 Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans, cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of. Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net . . . . . . . . . .
|
||
|
» Thursday, December 31, 2009
Another Year Shot Straight to Hell...
We end up saying this every year. Last night we were just shutting off the light.
How come the dang years go by so quickly and the weekdays go by so slowly? LOL. Am sitting here trying to type in gloves. My hands are a mess in the winter, all scaly and dry, because I'm always washing them. Pet or walk the dog, have to wash my hands. Refill the bird feeder, have to wash my hands. Of course, after using the toilet, or preparing food. Need to deal with Schuyler's food or water, wash my hands. Before each meal, wash my hands. Work on crafts, wash my hands. It's a lot of water to dry them out. So I have them slathered in moisturizing cream and covered with my old confirmation gloves, which are thin so I can type. James is late coming home: he had Borders Bucks that expire tonight, so he stopped for a book, and then for gasoline. He's going to think I'm nuts when he comes in: I have the Sun Bowl on. I'm not watching it, it's just on. I don't like football, but I like the sound of it on Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve/Day...reminds me of my dad and my uncles and male cousins. Meanwhile, I've had a busy day. Started out finishing a project; was resigned to using Elmer's glue until I dug around the mess in my craft room and found my Modge Podge. Much better. But lordy, that stuff smells when it's fresh. (Modge Podge is for decoupage. You use it to glue items to a surface and then as a glaze to seal it.) That came out nice. Worked on some other aspects of the project, too. About 10:30 ran out to Food Depot. Found a ham for dinner tomorrow, plus real bacon bits for him to use in his Cheese Bake for tonight. Then went to a local store for which I had a coupon which expired today. With a little judicious purchasing, I came out with five gifts I can put away for birthdays/next Christmas and a couple of half-price Christmas decorations. Since it was in my direction, I also stopped at another Food Depot and found some beef. We were completely out as of Tuesday night. When I got home, I immediately cut up the ham steak I bought and put it in a container, layered with crushed pineapple and juice. Then I worked on two more craft projects. One was very delayed: decorating a new Christmas sweatshirt! I had a burgundy sweatshirt I got last year (back when A.C. Moore still carried sweatshirts) and some iron-on rhinestone holly leaves/berries I got at Moore's while on vacation this year. I should have ironed them on weeks ago. Anyway, it's done now so I can wear it tonight, and through January 6. It's only the seventh day of Christmas, after all. The second project was the subway entrance I bought for the 1940s Christmas village on our mantel...but that story is told in Holiday Harbour. That was fun! Listened to nice classical music while I was doing so. Finally I made the bed, played a bit on Farmville, and...well, we're back to where we started. Man, I need a nap! Labels: crafts, errands, New Year, television  » Wednesday, December 30, 2009
C is for (After) Christmas Cruising
A quiet day in which I didn't get as much done as I wanted. Instead headed up to Town Center to hit the JoAnn; just bought some bits for craft projects, then stopped at Borders in case they had another copy of the book I had bought as a gift yesterday. It occurred to me that it would be a perfect gift for another person, too. But they didn't have one. Ah, well.
Used a coupon at Michaels to buy myself something to finish another craft project, then went on to Barnes & Noble, where I found the new issue of Early American Life. Popped in CD Warehouse to find a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for a reasonable price, then checked out Hallmark for any good leftovers, but all I got was a couple of sets of old-world Santa stickers. Spent the afternoon dubbing off the episodes of the final season of Monk that I want to keep: the Sharona story, the dog story, and Captain Stottlemeyer's wedding. I'll get "Mr. Monk and The End" another day, and that will clear more things off the DVR. So now we're watching Harry. Schuyler keeps chirping at the poor canaries Malfoy is experimenting with. Labels: crafts, movies, shopping, television » Tuesday, December 29, 2009
C is for Christmas Chill
 O what a rush! James woke up with a start this morning; he'd woken early yesterday and turned the alarm off so not to wake me up and had never turned it back on. So it was 7 a.m. and he needed to be to work in a half hour! I scrambled out of bed, put his things near the door, and put his lunch together and warmed up his breakfast Hot Pockets while he got shaved and dressed. He was out in a trice and ended up only being three minutes late. Whew.Willow got the short shrift of this because I went back to bed, then completely ignored the alarm I set. Between my getting up at nine and doing other things, like putting books away and fetching towels from the dryer, and having to go to the bathroom—sigh...twice—she didn't get to go out until eleven. This was good for me, however, because we had some really wintry temperatures this morning: at 10:51 it was still only 31°F. This may sound positively balmy if you're from Manitoba, but it's downright chilly for Georgia in December. I even wore my jacket outside while refilling the bird feeder and was still chilled to the bone. I have the camera near the window but never seem to catch the photo I want: one of the chickadees is constantly at the suet, hanging upside down by one leg as he pecks at the seed! It's so cute! Finally I realized that I'd never get anything done if I didn't just go, so I did, taking a nice ride down US41 and then West Paces Ferry into Buckhead. I stopped at the Barnes & Noble, but there was nothing much on clearance. I did find a Catholic magazine that looked interesting, so picked it up. I also went down to Richard's Variety Store to pick up something, then headed to the Buckhead Borders store, wanting to take a nice long whip to the recalcitrant traffic. After rooting through their bargain bins found The Daily Coyote, a book about parrots, a mystery set at the time of Henry II, and a future gift. Oh, and the new Yankee! Yay! Came home by the used book store on Clairmont Road and picked up a Readers Digest retrospective of the 20th century, a big fat coffee-table book on sale for six dollars and tax. Spent the rest of the afternoon and half the evening dubbing off the first five Castle episodes of the season from the DVR, as well as the Hugh Laurie interview from Jay Leno's show. That should help clear it off some, but we need to watch more of the movies on it. I have Enchanted, Water Horse, and several other items we have never seen. Labels: books, Christmas, shopping, television, weather, work » Monday, December 28, 2009
C is for (Post) Christmas Chores
Okay, here's my list from last week, with the finished things crossed off:• • • Finish putting together MIL's gift. (Waiting on this for the rainy days later in the week.) • • • • Maybe check out Antique Alley in Roswell. • Enjoy my Christmas magazines. (Still working on 'em—I bought quite a few! And I didn't even buy any about cooking or crafts!) To the list add: • Finish the subway entrance for the village. (Which is also waiting for the rainy day.) Not bad...I brought the two Xerox-paper boxes full of things to Goodwill this morning, after taking all the things out of the car ("Fred" the pillow and the car blanket, all my reusable bags, the maps and the magazines that I'm supposed to leave at work, etc.), then went to "Mr. Clean" for the car wash. I picked out the "Pro" wash, which is $14, but was $12 today due to a Manager's Special. When I went inside the casher asked me my birthday. Oh! I get a free car wash in my birthday month. So sum cost for car wash, window wash, interior polish and clean...completely free. I like that! Stopped at Publix for two-for-one omeprazole and Kroger for other things...yow, 73¢ for one cucumber???—then came home. Had turkey soup for supper. Was watching Disney's Babes in Toyland, but it's hard slogging for me; just never have been very fond of it. [Later: Ulp! I didn't look in the sink and ended up defrosting a container of turkey soup—but there was already one defrosting in the sink. So it's turkey soup tonight and turkey soup again Thursday night. Ah, well...we have another turkey carcass anyway. Tonight American Masters did a special on Louisa May Alcott, produced by Harriet Reisen, who just published a biography of Alcott. I enjoyed the book although there were two really obvious errors in it about Alcott's characters, and this special was quite good, painting Alcott as the rebellious person she was, not a willing writer of moral stories. She actually hated writing them and did it only to make enough money to keep her family comfortable, since her father was a useless breadwinner and her mother overworked. Incidentally, for years it has been believed she died from the aftereffects of mercury poisoning due to the calomel treatments she received after contracting typhoid while nursing Union soldiers. A doctor now believes, based on her list of symptoms and a portrait of her, that she may have had lupus.] » Sunday, December 27, 2009
» Saturday, December 26, 2009
Birthdays and Bonuses
Following some good old fashioned after-Christmas depression, we had a nice time at Alice's birthday dinner, even if she couldn't eat much of it. She has had bariatric (sp?) surgery recently and had some problems due to medication she was taking that she should no longer be taking, but there was a lag in realizing that on the doctor's part. It was a nice mix of friends and family, and our waiters at Ruby Tuesday were super.
Afterwards James and I went to the Borders at Parkway Pointe—either Old Navy was having a great after-Christmas sale or everyone was at the movies, because the parking lot was worse than it had been before Christmas!—and I found the next Victoria Thompson book in hardback in the bargain bin (now I don't have to wait for the paperback) and another Inspector Rutledge mystery. Then we came home, peeking at Christmas lights all the way. Chat was slow tonight, only Erich, Jen, Emma and myself, since everyone else is still away with relatives, but we did get to see The Poseidon Adventure on the Fox Movie Channel...I miss the marathon on New Year's Eve! And so St. Stephen's Day came to an end. Labels: books, friends, shopping, television » Friday, December 25, 2009
» Thursday, December 24, 2009
C is for (Before) Christmas Chores
I had an interrupted night, so slept in a bit this morning. Then it was time to do some necessary things: cleaned a bit in the master bathroom, and dusted and cleaned the shelf next to the jacuzzi tub so that a permanent place could be made for the space heater. The day started out with a milky sunshine trying to peer through growing clouds and the sparrows and chickadees and titmice quarreling around the feeder, but it grew cloudier as the hours progressed. Instead of getting snow for Christmas, we're having rain and possible high winds. Oh...joy.
