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.