Saturday, December 25, 2004

Holy Freezerburn, Bat Man!

Yipes. Our winter wonderland is awesome. Just like the pictures in all the pretty books. The snow that fell a couple days ago is still fresh appearing by the light dusting of snow that has kept it white and the subnormal temps that preserves it from getting that yellow melty look.

We had been warned that last night would be the coldest yet. My Mom and I forewent a tradition of driving around on Christmas eve to "look at the lights" due to the low temps. Around 9pm Mom called to remind me to leave the cabinet doors open in front of my kitchen sink. The pipes have a habit of freezing since the connecting one travels right in front of the window in the basement. I thanked her for the reminder and grinned as I walked back to my recliner past the doors which I had left open after finishing up the supper dishes.

We were popping in A Christmas Story to watch and would be watching It's A Beautiful Life after dinner at Mom's tomorrow. That's a perfect time to see it. If you happen to doze off due to the slight discomforts of too much food consumed, you wake up in familiar territory and don't really feel like you've missed anything.

I woke up this beautiful Christmas day. A quick check of the kitchen sink, let me know that the pipes hadn't frozen, so Mom's advice still works. Good, I need that hot coffee. Checked my email and gasped at the temperature displayed on my "home page". "Low: -11F." Yipes! It would reach that low at about 7am. I had an hour to go before it got as cold as it was going to get. I shivered just thinking about it and went and grabbed a fleece topper and pulled it on over my flannel jammies. Burrrrr! This is just too cold. With the windchill outside it should be about 20 below zero out there.

Of course, once it gets to a certain "cold" it is just cold and you don't know much besides bundling up really good when you go outside. Since my childgood I have been told that Michigan remains warmer than the states just west of us because the Great Lakes warm the atmosphere overhead. This is usually true. Minnesota and Wisconsin is always quite a bit colder than it is here.

But for here, it is just cold. I'm going to turn on the oven to get ready for the baked goods I'm making for dinner later today, keep snuggly warm in my flannel and fleece, wrap my hands around my coffee mug to warm them from time to time, celebrate Christmas without my teeth chattering, thankful for a good gas fired furnace. To all of you, wishes for a Happy Holiday and a very warm and merry Christmas.

Friday, December 24, 2004

A Basketful of Christmas

Every year UPS delivers a delightful hand filled basket of goodies to our house. It is the gift my brother ships us from just west of Chicago land. The first year the basket arrived we thought it would be best to save it until Christmas morning; didn’t seem right to open it earlier. We had no idea what was inside. When we did open it, we found it packed with beautiful fruit, some of which had not endured the time sitting under our tree close to the heat vent. We learned from that experience to always open the present as soon as Mr Brown dropped it at our door.

The baskets are always beautiful and the goodies are always unique. Sometimes it will have a theme of breakfast goodies and come stuffed with interesting pancake mixes, syrups, sausages and jellies. Whatever the theme, whatever the goodies inside, we always feel like Santa just dropped a whole bag of cheer right into our living room via UPS.

This year with all the fuss over the big storm aggressively heading our way we rather lost sight of anything much, except checking to see if the storm had hit yet. The mailman had come and night had fallen and we decided we weren’t going to do anything so we curled up in our jammies and comforters and watched videos. The next morning I rushed to the door to have a peek and see how much fluffy white goodness had come to bless us. From the window it didn’t look too bad.

My first surprise came when I opened the door (the inner door swings in, the storm door swings out) and found I had to really push to get the storm door open. That meant there was more than 4” of snow on my front porch. I stared at the white stuff when I finally realized that snow wasn’t the only thing that had dropped out of the sky. In the early dawn I could see a large box now nearly covered with snow. I couldn’t guess when it was parked there. This was going to be fun. It would take a broom, hopefully not a shovel, to get that box inside. I figured I’d better get dressed since I was definitely going to need boots and I was soon brushing the powdery fluff off the porch. I dragged the box inside with a loud, “wheh!" full well knowing, any fruit inside that box is surely frozen by now, since record lows had been predicted for the night.

We waited until the sun came up, breakfast had been cooked and eaten and decided it was time to open our box. The theme this year seemed to be goodies of the best kinds. Yummy cookies, candy with caramel, nuts, peppermint, a package of pancake mix, a package of cookies which my daughter tore into and said “hey, this tastes just like key lime pie”. She was right, they did. A special card from my brother was the last thing we opened and read the Christmas greetings. Then we both exclaimed over the basket itself. It was woven of dark woods and interwoven into the warp and woof was a vine of holly berries and leaves. It is one of the most beautiful baskets I have ever seen. It will deserve a special place here at home to be appreciated by everyone, all year round.

