Ho! Ho! Ho!

Well, the pressure is on now,  I received my first Christmas card in the mail today. I mean a real card from a real friend, not something begging for money but disguised to look like a friendly card. Oh, yes, I got one of those too. This is actually my favorite time of year mail wise.  At least in-coming. There's a hope for something in the mail that isn't asking for a donation, offering me a great deal on life insurance (I love that they don't require a physical; I guess they figure we're all going to die sometime) or offering me an amazing new credit card.  I'm still working on my out-going Christmas mail. That's where the pressure comes in.  What rhymes with 'orange in my stocking'?

I need to smile more but at what price?

As I was walking into my job at church today I heard a little day school student, who was with his class on the playground, say to his friend "There goes a grandma." No surprise that he was talking about me since I was the only non-teacher in the area and I am, after all, a gray-haired grandma.  I turned and smiled and waved at the kids, then continued on my way only to hear the same voice behind me saying "She looks like a mean grandma." Really?  So, I was telling my youngest granddaughter, she's 12, about this incident as I drove her home from school today. She said "Don't smile, show me your resting face." So I did and she informed me that I do have kind of a mean looking resting face. So I smiled and she went on to point out all the wrinkles around my eyes and on my cheeks that show up when I smile. Yikes, now I know what my options are. I can smile and show off my wrinkle collection or not smile and look mean. Or one other option occurs to me. This may be the time to start wearing a burka.

The pressure is on

Every year I write a Christmas poem to mail to my family and friends as a Christmas greeting.  No, it;s not because I'm too cheap to buy Christmas cards (well maybe only partly). I've been doing this for over 20 years now and generally it's a fun, easy exercise because I don't take myself too seriously. However this year one of my favorite nephews has become engaged at last! He's 37 and we were beginning to despair.. They will be getting married in May in Seattle.  I'm looking forward to that for the chance to see all of my Washington family and to meet my new niece-in-law. However, in a recent phone conversation, my nephew let slip that his fiancee is really looking forward to my Christmas poem. Yikes, I don't know why he even mentioned my poems but now I'm feeling pressured to come up with something good.  Stay tuned.

Good bye leaves, hello lights!

One of the things I really appreciate about this time of year is the changing view from my balcony. A few weeks ago the colors were gorgeous as leaves turned from green to gold, red, rust and orange. Now the trees are pretty bare and I can see things I couldn't see through the leaves. The main things I can see are more lights. The MLK bridge puts on its nightly show, the Science Central crayon-colored smokestacks glow in their spotlights and, of course, as we ease into December, more and more Christmas lights will be showing up. I'm pleased to report that I am now making my contribution to the bright lights. I put up my outside lights today, and thanks to a nifty timer they will shine out in their multi color glory from 4:30 pm to 1:00 am every evening. I don't miss the hours I used to spend putting up outside decorations at my house but I am glad to have a space to put up some outside decorations here.

The Holly Trolley Tour

I took myself on the Holly Trolley Tour through downtown Fort Wayne today. It was a fun chance to ride in one of the trolleys and since one of the stops was right here at the apartment building where I live it was very convenient. I rode around through 12 stops to get to the Farmers' Market at Parkview Field. The ride took about an hour, but it was an interesting opportunity to do some people watching. Of course I could have walked it in 25 minutes but I wasn't in any hurry. From there I walked back, stopping at several shops along the way. The whole event was Fort Wayne's way to encourage downtown shopping on Small Business Saturday and I'm happy to say there were lots and lots of people downtown. As far as actual shopping is concerned all I bought was one gift certificate and some meat at the Farmers' Market so I didn't do a lot to support the small business economy, but I can honestly say I have started my Christmas shopping. I know, I know, many people are finished by now but for me to be started before December is almost miraculous. Thanks Fort Wayne for getting the ball (or at least the trolley) rolling.

Too much of a good thing?

I decided to look ahead on my nifty calendar and see what other special days are still coming in November. Not that Thanksgiving wasn't enough but I was curious. So guess what, there are two more special days this month. Tomorrow is Cake Day and next Monday is French Toast Day. Really?? Cake and French Toast? We didn't consume enough calories yesterday? Ah well, who am I to deny a special day? I don't have an actual cake in my apartment but I do have two delicious pumpkin chocolate chip muffins that my daughter-in-law sent home with me yesterday so I guess I will pretend they are little cakes and celebrate the day. I know the recipe for French Toast so I'm not worried about that. Let's hear it for celebrating special days.

