Here she is

My daughter's new (to her) car sits in our drive way. This photo was taken from my kitchen window. What looks like smoke under the front of the car is actually spots on my window. I told you I was deficient in the house cleaning area, and I can prove it. Not that I want to and trust me, you don't want to see it. Huh. I guess deficient is a word.

I have not been very active lately in answering e-mails and posting. This is normal for me when I am in the process of making a big decision such as the purchase of a vehicle. I probably put more into this process than when I am purchasing one for myself. Because it is for my daughter and that responsibility weighs very heavy with me. The decision consumes almost all of my thought processes. I am very relieved it is over and done with.

The choice. My daughter has always wanted a Celica. I've been looking at cars for about a year for her. We narrowed it down to what she likes and what I like and what we can afford. Did I go over my budget? Yes. I am hoping I made the right decision in the fact that I got a newer model and lower mileage. It may last longer.

The features. My oh my. I'll zoom in on the funny one. The salesman had one other guy on this lot. The gopher guy. Between the two of them it was comical. We looked at the car on Thursday. This was actually a very hasty decision. The first car (we saw on Saturday) had sold on Wednesday and we changed our course to check this one out.

We drove it back to our home town and had our mechanic check it out. All was good except a broken antennae and hinge on the gas cap cover and one oil leak. There was a little device on the windshield of the car. I asked the salesman at our mechanic's shop what it was. He said it looked like one of those devices that gets satellite radio. Well, we knew that service is a monthly fee so we dismissed it.

Back to the car lot. Salesman said he will take care of everything our mechanic had listed and we could pick it up tomorrow. On Friday I made the arrangements with the bank, insurance company, all that good stuff. There was a snow storm coming, but the roads were good after I got off work and we were on our way. Good grief did the roads get bad the farther north we went. Interstate traffic was crawling at 30 mph.

I wanted to get the car and get back home asap. My daughter did not want to drive her car yet, so she was going to drive my car (old reliable) back while I drove hers. Inside the office the salesman told his gopher guy to go out and start the car to get it warmed up for us. This incident is important because of what we found. It was a good find, though.

My daughter had not driven in heavy snow before. We left the car lot and started our long 40 mile drive home. Over an hour. Interstate still crawling. It was bad. Rush hour traffic. I was so worried about my daughter that I barely paid attention to the Celica I was driving. It drove like a dream. My daughter drove very well. We made it home and parked both cars.

The funny part. It was dark out when we got home. My daughter was checking out the key remote and locking the car, etc.. She said "I wonder what this button does." She pressed it and the Celica fired right up.

I am wondering if the salesman knew this when he told the gopher to go and start the car. Where he was sitting at his desk, we could see the car through a big picture window. All he had to do was turn around and press a button. I'm not calling him to ask him if he knew. It was not advertised as a feature of the car. We may never know if he knew, but now we know what that little device is on the windshield.

Slices

More layers and some slices. Tuesday I was much better - migraine was gone. Wednesday relapsed into a stress headache or tired, I don't know. Went to bed too early, awoke this morning too early. I caught an old movie. I kept thinking to myself 'That looks like Jack Lemmon'. It was. 1956 "You Can't Run Away From It." It was Jim Backus that helped me to nail down the movie. Once I have someone I can recognize, I can find the movie on www.imdb.com.

This will make for a long day today. I hope the snow is done for today because my daughter and I are taking a potential vehicle to our mechanic and are having it checked over before we decide to buy it. The car is located 40 miles north of us. We have to pick it up, drive it back here to our home town, have it looked at and get advice on it, then drive it back to the dealer by 7 p.m. Sigh. Long day. Especially if I have to drive in snow with a vehicle I have never driven before. Fun stuff.

I am already sleepy. Grrr. (rolls eyes).

More layers

I feel I have created something a little bit Claude Lorrain with a twist of John Constable while adding a splash of Theodore Rousseau and Asher Durand. Sigh. I love landscape paintings.

Add another 24 hours to that migraine medley. I was able to work today but I was not in a good mood for most of the day. I caved in and took yet another med tablet and rested after work and feel pretty good, now.

Mitigated Migraine

It is better now, but what a wasted 30 hours. Ugh.

Hair

We picked up my daughter's senior pics yesterday. Since they are copyright protected I won't show any. This is one of my photos from years ago. She has altered her appearance so much from this shot I don't think she is recognizable. Maybe by the eyes.

Coming from some one who has had brown eyes all their life, I am envious of the lighter color eye.

Did I spend too much? Yes. In my own defense I have no photo from 30 years ago when I was a senior. I wanted her to have something when she is 50 years old that she can say "Here I am as a senior in high school." Whatever. I am going to enjoy them.

Now we need to purchase a car and plan her graduation party. She wants the car, but not the party.

Starting the New Year, I am trying to remember the past. I have experienced 48 beginnings of a New Year. I suppose I can recall about 38 of them give or take. I don't know if I have a favorite that comes to mind. There are certainly a couple I would like to forget. I do recall when I was younger they used to play the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" on New Year's Eve. Jonathan Winters was always a favorite of mine.

Another New Year I was travelling from Ohio back to Virginia after a 10-day visit with family and friends to discover the electric company had turned off our electricity. By mistake, I might add. That was a heck of a thing after a 10-hour drive. Spent that eve by candlelight. I am not certain if I called the emergency number or just waited until the next day. I really don't remember what we did for food. I did lose an entire turkey in the freezer. The power must have been out for days.

I remember parties. Parties and parties. I had a sister-in-law that had great parties for about 10 years straight. One of my sister's had great parties for about 5 years and then another sister took over and we spent them there for five years straight. Others were spent at a favorite bar. I have never hosted a drinking party on New Years. A few of mine were non drinking for my crew who do not drink. It has been years since I have had any alcohol during that night.

One involved a little white worm at the bottom of a tall bottle from Mexico. Yeah. We won't go there.

Still there

She is still up there atop our tree. We have not taken her down, yet. Probably not today, either. We have some running to do. I need to get the shop vac out of the garage to handle all the pine needles. One year I tried to clean them up with my regular house sweeper. Disaster. I've learned.