One thing for sure, when the basket arrives it is always a fun time of expectancy and laughter. For sure, nothing says lovin like a basket from my brother. It just sings jingle bells in my heart and keeps me smiling all day.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

I'm Freezing

Honestly, I am freezing. Of course it is cold up here in Michigan, but why do I have to freeze. Why? I've never really noticed being this cold when winter blasted in with cold north winds and began the task of chilling me to the bones. I have a good furnace, warm clothing, gloves, a hat; no problem.

But this year, for some reason. I'm freezing! I get cold and find it impossible to get warm. My nose is constantly cold, just like a poor sick puppy. I'm not sick mind you, I don't even have a cold... cold is what I am, not what I have.

I am bundled up in a heavy sweater, still I am cold. I wake up in the middle of the night with my teeth chattering and bundle up in extra blankets which never get me warm enough to fall back asleep until right before the alarm goes bellering off.

I wonder when I shall be warm again. I wonder when my lips will no longer be blue, I wonder when my toes will stop screaming when I take off my shoes. I wonder when...

Wait! I know. Right about July 4. I don't know if I can wait. I should move to Australia.

Friday, December 10, 2004

Greetings from here

to you ... Merry Christmas!

It's hard to believe that the month of December has arrived. It is harder still to believe that it is rapidly vanishing into a long line of yesterdays and Christmases Past.

We had decided last year to just skip Christmas before John Grisham came up with the idea in his book which turned into a Christmas movie for this year. We put out no decorations. We forewarned relatives and friends that we pretty much were going to not be doing all the mad shopping and to not look for something from Santa from our direction. We were cutting back on the insanity. No Christmas shopping. Can you even conceive that? It was like this huge blanket of frustration was stripped from me and I slowly began to grin and then to quietly enjoy the season.

Now this year is here and after last year's vacation I am determined to not buy into the madness again. However we are reinstating some of our Christmas traditions. We have always put up our tree the first Saturday in December. So with great humor, Christmas carols blaring we joyfully went to work. Now every year some horrible disaster happens when we put up our tree. I have some stories to tell... but that's not for today. This year we were excited because everything was going well. Commenting on the fact that we would get this tree up without a disaster was probably not a good idea. We pulled out the lights and began checking them. The first string tested and I handed it over to my daughter to begin placing it on the tree as I checked the next string. Wouldn't light. Not one single bulb. I checked the next string. Not one single twinkle. Well, this isn't a big deal, it's either a bulb gone bad or needs fuses. I started with the easy part and changed the fuses. No go! I stared at the 100 lights that refused to light. Grinned, stuffed them into a bag and out to the trash, then headed to the Hardware store for new lights. I'm NOT checking all those bulbs. I'm no Griswold and I don't need a traditional Griswold family Christmas Leave that to the neighbors. Soon I was back and we were in business. Up went the lights, then the ornaments. The tree was gorgeous and we were totally proud. So not such a disaster, just a minor setback. Hopefully, the entire season will go by as smoothly.

This Saturday we do the Christmas bake like a crazy person thing. Cookies to die for, fudge that melts in your mouth, made by my daughter. Then we box it up and mail to family in friends. We are happily packing up a heart attack/stroke in a box and mailing them off to people we love. Isn't that crazy?

We still have got to tackle Its A Wonderful Life because if you ignore Christmas or celebrate it full throttle you should watch this movie. Heck you should watch this movie even if you don't buy into the whole Christmas saga. It is a great film.

Our Christmas season is coming along quite nicely so far. The weatherman has been generous and with only one real snowstorm this year we aren't yet buried alive.

So cheers to you! May this be a very special time filled with joy, friends and family no matter what you acknowledge or what you find to celebrate.

Friday, December 03, 2004

Morning Snow

We had a light dusting of snow yesterday which left the ground barely covered but softly white. I had paid no attention to the weather forecast for the night and when I faced my kitchen sink this morning I noted a nice sheen of ice in the corner of the window. Good sign. I'll have a windshield to scrape this morning.

I headed out the door a few minutes before time to leave for work to rev up the motor on my car and let the defroster do most of the scraping dirty work. I stood on my back steps and stared with my mouth hanging open. This was not about frost on the windshield this was about 3 inches of snow covering the entire car. How'd that happen, anyway? Well that was that. I grabbed a broom and began the process of removing the snow from the car. It was beautiful and I got a tad bit carried away and also cleaned off my daughter's car for good measure. Yeah, that probably won't happen again.

I came back in while the motor ran a few more minutes and tried to figure out why I was surprised by the snow covered vehicles. After all we do live in Michigan and this is December. It's not like that's not what it does up here this time of year.

Yeah, it bloody well snows up here in the winter. I should have moved to a warmer place years ago. But, truth is, I rather like the winters even as I dread them, complain and even step it up a notch to just plain bitchin'.

