I am pulling my hair out from the drama. My daughter and her boyfriend broke up, she has been on the telephone constantly for the past three days with friends and with him, back and forth, back and forth.
Supposedly he is already dating another girl at his new school, but then why does he keep calling?! I give my daughter a little advice, she takes it - then he calls and it is blown right out of the water. I am trying very hard to sit back and let them work this out for themselves.
But, she won't eat. The trauma. The drama. I think they are way too young to be dealing with this level of emotions, but I cannot stop time. I cannot control other people. I can guide and I can advise. I can watch and pray. I can fret (which won't do me a lot of good).
As far as I can tell there are about four other friends involved in this mix-up. My daughter went to a dance on Friday night. Her (then) boyfriend wouldn't go - too boring, he said. She and her friend invited two boys over to our house on Saturday. Her (then) boyfriend found out and went through the roof. Although, he had girl friends over to his house countless times when my daughter was not there. I am trying to teach her about the old double-standard. Not much luck.
You know what I really want to do? Tell them to "get over it". But, that is what my Mom would have done. No sympathy. I want to comfort her, but I also don't want to baby her and exaggerate the situation. I want her to be healthy and wise. I am trying to explain to her that this is part of life's experience. A step in growing up. Another move toward becoming an adult. And another push for me over the parental edge. (grimace).
It's raining. It is cold. It is cloudy. It is not sunny. It is not bright. It is blah. It is yuck. At one point in time I was here taking this picture on a sunny beach in Florida. I want to be there, now. Maybe I'll start a fire in the fireplace and fix some hot chocolate.
Ah, this is blurry, but colorful. I was trying to walk the dog and take pics at the same time around my neighborhood. Many came out way too blurry. I should get the camera book out and read it.
I found a site that was judging the tackiest Christmas lights. The author chose the house because they had all different colors with all different characters. He said that he only decorates in white, showing class and style. I kind of like color myself. I don't care for the all white lights. Boring.
At my small apartment I used to keep a string of all color Christmas lights up in the living room all year round. I used them in the evening. (migraines, remember?) No bright lights. Hurts the eyes. It also gave me a calm, peaceful feeling. Until I read that you shouldn't use the lights for more than 90 days straight. Bummer! Then I figured I only ran them in the evening, so I could still keep them up all year long.
Once I moved to my house and had the rooms re-painted I didn't have the heart to pound too many nails in the walls. After three years, the house is beginning to get scruffy and strands of lights are not far away. I wish I had known about chair rails. Never needed them in my Mom's house. It was huge.
Find out your political compass. I am at the exact same spot on the scale that Gandhi was. Wow!
Economic Left/Right: -6.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.31
Also in my corner are Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. I am in good company, I should think.
I'm a poet, don't ya know it. This is my sister's tree from last year. I think I made everyone a bit nervous with my picture taking. When my Mom was alive we used to go to her house on Christmas eve and open presents. I have opened my Christmas gifts on Christmas eve for as long as I can remember. Way back. But, since my Mom died, my daughter, niece, and nephew open them on Christmas morning.
My Mom said she had too much to do on Christmas day with getting the dinner ready and all. Because we were such a large family, it takes hours to open the gifts. So, she moved the opening of gifts to Christmas eve. Well, that was real hard to convince kids to open them the night before NOT! So, a tradition began.
It was nice also because we could have better food. Personally, I hate breakfast food like pancakes, etc. On Christmas eve we could have all the goodies, cookies, cakes, meatballs, cheeseballs, cheesetrays, sloppy jo's, Italian sausages, barbecue ham, creamed chicken, relish tray, veggie tray, veggie pizza, oh the list goes on and on.. Oh, and alcohol. :)
Since I was the youngest and the smallest (well, we are talking years ago), I used to sit under the tree and hand my Mom the gifts. She would announce the name and hand them the gift. The later years, we didn't buy each other gifts anymore, just bought for the kids, and 90% of the gifts ended up being for my Mom. It became very tedious sitting under that tree. Especially after I turned 35. I tried very hard to hand the job over to a niece, but the family wouldn't hear of it. I think they just liked to torture me. I fumed because I kept spilling my beer.
