 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 . . . . . . . . . .
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» Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wishing You a Happy Sylvester...
 » Friday, December 30, 2011
Time Flies...
» Thursday, December 29, 2011
 FOR TODAY, DECEMBER 29, 2011 (last post for 2011) Outside my window... ...frosty! Everything was white with frost this morning, especially in the shade. When I went out to fill the bird feeders, even the deck boarding glittered with frost. I am thinking... ...what I usually think at the end of December: "Another year shot to hell," a half-amused, half-despairing commentary. The days go by, especially in the summer, with excruciating slowness to match the excruciating heat. But the weeks go by so fast. Christmas has flown by and I feel as if I've always been a half-a-beat behind. I am thankful for... ...use or lose. These two weeks have been such a relief to decompress in, even if I still had cookies to bake and the last few gifts to purchase. What was left was fun. Do you know this week and last I have forgotten to take my Prilosec more than half the time, and I have had bad indigestion only once (and that was on a day I did take the Prilosec)? This pretty much proves much of my acid reflux is caused by stress. From the learning rooms... ...I am reading Jeffrey Seals' Santa, which is a history of St. Nicholas. Besides the odd little convention he has of assigning Nicholas the power of determining what happens to his legend after he dies, it's pretty neat as a travel and history book. From the kitchen... ...blessedly quiet and halfway clean. I just need to load the dishwasher. I am wearing... ...my pine-green "Myriad" shirt and pale blue sweatpants with white socks. Cozy warm. I am creating... ...still working on a project for some friends. It will be the Sunday after New Year before the project can come to fruition (unless there's a continuation—arrrgh). I am going... ...to put a last few things in the boxes going to Goodwill and going to the library for donation purposes. If I didn't like the book, or don't remember the plot, I probably won't re-read it. No use in keeping it then. I am reading... ...Santa, as I mentioned, The Heart Comes Home At Christmas (a collection of Marjorie Holmes), and A Book of Feasts and Seasons by Joanna Bogle. I am hoping... ...to have a few more relaxing hours! I know we must still transport to Goodwill and the library, but I'm loathe to have my holiday over. Luckily Monday is considered a holiday. And we still have movies we want to see! I am hearing... ...the heat running. It's chilly this morning, about 30°F, but going up to the low fifties. Otherwise it is quiet for now. Around the house... Christmas things still everywhere. I have still about ten Christmas magazines I never have gotten to, including the Christmas "Early American Life," which I adore. Must tidy up some, if nothing else to get a start on next week's party prep! I am pondering... ...the end of the year...things left to do...things ahead...places to go, people to see...so many books, so little time...http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif One of my favorite things... ...back to Christmas music. Yes, I am still listening to it—we celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas here! When I need a boost in midsummer, Christmas music is always there to see me through. A few plans for the rest of the week: Donations for taxes, using my coupon for a free dinner in my birthday month at Fresh2Order, putting the new stickers on the cars before the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...  This brings back happy memories of the First Nights I spent in Boston with friends. Here's to Deb, and Mary, and Pat, and Gail, and Abby, and, not to be forgotten, MaryB... If you'd like to participate, check out The Simple Woman's Daybook. Labels: Simple Woman's Daybook » Wednesday, December 28, 2011
No New Projects Today
It's supposed to be bad luck to start a new project on Holy Innocents Day.
Instead I spent the day doing laundry and working on an old project. That was about all. Actually not as relaxing as it sounds as it involved up and down stairs and up and into chairs. But that was good, as well. :-) Watched a cool National Geographic special I'd recorded earlier in the month, The Science of Winter. Do people still think it's cold in winter because "Earth is furthest from the sun" then? Wow. Labels: events, television » Monday, December 26, 2011
A Day With My Honey...
» Sunday, December 25, 2011
By Hook or By Nook...
» Saturday, December 24, 2011
A Happy Road Trip...
» Friday, December 23, 2011
Counting Down...
» Thursday, December 22, 2011
FOR TODAY, DECEMBER 22, 2011 Outside my window... ...grey and cloudy. It is so quiet! Not a bird chirping! No heat on, because it's already in the 60s. What a day for the winter solstice! I am thinking... ...how much I hate this warm weather. Winter should be cold. Yesterday when James and I were at Discover Mills, my fingers were swollen, it was so warm. I am thankful for... ...our shopping being finally finished. I shop throughout the year, but there are always a few things left over to be purchased at the last moment. I should receive one last gift for James today and then I can put the Christmas paper away and finally tidy up the spare room. For a few weeks it has looked like the shipping room at Macy's. :-) From the learning rooms... I'm indulging in Christmas stories for a while. Alas, James has already begun the December 1941 book, so I must wait until he has completed it. From the kitchen... ...well, nothing there now. Our kitchen is that, a kitchen. No room for a table and goodies, really. Some tiny treats are there: dark chocolate covered pomegranite seeds and the like, but all the goodies are on the table: wine biscuits, Mexican brownies, a few chocolates, Emma's cookies. I am wearing... ...green T-shirt over green "Mutts" jammies. It's too warm for anything else. I am creating... ...Christmas memories! Schuyler and I are watching Christmas stories: The Night Before Christmas (how the poem was written), The Little Drummer Boy, and Simple Gifts. I am going... ...to sit and enjoy Christmas for the next few days. It's been a fun rush, but an endless one, and I seem to have always been a few steps behind no matter what. I am reading... ...Santa by Jeremy Seal, a history of St. Nicholas. We heard it abridged on the BBC last year. I am hoping... ...that the storm ocming tonight won't be as severe as forecast. When it gets this warm with a cold front behind it, I am always worried. And thunder is simply out of place in December. I am hearing... ...quiet! It's quite spooky! Not even a bird is singing. Around the house... ...still some wrapping paper out in the spare room. I need to finish wrapping when James' gift comes, collate the trash, put up the table, and then sort out the wrapping paper. Some of the tape refills have fallen to the bottom of the Christmas gift wrap container and I have to fetch them. I am pondering... ...the New Year already. Certain things need to be done that have not been done, and decisions must be made. does anyone else get tired of being a grown-up all the time? Never did understand those kids who were in a hurry to grow up! All they thought about was getting a car or a boyfriend. None of them ever thought about jobs, living responsibilities, and arranging for things like gutter cleaning and termite protection! One of my favorite things... ...the tree with unopened gifts sitting under it. I never really think about what I'm going to get. It's nice to get wonderful gifts, but so much more fun to buy things you hope people will like! A few plans for the rest of the week: I still haven't taken my annual walk in downtown Marietta. It won't be the same without being able to end up at Willow Too Antiques. There's a flooring store there now. How commonplace. I wish there was still an old-fashioned drugstore, not CVS or Walgreens with the bright aisles, but the cozy kind like DiLorenzo's used to be (or Thalls before they remodeled it). Here is a picture for thought I am sharing... Look, as much as I love snow, I know it's a pain to shovel and a nightmare to drive in. But this combines the snow I love and a place I love: Bowen's Wharf in Newport. Cold without and warm within, the perfect embodiment of Christmas.  If you'd like to participate, check out The Simple Woman's Daybook. Labels: Simple Woman's Daybook » Wednesday, December 21, 2011
A Trek North
 As a trade-off for working Saturday (a rather inadequate one, from my POV!), James was off today. We took the opportunity to sleep late and recharge our aging bodies, then headed up to Discover Mills. Since we had a day off in the middle of the week and we like to go up to the calendar store there once a year, it was a perfect day of the week to go. Traffic was minimal on the way there, and it was cloudy so there was no glare problem. The biggest problem was that it was damp and warm.We got a nice parking space close to the entrance near Books-a-Million and then walked clockwise around the mall. This is a great place for mallwalks. This is a multiple-use mall that not only has stores and a food court, but an indoor miniature golf course, a movie theatre, Medieval Times dinner theatre, a place for folks to play airsoft games, and a huge Bass Pro Shop. The stores are about average, lots of shoes and clothes (including a Saks outlet), and more perfume stores than I've ever seen. The Food Court runs through the middle and has a carousel. We stopped in the Lego outlet, in the As Seen on TV store, and of course wandered around Bass Pro, which is a trip. They sell hunting, fishing, camping, and other outdoor supplies, and stuff like camping food, country-themed decorations (even tree decorations), sporty tee shirts, outdoor clothing, etc. We also found a Disney Store! We haven't seen one of these in years; the one in Cumberland Mall closed ages ago, and Town Center's store closed shortly afterward. My favorite part of the store is going to the tall display at the center and hugging the stuffed animals. I've never gotten over my love for stuffed animals; even when I was a kid, I could take or leave (but mostly leave) dolls. They were boring. But I loved stuffed animals. We'd almost made the circuit when we stopped for lunch, having something from the Japanese place. I had teriyaki and sesame chicken portions with lo mein noodles and some water; very filling! This girded our loins for the final portion, which included the calendar place and Books-a-Million. We usually find good stuff in the calendar place, but nothing appeared very striking this year. Lots of dog calendars. I was looking for a small Susan Branch calendar, but didn't see one. I had one in our bedroom last year, and I liked the bright spot it made on the wall. However, they did have one in the Books-a-Million! This is a nice branch of the store and I wish it was closer to our house. The one in Acworth is a bit smaller and the magazines, at least, are always untidy, and the Discover Mills store always has more bargain books. I also found the new "Just Cross Stitch" with lots of snow designs. By the time we left the mall it was pouring rain, so it was a miserable drive down I-85 south, since all the "liquid stupidity" was falling from the sky. As we headed west on I-285, though, it cleared up a bit; while it never got sunny, the sky lighted considerably. We stopped for One Last Gift and now we are finished! We also had two Barnes & Noble coupons, one for 30 percent off and one for 25. I went hunting in the history books and found Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place Naming in the United States. It looks yummy! I also got The Jew Store, a review or commentary about which I had read earlier in the year. It is about a Jewish family that opens a general store in a small Southern town in 1920. They are the only Jewish family in the area and potential targets of the Ku Klux Klan. It sounds fascinating. » Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Happy Scents on a Rainy Day...