I also figured out what was wrong with the light string out on the deck. We bought it after Christmas last year, when it was about a dollar, a long string of C-9 bulbs. We were planning to attach it permanently, but in the meantime just strung it from the rails so James would have light in the yard when he walked Willow at night. I found a gadget in Hobby Lobby that would allow us to turn the lights on and off with a remote from across the room, so James could turn the lights on before he went out. One of the bulbs shattered at the very end when I put it up, but the lights still went on...for a while. When they quit working I figured that bulb just needed replacing. Nope, that wasn't it. The string must have gone bad. It wasn't the remote device, either; I'd plugged it directly into the fixture outside to test it. So today when I was out there I pulled off the string, thinking I would take it down to the garage and see if the squirrel had chewed on it or something. But it came on when I plugged it in inside. But not outside. Well, duh. I bet some rain got into the broken bulb and the GFI switch clicked off. Once I reset the switch the lights worked fine. Unfortunately, the distance from the deck to the gate meant the lights didn't help James with the combination lock, which was half the reason for putting them up there. So I re-strung the lights across the yard to the gate; it was just long enough for three of them to come over the gate and hang down near the lock. There. In fact, he says now it's almost too bright! Cleaned the other bathroom, refilled the bird feeders before the rain started, and we've also collected the trash to go out on Saturday instead of tomorrow. In the meantime I watched "Merry Christmas, Bogg" (Voyagers!) and had started The Waltons' "The Best Christmas" when James walked in: they let him out early. We finished with Christmas 1936 on Waltons Mountain, and then watched Arthur's Perfect Christmas, which would be perfect if it wasn't for the songs...LOL. Loved Arthur's clumsy Uncle Fred ("Where does your brother work?" "In a china shop.") and the digs at repetitive toy commercials and Christmas shopping. We had turkey thighs and stuffing for Christmas Eve dinner, with all of us at table, even Schuyler. Willow was quite attentive to our plates, but didn't harass us, which means she got rewarded with samples. She's looking very fetching for Christmas in a cute little red, white, and green scarf that was on a snowman I repurposed as a winter decoration. » Wednesday, December 23, 2009
C is for Christmas Contribution
Supper is over. We have watched Jeopardy and the holiday edition of Georgia Traveler, then the 1968 The Night Before Christmas (how the poem was written), and have just started The Little Drummer Boy.It was an interesting morning: a tale to be told in Holiday Harbour. Labels: Christmas, television Winter Morning
I snoozed an extra half hour this morning because my alarm didn't go off...went into the bathroom to see a perfect winter scene outside: a sun struggling through early-morning clouds framed by leafless trees. It looked so cold...yet you can see the "bones" of the trees sketched against the sky and it's beautiful as well.
When I turned on the television for Schuyler, Today was doing a year retrospective (hope it's online; would love to see it again). But why now? Isn't that for next week? Now Hoda is mentioning she is supposed to be on a train, but the train can't go anywhere...apparently there are power problems, and they can keep the heat and the lights running, but not the engines...yo! cut the heat and half the lights and rev up the engines already...if I'm on a train leaving town I'd rather be cold and in the dark and moving than be lighted and warm and not going anywhere. Sheesh... Have to run out and do some errands...must clean that coffee table off again...it's like a magnet, I swear! » Tuesday, December 22, 2009
C is for Christmas Cruising
Up earlier this morning, since I had things I wanted to get done, chiefly clean as much of the spare bedroom as I could. It's looked like the mailing room in a department store ever since I had to wrap and mail the out-of-town gifts and then left everything up so the other gifts could be wrapped. Well, I had all but two done, but James still had to wrap the little gifts for his co-workers.Basically I cleared up all I could, left large scraps for James' gifts, and left out the tape, rolls, and pen. The tissue paper went into one bag, the Christmas tissue paper in another, greatly tidying the closet in the process. Also put some other things away. Finally, as the clock was edging away from ten o'clock, it was really time to go. I had two goals today: return my library books, which are due tomorrow, and take the plastic bags to Publix for recycling. By then it was inching up toward 50°F, downright warm from my POV, so I didn't even take a light jacket, just grabbed up the bags, the books, and some coupons, and headed out to a sunny day with bright blue sky...but that's a tale involving books, dogs, and even a sheep in Holiday Harbour (a story which then finishes here). [Much, much later...James made pork chops for supper and we watched Jeopardy, then I felt like reading and James was at the computer, so I put Holiday Pops on until the news came on. James wrapped his little airplanes, I wrapped the other two gifts, the rolls are back in the gift wrap container, and at last the spare room is peaceful again...] » Monday, December 21, 2009
C is for Christmas Crafts...
...and a strange occurance in Holiday Harbour.
I did have a bit of a sleep-in this morning, just to celebrate the first day of winter, you understand. :-) It was top of my to-do list for the next two weeks. Seriously, there are things I want to accomplish or do before I go back to work on January 4. Some are mundane, some are fun, some involve Christmas. • First of all, finish wrapping the gifts...LOL. • Get the car washed and vacuumed. • Finish putting together MIL's gift. • Fix a permanent place for the space heater in the master bathroom. • Take the rest of the donations to Goodwill before next Thursday. • Walk around downtown Marietta while the Christmas decorations are still up. • Maybe check out Antique Alley in Roswell. • Enjoy my Christmas magazines. Labels: Christmas, Holiday Harbour » Sunday, December 20, 2009
Shopping on Sunday...
» Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Rain in Georgia Falls Mainly...Everywhere
I must have been operating under a misapprehension...I thought it was supposed to clear up today. Ah, well, at least it wasn't warm!
The alarm rang too early, but we wanted to make sure we were on time for the last Farmer's Market of the season. The vendors huddled under their little marquees trying to keep warm; some of them looked downright dour. I made sure to get the card of the gentleman who sells the goat cheese pesto so we can get some more during the winter. It was in the high thirties, but very breezy, with dark, looming clouds above, the air still saturated from the deluge yesterday. With the leaves on the trees gone, Glover Park and the streets around the square were just one big wind tunnel. The cold went down your neck and crept into your bones. A lot of folks take their dog to the market, and I was approaching a booth where a man had an elderly Golden Retriever on a leash. I put out my fist for him to sniff and he stuck his nose under it and pushed up, dog language for "Pet the puppy!" :-) We came home past Kroger for the usual necessities of life (milk, of course). Bought some oranges and a few other things, which somehow added up to almost $50. Gah. Came home to put everything up (and empty the rest of the twofer groceries from yesterday out of the back of my car) and then had breakfast...we were pretty hungry by then. For the afternoon portion of the day we went past the library to drop off a Xerox paper box full of books and DVDs to donate, then went to the hobby shop. From there we went up to Town Center. God, I'm glad we didn't go near the mall because going to the REI down the road was bad enough. Of course it was between the wine store and Ulta (a makeup store), two stores down from a shoe store, and then was the Target. I would have had to be desperate to have gone into Target today! We found a couple of cool things in REI, then stopped at Hobbytown. James always gets small presents for a couple of his co-workers there. I wandered around and found a really cool gift for someone I had already bought a gift for (but I can put that away and save it for the person's birthday), then bought a Stablemates Breyer horse and a Breyer horse coloring book and put it in the Toys for Tots box. Hopefully there's some little girl out there who will love it as I would have. It had started raining as we were shopping, but as we came out of Hobbytown it had at least stopped. We made a brief stop at Borders for James to pick up something, and I picked up the first book in a series with the mystery taking place during the Blitz. By then it was nearly four o'clock and we hadn't had lunch and were starving. So I called up Dragon and we went to pick up Chinese food for supper. I remember the first time we had food from Dragon 168...it was my birthday and I was decorating the Christmas tree at the old house and James called to say he was stopping to pick up supper at the new Chinese place. He was getting me a pork with Chinese vegetables that came with pork fried rice. He said on the phone, apologetically, that it looked like it had the same old peas and carrots in it; he could see the green of the peas. Sadly, most fried rice at southern Chinese restaurants is like the fried rice you get at the food court at the mall: sort of a yellowish or brownish color with some onions and peas and carrots. Chinese restaurants up north (at least in my experience in Rhode Island, Boston, and New York City) make fried rice totally differently: dark brown, onions, bits of egg, bean sprouts, and whatever meat is involved. I despise cooked peas and the carrots make the fried rice too sweet. So James brought dinner home and I took a break before the tinseling and opened the container and...the green wasn't peas. It was scallions (ur..."some people call them green onions but they're really scallions"...and who will get that joke?). It was dark brown. It had onions and bean sprouts and scallions and nice little chunks of pork...OMG, OMG, OMG! It was real fried rice! (Almost) best birthday gift ever! Watched a bunch of Christmas Britcoms tonight, including an Are You Being Served? episode I swear we've never seen. Have "Waters of Mars" recorded so we can watch without the fool commercials. Pity we can't escape the stupid pop-ups and "bugs" and banners, too...ugh. Flocking Our Way
I forgot to mention, while I was baking the cookies, and while it was raining fit to beat the band, all the birds that were at the feeder! I haven't seen such a crowd for a long time: a male bluebird and two females, the red-headed woodpecker totally ignoring the suet for the large feeder, the pine warblers back, along with the usual crowd of white-breasted and brown-headed nuthatches, tufted titmice, chipping sparrows, and chickadees—and a male goldfinch in his winter regalia, head brownish instead of bright gold, but still with those stunning black bars on his primaries. They were looking a bit bedraggled from the rain, but otherwise flitted around getting their dinners.
Labels: birds » Friday, December 18, 2009
Perking Up a Rainy Day
So what did I have planned for today? Thinking about walking around Marietta square and getting the car washed.