We stumbled on a pretty good movie yesterday that we had never heard of before. "The Fastest Indian" with Anthony Hopkins. It is about an Indian motorcycle, not a human being or Native American. We thought it was pretty good. Based on a true story about a guy from New Zealand breaking the fastest land speed world record. I thought it was amusing.

We also watched "Eagle Eye". Noisy and action packed.

After celebrating Wednesday night and fixing food most of the day Thursday, I ended up sick with a cold last evening. I took sinus medicine and rested. I must have sneezed a gazillion times. It seems to have passed except for some pressure today around the eyebrows. I hate it when a cold goes on for days.

Trouble

These two can wreak havoc in your life. Proceed with caution.

The past is the past. I fear them but I am still not even remotely interested in them anymore. And that is a good thing. I can put them on a shelf and never think about them. Today, anyway.

I have been having trouble sleeping. For some weird reason. I am not drinking caffeine late in the day. I just feel I have to explain because I. Fell. Asleep. During. TSO! I am so ashamed. I found the show very boring. I am sorry. I did. Just snatches where my head fell forward and woke me up. I had maybe 4 hours of sleep the night before the show. I forgot my camera. Maybe I would have stayed awake if I had it. I did bring binoculars but they were the tinted kind for outside daylight. Rats.

The laser show was a disaster to my eyes, yet I left with no trace of a headache. I would not recommend it for migraine sufferers, though. At times it was a constant strobe light display.

I have a lot of work to do, so Happy New Year to all ! Time is marching on and getting old is not for sissies. I have to buck up, endure the aches and pains and get some work done. Our doctor thinks that my daughter may have an allergy to our live tree. The cats, too. She said a lot of live trees cause allergy symptoms during the holidays and they mysteriously go away after the holiday. Huh. Figures.

Too Tall

My angel had to lean way over the front of our tree this year in order to fit. I was too lazy to take the tree back out of the stand and cut more off. The needles are starting to fall off and it has stopped drinking water. Won't be long, now. I will probably take it down this week-end.

I made my daughter a doctor appointment this morning. Stiff neck on and off for over two weeks. Prior to Christmas it seems like all other things get put on hold. The event itself is so demanding I can hardly think of anything else. While at work yesterday I felt that I should get her in to have her checked out.

The cats' eyes have all cleared up. Four of them are sneezing. I am not real happy about that. I am trying different arrangements for Moose. She won't go downstairs to use the litter box anymore. At this time I am unsure as to why. I am reading about some ideas and reasons on-line and while I am off from work the next few days we are trying them out. I took her to the vet's office once a couple of months ago. The reason at the time was because she was fighting with all the other cats. This was before her litter problem. It could be stress. The vet didn't offer much help in this area.

I will pick up my daughter's senior pictures on Friday. We go to see the orchestra today. I get to drive in Cleveland. This is why I chose the afternoon show. Sara should help, though. She is my new GPS. I wasn't expecting her. She was a very nice surprise.

I have a lot of stress in deciding what car to purchase for my daughter. I want safety and reliable. She wants sporty and fun. I suppose this is completely normal. I want a good used Honda Accord, she wants a little sporty Toytota Celica. I have checked. Celica's are reliable. I don't know about how safe they are. I really just need to get it done and over with. So I can stop fretting on the decision and start fretting when she isn't at home and I hear sirens in the distance. You know you do it. Every time you hear a siren you think of your loved one. Well, maybe not so much anymore since I live very close to a hospital. I hear a lot of sirens. I've become quite used to them. I have to say that I don't hear them all that much.

Well, said daughter has just made a request for cinnamon toast. I am off to the kitchen. My coffee cup is empty, anyway.

Sooo-prize!

This tyke was in his glory last night. It was his grandparent's 40th anniversary. My sister watches him about 3 times a week and they adore one another. He didn't spend much time with her, though. She was visiting. We were placed in the Gentleman's lounge of a country club. Pool table, bar, appetizers, desserts. He ran all over the place having a blast.

My daughter is 17 and she says she can't stand kids. This little fellow adores her and follows her everywhere. He calls her a variation of her name that he has made up for himself and it is funny. For some strange reason he calls her Pem-G. Nothing near her name. It is actually a combination of my name and the P is what he hears from her name, I am guessing. He is very verbose.

My nieces/nephews (children of the honored guests) supplied the entire shin dig. Free bar and food. Nobody abused the bar. In fact the poor bar tenders sat and watched the football game for lack of people drinking.

I was able to visit with folks from upper state New York who turned out to be a sheer delight.

My sister said she was surprised. She said there were a few strange details that she picked up on. One was her daughter asked her for her address book weeks before the event. That piqued her curiosity. Another was when she was visiting my house, she noticed my calendar on my refrigerator had marked on it "40th Anniversary" for the 27th, and on Christmas day she was speaking of their anniversary and I asked "Oh, what year is this for you?" She said she thought that was strange I asked since she had seen it marked on my calendar as the 40th. Ooops. I went overboard playing dumb.

Even so, it was all good.

Eeeek-zaaaww-sted

My sister has a frozen pond right in front of her house. If you believe that I have some ocean front property in Ohio I'd like to sell ya. LOL! I took this picture from atop my car trying to keep the shaking to a minimum. My camera is a handheld, I didn't bring my tripod and I was freezing.

Like the title of my post says, I am exhausted. Depleted. I have an event tonight, then I can rest tomorrow. Work on Monday. TSO on Tuesday and then 5 days of beautiful rest! The days of rest are a joke. My house is in shambles. Complete and utter shambles. I have already mentioned that I am a complete failure at housekeeping. Big deal. It is long past the tolerance level even for me. I have been able to keep up with the kitchen, though. That is a relief. I fixed a turkey dinner yesterday for the family that stays with me over the holidays.They pulled out last night for the northwest part of the state, hopefully with full tummies.

I took some time last evening to watch a movie. I chose The Savages. I like both Linney and Hoffman. I first noticed him in Twister and Linney in Primal Fear. Both movies were from 1996. That's interesting. Though I have to mention I did see Linney in Dave. That was always one of my favorite movies. I wasn't overly impressed with the movie, so-so. I did like the acting, though.

