About those bees...

So you may recall a post a while ago about the bee infested umbrella that Babcia requested someone take down for her. (If you don't recall, may I suggest you click here to refresh your memory first). So lucky for my grandmother, my friend Andrew was brave enough to put the umbrella down and put it under the sunroom for the winter, and face the bees head on.

Now, bring us to months later...It is now Thanksgiving Day and Babcia has baked some delish looking Pumpkin pies and an Apple pie to bring to my Aunt's house for Thanksgiving Dinner. Babcia makes the treacherous journey to the basement, underneath the sunroom to fetch her pie baskets and brings it up. She opens the pie basket in the kitchen and there's a BEE in the basket! (Bees alive now? It's almost flippin' December!) So she hits the bee (she said she did that to "stun the bee") and then she gets a paper towel to finish the deed. Shortly after the bee has met it's demise, she says:

"I think that bee bit me! They're out to get me."

You have to understand... Babcia got stung on the ear the week before when she was at Stop&Shop and her ear lobe blew up 3x the size of the other one.

So being the good pharmacy student I am, I once again recommended a MULTITUDE of remedies for bee stings, such as ice cubes, a paste of baking soda and water, and even toothpaste. (NONE of which she wanted to take last time she was stung)

It took her until we actually got to Thanksgiving dinner and her hand was so swollen that you couldn't see the knuckles anymore that she finally allowed me to make a concoction of baking soda and water which helped her immensely.

That is an impressive frowny face... Poor thing!

Two days later, her hand was finally back to normal. I just had to share this picture because she looks too pathetic and sad. :( She's all better now though! And everyone loved the pies!

Epi-Pens (again) and Baking Soda,
Justine

No one to text to...

The other week, Wenisa and Babcia and I took a trip to see a lecture the Michael J. Fox was doing at our university. The place was absolutely packed. We luckily had some wonderful friends that saved us some seats because we were running late. Since we had to get there almost an hour early and sit in our seats until it began, we were all sitting aroung, some were talking, however it you looked around, most people were texting people across the auditorium. I know I was. I hadn't been up to school for a while and I was trying to locate my friends who I knew were there and see how they were. It was clearly TOO loud to call them, so texting is clearly the preferable way to silently be in contact with multiple people at the same time. Most people in our generation know this...

Babcia on the other hand was getting a bit frustrated. I was sitting next to her and wasn't talking to her, because I was too busy texting. (Yea, it was pretty rude of me...) All of a sudden, Babcia whips (not her hair back and forth) but her phone out of her purse and opens it up and starts pushing the buttons, leans to the girl next to her and says:

"I was feeling left out..."

(Got her to turn it on...) Never seen a happier texter!

I then explained to her, that if she was going to pretend to text...she should probably turn the phone ON so that her texting looks a little more realistic.

She then hung out with Wenisa and I and a bunch of other female pharmacy students from our pharmacy fraternity who were eager to meet her.

She was also recently spotted in CVS.

I hope Perez doesn't catch wind and start editing the pictures of her I put up here.

Have YOU had a Babcia siting lately?

Germaphobe?

My grandmother does a good job of keeping up with current news. When I come down in the morning, the news is always on... she's always cutting out pharmacy related articles for Wenisa and I, and we tend to watch the news at night or talk about current topics at dinner.

This one was a shocker.

Babcia mentioned the other day about how PURELL just came out with a study that said 55% of Americans would rather touch a public toilet seat than shake someone's hand after they've coughed or sneezed into it. She then said that 49% of Americans have chosen the fist bump over a classic handshake, because they're afraid of germs. (And YES... she does use the actual percentages in conversation!)

So, I've witnessed now on two occasions, Babcia being introduced to someone for the first time and this is what happens:

Nice to meet you... I'm Babcia *FIST POUND*

Neither of these are actually Babcia's hand...as you can clearly see from the amount of arm hair on both arms...

Maybe it's because she's 76 years old that she gets looks when she does it. She of course goes into a full length discussion about the Purell study afterwards though..and completes the introduction with:

I'm just not going to do the CHEST BUMP any time soon!

Talk about a first impression...

