. She found the joy in the smallest things and she definitely loved to talk to everyone. She truly was a feisty, wonderful woman.

Rest in peace Gramma. We love you and miss you. We will always have you in our hearts.

Augusta "Billye" Maver December 20, 1906 - April 11, 2007

Happy Easter!!

2007-04-09T11:21:00.000-04:00

So even though Gramma is in the hospital, the Easter Bunny still came to visit her.

Even when sleeping - she still kept the spirit alive. :)

Always something to say

2007-04-07T15:25:00.000-04:00

Poor Gramma is in the hospital right now with pneumonia. (We are hoping for a speedy recovery - think good thoughts. ) Even when she is sick though some funny things happen. We were in the ER the first night and the speaker and call button for the nurses was behind her head.

Everytime there was a call for a nurse Gramma's speaker would go off. Gramma wasn't really paying attention, so always assumed they were talking to her.

Speaker: "Nurse to room A."
Gramma: "Yes, I definitely agree." :)

You're so vain...you probably think this blog is about you... ;)

2007-03-24T15:13:00.000-04:00

Gramma had a hair appointment today and we were getting her ready to go. Marc told her that she looked fantastic and without skipping a beat, she replied, "I look fantastic everyday!"

Yup no egos in our house. :)

2007-03-20T09:12:00.000-04:00

Marc was holding Ryan the other day and Gramma looked over and said, "Oh she's sleeping!" Marc corrected her and told Gramma that Ryan was a boy, to which Gramma responded, "It doesn't matter, they are still sleeping!"

She knows how to stay on point.

We call her "The Enforcer"

2007-03-15T16:45:00.001-04:00

I was telling Gramma how Ryan had peed on me when I changed his diaper and she agreed that it was no good. She looked over at him and said, "That's terrible! You don't pee on people."

I'm going to bring her into the room for all diaper changes so she can remind him of this fact.

Gramma with Ryan

2007-03-14T20:31:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted and I will add more later.

Here's one of our favourite pictures.
Everytime she sees the baby she says, "Oh the baby! Oh he's a sweetie."

More words of wisdom from Gramma to Ryan

2007-03-06T17:40:00.000-05:00

She looked at him all lovingly and said, "Aw aren't you a cutie? You just stay quiet while I'm sleeping." It just wasn't what we expected to hear. :)

Gramma hears Ryan's name for the first time.

2007-03-06T17:39:00.000-05:00

Marc and I decided what Ryan's name was going to be a long time ago and the only person we told was Gramma. The conversation didn't go quite as we had thought it would go though.

Me: Gramma, guess what we are going to name the baby?
Gramma: What?
Me: Ryan.
Gramma: Brian?
Me: No Gramma, RYAN.
Gramma: Brian?
Me: No R-Y-A-N.
Gramma: Oh Brian....
This went on for awhile, so finally we said "Gramma it is Ryan with an 'R'."
Gramma responded with "Oh Ryan!"

Me: "Yes, Ryan Jack Clemente!"

(Relieved and excited that she finally got it.)

Gramma's response?
"GIANT BLACK CLEMENTE?"

She looked at us like we were nuts.

I have never laughed as hard as I did that night. So for months afterwards, Marc and I would refer to Ryan as "Giant Black" and laugh.

Gramma and Ryan are quite the pair!

2007-03-06T17:04:00.000-05:00

Gramma met Ryan for the first time today and already you can tell that the two of them are going to cause a ruckus.

Here's the photographic proof...

Gramma wakes up to a surprise in bed.

Gramma: "Oh what a sweetie! I will try to kiss him!"

Ryan: "Oh no you don't!"
Gramma: "Oh just a little kiss."
Ryan: "I love it!"
Gramma: "We're going to have lots of fun together!"

I see you....

2007-02-28T07:05:00.000-05:00

We spent a fun filled day in the ER yesterday and all is well now. (Gramma is fine.) Knowing Gramma there had to be some fun while we were there too.

Once we were admitted to the ER, we were put into a slot with curtains on either side of us in one of the rooms. There were five other people all in a row next to us. Gramma for whatever reason really wanted to open the left curtain so everytime I turned around, she would try to whip the curtain back. I had to keep telling her to stop as there was a woman on the other side would would have been quite surprised to see the two of us peering in at her.

Woo hoo!

2007-02-22T21:24:00.000-05:00

Gramma finally felt Gus kick for real. :) He finally kicked when Gramma had her hand on my stomach. Minor I know, but previously I had been faking the kicks so she could feel it. Her whole face lit right up.

I asked her if she was happy about the baby coming she said yes. She said that she was going to teach him everything she knows, but it might take a long time.

One would say that if you had 100 years on someone, it would indeed take a long time to tell them what you know. :)

Don't get in between Gramma and her streudel!

2007-02-18T20:41:00.000-05:00

Last night our friend Annette brought us an apple streudel for dessert from a local bakery. It was delicious! The funniest was watching Gramma who loved it. Marc was helping her eat it by putting the bites on the fork but apparently, he was too slow as she kept grabbing the fork from his hand and putting it right in her mouth.

She had the biggest smile on her face when she had eaten it all.

Gramma knows best

2007-02-10T10:48:00.000-05:00

We were giving Gramma her pills this morning and she was her usual chipper self.
As we were leaving the room she said, "It's a good thing I know what's good for me."

