Celebrating Grandma Eleanor’s 91st

Last Thursday, December 10th, Grandma Eleanor turned 91, so we went over to visit and have a little celebration in honor of her birthday.  After all, it’s not every day that one turns 91, so that is quite the achievement and we need to remember every single birthday.  The balloons came from her neighbor, who she calls Pop, and I think he’s around 95 or so.  They’re a little sweet on each other, but that’s as far as it goes. 

Grandma has a voracious sweet tooth and only asked for chocolate cake and champagne, so we brought both, along with a card for her to open.  We popped the bottle and gave her a glass and she was a happy camper.  Said that she liked how that champagne tickled her nose. 

My hubby went a little overboard with the cake, which was only going to serve 4 people and he got one big enough for a small office staff!!  His mom cut some HUGE pieces for all of us and I got the smallest one.  Store bought cake isn’t all that great to me and I don’t want to waste the calories, but I did have a good sized piece too.  Now, if you want REAL good chocolate cake, see my post about the cake I made for our party from The Pioneer Woman.  Now THAT is chocolate cake worth breaking a diet for.  🙂  But, I digress.

So, Eleanor got a huge slab of cake served up to her and her eyes got really big at that, saying she couldn’t possibly eat it all.  And she didn’t, she nibbled away at it and we put the rest in the fridge for later.

Eleanor loves her stuffed animals, teddy bears in particular, and you would swear that a 10 year old lives here.  They are everywhere, all over the house.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus on the coffee table.

Eleanor sipped away at her champagne and we let the dog, Chi-Chi, out of her room for a visit.  She always goes straight to this guy, my hubby Peter, who she adores.  She won’t give anyone else the time of day when he is around.

She did jump down one time looking for crumbs and did go over to Grandma, who scooped her up and talked baby talk to her.  She looked back over her shoulder at my hubby, with those pleading eyes, saying get me down from here, pleeeeze.

Eleanor wanted to show me what she’s been up to lately and brought out these 2, that she made with her very own hands out of terry cloth towels.  Now, isn’t that impressive for a 91 year old?  She sewed some of it by hand, their eyes and all and made the clothes.  I’m so glad she still keeps herself busy with things like this, everyone needs to stay occupied with something.

Check out the details on these clothes and the face.  Pretty cute, huh??  By this time, Eleanor was nodding off in her chair from sipping that champagne, so she went on off to bed for a little nap. 

Her sewing machine is set up in their sunroom/back porch and is a good spot for Eleanor to sew with plenty of light coming in.

And another hobby that keeps her busy is gardening.  She loves to putter in the yard and with her houseplants, which are plentiful.  So, this 91 year old is still going and not about to sit down and quit.  I think that’s pretty neat, don’t you?

I spotted this beautiful hummingbird painting on the backporch, so I think she must have just painted this recently, since I haven’t seen it before.  It’s a pretty piece and shows how talented this lady is.

Untitled from Rhoda on Vimeo.

I got a short video of Grandma Eleanor talking about turning 91 and how she feels about that, so take a look at it. I think you’ll get a kick out of Eleanor, once again.   If  you’d like to see more of Grandma Eleanor, you can click here for some other videos I did with her helping me with a slipcover project back in the Fall.

Eleanor is a complete hoot!

Don’t forget about the Tassimo Giveaway still going on for a few weeks through Dec. 31, so sign up if you haven’t already.

It has been a VERY busy weekend for me and I have not even had time to sit at the computer and visit all of you who joined my Christmas party tour, but I’m planning to as soon as I can slow down a little bit, even if it takes me til Christmas Day.

That very fun home site, Houzz, who featured me awhile back, is having some fantastic giveaways for Christmas, so click over there for all the info on 20 fantastic things that you can win just by commenting.