» Monday, December 19, 2011
A Belated Weekend Report...
...has popped up in Holiday Harbour!
» Friday, December 16, 2011
Waiting for the Waiting to Be Over
 Okay, this was the plan: we would get up early enough to go to Kaiser Cumberland for James to have blood drawn. Then we would have a quick breakfast—yay! oatmeal and fruit!—at Chik-Fil-A, followed by a trip out to Perimeter Mall, where we would go to the Container Store and Barnes & Noble for about 90 minutes before going to Kaiser Glenlake for James' 11:30 podiatry appointment. I figured it would take a bit longer than usual; I expected they would want fresh X-rays.When we finished James would drop me off at home and go to his 3:40 p.m. appointment back at Kaiser Cumberland. I could change the bed. When he got home we would go out to Books-a-Million (good coupon) and have supper at the Longhorn next door. Well, the first part of that worked out okay. James was the fourth person in the lab, breakfast was quick, we picked up a few things at the Container Store and bought two gifts at Barnes & Noble. We were at the Glenlake office promptly at 11:15. We didn't see the podiatrist until almost one. Plus there were the X-rays. By then we were both starving. The building did have a snack machine on the second floor—tell me, why does a medical organization constantly advertising that you live a healthy lifestyle have a snack machine full of candy bars and high-sodium chips in their facility?—but it wouldn't take any of the dollar bills I had. A kind lady nearby even swapped one of her dollar bills for one of mine. It didn't like hers, either. I had a screaming headache from being hungry and finally just walked out to the truck for two bags of trail mix. We ate these before seeing the podiatrist again. We didn't leave Glenlake until 2:45 and then had to hurry back to the Cumberland office, stopping only briefly at Dunkin Donuts for a flatbread sandwich each before arriving at 3:20. The doctor here was late as well. Sigh. We didn't get home until almost five o'clock, whereupon James took Wil out, then we drove out to...well, that worked out, except of course by 6:45 there was another wait at Longhorn. Aieeee! But I did get a couple more Christmas gifts at Books-a-Million, and ordered a couple more off Amazon while we waited at the doctor's office. Anyway, the trouble James is having with his right foot (turning on it excessively to the point it is making him limp and twisting his knee and hip) is not just a bone spur. It's a combination of that, arthritis, and plantar fasciitis. We had to buy inserts for his slippers, and he has a referral to get diabetic shoes. I have had my fill of waiting today! » Wednesday, December 14, 2011
They Lived Happily...
I never realized Lynn Johnston had done a Sunday summary strip when the original run of "For Better or For Worse" ended, telling you what happened to the characters.
Labels: comics FOR TODAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 (as usual, I didn't get this finished on time! maybe next week...) Outside my window... ...sun just peeking over the horizon. It's chilly, but will be quite warm today, almost 70°F. And I really need to refill the bird feeders. We will need seed again this weekend. I am thinking... ...that I will be glad when the parcels are on their way. I need to spend my lunch hour wrapping and boxing gifts. Thankfully only two of them need boxes; the others I can slip into padded envelopes. I love giving gifts, but this year I seem to be minutes behind everything, even though I got a head start on the decorating right after Thanksgiving! It has been very busy at work for December, so when I finish I have been tired. I still haven't put decorations up in the bathroom, and that takes something like fifteen minutes at most! Haven't finished a book yet this month, either. I am thankful for... ...just a few gifts left for Christmas. Of course the few gifts that are left are the ones that I am puzzled about what to get! From the learning rooms... ...I've learned I really need to slow the heck down and not do too much at once. But I never listen to myself. [Later: I didn't today, either.] From the kitchen... ...nothing much, since we've finished the gingerbread. :-) I ordered six boxes of Dromedary from Amazon. Gingerbread so foolproof even I can make it: all you add is water! I am wearing... ..."Mutts" pajama bottoms (Mooch and Earl play in the snow) and a green T-shirt because the matching top was gone when I bought the bottoms, and white socks. I am creating... ...Well, I will be creating mounds of scrap paper this afternoon, I hope! Gift wrapping makes a tremendous mess. I am going... ...to order more vegetable flakes. James has taken to putting them in our side dish (couscous, etc.) so I will get some veggies in my died besides salad vegetables. I am reading... ...still working on Pearl Harbor Christmas and also The Atheist's Guide to Christmas. Plus on my Nook I'm reading an old novel called The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. This is not the L. Frank Baum story, but a book from the 1920s where Nicholas, an orphan, starts bringing toys to children in his village from when he's a child. Only after he dies does he become the immortal St. Nicholas...Santa Claus. I am hoping... ...to get some rest after the parcels go out. Although I still have to wrap gifts, that shouldn't be so rushed. I am hearing... ...just the whirr of the fans right now. This is shaping up to be like the winter of 2001-2002, which was utterly miserable, 50s one day, 70s another. I wore shorts to decorate the Christmas tree, and the windows were open so often the tinsel got tangled from the breeze. Phooey. Around the house... ...just the lamp on, Schuyler blinking sleepily. I think she's finally feeling better; she has been going through a humongous moult, like the one she has in the spring. When she's shedding feathers she is so listless. I kept giving her fruits and encouraging her to sleep, and now she's rarin' to go again. Willow is in the chair drowsing. Poor old dog, she gets stiffer daily. I am pondering... ...friendship. And that sometimes it makes you melancholy. One of my favorite things... ...discussing books! On my Christmas movies and music books we are having a delightful conversation about A Christmas Carol—how the clothing of Scrooge's youth is usually portrayed incorrectly in films, artificial candlelight in old movies, if Belle was Fezziwig's daughter, etc. A few plans for the rest of the week: Mailing the gifts. Also need to go with James to the doctor. We need to see what to do about the bone spur in his heel. It makes him twist his foot, which is twisting his knee and hip. He limped after me gamely at Greenfield Village, but really, it's getting harder for him to walk, and that just makes it worse. Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...  While Charles Dickens could be wordy, A Christmas Carol is short, succinct, and classic. Everyone should read the book just once to experience his vivid descriptions, from the London markets at Christmastime to his eye-opening examples of the poverty of the time. There are many good film versions of A Christmas Carol, but the book, in its unabridged form, is a delightful experience. Try it! If you'd like to participate, check out The Simple Woman's Daybook. Labels: Simple Woman's Daybook » Sunday, December 11, 2011
Linda's Birthday Surprise(s)