We asked her what she meant and she replied, "I need to go to sleep."

I wish all things were so easy.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2007-02-06T18:42:00.000-05:00

So Marc took Gramma to the hairdresser the other day and it was snowing out. Does he try to cover her hair from getting ruined? Nope he instead gets her to stick out her tongue so the two of them could try to catch snowflakes.

The two of them are quite a pair.

She likes her options.

2007-02-04T08:01:00.000-05:00

When Marc when in to give Gramma her pills yesterday morning - Marc went in as per usual and woke her up with a "Good Morning." She opened her eyes a crack and said, "Got anything good?"

She was clearly not going to wake up for anything less than the best. :)

Gramma has been tagged.

2007-01-28T19:08:00.000-05:00

Gramma was tagged by Chelle and Foxy so I have to list 10 things that people may not know about her (five for each). I'm supposed to tag someone else next so the rest of you look out! :)

Top Ten for Gramma:

Her real name is Augusta. She decided when she was 11 that she didn't like her name and was to be called Billye. (I don't know why she chose that name or spelling but it stuck.)
She was born in New Jersey.
She has outlived all of her five other siblings. (She is/was the oldest.)
She has had the same hairdresser for 40 years.
She loves chocolate.
She loves to sleep.
She is a people person and has always been chatty.
She was addicted to crossword puzzles.
She had her only son at the age of 40.
She got married at the age of 37.

My dad posted these in comments, but I thought they were kind of neat so I am adding them to the post.

Gramma used to throw dance parties in NYC and charge money.
She worked at Prudential Insurance.
She had a higher position than her husband and got paid way less!

Gramma as the next Roger and Ebert

2007-01-28T09:55:00.000-05:00

Marc and Gramma were watching the movie Crank last night and I think the general consensus was that it wasn't the best film. This was reinforced when Marc asked Gramma what she thought of it and she said, "That wasn't very good." Marc - ever the optimist - tried to say that parts of it weren't that bad, but Gramma promptly cut him off and definitely said - "No - it was bad."

No thumbs up from her!

I'll have mine and YOURS too.

2007-01-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

We were eating dinner last night and Gramma chugged her water. Apparently, she was still thirsty as she looked around the table, noted that Marc still had some water in his glass, grabbed it and chugged it back too. Marc turned to her and said, "Gramma - that's my water." Gramma's response? "Yeah? Well, I just drank it."

:)

Cheese String

2007-01-07T20:38:00.000-05:00

Marc and I were having some cheese string tonight as a snack and we gave one to Gramma. The way we eat it is to bite off the top and then peel additional pieces off. It was hysterical to watch Gramma peel each piece off. She was determined not to just bite off a bit at a time - rather she intently focused on doing it "our way."

Gramma could be the Purple Pieman from Porcupine Peak

2007-01-07T20:34:00.000-05:00

The other morning when we were giving Gramma her pills she she must have thought that the apple sauce we mix her crushed pills with was pie as she was insistent that Marc also eat some "pie." Everytime I said something to her, she would cut me off and just ask for "pie" for Marc. I said I was going to go get some "pie" for Marc as she was being so stubborn. When Marc tried to go to the other room, Gramma told him to sit down on the bed next to her to wait for the pie to come. She was on a mission for the pie - she kept telling Marc the pie would come and he should just sit still. I eventually brought Marc a dish of plain applesauce and this seemed to appease her but I had to feed the "pie" to him just like Gramma.

Before falling asleep, she started asking for ice cream (for the à la mode I guess.) We didn't give in this time though.

Some family pictures with Gramma

2007-01-04T19:19:00.000-05:00

Here is Gramma with one of her new ornaments. It has her grandkids on there as "little flakes." Guess that makes Gramma a big flake.
Marc, Gramma and I.
My dad and Gramma. (Clearly her son.)
My mom, dad, and Gramma.

Some pictures from the party

2006-12-31T20:43:00.000-05:00

The birthday girl with Marc:
Some close family friends with my mom and Gramma.

My brother, nephew, dad, and Gramma.
Some of Gramma's closest friends:
Her certificates from the Queen, the Prime Minister, the Governor General, the Mayor, her MP, the Social Security Office etc. :)

We decorated the walls with pictures of Gramma with friends, family, with my grandfather and some fun shots of her throughout the ages.
Her birthday cake.
100 sweetheart roses from my brother and sister-in-law.

Gramma's party was a hit!

2006-12-31T09:08:00.000-05:00

We had a great time yesterday at Gramma's party and she was in fine form. I would say over 100 people came by throughout the party to offer their well wishes. Gramma's nephew even drove up from Washington DC just for her party.

My father-in-law made an amazing slide show of picture that he had scanned from Gramma's old albums and we put up posters around the room with other pictures of friends, family, and my grandfather with Gramma. Marc found a copy of the Toronto Star from the day Gramma was born and blew it up so that all could see just how different times were 100 years ago.

I'll add some pictures later, but I was so touched to see the outpouring of love for Gramma at her party.

Merry Christmas!!

2006-12-26T16:35:00.000-05:00

We had an eventful day at our house on Christmas morning. To get a few extra minutes of sleep before seeing what Santa brought, Gramma covered her eyes to block out any light.

