Another Christmas Gift

I visited with my friend Steve today and was given my Christmas Gift. It was an iPod. After visiting for an hour or so, I met my friend BJ and we did a little shopping and she treated me to dinner at The Olive Garden. Needless to say, it was a wonderful afternoon.

I came home and for the past several hours I've been trying to learn how to work my new toy. I finally mastered the download/upload process and managed to put more than a dozen of my favorite albums on the iPod. I hadn't tested it until a few minutes ago. I chose an old Frank Sinatra song and when his voice came through the ear buds I was very shocked. The quality of the sound is amazing. I don't think I'll tire of this one too quickly.

It also will play movies but I discovered my computer doesn't have a DVD player so I'll have to find somebody who does and load my favorites that way. I will just love it on my next plane trip, being able to watch a movie.

What more can I say. I am a very spoiled kid. :o)

God bless you all.

2007 - Here's hoping..............

Well, the new year is dark, rainy and gloomy which I hope is not a prelude of the days to come.

I had a very quiet New Year's Eve. No ball dropping in Times Square, no fireworks over the Kremlin or Sydney Harbour. Just a nice easy evening. I went to bed early and did hear some firecrackers going off in my court, but nothing to really awaken me. I went right back to sleep.

Nothing on the schedule for today. Just a little more relaxing and maybe straightening up of the house. At least a little vacuuming. It looks like one of the cats exploded. Hair all over the place.

Have a good New Year's Day and

God bless you.

New Year's - Almost.....

Well, the year is almost over. I look outside, expecting to see snow or at least signs that it's Winter and all I see is fog. The weather guessers are promising high 50s today with sunshine in the afternoon. Hopefully, later I'll take a walk.

I don't make New Year's resolutions because I always break them. About 7 years ago I started writing a "Mission Statement" for the coming year. This has worked well for me and I've done one for 2007. On the list is "try to go to Russia". I'll know by January 28th. I'd like to go.

Today I have a few chores to do but nothing pressing. I'll run out to Costco to get my arthritis supplements and pick up a prescription at Safeway. That's the only thing I really must do. Other than that I'll take it easy.

Before the year end, I'll post one more time. Then it starts anew......

God bless you all.

Christmas Eve

Well, I did it. House is clean, balance of groceries in the 'frig and now I can rest a bit.

I was in the storage room looking for some wrappings when I came across a box with the balance of my ornaments for the tree. I knew there were more than what I found on my first hunt. So I added those and the cotton garlands and now it looks like my tree. During my first visit to Russia, Lida, my 18 year old 'daughter', gave me a puffed, velour heart. It had a gold ribbon on it and I also found that in my upstairs closet. I put it right out front, near the top of the tree. I sure wish she could be here with me. Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated January 7th so she has a few weeks to go. She did tell me however that they put up a tree too. The 'they' being her room mate and herself. At least she has someone to celebrate with.

I am going to try to go to church this evening. There are 3 services and I hope to make the 8:00PM. I'm going to rest a bit now and get cleaned up and dressed.

I wish you all blessings of the season.

God bless you all.

Day Before Christmas Eve

By choice, I'm spending the Holidays here at home. I didn't want to spend several days with relatives who would be fussing at each other. I did that several years ago and it was no fun. But here I am, wrapping presents and getting the house ready for Christmas dinner with friends. I am feeling down today. I don't know if it's just my usual winter blues or if I think I should be with my feuding realtives. I do miss them -- but not the aggravation. I guess I just can't be pleased. :o)

Today I'll do the major straightening and tomorrow I'll finish the deep cleaning. I'll make one last run to the grocery and start to assemble the dishes that can be may a day ahead.

Hopefully I'll get out of this funk. I don't even like being around me. ARGHHHH

God bless you all.

Before and After

Here it is all decked out with the white wires

Here it is with the new lights on it. Not too much of a change but I think Santa will know where to put the stuff.......

Shopping is done!!