Our lady winter usually creeps up in with early warnings so we get a chance to prepare ourselves for the harshness she holds in her hands. Days start getting shorter and colder all at the same time. By the time the first snow drops a bit of blanketing on the earth you have begun wearing heavier clothing and had to scrape your windshield every morning for a couple weeks.

There was none of that this year. Thanksgiving eve we got hit by severe storm warnings and those warnings turned out not to be unfounded. Things were shutting down with tons of snow falling everywhere. Luckily I found someone on Thanksgiving morning to shovel us out. I had been running around with only a sweater and now I needed to head for the "other" closet and grab my winter coat. Then there was finding the gloves I hadn't worn since last year. I hate the entire bundling up process, so it was no wonder that as soon as the snow melted I returned to my light warmer weather attire.

The heavy Thanksgiving snow departed in 40 degree temps and things were feeling rather nice to me again, but now we're getting the "better watch out, winter's here" weather. So, yeah, I shouldn't have been surprised about the snow covered cars. Afterall, it is December, this is Michigan, and snow is what happens here. I guess I'll just have to adjust quickly to the cold. Better get that heavy coat into the cleaners and quit acting like it's going to be a mild winter. I don't think it is going to be one.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

The Trees Have Gone Naked

The Trees Have Gone Naked.

Tremendous winds quickly disrobed the trees of their final bits of cloth this fall. The leaves, snatched from the line where they hung, wafted high on the breeze, circling around, dancing in one final frenzy, then added their gay splendor to the golden carpet now stretching across my back yard.

I have complained about this fall. We had beautiful color gracing all the trees but the rain snatched away the iridescent glory that makes the red and golden leaves seem to shine from some inner light. They still were beautiful against a background of gray gloom waiting to dump showers on our head. It wasn’t that it actually stormed for most of the fall, but a solemn gray breathed into the atmosphere and mist clung to the windshield and hung heavy in the air.

I have always wanted the share the beauty that is Michigan in the fall with the entire world. Undaunted by rain, determined to do so, I headed out fearful the rain would quickly undress the trees. Somehow enough of the leaves tenaciously clung to their perches and the color remained until it finally peaked. I snapped some pictures in the gray and seemed satisfied. Then the sun came out a week later and I had it all to do over. I had watched the rain wash the skies in confetti showers. Then grace our lawn with the droppings of colored dew. But there was enough leaves remaining on the trees to still make me gasp.

So here is my color tour. There was too much beauty to pick. So I have published an album of fall color on my web site. Here is the link to the album's first page.

I am saddened that I was unable to capture so much of our fall beauty. The moment had passed for some of the harvesting pictures. But there is always next year. I hope you agree with me. Michigan is awesome. I know our color is not unique, but I don’t think other places are able to surpass what we get to enjoy just by staring out our front window or driving up the street.

Friday, November 05, 2004

Election Frenzy... the fun never stops!

After having done it once, I am convinced that every American citizen should be an election official at least once to retain the right to vote. I have a feeling it would end a lot of griping about the system and how it works.

In our small community the age of the average election official is 70 years old. Can you imagine that? This past year 6 officials in our community “quit” for the final time. One of them was my mom who turned 90 in August. She felt she was justified when she resigned, or as she put it, “I’m not as young as I used to be, and I just can’t stay up and work like I did in the past.” My daughter has worked as an election official and since I am a little bit retired, I figured it was my turn to carry on the family tradition. So I signed on to do my duty. Hey this job pays $7/an hour and it’s not like you have to do it every day.

I had to declare my political party affiliation when I registered. I told them I considered myself a true blue independent and voted by issues not by affiliation. Perhaps I could declare myself a member of the Green party. Well that just is not allowed. I had two choices, Republican or Democrat. I thought I leaned more in the direction of the Democrats so I said, “OK, I’m a Democrat.”

The closer the election came the hotter the looming election became. They expected record turn-outs with party challengers and attorneys present at each polling place. This would be a first here in Albion. Those connected with the election were getting a bit nervous about the upcoming event. Me! What me worry? I’m a first timer. I’ll show up and pass out applications to vote. Easy money, baby! Good for me. And for this I will get paid, see a lot of people I know, and I expect, overall I am going to have a good time. Well, there is that bit about being there at 6:30 in the morning and having to stay until the last vote is counted and everything balances perfectly. Worst scenario, I’ll be home by midnight! I can handle that.

So, I’m up and at em on Tuesday morning. My lunch is packed to last all day. I have filled a small cooler with diet coke. I have snacks and cookies, sandwiches and plenty of water. I park in a very dark lot, and by cracky I am the first to arrive. I look though my essentials and take a bottle of water and some crackers in with me. Soon everyone was there and we were busy getting situated for the first voters. I didn’t get my easy job. A precinct is usually staffed with 6 people. We had 4.