Always one to stay in the spirit of the holiday, Gramma made sure we knew her heart was in the right spot.
Once we were all up, it was a flurry of excitement. Presents to unwrap, stockings to see. Marc found the perfect gift for Gramma.

Only he would think to get her this.
Yup, you guessed it. Gramma now can receive the appropriate recognition as the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.

Here she is practicing her champion pose:

"What? You don't believe I'm a champion? I will intimidate you with my stare and show you my award-winning move - The Gramma's Elbow."

All in all a good day. After all of the craziness of the morning and in order to rest up for the turkey dinner, Gramma took a wee nap.

Happy Holidays from all of us!

A couple of highlights from her birthday today.

2006-12-20T22:06:00.000-05:00

I have to say that Gramma's friends are some of the sweetest people in the world. When Marc and I opened the door this morning there were balloons attached to the door with a note written on them saying "Happy 100th Birthday!" Keep in mind we leave for work pretty early so this was especially nice. Then later on, her friends dropped by with some tea and shortbread cookies to celebrate. Gramma also got some beautiful flowers from friends and family and lots of balloons. Marc brought the big smiley faced one home for her too. She thought it was the funniest thing when she saw them all together.

We went to the Keg for a nice steak dinner tonight and brought one of the "Happy 100" balloons with us. People kept coming up to her to say congratulations and commenting how they had never met someone her age. Everytime someone approached her, she got the biggest smile on her face.

All in all it was a great day!

Happy 100th Birthday Gramma!!!!

2006-12-20T06:09:00.000-05:00

Happy 100th Birthday to Gramma! It's hard to believe that she is actually 100. She has seen the world go through tremendous change and is still around to talk about it. When she went to bed last night we told her to enjoy her last night as a 99 year old. She assured us she would.

Here is a picture of her as a little girl (it is the earliest I could find). She is the little girl on the left.
And then another one of our faves. :)

It has been quite a year here and I know that the next year will bring even more excitement for everyone. I can't wait to share it with Gramma. I also hope that I can have the same feisty attitude and spunk that she has when I am even close to her age.

Gramma - just a disguise for her real identity.

2006-12-17T10:34:00.000-05:00

Yup, Gramma spends her days pretending to be a feisty old lady, but in reality she is Cookie Monster. The height is definitely the same.

What other evidence do I have to confirm this?

Yesterday, I was baking some cookies for Gramma's birthday party while Marc went to pick her up from the hairdresser. Their conversation proves her secret identity. ;)

In the car he asked her how many cookies she was going to eat when she came home. Gramma:"I'm going to have everything she's got."
Marc: "Gramma, she's made about 100 cookies!"
Gramma: "Well, then I am going to eat them ALL."
Marc: "I guess we'll have to get her to make a new batch."

The first words out of her mouth when she walked in the door (she may have had some coaching...) were: "It smells good in here, now give me a cookie."

See... Gramma = Cookie Monster.

She's definitely not lacking in confidence!

2006-12-12T09:18:00.000-05:00

I asked Gramma if she was excited about Gus coming and she said yes. I told her that he may look a bit wrinkly like she does and she said that she hoped he didn't. :)

I asked her if she thought she would be a good great-grandmother to him and she promptly responded with, "And how! I'm going to teach him lots of things."

You can't pull one over on Gramma

2006-12-10T20:26:00.000-05:00

Gramma was looking at my preggo belly the other night and after staring at it for awhile asked me if I had a baby in there. I told her yes, and she reached out to touch my tummy. Marc came over, lifted up his shirt to show his "belly" too and told Gramma he had a baby in there too. Gramma promptly responded, "No...that's just fat."

You have to laugh.

Some Christmas Fun

2006-12-08T08:59:00.000-05:00

This comes courtesy of www.elfyourself.com

It amuses me to no end.

Click below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=f5348fe27cdf6b56a4ee316_20061208

Enjoy!

To Do

2006-12-08T08:57:00.000-05:00

I reminded Gramma the other night that her birthday was coming up and that she was going to be 100.

Her one and only question was, "Do I have to do anything?" I responded that she just has to sit there and look pretty. She responded with, "Well that's pretty easy."

:)

Life in the Fast Lane

2006-11-30T20:26:00.000-05:00

I asked Gramma if she was hungry for dinner yet and she replied with, "Naw, I'm too busy." (Keep in mind we were watching tv so she was really just sitting in her chair.)

Me: "Too busy? Doing what?"

Gramma: "Too busy doing nothing." And then she game me a wink and a smile.

A little holiday fun

2006-11-26T20:33:00.000-05:00

So we took our picture for our Christmas cards tonight. Let's just say it was a fun process from start to finish.

And last but not least - the best elf of them all.

Sing! Sing! Sing!

2006-11-24T09:14:00.000-05:00

I got home from work last night to find Gramma and one of the caregivers we have during the day, singing away. I just love hearing Gramma's little old lady voice sing songs. She is almost in tune but not quite.

It made my night. :)

Send out the search party

2006-11-20T15:32:00.000-05:00

We were watching the Laci Peterson story on tv on the weekend and it led to an interesting conversation on what would happen if we were to go missing. Marc asked Gramma if she would look for him and she responded "Well I would look for a day or two." When I asked her, the simple response was "No."