I went out early yesterday morning stopping first at Kmart. I found what I was looking for (plus a new handbag for me,for only $11.00) very quickly. I was amazed at the lack of customers in the store at 10:00AM and the abundance of sales going on. I've always liked Kmart and have been able to find last minute gifts. Sandy wanted a square griddle that would hold four slices of bread for french toast. I found one online at QVC.com which was on sale for about $21.00 so I ordered it for her. When it came I had mixed emotions. It is a stainless steel, teflon coated 'grill pan'. It could hold the required four slices of bread, but it is a bit heavy and clunky. It also has a two inch lip which makes it a pan, not a griddle. At Kmart, I found a griddle for the same price so I got it for her. And yes, I'll keep the grill pan for myself. :o)

I then stopped at a newspaper and magazine store that I visit annually at Christmas. My eldest nephew, Robert, loves wrestling mags and is into coin collecting. Mostly he likes to look at the collection he already has, so I try to get him mags about coins and collection, not so much about pricing old coins or buying and selling. My brother-in-law Bob, likes stories, etc. about the Civil War so I try to find one or two for him. This year he is also into Sudoku, so he will be getting a puzzle book. I always make this shop my last stop. It's kind of a victory.

I dug the tree out of the storage closet and put it up. It's been 4 years or so since I've put up a tree. The last time I took it down, I didn't take care to put the branches away in the order in which the tree should be assembled, so I couldn't remember where the color coding applied. Grrrrrrr. I put it together and of course there were longer branches sticking out of the middle of the tree and little stubbly ones on the bottom. I took the thing apart and put it the way it is supposed to be. Then came the saga of the lights. Two strings are dead and two are working. Except one thing. I have no idea where my head was when I bought one of them. They are on white wires!!!! Undoubtedly made for an all white tree. I put them on the tree, but it's awful. The white wires stick out like white wires on a green Christmas tree. LOL I'll have to take them off and replace them with the ones I'll be picking up at Ace Hardware today. Some of my ornaments are in not too good shape. So I've got holes............ LOL This poor tree reminds me of the one that Charlie Brown and Snoopy put together. LOL I'll rearrange the branches and add new lights today. It will be just fine. It will be my tree. :o)

Today I think I'll start wrapping presents. There aren't that many. I have a few that I'll send along with Chris and his wife when they leave to join the family in Atlanta on Friday.

My Christmas dinner celebration is on Monday so I'll have all of next weekend to get the house the way I want it. Dinner itself will be easy because I'm fixing ham. I'll have scalloped potatoes, macaroni and cheese, glazed carrots and some other things but nothing time consuming or difficult to make. I intend to enjoy my guests and the time we have together.

That's what it's all about. Being with those you love.

Celebrate Jesus!!

God bless you all.

Another lovely day

Mother Nature is playing games with us. Ten days ago, we had freezing temps and I dug out my winter coats. This week it has been warm and sunny, generating a great deal of fog in the morning. Going to work at 6:30AM in the fog gives one a very eerie feeling. But I guess better this, than 5 feet of snow.

Tomorrow I think I'll finish up shopping and start to put up the tree. I haven't had it out of the box for several years, so I'm sure it's mashed. I'll fluff up its fake branches and needles and it'll look good as new. I forgot about all of the wonderful special ornaments I've collected over the years. I was looking at them today remembering some and wondering who gave me others. Maybe it's dementia. LOL.

I'm looking forward to this holiday. I'll miss not seeing my family, but I won't miss all the stress that goes along with 6 adults and a dog in a townhouse for 4 days. No thanks. I'll enjoy my family of friends here at my house.

God bless you all.

Online shopping

Whatever did I do before the internet? I have managed to get the majority of my gifts online, most without paying for shipping. There was only one snafu in that Target had an item online that would not be available until January 3. I ordered it and when I didn't receive it within a week, I checked back only to see that the shipping date was January 13th. I don't thinnnnnk so......I cancelled it and chose something else.

I have found some very clever things that I know I could not have found if I had to do mall-crawling to get gifts.

I've been very lucky this year. Santa will be very good to me. (One of his elves slipped and told me of a gift that I'll be getting and it thrilled me)

Only two more things to get and I'm done.

God bless you all.

Another week in paradise

I don't know where the week went. It seemed to disappear before my eyes. We have been so busy I barely have time to visit the 'Ladies'.

It's a combination of reasons. We have more investigators in the field, hence the increased case load. And we are losing cleared employees. This past week we lost our Training Department head. His reason for leaving? He wanted to spend more time with his baby daughter. Working 14 hour days was taking away his family time. I don't blame him one bit. We have new intermediate management coming into place and I wonder how that will work. We get one man acquainted with the scheme of things and his replacement appears and now we have to break him in. You know, I have been tempted to start looking for another job but it really is funny when I think about it. I don't like what I see? Wait a week or two - it will change.

