Last Sunday, we drove four hours to Bentonville, Arkansas to pick up our 14 month old grandson, Cooper. Our plan was to keep him until Wednesday and make the grueling eight + hour round trip to take him home.
Cooper is such a happy child, and plays quite well on his own, but now he's walking and we don't dare turn our backs on him for a second! When he figures out how to climb over the baby gate into the kitchen or wriggle around the barricade keeping him from going down the hall, I'm screwed!
My son, Cooper's dad, travels with his job. He's part of the catering crew for Jason Aldean's concert tour and is gone as much as eight weeks at a time so he doesn't get to spend enough time with Cooper. He was in town this week and came to our house and spent two days. It was good to see our son and it was really good that he got to spend so much time with Cooper.
Because our son was coming down, we kept Cooper an extra day. He's never stayed this long with us and he was starting to really miss his mommy. He was ready to go home by Wednesday night so I was doubly glad that our son was here with him. Cuddling with daddy seemed to pacify him.
We were to take Cooper home Thursday afternoon, scheduling our arrival to coincide with his mommy getting home from work. But, DH got sidetracked and we didn't get to leave as planned. He was so late getting home that it would have been almost 9 p.m. by the time we reached Bentonville and probably 3 a.m. by the time we'd arrive back home. Melissa, Cooper's mommy, was anxious to get him back and really did not want us to keep him one more day. (And, by the fourth day, grandma was worn pretty thin herself!)
Our friend and neighbor, Ken, is a pilot and he volunteered to fly us and Cooper to Bentonville and save the long drive. Melissa wasn't too keen on the idea of her baby taking his first flight in a small aircraft, but we plunged on with that plan. I decided not to make the flight since it was just going to be a quick turnaround. So, grandpa was in charge. We had all possible events covered: plenty of water in a sippy cup, a full bottle of milk, snack crackers and cheese in case he was hungry, a bag full of diapers, wipes and ointment and even a plastic bag in case he became airsick. All this for a flight that was to last about an hour!
Once he was strapped into his car seat in the plane with grandpa at his side, he promptly shut his eyes and slept all the way! The takeoff and landing didn't bother him a bit. In fact, he cried when they had to take him out of the plane!
Today I slept late to recuperate a little from playing grandma all week. Now I'm rested up, the house has been pretty much reassembled and I need to get back into the crafting mode!
With Provocraft dragging their feet getting Design Studio updated, I've become really disenchanted with the company and decided it's time to learn to use another type of cutting software. I have the older version of Make The Cut installed on my computer and have been experimenting with it and my Expression. My friend, Shirley (Okieladybug) has been giving me pointers to get me going. She's much more computer savvy than I and figures out software without any help at all. I need a written manual, video presentations and even hands on training to wade through all the options!
The investment I've made in Provocraft products is pretty substantial and I have no complaints about the way the software and machines perform. I'll continue to use the Expressions and Baby Bug I own until they break or until my version of Design Studio no longer functions. But, I'm through buying new cartridges from Provocraft since they seem to be putting all their time and efforts into pushing CCR.
So, now that Cooper's safely at home and I've rested, it's time to delve back into the MTC software and get familiar with how it performs.
Happy crafting to everyone!
