'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY!

Hey, All! I hope you're having a great holiday season so far!

It's been a busy week here. We started out the week with a couple practices for the Christmas pageant at church. BeyB and I both had parts in it. (mine was a small part) BeyB was the toy who sprang out of a wrapped package and explained Christmas to the other toys! The pageant was on Wednesday evening and went very well.

Thursday evening Golfer and I went to a concert given by the Air Force Heritage of America Band. It was excellent! The USAF band presents three holiday concerts as a gift to the community - you just have to mail in a request for tickets and they are mailed to you. Great music!

Friday evening was Golfer's office Christmas party. Large group, nice party, great food!

The rest of the week was spent doing the usual stuff like going to work, taking care of the house and kitties, doing errands, and holiday preparations.

I had mentioned in an earlier post showing some of the favorite older ornaments and decorations we have. So here are just a couple.

antique glass striped ornament

Santa from Nuremburg Krist Kindl Markt from when we lived in Germany

Original Coca-Cola ad Santa from my Mom. She cut around his fingers and would slide a favorite card in his hand every year. I just let him hold the Coke!

Stay safe and have fun!

BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY! CRISIS RESOLVED!

Hooray! For several years now I have been having an on-going battle with our special Star Trek Hallmark ornaments. They are not "new". New strings of lights do not accomodate their plugs. It all came to a head in the last thirty-six hours, requiring an early morning trip to Wally World to look for new lights to try. Found some lights that lit, but not after trying to put the ornaments into them. HARUMPH!

So I sent out an S.O.S. to our daughters and any Geek Squad and Nerd Herd friends for help. Shortly, and almost simultaneously, I received a phone call from Nurse J and an email from Bikini, both saying they had found adapters online. I checked it out. Just what I had been asking for! My spirits lifted! They were Hallmark brand! I was impatient! To heck with waiting for ordering and shipping! I started calling all the stores in our area. Evidently I am not the only person on earth with this problem. The responses were "I'm sorry, we're sold out." I found one store that had eleven. I said I'd take them all and be there shortly. However, this store is far enough away that it would be necessary to go by way of the interstate. On a Saturday. With heavy shopping traffic. Those of you who know me, know this is not optimum. (for those of you who don't know me, I was in a bad accident a little over nine years ago and don't care for driving on the interstate or around large trucks) Fortunately, Nurse J lives close, was on call today, and has two cells phones for her work to reach her and she offered to drive me.

So, in a matter of minutes, we were off. Got the adapters. Even bought Christmas cards since they were on sale already! Who knew! Then, as soon as I got home, I took a deep breath and thought good thoughts and started installing adapters. And the stars above were happy and all the ornaments lit, blinked, spoke and wished us a "Merry Christmas!" Even the Borg cube hanging next to the Vermont Moose family!

So all is well! Crisis is resolved. I have less stress. And we have another new ornament on the tree, too. I just couldn't resist buying Captain Kirk's communicator for Golfer!

As Bikini has so eloquently put it, she comes by her geekery honestly in light of my Star Trek crisis. There's something to be said for heredity.

More later.... Stay safe and "make it so!"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving, whether you are feasting today or later in the weekend!

I set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. this morning to get up, do my exercises and then start preparing the turkey. Even though the turkey had been moved to the refrigerator Sunday evening, it still had to float in cold water for about an hour so I could get the giblet bag removed. The morning was spent watching the Macy's parade and cooking. Nurse J, Cable Guy, and BeyB came over and we all ate about 12:30.

Everything is all cleaned up now, dishes are washed, and I have been moving boxes of Christmas decorations out of the closet in the back room. Golfer is setting up the tree soon so I can start decorating tomorrow. The furry kids are quite excited by the boxes. (new things to get into!)

Bikini called this afternoon. They are all fine. They were on the way to the large family dinner at her in-laws' home. Brief has a large family and it's an annual gathering. They will be coming here to spend Christmas with us this year.

I have frequently thought about posting a message since the last one, but just didn't get to it. We are fine. I had an appointment with my orthopedic doctor. After looking at new x-rays, he thinks my foot is starting to heal okay and the bone is now growing around the screw. I go back in two months.

It's been cold here. There have been a few little flurries of snow, but not enough to stick. We spent last weekend raking leaves and cleaning up the yard. Golfer had to mow the grass again.

Other than that, I've just been busy with the usual stuff that needs doing at this time of the year.

If any of you are going shopping tomorrow, be careful! I will be staying at home enjoying the Christmas decorations. There are many happy memories in those boxes - antique ornaments, things from other countries and other places where we have lived, things that family members have made for us. I will post some pictures after I'm done and things are cleaned up.

Onward!

Finally! Sunshine Today!

Hooray! After a couple days of unhappy weather - to include lots of rain, wind, thunder, tornado watches, warm temperatures and such - today it's Fall again. The sun has been out, it's twenty-five degrees cooler than yesterday, and moods are better! At least mine is!