Thanksgiving Day Delights

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving dinners as much as I did. We did our usual family carry-in. My brother brought his famous green bean casserole (with lots of cheese). My daughter-in-law's mother (who hosted this mid-day feast) fixed turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing baked in the bird, mashed potatoes, and homemade gravy. I brought the sweet potatoes and two pumpkin pies. My daughter-in-law brought her excellent salad and a really delicious pecan pie. I also, at the request of one granddaughter, made some whipped cream. It was yummy. All in all a fine day for eating and enjoying reminiscing. And, one more thing to be thankful for, we get to do it all again at Christmas. Different home, different host but lots of the same food. Well not the same food. There weren't many leftovers. But a banquet made from the same recipes. Yummm! Right now I'm savoring all the taste memories and blocking out the realization that it's time to start getting ready for Christmas. I will not be doing any shopping tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving.:)

Another plea for money

Following last night's Scroogish blog it seems only fair to present another scenario. I received another plea for a charitable donation in the mail today. Not too surprising, I seem to get at least one a day, especially this time of year. This one was a very straight forward, relatively brief letter asking for a donation which would be matched though a matching grant pledge they had received. No gimmicks, no gifts or promises of free goodies, just a simple request for help for a good cause.  This is an organization I have supported before and I will be sending them a check.
But before I write that check tomorrow I need to make sweet potatoes and bake 2 pumpkin pies for our family gathering, also real whipped cream since I promised my granddaughter. That's the kind of donation i really like to make.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

really I'm not a Scrooge but...

I don't think I'm a selfish or miserly person. I give to my church and donate to a number of charities. However, I made up my mind a long time ago not to give to charities who send me something.  I figure if they can afford to send me a nickle or a quarter or a calendar they don't really need my money. I typically drop the coins in our monthly bucket collection at church. Today I got a begging letter with a slightly new twist. it contained a check, made out to me, for $2.50. The accompanying letter assured me that it is a real check that I can keep and cash, but they're hoping that I will mail it back to them, with an additional $10 to help their research and education programs. But wait, there's more. If I return the check with an additional $15 or more they will send me a free insulated tote bag.
Or (just thinking out loud here) I could use the $2.50 to buy an insulated tote bag at Kroger's thereby cutting out the middle man and saving myself $15.
Maybe I am a little Scroogish after all. Bah, humbug!

giving blood with a laugh

Today was my day to give blood at the Red Cross. I do this fairly frequently. In fact, by their records today was my 84th blood donation. Most of the time when I give blood it's a fairly straightforward event. I sign in, read all the pages of information I'm given, go through having my temperature, blood pressure, iron level and pulse checked and answer questions on the computer. Then they prep my arm, stick in the needle, draw the blood and hey, presto, I'm done except for the snack after. Today though they were training some new hires and everybody seemed to be in a silly mood. One thing they do is ask your name at least four times through the whole process. The man in the chair next to me figured that this was because he had been there so long that maybe his name had changed. He also figured he might be having an out of body experience because they seemed to forget which chair he was in for a while. The young man who took all my vital statistics announced to the group at large at one point that he had been raised in a circus family. Based on his behavior, I believed him. The young lady who was assigned to draw my blood was a trainee although she assured me that she used to work at a plasma donor site and had drawn blood over 1000 times. She did a fine job once she actually got around to drawing my blood but had to prep the injection site three times before she got it right. It's not a complicated job. One only swabs the injection site with alcohol then rubs an Iodine swab over the spot for 30 seconds. The first time she did it, while being observed by her "trainer", the blood pressure cuff was too close to the area and contaminated it. Second time, she leaned over the site to reach for something and contaminated the site again. Third time was the charm and the blood started flowing just like it was supposed to - until the end when they tried to fill the six little test tubes.  My blood had stopped flowing. They finally realized that they had relaxed the blood pressure cuff too soon.
I will go back in eight weeks to give blood again, but it probably won't be as laugh-filled as today's experience was. It may be faster though.