Well, so much for that. Everything's awash out there. Rain pounding down so hard that I used an umbrella to fetch the trash barrel from the curb. I usually don't pay attention...as I used to tell my mom when she complained that I put my jacket over my schoolbooks and then got wet walking home: "I dry. The books wrinkle when they get wet." :-) So I pull out all the things I need for baking to make sure I need nothing else, then go to Publix for fresh baking powder and flour to replace what I'm going to use. There are lots of cool twofers: start stocking up for the Twelfth Night party with M&Ms and Wheat Thins/Triscuits. We have enough pineapple but I got one can crushed to go with our ham steak on New Year's Day. Found mixed vegetables for James without potatoes! Found three-cheese boxed potatoes! And Electrasol...oh, Finish...whatever they're calling themselves these days. And I did remember the baking powder and the flour...a miracle. Next...wine biscuits and the Holiday Pops channel! Read "the rest of the story," as Paul Harvey used to say, in Holiday Harbour. » Thursday, December 17, 2009
Cloudy Thursday
 I woke this morning to grey skies and a hard frost spread around the house, whitening the grass and the bushes, and even the railings of the deck and the tops of the bird feeders. Later the sun poked its way out, leaving a nice warm sunbeam spread in front of the television for Willow to sleep on—for all of an hour or maybe two. Then the patchy clouds came back, the sun glowing sickly in the fuzzy interstices between them. It was chilly out by then; a good day for Christmas music and a coffee-scented candle as I tip-tapped at the keys.As I had started a bit late this morning, I skipped most of lunch and ate at my desk (a leftover bit of pork chop and plain saltines with garlic-flavor goat cheese), just stopping long enough to pop the clothes in the washer and sweep the foyer (again). I'd like to say I got a lot done today, but I spent most of it looking up orders for people to check on receiving. One order that I started I couldn't do because a total was wrong; thank goodness I checked with the vendor first. James arrived home early for the simple reason that he had never had lunch. We had beef bits with baked sweet potatoes and watched the news; they are talking about a cold, rainy, miserable day tomorrow—oh, but at least it won't snow. No, because pouring rain and 37°F is sooooooo much better. (Actually, they are now mentioning the "s-word" in connection with northeast Georgia...snow...or sleet.) Saw something we'd DVR'd the other day...Graham Norton's salute to Doctor Who...hysterical...David Tennant speaking with his true Scots accent, trading quips with Norton about farting (sigh...men...) and Conquest (fighting with Biblical weapons), and the two M*A*S*H Christmas episodes, "Dear Dad" and "Dear Sis." Off to bed...the master bath is finally warm...we gave in and bought a little electric space heater. James figures the big window just leaches out heat in winter; it's usually in the mid-50s in there in winter. With the heater it's more like high 60s or low 70s...much nicer after taking a shower! Labels: Christmas, food, television, weather, work » Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Oh, Where, Oh, Where Has My Library Book Gone?
» Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Feeling...
I decided to telework today and go in tomorrow, partially because I thought there was a meeting, mostly because of feeling so wretched yesterday. (Sometimes I go into work feeling badly, but it straightens out between ten o'clock and noon; yesterday, it never did. The only thing that made me feel vaguely better was having a candy cane; the peppermint settles my stomach some.)
I ended up taking three hours of sick leave this morning to sleep late, hoping it would help. I suppose it did, even though I felt like I accomplished nothing. At lunch I finally vacuumed those awful stairs and while I was downstairs, found some little green and red garland I bought last year at the dollar store. I draped one swag over the pendant light in the dining room, and used the other one on the mantel. We have so few Christmas cards that I strung a piece of tinsel cord under the mantel shelf and put the cards on it, and then strung the other garland along the cord. It looks very retro. It also appears that the shade on the window next to the Christmas tree is dead. I had it up Saturday when I was decorating the tree, in order to see better, and forget and left it up. When I finally put it down on Sunday it seemed a little funky, and then flopped down all the way. I took it down gingerly, terrified of hitting the tree, and tried to fix the spring, but it's completely broken. Pity we can't just get the roller. I hate to waste the shade. James made "Hawaiian pork chops" (with pineapple juice) for supper and then I put on some Christmas specials: the Hill Street Blues episode "Santa Claustrophobia" and the British special Christmas Past. I wish I could find a complete copy of the latter somewhere; according to a British film site, the special was originally 53 1/2 minutes long and the version I have, which aired on A&E (back when A&E had decent programming and not "reality" shows) is only 45 1/2 minutes...would love to see those missing 8 minutes! I'm pretty sure they talked more about the Christmas truce. Late in the afternoon I developed a headache on the right side of my head near my ear. I get these occasionally, on both sides, and usually I take two extra-strength Tylenol and lie down in the dark and they go away. This one subsided, but never went away, and now is back, hurting all the way down to my neck. My right ear is ringing, too, and my teeth hurt. Headaches like this make me nervous, ever since my dad died. Suppose I need to get to bed. » Monday, December 14, 2009
Ugh
Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jong-il should feel as bad as I do right now.Sheesh, if I partied all day yesterday and drank myself into a stupor it might be explainable. But having just put tinsel on a Christmas tree and vacuuming up afterwards and making a bed does not equal "whooping it up." A bad night's sleep does not help, however. Labels: sickness » Sunday, December 13, 2009
Forgot Something...
...to say one more good night on chat, even though the person wasn't there in person.
I know she was there in spirit. Good night, Dana. Happy Hanukkah! Labels: holidays Mostly Christmas
Most of this weekend's report is in Holiday Harbour, but something funny did happen tonight. James helped me change the bed (because the mattress weighs a ton) and we put on the new memory foam mattress pad I bought on Black Friday...about time; the box was at the foot of the bed and I've tripped on it at least once. Well, you have to unroll it and then put it into the zippered cover they provide for it. It feels so funny, like Play-Doh...how weird!
Labels: shopping The Short Report We're here. Just busy putting up the tree. Still have the tinsel to go.And then I finally get to vacuum because it's no earthly use vacuuming until James brings the tree up and it scatters all its nice little artificial needles until we take it down again... Labels: Christmas, decorating » Friday, December 11, 2009
54-[Not]40, No Fighting :-)
So, when it's your birthday and you have the day off and you can do anything you like, what's the first thing to do?
Well, sleep late, of course. That's what us old folks do. (Well, unless there had been snow outside. If there was snow outside I could have turned 75 and it wouldn't have kept me in. <g>) WalMart isn't exactly the place to go on your birthday, but I needed yogurt and other stuff, so I made a fun trip of it: stopped at Borders on the way to pick up the paperback copy of Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop. Of course got more than I went there for, including a new extension cord for the Christmas lights (finally). I had my favorite Lean Cuisine for lunch and watched The House Without a Christmas Tree. I could just walk into this house and be at home, warm and safe: I remember relatives with older houses and a cooking range like Grandma's with the warming shelf and the stovepipe disappearing in the wall, beadboard cabinets, the elaborate wallpaper, the squat refrigerator with the door latch you had to remove after you disposed of it, Morris chairs...and that classroom with all the woodwork! Just like Hugh B. Bain! Had to rearrange the decorations on the room divider somewhat as I found the proper ones in the box with the Rudolph tree, and put up the Rudolph tree and the little Christmas decorations in the spare room, and coupled the little Italian resin tree from Gatlinburg last year and the little Scottish resin tree from Gatlinburg this year as a decoration for our bedroom. I stretched to put one decoration up on a shelf and it fell and boinked me on the temple...ouch. Luckily it wasn't that heavy. Been feeling restless and a little depressed for the rest of the afternoon. James was home late after stopping on the way home to get me some birthday surprises: a tiny glass owl, a USB decoration of fiber-optic stars, and a chickadee tea towel (very pretty embroidered design!), and a USB enclosure for my old disk drive. Something funny happened this afternoon. I went downstairs to put the Rudolph tree box back in the closet and something was vibrating in James' hobby room. I couldn't figure out what it was. It sounded closest near his Ott light. I pulled the plug and it still kept humming! Well, when he got home he looked around on the desk and it turned out it was an embossing tool that was next to the light! We have no idea how it got turned on. Oh, phooey. I hate feeling like this. I'm gonna put John Denver and the Muppets on... Labels: birthday, Christmas, decorating, gifts, shopping » Thursday, December 10, 2009
All Tired Out
Busy day. Did two orders, trying to determine whether I can do another or not, doing research on another, answered yet more questions about invoices that I don't even pay, did payment authorizations and discovered that one I put in last week doesn't seem to be there this week. All this and shuttling the truck to the car place and getting driven home and then getting driven back and coming home (I came home by Lowes because the temperature is dropping like the proverbial rock and those poor birds are going to need suet tomorrow). Oh, the tire had a nail and they were able to fix it; no new tire!
