 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 |
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