Oh, memories. We would try to begin opening gifts at 7:30. It usually ended at 11:30 or midnight. My Mom insisted that only one person at a time could open a gift so that we could all see it before moving on to the next gift. Then when they were all for my Mom we just sat and watched her open them. Every once in a while a kid would have one to open. My Mom always hung stockings for each grandchild with a little money in it. My sister always bought lottery tickets for the kids. Get them started gambling early! Yeah!
My middle brother would sit on the steps.From there you could see down into the living room and the gift opening. My Mom would decorate the stairs every year with garland that had little plastic red berries on it. Over the years, my middle brother would throw those berries at us down below in the living room, so as the years went by, the garland had less and less berries. He is such a clown.
I miss my Mom and the Christmas eve's. It just isn't the same. We all do our own thing on Christmas eve, now. And, on Christmas day we all get together at my eldest sister's house for dinner. If we can make it. The sister's usually get together. Except for my niece's Mom. The niece that I have custody of. She is usually out of the picture around the holidays. Oh, well. Things change over the years. My Mom liked for things to stay the same. She was very stubborn.
In reality, the Christmas shoppe was very overwhelming, as you can see here. If you don't allow yourself much time, then there is no way to look at the place properly. I plan to return between January and March - they should have great sales going on. Before the tourist season starts. The Amish area is a great tourist spot for the summer months.
I never was a doll collector. I couldn't resist Miss Purple, here. She was so elaborate.ACK! I don't mean I bought her, I just couldn't resist posting her picture. Heaven knows how much she cost. I didn't even look at the price tag.
Red Hot Pepper Wreath from, well, you know where. It is a little blurry, though. Sorry. I have many more wreaths in my stash, but I am growing weary of them. I plan to travel around my neighborhood and take pictures of the holiday decorations at night. I'll try not to blur them.
My daughter and her boyfriend are having beaucoup problems. Strange, I always thought that was two words. I was the supporter, advisor, listener, arbitrator, mediator, coach, parent, friend, cheerleader, and all around sounding board last night. I was wiped out by bedtime. The drama of a romance going sour for 13 year olds. Oh, he is 14 going on 2.
My head spinneth. I have not received the court papers for the 17 year old and her speeding ticket, yet. She plans to tell the magistrate how the cop followed her for two miles before pulling her over (as if it was his fault). I advised against it, so we will see.
I saw for the first time, The Mummy with Brendan Fraser. I can't believe that I had never seen it before. We like Mr. Fraser. It was funny, and I am sorry I waited so long to watch it. One of my very best friends (who I don't see or call nearly often enough) told me to watch it years ago, and thinking it was a horror movie, I never did. Silly me. Now, I will have to get the two sequels and watch them as well.
I caught this fiber optic tree in the middle of changing colors at Tis The Season. I had to touch up the photo's arch, because there was a big sign that said something about grabbing a shopping basket in the middle of the left arch. Can you tell where I patched it over? I am not an expert by any means. My daughter can do so much better than I. Of course she has a much more expensive program on her pc. I didn't purchase it for mine.
Such a lovely day and I am sick. Headache and sore throat. I wanted to sleep all day. I worked on my sister's 98 machine. A few years back she had a Tandy from Radio Shack and wanted me to get her on the Internet. Now she is stumbling along on a 98 Gateway with 64MB RAM, no anti-virus. She said she never needed it before. All she wants to do is check her email and look on eBay. Her son used to get on, downloaded Kazaa and Napster, ICQ and AIM. I cleaned it up for her, told her to get an anti-virus put on and keep her son off the machine. I also loaded Adaware from Lavasoftusa.com.