My boss has been given a lot more reports to produce and of course, that stuff rolls downhill. On Thursday I was assigned a 3 day task to be completed in 12 hours. Made me mad, but I did it. As a thank you for my coming back into the office one afternoon (Because the VP had forgotten a meeting at 9:00AM the next day and needed a briefing made and printed)I was allowed to end my day yesterday at noon. My workmate, Jennie, and I went to the Conference Center where a training class is in session to bid our farewells to the Training Coordinator. It was his last day and we had lunch with him and spent an hour so Jennie could wrap up all the loose ends because they haven't found his replacement.

I've been doing a lot of shopping online this year. I've been out only once and that was to Target. I didn't plan the day very well because I got there around 2:00 in the afternoon. As I mentioned previously, it wasn't a pleasant experience. I have some things I have to get that require me going to the mall. I'll do that next week and I'll be there when the doors open. In and out and get it over with.

I've been feeling good with minimum back pain. If I can relax at work and not let the stress get to me, my back is better. I try, on a daily basis. LOL

God bless you all.

Yesterday we had summer

Indian summer was with us yesterday. We had 78 degrees on December lst. It was a lovely day but not long lived. By 6:00PM a strong wind had whipped up and brought in cooler temperatures. Today it's in the 50s but with the strong breezes blowing it is quite nippy out there. We are promised colder weather in the next few days. Oh well, I guess we have to have cooler weather to generate snow for Santa's sleigh.

This has been a very busy week for me. Monday and Tuesday I was physically exhausted when I got home from the office. Not that I did that much running around, but my projects were intense and kept me hopping. The next three days were no better. And it looks like there is no relief in sight. As our case load increases, more responsibilities are generated and of course, we still have the same amount of staff, which is dwindling. They are falling like toy soldiers. If I didn't know better I'd tell myself to spiff up my resume and put out some feelers. And you know, it might not be a bad idea either.

Today is my wanna-do-day. I get to do what I wanna do. Tomorrow is my gotta-so-day where I have chores that I gotta do. I'm going to fix a cup of tea and grab the book I picked up, at Sandy's suggestion, at the airport. (Mosie, "Mary, Mary" by James Patterson.) So far, so good.

Will post more later.

GBU all.

First trip Christmas Shopping

And I hope it's my last. Geesch......I only ran up the street to the Target store and was overwhelmed at the amount of people in that store and how absolutely rude some shoppers can be. Women with kids in baskets, plowing through the aisles, not to mention the kids are screaming at the tops of their voices. Non-English speaking people trying to navigate around and not able to understand one single word of what's being said to them, or doing a good job of making believe................

I've done 80% of my shopping online and have to go to the big mall to get one more thing. I dread it.

Happy Holidays one and all.

There and back, in only 3 days.

Atlanta was having some lovely weather while I was there. In the mid to high sixties and some sunshine. Thursday I spent cooking our Thanksgiving dinner.

Sandy bought a 12 lb turkey for us and we fixed cream cheese mashed potatoes, gravy (which was wonderful if I may say so myself), dressing, green bean casserole, pepper jelly spiked cranberries, mashed rutabaga and macaroni and cheese. By the time we sat down to dinner, we both had lost our appetites. We had been grazing all afternoon. We have an array of cheese and crackers and I had made double deviled eggs and we had other goodies too numerous to mention. We picked at our plates, put away all the food, washed the dishes and retired to the sofas to watch tv. We both promptly fell asleep.

We slept in on Friday and dropped in Best Buy and Sandy got several movies. When we got back home it was time for dinner. We reheated everything but the turkey and made open faced sandwiches with mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. It really tasted better the second day and we both ate heartily. We had some of the Dutch Apple pie the Sandy got at the World Market. It was also very good. We then watched "The DaVinci Code" which I thought was very good. I had read the book but forgot the majority of the plot. After that, we started to watch "Thank You For Smoking" but both started snoozing so we caved in and went to bed.

Saturday we slept in again, stayed in our pjs till after noon and watched "Thank You For Smoking" in full. It was hysterical. A very funny movie. After we cleaned up, we ate more turkey dinner leftovers before it was time for her to take me to the airport.