So it is clear to see where her loyalty lies. :)

Gramma and I

2006-11-18T21:55:00.000-05:00

My dad found a shot of Gramma and I from when I was a baby. I thought the picture was cute. (Pardon the stunned expression on my face.) I love the fact that Gramma's hair hasn't changed over the years either.

Some neat pictures of Gramma

2006-11-14T10:51:00.000-05:00

I am getting some things ready for Gramma's 100th bday and found some great pictures of her.

Her wedding picture:

What old Thornhill used to look like.

Classic Gramma

A day at the beach

Gramma and Pop Pop (her husband, Jack) The first one is her engagement picture.

Her 25th Wedding Anniversary:

Gramma and her mink stole:

Gramma and her girls:

Always a wild and crazy gal:

Some family shots:

(That's me in the red Underwoman outfit with the crazy hair.)

Poor Marc

2006-11-13T21:17:00.000-05:00

I offered to make Gramma a sandwich today and she eagerly agreed. The other day I bought Marc some Genoa salami so I offered to make Gramma a ham and salami sandwich. Gramma got this horrified look on her face, wrinkled her nose in disgust and said, "Salami?!? Oh no - why salami? That's awful!" I quickly told her that I wouldn't put any salami on it and the look of utter relief that came over her face was just priceless.

Marc's attempts at increasing Gramma's Italian side don't seem to be going so well.

Oh sure, make me scared...

2006-11-10T09:26:00.000-05:00

I was showing Gramma my baby belly and I commented that I was getting bigger. She put her hand on my stomach and replied with her eyes quite wide,"Oh yeah, it's going to be hard to get him out of there!"

So much for comforting me. :)

Hee hee - we're famous!

2006-11-06T23:12:00.000-05:00

Well at least in our building. We made the building's in-house channel for our Halloween costumes. Yup, us and the kiddies. :)

Happy Halloween!!!

2006-10-31T20:38:00.000-05:00

We dressed for Halloween as each other this year. Gramma and I were Marc and Marc dressed up as Gramma. :)

We went downstairs to the lobby and some of Gramma's neighbours didn't even recognize us!

Gramma the cement worker

The three of us nuts.

(As an aside, Marc is not good at wearing nightgowns - he kept lifting his skirt to put candy wrappers in his shorts.)

They went to Las Vegas and all I got was this lousy t-shirt...

2006-10-30T21:52:00.000-05:00

We saw this shirt in Las Vegas and just had to buy it for her.

Gramma liked it and laughed when she put it on.

I wish we smuggled Gramma in our suitcase.

2006-10-25T13:06:00.000-04:00

Marc and I are in Las Vegas and having a great time - the only thing is that we both miss Gramma a lot. We amuse ourselves by recapping funny stories or things that she does that crack us up.
(Yes, we know it's a sad life we lead. ;) )

Tyra, Gisele, and Elle have NOTHING on Gramma!

2006-10-11T22:41:00.000-04:00

Gramma has been asked to be a model in one of the brochures that our caregivers use. She will ace this as she is very good at changing her expressions and looking "fierce." See below.

See...she's a natural!

Gus won't need a map.

2006-10-10T20:40:00.000-04:00

Marc told Gramma that if we have a girl her middle name will be Billye after her. So then he asked her what she wanted to teach her namesake. Her response?

"Well, I would teach her where she lives. That is very important." Yup, nothing like having someone with some memory issues teach a baby their address.
:)

Practice makes perfect

2006-10-08T18:45:00.000-04:00

Marc commented the other day that he hadn't changed a diaper before so I got him to practice on Puddles the dog. He did quite well. So then we decided that Gramma should practice holding the baby in preparation for Gus. She too was a superstar.

Free Gramma!!

2006-10-06T22:03:00.000-04:00

Gramma and the Big House

The law finally caught up with her.

Well at least we know she's not a floozy.

2006-10-03T22:35:00.000-04:00

We were putting Gramma to bed and Marc went first to give her a good night kiss. Gramma smiled and said "That's nice." I gave her a bunch of really quick kisses on her left cheek and then on the right. Her response to me? "I should really get to know you better."

I had to laugh.

Gramma Likes Italian Men

2006-10-02T22:41:00.000-04:00

We were watching The Bachelor premiere tonight and the new bachelor is Italian. It got to be 10:00 and time for bed. I went to turn off the tv and Gramma got quite upset. She yelled at me to put it back on. She apparently didn't want to miss out on any more tv time with him. ;)

Oh the irony

2006-10-01T20:26:00.000-04:00

We were watching tv tonight and Marc was generally just being hyper. I told Gramma to tell him that he was being weird. She looked over and said "Marc - you're hard of hearing." She didn't quite understand why we burst out laughing.

Some Random Observations on Kissing

2006-09-29T22:38:00.000-04:00

When it comes to kissing, Gramma is really quite funny. We were giving Gramma her good night kiss and she told us that it was so nice to be kissed. So I gave her a bunch of rapid kisses on both cheeks. She started laughing. Marc asked her for a kiss which she gave him with a "That will last you for awhile" and a smile.

We blow kisses everyonce in awhile and the way that Gramma does it changes from time to time. Sometimes she just sort of makes a clicking noise, other times she uses her hand to blow us a kiss.

We also make smacking noise like a "MWAH". Gramma can't quite make the noise so hers sounds more like she is spitting on the person. Marc and I couldn't stop laughing when she did it the other night.