The holidays were a blessed event for me. I was able to visit with most of my family. One brother could not make it, he was sick. Ended up going to the ER Christmas day and is diagnosed with bronchitis. I am going to give him a call today and check in on him. Of course my sister is indisposed. She is usually out of the picture around the holidays. It was encouraging last year to see her sober through Christmas and New Years. That was a positive sign. She was trying to straighten up for her son who had open heart surgery in March. They delayed putting her away until after the surgery, but there was that huge mistake made by the anesthesiologist and the surgery got pushed back a few weeks and the judge wouldn't budge any more. You can read more about it from my March 5, 2008 post titled "Detours and Bumps."

The event tonight is a 40th anniversary. I was 8 years old when my oldest sister married. It was a huge event for my family. She said years later "Don't ever plan a wedding around a major holiday!" Her stress level must have been through the roof. She was more or less supporting the family along with my older brother. My dad was indisposed for most of his life. I'll never forget the time I asked my Mom "Why did you marry him if he was a drunk?" She laughed and said he wasn't like that in the early years. Of course I was the last child (youngest of 8) so I only saw the drunk dad. I never observed him working or driving or taking care of the family. That wasn't to say he was a bad person. He was wonderful to me and some of the children. He had his favorites. He worked a wonderful garden, could fry up a wonderful country meal and many other things. He did some very wonderful things for me.

The holidays can be very stressful for the alcoholic. They are always feeling like they don't measure up. They observe folks around them buying, wrapping, planning and laughing and are wondering how it is that they don't feel or act the same. They may have spare time on their hands with days off from work. That is disastrous for the alcoholic. Spare time. Something in their upbringing or childhood or in their genetic make-up made it so that they really don't know what to do with themselves if they find time on their hands. Or, they choose to neglect things they should be doing for imbibing. They feel lost. Drinking has a goal. To obliterate the feelings. Whether they be painful memories of love or feelings of inadequacy.

Whoa, I am going a little deeper here than I had planned. It is rainy but warmer here in my neck of Ohio. I had loved ones travelling, so I'll take the rain. I scored a GPS this holiday so finding my way around Cleveland on Tuesday and to the party tonight should be easier. I'll use map quest for the timing and to get a general idea of where I am going, but I think everyone should have a navigation device in their vehicle. I hate that I don't need glasses to drive, but need them to read. That makes it difficult to see the device sometimes, but text to speech is a must-have.

Merry Christmas

Here's hoping you get everything you wished for this holiday season!

I flipped my skirt

After observing this feline activity, I flipped my tree skirt over. Somebody, I won't name names Mr. Tibbs, was found chewing on the buttons. I could not have him swallowing any so the skirt was flipped over and will be discarded after this year. My cats are a pain sometimes, but I wish them no harm. Now my daughter on the other hand...

I had an 'almost' super time with family last evening. We had 17 show up for a family holiday get together. My evening was dampened by the fact that I gave the bar tender (we believe is the owner of the establishment) a fifty dollar bill for my mixed drink, my nephew's soda pop and my daughter's hot chocolate. The bartender mumbled "Out of twenty" when he took my fifty. I kept calling after him "That was a fifty!" until he finally snapped at me, "I know!" Feeling that I offended him I dropped it.

As soon as he took the money, my great niece came running across the restaurant for me to hold her. I am her favorite for now. I picked her up and was gushing over her when the bartender laid my change on the bar. My family filled up the horse shoe bar so I was not concerned about the money and I was wrapped up with family arriving and when I scooped up my change to go and sit at our reserved table, I notice that he had given me change for a twenty. I called him on it. He shrugged it off and snapped "I put your change right there."

To make a long story short I will analyze his conduct about the issue. If he were on the up and up he would have come over and gone over my drink order and explained to me what change he had given me. He would have said something to the effect that if his drawer came up over $30 or so he would call me. He did not. He avoided me like the plague.

This put a little bit of a damper on the meal. I was not going to ruin it for the other 16 people in my family and make a scene or leave. The food was awful. Just awful. I was glad to get out of that establishment and I have an entire year to decide if I am going to grace them with my presence next year. Since I make the arrangements I am going to look elsewhere for our get together next year. We chose this restaurant because of a more central location for all of us to drive to.

It is the season for love and peace and I am forgiving him and moving on.

We had a distant relative pass away and the calling hours are today. It is a 200 mile journey and the eldest children are going to the calling hours. They are the ones who remember them the most. I considered going, but I am just too far behind this holiday season. I was really looking forward to today and hopefully playing catch up. Cleaning and baking.

I have perhaps three more gifts to buy before the big day. I think I can do it.

Now that my daughter has her drivers license I can stay home more often instead of taxiing her here and there. I find that I can clean house better when she is not here. I have not had this opportunity much, or maybe I just notice it more with her being independently mobile now. It wasn't like she didn't go anywhere without me before. Heavens no. I just seem to appreciate it more now that she can go when SHE wants to go. We are already arguing over the use of the car. 24 hours after she got her license she was calling me and snapping "I need the car in half an hour!" I have to laugh. Teenagers.

I also told her I want a dollar for each time she says "Get me my own car!" when we spat about using the car. I'll be rich, I tell you. Rich!

No holes

Our tree has no holes in it. It is very full and very tall. My daughter must be a minimalist. I would expect it would happen sooner or later. My Mom was a pack rat. I am a pack rat. My daughter is determined to break the habit. She did much better on the lights than I do. My work tends to look like a kindergartner's finger painting. She put about six ornaments on the tree. Me? I'd put every single one I could find on the tree. We don't put ice sickles on because of the cats. We are not big on tinsel.

At least it is done. I was having one of those super bad days on Thursday. I got to a school to update them to fiber. I call a couple of weeks in advance. I ask the school technician to pick a day that is good for them. For the school. What day can I take the Internet down? It may go smoothly, sometimes there is a glitch and it take a bit longer. You never can tell with technology. Like traffic.

I arrive at 8:30 to set up and take the network down at nine a.m. He asks "Can this be done by 10:30?" I'm thinking to myself. 'No. He didn't just say that!' Yes, he did. He jinxed it. I sighed. The last time I switched a school over was probably August or September. I had not touched the fiber switches in four months. One problem after another cropped up. If something could go wrong, something did go wrong. Ugh!