As I was helping my sister load the pc back into her car a friend called, wanting to know how to set her daughter's 98 machine back to it's original state. Wasn't there a button that could do it? How I wish. I told her to get the setup CD and reboot her machine from that disc. I am expecting her to call back, unless that was her way of asking me to come over and look at it. I have had enough of computers for a month.
A little Dr. Seuss at Tis the Season. The American Heritage Dictionary credits Dr. Seuss as the originator of the word nerd. He also wrote a book called Boners, and another called More Boners.
Certainly you didn't think I was going to pass up a chance to display another wreath!? Okay, enough blogging for today. So many pictures!
I noticed a couple of years ago, the Christmas shop had an upside-down Christmas tree decorated in all Wizard of Oz stuff. The upside-down tree represented a cyclone. It was quite unique. This year they had many upside- down trees. Above is one seemingly decorated in white and clear icicles.
They were very pretty. A friend I was with said her Mother-in-Law had hooked a tree upside-down into her ceiling for the holidays one year. Wow. What a novel idea. If you get a tree and it just doesn't look right, flip it over and decorate it upside-down. Okay, six upside-downs (and now, seven) in one blog is quite enough.
I caught Santa napping while at Tis The Season. No doubt this is how we all feel about now. Stuffed from Thanksgiving and wore out from shopping. I dragged my butt off to the stores early this morning to catch the specials. I had specific gifts I needed to purchase. I was appalled at the lack of help and the amount of unopened boxes in the aisleways. Thinking I would shop early this morning and avoid the people crowd, I found myself stumbling over and knocking over merchandise that had not been put out. And, by the looks of it - was not going to be put out any time soon.
I am not a big shopper, so is this normal? Is the economy in such a state where retail could not hire seasonal help? I was miserable. But, I usually am miserable while shopping. I am glad I did a lot of mine on-line. I noticed a sinus pressure while shopping in one store. It went away once I got outside in the clean air. Darn those spicy cinnamon, pine and berry sprays! Ugh!
Maybe it has something to do with him costing $124.99. Ouch! If memory serves me correctly, he was just over two feet tall. He was cute, but out of my league.
I had my car window crank repaired today (another ouch) and while in the lobby waiting, watched the news with another lady. On the news, the anchor lady mentioned the movie Closer. The lady in the waiting room with me piped up how ugly she thought Julia Roberts was. That her mouth was big and ugly and she just kept on about it. I'm like, Okay, I get the picture. Why do women need to put other women down so much?
I started out good on my working vacation, but ended on a sour note. A headache that won't respond to ibuprofin and a sore throat. I kept wanting to fall asleep. It could also be attributed to the fact that I awoke at 5:00 a.m. and stayed up after retiring late last night. I attacked the kitchen today and baked a big pan of pizza lasagne. The kids like it with pepperoni instead of hamburg or sausage. I set one of my CD players in the kitchen - something I have been wanting for months - music in the kitchen. The drawer for the CD's is a little sticky because the player has been outside on the patio since early summer. But, it worked fine. Ahhh, music.
A senseless killing. In a town close to where I grew up, a 20 year old male kidnapped and murdered a 25 year old female. Motive? Appears to be robbery. He is in jail. She had a 5 year old little girl at home. My niece's former best friend used to date him. It seems that she also gave him a ride to the gas station where he committed the crime. She was not involved in any sense, she had long left the area to travel back home. She stated that he seemed fine. Was not acting strange in any unusual way. So senseless. The victim lived long enough to explain what happened. She did not know her attacker. She died 45 minutes into surgery. He had shot her 10 times.
My heart aches for her family (and his). There has already been a fund established for the little girl. This happened on Tuesday night (11/30). It may seem hard for big city people to understand but I would venture to guess that a lot of people in that small community still do not lock their doors at night. We never did growing up. That is how seldom crime occurred in our area. Small town country. We didn't have a lot of perks the big cities had, like art museums, concerts in the park, exposure to the world, but we didn't have the crime, either. The people in that area cannot comprehend such a hideous crime. Something this brutal happens only every twenty years or so.