(And one of them was a dilly...)So, when we last left our frazzled heroine, she was sleepy from decorating a Christmas tree. So Saturday she slept late, along with one quite deserving husband. And then we tackled the outdoor lights. As I've mentioned, I love Christmas lights. One of my cherished memories of Christmases as a child was "going for a ride" to see Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. I've forgotten dozens of gifts, but I remember those lights! White sparkle was lovely, but I reveled in rainbows and was never happier to see festoons upon swags of multicolor lights. However, for me putting up Christmas lights ranks somewhere on Dante's Nine Rings of Hell. Two (or a little bit more) hours later, everything was up. James was a bit frazzled, as he'd done one string of lights twice, and then had to take it down a third time after we discovered it was backwards—the male plug which had to be at the bottom of the column to connect to the extension cord which connected with the timer to light the whole kit and caboodle was somehow at the top. Plus he stabbed his finger at least once and left big streaks of blood on one of the columns. I finally shooed him off to his IPMS meeting, climbed the ladder fearfully to get rid of the blood streaks, and messed with one of the cords that went on the bushes right in front of the house. We had a string of lights that half died last year, and one string that worked last year was dead as a doornail this year. None of the bulbs looked loose or broken, so I tried replacing the fuses on the string that wasn't working. Nada. The folks on my Christmas group swear by a gadget called a Lightkeeper Pro, which makes nonworking light strings work again. I thought I'd hit Home Depot to see if they had one, and get a couple more of the small timers while I was at it. Timers, yes, Lightkeeper, no. I should have gone on to Lowes, but I lost one of the nose pads on my eyeglasses and my nose was screaming in pain, so I came home instead, and fixed the half-on, half-off light string so that the working lights were on top of the bushes and the nonworking half was stuffed in the back of the bush. Also, we never could get James' sparkly stars to work; not sure why, as they worked fine last year. :-( I also put out the two wooden reindeer, Woody and Holly, and the decorative stakes (candy cane, reindeer, and welcome bell). Besides, I was determined to work on the Christmas cards. I chose a design (I have several sets of cards), worked for a remarkably short time to get an excellent set of labels printed out (usually the laser ink affixes so poorly to the labels that I have to cover them with Scotch tape), then sat down with pens and stamps and labels. My goal was to do at least twenty of the forty cards, and that was accomplished. Then I got up and printed the newsletter off. This goes to folks who don't read my blog and/or Facebook, or don't read it regularly. After figuring out why the printer wouldn't print (there wasn't enough paper in it, apparently, to lift the paper to the feeder), and one minor bobble, I got some of them printed out (had to print some additional later) and went on with the card signing and stuffing. Then James came home and asked if I was ready to go out. Hmmm. I thought we were going to the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company performance of "An Atlanta Christmas" Sunday, followed by dinner at the Colonnade (where we always go for dinner on my birthday). Okay...quick gear switch...cleaned up, got dressed, grabbed the camera and the tripod (it's so dark at the Academy Theatre I never get properly focused pictures), and off we went on a chill and frosty evening out to Buckhead, a big shiny full moon overhead bathing the world in silver. The Colonnade was packed! It must have been a lot of groups or families getting together for dinner, because our wait for two people was only about fifteen minutes. There were even people in the bar area eating. Our waiter—who was absolutely super and so efficient we left him a good tip—said this was not normal for a Saturday and they were really surprised at the volume. Of course I had the turkey and dressing...that was a foregone conclusion. James had pork loin. It was delicious as always, and by a few minutes after seven we were tooling on our way to the Academy Theatre. It routed us by Clifton Road and CDC's main campus...good Lord! I haven't been to Clifton in several years, since I had a a Green Training class; it's nearly unrecognizable even from then! They had a little piece on CDC's website about them having to tear down the original, historic Building 1 from the 1940s back when CDC was the Communicable Disease Center; it was just not salvageable, but I didn't envision how radical the change was. I could barely take it in. I couldn't even identify the "new" Building 16 that became the main building some years ago. The old buildings, connected by metal catwalks and stairways, are all gone. The Academy Theatre was dark without, but warm within. This year's show relied on the more traditional, original sketches that Thomas Fuller wrote, including the World War I piece "O Tannenbaum," which is a tearjerker; the joyfully nostalgic "Davy Crockett and Me," the World War II-set "USO Christmas," and my perennial favorite about two lost souls who find each other, "Are You Lonely Tonight?" The Academy Theatre people also did two holiday-set skits, one about a theatre and its unusual ghost, and the second about a grieving man and a woman who simply wants to do a good deed. It was all lovely, and we had a nice chat with Caran afterwards, as well as meeting someone who has just gotten into Remember WENN fandom via Bill and Caran's copies. A long drive home, but I was able to catch Jen on chat via my phone, continuing the conversation after we got home. Emma and Mike showed up later and we had a good long chat until 2 a.m., even though I promised myself I wouldn't stay up later than one. Missing absent friends as well. James gave me my birthday gifts as well: Susan Waggoner's Have Yourself a Very Vintage Christmas, another in her line of nostalgic books taken from old magazines and craft books, and also a photo book called Remember the Forties. The dog alarm went off at 9:45 this morning, so there was no sleeping in for us. Yes, even on my birthday, grocery shopping must be done! So after breakfast we went to the Whitlock Avenue Kroger, hoping they had one of their pork roasts. I asked at the deli and they said they make very few because people don't buy them. Are they mad? These are delicious!!!! We got a rotisserie chicken (and it did the usual number on me later; not sure how they prepare them, but I never have problems with chicken cooked at home, or from KFC, but supermarket rotisserie chicken gets me every time) and a few groceries that added up to a lot. Ah, well. Once the groceries were put away, we could go out and have fun. We went to Bed, Bath & Beyond to get James a new frying pan and another Misto (the original is being used for olive oil; James wants one for sesame oil as well), then cut through the back to avoid the mall. Stopped at Dunkin Donuts since neither of us had lunch: had a grilled cheese sandwich and James a flatbread sandwich. Then we went to Barnes & Noble, as we had both a 25 percent off coupon and a 20. I scoured the magazine stand for the last of the Christmas magazines, although I couldn't find the December British "Country Living." Amazingly, the December issue of "Blue Ridge Country" had the most gorgeous fall cover and photos inside...I had to buy it. I also got the new Monk novel and the new collection of Valdemar short stories By then the cloud cover had crept over what had been a wisped blue sky and the sun was getting low. We stopped at Publix to get some bread for my lunch and a few twofers, then came home. We spent the night watching Christmassy things I'd recorded, followed by White House Christmas on HGTV. Now, earlier last week, I'd reminded James he needed to get his truck inspected because our vehicle registration renewals and taxes were due on my birthday. He stopped after work and had it done. And then, between work and Christmas decorations, I'd completely forgotten about it until we were on the way home tonight! So once I had changed clothes, I sat down at the computer and did it online per usual. One disaster averted. Good thing, I thought, I didn't have to renew my license this year. I hadn't received any reminder. At least I thought we got reminders. Wait a minute. Yes, you guessed it, my driver's license expired today, too. This is why I love the internet: I got online, found the proper website, and renewed my license online, then printed the receipt in case I needed it for corroboration. Labels: birthday, books, Christmas, decorating, events, food, friends, shopping, television » Friday, December 09, 2011
Trimmin' Up the Tree...
...in Holiday Harbour with help from Benji, Waldo, and Lassie.