During lunch I found out Netflix had, via online view, that odd Christmas movie I saw two years ago, North Station. So now I've seen it all; still very strange, with a very Gallic Santa Claus (it's a French-Canadian film, dubbed into English) who spends half of the film depressed, but it has a weird, wacky charm all its own. I even finally found out why Bianca was so hacked off at Cathy the elf. Watched a documentary I had been looking out for—they even featured it on Today this morning—on BBC America tonight: Pedigreed Dogs Revealed. I knew dog breeds were being cocked up by the American Kennel Club, but I didn't realize the British Kennel Club was doing the same thing. They even had some asinine judge saying that those horrible, ugly sloping hindquarters they breed now on German Shepherd dogs are "breed standards." Oh, get real, you git! Look at British and American Kennel Club photos from 80-100 years ago. Sheps had straight backs. And Basset Hounds and Dachshunds had longer legs, Bulldogs have longer noses, Yorkshire Terriers were terriers and not toy dogs, Pekingeses didn't look like ambulatory dust mops, etc. How is changing the dog "preserving the breed"? And the hindquarters on modern German Shepherd show dogs are hideous. The dog doesn't trot, it shambles. It's disgusting to have ruined such a beautiful breed. The worst part was watching these poor Cavalier King Charles spaniels with a condition where their brains are too big for their skulls. Some of the dogs suffer hideous pain. All because some "dog lover" wants to make the animal look more "puppyish." Why don't they breed their own children for smaller skulls and larger brains? God, they'd look cute, wouldn't they, while they were writhing in pain! Now watching Being Neil Armstrong, with Andrew Smith, the gentleman who wrote Moondust. Labels: dogs, movies, television, work » Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Cookies, Chores and Those Damn Lights
We had a combination Homeowners Association meeting/cookie swap tonight. Pleasant, even if I was as tired as all get out: besides working I finished the decorations on the divider, did a load of laundry, tidied up the hall (there's no use sweeping it until James brings the tree upstairs), and finally put up the decorations in the foyer. This would have taken less time if the %@$!$!$! lights had not been burned out on the miniatures tree! I was done just in time to change clothes and run next door. I haven't baked a darn thing yet, so we brought Pepperidge Farm ginger family cookies and Peppermint Jo-Jos.Spent the rest of the evening watching Schuyler's favorite show (Ellen) and harvesting crops in Farmville. They have snow you can buy! Oh, we managed to get the tire on the truck pumped up. James stopped and got a hose and a air pressure tap so he could use it on the air compressor he uses for his airbrush, but the poor thing wasn't up to the task. We actually got it up to 20psi using the bicycle pump! Labels: cars, decorating, gatherings, television, work Into Each Life a Little Rain Must Fall Frankly, I'm sick of water...or too much of it, anyway.As always yesterday morning, I made a "pit stop" before I left the house—making sure I can get through the 40 minute drive—and when I flushed the toilet clogged up. The plunging only resulted in water all over the floor; I mopped it up with paper towels which I left in plastic bags near the toilet...to remind me that everything now needs scrubbing earlier than its usual weekend cleaning. Gah. Driving home was a sloshy, chill mess, with traffic backed up on the downtown connector all the way past the GA400 onramp (over 2 miles)—at least I wasn't on I-285 westbound, which looked like autumn trees at peak on the traffic map: all reds, oranges, and yellows! I called James on the way home to ask him to take "Woody"—the wooden reindeer with the tree branch antlers that's on the front lawn—inside, as they were talking about a possible 3 to 4 inches of rain! The long ride was assuaged slightly by the fact that Holiday Pops is finally on the air. When Smoky Robinson or Elvis get too lugubrious on "Holiday Traditions," I can swap to "Holiday Pops" and hear orchestral and choral Christmas music. When I got home James was in a swivet because he's suspected his right rear tire had a slow leak for a couple of weeks as he's had to add air to it twice; well, he didn't check it in the last few days and now it was nearly flat, so he was looking forward to having to change it after supper. Putting the spare on from the truck involves having to get it out of its sling underneath the chassis—a chilling job on a rainy 40-degree evening. Since I'm teleworking today and tomorrow, I told him to take my car today. He's going to stop at Vickery Hardware on the way home and see if he can get an adaptor for his air compressor. Since it's a slow leak, if we can get enough air in the tire to stay in the tire during the 2-or-so mile drive from our house to West Cobb tire, I can take it there tomorrow and get a new one put on without having to resort to the spare. Had a horrible night's sleep—weather radio blaring tornado watches at all hours—and then woke up to the glorious revelation that Willow had left a puddle in the kitchen. Well, at least it wasn't on the rug. If the day couldn't get even more miserable, I just found out my cousin Anthony died. After I left home and my dad died, my cousin Anna and her husband Anthony and their kids were always mainstays for my mom. Was she too sick to shop for groceries? Something wrong with the car? They were always there. Anthony never refused Mom anything. If he couldn't do it, he'd find a way to get it done. He was a teddy bear of a man, almost always in smiles, ready to tease you. Sadly, Anthony inherited Parkinson's disease from his mother. (I remember his mom at family gatherings when I was a child, sitting in a chair and endlessly trembling. You wanted to hug her.) He also developed Alzheimer's disease, so for the past...oh, it's at least been ten years...he's been in a world of his own, hardly comprehending the world around him. It's a tragedy with anyone, but it was especially hard to see Anthony's vibrant personality disappear to be replaced with helplessness. If you have a little extra money today, please consider donating it to Alzheimer's research. It's a nasty disease that robs people of themselves. » Monday, December 07, 2009
Trim Up the House
We had an eventful Sunday.
Oh, it wasn't just putting up the outside lights, which we finished at 6 p.m., late enough to see how good they looked. LOL. Putting up the lights wasn't the end, you see, since I had to decorate the rest of the porch as well with the stuffed Santas and garlands. Earlier, in the morning, I had been working on decorating the kitchen and the dining room, but finally we just needed to go to the grocery store, so off we went, first to BJs and then to Kroger. Oh, in the middle of that we bought new cell phones—not only new cell phones, but Droids. Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm the one that's always been the cynic about cell phones, and why you would want a smart phone. Funny what being stuck on a cold, dark, spooky train platform in Pennsylvania watching your scheduled train notice vanish in thin air will do for you. And, okay, it's cool, too, especially the GPS. And the local business finder, and the Christmas music station... Meanwhile, after five hours sleep, I went tramping off to work this morning. Still juggling two problems, at least one of which I don't understand because I had no part of it. Came home feeling like I hadn't eaten in a week and sleepy as all get out. Nevertheless, I finished putting up the ceppo, the little display of stuffed Christmas creatures on the landing, and the Christmas village, so I can look at it and daydream of stepping back in time. Was putting the village up while watching Ride a Wild Pony on the Hallmark Movie Channel. I don't think I've seen this movie since it was released in the theatre: a poor Australian boy and a rich landowner's daughter (who has been paralyzed by polio) clash over the ownership of a Welsh pony that the wild little boy calls "Taff" and the imperious, but secretly lonely, girl named "Beau." It's a nice character piece, and no cloying miracle like the little girl walking happens at the end. In the meantime Castle is over, and it's time for bed. Labels: Christmas, decorating, electronics, shopping, television, work » Sunday, December 06, 2009
New Toy
» Saturday, December 05, 2009
D-Day
D for Disposal—the gifts and cards were all mailed this morning. Not only that, but we were behind only two people in line! I've never seen that few people in the Marietta post office! And we got there just in time, because about a dozen people came in behind us.
D for Discovery—the Farmer's Market is still open! It will be going until the 19th. And they had a tent for them today; a good thing, because it was in the 30s this morning with a brisk wind. Brr and all that. Sadly, we didn't get one snowflake from the precipitation they predicted; heck, not even a raindrop. We bought fresh veggies, some goat cheese, and a baguette, and got free pedometers from the local hospital. A Christmas tree seller was outside the tent with the most wonderful smelling trees. Pity I'm allergic. We walked to and from the tent through Glover Park, where there's a Santa cottage set up for the kids and a big Christmas tree, and luminaria lining the walks. D for Decorating—because that's what I did all afternoon. James dropped me off at home and went to the hobby shop, and I started to decorate. I wanted to start with the foyer, but I couldn't get that box down. So I decorated the library tree and got the airplane tree and the woodland tree out. By the time James got home, I was almost done with the library tree (he finished one more ornament for me, a horse representing the Piebald in National Velvet and put the table into place), and then I decorated the woodland tree and he did the airplane tree, except for the garland, which gave me fits and I abandoned in favor of having something to eat, having not had any lunch. D for Dinner—since we were going to the other side of town tonight anyway, James took me out for my birthday dinner a little early. We went to the Colonnade, of course. I had the turkey, of course. It was nice, leisurely, and we had a marvelous waiter. D for Delight—since tonight was the first of two performances of "An Atlanta Christmas" by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company at the Academy Theatre in Avondale Estates. This is a tiny little theatre behind the main street, and as usual we missed the street because it looks like a back alley! On the way there we stopped at Book Nook [used book store] and I found an anthology of Christmas science fictions stories Christmas Forever, a sequel to Christmas Stars, which I have in paperback) and a British book about budgies with full-color plates. James bought me a cocoa and we chatted with Caran until the performance began. The first half of the show contained the more historical stories and the bittersweet "Are You Lonely Tonight?" (one of my two favorites) and the second half of the show highlighted the funnier pieces, including "Legend of the Poinsettia" (in which the fourth Wise Man tries to give the Baby Jesus a poinsettia) and the sequel to "Are You Lonely Tonight?" Good grief. Neil turns twenty tomorrow. I remember holding him when he wasn't even a day old. Yow. But I did get an idea for his brother; when I buy that, I will be done with gifts. All the rest I've had for a while. And D for Desist: Resting now; on chat. Great day, especially dinner and the show! Labels: books, Christmas, decorating, events » Friday, December 04, 2009
In Fall the Christmas Fairy Never Sleeps
Gah! Stop the merry-go-round so I can get some sleep!