I have not said one word about Sandy's dog, Blue. She is the cutest dog. I think she has some Australian Sheep Herder in her. She's a big dog, 65 lbs at least. Sandy has done a good job of raising her because he minds, doesn't bark a lot and is great company for her. I find myself looking around for her. Yeah, right. Jake would have convulsions. LOL

I had one of the best times yet. Sandy is a wonderful hostess and her home is lovely. I came home wanting to dismantle my entire house and start over again. She has given me some ideas to perk up my place a little bit. I've been in here 15 years and it could stand a little redo, so I think that's going to be my quest for 2007. Fix up the place.

Thanksgiving time is always a time for reflection for me. I can get to feeling sorry for myself very quickly. But when I stop - look around - and see exactly how lucky I am, I thank God for being so good to me. He has given me a family, even though we are scattered, we are bound to each other. He has given me a family of friends to whom I am bound. Without them I could not exist. They are the glue that holds me together.

Once again, thank you dear God for the blessings you have given me. I ask once more...

God bless you all.

I changed my mind....

I hope I'm not confusing you all, but I changed back to the old template. It was like reading somebody elses journal. I was used to the color and format, so back to the old way.

:o)

Happy Holiday

Today I'm away to Atlanta to be with Sandy, my niece. Turkey, DVDs and shopping - not bad for a mini-vacation.

I'll check in when I get back, but mostly I want to say how thankful I am for my friends and family. Without them, I'd be lost.

Happy Thanksgiving.

God bless you all.

New Format

Dear readers,

I've chosen a new template and color scheme for this literary epic. I hope you like it.

I Better Write Something...

This past week was a blur. If I had to pick one thing to write about I don't believe I could. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were THE busiest days I've ever spent on this job. It was just a matter of things coming at me from all directions. On Monday afternoon, my boss was told by the Executive group that there was a meeting on Tuesday and they would need a full presentation done by noon. The Powerpoint presention itself was only 5 pages and they were already created in another briefing. I only had to copy them and make some changes. The hard part was they were asking for 4 hours of figures in spreadsheets to be created in a 2 hour period of time. Of course I managed, but it was not my best work and there were many errors. I was completely embarrased by that, but both bosses said it was no problem, that we had done our best. It left me a nervous wreck and behind schedule in my week's work. By Friday at 3:00 I was caught up. I don't ever want to go through that again.

Gee, I did manage to find one thing to write about.

My dear friend Donna has a wonderful blog that I read daily. I look forward to reading about her life, her family, her farm and her animals. The pictures that she posts take me back to the few days I spent with her and her husband in April. I look at the pics and think "I remember that spot". It was one of the best vacations I have EVER taken. No pain, no stress - just pure enjoyment. At least for me.

In one of her recent posts she had a link to find out personality traits based on the month you were born. I have copied mine below because, bad points and all, I think it nailed me.

JANUARY
Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people's flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize. Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Sensitive and has deep thoughts. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Very Stubborn and money cautious.

I'll try to post once before I head out of town for Thanksgiving, but if I don't I want to wish my dear readers the best wishes for Thanksgiving.

God bless you all.

Indian Summer Has Come and Gone

These past two days have been beautiful. The sun has been shining and the leaves are brilliant in their fall colors. But the chill is in the evening air and soon Fall will kick in, full force only to yield to Winter.

When I start to grumble about Winter, I remember how it was back in Milwaukee. Fall started the week after Labor Day. We wore sweaters to school and heavy jackets to the football games every Friday night. The Winters were long and hard because we were next to Lake Michigan. They lasted till past Easter. The year that my Dad and I left, 1965, it was Memorial Day weekend, 10:30 in the morning and it was 32 degrees. No, not a cold snap - it was warming up. It always seemed so much colder there. I guess it was the dampness from being near the lake. You got cold and just couldn't get away from it.

Virginia winters are chilly compared to Wisconsin standards. Not much snow and February doesn't last for 97 days.

Today I was in my Saturday morning chat room, Christian Living, and somebody asked me where my roots were. Of course I said the Mid-west but said I had grown to love the East. And it's true. I call Virginia my home because here is where my heart is. I've lived here longer than the entire time I spent in Wisconsin. I have a wonderful family of friends here and every one of them is very dear to me. When I get in my little 'lonely' snits I remember that I'm not an easy person to know and these people love me, warts and all.

It's been a decent two days. Didn't have to go to work yesterday. I just hung around the house, did a little work, played around on the computer a bit and rested a lot. This housework stuff is taking a lot of getting used to. I will try to keep up with it the best I can. When the cat hair gets ankle deep, I'll yell for help.