Labels: Christmas, decorating, Holiday Harbour » Thursday, December 08, 2011
FOR TODAY, DECEMBER 8, 2011 Outside my window... ...sunny already, and very cold, which suits me just fine. Before the cold front moved in, I was aching in every joint and limping. I am thinking... ...about putting up the Christmas tree, which will consume me tomorrow. It's a long job, but usually a happy one. I have to remember to corral all the new ornaments that will go on the big tree. I even have a shopping bag ornament from Bronner's! I am thankful for... ...Lassie! I've found some reruns on Angel Two! They're showing the earliest episodes, with Jeff. From the learning rooms... ...watched an interesting Pearl Harbor special last night, about events following the attack. Apparently President Roosevelt had a terrible problem with his sinuses; without penicillin at the time there was nothing to treat infections with. So his personal physician used cocaine dabbled on the inner part of his nostrils to reduce the swelling of his sinuses so he did not sound "stuffy" when he made the "day of infamy" speech. From the kitchen... ...well, we have gingerbread mix. I'm waitin' on it. I really want to find some Dromedary mix. I haven't seen it in any of the stores. We bought Betty Crocker, but Dromedary is better. I am wearing... ...my Lassie sweatshirt and blue sweatpants, with white socks. I am creating... ...just finished putting together a cross-stitch project to include in a gift! Haven't had much time otherwise with the Christmas decorating. Oh, and I finished the letter that goes in the Christmas cards...now if I can only get to the Christmas cards... I am reading... ...Pearl Harbor Christmas by Stanley Weintraub. Weintraub appears to be making a career of writing about American historical incidents taking place at Christmas. I am hoping... ...for a pleasant birthday weekend. We usually go to the Atlanta Radio Theatre Christmas show, and then go out to eat at the Colonnade. I am hearing... ...the soft hum of the heat kicking in, Willow's collar tags jingling, the hum of the computer starting up for the day. Around the house... ...Christmas-sparkly, almost everywhere you look. I just realized I still haven't decorated the bathroom yet, but the longest part of that is putting the soap in the snowman dispenser! I am pondering... ...something depressing that happened news-wise over the weekend: the rape and murder of a little girl. What sort of terrible person does this, whether to a child or to an adult? What sort of thrill can someone get out of a hideous act? Baffling. Sad. One of my favorite things... ...Christmas magazines! I buy at least a dozen at Christmastime. I read the fluffy ones first, like "Women's Day" and "Better Homes and Gardens" first, leaving the cool ones like "Early American Home Christmas" and "Victorian Homes" for a final savor. I did read "White House Christmas" first...I couldn't resist; it looked so pretty. A few plans for the rest of the week: Christmas tree! And after that my birthday. Here is a picture for thought I am sharing... Just plain cute!  If you'd like to participate, check out The Simple Woman's Daybook. Labels: Simple Woman's Daybook » Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Broadcast from Pearl Harbor
Remembering Pearl Harbor
I was born long after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but my father, uncles, and older cousins all fought in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Theaters, and I never tired of asking my mom "Tell me the Pearl Harbor story again." (She and her mother had been walking to a cousin's house to "go visiting," and from an upper story of one of the triple-deckers up on Federal Hill, a friend called to them news of the attack. Later the whole family had gone to church; there wasn't a scheduled Mass—they just went there to pray.) One of the always fascinating things in our attic was a box full of newspaper clipping from the era: mostly maps from the newspaper detailing the daily movements of the troops, but also whole newspapers like a tribute to President Roosevelt after his death.
This novel radio special, chronicling the attack from the viewpoint of Hawaiian newspapers and Hawaiian residents is running for the next seven days on BBC 4: Random Edition, Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor attacked: A Witness Remembers, 70 Years Later Pearl Harbor: Three Enduring Mysteries New Book on Pearl Harbor » Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Whither Savings?
"Why Americans Spend So Much, Save So Little"
Interesting article talking about the tipping point as being the 1980s. I remember being encouraged to save in school. We had little savings envelopes from whatever bank we had chosen, pink for Citizens Bank, and blue for the Old Stone Bank (ours). My mom and dad took out a selected amount for "house money" after being paid and the rest went into the bank. I remember Mom keeping track of everything they spent on a "ten cent pad" from Woolworths (about 4x6, white, unruled) which sat in the "money drawer" of their dresser. My parents didn't have a checking account until I got one in the early 1980s...I didn't even know how to write a check when I got my checking account—I looked up how to do it in the World Book! They saved up for everything before they spent their money, including vacations, and Dad's last car, the white Pontiac Phoenix I named "Canrith." It was seven thousand something with tax, and Dad paid for it in cash. Labels: news » Sunday, December 04, 2011
A Yuletide Weekend...
» Friday, December 02, 2011
Up and Down the Stairs and the Street
Remember, it's that time of year: many of the posts, like today's, will be in Holiday Harbour.
Labels: Christmas, Holiday Harbour » Wednesday, November 30, 2011
A Lull
...from the Latin "lullare"...ooops, sorry, wandered into a Remember WENN episode.
The lull is in the Christmas decorating; there simply wasn't time today, as I had to do the laundry during lunch. Work, on the other hand, was reeeeeallllly busy. I'm hoping with my team lead's help the last-minute hotel order will get done. There's also a vaccine storage order. And a no-cost extension that has to be done before next Wednesday. Not to mention five new orders. Wheeee. Getting increasingly disenchanted with Harry's Law. Too many extra characters now—not fond of Ollie or Cassandra, and even though I'm fond of bombastic Tommy, he dilutes the mix even more—and the quirky "shoe store" plot has been abandoned except for occasional references. It's basically turning into LA Law or some other ensemble law drama, with "ripped from the headlines" storylines. Heck, Harry was barely in the last episode! Labels: Christmas, television, work » Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Oh, God...It's Us
» Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday Times
We did get up early to fetch the final Tintin ornament, the solo Snowy, holding a bone. It's a bit static, as James observed; wish he'd been in partial leap, or at a run or a trot.We had breakfast at Ken's Hometown Grill (I indulged and had two orders of toast with a slice of ham; ever since I read A Discovery of Witches, which is full of characters eating delectable or cozy meals, I have been on a mad buttered toast jonesing) and then finished the week's grocery shopping at Publix. By this time it was 10 a.m. and after six hours sleep we were a bit punch-drunk. I did actually crawl back into bed, but couldn't sleep and got back up at eleven. Eventually all the things got put away, and we meandered about for the rest of the day with the Lord of the Rings trilogy running in the background on Encore. Read the paper, and then did get the three boxes out into the garage and the Christmas boxes taken down from the storage closet. James also helped me cut the red-checked gingham I bought and we tacked it to the front of the bookcase we are using as a pantry. We had no tacks and used push-pins, which look dreadful. Will replace them next weekend or whenever. Had some thin steaks we found at Publix for supper with couscous and James is now watching Punkin Chunkin 2011. Yes, Virginia, some perfectly normal adults do spend autumn afternoons trying to hurl pumpkins long distances with catapults and trebuchets. Beats wasting money on professional sports. Labels: chores, Christmas, shopping, television Christmas Approaches... » Saturday, November 26, 2011
An Early Saturday
Well, we were planning to support Small Business Saturday, but didn't do too much for it, just a visit to the hobby shop. Nevertheless, it was a tiring day, but fun.We were up early for Saturday (7:30), but as we had gone to sleep at 11:30, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We wanted to be at Cost Plus World Market when the doors opened to get the second Tintin ornament, which is Tintin on his motorcycle. (And yes, we're planning to go tomorrow to get the third one of Snowy.) I found some goodies for Christmas, too. Then we went for breakfast across the parking lot at the IHOP. We're disappointed because they don't have the same specialty pancakes as in previous years, except for the pumpkin...I wanted to have the gingerbread ones again; they were delicious. We had the Nooks with us and connected to the IHOP wifi and were watching the pre-launch activities for the launch of the new Mars probe "Curiosity" via NASA's streaming channel. Cool, eh? We crossed Cobb Parkway so James could get a look at a Kindle Fire at the Office Depot. Had the Nook with me, so noticed that the screen of the Kindle is slightly smaller. Unfortunately it only had a demo mode, so you couldn't really judge how it worked. Office Depot also had the new Asus EEE tablet, but we couldn't check that out, either; they didn't have it plugged in. [eyes roll] Nice way to sell something, guys. We needed some things at Costco, so we went there next, arriving just as they opened, which was very nice! We needed soap, Breathe Rights, and mushrooms (there's a weird combination