Friday Fun

[Harriet]

Turkey is in the oven tented.

Just finished the deviled eggs and found a spot for them in the fridge. Can hardly do that without thinking of Indiana, since she and I both chatted about deviled eggs and egg salad so much and she reassured me that my own eggs don't work well, no, because they are fresher, so just buy some. As usual, I put too much filling in each egg at first and had two whites I didn't need. Since I only made 11 eggs (knew better, knew better) I don't have the center filled with eggs so it's not as pretty. For a minute or two, I toyed with the idea of placing a little ceramic chicken or something into the middle, but then I recognized perfectionism and dropped the idea.

Next up is the sweet potato which I hope will work in the red deep-dish pie dish, and which I hope I can get the topping over nicely. Hmmm... ...

Then comes the decision whether I can go to the visitation. I've already decided I can't make the funeral and they are reversing order for this, unusual.

Hope you feel better, Ivy.

So Twins I'm cooking until TOTH, and if that counts you'll find me in the kitchen!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Ivy: TOM is an acronym for Time of Month, as is Aunt Flo. Both of us had PMS moods.

Kitchen chores are done plus and extra zone chore. The remaining chores (and I have time for one or two) run up against dh as he's on a conference call and I need to use the vacuum on the kitchen floor (next to the office) or go through the office dusting and polishing the furniture. Obviously neither of those will happen.

It is now pouring rain so I've re-opened the garage door so ds can just pull his car in and walk into the house from the garage, rather than walking along the front walk and coming in through the front door. Dh must have forgotten ds was coming and shut the door. When ds owned our old van the garage door opener in it hadn't been reprogrammed so he could open it up as he drove up to it. Our new car also has an internal opener so we have an extra now but I'm keeping it here to loan out to visitors and in between use it to open the door from inside the house so I don't have to go out into the cold garage to hit the opener on the wall in there when checking to see if the newspaper has arrived. Our other 'extra' one (the system came with two) is in our "mail" bag and we use it to let ourselves in and out of the house when walking for the mail. We are really lazy.

I guess I'll take my nap now. The stew is heating up in the crock pot so that is also in hand. I guess, as far as housework and church work goes, I'm doing fine. Don't ask about paperwork!

[Twins' Mom]

TOTH and the kitchen is looking much better. DD put the challah in the oven so we'll see what comes of it, and she's in the shower now.

This round:
-make the bed
-fold laundry, continue with laundry
-hang picture in laundry room
-find a box in the garage to start a new Goodwill box
-continue to TOTH with paper taming

[Harriet]

It's past TOTH. The dish is in the fridge. I need to make a note somewhere 40 mins cooking time for it, in case HRH is the one to start it.

There is no can of cranberry jellied sauce anywhere in the free world. Could try one more spot on way home from funeral, but again, perfectionism... ...

Dd really doesn't want to go to the visitation so I'll be by myself. My clothes are laid out. If I just get to write my name and speak to each of the 3 at my generation, I'll be satisfied and take off. Can't help but think, knowing this parking lot and the fact it's a vacation day for many, I'll have a hard time finding a space.

Dd has gotten so sidetracked on projects in her room that the overall situation is still waiting. Oh, was there ever any doubt of sidetrackable inheritance.

Twins, I'll be dropping out on you until after visitation.

[Twins' Mom]

No problem, Harriet, you are working so hard today!

I went ahead and hung all the pictures and things I wanted to hang up in laundry room. From the hallway one sees a vintage print in a beaten up frame - the same print, in fact, that hung in my paternal grandmother's house when I was growing up. Don't know whatever happened to hers, but I found this at an antique mall place a few years ago. I remember looking into this print and imagining where the little dirt road was leading. Anyway, once inside the laundry room one sees a John Lennon quote, a golden retriever with "Sit, Stay, Smile" and assorted other things I've saved over the years that make me smile.

Dh is home, I should work another round, but might sit down and read a bit - once he's home in front of the TV I lose my motivation.

Or maybe I'll sit here and do some scanning and getting rid of papers....

[BookSaver]

Hello, villagers ~

It has become sort of a new tradition the past few years that I will go to the used book store on Black Friday, even though I don't like to shop, because they give away nice gifts -- a big tote bag, $5 gift card, discount coupon good for just the 1 day, calendar with coupons for different months in the coming year, and a chance at $100 for the first 100 people through the door.

I had decided last night that I would wait until the alarm clock went off to figure out whether or not I was actually going to bother this year. Wouldn't you know it, half an hour before the alarm went off, I was wide awake. Decided that was my signal so I got dressed and hit the road.

I did not win the $100. At least this time I was one of the first 100, though, so got the card for $5 with no expiration date. (I might end up using it for someone else's stocking stuffer gift. I don't think they've ever given one before that didn't expire.)

I don't remember if it was last year or the year before, I waited in my car instead of standing in line. I left the car the instant I saw the store's door open, and I was still too late for the free gifts. That meant I had gotten up really early that day for nothing.

I ended up spending a lot longer in the book store than I had planned or even wanted to, because they had such a large crowd it was slow going through the aisles to see anything. I was lucky enough to find a few fun things for gifts. Then I went to the pet store for cat food which was on sale. That was all the crowded shopping that I could stand so I came home.

DH and I went out for a leisurely lunch at the local diner. Today's special was fish & fries with coleslaw, which we both thought was a good contrast to yesterday's turkey dinner. I couldn't eat it all because I'm not used to fried foods anymore, but it tasted good.