Purell and GermX Fist pounds,
Justine

Trick or Treat... Emphasis on the Trick.

I've never been home from college to experience the whole "giving kids candy" business. So not only was this year a "treat" in that I got to experience that, but it was made 3000x better because I handed out candy at my grandmother's house.

Here is how a typical "ringing of the doorbell" went:

*doorbell rings*

Babcia: *starts walking down the hallway to the door in her MuuMuu* BOOOOOoooooOOo! BOOooooOoooOOo!!! *opens door*

Kids: TRICK OR TREAT!

Babcia: Oh my goodness! Look at all of these costumes! COME IN! COME IN! (she assured Wenisa and I that this wasn't weird. Apparently she knows all of the children and she didn't think that it was weird to invite children into her home...)

 Kids: ... Trick of Treatttt!!!!

Babcia: OK! I'll take... I'll take the TRICK! What trick do you have for me?

Kids: *DEAD STARE* *DEER IN HEADLIGHTS* uhhhhhhh

Kid #1: I can't do anything...

Babcia: I'm sure you can do something! Sing me a song, do a dance for me, anything? Show me a trick!

Kids: *MORE DEAD STARES*

Kid #2: I'm an acrobat, so I can touch my head with my feet! *proceeds to take off her coat and demonstrate this "Trick"

Babcia: OH WOW! That was wonderful! What about you?

Kid #1: I can't do anything...

Kid #3: I do yoga! I can do Ninja Pose #3 for you...

Babcia: OH WOW! Alrighty, Justine and Wenisa will give you candy now!

You can see the MuuMuu...and Ninja Pose 3.

 She really made these kids WORK IT for their candy. I wish we had this one on video. I felt so awkward for some of the kids, especially the older ones who were probably trying to figure out what the heck they got themselves into. She says she does this every year and the kids love it. I told her that if I lived in her neighborhood I would really have to contemplate the fact that she gives out mini-bags of multiple candies to the fact that I have to do a trick for her. I have a feeling I'd skip over her house... or at least warn the friends I was trick-or-treating with...

of the Lady in the MuuMuu who invites you in her house and makes you do tricks in her foyer.

Effexor and Klonopin Kisses,
Justine

Dinner Menu: BBQ Foot

I had recent foot surgery in which I was told to soak my foot in Epsom Salts for a few days before the surgery. My grandmother has EVERYTHING in her house (absolutely...everything)! Therefore I naturally came home to ask her if she had Epsom salts before I went out and purchased my own...

Justine: "Do you have Epsom Salts?"

Babcia: "ummm.... YA! I do! I have Kosher Salt. I think it's in my bathroom, underneath the sink."

Justine: "Kosher Salt? I have to soak my foot..I can't soak in Kosher Salts! Epsom Salts are different."

My Mom: (The chemical engineer) "Kosher Salt is sodium chloride. Epsom Salts are magnesium chloride"

Babcia: "Same thing..."

So I mosey my way to her bathroom, and sure enough. She has Kosher Salt under her sink.

Kosher Salt belongs in the Kitchen. Not under the bathroom sink.

So I brought the Kosher Salt (which is pretty much Kosher Table Salt) to the kitchen where it belongs. Just out of curiosity, I looked at the box to see if there were ANY indications that I was unaware of about soaking feetsies in Kosher Salt Water:

Unless we were BBQing my foot, then there is no need for Kosher Salt on my feet.

I hope she hasn't used this on her feet before. She'd be in a world of swollen if she did.

Message to the Public: KOSHER SALT GOES IN THE KITCHEN. EPSOM SALTS DO NOT GO IN THE KITCHEN.

Furosemide and HCTZ happy trails,
Justine

She Knows Where You Roam...

It's Babcia The Gnome!

I think this is probably the highest quality picture of a potential gnome captured. I contemplated sending it to Channel 3 for the evening news.

Caught on FILM! She can even find you great deals on hotels and flights across the US!

Another silly outfit Babcia wore to the football field. I completely understand this one however, because it felt like it was -1,278F outside with gale force winds...but really.

I called her "Gnomey" all night

Boniva and HGH hugs,
Justine