At eleven a.m. one of the elementary buildings were scheduled to visit with Santa. Didn't happen. Nope. I was traumatized. People kept calling the technician. "Are we doing this thing or what?" "Is it back up, yet?" Groan. To make matters worse my home office won't answer their phones. They want everything submitted in a help desk ticket. Well, when you don't have the Internet that's kind of hard to do. It was embarrassing to say the least when I couldn't even reach my own people for help. Yeah, that went over well.

Thirteen years. Same old, same old. Issues with communication. Two problems were their end and one was my end. We finally got things rolling at noon. Just in time for the Santa video session to end. The children had to settle for an elf video at two o'clock later that afternoon.

Me? I got a major migraine headache. I went home and took the rest of the day off sick. It was six p.m. before I felt human again.

My co-workers keep telling me "This isn't major surgery. No body is going to die if we don't get the Internet back up." But, still. I care. I want the customer inconvenienced the least amount of time as possible. I feel responsible. I take my work seriously even if it isn't major surgery, it is important to me.

Sigh. I have (had) a box of chocolate covered cherries. Why do I bring them into the house? They have to be the clear liquid ones. I almost make myself sick on them. You would think with my migraine problem I would avoid them. I will have them bought and half eaten before it even occurs to me "Oh, yeah. These could exacerbate your headaches." Idiot.

How we display our cards

Well, this year anyway. Sometimes I tape them around the door or around the archway between the living room and the kitchen. I have placed them high enough so that the guys in the family don't hit their heads on them. One year I put them too low. Hopefully the cats will leave them alone.

Celestial bodies

Using the night mode trick in black and white this time. I found some interesting shapes emerged from my tree lights. Some are even a little suggestive? And, I will stop right there.

Neat

It was neat to see what the picture would come out when I did this. I put my camera into night mode where the shutter stays open longer and took a picture of my tree. I think my camera takes this picture with the shutter open for 10 seconds. I move the camera in slow circles while it is in that 10 second phase of shooting the photo.

Tree and tacky and a rock star

The tree is finally up. It is done being my garage air freshener. It is a monster. If I had to do over again, I would trim the scraggly branches off the bottom and cut it off more at the stump. It was a chore to get it up and in the stand, so this will do. It will be rough getting the lights on all the way at the top. It tickles the ceiling. I was gone all day yesterday, but my daughter was home. I was hoping she would decorate it, but she cleaned instead. That is okay by me. I must dig out the lights and decorations today. This is the tree part.

Now, for the tacky. I am still shaking my head. Never in my 48 years. My sister (1944) couldn't believe the tackiness either. She and I went to a luncheon yesterday. Out of town. We had sent in our reservation weeks ago. We paid $12.50 at the door. We sat with a group of folks my sister went to school with. The lunch group totaled 40 in all.

Most of the folks here are my sister's age. I started to go with her to the meetings because it has to do with genealogy and to help with the technical parts of the workshops. Digital photography for example.

One couple came from the north, just to meet up with my sister and a few of her school mates. They had not seen one another in 46 years since graduation. This is where the rock star part comes in, and I will get back to that.

Our table was the last to get up and get into the food line. There were about nine people behind me in line when I looked at the food. 3 chicken breasts left and one steak floating in gravy. Hmmm. The two folks ahead of me passed the meat up. I did also. I was getting my salad when the president of the group found out the meat ran out.

Get this.

She put her chicken back into the pan. She said "I didn't touch it. You can trust me." She then gathered chickens and steaks from folks who had not "touched" theirs yet. Prior to the meal, the group was instructed that they could take one chicken and one steak each . I guess they took that to mean it was required to take one of each, I don't know.

Is that just unreal?

I booked it out of the line and muttered to myself "I am NOT taking food off of other people's plate." I was shaking my head in disbelief. I sat down and ate my vegetarian lunch. The rest of the meal consisted of salad, green beans, noodles, corn pudding and a roll. My sister was so wrapped up into talking with her friends she was totally unaware of what went on around her. She had passed the meat up also. I told her on the drive home what had transpired.

She was in complete shock. They took food off of people's plates and put it back? I nodded. She had been talking to the people in line with her and was oblivious.

Never in my life have I witnessed such vulgarity at a luncheon. The proper thing to do would have been to give a refund to the folks at my table and apologize. This is the society where I won a membership for a year. The next meeting is in March. I have until then to get over this and decide if I want to continue to meet with this group. It is over a 50 mile drive for me to attend. It has to do with the genealogy from the county I grew up in. I don't know. I was doing it for my sister and to get more involved in things that interest me. I'll have to think about it.

I have six lunch/dinner functions to attend this month for the holidays. I am certainly not going to miss one piece of chicken. It is a story to tell and laugh about at future functions, so I guess it makes for good fodder. That will make it all worthwhile.

Now, back to the rock star. The fellow that my sister went to school with is a Presbyterian preacher. The entire family is musical. One of his two sons is a member of the rock music group Isis. I didn't know this until the drive home. I am not familiar with the group but I have heard of them.

Wee one

What does a person with five tiny yorkies get? A tinier dog, of course. A tiny teacup chihuahua dog. I think I spelled that right. This is my brother's dog.

My daughter had a blast playing with this wee one back in March 2006. She didn't grow much. The dog, that is. My daughter grew and her hair got shorter.

This makes post number 1,400 for me. Woot! I'd celebrate, but I am going to bed. This Ohio weather today is flippin' nuts and I have half a headache. I haven't taken any medicine and I don't want to so I am banking on sleep to take care of it. Hope, hope, hope. I hate waking up with a headache.

Some winter days

In Ohio, in early December, when there was no snow.

This was taken last week on a drive to a school many miles away from home. I have no idea whose home it is. Just something I see on the ride. It was the middle of deer hunting and I saw lots of hunters out and about that day.

I don't know about you, but the Christmas specials and movies just don't seem the same since cable plays the same ones over and over again and videos and DVDs let you watch them any time you want. They have lost that "special" significance. Yawn.

This reminds me of a childhood trauma. Small trauma. But, to an eight year old it was pretty significant. Picture it. The year is 1968. It would be almost 10 years before VHS tapes were available to the public and another five before most homes were able to afford units to play them. Cable stations that currently play holiday movies over and over were also unheard of.