The official call to vote is to be announced promptly at 7am. A loud cry is raised outside the official polling place “Hear ye! Hear ye! The polls are now open!” (isn’t that so cool!) The doors are thrown open. It is raining. The voters have started lining up before the joyous cry is sounded. We launch the election in our precinct promptly at 7am and our first voter walks through the line. We are in great spirits.

The lines are crowded. By 10am I have writer’s cramps and I’ve only been doing this for 3 hours. I have 10 more hours to go. I’m thinking this isn’t much fun, actually. I need a bathroom break. I need another bottle of water. There are challengers standing right behind me watching everything I do. There is an attorney assigned by the Democratic Party strolling about making sure everything is done properly. Now that sounds a bit stressful. But I am so busy I am completely unaware of being watched. The challengers turn out to be neighbors of my mom’s that are 2 of the neatest people on the earth. The attorney is a very perky, bright, young woman who not only helps us when hard questions arise, she gives me water when my bottle goes empty and my extras are in the car. When I get a few voters ahead I make a mad dash for the bathroom. Thankfully, it is not occupied and I am back at my post before anyone has started yelling.

Lunch time comes and goes and there is not time to run out to the car for all that nourishment. Finally around 2pm we get a breather and we take turns eating our lunches. I’m smart enough to bring a pop and extra water back inside with me. It is my last break of the day except for the stolen bathroom dashes.

There were several times in the day when I swore I would never do this again. There are moments in the day when I laughed with the sheer joy of the moment. It is an experience I will always treasure. The greatest impact was made on me by those who truly made sacrifices to be there. They wanted to vote. There were several voters that came in wheelchairs, or dragging their oxygen tanks with them. One young woman was so ill she had to lean on someone to just be there. I saw them come on crutches, leaning on canes. We would find chairs for them to sit while they waited their turn for a booth. I was impacted by these people who really understood that voting is a privilege that some have died for us to have. I made it through the day but as I tried to tell my daughter how these voters have touched me I found tears rolling down my cheeks. They are rolling now. I will never again miss an opportunity to vote. I will never again take that privilege lightly.

I smiled at the AfricanAmerican voters wearing their “Vote or Die” shirts through the line. I celebrated with first time voters and encouraged them on starting this tradition. One older gentleman said to me, “I hate to admit it, but I’m a bit nervous. You see I’ve never voted before.” He made me smile. He took his duty seriously. He had an opinion and he would voice that opinion through his vote.

The day wound down, finally. The lines began to thin out after 7pm and by 8 when we closed the doors all our voters had been through the lines. We had expected a last minute rush. We began the final process. We would need to open all the absentee ballots and they would have to be fed through a scanner. We had carefully checked our numbers. We were balanced and feeling good. Everyone was optimistic that we would actually get out at a reasonable time.

Then the fun for me really began. In our polling place, two different precincts (There are 6 precincts here and 3 polling places) were voting. Absentee ballots must be opened and witnessed by a member of the Republican and the Democratic Parties. It seems that the only Democrat official in the other precinct had gone home ill in the afternoon. They would have to have a Democrat present before they could open ballots. The local Clerk was called. She took a survey of everyone in the building and one of our officials was a Democrat. And then of course, there was me. There was no denying it. I had signed up as a Democrat and they shuffled me off to the other team. I’d like to say I was gracious about this, but actually, I wasn’t. I had bonded with my fellow team members during the day and I was grouchy, tired and hungry by this point. I didn’t want to be shuffled off someplace else. But off I went across the room. They were about as glad to see me as I was to be a part of their team. They had a routine established. All they expected me to do was “observe” them opening the ballots. Well they had a BUNCH of ballots. (this precinct was larger than the one where I had been working and they had 3 times as many ballots to open). They were going to be doing this a very long time. Yes they were and I would be a privileged witness of how they did it.

I attempted to find a place inside the group to contribute more than my woeful eyes but was rebuffed when I offered to help. I finally pulled my cell phone out and called my daughter to bring me the book I was now reading. She did. I managed to sit myself up in a good position and observe the opening of the ballots with one eye and read my book with the other.

The team across the way completed their duties. All balanced, they loaded up in their vehicles and headed for City Hall. It was 11:30. They were through. My new group was still opening absentee ballots. Not that I was bitter, mind you!

I waited til the midnight hour. It passed and the tension seemed to ease a little. Maybe they realized I was just a tad bit goofy. Soon I had a place at the table and was fitting into the tasks. We all pitched in and the votes were counted, all “write-ins” were tabulated, all totals were balanced. I had signed my name what seemed like 3000 times stating that the Democrats were totally happy with the way things had been done. It was 1:30. We were through. The last step was being checked in at City Hall with an “all clear” given by the Clerk.