another day, another name

Some time ago in this blog I discussed naming my car. Now it seems I need to think of another name. According to my nifty calendar today is "Name Your PC Day". Now I'm assuming PC stands for Personal Computer here although I suppose It could stand for Pantry Cupboard, Prettiest Cup, Painted Chair, Purple Couch, Paper Chain, Penny Collection...you get the idea. However, since I do spend a great deal of time working and, I admit it, playing on my computer I suppose it deserves a name. Considering that it's still working after the accidental tea bath I gave it the other night perhaps I should name it Puddle Proof (PP for short). Of course if I follow the line of thinking I used naming my car (Blue after its color) I could name it Black but that's not very exciting. I think, since it is a Toshiba brand, I'll call her Sheba. There, that decision is made, now I can go to bed.

Snow kidding.....

I admit it, when I saw it snowing today it made me feel so happy. Yes it was cold, yes the wind chill was harsh but it was SNOWING!!! The first snow of the season always affects me like this. Mind you when it snows in March I won't be smiling but for now, hooray for snow.

Rain, rain go away...

Here's a case of unfortunate timing. Some people are coming to Fort Wayne this weekend with the thought that they might like to move here.  I'll be helping to show them around town tomorrow morning (shades of my real estate days). One of the concerns they have expressed is that, coming from North Carolina, Indiana may be too cold for them. We've just experienced a lovely fall week, unusually warm for mid-November, but tomorrow we're told we will be experiencing rain, possible snow flurries, 40 degree temps and a wind chill that will make it feel like the mid 20s. Ah well, at least they won't be able to complain that we lied about the weather. We would if we could, you understand, but they're likely to notice the snowflakes on the windshield.

How far can liquid spread?

So I was innocently sitting here, laptop on my lap, sending some necessary e-mails when I casually reached for my ever present cup of tea resting on the coffee table. Ordinarily not a problem but this evening, somehow, I bumped the mug against my computer screen and tea flew everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Sofa, table, bathrobe, slippers, carpet all caught their share. Of course my laptop got the full blast. I grabbed a stack of my nifty micro fiber cleaning cloths and sopped up everything I could. Evidently my computer is at least somewhat water proof (or tea proof?) because, once I mopped up the excess liquid, it continued working like nothing had happened except, when I pushed on the space bar, little poofs of tea would surface. That seems to have stopped now and all is well. Way to go Toshiba!

fast food fast

According to my nifty calendar today is National Fast Food Day. I admit to being a fan of fast food; cheeseburgers and fries are good eating, so I'm all for celebrating these lunch choices. Thinking about fast food though has me thinking about other fast things and how much we expect speed in our lives. We heat things in the microwave, tap our fingers impatiently if it takes longer than a few seconds to access email or Facebook, expect instant light when we flip a switch. You get the idea. I'm sure you can add to the list. Earlier today I saw a segment on TV (which I expect to turn on instantly when I push a button on the remote) about pizza being delivered by a drone.  They didn't say how long it took to get the drone delivered pizza from point a to point b so I'm not sure if that qualifies as fast food. It sounds like an interesting way to deliver pizza but some questions arise. Will the pizza be in good shape when it's delivered? Will it still be hot? Will it be the pizza that I ordered? Will the drone expect a tip? Oh wait, those are the same questions I wonder about now when I order a pizza.

the ultimate exercise

I read once that an adult person could loose weight by simply following a two-year-old around all day and doing everything they do.  I'm not sure if it leads to weight loss but it for sure leads to exhaustion. Twice a month a group called MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meets at our church and once a month I'm one of the grandma aged volunteers who watch the toddlers (we call them moppets) while their moms enjoy their meeting. For two hours we watch, referee, play, read, rock, serve snacks and generally keep watch over a room full of perpetual motion machines. Today it was four of us against 13 of them - pretty good odds since we are bigger. Also today we didn't have much crying. The really little ones seemed to be too busy trying to keep up with the bigger kids to take time to cry. Busy was definitely the operative word here.  There was one pleasant surprise. I was watching a three year old building things with the large size Legos, then taking them apart and dropping the blocks all over the floor. After watching this for a while I said "Ok now let's pick up." and lo and behold he started right in and picked up the blocks. Congratulations Mom, you're raising a good boy there.

wild geese over the moon

I'm sure you've heard on the TV weather reports over the last couple of nights that we are experiencing a Super Moon.  The moon is closer to the earth that it has been since 1948.  It will not be this close again until 2034. While I think it is a beautiful full moon, it hasn't effected me as much as it has the geese around my place. This time of year I typically hear the geese as they gather on and near the river at sunrise and sunset discussing their plans for heading south. But last night at midnight they were flying and honking and squawking and carrying on like I've never heard them before. It went on and on or so it seemed since I was trying to fall asleep. I think they were celebrating the Super Moon and who can begrudge them that?