My oldest sister (1944) was getting married on the 27th of December. A friend of the family held her wedding shower on a cold winter night in early December. I was in the wedding and I was to attend the shower. The friend's children were grown and gone. The television sat in the corner of the room that held the crowd of ladies from around town. We ate little cucumber sandwiches and my sister unwrapped her gifts.

It just happened to be the one, the only night in a long year of 365 days that the one little television station would play the favorite classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I looked longingly at that dark television screen many times during that shower knowing it would be another 365.. no, make that 366 days (1968 was a leap year!) before I would be able to watch my beloved Rudolph again! Horrors! That is a long time to an 8 year old.

I see that the movie only came out in 1964. Given the circumstances, I may have watched it once or twice before the year I didn't get to watch it. It was something I looked forward to. Sigh. I wonder how many times I have actually watched the movie. My daughter never got excited about the movie because we could watch it on Halloween or Thanksgiving 100 times over because we had it on video tape. It just isn't the same. Kids these days have no idea.

Window dressing

The curtains have been washed and re-hung. The lights are on. They are just waiting for the tree. We moved the furniture around yesterday. Before we went to get the tree. It used to be that my daughter and I would walk the few blocks to purchase the tree and carry it home through the snow. You know, like families do up on Walton Mountain or something like that.

Last year my brother happened to be there and drove my tree to my porch. This year I really thought I could do it. Forgetting that moving the furniture around gave my lower back a good thumping over. I would have made it, but we got stupid and decided to take the dog. She was so excited by all the people she was almost unmanageable.

Walking home we were freezing. My daughter had the top of the tree and I had the trunk and the dog. It was cold. We must have looked pathetic because my neighbor stopped with his bright and shiny new red truck and put the tree in the back and drove it to my back porch. We were halfway home. I thanked him and put the tree in the garage for safe keeping overnight. My Mom had a tree stolen right off her porch before.

We will cut the trunk today and get it into water. We may get it decorated by tonight, I don't know. My daughter wants to practice backing into the orange cones today so that she can be ready to take her driving test. Ugh. It's going to be cold. Then she is meeting some new guy at the mall. She is so excited about this, she is over at her computer dancing to her hip hop. She said she wants music today, but not Christmas. I've been playing the holiday music for a few days, now.

I've got a real cat problem. Not poor Titten who got both eyes infected. We took her to the doctor and they gave us drops to put in three times a day. She is getting better and fortunately no other cat seems to be affected yet. No, this is a more serious problem.

Moose has always been picked on by the other cats. I try to let them work it out for themselves. My big male cat, Casper won't let her go downstairs. So, she ends up going to the bathroom upstairs. This is not acceptable. I tried taking her downstairs myself but she ran back upstairs as soon as I put her down. She is always scared. She has the long fur but barely weighs five pounds. She is so light when I pick her up. She is the one that vomits, too. Not very often, though.

Sigh. I don't want to get rid of any of them. I will not get rid of Casper. He is my baby. I am torn. This bathroom problem started happening this week. She is using my nice pink area rug in the bathroom. This last time there was blood in her stool.

I may get a litter box, food and water dish and begin putting Moose in the back bedroom by herself during the night. We do pick Casper up and put him in the backroom for some "time out" when he picks on her. He chases her. The other cats have started to pick on her too. What to do, what to do. I've talked to the vet when this happened before. We talked about shaving her to get ride of the mats still embedded in her coat. Maybe she is in pain. Maybe there is something wrong with her that the other cats sense and they don't want to be infected. Maybe animals know this stuff.

The paper is full of "free kittens" for Christmas. We have a cat shelter. The last time I was there it smelled so bad I couldn't stay for more than 10 minutes. They have dozens of cats. I don't want it to come to that. I will try the separation technique until the first of the year and then deal with it. This may be the reason she was put out by the people who owned her before. She was already fixed when she came to our back door. My daughter snuck her into the basement without my knowledge.

Well, it's time to go and get that tree up.

Kind of scary

If I were a kid, I think this would just scare me.

Taken from Tis the Season 2 years ago.

Last Year's stash

A display from the museum in 2007.

22 years

Way back in 1986. The picture on the wall behind the group is my grandmother holding my father and his twin brother dated 1915. The lady on the left is my father's sister (born 1901). The lady on the right is my sister (1954) and her son.

Summer drive

A drive from July 2007. Warmer days are just around the bend. Given six months or so.

Poor baby

She goes to the doctor tomorrow. I have to go and clean it, now. She doesn't like that. Not one bit.

Barely tolerating me

Here Moose is on a sunny morning, trying to tolerate the woman with the camera. She did get fed up and left to the other side of the couch. I couldn't resist with that sunshine streaming in through the window and back lighting her. We must move the furniture around today to make room for the tree. I like to put the tree up in front of that big window.

One of our other cats, Teton (a.k.a. Titten) has what I think it conjunctivitis. It got bad yesterday and our vet was closed. I was out at the mall shopping when my daughter called me. She said she had been washing it with a warm wash cloth. I told her to call our vet. No answer. I drove past the office later and it was indeed closed. I guess I've never needed them on a Saturday before, or maybe it was because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

It got much better last evening. I'll watch her and clean her today and tomorrow we will call the vet's office. The one cat that we picked up with her when we found them was washing her eye for her. Mr. Tibbs. He always seems to take care of her.

I guess we will get the tree today. I don't know. Is it too early? Will I be tired of it by Christmas? Will it dry out to a brown, prickly mess by then? Do I want to decorate it? No.

This holiday week-end we watched WALL-E. I had seen it at the theater but my daughter had not. We also watched Nim's Island and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2. Of course we enjoyed WALL-E and I liked Nim's Island. The Travelling Pants sequel was good as well, but I was making dinner during the movie. I did the roast beef and mashed potatoes. I can't believe I actually got sick of looking (and eating) mashed potatoes. Ugh.

Cranberry ring

I didn't make this. A co-worker did at the company get together a couple of weeks ago. Nice!

Giving thanks

A shot of an arrangement from the museum display of trees/wreaths and table centerpieces.

I love silver and blue together. The white from the candle and the green from the pine needles set this display off very nicely, I think.