I ran for my car, eager to be home and curled up in the fetal position and fast asleep. I stared in dismay. My car was covered with a thin candy shell of ice. I revved up the motor and began looking for an ice scrapper. None was to be found. There was nothing for it but to just wait for a bit until the windshield cleared off enough so I could drive. It seemed like this took hours. Maybe it did. No! If it had, I’d have fallen asleep in the car.

There were still officials at City Hall waiting for results when we stumbled in. We were not the last precinct to finish up. There was one more out there still trying to finalize their figures. The clerk would be with us in a minute. I stopped to ask the local reporter how Kerry was doing. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t winning. But, there’s still hope she whispered to me, “Ohio may turn the tide for us.” About 45 minutes later we were done and being sent home. My first stop was my computer to see how things were going. When I read that it didn’t look like there was any hope that Kerry would take Ohio, I trundled off to bed, too tired to feel discouraged. Wednesday morning news - not much better. It was definite. George Bush had won the election. Newscasters predicted that Senator Kerry would concede the election before the day was out.

Early afternoon the Clerk called, they had made a mistake and needed me back down to City Hall. She said this was it. The county had verified our figures. It was really over. I was excited for the opportunity to be an election official. Heck, I will probably do it again the next time election time rolls around. I was just glad that this election was over.

Little did I know that my Democratic status would once again put me in demand. Here it is Thursday… 2 days later and my phone rings again. I am needed at the county seat. An absentee ballot that should have been mailed to Albion had been mismailed. Can you believe that the only one that was misplaced had to belong to the precinct where I had to sign off as a representative of the Democratic Party. So, off I went again today, thinking, “My the fun just never ends”!. But, actually, I think it has. I think for this election and our election the fat lady has finally sung. I gladly have taken the vocal here and am proud to have finished it off. I’m tired all over again.

But, it was a good experience. I think everyone should be an election official at least one time. I think they should make us work there just like they sign us up for Jury Duty. It is a very important part of the electoral process. It keeps it honest. People really need to know exactly how this process works.


Wednesday, October 06, 2004

It seems I always get just a bit antagonistic this time of year. I start ranting at the arrival of cold weather, short days, and the need to scrape frost/ice/snow off my car in the mornings before I can go anywhere. And on top of that, it also means, I have to start bundling up so I won't freeze once outside my cozy house.

I had begun checking the view of my windshield every morning, just in case I needed to get out and kick start the car to avoid the above mentioned scraping. There was no creeping up on the first frost this year. Usually you have a day when you walk out the door and find your breath hanging in a little puffy cloud right in front of your nose. That didn't happen this year, I peeked out the window and there sat my car, covered in a thin candy shell of ice.

As the cold air sets in chilling my bones, so also sets in the night. Here we luxuriate all summer in long idle days and evenings that stretch until 10pm. Now the days are quickly shortening up. It is dark a little after 7 and no longer am I blinded by the rising sun on my way to work... it is just getting to the graying up a bit phase. Of course, when daylight savings time ends we get a small reprieve but it only seems like about a week and it is dark in the evenings. We have a time during the middle of winter when I go to work in the gray of dawn at 8am and come home in the dark at 5. Wait! just a minute.... i don't work until 5 this year. I don't care. I'm going to rant anyway.

My sister has begun planning their departure for Florida with great encouragment for us to join them where it's warm all winter. But if I went, what would I complain about, balmy air, soft breezes, oceansurf, rain showers instead of blizzards... I don't know if I can adjust to complaining about those things. Maybe I should just stay here.

Besides, with all my bitching, there is that wonderful day when you peek out the window and the world has turned into a crystaline wonderland of snowy beauty. I hate snow... but I love it. I love ice crystals dangling from my eaves, I love curling up under quilts with a good book, snuggling down to watch a familiar movie with my cocoa steaming between my hands. Where else but here. I guess I need to just suck it up, admit I'd hate to live anywhere there is no change of seasons; the wonder of fall, the dread cold of winter, the hope of spring and the radiance of summer. Yeah, here is a good place to just be.

Monday, October 04, 2004

funnin' up the chaufferin'

So, what happened is... one day my mom's car came to a time when it was beyond repair. She had it towed to the garage and the mechanic recommended that they shoot it and put it out of its misery. Good plan, I think. Mom at 90 only used the car to drive the few blocks to the store a couple times a week, go to the bank, church... just a little bit of here and there. When she needed to drive out of town, my sister or I took her. Mom drivin' on the highway, not a good idea.

She had been wonderin' when she should just quit driving altogether. She thought maybe when her drivers license expired that would be a good time to just hang up her car keys. Well, it looked like the time had finally arrived. I began driving mom about and trying to see that she had the things she needed... and making routine trips to the grocery store and over to K-Mart... fun places like that. You know!

But Mom just didn't like the inconvenience. If she wanted to go to the store she had to wait for someone to take her. So she began thinking about buying another car. We began car shopping. Wheeeee! Now Mom put about 20 miles a week on her vehicle... so as you can see, she needed something that could handle all that drivin'. We asked around for cars but didn't want her to get stuck with a lemon.