Thanksgiving Carols

I'm starting to hear Christmas carols everywhere - in stores, on the radio, you know the drill. Some are silly and some are lovely but I know that by New Years Day I will be thoroughly tired of them.  So I think we should have a week or two of Thanksgiving carols first.  There's "Come Ye Thankful People Come" and ????????????? Hummm, maybe that's why we don't hear Thanksgiving carols. Maybe we should write some? "I saw mama sneaking pumpkin pie" to the tune of "I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause", "Jingle giblets, jingle giblets, gravy all the way..." perhaps this needs more thought.
My mind is on food this evening because I enjoyed a really excellent dinner with friends earlier today. Good food, good conversation, good laughs, what could be better?

shopping spree

At least once or twice a year I take each of my grandchildren on a shopping spree, It's my usual practice to take each of the four on a shopping trip as their Christmas gift. Sometimes we do the same thing for birthdays. Today one granddaughter and I enjoyed a day of shopping and lunch to celebrate her 14th birthday.  One of the great joys of a day like this for me is the chance to listen to what's going on in their lives. While I listen to talk about life as, in this case, an 8th grader, I realize that, even though we never used computers or laptops in school or got to use our phones during the lunch hour as a special treat, much of the social interaction that goes on sounds all too familiar. I also enjoy observing how shopping patterns have changed. Today we zipped right past "Build a Bear" and "Claire's Boutique" and spent our time at "American Eagle" and "Barnes & Noble". The other nice change is that, while I treated her to lunch, later in the day she treated me to a drink at "Starbucks". It's such fun to watch them growing up.

A movie worth seeing...

Happy Veterans Day everyone.  In honor of the occasion my brother (a Vietnam veteran) and I went to a movie - his choice.  We saw "Hacksaw Ridge", a movie about a World War II conscientious objector medic who saved an amazing number of injured soldiers during one particularly horrendous battle. It was a good movie. There were some pretty bloody scenes but overall it was a very honorable depiction of the exploits of a real life hero.

Do you remember?

I received a catalog in the mail today. That, in and of itself, isn't too surprising. I think the lady who lived in this apartment before me must have bought everything through catalogs because, over this past year I have found an amazing variety of catalogs in my mail, even a horse fancier's catalog. But the catalog that came today is very special - not because of the size or contents - but because of the memories it evoked. It's a Christmas catalog and not just any Christmas catalog, it's a Montgomery Ward catalog. This is a fairly skinny catalog, 86 pages, but the front pages are pages of toys. As I flipped through it, admiring doll houses, dolls, trains, trucks, robots and more I found my self flashing back to the Christmas catalogs of my childhood. They were at least an inch thick and packed with pictures and descriptions of fabulous toys, clothes, furniture, appliances, artificial Christmas trees and other Christmas decorations, dishes, pots and pans, tools, bicycles, ice and roller skates and just about anything else you can imagine. A lot of hours were spent dreaming and wishing over those catalogs. Thanks for the memories Montgomery Ward.

another great invention

In the ongoing process of searching for a new associate pastor our committee is trying to do as much as possible without spending too much money. We're not cheap exactly just very Presbyterian. One great tool to accomplish that is Skype. We held two interviews via Skype this evening and it was very interesting to actually see what the applicants look like and to observe their facial expressions as they answered our questions. I had interviewed each of these people by phone before this evening and I was so surprised to see that neither of them looked anything like I imagined they might. You can't judge by voice alone I guess. Let's hear it for Skype. Now if I could just learn to use it at home, although now that I think about it, the world really doesn't need to see what I look like sitting around in my fuzzy bathrobe.

