note: I never pronounced the "nd" in "grandparents" so I spell it with an "m".
I was still very young when (Great-)Gramma Nora died, but I remember that she was always "dressed up". Her hair was done, her make-up on, and her clothes were nice and fancy-looking. I had the impression that she was rich, though she didn't live in a big house. I remember feeling very sad when she died, and I cried. Mom was upset that she couldn't go to the funeral. We were all gathered in the living room, crying together.
Gramma Lois Sackett (my mom's mom) had perfect hair. It was always perfectly coiffed, colored, and cut. It was a short, curly hairdo, and I dreamed of growing old and having perfect hair like her. For as long as I could remember, Gramma and Grampa Chuck Sackett lived in a trailer-home park in Lacey, Washington. They had a cocker spaniel named Teddy. Teddy was a great dog! She was nice, loved kids, and her nails went clack-clack on the floor so she couldn't sneak up on you in the kitchen. G-ma and G-pa (my private nicknames for them) also had a truck (not the flashy trucks made nowadays, but a dependable TRUCK) that they used to pull their RV. I loved going in their RV when they came to visit! I used to dream about living in one and traveling all over the States. They visited us a lot. G-ma loved taking pictures, and she had a camera that took 3-D pictures (I never saw one printed, though). G-ma was a pack-rat! But I thought she was a genius, saving things for later use.
G-pa loved hats, poker, his curios, and G-ma. He was always joking, but he could also be strict if the moment called for it. My sisters tell me he would poke out his dentures at them, but I don't remember him doing that with me. When I was about 13, I actually took the time to browse through all the books he had on his wall-bookshelf. He had lots of old books, and I finally was old enough myself to appreciate them. I loved looking at his curios, too. There was the little metal man that balanced on one leg, holding what looked like a drooping dumbbell. There were several mini "scenes", made of tiny replicas of items, or from re-purposed items. It seems he had a lot of kitchen scenes. G-pa loved strawberries, and I felt so honored when he finally let me help him pick strawberries from his ever-expanding garden. I still think of G-pa ever time I eat strawberries, and especially when I'm tending my own garden. G-pa smoked, and for a long time, the smell of cigarettes reminded me of him. He loved his TV shows. Soon after I discovered "Star Trek: The Next Generation," I realized that G-pa watched re-runs of the original Star Trek series. It became something he and I shared and talked about.
G-ma slowly slipped away due to Alzheimer's, and I could never bring myself to visit her in the Home. She died when I was 20, I think. I didn't attend her funeral.
G-pa held on for several more years, though he didn't seem to laugh as much without G-ma. I saw him for the final time, in January 2004. This time, he poked his dentures at me! :) I was 26. He passed away a few weeks later. There was no funeral for him, as most of the family had spent time with him that January, to say their "good-byes".
By the way, I learned (at the tender age of 25) that G-ma's hair was always perfectly coiffed because she wore a wig! And she had several, so as to give the effect of her hair growing. Smart lady!
Gramma May is my dad's mom. For as long as I could remember, she lived in the blue house in Silverdale, WA, right across the street from the Bay. Growing up, I always felt like she didn't like me (this turned out to be a false impression, but I digress). When I was six or seven, we went to live at her house. My dad had lost his job, and we had nowhere else to go, so Gramma let us {yep, all 10 of us!} live in her house while she went to New Zealand for 2 years. {I was 27 before I realized that Grandma wasn't in New Zealand for most of that time--she stayed with family in Auburn, WA-- but for almost 20 years, I thought she was!} Her house was 2-bedroom, with an unfinished basement. I'd say about 1000-square feet altogether (not counting the large L-shaped garage. But for me, the house wasn't crowded, because Gramma's lot of land was HUGE! She had not one, not two, but THREE backyards! At least, that's how I saw it. There was the backyard with the small back porch, huge berry bush (couldn't eat 'em), and large patio (perfect for BBQ's). There was a tall chain-link fence that divided that part from the next, which we called the 2nd Backyard. This was about a half-football field. We used that for the tree swing, garden, and sometimes for bonfires (there was also a very tall slide that went "over" the fence). Toward the back of that, was the 3rd Backyard, which was actually a wooded area. It went all the way to the freeway! {about 1/4 mile} We had a treehouse there, which us kids were always "fixing up". Then of course the long side-yard, the front yard, and the huge wrap-around blue wood porch.
Missy and Cyndie (the oldest 2) shared the 2nd bedroom, and the rest of us kids shared the basement as a huge bedroom/playroom. When Missy moved away, Karen was promoted to the Upstairs. We lived there for 2 years, during which time we cleared the dead raspberry bushes from under the bathroom window, "finished" the basement (the walls and floor were painted), and probably left a huge mess for her to clean up. Amazingly, she let us stay at her house again, this time when I was 15/16. It was just 6 of use then, because the older girls had married and moved away. We stayed for about a month at that time, then moved to the ghettos in Poulsbo (stop laughing, I'm not joking. It was horrible! but that's for another time...). I do remember that Gramma asked about the boy who was taking me to Tolo that year, and she was pleased that he seemed like a nice boy.
Gramma was strict; I remember a time when she raised her voice at me when I used the word "asinine"...I was probably 10 at the time. She watered down her juice, which I thought was WEIRD growing up, but later learned it was because she was diabetic, and frugal. Despite that, she loved making cookies! She also liked cinnamon rolls. I don't have any memories of summers with her, vacations, or even her visiting us. I was told this was because she didn't like us....because mom had "stolen" dad from Gramma, when Gramma felt dad should have been helping raise his siblings (Grampa Dan died when dad was a teenager, I think).... I no longer think this is the case, but I am upset that I didn't bother to get to know her. So when I think of Gramma, I think of her house. She died when I was 27, the summer that P-chan was "in the desert" and I was visiting my sisters in Washington. I had made plans to go to a Pampered Chef conference, and couldn't change my plane ticket to get back in time for her funeral. But one of Gramma's sayings (I learned that summer) was, "If you didn't bring me flowers in life, don't bring flowers to my grave." I'm sorry I never brought you flowers, Gramma.
finding something on sale that I actually NEED! 