My brother Royce told her she should just quit looking and get a new car. That way "you won't be paying for someone else's problems." So, Mom decided she'd take his advice and last week she bought herself a brand spankin' new 2005 Ford Focus. Uh-huh! That's right!



Is that not the coolest 90 year old lady you've ever seen sportin' a brand new car?

The first time Mom took the car out for a spin, She asked me to follow her... old habits die hard. She was a bit afraid that when she backed the new car out of her garage the automatic door was going to close right in the middle of it. I backed out in the street and watched to make sure she didn't get impaled in her new car under the garage door. After she got the car out into the street, after a bit of struggling here and there... I could see she was trying to find stuff, she finally got the car turned around and headed up the street... right up the wrong side of the street that is. But adjusted things and soon was driving as she always did, right down the middle of the street. She arrived at my house with no serious accidents happening to her. She climbed out of her car and looked at me and said "I have to adjust these mirrors. I can't see where I'm at when I'm driving!" Well, yeah... OK... I understand. I think. We got the mirrors adjusted and she was feeling pretty confident, so she drove back home without me following her.

Well come Friday, I took Mom to town, only this time we drove her car instead of mine. Yeah, I got a bit aggravated trying to get the mirrors and seat adjusted just right, but soon I got myself fit in behind the wheel... and off we went. Now, when Mom needs to go anyplace we driver her car! It puts a happy spin on chaufferin'. I'll have to find more places for her to go. Today, Mom realized she had put over 100 miles on the car. (Actually she notes the mileage every time we go about a block... I don't know how long that will last.) I told her we needed to celebrate. Looks like we're getting that new car broken in just fine.

Friday, October 01, 2004

wonderfully splendifferous

It was a tradition. Saturday mornings - pancakes for breakfast. And if I do say so myself, I make a mighty fine pancake. But life dealt me a joker in the genes department and as I matured I learned I had low blood sugar.

I could still have pancakes for breakfast, and did. But never topped with scrumptiously delicious maple syrup dribbling down the sides. I had learned from my father to poke holes into the pancake so that as the syrup cascaded over and downwards it soaked into the soft texture making a buttery gooey delight that was beyond description. hmmmm.... pancakes soaking up all that maple syrup goodness.

Yeah, well! no more, baby. When I made pancakes I put cinnamon and artificial sweetner into the batter before cooking up the last couple then sandwiched an over easy egg in the middle (mmmm protein). Somehow it wasn't the same and pancakes lost their allure for me.

It is hard to define the flavor one gets when eating sugar free items. There's all kinds of goodies in the diabetic section of the grocery store. There's candy, ice cream, cookies... a whole half an isle... man that's a lot of crap. And the taste. Let me tell you what it tastes like... oh yeah, it tastes exactly like what it is a lot of crap. I did adjust to it... I now prefer diet coke to the original, i really like naturally sweet apple pie... with completely no sugar. But pouring that sugar free stuff into pancakes and telling yourself it tastes good... is feeding yourself a lie.

But then! whoooeeeeee!!! Splenda! Not to get all commercialized on you... but Splenda is actually sugar free sugar. Yeah, that makes no sense. But it's true. Isn't that just wonderfully splendafferous! Why YES it is!

Then I found the neatest thing. Sugar Free syrup made with Splenda! Wow! With a great deal of apprehension I bought that stuff then gave it a test run. The first time I used it very sparingly. I knew I was going to get sick. This was just too good to be true. But I did not get sick. I did not hate the taste. It was quite yummy in fact. So the next time, I poured on a little more. whoooppppeeee! I actually can drown my pancakes in syrup, punch holes in them and let all that syrupy goodness turn into a most delectable goo!

I shall forever love the creators of Splenda! Hmmmm Good.

Now, I wonder if they can make wine that doesn't make me high after two swallows...

Friday, September 24, 2004

Where's the love, man?

My mom had mild surgery last week and I had to do some serious mom sitting... no big deal... just really glad she got a good report and every thing was ok. But she had scheduled a garage sale for this week, I mean, the ad had already been published in the paper and she could not get every thing ready nor could she run the sale by herself. So my sister and I took turns Mom-sitting, getting ready for the sale, and helping out at the sale this week.

With all this fantastic fun on my horizon, I was really looking forward to this week. Well, actually I was looking forward to the end of this week. Because, obviously the week needed something to spice it up a bit, make things a little more up-beat. Me... I came up with the perfect solution. I got sick. Not just any sick, mind you, but "I think I'm dying because of my allergies... no maybe it's a cold, ... wait, it's settled in my chest it must be bronchitis... No, No, it's progressed to pneumonia" kind of sick. Thank goodness my sister was able to help finish up the garage sale preparations while I coughed and moaned.