for you) and also picked up an Entertainment book for $20; there are at least $20 worth of coupons in it—plus a "few other things." They had the book I've been drooling over, Harry Potter: From Page to Screen, which is a ginormously huge coffee-table tome with dense text and gorgeous photography as well as original drawings of costume and set design. Still thinking about it. So, home to drag all the stuff inside, and a bit of a respite while checking e-mail and stuff, then we drove out to Merchants Walk for a visit to Trader Joe's. Found a pumpkin tart, peppermint bark, and other Christmas treats, but...no almond bark! The manager said they didn't get any! Blast. I wait all year for their almond bark. I wonder if it's just the Marietta store...we could check the Sandy Springs store... We stopped by Betsy's Hallmark to get the Lucy section of the "Peanuts" band. Also got the Pongo ornament, which meant I got a freebie item, and I also had a coupon for a free ornament, and then $7 off the entire purchase. We headed back to the hobby shop past the Kroger where we had gotten the delicious beef and chicken soups recently, hoping to take more home for supper. Sadly, they had different soups today and none looked good, so we got some pork loin instead. (I didn't eat much of it, sadly, as it was too highly peppered as well as being thick and juicy.) Ended up at the hobby shop for a while, where I read my new issue of "Birds and Blooms" and wrestled with a sinus headache created by the approaching rainstorm. I finally downed three ibuprofin and closed my eyes on the way to our last stop at Barnes & Noble. We both looked covetously at the Nook Tablet, but only I found a book: Simon Garfield's Just My Type. Made for each other: me and a book about fonts! He even mentions College Humor's "Font Conference" and "Font Fight." Also got an Agatha Raisin book off the remainder table, as I'm rather curious after hearing the Raisin radio shows during vacation. And then home for a rest, and supper, and listening to Schuyler give a budgie concert, and then finally chat. Hadn't talked to Rodney in several weeks, so that was nice. Missal Changes
On Sunday, Catholic Mass Won't Sound the Same
Interesting...I remember when the Mass was in Latin and the priest faced the wall, not the congregation, and also the introduction of the first reading from the Old Testament. It was a great change for the older people, who thought it a bit sacriligious. » Friday, November 25, 2011
FOR TODAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011 Outside my window... ...the world is bathed in darkness. It's been a busy week and I've finally had a chance to sit down to do this. I am thinking... ...that it will be nice to get some sleep! I was up at five this morning to "do" Black Friday. No, I didn't go to the mall or any of the big stores, just Office Max and Depot, World Market, JoAnn and Michaels. I am thankful for... ...everything: life, love, family, friends, animals, plants, fiction, reality—why limit thankfulness? Be thankful for waking, and sleeping, sunrise and sunset, the earth and the sea, the ground and the sky, and the lovely, lovely stars. (Okay. I am not thankful for summer.) From the learning rooms... ...I just finished reading Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates. I didn't really enjoy her snark, but there were many interesting facts about Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, which we never learned in history class. Coming from the home of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, this is rather neglectful. From the kitchen... ...well, it needs to be cleaned...LOL. We ate out tonight as we always do on Fridays. I am wearing... ...my ratty old Lassie sweatshirt and blue sweatpants and white socks. It's a bit warm even for that. I am creating... ...order in my craft room. Pretty much just shoved extraneous junk into my assembled "Chopper Hopper" for now so I could move around in the room and clean off my drafting table. I am going... ...to relax some tonight. It was a long haul this morning, and I didn't even go anywhere busy! I am reading... ...A Pocketful of History, the stories behind the images on the state quarters. Pretty cool. I am hoping... ...to do some business with small businesses tomorrow. It is Small Business Saturday. Not many small businesses around here, though, to buy things we actually are interested in. I am hearing... ...Flying Wild Alaska! It's an episode about the Iditarod. Around the house... ...we're winding down for the evening. Schuyler is singing us a song and Willow is asleep on her dog bed. I am pondering... ...how quickly the month has gone by! I still have gifts to put together, Christmas cards to write—and decorations to put up! Where does all the time go? One of my favorite things... I'm watching it on television: Flying Wild Alaska. If I were younger, healthier, and stronger (and if there was proper storage for the books), I'd be up there in a minute. A few plans for the rest of the week: Sadly, I'm writing this so late there's not much of it left. A trip to the hobby shop for sure. :-) And Hallmark to get the next Peanuts jazz band member. Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...  This photo of Alaska is courtesy of TripAdvisor We have a lovely planet and need to keep it this way. No one's telling you not to "live." But try not to waste. If you'd like to participate, check out The Simple Woman's Daybook. OMG, I Agree With Ted Forth... Shopping for Fun and Profit... » Thursday, November 24, 2011
Best Wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving!
» Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Cool, Cool, O So Joyful Coolness
Day one of Thanksgiving leave from work! I celebrated by sleeping until 8:30, making up for losing sleep the last two nights when it was so warm. My joints ache so much when it gets this humid and warm that I wake up due to my knees hurting and my shoulders stiff.
Next I had breakfast and headed out to do some errands. In the Sunday paper, the Target ad showed wireless mice on sale for $10 and I wanted to see if there were any left. There were; they were smaller than the one from Microcenter, but I bought one anyway for use with the laptop. I made the mistake of wandering into their Christmas aisles and found the cutest little ceramic reindeer salt and pepper shakers; one has a red scarf, the other a green, luckily not expensive. They are a bit cartoony but very cute, with pointed faces, and the pepper one has his eyes closed as if he's just sneezed. I was very taken with their Christmas lights; as much as I don't like the LEDs I did love the sets they had that were all six colors of the rainbow, with the yellow clearly different from the orange. When I see things like that I am tempted to do multicolor on the front porch rather than blue! They also had a nice variety of different figurals I hadn't seen anywhere else, not even at Bronner's: from media like Mickey Mouse, Disney princesses, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph (Rankin-Bass versions) to lobsters and other animals. Before I stopped at Target I had made a brief stop at Kohl's. I checked out flannel sheets (not a lot of colors, and expensive) and flannel jammies. I also checked out the flannel pajamas at Target; it looks like if I want them they will run about $25. Still not sure I should buy them, as it gets cold enough for them only about two weeks out of the year! From Target I turned up the East-West Connector and went to the Barnes & Noble on Dallas Highway. By then I had my phone plugged in to my car stereo and listened to instrumental Christmas music. It was such a lovely day I wanted to burst with happiness: just cloudy enough to keep the sun out of my eyes, 55 degrees, and the breeze was at a good clip, whirling leaves about. Talk about energizing! The ride through West Sandtown Road is pretty, too, kind of country/suburban, with tree-surrounded yards. So I took a look at the new Nook Tablet. It's really slick and zippy. But...there is that Color I bought all too recently. Goodness! does gadget envy ever end? Strolled around the bargain books and the new ones as well. Very surprised that this year there is not one Christmas book that I want! Stopped at Publix on the way home to get a baguette and picked up a couple of twofers and gave $5 to the Can Bank. I haven't seen any donation barrels this year! That's a shame because I loved walking through the store last year buying staples and then watching the cashiers' faces as I told them it was all for the barrel. At home I had the baguette with some goat cheese and dubbed off two episodes of Castle before I realized I hadn't started the laundry and it was nearly three o'clock. So I stuffed the washer for round one and then tackled a chore downstairs. We have a bookcase in the hallway that we have filled with old APAzines. We don't read them and I really don't like the bookcase anyway. However, we do need an additional place to add food items that we are storing in our pantry closet. So I emptied the zines into Xerox paper boxes, then cleaned off the bookcase and refilled it with light things: granola bars, tea, Sweet'n'Low, cereal, box potatoes, etc. Next time I am at JoAnn I will get a piece of material large enough to cover the front (24"x60"). Maybe in red gingham. It will look cute and be an extra "closet." When James arrived home we had supper and then he started baking the sweet potato "sonker" for Thanksgiving dinner. It has steamed sweet potatoes in it and is basically a pie. He used the leftover bits of crust to make little cinnamon rolls, the bits rolled out, basted with a little butter, and scattered with cinnamon and nutmeg, baking them in the oven. My mom used to do this if she made a pie, knowing I'd rather eat the crust anyway! Made me feel like a little girl again. Labels: Christmas, clothing, electronics, food, shopping, television, weather » Tuesday, November 22, 2011
An Unplanned Autumn Ride...