I can recall when I was young hearing a story about a man who went stark raving mad and murdered his family with an axe. This happened in our small town. It was the horror story for thirty-some years. The incident has left the town reeling with shock and grief.
Beautiful mauve wreath from my trip to the Christmas shop. I wanted so much to get green wreaths and purchase all sorts of mauve decorations and try to make this wreath. Maybe after the holiday. I shouldn't be spending money on myself. :(
My vacation day was pretty much a bust. I cleaned up my daughter's PC for most of the day. During downloads and scans I cleaned the living room. Am ready for a tree, now. I ran to the store and bought six totes. For my Halloween decorations that are sitting in an old beat up box. And, for extra stuff I have around the house that I want to store away.
Then, out with the decorations. They are in the root/fruit/wine cellar. I don't keep any roots in there. (That I know of). I don't keep any canned fruit or vegetables in there. And, I certainly don't keep any wine in there. I don't think I have purchased wine in years. Last Christmas I drank a little bit of kahlua with half and half. I had Yoo-hoo on hand, so I added that. I loved it. Not an egg nog person.
I don't like spice, either. Maybe I will try some wine this year. I did have some sparkly on New Years day. It was a gift from my niece's wedding. And it tasted pretty good.
Am planning a trip to see the Festival of Lights this year with family. I want to take a Bus tour and have dinner there. There is also a laser light show. I hate the traffic of driving. I can't enjoy myself. Let someone else do the driving.
I received my first Christmas card today. From my cousin out of state. She was telling me that she lost a grand nephew. Hit by a train at 17 years old. He was the same age as my niece. It brings me memories of the speeding ticket and what a nightmare I could be living. I need to get my cards started.
My daughter is having a friend stay overnight. I usually do not allow this on school nights, but I am getting the impression that there is trouble at home for this one, so I said it was okay. As long as they can get up and going in the morning. They are preparing for bed now. This friend is not a giggler or trouble maker. She is quiet and very, very funny.
I have an early appointment tomorrow morning to get the window crank on my car fixed. It popped off track a couple of days ago. I have been noticing it getting loose and kept forgetting to tell the service department about it. I will be driving along and hit a bump and my window will just roll down about two inches. My daughter thinks it is funny. It is, unless it is raining and I have to leave it parked outside. For the most part it stays rolled up, but it has rolled down and inch or two. At night I keep it in the garage. I had them make the appointment early so I could get my butt up and moving. Another vacation day, and I don't want to waste it. I was supposed to call them this evening to make sure the part came in - I forgot. Oh, well.
I have to shop for two more things for my nephew yet. And my sister gifts. We sisters try to get each other something or make something. I was making crafts for them each year, but I think they are getting tired of my crafts. I tend to be redundant in that area. There are some nice Sister stuff, but I can never find enough of the same item. I have four sisters to buy for (I usually like to get myself one of the same so that makes five) and two sister-in-laws. I'll think of something.
This was one of my favorite wreaths from my trip to Tis The Season. I am drawn to dusty rose shades. I tried to post last night, but had problems and was just too tired to fight any more. But, I am ready to go this morning. Mucho connection problems on my daughter's PC, and somehow I blew up my Firefox. I am off work for two days, am supposed to be decorating - but I want to iron out these glitches, too. I hate glitches.
Went to the baby shower last night. Was very nice. Mom-to-be got lots of nice presents for baby. She was wearing slippers because she said her feet went from 7 1/2 to size 9. Ouch. I can't believe all the cute baby stuff they have out now days. I was strapped financially when my girl was small, so I didn't go overboard and I didn't need to. I would be in serious trouble today, though, if I had a little one to spoil. (I'll gladly wait for grandchildren!) She's only 13.