Gramma's Thoughts on Marc's Sympathy Weight Gain

2006-09-29T22:33:00.000-04:00

So Marc and I were joking that he had gained a couple of sympathy pounds lately. (He hasn't.) So as we were getting Gramma ready for bed, Marc jumped into her bed. She told him he was too big for her bed. (Admittedly, she has a twin bed.) Marc asked Gramma if he was getting fat and she said "No." Then he showed her his stomach and tried to stick it out a little bit more. He got her to pinch his stomach and she exclaimed, "Oh yeah! There's fat all around!" She started giggling right after.

She's got the golden touch.

2006-09-27T12:32:00.000-04:00

I was a bit upset last night and kind of burst into tears. Gramma took one look at me and pulled me in for a big, tight hug. She said that I just needed one.

She was right of course and it immediately made me feel better.

So I am passing on her hug.

Countdown to the BIG 100!!!!!

2006-09-19T11:36:00.000-04:00

I like to think of this as Gramma running through the field of cows. It amuses me to no end to picture it.

Chewbacca she isn't.

2006-09-17T22:42:00.000-04:00

Well no wonder it seemed to take Gramma so long to eat dinner. I noticed as I was putting her to bed that I apparently forgot to put her teeth in today. I apologized to Gramma and she told me that it was okay because she hadn't noticed either. This doesn't bode well for the two of us.

Feeling hot, hot, hot...

2006-09-17T22:41:00.000-04:00

Marc was being somewhat annoying today and a reference was made to him going to hell. (ie I told him that if he kept bugging me, he could go to hell. ;) ) Marc then convinced Gramma that she should come with him so that they could both get good tans together. She said this was a good idea. It is very hard to stay mad at someone who comes up with such elaborate schemes for Gramma. ;)

The Fountain of Youth

2006-09-17T20:01:00.000-04:00

We went for a walk outside with Gramma today as the weather was just awesome. On the walk, Marc asked Gramma if she knew how old she was going to be in December. She told him she didn't remember and he told her that she would be 100. He told her that she doesn't look 100 at all. And Gramma responded, "Well, that will fool them."

Sometimes it is just too bright.

2006-09-11T09:18:00.000-04:00

So apparently we are a big fan of kleenex at our house. Gramma's room has one wall entirely made up of windows. Great during the day but difficult to sleep through.

So Marc and I have taken to using the following approach with Gramma. (It sounds mean, but it isn't.) We put a kleenex over her eyes which blocks out the light and doesn't mess up her hair like an eye mask would.

We affectionately call her "Kleenex Head."

This is what happens when you don't have pockets.

2006-09-11T09:08:00.000-04:00

Gramma and Marc were watching TV the other night and Marc looked over to see her wiping her eye with a kleenex. (This is normal.) A couple of minutes later he looked back over to see her like this:

She was sitting there watching TV with the Kleenex tucked into her eye glasses so that it was completely blocking her view from one eye (and she didn't seem to care). Marc asked her why she had her Kleenex in her glasses and she responded with: "Well, I didn't have anywhere else to put it." (As if this was a completely normal thing to do.) Marc couldn't help but laugh and the whole time she just looked at him trying to figure out why he was laughing.

So if you ever see someone with their kleenex like this, they are missing some pockets.

Gramma versus the Locked Car

2006-09-02T17:04:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe this even happened. I went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for Gramma and left Gramma in the car. It was pouring rain so I didn't want to bring her out in the rain. I left the car running at comfortable temperature and ran inside.

I got the prescription and came back out to the parking, went to open the door and then realized I HAD LOCKED THE CAR AND LEFT THE KEYS INSIDE THE CAR TOO!!!

How in the world could I have been so dumb?

So I knocked on the window and tried to get Gramma to unlock the door. She kept reaching for the lock and would get so close but couldn't quite reach it. Then I would try to yell to her to try for the lock button. Again, so close and yet so far. (Keep in mind that I am standing in the pouring rain.) I tried to get her to take her seatbelt off so she could reach the button, but she kept saying "no". Nothing like trying to reason with someone who is hard of hearing through a car window.

I went back into Shoppers and they lent me an umbrella. (I love those people.)
I called Marc to come back as he had a key to the car too.

I kept trying to get Gramma to open the door but it was to no avail. And to add insult to injury, Gramma decided she was tired from all those attempts and had a nap.

Marc eventually got to the parking lot but I would say I was standing in the rain for a solid 30 minutes.

Gramma was fine and wondered what all the fuss was about. Off we went, soggy but safe.

Note to self - hide another key for the car.

We asked Gramma what to name the baby the other night.

2006-08-31T09:36:00.000-04:00

M. and I have been referring to the baby as "Gus" because Gramma once told us that would be her fighter pilot name (short for her real name Augusta maybe?) and we think it is kind of gender neutral.

Anyway, we asked her what she thought for a girl's name. She thought for a very long time and then told us "Penny."

We asked about a boy name and again she thought long and hard and came up with.... Advil.

I have no idea where that came from as there weren't any Advil commercials playing at the time, nor any Advil bottles in the room.

I don't think we will be going with the name Advil but it's fun to hear her suggestions.

Gramma is going to be a great-grandmother again!

2006-08-31T09:35:00.000-04:00

(Well the first time for us.)

