Back to Basics

Looks like I'm heading to the valley this weekend, to celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday.

We're having a family party tomorrow. My family is chock full of crazy characters and there's nothing like spending lot's of time with them to remind me of that fact... I'll even have pictures! This trip will be a little more exciting than usual, since dad has roosters and turkeys to look at. I know I'm excited.

My brother's fiance (yes, fiance, and yes, they're still teenagers) and I went over to the mall this afternoon to try and pick out a present for Grampie. This is no simple task as my grandfather is an old 80 and doesn't do very much. His day involves eating, napping, watching TV, napping, watching the cars drive by, napping, looking at humingbirds out his window, napping, walking out to the barn to look at previously mentionned roosters and turkeys, and then maybe a nap before bed.

To say the least, he's rather low-maintenance. The sure fire gifts used to be crossword puzzle books and chocolate. But he doesn't have the attention span for puzzles anymore and the chocolate isn't good for his ticker. You could go with slippers, but he'd probably wear his old one's anyway. You could go with a sweater, since he's always cold, but again, he'd go with the old one. Other options are a hat or a deck of cards (since he does still enjoy going to card parties), but they lack the pizazz I was going for.

We checked out a few stores with no luck, and finally settled on the Showcase store where they sell all the "as seen on TV" crap that you'd never buy. We did finally find something that spoke to us, and we've decided to get him one of those TV tables that slide right up to you so that you don't have to slouch awkwardly. This way he'll have a comfortable little table for reading his mail and holding up his remote. Even if he doesn't use it, someone in that house will.

Stay tuned for more exciting posts from the family front. I'm sure there'll be plenty of awkward conversations to share with you...