My Thanksgiving started out with a call from my sister (1954) in prison. My nephew (her son) was here so she was able to speak with him. A lot of the younger generation do not have land lines, so it is difficult for her to reach him at his house so she tries on holidays or times that she figures he will be at my house. Her daughter was staying over at a friend's house so she didn't get the chance to speak with her.

Another sister called (1956) shortly afterwards to brief me on who was coming to the dinner. We headed to my eldest sister's house (1944) and spent the afternoon and evening there. 24 out of 34 showed up. It was a fantastic time.

My house is full of warmth, food, family, pets and love. I am tired but not exhausted. I did not do the "shopping" thing again this year. I never have. I suppose I will have to experience it at least once in my life. My sister (1949) goes with her children to get some specials, but mostly for the entertainment. They watch the other people fight, push and shove on the escalators for one example. Uh, no thanks.

The wind howls outside and the wolf taps at the door (he ain't knockin', yet.). I drink my coffee and pet my cat. I hear purring. Is that me or the cat?

Yes. Put it all into perspective. Shake off the pesky worries. I may dump the coffee and go for the hot chocolate. Read the paper while family sleeps. Just me and the critters are stirring. Three more days of no "get up and go to work". And I am going to enjoy them.

Christmas tree display

I made it to the tree display at the museum. I had taken a few pictures before I realized that I had the camera on the wrong setting. One of the flaws in my point and shoot is that the letters on the top control dial wear off after a few years of use. I rely on the display window to tell me the setting but with my failing eyesight, sometimes I don't catch the fact that I have the camera mode set on movement instead of Auto. My pictures did not come out as well this year. I processed the heck out of the one pictured here because I just was not happy with the original.

I use Irfanview, Jasc Paint Shop, Paint Shop Pro and MS PowerPoint. I really messed with this photo by using all of the above programs and some of them twice.

I have the day off and it will help when I prepare the appetizers for the big dinner tomorrow. I am travelling about 40 miles north to my sister's house and I am taking my usual cheese ball and tray which includes pepperoni, trail bologna, hot mustard, various slices of cheese and crackers and my cheese ball which includes 2 ingredients. Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Old English jar cheese. I roll the ball in crushed walnuts and top it off with a maraschino cherry. This year I have hot pepper jack cheese, brick cheese, mild cheddar and Colby jack. I tend to like the white cheeses better than the orange. I don't like sharp at all because it cuts the roof of my mouth.

I am also making a very simple hot pepper jelly over Philadelphia cream cheese and served with crackers. This was a big hit at the office party. One thing I don't like is stuffed celery. I am making and taking that. My niece loves it.You stuff sticks of celery with Philadelphia cream cheese (I can't recall what my Mom always mixed it with, I'll look up the recipe) and topped with slices of black olives. It is just something I have never liked, but since I am on this Phila cream cheese kick, I decided "why not?"

Last, but not least is the little sausage wieners rolled up in crescent rolls and baked. I might add the brown sugar mix to the batch and I may leave them plain. Maybe I'll do half and half. I like both. I like the plain so I can dip them in the hot and sweet mustard.

I go early so that the hungry folks who are milling around before dinner eat my appetizers and stay out of the kitchen. Oh, yeah. Devilled eggs. Hmm. Maybe I better get started now. LOL!

I had to get a new sump pump. I don't know anything about that stuff so I had a plumber come in and do this. It cost me more than what the average American is going to spend on Christmas this year. Depending on which article you read. I was depressed (for a day!) and then I got over it. I usually don't stay down for very long. Why let it ruin my week/month/holiday? You can't let it.

In over our heads

Do you think my daughter got in over her head when she told me she wanted a jigsaw puzzle? Heh, heh. We went to the library and were looking at some magazines. There are a few jigsaw puzzles strewn on the tables. We got busy putting pieces in one. It was a 500 piece photograph of a warm and cozy inn with people sledding and building snowmen.

She picked this one out herself. 750 pieces and oval shaped. Not a good starter puzzle. Speaking of starters. We are looking for a starter car for her. It is kind of interesting to teach her about used car salesmen and their sly little tricks. I am brushing up on the psychology since it has been 13 years since I purchased a car.

An older gentleman in the library parking lot barked at me "Your car wasn't even made in America!" I admit that back in the 70's and 80's my brother forbid me to purchase a foreign car. He works in a steel mill. I drove Fords, Buick's and Pontiac's. Guess who had to keep coming to pick me up when I broke down. When you are young and trying to work your way up the corporate ladder, the cars are not so reliable or well maintained.

In the mid-90's he was okay with me purchasing a Honda Civic that was made in Canada. He has never had to pick me up from along side the road again. Well, that and I have Triple A. But, I rarely have to use it. Once I locked myself out of my car. It was so new the Triple A had to create a tool to open the locked car. That was miles away from home and the next two times I did it, my Honda dealer would just run a new key to me. I love this service! I have never had that with a Ford/Chevy/Pontiac. Sorry, but I have to take care of myself and facts are facts.

As a side note, before you think I am some kind of bimbo that keeps locking herself out of her car, let me explain. Normally, I throw my keys in my purse, right? Well, when you work with technology equipment and are about to walk into a school, you do not take your purse inside. In the winter, it is easier with pockets. When the weather starts to get warmer and I leave my coat in my car... well, you see what happens.

Blown it all skyhigh

I blew out the sky with this photo. Love the lingo. This was from my drive last month. I enhanced the contrast quite a bit to get more color out of the trees.

Do you get a lot of movies, jokes and cute messages in email that have been forwarded a thousand times before they get to you? I rarely (if ever) forward these on to the standard 10 people, but I do try to read them. But when I am busy (and the computer is running slow for who knows what reason!) I don't take the time to read them. I feel bad if it is a good friend and they say "Did you watch that video?"

Uh, no. I had twelve people waiting for either a phone call back or an email back and I was researching 4 separate problems at one time, so no I did not view their cute video. On a slow day and when the computer opens my media player quickly, I'll take the few seconds to watch or read.

I hate days like that.

And, since I am annoyed, how about co-workers who don't look at you before they start their diarrhea of the mouth story. She never checks to see if I am on the phone before she just starts barking. A lot of times she starts dialing when she realizes I am on the phone (shared line). I sit less than six feet away from her. How did a therapist from 1992 put it? Oh, yeah. People who cannot read their environment very well. That's it. I just call them rude and annoying.