» Sunday, November 20, 2011
There and Here and There Again
::grump::Yes, I was a grump immediately upon arising. It was going up to 70°F today and it was already getting warm. Plus we'd gone to bed late, then my alarm went off at eight, and almost immediately after that the power burped, so that every single light in the room went on, including both cell phones and the Nooks, which also bleated. ::gnash:: So, short of sleep, and warm, I was grumpy. So we went to Publix for twofers, and I bought yogurt there just in case, because when we went to Kroger last week they only had a paltry few left. And they still had chicken broth ten for $10, so I got more of that. Chicken broth now averages $1.50 a can, so this is a good sale. Then we went to Kroger for the remainder of the shopping. Once home with everything stowed, I pulled out and signed and addressed some Thanksgiving cards. I had a headache compounded from only having oatmeal for breakfast and the cloudy, sultry weather outside, and the fact that I had procrastinated on this was solely my own fault. But soon they were addressed and stamped, and we could combine the mailing trip with something joyous: bringing old stuff to Goodwill, including that clunky old Kirby. I'm still feeling guilty about the Kirby. Mom spent a lot of money on providing the down payment for it. But it's heavy, difficult to maneuver, hideously complicated to put on the hose for the attachments, and the bags cost a fortune. It just doesn't work. We also brought our original DVD player, some cases for floppy disks, and both Mavicas. I looked on Gazelle.com, which Leo LaPorte is always talking about, but the cameras weren't worth anything. However, they do still sell batteries for them, so I felt comfortable donating them. I even tossed in some floppy disks for each one. We circled around to mail the cards, then went to Aldi, then had to stop back at Kroger again. James is making a sweet potato "sonker"—a kind of pie—for Thanksgiving dinner and what with buying the usual groceries and the supplies for Thanksgiving, he'd completely forgotten the crust for the sonker. Had a nice afternoon watching some episodes of From the Earth to the Moon and reading the paper, with a pot-roast pot pie for supper as a chaser. Can't believe the weekend's over already! » Saturday, November 19, 2011
Chicken Soup for the Soul
We had the last Farmer's Market of the season today, so we stocked up on things like pilaf, dog biscuits, more goat cheese, a pot pie, chicken salad and pimento cheese, plus apple and peach bread and a baguette to take to Hair Day. We did hear that in January they are going to have a "winter market" that will apparently be indoors. This will last through March until the outdoor version starts again.We drove to Ron and Lin's house through Polk Street, Dallas Highway, and then Villa Rica Road. The last is so pretty with the little smallholdings, now looking austere with the faded leaves and bare branches, horses grazing in the paddock, cows lying down in the meadow, a small still pond, a picturesque barn. A good time as usual at Hair Day: Lin passed around a funny story from "Reader's Digest," Oreta talked about her new librarian assignment, and we had chicken rice soup for lunch. This was procured from a nearby restaurant, and was thick and filling and delicious, with just a hint of lemon in it. The baguette went perfectly with it, and the apple and peach breads were gone long before that. We went to the Hobby Shop for a while, then stopped at MicroCenter on the way home. I bought an enclosure for the hard drive that came out of my original laptop, as well as a new wireless mouse. My old mouse is still working, but it takes fits; it wears out two rechargeable AAA batteries in a week and sometimes when you put the batteries in, it doesn't power up; you have to wiggle them to get it to work. This new one (a Logitech) takes only one battery, which they claim has a life of 12 months. We'll see about that, as the old one (an Inland) claimed alkaline batteries would last three months and they barely lasted three weeks. Plus you can shut the Logitech off at night so it's not wasting battery life. I put the laptop hard drive in the enclosure and was dismayed when it started making a grinding noise. However, I had it seated badly, and eventually it did work. I was rewarded by finding old Remember WENN chats dating back to before the series was cancelled in September 1998; heck, from before fourth season aired!—Joanne, who began the chats, was actually on one transcript, and folks we haven't heard from in years like Emerie, Lee, Jess, Diane, Jill, etc., as well as our late friend Dana Sherman—plus my original diary entry for our trip to Nyack, NY, to see Rupert Holmes' play Thumbs, Jess' prom photos, conversations with Rupert's dad Leonard. Watched some British Christmas things tonight: The Good Life's "Silly, But It's Fun," the To The Manor Born Christmas special, "Christmas Crackers" from Are You Being Served?, and All Creatures Great and Small's "Merry Gentlemen." I love the last...just the coziness of that old house, and the Dalelands; I want to transport myself into it, like Lucy into Narnia. Ended up the night on chat and watching a couple of Thanksgiving specials I'd recorded in previous years, Thanksgiving Unwrapped and The Secret Life of Thanksgiving. Labels: autumn, Christmas, computers, food, friends, shopping, television, Thanksgiving, weather » Friday, November 18, 2011
Free Friday
Today was the first of my use-or-lose Fridays off. For some reason, although I could fall back in somnolent comfort every morning this week, today I couldn't sleep. Typical. So I dressed and had breakfast, then went to the bank. We've had a safe deposit box for years, but I've never put the savings bonds into it. Today I brought them over along with some rolled coins to deposit. Several were matured, so I had planned to cash them in, but the teller let me know they are still accruing interest, albeit at a lower rate, so I just put them all in the box.Then to Office Max for a dog's breakfast of things—bookends, labels for Christmas card envelopes, and coin rollers—and a stop at Lowes. Bought some blue bulbs for the candoliers and also one of their battery-operated LED candles, which is a warm yellow rather than that creepy, dim LED-blue color of the cheaper ones I bought last year, plus a new timer. I kept giving wistful glances over my shoulder at the empty Borders store. I keep thinking perhaps one time I will look that way and it will all have been a bad dream. Alas, still empty. At least they haven't converted it into something horrible, like...a shoe store or something. Talk about degradation and squalor. (I don't get the women-and-shoes thing. Really, I don't. Shoes are to keep your feet warm and protected. Why would you want hundreds of them, in different styles and colors? Very strange.) Did a quick check of the Dollar Tree, then zipped into Walmart for a few things, including the Lean Cuisine dinners I like that no one else carries, and then it was time to turn for home. I spent the afternoon having goat cheese and crackers for lunch and dubbing off two episodes of Castle and appearances by Julie Scardina and Pauley Perrette from The Tonight Show, while working on a cross stitch of a bird. The kit's been sitting on the coffee table for months and I'm tired of it being there. We had supper at Ruby Tuesday because of the coupon, then had a novelty dessert: a doughnut each. We haven't had a doughnut since Atomicon (April). Finally a stop at Hobby Lobby. All their Christmas decorations were half off, and they have a village set this year. Well, we found a bookstore! There's no more room on our Christmas village display, but I thought the bookstore—which is so minimally Christmas-themed you almost might not notice, except for the wreath on the door—would make a good nightlight for the library. Coolness. Labels: Christmas, decorating, food, shopping, television FOR TODAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2011 (yes, late again, but Wednesday was very busy at work) Outside my window... ...sunny and delightful—it's only 53°F right now! Sadly, it will be into the 70s again on Monday and Tuesday. [sticks out tongue] Florida needs to keep its wretched warm air where it belongs. Wild birdies at the feeder. Much fewer autumn leaves on the trees than there were Wednesday; we had a terrible storm blow through...tornadoes north of us...a sky that looked like the hounds of Hell were coming...wind, rain, some thunder, tornado sirens shrieking. It was not a good day. I am thinking... ...I'm glad to have a chore finished. I finally have placed the savings bonds in our safe deposit box. We've only had the box for...well, it's been awhile. I was going to cash out the matured bonds, but the teller says they are still earning interest, so I will hold them until I need them. It's not like I have a fortune in them, but I may need even that paltry sum someday. I am thankful for... ...all the good things: James, Schuyler, Willow, friends, relatives, nice co-workers, cooler weather, favorite television programs, autumn leaves, our past vacation, my car, books, cross-stitch, the Christmas music I have on right now... From the learning rooms... ...reading the young people's version (which is not all that dumbed down, but more condensed) of Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower, Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World (appropriate before-Thanksgiving reading). Did you know the Separatists (what the "Pilgrims" called themselves) were not married in religious ceremonies, only civil ones? Or that, while Franklin Roosevelt's mother's family did not come over on the Mayflower, they did come over on the very next ship? From the kitchen... ...quiet. Just had a nice Granny Smith apple. I hadn't even sat down with it before Schuyler was cheeping frantically: "Apple! Apple! Give the birdie some apple!" I am wearing... ...my autumn chickadee shirt and the tobacco-colored "Amanda" jeans from Gloria Vanderbilt, and my black leather Reeboks. I didn't change when I got home from my errands (bank, Office Max, Lowes, Dollar Tree, Wally World), just commenced to having goat cheese and crackers for lunch and then dubbing off a couple of Castle eps. I am creating... ...a bird cross-stitch. I was tired of it sitting on the coffee table. Was working on it last night while watching the rest of this season's History Detectives (which I had to watch online) and today during Castle. I am going... ...to drop off some things at Goodwill this weekend. Why on earth we are keeping an 11-year-old DVD player and two 13-year-old digital cameras we haven't used in years I'll never know. Oh, and that boat anchor Kirby's about to get the boot out the door, too. I am reading... ...besides the Philbrick book, Acceptable Loss by Anne Perry, which I had on reserve at the library. Luckily I checked online, because they never called to tell me it was in, and Sibley is closed today because of budget cuts. (Cut politicians' salaries, not library hours!) Oh, and I still haven't finished Boneshaker yet. I am hoping... ...to get more rubbish out of the house by the end of the year. It's really silly to keep these old things. I am hearing... ...Christmas music—Dish's Traditional Holiday channel. Not bad. Their other channel has modern stuff on, like N'Sync and newer. Not my cup of tea. Around the house... ...I need to put away the useful things I bought today: coin rollers, Christmas labels, bookends, a couple more strings of Christmas lights, blue lights for the candles. I have to try out the battery candle. Last year I bought one from Lowes and then a pair elsewhere. I tossed the two posthaste in the donate box: they are that ugly "cold" white LED light that looks so awful. The Lowes candles have a yellow glow and flicker like a real candle. These have a special feature I like: you decide when you want them to turn on—say, 5 p.m. You put the batteries in exactly at that time. The candle comes on and burns for six hours, then shuts off and thereafter comes on at 5 p.m. until you take the batteries out again. So you can put them in the window the first day you start decorating and just leave them there until Christmas is over. I am pondering... ...candles in the bedroom windows for Christmas. :-) I was only going to buy them for the living room windows. The front windows have Mother's five-candle candoliers in them, and the rear have the color changing single candles; downstairs has our three-candle units. One of my favorite things... ...I'm listening to it: Christmas music. When things get bleakest in summer it even helps to put it on then. Usually I choose instrumental for summer; it isn't so obvious, and, played low, no one knows the difference. A few plans for the rest of the week: Hair Day. The last Farmer's Market. Here is a picture for thought I am sharing... Such a little thing, but so bright and cheerful. Love and friendship is like a little candle in the darkness.  If you'd like to participate, check out The Simple Woman's Daybook. Labels: Simple Woman's Daybook » Thursday, November 17, 2011
Workin' and Hopin'
Yesterday was...a trip. At exactly 11:09, my DSL connection crashed (yes, again). I immediately signed back on to work via dial-up, while screaming at Earthlink on the phone. After a half-hour the technician determined it was...an outage. As usual, Earthlink didn't tell its support staff about it. It was AT&T's fault again—the outage just on area code 770. He told me the problem wouldn't be fixed until tomorrow. So I pegged away at work and about 3 p.m. checked Earthlink's outage site on my phone. They said it had been resolved at 1:23. So I tried to get back on the DSL only to discover that my computer was no longer talking to the network. I could connect to DSL directly through the modem, but not through the router.