Yesterday was all about work. I did another order, and tried to explain to a vendor why we can only pay maintenance fees in arrears. (Well, because it's a law. A Washington DC type law.) Prepped some other orders to go. And ate at my desk, again, because during what should have been my lunch hour I was moving out all the fall items and putting them in boxes preparatory to decorating for Christmas. But before the decorating...comes finishing the Christmas letter to go in with some of the Christmas cards, which must be labeled, stuffed, and stamped. And some of the Christmas cards must go into packages which must be also be packed, taped, and labeled. So what I did Thursday night was write the letter, and it was pretty much finished when we went to bed. This morning, like an idiot, I thought maybe I could finish it and print the letters and pack the cards into the gifts and mail them today on the way to the Apple Annie Craft Show. This moment of insanity fizzled out about 8:30 a.m. I had to fish or cut bait; I couldn't do both. So I headed to Apple Annie, feeling guilty about wanting to go have fun. When I arrived at St. Ann's Church, no one was parking on Roswell Road yet, but the parking lot was full, as well as the lot across the street. The policeman directing traffic said you could park at the church down the street and take a shuttle. Except I didn't feel like sitting in a school bus for a half hour waiting for it to be full enough. I did that during the Smoke Rise show. So I decided to do my other errands in the area and then come back. If there was parking then, so be it. I started at Borders. I was looking for a book for a gift, but didn't know what to get. Instead I bought A Christmas Miscellany and, since it appears I never met a linguistics book I didn't like, a British book on the remainder shelf, The Story of English, as well as the winter Birds and Blooms and...oh, my ears and whiskers, the December issue of the British Country Living. How did that happen? It usually comes in around the 10th to the 15th! From there I stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond for a small purchase, then went on to Michaels. I wanted to get some decorative unbreakable baubles for the wreath on the front door. I had always deliberately under-decorated it because I wanted lights on it. Well, since I can't seem to keep a working string of lights on it, I might as well fill it out a little. I bought two large red baubles, and three each green and blue ones. (Put them on tonight after we got home. Not bad.) Next, Trader Joe's, stocking up until Twelfth Night: peppermint Joe-Joes (like Oreos, only with candy cane crumbs in the creme), almond bark, peppermint bark, chips for James, oyster crackers, a few other things. Then Hallmark. The other two musical houses were out; James is going to make a display on his desk at work. I had a $5 off coupon they sent me for my birthday and innumerable Gold Crown reward coupons, so I pretty much got them for free. Then I headed back to St. Ann's. It was after noon and, sure enough, there were many spots in the parking lot. The past two years they were putting an addition on the church and parking was at a premium, and the rent-a-cops wouldn't let me in the parking lot, saying it was full, even though I could see a dozen empty spaces, which is how I ended up parking on Roswell Road for two years in a row. This is a juried craft show, so only the best crafts end up being here. I bought a few small things—a pine cone star, a twig star, a tiny basket with tinier pine cones in it—and was not about to spend a large amount of money until I came upon a vendor who grows her own papyrus, turns it into paper, and does marvelous calligraphy on it, like illuminated medieval manuscripts. She had a lovely one, trimmed in a small drawing of the Holy Family and surrounded in holly. I was mesmerized. Of course I couldn't afford one made of the real papyrus, but bought a print of it. What I bought was this verse, but stylistically done more like this. It's breathtaking. Also bought a little sheep wreath from a vendor who did assorted primitive items. Finally headed home, but stopped at the home of the "prim lady," who was having a sale today. I got the cutest little white Christmas tree, about a foot high on a wooden base, with pipe cleaner candy canes at the end of each branch, for ONE DOLLAR. Can't beat that with a stick. Oh, I did stop at the post awful on Lower Roswell Road to get my Christmas card stamps and ran into a funny. A lady in front of me had a box that she was just about to mail when she said "Oh, I guess I need to repack this." I saw that a corner was loose and was about to say "They'll tape that for you," when I noticed it was wet, too. She said it was a fruitcake and apparently the rum was seeping out, took the box and left. The lady behind me in line looked at me and I looked at her and I said, "Wow. I hope she doesn't let people drive after they eat that fruitcake!" Imagine, there's so much rum in it it's leaking out of the box!!!! Also got gasoline and, oh yeah, finally got the car inspected. When I got home I went back to finishing and printing out the letter, but at that point it was time for James to come home. We had supper at Williamson Barbecue and then went to Bruster's for dessert: James had peppermint ice cream with crunchy candy cane bits in it and I had cappucino, which has a faint taste of cinnamon in it. I burped up cinnamon and barbecue sauce all night. Sigh. On the way home we drove through Life University, which is brave with "the Lights of Life" once again. They have about half shifted over to LED lights and, lordy, is it bright! I notice that with regular lights the blue ones have the faintest color; in the LED ones the blues are the brightest! And from when we got home to a quarter to Monk's series finale, I printed letters, put them in cards, put all the cards in envelopes, printed the labels, covered the labels with tape because the #$!%!$!$ printer ink won't fuse to the labels (even though they are laser printer labels), put on the stamps, put the cards that went with packages with the packages, taped up the packages, labeled the packages...argh. You know, I love giving gifts. It's one of the joys in my life. But I really, really, really despise prepping packages for mailing. And finally at quarter to midnight, I could log onto chat where the four of us (James, Rodney, Jen and I) were about to watch the very last Monk... Labels: Christmas, crafts, decorating, food, shopping, television, work » Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Wet Weather and Work
Yesterday, fog. Today, rain.Not exactly bone-chilling winter rain, since it was in the high forties, low fifties. But it was a gully-washer at one point: I looked out the bedroom window and there was a river starting at the downspout and heading to the gate in the back yard. It was a typical workday; mostly what I was doing was a temp service order. I had Christmas music playing and a Yankee Candle Roasted Coffee scent burning, so it was pleasant. Leftover turkey soup for lunch, which I actually ate at my desk, because during my lunch hour I had to run to the library to get the book I put on reserve (Harriet Reisen's Louisa May Alcott, which was just released), and then brought the storage boxes upstairs preparatory to putting the fall things in them, and then oiled and buffed the dining room table (it's natural wood, so you don't polish it, you treat it occasionally with food-safe mineral oil). After James arrived home, I ironed the new runner for the table and put it down. It isn't all decorated yet, but the new, lighter runner looks very nice. I also pulled all the gifts out of the closet to sort out the ones that need to be mailed soon, and wrapped James' gifts to keep them covert, and about half the gifts that will be mailed. I discovered that the "tinsel cord" that I bought at Michaels was actually elastic ribbon, which was cool, since I can't put bows on the packages I send in the mail. » Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Fog and Fire [Trucks]
Wow, had a full range of events this morning already and it's not even 8 a.m.
If it had been Christmas Eve this morning (there's a good trick! LOL), Santa Claus would have needed to add Rudolph to the hitch. I almost expected to hear the bawling of Point Judith light in the distance. The fog gave the entire neighborhood a surreal look, especially where they're digging up to [presumably] widen the road. They held the official tree-lighting in downtown Smyrna last night, so the library/civic center/rotary area looked like a Christmas painting by Monet. The fog parted on Spring Road and it was amazingly clear, until I went back of the mall and approached the river; then it was back in smoky masses. The traffic on I-75 south looked like it was disappearing into a indistinct abyss. The east side of town was clear, with ribbed high clouds above. This caught the sunrise and made the eastern sky all shades of orange and purple. If "red sky at morning" color indicates future weather, tomorrow's rain will be a whopper. So I get to work and there's a fire truck parked in the main drive and everyone's outside sitting in their cars. Apparently a fire alarm went off; something about a fuse box abnormality. I didn't dare go back to the car; I was woken from a sound sleep this morning (how sound? James said Willow barked all night—I didn't hear her) and would have been tempted to go right back. Eventually stood out there chatting to a former branch member (hi, Sharon!) until she had to leave and a few minutes later the fire personnel emerged and drove off. Old-Fashioned Christmas Stories... » Monday, November 30, 2009
Rainy Day Monday
A grey and gloomy day, interrupted at lunch time till about 4 p.m. with a steady rain, in the high 50s. Gloomy inside, too, and when I was finished with an order around four I took down the autumn decor and replaced it with Christmas finery: a poinsettia garland, a poinsettia bouquet in a vase covered with foil, a Christmas bouquet of holly and mistletoe and other picks, two little resin figures (a Nativity scene and some Victorian carolers) and a holly votive candle holder, two different Christmas stockings, and Christmas art from past calendars.
The rain cleared up at rush hour, with the clouds racing across the sky like thoroughbreds on the track, big piles of gray hurrying southward as leaves scattered behind them. We still have occasional patches of fall color to accompany the burgeoning Christmas decorations. The city of Smyrna's decorations were lit up when I went by and the street was blocked off, so they must have had the official tree lighting tonight. Leftover turkey for supper, a Wilson story on House, and a new Animal Cops...nice! Labels: autumn, Christmas, decorating, food, television, weather Wilson Speaks! » Sunday, November 29, 2009
At Last, Sleep! and Other Stories
I slept late! Or actually a whole eight hours. A first in over two weeks. Of course! I'm going back to work tomorrow.I think I mentioned we had two different turkey carcasses given to us on Thanksgiving. James attacked those this morning. One was efficiently picked clean, but one had enough meat left on it that we can use it for supper tomorrow night. Mmmn. If there's something better than turkey, it's turkey leftovers. Well, when we went rooting around in the fridge, we found the last container of last Christmas' turkey soup! So we took that out to thaw for supper tonight while we filled the stockpot with water, the turkey bones, celery, carrots, and sprinkles of basil, parsley, marjoram, and savory, and a little salt. Once it came to a boil, we left it to simmer and went out in search of an inspection station that was open. Both the cars are due to have their registrations renewed on my birthday, so we need emissions inspections posthaste. We had planned to get them last weekend before James' misstep cost us the two days. I can get mine during lunch later in the week. We found the "Mr. Clean" carwash and oil change center (formerly Carnett's) open and got the truck inspected. Also walked around BJs, having needed some things and having coupons for stuff we use that expire tomorrow, and sampled the wares: more samples than usual today...mini quiches, roll-ups, turkey meat, Belgian chocolates, cheeses, salmon cakes, and roast chicken. From there it was home so James could rest his leg and we could supervise the soup. It was already wafting the heavenly scent of turkey throughout the house. I immediately changed clothing, grabbed boxes out of the closet downstairs, and took down the Thanksgiving decorations. The house is rather in transition now, Christmas decorations in the windows and on the doors and autumn still in evidence everywhere else. I've got Apple Annie next Friday, but I also hope to get some more decorating done. More about First Sunday of Advent decorating in Holiday Harbour. Had the turkey soup with rice and crackers and watched a new America's Funniest Home Videos with Bob Saget as the guest star for a Saget retrospective, followed by Extreme Makeover Home Edition with the gang creating a home for a little boy (who has leukemia) and his family. James spent most of that hour fishing the bones out of the turkey soup, straining the soup, and distributing the meat in each container. We got six quarts of turkey soup, so many we didn't have enough room in the freezer, so we have one out to have turkey soup later in the week. There's even enough broth left over for James to use to make turkey gravy for the turkey leftovers tomorrow. Cool. We're now watching the series finale of Stormchasers. I think these guys are full-goose bozo crazy. If I ever see a tornado, I'm hightailing it in the opposite direction, thanks! Anyway, we are being amused by the new version of Discovery's "The World is Just Awesome" commercial. I think what they're showing is an altered version of the original, because some of the scenes are different. I have to laugh at the Mythbusters clip, because, in the original, Adam sets Jamie's sleeve afire. In the new one, Jamie is returning the favor—with interest! Oh! James bought Willow a new dog bed (really a throw that we have folded in half). He just put it down. She sniffed at it, patted it with her paw, and curled up on it, happy as the proverbial clam. Labels: Christmas, food, shopping, television » Saturday, November 28, 2009
Evening
Went to trivia. Had a good time. Meal was a bit greasy. Needless to say, still having...um, problems.
