Some of Grandma's Favorite Things

1. Grandma really loved her family and friends. We used to go to her house very Sunday for dinner. She always had a houseful.
2. Grandma loved too cook, but I rarely remember her baking too many things (except Pistachio Cake, Pineapple Upside Down cake, and Sfingi for St. Joseph's Day). My favorite thing that she made was Pot Roast or Beef Stew in the plastic bag. I also remember her Chop Suey, Chicken Noodle Soup, Pastina, and Chili (when I was little, she would pick the beans out for me). She used to make French Toast for breakfast and she always sprinkled powdered sugar on top.
3. Grandma loved her coffee and cigarettes. Fortunately she did quit smoking. I remember when I would pick her up for work at For Eyes where she used to file, and she would smell of coffee and cigarettes...it used to make me nauseous. She used to drink her coffee with sugar, but in later years, she drank it black.
4. Grandma loved the birds. She always liked to point them out to us when we were  younger. She knew what type they were and she would feed them. At the cottage, she also liked to feed the ducks. She even liked the squirrels although she pretended not to.
5. Grandma loved to sit on the pontoon boat and get a suntan.
6. Grandma always liked to go out shopping and out to lunch (or breakfast). We did that a lot (especially her, my mom, and I). We'd go to Gantos, and JC Penny's outlet store, but she always had to go to Walgreens no matter how many stores we took her to. In her last year with us, Mom, Aunt Connie, and Aunt Char started the tradition of taking her out to lunch or breakfast or to get her hair done, etc. They called that day "Tuesdays With Tina." Since I was unemployed during part of that time, I would often go with. A lot of times we went to Bakers Square for breakfast, but she couldn't even remember what she liked. I'm glad that I got to spend those days with her.
7. Grandma loved lemon and especially Lemon Mergengue pie. When we'd go to Baker's Squre for "Tuesdays With Tina," we'd always get her a slice to take home. When we were little, I remember her eating Lemon Heads. She liked the old time candy like Bulls Eyes and Mary Janes too.
8. Grandma enjoyed playing cards, playing games such as Perquacky, and doing Crossword Puzzles. She also liked to watch "Wheel of Fortune."
9. Grandma loved her candy! She liked anything that was chocolate, but if you gave her a box of Fannie May, she would know what it was and wouldn't even want to unwrap it out of fear that someone would eat some. Her and Grandpa used to fight over their candy bars. They used to hide them from each other.
10. Grandma used to order Lamb Chops a lot. She really enjoyed them.
11. Grandma also loved her soup! For a long time Bennigan's Cream of Potato soup was her favorite. She always enjoyed a good bowl of Minestrone too.
12. Grandma loved "Stinky Joe's," which was an Italian market on Irving near her house. Whenever Aunt Virge and Uncle Dan would come to visit, she liked to go there to get some lunch meat. When I was a little kid, I had to wait outside because it was too "stinky." When I was about 22, I wanted to call there to order something, but I couldn't because I only knew that it was called "Stinky Joe's." I didn't know the real name!
13. Grandma loved eggs (but they didn't always love her!). She also loved hot dogs. Unusual since she never would eat a hamburger.
14. Grandma always loved Harley (my dog) but she didn't like Daisy from the start. Therefore, she always referred to her as "Buttercup." As if Daisy was so hard to remember.
15. Grandma loved going to the casinos. She loved playing the slot machines. We used to laugh because she would tell us how she couldn't walk, but get her into a casino, and off she would run!
16. Grandma loved Baseball. She was a huge Cubs fan. They aren't doing so well lately, however.
17. Grandma loved Frank Sinatra.
18. Grandma loved the Fall colors! She always wanted to go to see the leaves changing. She used to be able to do this with her friends (including my Grandma Babiarz). After they all passed away, she used to come to our house in Spring Grove. When they had their cottage, she really got to enjoy the colors.
19. Grandma loved her Soap Operas. I think they turn your brain to mush, but she always taped them.
20. Grandma loved shows like "Barnaby Jones" and the "Rockford Files". She also used to liked "Murder She Wrote" with Angela Lansbury. She always had a new line-up of shows that she liked to watch regularly. 
21. Grandma loved to read. She really liked Mary Higgins Clark (I think that was her favorite author).
22. Grandma loved to take an afternoon nap. Even when we would go to her house after school, because we weren't allowed to go home alone, Grandma would take a nap and tell us to help ourselves to whatever we wanted to eat.
23. Grandma liked to hoard food. She would always take leftovers, or the jelly and sugar from the restaurant tables, but she never ate or used them! At any time, her fridge was full of old food.
24. But, mostly Grandma loved being in her own house. She couldn't be anywhere too long without wanting to just go back home. Sometimes when I would take her shopping, she would say that she wasn't going to move until she went to "St. Joseph's Cemetery." Her and Grandpa had plots together. It used to make me mad that she would say that, and I threatened not to take her shopping anymore. It's just depressing for someone to always talk about dying, and she outlived everyone!