James helped me test this later when he got home. I plugged into every open connection of the router, but it still kept telling me my cable was unplugged. I even plugged into the one James was using which worked perfectly. So the network card works with the modem, not with the router? Gee, thanks. However, some time ago, James bought a wireless dongle from MicroCenter because it was on sale. He pulled this out now and installed it to my computer. After fiddling with it a while, it worked. So I'm connected to the network, and the internet...but I have a perfectly good wired connection and it won't work. ::grumble:: In the meantime, outside all hell was breaking loose. When I went into the kitchen for breakfast, I had stopped at the windows out to the deck, admiring the color outside. "I should take a picture," I muttered, then went on to get my breakfast so I could get to work. I should have grabbed the camera then. By afternoon we had tornado sirens in stereo (Smyrna and Marietta), I turned the television on to find Chesley McNeil at WXIA describing hook clouds and tornado sightings (while people whined on Facebook that he was pre-empting Days of Our Lives), rain fell in torrents, and I had the dog on a leash, ready to grab Skye's cage and run downstairs, while the weather radio shrieked in the background. It got terribly dark at one point, as if all the Hounds of Hell were leaping over the horizon, with surprisingly little thunder and no hail to speak of. By this morning the terrible, oppressive 70s of yesterday were but a memory, and it was cold, one that bit down to your toes. I loved it, but not the sight out on the deck: half the lovely leaves were gone. Autumn is ephermal enough! However the cool was quite welcome, and the wireless worked fine for work. I am trying to juggle proposals for a conference that was given to us at the last minute. The big problem with it is that it's being held in Guam, so I can't talk to them during the day. I phoned two of the hotels late last evening to get the e-mail address of the events directors so I could discuss with them via e-mail; thank God for e-mail! Plus I got a neat item on Amazon Vine, and, had I reacted a tad quicker, I could have had Bluetooth headphones. Phooey. Not to mention I had to toss on my jacket about 3:30 and rush to the library. For the third time in a row, they haven't called me when a reserved book has come in; I just happened to check the web site to see where I was in the queue. This was for Anne Perry's Execution Dock. Oh, and I gave myself an early birthday gift: I joined Amazon Prime. Two-day shipping and video access! I used my Amazon credit card points to buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, and 320 watermelon-flavored Jolly Rancher candies (since you can't buy them separately in bags at the supermarket anymore). At two a day they should last a while. » Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Networkin'
The NBC network is 85 years old today.
NBC Chimes Through the Years NBC Chimes Museum Three Famous Notes of Broadcasting History Labels: radio, television » Monday, November 14, 2011
Summer in Fall
Ugh...75°F today. Thankfully, it was cloudy most of the day, especially on the way home, so I didn't have to worry about a herd of Atlantans who evidently have no idea what a sun visor is for. Smells more like spring today than fall, despite the mellowing fall colors surrounding the city. Every once in a while a gust of wind sends dozens of them swirling around. It was so positively grey on the way home that I needed to put my lights on.
I'm afraid this is going to be another year like the loathsome winter of 2001-2002, when it was 75 or more every other day. The house was overrun with flies and the ants came marching in. Makes me thankful for quarterly extermination. Labels: weather » Sunday, November 13, 2011
Worktime and Playtime and Back Again
Saturday was a busy day, but most of it was entertaining.We heaved the box with the dead electronics into the truck and went on to the Farmers Market first. It was cool at this point and we had a nice amble about, buying salad veggies and a few other things. There wasn't a crowd at the recycling event, and we dumped and went, stopping off at Food Lion before going home, as we still had a few chores to get through before game night: James cleaned the kitchen and I did the hall bath and finished the vacuuming and tidied other things up. James was still sneezing badly today. I've never seen him have an allergy attack last a second day, but I've had them myself and know they can happen. Nevertheless, he still went to his club meeting. I tidied up a few more things, then put on BBC4X and listened to some radio drama, including an excellent adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's War Horse that has been such a hit as a play and is the subject of an upcoming film. Folks started arriving right on time at five. We had a jolly evening eating the turkey and stuffing James had prepared—it was quite delicious! We had a variety of sides provided, including mashed potatoes, green beans, fruit, a relish tray with olives and pickles, cornbread, a chocolate peanut-butter cake, chips and salsa, and some wonderful homemade fruit pie made from peaches, strawberries and blueberries. Some folks put on the football game and later James, Jerry and John retreated to the library to set the universe straight while the ladies played games and Mel and Ken watched television. We first played "Urban Myth," which I had as an evaluation copy. You are supposed to determine if a clue read to you is true or a myth. If you are on a certain square and answer the question correctly, you get a letter which either spells "myth" or "true." If you get the letters to spell either one, you win. We all felt there were some bugs in the game; it was okay. Then we went on to play Yahtzee Free-For-All, which is a favorite. It's a version of Yahtzee where you have to match cards that have been drawn. You can also take cards others have earned. It's loads of fun. And then one by one our guests left. We did most of the cleanup except for the vacuuming, then relaxed and got on chat, talking with Jen and Emma. Alas, the busy day caught up with me and we signed off half an hour early. I was hoping for a restful night's sleep, but bad dreams nagged me all night, and I wasn't all that refreshed this morning. After breakfast we went out to Trader Joe's. They had some of their Christmas favorites out, and we were able to sample cranberry goat's cheese on some wonderful ginger cookies, and hot cider. James was still feeling under the weather and I wasn't much better, so we got some mints and also mint tea. Neither of us ended up sampling the latter, but the former were good on the stomach. We also stopped at Kroger for the weekly needs (milk, bread, etc.). Since it was close to Trader Joe's, we stopped at the store on Johnson Ferry Road, which had a Dollar Tree in the same shopping center. [shakes head] All the ladies in my Christmas group walk into Dollar Tree stores and find bargain Christmas DVDs. I haven't even found a Dollar Tree in the area that sells DVDs! James did find some sugarless candy there. Anyway, we walked into Kroger and this one dumps you directly into the deli. We hadn't had lunch and bought some delicious soups for each of us along with the staples. Finally, we stopped at Sam's Club for gas before coming home to read the paper and having the soup. I had chicken and he had beef vegetable; both were excellent. Yesterday while I was listening to War Horse, I started the little cross stitch kit I'd purchased at Michaels on Friday. This afternoon and this evening, while we were watching Murdoch Mysteries, I finished it tonight. "My girl" is on the right.  I added the little face to give her a little more of a personality. I also made a mistake with the reds, which I'm glad I did...it looks like she's wearing an overskirt. Labels: crafts, errands, food, friends, games, sickness, television » Friday, November 11, 2011
Fun Before Chores