Have ended up watching a Dirty Jobs marathon which included camels mating. Well, the camels may enjoy it, but let's say it's not attractive! Labels: friends, television Sad Sack Saturday
God! Is there a rule that says I'm not allowed to sleep at night? The first part was my fault; I was up late reading and got chilled. Plus I've been trying not to snack. So I was cold and hungry and it was hard to fall asleep. I finally put on heavier pajamas.
Then James' alarm clock went off at an ungodly hour. This aroused another portion of my anatomy. Forgot to bring something warm to sit in the bathroom. Cold again. So I woke up with the start of a migraine, cold feet and hunger. We were headed over to Glenlake so James could take his blood test. Afterwards we stopped at the IHOP on Roswell Road. I had the gingerbread pancakes, nice and spicy, and a few rashers of bacon. That, along with two Tylenol, dispatched the headache. James made me some grilled cheese tortillas to help solve the other problems, but as soon as he left for his IPMS meeting, I sacked out on the sofa for two hours to the accompaniment of Holiday Traditions on low. Had Schuyler's cage next to me. I'm starting to believe egg binding may not be the problem. I hope so. She's been full of vinegar this afternoon. Tidied up a bit and goofed off on the computer while waiting for James. Now we're just relaxing, still listening to Holiday Traditions. I'm a bit ticked, as the Holiday Pops channel isn't starting until December 7. Phooey. Dish doesn't seem to have a Christmas music channel this year, either. It's always been on 982. (Oh, wait...it's on 949 this year. Weird.) » Friday, November 27, 2009
Purchases and Parakeets
» Thursday, November 26, 2009
After the Feast
Thanksgiving got off to a good start: I found a newspaper at the first place I went, Food Depot. I also got some whipped cream to go along with the Indian pudding.
However, the Indian pudding we'd made looked like such a small amount we made some more; we just cooked it on high in the crock pot instead of at low. Should have left it at one—there weren't many takers. Of course the desserts were neglected anyway, as there was so much yummy food! Alex and Pat roasted a turkey and got a fried one as well, and Ron and Lin brought roast beef. There were also stuffing, cranberry relish, turnip greens, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans, James' corn casserole, noodle kugel, stuffed cabbage leaves, and sweet potato souffle—and great conversation, too. Alex gave us the carcass of the turkey and we had gotten a call from Juanita earlier that she had one for us, too, so we dropped by her house to pick it up when we were on our way home. Gosh, she had Christmas lights on already, outside and in, and almost all her villages up...in the dining room on top of the bookcases, on the divider between the kitchen and the breakfast nook, on the table in the living room, and on brand new revolving tier shelves! I remember her original collection; she has about four times more now. The tree was up, too! A funny—I called her right before we arrived, then shoved the phone back on my belt. When we went into the house, I realized I didn't have my phone. James called me in the house and in the driveway, but we didn't hear the phone ring. Then I opened the truck door and I could hear my phone ring. It was clipped onto the seat belt! So we came home to relax. I am keeping a wary eye on Schuyler. She's having the same problem she had when we went to Owensboro, kicking at her behind. I deduced there that she had not drunk water all the way there and was probably...well, constipated. So I gave her first an apple and then an orange this morning, but she's still doing it. I put an extra dish of water in her cage and hope it will help. I hope I don't have to take her to the vet; she hates it so. She doesn't act sick: she's been playing tonight, and just sitting grinding her beak (which means she's contented), and cleaning her beak and preening. But doing the kicking thing, and not eliminating a lot, and squeaking when she does. Labels: Christmas, food, gatherings, holidays, pets, Thanksgiving » Wednesday, November 25, 2009
That's Better
At 12:03 I left the house. I returned at 2:12. No sign of TruGreen guy having shown up. Nor did he show up. "Of course you know this means war." Heh.
I had to drive to a certain store to get a certain item at a certain discounted price. Actually, two items. I'm not mentioning the store name since the person it is for might guess what I bought. I also found a gift for Aubrey. A bunch down, two to go. My next stop was BJs. The smiling bakery person indeed did have a nice no-sugar-added apple pie waiting for me. I also found a new jacket, one with a hood! I would have preferred the blue one, but that had a honkin' big Nike logo on the front. The black one just has the "swish." I can pin my ladybug pin over it. And it's really thick and warm. So I got home, hid the gifts away. Now I addressed my Amazon order. $25 credit just waiting. I had the Hollyridge Strings Christmas album in my queue and a Dr. Who book. Then I'm not sure what happened—must have clicked on one of those related book links...and dang if I didn't find the perfect gift for Neil. One more to go...yay! I also got my two Amazon Vine books today. The Red Door is the next Inspector Rutledge mystery. I hadn't read the series before, so bought and finished the first book, A Test of Wills, just yesterday. Rutledge is a Scotland Yard detective who suffered from shell shock during World War I. He keeps the condition—including the fact that he hears the goading voice of a deceased compatriot in his head—a secret, not wanting to be accused of "low moral fiber" or cowardice. The books are nicely evocative of the era and I find the mysteries fairly complex. The other book is Al Roker's Morning Show Murders, written with Dick Lochte. A fun Ellen today and now between Jeopardy telecasts and the new Mythbusters, am watching previously-recorded Thanksgiving specials. I also watched The Thanksgiving Treasure this afternoon, but that's the subject of a Holiday Harbour post... Labels: books, Christmas, shopping, Thanksgiving Countdown Fingers Do the Walking
53 minutes and I'm outta here.
BJs is holding the pie for me. The other item can't be held, but there are plenty of them in the store. More Collectible Quarters
When Jen and Meg visited in August, Jen showed us a District of Columbia quarter they had received in change. Were they doing quarters for US territories, too?
Why, yes, they are: 2009 D.C. & U.S. Territories Quarter Program. So far we have found DC, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands, and are on the lookout for Puerto Rico, Mariana Island, and American Samoa. Labels: events Waitin' and Hopin'  Well, phooey. I was going to be out by nine looking for a sugar-free apple pie, buying a gift, and going to the post office.Except I forgot that I scheduled both Northwest and TruGreen to come out this morning. The exterminator couldn't do the back yard because the gate was locked. And TruGreen...but I've already told that story. Northwest was here an hour ago—the manager was working today because so many folks had the day off. If TruGreen doesn't show up before noon as they promised, I will be really pissed. Labels: chores » Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Disappointments
Not sure what's wrong with my knees, but they've been giving me grief at night. Have to turn over in bed because they're hurting, and that wakes me, which explains why it's so hard to struggle out of bed in the morning. Once I get up, it's other problems.
Despite feeling icky, I drove down to the Garden Ridge near Six Flags. No luck on candoliers. All they have are battery-operated ones. Boy, what I wouldn't give for a time warp and a Woolworths! Spent too much time stuck in their restroom. Luckily I had my PDA with me and could read. Decided to take a spin out to Arbor Place Mall. After enduring the long left turn on route 5, finally made it to the mall. Wandered the Borders for a few minutes, then walked to the other end of the mall to go to the Bed, Bath & Beyond. I found a new Christmas-themed runner for the table. I ruined the old one by washing it in warm water (the color ran) and it was a brocade design that was always too heavy for the table. This one is poinsettias and holly on light ivory fabric with cutwork design, like the fall one that I have. I usually don't eat out, especially at mall food courts. You usually get big portions, or they have stuff I don't want. But when I went upstairs, I found a Chinese "buffet" that sold food by the pound. I dismissed the carbs like fried rice and lo mein, and the spicy or "coated" food like sesame chicken, and decided on a little bourbon chicken and teriyaki chicken. Just in case the bourbon chicken was peppered—some places make it hot, some places not—I got more teriyaki chicken, about 8 ounces total. I didn't eat much of it. All of it was peppered. Ugh. I don't get the pepper obsession. How can you taste anything else with your mouth burning? The moment my tongue started to sting I completely lost my appetite. Came home by Big Lots. The folks on my Christmas group find such good things in the DVD/CD area, like older movies for two or three dollars. All I could find were old karate films or Sex and the City, and no Christmas music at all. I remember going to Big Lots in the past and finding great CDs and cassettes, like "The Waltons Christmas Album" and music from Germany. Ah, well. James' knee was well enough tonight for him to replace the battery in the smoke alarm in the garage. It's been beeping for days. I'd meant to wait until he was healed a bit more, but this afternoon Schuyler started imitating the low-battery beep. I think it's been beeping long enough, y'know? LOL. » Monday, November 23, 2009
Doctor, Doctor
Gah. I hope I'm not going to spend my whole week off wanting to sleep late!