Well the fun picked up on Wednesday when I had to begin my work week. I actually was feeling better but the kid decided she'd like a bit of what I was having and by now she was starting to look a little beyond help, although she did manage to drag herself off to work too. We have both been wishing we had at least been in a train wreck to justify our constant groaning due to the impending arrival at our door of the death angel.

I have managed to do my tour of duty on the job, help some with the sale preparations and I even got to sit in my mom's garage, sweat, and watch time crawl bye very slowly. But today is the last day of the work week, the last day of the sale... and it will soon all be history. Now that it is finally winding down, I am pleased to see that I have survived it quite successfully. I'm just looking forward to the weekend so I can sweep the floors and do some laundry. wheeee!

But despite all this up-beat chatter, actually, I'm a bit stuck in miry pit of gloom and despair. You see, today is my birthday! And, honestly, the way this week has gone, even I had forgotten it. I was reminded when the kid rasped out a phlegmy "happy birthday" this morning as we were trying to get ourselves motivated and out the door to work. So now, here I sit, all wrapped up in wondering why my birthday has to be so crappy. Yep, that's me, sitting here in the middle of this fantastic party, fantastic pity party, that is. Absolutely, all by myself. Completely ignored by the entire world at large. Do you feel my pain? Do you? Do You? Maybe just a tiny bit?

It's almost noon and I haven't received one silly ecard wishing me a happy birthday today. That's right, not one. What's wrong, people? Can you explain this! I have not received one single phone call to say "happy birthday, Anne". That’s right, not one. I mean really, not one.

And here at work... since i sort of retired last year... and only work a bit, they must have removed me from the employee roster... because I have not gotten a single crappy "howdy, happy birthday" from even one of my co-workers. In the past, someone would bring cookies or a cake to share during break time... but not today! No, not today. What is going on here, folks? Have I passed into the twilight zone? Can anyone see me? Do you even know I'm here?

Now all this bitching seems just a tad bit out-of-place coming from me... I really don't like people making a fuss over me... but today I have come to realize that I do like to get the token attention everyone gets... I really do! I do... I really do!

So I ask you...

Where's the love, man, where's the love? It's my birthday for cripes sakes. Bring on the birthday cheer! I need a Happy Birthday up in here! at least one. don't make me beg!

please

Monday, September 13, 2004

Thank You????

Just because I hate them so much… And needed a good place to vent.

These “thank you” commercials make me crazy.

Just tell me, girls, if you were grocery shopping and another shopper came up, placed her hand on your tummy and said “oh, you’re having a boy!” and you in astonishment reply “I’m not pregnant”... she has the audacity to respond “Thank you.” Not "excuse me," or "i'm sorry," but "Thank you!"... WHAT?

Now tell the truth - Would you have waited for that particular “thank you” or would you have (before she had a chance to reply) decked the ho, upended her into her shopping cart then pushed her - cart and all into the meat locker and slammed the door on the bizzatch!

Or how about the gal out to dinner with her guy and asks “are we ever getting married?” and he hems and haws around a bit then answers “Thank you”. She gets all swooshey and says “you’ve never said that to me before.” WHAT?

How long has she been dating this go nowhere scumbag… and he has never on any occasion said “thank you”… and she’s all happy about it. I mean… what she should have done is toss her liquid beverage in his face and stomped out of the restaurant. I don’t know who’s the least likable character in that commercial; the sidestepping guy or the dumb girl.

Furthermore, you could ask me a hundred times what they were advertising in these ads… and I couldn’t tell you. I get too upset by the idiotic idea that you can get out of a bad situation by smiling and saying “thank you”… now I believe “thank yous” are important… but really, now!

and since i'm lamblasting commercials... do you pity the poor woman who opens an envelope from the bank and a desert island starts pouring in, completely destroying her home and leaves her kerplunk in the middle of nowhere... where her lawn is supposed to be ... a little grass, skads of strangers and my guess: no plumbling, not even the outdoor type. yeah, that's worth getting excited about! the lesson i get from this commercial... any envelope i get from that bank: DON'T OPEN! Ever!

Saturday, September 11, 2004

For my Litkicks Pals and Other Friends

The Bulletin Board

I have always loved post cards. Glossy photos can be picked up anywhere for a pittance and so whenever I go anywhere I always bring back a couple postcards of my trip.

My love for them increased when my daughter spent one semester in Venice and as she traveled around Europe she sent me a card from the beautiful places she visited. I proudly displayed them on my bulletin board at work.

As I began exploring the world wide web and making a few friends when the first asked what I would like from them I replied “send me a post card.” My first one arrived from Van Couver in Canada. I thought that was so cool that I shamelessly posted a request on one of the bulletin boards at LitKicks ( http://Litkicks.com a most awesome place to connect with friends from around the globe) and emailed my address to those who wanted to send me a postcard.