My daughter and I went to the nearby University's open house. I keep checking things off my list. I did make a little progress. I should make her do this stuff, not me. But, she mouths off that she doesn't care if she goes to school or not. She thinks that some company is just going to appear out of the clouds in the sky and hire her. Groan.

When my daughter forgot her purse at home today I did not run home and take it to her. She cannot purchase lunch without her i.d. tag. (She can give someone the money and have them purchase food for her, though.) She tried to make me feel bad. This is the 3rd time this school year I've had to run her something because of her forgetfulness. I didn't cave in today. I didn't do it. I let her go without. She did have money. She did pay somebody to buy a pizza for her. But Mom didn't drop everything and run to her rescue. Tough love.

We have a holiday lunch tomorrow. I plan to make my cheese ball and bring cold apple cider. I also plan to bring a hot pepper jelly and cream cheese dip.

Takes a washing

And keeps on.... well, I don't know what could possibly rhyme with washing that would fit. It is a Lexar firefly flash drive. I washed a load of dark clothes and jeans last night and found it in the bottom of the washing machine. I let it dry out overnight and plugged it in this morning. It worked fine.I backed up my daughter's data (from school) and handed it over to her this morning. I said "It works after a run through the washer!"

She said "Oh, I know. I've washed it before."

Shake your booty

My brother and his lady friend. They were married for two years, divorced and got back together. She is 68, he is 51. They started dating in 1978. He was best friends with her oldest son. Her son was the one that had the surprise 50th birthday party. And was he surprised.

Nobody was dancing, so they thought they would get the party going. She ran out of breath. Smoking for 55 years or longer will do that to you. We left before the DJ played Wipeout. I didn't want to see that.

We saw some big beautiful flakes of snow today. It put me in the Christmas spirit. A little bit. Just a wee little bit. "Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes..."

Hey, lady!

My cat Jasper, is saying "Hey, lady! The washing machine (by law) must drain into a separate place than your sump pump! Don't you know nothin'? And, you better hope that the Munchkin's Mom doesn't see that picture of her drinking out of a sippy cup! She's trying to stop that, you know."

Oops.

Okay. Maybe he is just saying "Get that bleepin' camera flash out of my eyes!"

At least I can wash clothes.

It's spitting snow here. Maybe more than spitting. We travel today to a 50th birthday party. There will probably be lots of folks I have not seen in ages. My daughter wants to go to a specific car lot today and look at cars. Can we just drive around and look? I don't see any sign of the sun out there.

I have a toothache. A toothache! Where did THAT come from? It has been years. I know. I'll blame it on the new medicine.

I don't know if this is true of all headache sufferers, but I hate to take medicine when I don't have a headache. On the rare day that I don't, my back is hurting or (as in today) my tooth is hurting. I don't take the Advil. Why? I don't know. For some weird reason it just doesn't seem like pain if it isn't my head that is hurting. I can do things with a toothache and most things with a backache, or when the bottom of my foot hurts (plantar fasciitis), but when I have a headache it affects everything.

Movie Number 2

I've got the munchkin today. We have Simba and we are watching FernGully. It is our second movie. We have already watched Spirit. It is rainy and a bit chilly. Not sure we are going to make it to the park today.

I went downstairs to start a load of laundry and heard a troubling, humming sound. It was my sump pump. I did not smell any burning, but I think it is toast. I don't even know if I can wash clothes safely. I looked at the drain pipe from the washing machine. It looks to me as if it goes into the sump pump and then up and out. Darn. How about a trip to the laundromat today? And, I guess I better check the weather channel to see how much more rain I can expect.

If I get any more cats!

I'm gonna need one of these.

My oldest sister (1944) sent this photo to me. It is off the Internet. She is the only family member who has more cats than I do. I think. My daughter (who just a few years ago ooh'd and ahh'd over bringing home any little stray she saw) is ready to kill our cats. She stomps around the house stating "I hate cats! I'll never have cats!" We'll see.

I can see why I didn't post on Wednesday. I was gone from 7:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night. But, I don't have much of an excuse for yesterday. I barely touched my computer last evening.

This year I am putting the Thanksgiving dinner menu on line. ON LINE! This way everybody can see what everyone else is bringing. Now, if only they would let me know what they are bringing so I can update the menu. As for myself I am taking my usual cheese ball/tray. I want to make something new and different (don't I every year?) this year. But, we know how the new dishes usually turn out. Disaster! Stay to my tried and true favorites. Because you know family. Where is Peruby's ____? Or, why didn't you make your ____? Yep. Better to stick with tradition.

Long shadows

Driving home from a late meeting tonight I saw plenty of deer hit on the road. I saw plenty of deer standing by the road, and a few crossing. I was fortunate that I didn't hit any, or as most folks like to say these days "the deer hit me."

I even saw a car being pulled up onto a tow truck after hitting a deer. I think I'll stay off the roads after 6 p.m. until Spring.

My photos load (and display) much slower after I started uploading them in a png format. I think I'll go back to jpeg.

This is crazy!

Can you believe this! Marion Ohio at 7:30 p.m.

Gravel Road

One more photo from last week's drive over some back roads that still had some color on the trees.

The new first family must get a pet. Word is they will get a rescue mutt. One of the daughters are allergic, so that will narrow their choice. If I ever decide to purchase a dog (rather than rescue one) I would consider the papi-poo. So cute.

It would be tough though, because I found a stray in the 80's and from the research I've done, I determined she was a gray Dandie Dinmont Terrier. It would be hard to turn one of them down.

I would like to take a moment to thank the makers of anti-migraine medicine. Prior to lunch I was as sick as a dog. I thought I would have to go home and go to bed. I took my medicine (currently am using Imitrex, but all have worked for the most part) and some ibuprofen. After a couple of hours (slowly sometimes) I was feeling a heck of a lot better. This evening I am free from pain and can do normal things. It is great to have my life back and not live like some drunk on the couch where sounds and lights irritate me, with a cold washcloth on my forehead or over my eyes, and a bucket by my head.