My bird is wanting attention this morning. She loves to have her head and ears scratched, but every once in a while she will just turn her head and peck at me. Now, it doesn't hurt - not unless she is really perturbed, but it is the element of surprise that gets you. Sometimes when she is mad she just attacks me, but not in a painful way. She more or less rubs her beak all over my hand, but she does it so quickly it appears that she is pecking at me. But, when she means business watch out. I am used to her and it doesn't bother me. She is my pet. I love her. I say her as if I knew what sex she is. The lady we purchased her from said female, she had been raising cockatiels for 40 years, so I'll go with what she says.
Back to the Chalet tonight for 3 stories of Christmas decorations galore! This arch pictured here had purple, rust, green and golden hydrangeas, large white daisy-like flowers, white doves, and green foliage. Flecked with iron rust butterflies. The crystal white snow globe hanging in the center set it off just right. This began the labyrinth of the enormous selection that they have.
I was drawn to the blue tree section. I would guess there were 50 different blue ornaments to choose from on that tree. And about 10 different strings of lights, and 10 different strands of garland. All in hues of blues. This theme was repeated constantly around the main floor. Greens, pinks, purples, golds. Not to mention the enormous snowman and Santa sections. This year for the first time I saw the Red Hat lady section. Wow, that was vibrant.
I took 200 pictures tonight, but I couldn't get it all. I was very surprised they let me take pictures at all. I asked first, they said "sure". I was able to get snowman gifts I have picked out for someone in mind. I couldn't find an angel I liked though, for someone else. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of angels, they just didn't catch my eye. There were cowboy themes, football, firemen, roosters, fruit, bears, fish, Victorian, ballerina, jalapeno peppers, oh - the list goes on.
The atmosphere was bright and cheery inside, but outside it was a cold, drizzly end of November rain. It was coming down in sheets, seeping into our bones. We ate at a wonderful Amish restaurant where the noodles, mashed potatoes and sweet potato fries are home made. The Amish would never serve a dish without noodles. I don't like noodles. I had no problem finding other delicious delights, though. And, the desserts! Red raspberry cream pie, grape pie, peanut butter silk pie, coconut cream pie, pumpkin pie, on and on...
With my tummy full, my shopping bag full, my wallet (not empty but dented) I headed home through the steel cold to a nice, cozy, warm, glowing home. I am so very, very blessed.
Here is Sable being ambiguous. She really doesn't know what to think of me. I call her name, she looks at me and sees a blinding flash of light. And I do it over and over again. Maybe this is the look of patience.No school or work today. Leftover day off from the holiday. I did take my daughter to the doctor for antibiotics. She has strep throat and an infection in her ear. There was a long line at the drug store at the Pharmacy counter. And, there were a lot of people coughing and sniffling.Speaking of babies, I caught part of one of my favorite movies the other day. Raising Arizona. I didn't realize it before, but Frances McDormand is in the movie. For some reason that movie just makes me want to hold a baby. Not have a baby. When people say they want to have a baby or another baby, I don't think they mean they want to go through labor again. I like bonding with little babies. I like to see them smile at me. I like to win them over. It dawned on me a while ago why politicians hold babies. It is a matter of trust. Well, I have about two dozen blue satin Christmas balls to hang this week. I will probably get a live tree this week-end. I hate to put it up too soon. It seems like it dries out, even though I keep it watered well. I have mostly blue lights. I am just a blue sort of person. The color relaxes me. My living room is chrome, blue and light oak. Kind of like this. I hope I can get the kids to decorate the tree. I did so many at my Mom's house, I really don't mind turning that job over to other people. I recall one of my daughter's little friends always helping us decorate our tree. Her Mother had to have the perfect tree. No child was allowed to help decorate it. One year it was purple and gold, one year red and gold, one year blue and gold - you get the picture. Every ornament strategically placed on the tree. Nice, but at least let the kids decorate one for themselves. One of my favorite Christmas carols, Christmas Was Meant for Children.
Here is another of my sister's cats inside the box I brought my goodies in, and another picture of him outside the box. I had sat the box down and I don't think it was more than 30 seconds and he was curled up inside. Snap, snap went my camera. Or whirr, whirr. Whatever noise a digital camera makes.