In this case, the sleep was good for James. His finger looks 200 percent better than it did yesterday, although it is still swollen. While he rested his leg, I washed the towels and cleaned some of the master bath, including washing the floor, then loaded the dishwasher and scrubbed some oversized pans in the sink. The doctor's appointment was soooooo long. It took nearly three hours. I signed all my holiday cards as well as read a fourth of a new book. James finished a modeling magazine, including the ads. Most of the time was wasted waiting. We still don't know if his finger was broken. He went to X-ray, and they told us to go back upstairs, and then when we got there they told us we didn't need to stay. So...I guess that means it wasn't? Anyway, the doctor was concerned enough about the scrape under James' knee that he gave him a week's worth of antibiotics. We're to quit treating it with Neosporin and a bandage when it stops "weeping." It really does look like a burn. But...James got his prescriptions refilled, so it means he doesn't have to take another day off to do that. Rather bittersweet House tonight, and a circuitous Castle in which Alexis proved herself, as they said in the old days, a "trump." Labels: health, housework, television » Sunday, November 22, 2009
Life's What Happens...The November 2009 Edition
Looks like James may have broken one of his fingers. He doesn't think he did it in the fall, but yesterday when he was getting out of his chair. He twisted his hand around, it hurt and then subsided, and we didn't think any more about it.
This morning we got up. Needed groceries and he said he didn't want to stay home, so we went to both Costco and Kroger; he took the little electric cart both times. But we noticed the middle finger on his right hand was very swollen and red. So when we got home we put ice on it and it is looking better, although with a nasty bruise mark. So it's a good thing the advice nurse made the doctor's appointment. We did have a nice time at Costco; we always make a joke about "having lunch at Costco," but they did have some nice samples: one quarter of a veggie burger, lobster spread on crackers, cranberry goat cheese on crackers, pesto and cheese on crackers, four-cheese ravioli, salsa and chips, crab cakes, buffalo tenders (the last two were peppered, James had mine and I ate the lobster spread as he doesn't like it), Ferraro Roche chocolates, a fingernail-size crumb of fudge, tiramisu...I've forgotten something, I know! Picked up a Christmas book by Wally Lamb and a copy of Up. So we came home and put ice on James' finger and sat in almost the dark and watched Up. We had not seen it in the theatre. It's truly delightful...although this really isn't for kids. Not that it's violent, but despite the cute kid, the "talking" dogs, and the "dogfight," it's not really about childish themes. It's about dreams, and losing them, and trying to fulfill them when you should be forming new dreams. I sniffled through a lot of it. The little boy, Russell, is also very affecting. They are very subtle in conveying that his father's attention has been diverted away from him rather than bludgeoning you with the fact. And of course Dug the golden retriever is sweet and funny. Yep, Dug, when you defeat the alpha you become the alpha! Anyway, suppertime... » Saturday, November 21, 2009
Limping Along
Needless to say, we had a slow day. James called the advice nurse at Kaiser, who called back just as we were getting dressed to go out. Looks like we did everything right, except she said not to use peroxide to clean the wounds. Just water and soap is fine. She made a follow-up appointment with the doctor for him on Monday. His right middle finger looks a little swollen.
So we went to the hobby shop for a while, then stopped at Publix for some groceries and a bite to eat. James rode the little cart. Came home for a few hours, then we were off again to Jerry and Sue's for a game night. We got lost on the way there and arrived late. We knew someone that lived out in that direction previously and we confused the old directions with their directions. Nice crowd, good supper, played Cranium and Imaginiff. Everyone keeps their house too warm for me, though! LOL. I'm used to 64-67. Labels: errands, games, gatherings Ooops
Well, we've had an inauspicious beginning to Saturday. James missed a step outside on the way to walk Willow and fell on the sidewalk. He scraped his right knee and below, his right elbow, and two fingers on his left hand. I have applied peroxide and Neosporin and gauze, and he took some ibuprofin. It appears he hasn't broken anything; nothing is bruised or swelling, but he does have a painful spot above his right knee. It may be his tendon, since it hurts when he moves.
Labels: health » Friday, November 20, 2009
A little better today. Digestion seems to have settled. Sound sleep so far as I know. Coffee-scented Yankee candle and Christmas music providing pleasant work environment. Birds back at the feeder. Goodness, do they look lovely. You would think with winter coming on they might look pathetic, but they are in full, bright feather, unlike during the summer when they were feeding chicks and looking dull and harassed. The white-breasted nuthatch is so dapper he looks like he's going out for dinner at a 1940s supper club. The tufted titmouse's crest is smooth and shiny.James said he expected when we got home from vacation that Willow would be attached to his leg for a day or two, and she was very clingy Sunday evening and Monday. But it's Schuyler who now ceaselessly wants attention. She's either scolding or giving her two-note "hey, you!" whistle or giving the one plaintive single-note chirp. » Thursday, November 19, 2009
Day by Day
No nightmare last night, hurrah. Still feeling exhausted, and digestion all in a tumult. Took an hour of sick leave this morning to get in a little more sleep, and coaxed myself to work via a cinnamon Yankee candle and more Christmas music. During lunch I cleaned out the bird feeders once again. I fill them and it rains before the birds empty them, turning the seed into a sticky pile of glop with sprouts in it. Ugh.I had to call up TruGreen today and give them a piece of my mind. To save money I did an advance pay for aeration and seeding of the fescue in the back yard. Three times they've called to say they were coming a certain day and three times no one has showed up. The clerk was very surprised when I noted it. Their records say the aeration took place on October 28. I was here all day October 28; the gate was locked, so they would have had to knock on the door or ring the doorbell to gain access. If for some reason I was in the bathroom and didn't respond, I would have expected them to leave a note at the door. So I don't know whose lawn was aerated and seeded, but it wasn't ours. » Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Going Up?
When I was younger I used to get teary at the end of vacations. That ended just a year or two ago. :-) I thought I'd escaped the usual after-vacation depression, but it turns out it was just tardy. Been dragging around all day after having yet another nightmare last night; disoriented and not knowing where I was. Ugh.Ran to CVS during lunch for a "real deal": They had Star Trek for $10 if you bought a $15 I-Tunes card. Since I was intending to buy an I-Tunes card as a gift anyway, it really was a deal. Plus I put up a few Thanksgiving decorations, and finished the rest after supper. Otherwise I've been queasy and depressed all day. Ugh. » Monday, November 16, 2009
Ewwww
Has everyone seen the new Belk Christmas commercial with the little girl singing "Santa Baby" and transforming all the things she touches? That's...really creepy. I mean, do not Belk and the advertising agency know what that song is about?
Labels: commercials Day Off
Slept as late as we felt we could. Still tired. Funny, didn't feel this tired when we were having fun. <wry grin>
Breakfast. BJs. Checked out the new Droid. Cool. Kroger. finally more milk. Checked on the progress on the Ditch. Lunch. We went to Garden Ridge to check out the possibility that they had electric candoliers. One of our five-light candoliers has a socket that doesn't seem to work any longer. I saw some at the Christmas Tree Hill shop, but they were fancy ones with a "brass" base and almost $20. Last year Garden Ridge had them, but we didn't find any today. James did spot a Christmas gift, and also a Charlie Brown tree: yes, a dumpy-looking pine with a crossed "wooden" base and one red ball! I was wandering in the middle of the store and it looked like a discount store, with clothing on tables like at the old mill outlets of my youth, and books on pallets. Also stopped at the hobby shop to bend Rusty's ear about our trip. :-) They went to a historical gathering (Historic Timeline?) this weekend that sounded fascinating. Had leftover barbecue for supper. Found World War II in HD running on the History Channel for the next couple of days, but can't find parts 1, 4, 7 and 10. All the other parts are repeated multiple times. Are there no parts 1, 4, 7 and 10? House is getting downright depressing. Funny that we had a story talking about overprotecting children from germs when we were discussing this same thing last week at Valley Forge! Things keep reminding me of vacation. There was an article in yesterday's paper about Amish romance novels, and it reminded me of last week. There are so many reminders in the guidebooks about not harassing Amish folks or asking them for photos; that they are just going about their lives, not tourist attractions. I noticed at Borders that novels about the Amish seem to be on the rise. Maybe it's because on a visceral level, we envy them. Oh, we don't want to give up our electronics or work the farm, but we admire their lives. They work hard and at the end of the day feel like they've accomplished something for themselves or their family or their faith. Not like most of us, cogs in big machines, feeling like we could just be replaced by other cogs and no one would notice. Labels: shopping, television » Sunday, November 15, 2009
On the Road, Part the Last
We're home. We've been here since about 6:30.