Quiet

It's quiet here. Sunday morning peaceful. No paper. We seem to have a new carrier for paper and post. Both come later than they used to. Sigh.

I was a paper carrier in my youth. First thing after school. I delivered about 50 papers around town. Collecting was always dreadful. Took most of the Saturday. I didn't deliver the Sunday paper back then. I'm not sure I even remember why.

I am fixing turkey and the trimmings today. Not a whole turkey. Oh no. Just the breast. It is delicious, it is quicker, it is easier, there is no mess. Everybody is happy.

I've slacked off the reading. I finished "Our Iceberg Is Melting". I have not moved on to any others except for the Web Designing one I have been using at work. I've had a houseful this week-end but they are all sleeping, now. I am treasuring it because I know that one day and it won't be long before I am puttering around this little house all alone. I chose a small house because I knew that it would be just me someday. I'll try not to turn into the cat lady. LOL!

The calendar is filling up for the holidays. A party here, a dinner there, shopping in between. Meet us here and meet them there. Then there are the appointments. We look at starting another round of mole removals soon. We took a break for about a year. My daughter has noticed three that have changed and we see her dermatologist this Wednesday. Never fun.

The side of the barn

The sun's rays can hit the side of a barn.

What would you do?

My scheduled appointment was 9:00 a.m. I was way early. It was a beautiful sunny morning. I filled the gas tank ($2.04 per gallon), cleaned all the car windows and my camera was in the front seat with 2 fully charged batteries. What would you do? Yep. That's what I thought. Backroad central here I come!

My daughter and I have determined that a new medication I started Tuesday is causing a bit of mental hyperactivity. My posts (such as yesterdays) may come across a bit weird until I adjust to the pills. Goofy talk.

Giggling, grinning, girls

I wonder how they will remember this event. If they will remember it. I have memories from when I was four and there are images that I can recall but I don't know from where or when. It was as if somebody had taken me somewhere and the room or the building was etched into my memory but I was far too young to recall where I was and what the event was. Perhaps some of the images of the wedding will etch themselves in the minds of these young girls. A color, an image. Hopefully they will be good memories.

Weddings are beautiful things. I have attended many of them. None of them mine. I recall thinking about marriage but if I am honest with myself, I realize I never really wanted that lifestyle for me. I have had four sisters and two brothers marry. Three ended in divorce and three are hanging in there. None of them are pretty. I wouldn't want to be in any of the relationships that I see. I can't name one. Inside or outside the family.

I hope things smooth out before the girls get to the dating age. I am just having a devil of a time with my daughter and her dating woes. I try not to be negative, but she sees what I am exposed to. My sisters complaining about their marriages. Constantly.

A few years ago she was all for getting married. Now she wants nothing to do with it. Hey, it isn't for everybody. Maybe we are selfish, maybe we are controlling. I don't have any married friends. Divorced or NBM's like me (never been married).

I hear people speak of "I don't want to grow old alone" or "I don't like to be alone." Not much of a problem for me. I suppose I'll have a sister in one form or another living with me someday. We are a close (and large) family and there is always somebody needing a place to stay.

Back to memories, though. I had one memory that just haunted me for years. I finally got to the root of it. Back in the late 60's my older brother took me and another brother to see "2001: A Space Odyssey" at an old theater. It had these beautiful lit lanterns on the wall in red and blue. I was probably 8 since that is the year the movie came out (1968). And I remember pieces of that movie. Now really. You've seen the movie. Can an 8 year old grasp the concept of it? It just left me thinking "What is this about?" And it probably scared the bejesus out of me at the time.

One day (years later) I was watching the movie and I said "I've seen this movie!" And my brother said "Well, yeah. I took you to see it..." Oh. It left me feeling very strange until I unravelled the mystery. Come to think of it I still ask myself "What is this about?" when I watch the movie. LOL! "Daisy, daisy...give me your answer do."

Ah. I believe my mind is going. I can feel it. Dave! My mind is going.

Fun in the leaves

Live it up!

Museum foyer

There was a richness to the woodwork that doesn't seem to be as beautiful in the photo as it was in real life. You could tell that the gentleman who gave us the tour was very proud of this house and all of it's artifacts.

I voted days ago and I am SO glad.

My daughter has been stopping in at my office every afternoon after school to attend her driver's training classes in the evening. She is getting first-hand exposure to my co-worker and her odd behavior.

Lips

If you have experienced seeing The Rocky Horror Picture Show, you will understand the above photo.

Now, about RHPS. People actually do this? I thought trekkies were bad. Watching the movie at home is one thing. Going to a production as to where they show the movie in a theater and quite a few members of the audience dress up as one of the characters in the movie was another thing.

You can get a prop bag and sort of participate with the show. For example, when the character says the phrase "Great Scott!" the audience throws their toilet paper into the air from their prop bag. There are also water pistols involved. I prayed that nobody filled their pistol up in the bathroom with any liquid other than water. You get a newspaper to put on top of your head.

It may have been better if I had actually seen the movie before I went to the show because for most of the time you cannot hear the actors. It is very raunchy. Not at all tasteful. It is gross, quite sexually suggestive and sadly sets one's mind to wondering if people actually do behave in such a perverted and obtuse manner. And if they do, I am so glad I don't know them or about them.

It was an experience and I will leave it at that. It certainly isn't for everybody. I knew the gist of the event and I was prepared for some raunchiness. It was absolutely bizarre.

At the beginning of the show the emcee asked for the youngest members of the audience along with the oldest. There were two young teens. One was eleven, the other thirteen. I felt sorry for them. At that age I may have been horrified by the movie.

In following the cult-like fashion of this showing, I am not longer a virgin so to speak. This is somebody who has never seen the movie. Well, it was on target in that respect. As some women do after their first sexual encounter, I was asking myself, "Is that it?" And you come away feeling disappointed and wondering what all the hoopla is about. There certainly were a lot of folks enjoying themselves. Perhaps as in the act itself, it takes time to get really good at it. I'll pass on seeing if that experience works for the show, thank-you very much.

Cotton boat

I love the way they used gray colored cotton for the smoke and colored some blue for the water on this model of a boat at the museum. They even left the cotton behind the boat white to make it appear as churned up water. I have no idea if the red and green Christmas lights actually worked.