M. and I are expecting a baby in March 2007.
When we told Gramma the conversation went like this:
me: Gramma I'm pregnant!
Gramma: I'm pregnant too!
me: Gramma you're not pregnant.
Gramma: Since when?
me: Oh 1946 I would say.

She seems to be very excited about the baby when we tell her.

Funny Expressions

2006-08-28T09:04:00.000-04:00

I find that M. and I often use random expressions with each other and with Gramma quite often. The other day I asked Gramma to eat another bite of dinner and used the expression "It's good for you, it will put hair on your chest." (I swear I am turning into my parents and that I have picked that up from them.)

Her response?

"No thanks, I'm warm enough." :)

Blech!!

2006-08-21T08:15:00.000-04:00

When M. and I give Gramma her pills, we crush them up and mix them with applesauce. We have found this technique to be much easier than trying to get her to swallow the pills with water.

She is on a new prescription where the pills are blue and therefore the applesauce turns blue too. Tonight, when we tried to give her her pills, she would have none of it. She didn't like the look of it and just didn't want it. So I in my infinite wisdom decided that I would take my vitamin pill and crush it up into applesauce and eat it with her.

So I showed her my applesauce/pill mix and then for every bite I had, she would have one too. She was also very aware if my spoon had less on it than hers. (Picky, picky, picky!)

It was the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten. Maybe multivitamins are not meant to be crushed up - I don't know but oh it was awful. All gritty and gross.

I feel badly for Gramma now but console myself with the fact that her tastebuds are not as sensitive as they used to be.

The Gum Bandit

2006-08-17T20:28:00.000-04:00

Gramma and I were running a bunch of errands today and at one point I ran into Starbucks while she stayed in the air conditioned car.

When I got back to the car I found Gramma holding the cupholder container of gum with the lid off. She was chomping away on the gum and must have had at least 7 pieces. Gramma doesn't eat gum as she has partial dentures. I tried to tell her this fact and get her to spit it out, but she would have none of it.

I will say she was minty fresh for the rest of the day.

Save the Date!

2006-08-14T19:53:00.000-04:00

Join us on December 30, 2006 for Billye Maver's 100th Birthday Party!!

(Her real birthday is December 20, 2006.)

Awwww

2006-08-14T16:44:00.000-04:00

We were putting Gramma to bed last night and both M. and I told her we loved her. Gramma responded with, "I'm glad I have you both here to love me."

It was so sweet.

Gramma's Secret Life

2006-08-14T06:06:00.000-04:00

Maybe Gramma really was a fighter pilot in her youth? The conversation between M. and Gramma confirms it.

M.: Hey Gramma want to know something? I have the best Gramma in the world.
Gramma: Oh.
M. Do you know who my Gramma is?
Gramma: "The New Jersey Top Gun." She said this with a smile on her face.

(Gramma is from New Jersey and this is at least the second reference she has given us to Top Gun - the first being her fighter pilot name of "Gus". )

Get out of my bed!

2006-08-12T20:49:00.000-04:00

The other night M. and I were getting Gramma ready for bed and M. got right in. Gramma was sitting in her chair and told him to get out. (Jokingly) He told her he was too comfortable and she would have to sleep somewhere else. ;)

I was egging Gramma on and told her to tweak M.'s nipple. She started to do a pinching motion and told M. that she was going to "freeze" his nipple if he didn't get out.

M. eventually got out of the bed, but it was so funny to watch.

Gramma and the Lightning

2006-08-05T21:15:00.000-04:00

This would be another case of what happens when M. is left alone with Gramma. On Wednesday night there was a HUGE storm here filled with tons of lightning. At one point I called home and found out that the two of them were sitting in the dark just watching the sky. Well today I was looking at our camera and discovered that wasn't all they were doing that night.

(It may take a second to load):
Click here to watch 'Gramma-and-the-Lightening'

Gramma's take on things

2006-07-27T08:39:00.000-04:00

M. showed Gramma the pic of the two of them as superheroes and asked her if she knew who the two people were.

She told him that the woman was her and the other one was "that guy we have fun with."

The rest of their conversation went like this:
M.: Does he look like someone you know?
Gramma: Yes, he looks like a friend of ours.
M.: Does he look like me or a friend of ours?
Gramma: Yes, he looks like you, do you know him?
(M. points at the picture of himself) This is me.
Gramma: Oh it is!
(M. points at her picture) And this is my friend.
Gramma laughed and smiled.

The whole thing made me laugh. :)

They're off to save the world!

2006-07-23T09:57:00.000-04:00

My two favourite superheroes. They were having a great time with their shirts on. :)

(M. bought the superman one for Gramma in a size that he could wear too.)

Service with a Smile

2006-07-23T08:54:00.000-04:00

We went in to give Gramma her morning pills the other day and found her with her eyes wide open. She looked over at M. and I and said, "Hello! What can I do for you?"

She was so cheerful and polite you just had to laugh.

:)

No tolerance for me. :)

2006-07-10T08:42:00.000-04:00

We were putting Gramma to bed on Sat. night and as always we say how much we love her, etc. So I said, "I love you Gramma." and waited for her normal response of "Well that's good" or something of the sort but nooooo not that night.

She responded with, "Oh, baloney!"

Ah the tender sweet nothings of a 99-year old.

Could Gramma be the next Pelé?