Alas, this morning when I wanted to sleep a little late, I woke up with a clogged nose. James had woken up sneezing violently as well. I'm wondering if it's keeping the windows open, since numerous neighbors are burning leaves.Well, since I couldn't sleep, I could get up and have breakfast, and then skedaddle off to JoAnn. It was a chilly but beautifully sunny day; the trees, whether bright or dull, made a picture against the vivid blue of the sky. I haven't been in a craft store since way before vacation, and was not surprised to see that all the autumn things had been whisked away. I was delighted in JoAnn's line of red and white decorations this year; it's very Swedish. They even have matching scarves and hats! (Incidentally, I've never seen more "Jayne hats" than I did in JoAnn today, in all colors.) They also have a very varied line of figural glass ornaments this year, including ethnic Santas, themed ornaments (like Paris or ballerinas), and items I've never seen as ornaments before, like a fortune cookie. Well, I wasn't really satisfied with the craft item I had to pick up to finish my project, but that's all they had and I don't know any other source for it. I can make it work; it just wasn't what I wanted. I did pick up something to use as a gift, and fixings to make another gift. I stopped at Michaels next door because they had a 25 percent off entire purchase coupon. Not much I wanted, but I did find something to add to the first gift I bought at JoAnn. Usually I find some stocking stuffers in the dollar bins (which are now $1.50), but it was pretty sparse. I did get a little cross-stitch kit. Also stopped in Hobby Lobby to get a few small fall picks to put into the china cabinet to give it an autumn flair, and a very pretty garland for the stair rail. It is shiny silver with a matte muted gold mixed in, very distinctive. It was all on sale, so a very reasonable purchase. Then I turned toward Barnes & Noble, where I did find the November British "Country Living" as well as the Christmas "Victorian Homes," always a favorite, and the January "Cooks Country" for James. I stopped at Hallmark because I thought there was a new piece of the "Peanuts" jazz band out this week. Turns out it is next Thursday. So I headed for home through the edge of Kennesaw National Battlefield Park, a lovely day to do so. When the trees started turning this year, they were really quite dull, but the ones that turned later often turned out to be spectacular. Near the Michaels there was a quintet of trees that should have accompanied the definition of crimson in an illustrated dictionary, a dark, rich red with undertones of purple. On the way through the park, before I passed all the business buildings on the left, there was reddish-orange tree, really more red than orange, but with enough orange undertones that it looked afire. The rest of the ride, though the old homes lining Kennesaw Avenue, was duller but very pleasant. Once at home I had some leftover soup and some goat cheese with crackers for lunch while watching a Rick Steves DVD, Austria and the Alps. I let it run all afternoon while I was giving the table a good cleaning for game night tomorrow, washing it down and giving it a little mineral oil treatment, and also ironed the runner. James was home early, in the midst of what looked like a full blown allergy attack! He had hot chili for dinner, hoping it would help unstuff his nose, and I had more soup. Afterwards we tidied up the living room and I got together the last of the things to go to electronics recycling tomorrow. Finally it was time to watch Flying Wild Alaska! Look at all that snow! I love this series. Labels: autumn, chores, crafts, magazines, shopping, weather » Wednesday, November 09, 2011
FOR TODAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 Outside my window... ...it is light out! A rather watery light, as it is cloudy in preparation for rain later in the day, but it really seems morning as it never does in spring and fall when Daylight Saving is in effect. It is so much easier to rise when it's light out; you feel as if you ought to be awake and not as if you are forced that way. I am thinking... ...it's time for Thanksgiving decoration. I toyed with doing it last weekend, but there was never time. I love Thanksgiving much more than I like Hallowe'en. It's a mellow holiday, one where people expect nothing but a good meal together and sports or parades watched in happy cameraderie around the television, or perhaps even games inside or out. I am thankful for... ...the end of the year, with all the lovely holidays before us: Veterans Day to remember all who serve; Thanksgiving to be grateful for your blessings, Advent to prepare for Christmas, and Christmastide to enjoy friends and family. From the learning rooms... ...reading A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey about the beginning of the space race. Many details I did not know before, especially about the fate of Laika (that was not the dog's original name). From the kitchen... ...dark and quiet right now. Perhaps later on I'll burn a candle. Coffee would be suitable today. I am wearing... ...Mutts pajamas, socks and scuffs. [Here I was interrupted.] I am creating... ...nothing right now! We are having a game night on Saturday, so I am going to be cleaning rather than creating. I am going... ...to need a trip to JoAnn. A piece of a craft project is not in my possession and I could not find a similar product at Michaels. This weekend is their Veterans Day sale, so that should get me a nice discount. I am reading... ...A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey by Michael D'Antonio, as mentioned above, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (essays on Doctor Who), and just finished Murder on Lexington Avenue by Victoria Thompson. I am hoping... ...to find an inexpensive new flannel fitted sheet for the sofa. I use one as a seat cover. The one I have with the autumn leaves on it sadly has developed a worn spot and has torn. I am hearing... ...well, since I'm late in finishing this, Harry's Law is on right now. We have to watch it, as we have two other things recording on the DVR, Mythbusters and Law & Order: UK. Around the house... ...well, I did the Thanksgiving decorating during lunch. It didn't take very long—there's no tree to decorate or fussy bits to do, just put out Pilgrims, Indians, and about fifteen turkeys, including the cute turkey lamp I got at Cracker Barrel two years ago—and I was even able to go put out the mailbox wrap, Thanksgiving wreath, and Thanksgiving banner, and take a few minutes to use the pruning shears on the two bushes on either side of our St. Francis statue so that he is visible again. I have new batteries in the "electric" candles and they are "burning" within my sight. The coffee table needs to be cleaned off. Again. I am pondering... ...how to get the coffee table cleaned off by Saturday! It really is a problem: it's holding magazines, books, DVDs, remotes, coupons, my daybook, and catalogs! Nope, it's not that big, either...LOL. One of my favorite things... ...Reminisce magazine! Received a bumper issue yesterday and have already read it cover to cover. There were many stories about the service, celebrating Veterans Day, and stories about being gathered around the table in honor of Thanksgiving, and the usual just plain fun nostalgic stories. I love this magazine. A few plans for the rest of the week: Gaaaaaame night! Knock on wood, the Spiveys, the Elders, the Boulers, and the Lawsons are coming. We're having turkey and stuffing, and Alice is bringing mashed potatoes and Sue vegetables, and we'll have a good feed and then commence to gaming (well, the ladies will...most of the time the guys just sit around "saving the world"). :-) Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...  Memories are precious, no matter which era they are from. :-) If you'd like to participate, check out The Simple Woman's Daybook. Labels: Simple Woman's Daybook Remember The Emergency Broadcasting Test Today » Monday, November 07, 2011
Now It's Really Getting Ugly
Barnes & Noble Unveils $250 Tablet
Two days after Amazon starts shipping the Kindle Fire. I can hear the little voice of Bugs Bunny now: "Of course, you know this means war." Labels: electronics » Sunday, November 06, 2011
Sleep, Shop and Savor
Oh...dear. We had a fun chat last night, discussing earthquakes, Jen's Naval future, and Christmas music.But, oh, up too late. Much too late. :-) Maybe it's why I woke up with a sore throat, although I had a sudden attack of post nasal action yesterday that probably was the primary contributing factor. Ah well, if we didn't sleep that extra hour, at least it was spent with friends (actually, I should say family, because all the folks on chat are friends who have become family). Got the shopping out of the way this morning, then James started the turkey we bought yesterday. He made a basting sauce of butter, wine and maple syrup, then put the turkey in the oven. We then ran out to get gas for my car and to make a brief stop at Barnes & Noble, to pick up a book of Sherlock Holmes homages I had seen. Then we came home and waited for the turkey to finish. James made a super gravy with the giblets and the neck bones, adding vegetable flakes, and then combining it with the turkey dripping. Yum. James' gravy should be a food group. Listened to a Christmas music during the afternoon, the news, then a fascinating Nature about animal homes. Now watching Holmes Inspection...next up, Pan Am. Labels: books, food, friends, health, television |
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