Canadian sunsets

I've seen a few Canadian sunsets and they have been very pretty.  My son just got back from spending a week there (more space study) and said it was a really nice place.  I go to Stratford, Ontario for a long weekend of theater every summer and Stratford is a charming small city. I could probably get a job in one of the little galleries or shops there. You may sense from these musings that I'm a little upset with the way the election returns are coming in. I thought I'd better write this before I can,t see the keyboard for my tears. Ah well, at least some of the local candidates I voted for won. All is not gloom and doom.

Now where did I put my Teddy Bear?

I have a friend who brings her stuffed bear along when we go places together in my car. It helps her relax and avoid anxiety attacks, and no, in case you're wondering, it has nothing to do with my driving. I know she would appreciate that, according to my nifty calendar (November edition), today is "Hug a Bear Day".I'm assuming that it means hug a Teddy Bear because there's no way I'm going to track down a real bear to hug. They have nasty big claws. Perhaps it means "Give someone a bear-hug." My family is big on hugs. But thinking about bear hugs or hugging bears as a way to relieve stress, I think I will find my old Teddy Bear, close my eyes, hug it close, and stay in bed with the covers over my head at least for the next 48 hours or maybe for the next four years. Happy election eve everybody.

Being stretched keeps you flexible.

At least that's the positive attitude theory I intend to cling to until my replacement is hired and I am once again retired.  Notice I used the word stretched not stressed.  Again thinking positively.  Between weekend company (lots of fun but still time consuming). my "part time" job, chairing a committee that's almost a job by itself and picking up grandchildren after school almost every day, I am feeling a little stretched. I shall try to remain flexible, mentally if not physically, and remember my dear mother's often repeated words of wisdom "This too shall pass."
On a much more upbeat note, I attended the Fort Wayne Children's Choir "Harvest Concert" this evening and it was lovely.  My favorite selection was "Psalm 23". I appreciated that the texts of all the songs were printed in the program and this program also contained several appropriate quotes from several poets.  The one I appreciated most
"Places I love come back to me like music,
Hush me and heal me when I am very tired" by Sara Teasdale

It is November, right?

Mind you I'm not complaining.  We are, so far, having a beautiful November after a warmer than average October.  While I'm loving the fact that I can open windows and don't have any heating or cooling bills (I just paid an electric bill for $26) I do have one concern.  Some months ago I agreed to help out my pre-retirement employer by going back to work for "a couple of weeks". We're into the fourth month now, and while they are interviewing applicants, I haven't had any indication of how soon someone will be hired except one casual reference to mid December.  I think where I made my mistake was telling them I absolutely wanted to be re-retired before snow flies. The way the weather is going that could be next April.

Vote early and vote often...

That's the old joke about Chicago politics. I did vote early. Yesterday morning a friend and I walked from the church where we both work to the nearest voting location.  A friend who is working the polls told us to come early so we arrived about 9am and there were only about 20 people in line in front of us.  We were in and out in less than a half hour but by the time we left the line of waiting voters had more than doubled. Based on what I saw and the TV reports of long lines there probably won't be anyone left to vote on November 8. If everyone votes early does that mean they can stop running the political ads early?

I can't watch.

But I am watching. The Cubs and Indians are tied in the 8th after the Cubs led for 7 innings. I was at a meeting earlier where two of the six of us were Indians fans while the other four were Cubs fans, so no matter what, I know someone who will be happy when this is over.  Actually, I'll be happy when this is over because I can't make myself got to bed until it is. I'm not a huge baseball fan, although I do like the game, but this particular series is such a good story.
Here's something else to think about  - today is "Deviled Egg Day". Not sure why that would come in November. I associate deviled eggs with summer picnics and Easter dinner. It's not a typical Thanksgiving treat in our family. But then, I'm not the one making up these days.  I wish I knew who was.

another election option

i'm not sure if this will actually be an option when I go to vote tomorrow but here's a statistic I heard earlier today. Some time ago a pole was taken asking people if they had the choice would they vote  for Clinton, Trump or a giant meteor to strike the earth. 13% opted for the meteor. How sad is that? I'm going with a friend to vote early tomorrow. I've made my decisions, I'll cast my vote then try to relax and assume that no matter what the outcome next week life will go on.
In the meantime I found my November apartment newsletter tucked under my door and, hooray, hooray, it has another calendar listing several special days this month.  They range from "Cake Day" to "World Freedom Day" and lots of fun days in between.  Stay tuned.