2006-07-07T10:03:00.000-04:00

We were sitting on the couch last night and my blue exercise ball was on the floor by Gramma. She reached over with her foot and started batting it back and forth. Then she kicked it to me. I kicked it back and we kept this up for quite awhile. Any time the ball came near her, her foot would shoot out and she would try to maneuver so the ball would come closer to her.

Maybe we have been watching to much World Cup soccer - I'm not sure, but it was really funny to watch.

She's a woman on a mission.

2006-07-04T12:39:00.000-04:00

I was putting Gramma to bed last night and told her that I wanted to put her on her side to sleep for the night. (We like to change it up every once in awhile.)

Her response?

"I don't care." Her eyes were completely shut and she kept grabbing for the covers so she could just go to sleep.

Apparently I take too long. :)

Happy Canada Day!!!!

2006-07-01T06:59:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Canada's birthday in style this year. We kept asking Gramma to smile at the camera and each time she would tell us how much she was smiling. The camera seemed to go off everytime she was talking.:)

We had sparklers tonight too!

All in all it was a fun day had by all.

Happy Canada Day!

What's that you say?

2006-06-28T17:41:00.000-04:00

Poor Gramma. We just realized that her left hearing aid isn't working at all. We thought the battery had died on the weekend so we changed it and then assumed all was well. Except she wasn't really understanding what we were saying when we spoke to her. She would respond with an answer fitting to a variation of our statement.

Hopefully they can fix it soon as it is making for some very loud conversations at our house. :)

World Cup Fever has hit our house!

2006-06-16T08:17:00.000-04:00

So being the bandwagon sportsfans that we are, Gramma, M. and I have all jumped on the Italy World Cup wagon. (M. is Italian and despite Gramma's German heritage, we decided to go with Italy - they seem to fit her rowdy nature.)

Our team photo is below:

Gramma and I practiced our cheering too:

And then we all pretty much kept yelling "Go Italy!!!" None of us have ever played soccer but we like to be involved. :)

Gramma has jaws like a pitbull!

2006-06-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

When we were putting Gramma to bed last night she pretty much fell asleep as we were tucking her in. Completely 100% into a deep sleep with no chance of waking her up. I tried.

It was odd and mildly concerning as she normally will say goodnight etc. I tried to shake her a little, to squish her cheeks a little, talk loudly directly by her ear - nothing. (It really makes me sound like I was roughing her up, but I wasn't.)

So that last thing I tried to do was to open her mouth a bit and I poke her tongue. Her teeth came CRASHING down on my finger with the strength of ten men in one big chomp! I moved my finger back as fast as possible but she fully bit it hard. Had I not moved it out I am almost positive she would have bit the end off.

I know it serves me right but holy cow - who knew Gramma could be a force to be reckoned with even when she sleeps!

Apparently I could give Super Grover a run for his money...

2006-06-09T10:32:00.000-04:00

Last night after dinner we were watching some people exercise on tv. M. leaned over to Gramma and got her to feel his bicep muscle. She quickly exclaimed, much to M.'s delight, "Oh it's so BIG!" She went on and on about how big his arm muscle was. So not to be outdone, I went over and got her to feel my muscle. Her response?

"Oh you have baby arms. Little baby arms." She said it with a "poor poor Joanne" tone to her voice. Well M. was just over the moon at this. For the rest of the night he kept getting Gramma to call me "Baby Arms".

I figure there are worse things should could have called me and frankly I have always liked Super Grover.

Gramma is a good sport

2006-06-07T09:42:00.000-04:00

I don't know if we were just hyper last night or what, but M. was trying to get Gramma to say, "Hey Joanne, look over here!" and then stick out her tongue at me while I filmed it. He went through numerous tries and we were all in hysterics as this was happening.

For instance, there was this was one of the takes where she says: "Hey Joanne - look at this. You have to turn it around (meaning the camera) and see him (meaning M.) He's making funny faces." She didn't really get what we were trying to get her to do.

Click here to watch 'Sticking-out-her-tongue'

She never did get the full speech and tongue together, so we went with this end result:
Click here to watch 'Final-result'

She was laughing as hard as we were at the end.

Two Peas in a Pod

2006-06-07T09:27:00.000-04:00

So my dad was in town to visit for a little bit last week and you should see him with Gramma. He totally gets his outlandish and somewhat loud personality from Gramma. She loved seeing him and her face would just light up when he came in the room.

Gramma is a hussy...

2006-06-01T10:37:00.000-04:00

I found out some interesting information about Gramma last night when we were singing "You Are My Sunshine". She apparently has some secret covert life going on when M. and I go to work that I had no idea about. We were singing the song as a duet - I would start the line and she would finish it. We were getting to the end of the song and Gramma finished it with "Please don't take my lover away!"

LOVER?!?!

Who knew that when we left dear sweet Gramma in the morning she had an entire secret life going on?! I asked her about using the word "lover" and she just giggled with a huge smile on her face.

I'm going to have to keep an eye on her.

We call her "The Thinker"

2006-05-30T09:12:00.000-04:00

We were watching a bit of tv last night and looked over at Gramma to see her sitting like this:

After she saw me take the picture of her, she smiled (yet didn't move her hand.) We asked her why she had her hand on her face and she told us that she just liked it there.

You make me happy...