I hope tomorrow goes as well.

God bless you all.

A Fairly Decent Weekend.....

Yesterday I started out early, did 4 loads of laundry and started cleaning the house. I've decided to do the tough stuff first, like vacuuming the stairs. When my energy is high I can do it. Since I didn't finish the upstairs last week, that's where I started. I vacuumed, dusted and freshened the bathroom. I've been using Tilex daily shower cleaner and it really seems to be working. I'll spray the gunk off daily and give it a good scouring every two weeks.

I finished off the downstairs, vacuumed, dusted and Swiffered the kitchen floor. For the life of me, Rosy would not use the Swiffer mop. She would haul the vacuum cleaner into the kitchen and the dirt would go in the front and fly right out the back. Oh well, those days are gone now. Last week I mopped and put a fresh coat of wax on the kitchen floor, the foyer ceramic tile and the little half bath. I don't know how long it will last, but I want to keep it looking nice. I guess now that I'm doing the work, if I put things away and clean a little every day, it's easier all the way around.

OK enough about my housecleaning.

Today I went to church. First time in a long time and the floors didn't creak. Although my long time pew mate, Bob, did tell me with tongue in cheek he thought I had left the country. Alan was preaching and with a little more exposure I think I can get to like him. Samantha is something else however. I count the days till she is transferred. (Sorry Jesus, that's how I feel) I will most likely start going on alternate Sundays when he is preaching. When she does, I zone out and wind up doing my grocery list. All in all, I think I was fulfilled. :o)

I got a quick little note from my Lida in Russia. I had sent her a quick message telling her that the mission team was on the way and that her sponsor Linda would be looking forward to seeing her. She answered back "To Mama" and signed it "Your Daughter". That meant a lot to me. This is the child whose mother abandoned her when she was just 13 years old. She lived in an alley, in a refrigerator carton until the authorities found out and put her in Orphanage #1. She ran away several time because the alley was her home and her way of life and she was secure in her own care. It took quite awhile for her to relent, but she did. When the Americans arrived she would have nothing to do with us at all. She stood on the outskirts of the circles and glared. It took me nearly a week, but when I left she had accepted my cross as a token of our friendship. She wears it to this day. When I was there last year she gave me a plain gold band. She apologized that it wasn't 'nicer' but she used all of her money to get it. I could not, not accept it. I took it and told her I would wear it and I do. On my right hand with another little ring at the first knuckle. She is now graduated, living in an apartment with a friend and going to 'college'. I am very proud of her.

I have a meat loaf in the Nesco roaster and will make some veggies. I'm in phase 4 of the SparkPeople program. It's the maintenance end of it, and I intend to continue to log in every day. It helps me keep focused on what I'm eating when I have to write it down. When I binge, I can make it up the next day because I know how bad I went overboard.

I really don't like the time change. It gets dark too early and my mind-clock still wakes me up at what would be 4:30 and of course I have to lie in bed for that extra time. I have been doing a lot of praying in that time. Maybe the Lord is telling me something. :o)

Even though I didn't do anything entertaining, it was a fairly decent weekend.

God bless you all.

I'm early this week

I know I'm early this week with my post. The mission team from church leaves this evening for their trip to Russia. Although I declined the chance to go along I still have a heavy heart about not going.

There is a very good chance that I won't ever see my Lida again. The trip is hard and the accommodations worse than hard. I know now that I'll never see my Sasha again. I get snippits of information through emails from people in and around the orphanage and it's said that he did not get appointed to the independent living program (I want to know why) and that he has been assigned to attend a tech school in a town about 105 miles NE of Ivanovo. Lida also tells me he will be living at the home of his father, who has multiple problems and makes it difficult to be around. I don't know where the father's house is located. It very well could be in that city, but if it's in Ivanovo, there's no way he would stay there. He'd be doomed to living in the dorms, which are deplorable. I pray that our dear Lord protects that young man. He has such high hopes of being in the military. He wants to be a jet pilot. This school will produce mechanics and laborers, not jet pilots. My heart is very sad about this. My dear Lida will keep me as informed as she can. She will ask around to see what she can find out for me.

I pray that the team travels safely and has a great time there. The population of the orphanage has changed. 85% of the kids are new and are in dire need of love, affection and attention. I know this team can give them that, at least for the time they are there.

God bless them.