It was a long day. We didn't get up until eight, but neither of us slept well. The bed was much too soft. Otherwise the room was nicely quiet and dark. We were right next to the elevator, but heard nothing. It was an okay place. The shower was rather wimpy and it was just a regular television, not a flat screen. Breakfast wasn't bad. They had both sausage and bacon with the eggs, packet oatmeal, five different cereals in individual containers, coffee and tea and hot chocolate, some fruit yogurts, make-it-yourself waffles, only white bread for toast along with biscuits and bagels—but there was toast-your-own French toast as well. Perfectly serviceable. There was a WalMart nearby with really cheap gasoline, so we topped off there and then returned to our journey. Although we were further south than yesterday, here the trees were all bare; it must have been the elevation. We didn't get back to autumn leaves until we reached North Carolina. How bright the yellows are this year, both here and up in Pennsylvania. I tried to get a photo of some of the yellow trees yesterday and failed miserably. They are like molten saffron. We had traveled about an hour before turning south on I-77. This was a different route than we had come north, since we left from home, but were coming back via the vet's office. This route climbs gently through one edge of Virginia and the "top" of North Carolina through a place called Fancy Gap, and we made a "pit stop" at a gas station we had found previously, at the top of a hill overlooking a valley. You come on the valley a mile or so before the gas station, making a curve to the right and having the whole valley—farms, country houses, little groves of trees, horse, cattle, miniature people in miniature vehicles—spread out below you to the left. I bet it's gorgeous when the trees are at peak. An unremarkable trip down to Charlotte, except that it became sunny and quite warm, up to the mid-70s. We stopped for lunch about 1:30 in Gaffney [South Carolina], home of the giant peach water tower, at Cracker Barrel. The place is next to an outlet mall and was mildly mobbed, but we only had a 20-minute wait, and lunch was delicious: the tenderest of pork roasts in an apple glaze. I had mine with carrots and applesauce. The only other place we stopped was the Russell Stover Outlet Store in Anderson, SC, for James to stock up on sugarless candies. The supply of hard candy was very sparse. We were making good time until we were a half hour out of Atlanta. The sun began to set and was in everyone's eyes. Since, as I've noticed in years of returning from work at this time, apparently half the population of Atlanta has no idea what sun visors are for, instead of prudently and understandably slowing down, they come to nearly a dead stop and inch along at about ten miles an hour. Grr. We made it to the vet's office just about dark. The technician brought Schuyler out first and she took one look at me, gave a happy chirp, and jumped up to the bars of the cage to greet me. I remember how Sylvester used to snub me for a day or two after I left him to board, so this was quite happy for me, too. She came right up to the bars and kissed me. As I was talking to her, I heard this panting that sounded like a miniature steam engine. I said, "I can hear you, Willow!" and the tech loosed her and she skidded up to me, sniffed my leg while still moving, and then bounded past me with a happy "Daddydaddydaddydaddy!" romp straight to James. We stopped for a paper on the way home, but then were otherwise in for the rest of the night (despite the fact that I have no milk). The big suitcase, which was now full of dirty clothes, was left downstairs and I started one load of laundry before even coming upstairs. The laundry basket in the bedroom is full for another load! All the toiletries were put away, and some of the books. I had some soup for supper, and James had chili and taquitoes, and Schuyler sat with me to watch teevee and Willow vacillated between James, her dog bed, and her crate. We watched both This Old House episodes we missed, Colour Confidential, and "Mr. Monk Goes Camping." And boy, am I sleepy...good thing we both have tomorrow off. We have an "appointment" at Costco and at Kroger. Labels: pets, television, travel » Saturday, November 14, 2009
On the Road, Part the First
Well, hooey—had a rotten night's sleep. First I couldn't fall asleep, then when I did, bad dreams, or repetitive dreams, ones about historical exhibits. Then 90 minutes before I needed to get up, nature called. Blah.
We'd done a good deal of packing last night, so after breakfast we just had to brush our teeth and put the last of the toiletries up and then we were off. (Well, after I had to go back into the hotel; I had left the biscuits and the cheese in the fridge.) We bought gasoline at the Wawa (it's a convenience store) and then set on our way. Instead of going the way we came, up I-81 to Harrisburg, and partially across the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and then through routes 222 and 422 via Reading, we headed back to I-81 via our route to Lancaster, US-30, otherwise the Lincoln Highway. So we had one more leisurely ride through the countryside (at one point it got really leisurely) and I could drool over the old stone houses one more time. I have simply fallen in love with the beautiful 19th century stone houses here. This means we also got to pass the three things that have amused us all week: Ursinus College (the "bear school," we called it; it's actually a pre-med), the church whose URL is "moviechurch.org" (maybe they've been in a movie?), and the Valley Forge convention center, which is named "Scanticon." Doesn't that sound like it's a sexy underwear convention? It was still grey and dreary this morning, but we had a pleasant journey. I tried to get photos of two funny things we had seen, but I missed "Shivery Funeral Home." I did get "Christ's Home Office." (It's a children's home, called "Christ's Home for Disadvantaged Children," but the sign is abbreviated. I didn't realized Jesus had his own home office...) Also managed to get some shots of the farms in the valley and the cows grazing peacefully at the side of a busy two-lane highway. It turned out the outlet mall we stopped at yesterday was just the beginning of a ginormous outlet mall complex. I didn't think we were so close to the Lancaster outlets, but we were. So we crawled past cars lining up to go into outlet mall parking lots, then were let free to continue on to York (unlike Lancaster's country-ness, York is just a regular city). It was here finally, when the road got back to a two-lane highway from a four-lane bypass, that we started to see the Lincoln Highway signs. None of the stone ones, sadly, just plain signs as pictured here. These popped up occasionally as we journeyed toward Gettysburg. Gosh, the downtown is pretty: lots of older building turned to shops or restaurants, everything either decorated in a fall motif of cornstalks, scarecrows, pumpkins and fall flowers, or some starting to change over to Christmas. More of the white candles. (I have found out they are called "Hospitality Candles.") Maybe we should have made a day trip here just to walk around. I've seen the battlefield before, but never the town. There's even a huge "Lincoln Hotel" on the town square. Actually, we saw a bit of the battlefield anyway, as the Lincoln runs directly through it. We saw two statues, an equestrian, and an officer. So now we can sing, like the gentleman on the Rick Sebak special, that we were on our way on the Lincoln Highway. :-) We ate lunch at a McDonald's at the intersection of US-30 and I-81, then proceeded south. Our goal was to get past Harrisonburg, and we did (although we bought gasoline there). For amusement, during the earlier portion of the ride we listened to most of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me on NPR—hilarious show this week!—and then "Cigar Dave." (Sometimes before holidays Dave does food shows, but just more blah-blah about cigars this week.) After that ended, we put on our Gaelic Storm CDs. (Phooey! "Holly" and "Holiday Traditions" don't start until Monday.) The sun dropped lower in the sky and the near bare, but occasionally still rusty ridgeline of trees on our left looked like a dark scarlet blanket tossed over the bumpy spine of the Blue Ridge, falling in folds and curves until it reached the flat land. Yes, the sun. After crossing all of Pennsylvania in cloud cover, it was as if Virginia ordered the sky swept, so we had a nice sunset against wispy cirrus clouds. Then it was dark, then we arrived in Roanoke and booked a room at the Comfort Inn. Hope the breakfast is good, because the price was $30 more than Staybridge! I guess that's what you get for staying near the airport. The room is large and comfy, and our room key got us a discount at the "Texas Steakhouse" down the road. We also walked around the Barnes & Noble for about fifteen minutes to walk off the yummy supper. I've already taken my shower and am sitting here ready for bed. It only occurred to me after a week that there's not a dog here; I don't have to wait until bedtime to take a shower! LOL. The Party's Over » Friday, November 13, 2009
Motel Review: Staybridge Suites, Royersford, PA
I can't say enough about this place. I didn't think anyone could live up to the lovely Drury Inns and the place we stayed at in Washington, DC, in 2004 (TownePlace Suites by Marriott). But this place was super.
Our GPS couldn't find the hotel because the street is new; so is the hotel. It still smells new. The small suite (studio suite) we are in is about the size of my first apartment in Atlanta. The bed was comfortable and you had a choice between foam pillows and feather pillows. The shower was strong and hot. There is also a full-size sofa; two side tables we have been using to hold laptops; a desk to work at; and a side table; a closet with real hangers, not those motel things that don't come off the rail; a laundry basket; iron and ironing board; short shelves for holding things; and a hair dryer at the sink. The towels were not plush, but soft. The television is LCD widescreen. Weird cable channel choices—Food Network but not HGTV, for example, but we spent half the trip watching the progress of Ida on the Weather Channel anyway. Both wired and wireless internet access is provided in all rooms. The kitchen corner of the room had a full size apartment style refrigerator, a two-burner electric cooktop (no oven), a large undercabinet microwave, a full-sized dishwasher, and plates, silverware, and some cooking pots. We ate lunch out and had frozen dinners for supper. The breakfast bar served sliced fruit; whole bananas, apples, and oranges; yogurt; skim and 2 percent milk; either eggs and sausage patties or eggs and bacon; freshly made oatmeal; make-your-own waffles; four kinds of Kelloggs cereal; and English muffins, white and wheat bread, and bagels for toast with either cream cheese, butter or butter substitute. There were different juices, drinks, Wolfgang Puck coffee, two types of tea, 2 percent milk, and hot chocolate to drink, plus for the Sundowner get-togethers on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., they had beer. The Sundowners this week were chili and chips; hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill (last of the season grillout); and soup and salad. They have had barbecue, nachos, meatball subs, pizza, appetizers, and make-your-own sandwiches scheduled for other nights. Plus they had a little shop downstairs carrying packaged dinners, soups, cookies, salty snacks, and other meals or treats if you needed them. You eat in a pretty central area with tables and chairs, sofas around a fireplace which was, at this time of year, lighted, with the serving area at the right as you came into the hotel, and a little "parlor" at the left; this area, their "business center," also contains two computers where you could use the internet for free, and books you could borrow. USA Today and the local newspaper are provided. Down the hall are a 24-hour fitness area and an indoor pool which was only closed at night. The staff was uber-friendly, from Adam, who gave us directions when the GPS couldn't find the hotel the night we arrived; to the other regulars at the front desk; to the nice blond lady who cleaned up the breakfast buffet. We just reused our towels while we were here and housekeeping even contacted us yesterday to see if we needed anything because we had the "Do Not Disturb" sign on our door! (Yes, we needed toilet tissue. We just asked at the front desk.) This was also a perfect base for our vacation. We were within 20 minutes drive of an Amtrak/commuter rail station for travel to Philadelphia (Paoli Station, $1 for parking), and everything we wanted to see was within an hour's drive. So we are and have been very content with this place. I'd recommend it to anyone. Labels: travel |
||
