Thursday

Another Thursday. These entries are more like journal and family history entries for the Hyer side of the family. So feel free to read or not to read.

Today wasn't quite as exciting for Grandma as last week was, but it was productive. Today we worked on cleaning things out. We went through Grandma's closet and I would hold a shirt, skirt, whatever up so she could see it (I really don't' know how well she sees) and she would tell me whether to give it away or keep it. Grandma is pretty fashion conscious and if you tell her something is classy, flattering, or in style, she will go for it. I probably should have told her more things were out of date to clear more out, but I figured since there was room, let her hang on to things she likes. There were a couple where I drew the line and when at first she said she liked it and wanted to keep it and then I told her it was out of style, she promptly told me to give it away. (These were early nineties sunflower print shirt and flowery jumper...even at age 85 when you can do what you want, there are better options.) We did clear out quite a pile. Most of it was stuff that is now too big for her since she has lost weight in the last few years. We also went through drawers and some other things. We found sweatshirts from San Fransisco and other tourist type shirts and a nice sweatshirt from Utah State that I think she should wear more often since she is quite a proud alumnus.

After all that, she was tired and we went back downstairs. I was hoping she'd take a nap, but she has a hard time sleeping when Caleb and I are doing something. And we were doing something. When I told Caleb this morning that we were going to Grandma's he said, "basement." As Andy's siblings can probably remember, Grandma's basement is full of interesting things and quite the place for a little guy to explore. Caleb loves going down there. I haven't started organizing it yet and today was the day we were going to start. Last summer Mike gave his mother a present--a new bathroom. Grandma fussed over it and griped and said she had no control over her house and wouldn't stand to have anything in the house changed, etc., etc. Until finally something Mike said stuck with her and it's been her way of agreeing to it ever since. Mike told his mother that he was sick of waiting in line for the bathroom when he came to visit so he was adding another one onto the house. So now whenever you talk to Grandma about the new addition she says it was for Mike so he could have a bathroom when he came to stay. Well, when they added the addition (which, by the way, turned out wonderfully well and looks very nice with the house) they had to put in wires and pipes in the basement walls that were covered in shelves and 50 years worth of stuff. Something like the night before the construction guy was supposed to come Janell called a couple young women over to help and they just moved the stuff as best they could. Which meant piling it as nicely as possible away from the walls where the men needed to work. In short it's quite a project to reorganize. I actually haven't had the courage to start it until now. I had Andy go down there with me and give me pointers on how to proceed and now I feel like I can. Today we (I say we because Caleb was with me) cleared off a table of stuff including enough candles to light a medieval castle and a bunch of old drawings. Looks like Grandma won second place in an adult art contest back in 1994. When I told her about that she was pretty happy and said she wanted to see it again. There is also enough curling ribbon for Caleb's children to inherit. Well, maybe not quite that much, but I really hope they don't buy curling ribbon for a very, very long time.

Today's reminiscing story from Grandma are a couple about her husband Herold who passed away several years ago. Herold was a putterer and very handy. His work is all over the house and especially in the basement. When I told Grandma I was going to put his workbench back together she told me of how much he liked to work down there. Only he liked to work alone. She said if she had a sewing project, that was fine, but if she was just watching, he'd always say, "Don't you have something you need to do upstairs?" :) That made me smile because Andy, and I think Mike, are both a little this way too.

Grandma also told me about a painting Andy did for them when he was in school. I think he was in seventh grade. Grandma loves the painting and I must say that I unbiasedly think it's pretty good. For those of you who know me well, you know I could easily say it wasn't that good if I didn't think so no matter who I was talking about--so trust me, for a seventh grader it's pretty darn good! Well, they were so proud of that picture when Andy gave it to them that Fern (Grandma) and Herold went down to the store where you get things framed and she said Herold and the guy there took so long deciding on how to frame it that she finally got impatient and told them they had 15 more minutes to decide and she was done. The painting has hung in their family room ever since.

One more story. I asked Grandma what it was like growing up in the depression (she was born in 1923) and the only thing she said was that they were very frugal and you didn't waste food. If you didn't finish what was on your plate you put it away for later or gave it to someone else. She also remembers going to her oldest sister, Nell's house and cleaning it after school while Nell worked. She really liked her sister Nell.

Well, that's it for now. I think I'll go see if I can get a little bit more done in the basement...