This was the weekend for the Military Invitational golf tournament at Golden Horseshoe in Willliamsburg. Golfer and a friend were all ready. Friday's practice round was soggy and miserable. Saturday was completely rained out. So they had a one day tournament today, and were given a voucher to play another round when they choose. They are not home yet. I hope it was a good day.

Since golf was rained out and Golfer came home early yesterday, he said he'd work on the bedroom painting that I started last weekend. So we got all the stuff gathered up and went to work. It's all done! We both like it and are satisfied. Here's a picture of Golfer while we were waiting for the paint to dry so the bed and headboard could be moved back into place. Those of you who have been in our house know that the furniture is large and heavy and not easy to move, so we didn't want to do it more than once.

(Please disregard the camera date. The rechargeable batteries completely died. The new ones don't work, I have switched to lithium ones, and the date stays messed up)

UPDATE! Golfer called and said play was long. Had a good time. They came in third in their flight. Yea!

I have spent most of the day working on the new drapes and curtains. I had some issues picking them out when I bought them. The fabric I liked that was the right color didn't come in drapes with the right dimensions. So I ordered extra long panels and went to work. The panels had to be shortened and altered to use drapery hooks and the valances needed to have the rod pockets enlarged. Everything needed to be pressed. But they're done, I like them. I still want to make two small pillow covers. And I have some material for Bikini, who offered to make us a coordinating quilt.

In other news, I took all three furry kids to the doctor for their yearly check-ups and shots. All are okay and all are speaking to me again. :)

Golfer and I had our flu shots this past week, so we're all set.

That's about it for now. Take care and stay safe. Onward!

WOO-HOO! I CAN STILL PAINT!

Hey, all!

I can still do some painting. It's been a long time since I tackled something like painting a room. Strength, stamina and joint issues have kept me from trying. But those of you who know me personally ought to know that if I want to do something, I'll figure out a way to try. This is a personal family trait that my niece and I recently discussed. It's in our genes. My 99-year-old mother has it. My 79-year-old sister has it. And I'm pretty sure Nurse J and Bikini have inherited some of it! Some people over the years have called it extreme stubbornness. But hey! It's who we are!

Golfer and I discussed the project and decided I would do what I could and he would do the rest and we would get it done. I really like painting. There's something about a nice fresh clean wall. It's peaceful.

So this morning before he left for a round of golf on his day off Golfer moved some of the furniture for me. I've been taking my time and been very careful, working at my own pace. I had bought the highest quality Sherwin Williams latex paint - appropriately called "Retiring Blue" (very pale blue). It's the environmentally safe kind (so they say) and there is very little odor. And I am happy to say I have just cleaned up for the day and we now have about 1 1/3 walls drying, except for a strip about a foot wide all around the top of the wall. I did everything I could reach without using a ladder. I think it will be very pretty when it's done. And then I can work on getting the new drapes and bedding in place.

There was hard frost in some areas of Virginia last night. I didn't see any in our yard. The sun has been out and it warmed up enough that it's pretty nice out, although cool.

Please keep some good thoughts and prayers, if you are a believer, for several of our family members. It seems like health issues abound right now.

Stay safe and onward we go!

Just "HI!"

Today started out a lovely sunny Fall day. Golfer left to meet his golf buddies for a round. I left to go do a few errands. I am pacing myself when out shopping because of my healing foot, so I had set the limit at three or four stops. I was on the way home when the sky opened up and the rain fell. Golfer soon returned home from the golf course soaked. More laundry followed. The last of it is in the dryer as I type. And the sun is out again now.

Cinder has spent many hours recently watching out the back window. I think she's fascinated by the lovely gold and yellow leaves floating around outside.

While I was downloading Cinder's pictures, I came across this one of Hermione and Cecil. I call it "Togetherness". They both like to have the warm seat when we get up from the desk chairs.

I hope you're all having a good weekend! Stay safe!

Hey! Things Are Looking Up!

The blizzard is still blowing out West. The hurricane is still blowing around to the South. But here the sun is out, things are drying out, and it's about 72 degrees. I just came in from sitting on the deck with a good book. Thought I'd better check our email. And what do you know, we had a message from one of the local radio stations - they have started their non-stop Christmas music - all day, every day! I have it playing now, because I just had to check it out.

And speaking of Christmas music - does anyone else remember "Willie Claus, Little Son of Santa Claus"? You'd think with all the music the stations play every year I'd hear it sooner or later. But no, not once, ever.

Now playing - "Rudy, the Red Nosed Reindeer" by Dean Martin! I always liked him. Wish he was still around. And Perry Como always had a good Christmas special every year when I was a kid, too.

Anyone else remember Mr. Jing-a Ling on TV? He was always on Captain Penny's afternoon show every Christmas. (Cleveland, Ohio area)

Ah, well, enough nostalgia for now. Stay safe and have a great weekend!