2006-05-29T09:49:00.000-04:00

I went to Ottawa this weekend to cheer on one of my best friends running the Ottawa marathon. (She kicked ass by the way.) So on Friday morning, I told Gramma that I would be away for the weekend to see my friend run. I told her that the marathon is 42Km and asked if she wanted to run it too. She replied with a "Oh my heavens, no!" :)I told her I would be away for the weekend but would see her when I got back on Sunday.

Apparently, on Friday M. and Gramma were singing "You Are My Sunshine" (which in itself is a normal event) and at the part of the song where it goes "Please don't take my sunshine away" Gramma sang - "Please don't take my grandchild away!" M. said she missed me.

Gramma - Queen of the Comeback

2006-05-22T07:31:00.000-04:00

I was out for the afternoon so M. was in charge of lunch. She was done eating and looked quite tired so M. was trying to get her to have a nap on the couch. She unfortunately decided that she wasn't quite done yet.

M.: Gramma - you already had lunch, you should have a snooze now.
Gramma: No I didn't.
M.: Yes you did - I made you a sandwich and you had a banana and a cup of tea.
Gramma: No you didn't and YOU didn't have lunch either.
M.: Are you calling me a liar? (Jokingly)
Gramma: Yes you are a liar, you and your bright blue eyes.
:)

M. didn't have a response for that one, but he eventually got her onto the couch in the living room for a snooze.

Menu Options

2006-05-22T07:22:00.000-04:00

M. was trying to figure out what to make for dinner the other night so he asked Gramma for her opinion.

M.: Gramma, what do you want for dinner?
Gramma: Anything.
M.: How about alligator? (I'm not sure why this was one of the options...)
Grama: What's that?
M. You know, like a big crocodile.
Gramma: Oh heavens no! That's too big - I'm not that hungry!

Happy feet - she's got those happy feet...

2006-05-16T11:45:00.000-04:00

So last night was the season finale of one of my favourite shows. Since it was supposed to be a two-hour, jaw-dropping finale, I pretty muchy got Gramma ready for bed in front of the tv last night during commercial breaks. Every commercial I would run and get something else. You should see how fast those dentures came out and her mouth was freshened. (She could be a speed spitter based on the training last night.)

One of the best parts was that she looked so cute sitting in her nightgown and socks. M. kept getting her to wiggle her toes and telling her she had nice socks. And everytime, she would laugh and smile. At one point we had her wiggling her fingers too. He told her that she looked like she was playing the piano so she started pretending to actually play the piano, going from one fake octave to the next.

We're very talented at our house at night.

Happy Anniversary!

2006-05-16T11:43:00.000-04:00

So the 15th was M.'s and my two year anniversary. M. was telling Gramma about our anniversary and the conversation went like this:

M.: "Gramma guess what today is?"
Gramma: "What?"
M.: "It's Joanne's and my two year wedding anniversary!"
Gramma: "Oh!" and a big smile

M.: "And Gramma guess what else today is?"
Gramma: "What?"
M.: "It's your and my two year anniversary! We've been living together for two years!"
Gramma: "Well isn't that nice!"

She had the biggest smile on her face. It was cute.

A nice way to start your day.

2006-05-12T09:53:00.000-04:00

Gramma was in a GREAT mood today. She had a huge smile on her face and was very chipper when we went in to give her her pills. She just seemed to be happy with the world. It was better than a cup of coffee to make the day start right.

:)

Grammas make everything better.

2006-05-09T06:25:00.000-04:00

I was feeling a little blue yesterday and M. told Gramma. Gramma took one look at me and said, "You need a hug? I'll give you a hug!" She then puled me into the tightest bear hug. When she relased me she said, "There, much better."

And she was right - I was. :)

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream!

2006-05-05T08:13:00.000-04:00

I convinced Gramma that we needed ice cream for dessert last night and that M. needed to be the one to bring it to us. (I was very tired.) She agreed with me and kept telling M. to go get the ice cream. Anytime he tried to talk about anything else, Gramma would stop him in his tracks and demand her ice cream. She also kept motioning for him to go get it. (She can be very focused when she wants to be.) It was really funny to watch (and of course I kept egging her on.)

When he brought the ice cream she just started to tap the table for where he should put it. He asked her what the magic words were, to which she responded "Thank you - now give me the ice cream."

:)

They say it's your birthday! It's my birthday too!

2006-05-05T08:09:00.000-04:00

We called my BIL to sing him happy birthday but he wasn't home so we left a message. M., Gramma and I all sang the Happy Birthday song and when we finished singing (but before we had hung up the phone) Gramma turns to M. and I and says, "Thank you!"

It's nice to know that all of our events have become shared events. ;)

A quick smile

2006-05-02T08:28:00.000-04:00

I went in to give Gramma her morning pills the other day and she was wide awake. She had this big grin on her face and said - "Where's my sweetie?" I think M. is brainwashing her somehow. She was so happy when he walked around the corner.

He also convinced her to say that he was better looking when we went out for dinner.

I'm not so sure about letting them spend all this time together...

A compliment I think...

2006-04-30T10:47:00.000-04:00

I had to go to a formal work event last so was running around trying to get ready and get stuff done around the house. When I was finally all dressed and ready I went in to say goodbye to Gramma.

She took one look at me and said, "You look like an entirely different person!" She had a big smile on her face.

Admittedly I was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt while I was running around, but it made me laugh.

That Gramma - Queen of the Compliment.