I fixed a complete Thanksgiving dinner on Friday and did not go shopping. I spent Friday afternoon cleaning up the mess that a complete Thanksgiving dinner makes. My crew went shopping. I guess they couldn't resist the specials. And, from what I heard there were some. Oh, well. I also resisted shopping on Saturday, but I am not sure I can hold out much longer. I sorted through all my purchases yesterday and took inventory and hid them. Now, I am ready to hit the stores for more.
My nephew found a great deal on a home theater system. I can't recall the exact model he said, but I think it was this one. When he left Saturday evening to return to Columbus, I asked him if the stereo would be connected first or would he get his week-end chores of changing the oil in his car, first? He laughed. I may never know. I am thinking he watched the recordings from his new Replay.
My daughter had her friend overnite last night and I watched the younger sister, who is six years old. I forgot how bored six year-olds get. They must be entertained every hour or so. Drawing, cartoons, and Nintendo. I participated in the drawing, but I don't do Nintendo. I did enjoy a good run of Spongebob. At one point I laughed outloud and the kids just gave me this strange look. It has been a while since my daughter wanted to watch cartoons.
Okay, she is bored again. She is standing here leaning on me twirling her hair. How did my Mom manage eight?
Remember the fake picture that went around on the Internet a couple of years ago, with that guy holding that huge cat that looked to be as big as a dog? I think I found the cat at my sister's house. Did he swallow the turkey? Maybe.
He is a very shy cat, my daughter finally snapped him during a repose. She has other cats, not as large as this one. My big cat (Casper) actually lost some weight. He is only 11 pounds, now. He used to be 13 pounds.
What a beautiful, wonderful Thanksgiving I had. My niece came up to visit from Louisiana and she brought her friend and her two daughters. This is the first time they saw snow. We had a dusting this morning, but it was wet and stuck to the trees. I met the 10 year old. She was very excited.
Most of the family was present at my sister's house. Out of the 8 children only one sister and one brother could not be there today. Out of 12 nieces and nephews, 4 were absent. And various friends came with all of them, making for a joyous houseful. My daughter has been ill with a sore throat and congestion. She had aches and pains yesterday. I am keeping her stocked up with popsicles, ginger ale and apple sauce. She prefers ibuprofen over acetaminophen.
Watched Stuck on You last evening. Now, I used to work in a hardware/automotive store so I have seen a paint shaker. I thought that was funny. I know - this from someone who doesn't like bathroom humor, but I don't mind a dirty joke now and then if it is approached delicately. Not in your face, raunchy humor.
The kids are watching the third Harry Potter movie. Prisoner of Azkaba. I might watch it later this week-end if I get the chance. I fix the turkey and trimmings tomorrow or Saturday. Depends on my energy level. I liked the idea I read about tomorrow being "Buy Nothing Day." What a concept. Does that count purchasing on-line? Of course it would. I guess in the U.S. it is held the Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday and in the U.K. it is on the last Saturday in November. We'll see how I do. If I buckle down and fix the dinner, I should be okay, since I purchased all the items a few days ago.
I hope this season found all my readers safe and warm for the holiday. Cheers.
I don't know. I was shopping on-line and looked at hats. This is a picture of a Garbo hat. When I saw the model's hand, I was like, "huh?" Has the picture been touched up? Elongated? It just didn't look normal to me.
I went home for lunch today. Yes, I finally found a job that allows me to take a full hour for lunch! Not 30 minutes. Not 45 minutes. An hour! Have I made the big time? Anyway, I was late getting back to work. I am in my house, thinking "where is my purse? Maybe I left it in the car." I walk out in the rain and look in the car. No purse. I wheeled around on my foot, turning to go back into the house when something heavy struck me on the thigh. My purse. Huh. Hanging on my shoulder all along. Bad purse!
Remember the old Mad magazine? "You know you're getting old when..." That is about how I felt. Geesh.