I need to do a couple chores, and then I'm definitely ready for a nap. <insert sleepy, yawning smily>

[Harriet]

Love the image of the room and wall art, Twins.

BookSaver, I remember you telling about that line experience! Good job getting "credit" this time for awakening early.

My wooden eggs arrived, but I don't have time to arrange the new nest now.

Dd did end up going with me to the visitation, suddenly just saying, hold on I'll get dressed. I'm so glad I went, because of two wonderful conversations with 2 second cousins I haven't seen in 16 and 35 years. That was hugely valuable. Also the fact that she was with me made it better in a lot of ways. Now she can honestly say she met some people, had conversations with them, has a memory. Also she made it easier to keep moving, and with a companion, slipping out the side door of the hall seemed much more socially acceptable! Large gathering, great that the weather was pretty.

My ddad wanted to eat early, which works out fine. He'll be finished about the time the turkey needs to come out of the oven, so those two projects won't overlap.

[Emptynester]

Just made 2 (count 'em) two dreaded phone calls - both of which I could have avoided if I would have cleaned off paper work earlier. DH had his Credit Card refused twice the other day. We decided it was because it was expired and we hadn't rec'd the new cards. So I made a call to have them replaced. Then I found them so had to make another call canceling the replacements. GRRR!

On a brighter note - I don't know if I told you all that I had found a wonderful tall coffee cup with Indiana's motto of Live, Laugh and Love on it at a garage sale. I feel close to her as I drink my tea in the morning.

I'm trying to work on my Christmas letter. I limit it to one page, one sided so must keep it brief. This year I am adding two pictures - one of the house and one of the car. Best get back at it.

TTFN

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Up from my nap. Meant to leave at 3:30 but dh went and got the snow tires on while I was napping so he wasn't here when I woke up.

Ds was. He had had 3 clementine oranges and was just heading off to bed. I chatted with him for a bit, then unpacked him into the drawers and put away the suitcase. He'll feel more settled that way. He's just exhausted so I left him with some water and a hug so he can rest.

The software project he's been working on for the past 18 months 'goes live' next Saturday. He literally couldn't have picked a worst time to get sick. He can work from here on most of the project but says while technically he can, he keeps passing out at the keyboard (I had wondered why he went to the ER, now I know!) so he can't really help out. While he was in the ER being checked out, he had logged in from their computer and discovered he had completely forgotten about a training session that was happening at that moment. He was able to answer a few questions remotely until he got his diagnosis.

The team at the hospital all lost on the pool "what does G have?" since no-one had picked Mono. Most bets were split evenly between flu and walking pneumonia.

A funny story: for the software testing, he has put all his personal health data into the system but under a second patient code number (since he was already in their system from when I took him there as a child.) While he was in the ER, down in radiology, the system was printing out chart labels with his name on it (because he had been given X-rays) and the tech there was tossing them in the garbage because he assumed they were from more software testing. It was only after running across ds in the lab that he realized those labels weren't a test. (The labels weren't needed since the hospital charts electronically, but the system still prints labels automatically.)

[Dove]

Hi everyone .

Sitting here with a mug of tea, taking a break from decorating for Christmas. Dh & I left the house after breakfast to buy a grave blanket & then went to cemetery to place it on his parents gravesite. Once home I cut our pumpkin in half & left it in the yard for the squirrels. I roasted seeds for a few years but last year hardly ate any of them (& dh doesn't care for them) so skipped doing that this year.

We carried all the boxes down from the attic except for the ornament box because tree will go up last. After a break from that , I began working on one room at a time. Years ago I labeled the outside of all my boxes using Pam & Peggy's system of writing letters & numbers on boxes, then writing the contents of each box on a 3x5. I also added which room the box should go to so on the way down from the attic it would go right to the correct room.

This has worked well except for when it is time to put everything away. Some rooms have 3 or more boxes, & having to check a card to see what goes in which box is overly time consuming. I ignored the cards one year & just put decorations in boxes, but over or underfilled most of them & then had to repack some so all the contents would fit. Today I had the idea to write the contents of each box in large letters on the inside of the box flap so that when it is time to take the decorations down I can just grab what goes into each box without having to keep track of 3x5s. I think this will save me a lot of time in January.

Hi Scattered, sorry you have to work such a long day. Enjoy your day off tomorrow!

Hi Twins, glad your meeting with the rabbi went well. After you & Lucylee both gave the movie Lincoln a good review, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Hi OKay, what a bummer about the stuck washrag, & what a wonderful attitude you have about it. So glad for you that it is not affecting the toilets or your kitchen sink. ((hugs))

Hi Harriet, I'm so sorry about the death of your dcousin. You are squeezing every last drop of usefulness out of every hour; I'm so impressed at all you have managed to accomplish today, & so efficiently.

Hi Kathryn, I'm glad your dson got the all-clear to come home. Know you will both enjoy each others company even though not feeling well.

Hi Nancy, you always do fun things with your dgrandkids. They will have wonderful memories of doing these things with you

Hi Ivy, sorry you don't feel well today. I love how you call your washer & dryer Bert & Ernie !

Hi Bookie, hope you had a refreshing nap. I like your bookstore tradition .

Hi MT, what a wonderful find at the garage sale. I have been thinking of & missing our dear Indi so much lately, & it is so good to see you & Harriet mention her today. Sometimes I'll browse the archives looking for her old posts, just to "hear" her voice.

Well, this sat here unsent for a while --ooops! I'm off to decorate some more until dinner.