They soon began arriving. I had cards from Australia, New Mexico, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Indiana, Michigan, Florida, New Orleans, Germany, Wales, England, Yemen and Virginia. I added these to my bulletin board and it quickly began filling up. I soon had too many and at one time one wall of my office was covered with the beautiful postcards I had received in the mail.

This wall made a tremendous impression on those who came to my office and a great way to share a little bit about myself, although I had to explain that these were not places I had traveled but represented the homes and travels of my friends from around the globe.

My work buddies soon wanted to get in on the fun and soon were also sending cards to me from their vacation spots. At one time I had centered a sign in midst of the postcards which read Litkicks Pals but because so many others began contributing I had to take it down. One gentleman whose business brings him into my office even sent me a card when he and his wife visited Denmark this last spring.

When I retired, I continued working a few hours a week, which meant I had to give up my office with the post card covered wall. The first thing I did to make my new work space really mine was to find a way to display my postcards. Unfortunately, they didn’t all fit but I found a way to expand my space and soon had them out for everyone to enjoy again.

Now I worry that continued exposure to light is causing the cards to lose their brightness and because they are so special to me I am going to take them down and put them in an album. But before I do, I just wanted to share them with you.

My Messy Work Area is made tolerable by the view.



Closer Views




So if you are ever out wandering about, feel free to drop me a postcard. I'd love to add it to my collection.








Saturday, September 04, 2004

It was just a "so long"

Wheh!

My mom celebrated her 90th birthday on Saturday. We kids had been looking forward to some family time while doing something special to let mom know how great we think she is.

Company began arriving last week. My niece Amy and her daughter Julie were going to be our guests for the weekend. I had been busy getting a place ready for them and was excited when they arrived. Julie is 2. She is a wonderful, terrible two. How were we to know that spending a weekend watching Winnie the Pooh, Blues Clues and singing with Barney could be so much fun? It was awesome.

In fact, the entire weekend was awesome. At one point we kids had to get a group picture taken. So there we were. Mom with my brother Royce, me, brother Jim and sister Phyllis… and even at our ages we couldn’t behave long enough to get a serious picture taken.


Worthy of note is that Mom always looks dignified and serene. I guess her ability to maintain her cool around such shenanigans explains how she managed to raise 5 kids and not lose her mind.

It did get a bit “touch and go” when my nephew Greg’s kids brought their dog, Gizmo, to the party. She was a hit right away, of course, she’s adorable. The touch part came when my daughter while holding the dog, turned her puppy dog eyes on me and said, “See how cute. I want a dog, Mom”. But I was tough and we haven’t made any arrangements to go out and get one of our own and the crisis soon passed.

We hung out a lot, ate way too much food. Told stories on each other, remembered the ‘good times’ hugged a lot of necks, but finally family slowly said their goodbyes and we watched them get into their cars and leave. Amy and Julie left on Sunday night. I walked back into my house with not even an echo of Barney reverberating through the rooms. The house was too quiet, too empty.

My brother James (Amy’s father) hung around a bit longer. It was great having extra time with him and I took full advantage ignoring things I probably should have been doing and enjoyed having him around. He came over with mom this morning for breakfast and we sat around the table talking about things, looking at pictures, but too soon he said “I’ve got to go”, reaching out for a goodbye hug.

I stood in the drive watching him walk away. He turned and said “I’ll be back before too long with Jimmie (his son). We want to get some things done for Mom.”

“When do you think you’ll be here?” I asked.

“Before the weather gets bad. Jimmie and I want to get some golf in while we’re here.”

This was one of those times I was glad some of my family members are golf nuts. It made saying this goodbye easier. After all, it won’t be long before I get to say another one.

Friday, September 03, 2004

Spiteful Discount

Once I hit the age of 55 my sister and my mom began quizzing me every time we sat down after going through the service line at any fast food establishment whether or not I had gotten my "senior's discount". Yeah, like I was going to admit I was old enough for that. Anyway at age 55 I didn't look old enough to qualify and to me that was worth paying the regular price for my soft drink. Mom would then inform me how much cheeper her meal was than mine. Fine with me. This woman is, after all, 28 years older than I am.

Without fail, I had this conversation every time we ate some place. I figured that once the employee at the service counter could figure out I was old enough to qualify... then by cracky, I'd start fessin' up that I deserved the cheeper rate. So for years I paid full price and grinned while paying it. I had gotten bye them again. I was still fooling them about my age.

Then last Sunday my mom and I stopped after church for lunch. I thought my meal was a little less than I had calculated in my head it should be. When I got to my seat I pulled out my receipt. Oh, Crikey! They've found me out. That young whippersnapper had given me a senior's discount without my asking him. I sat stewing at the receipt as my mom pulled out her chair and sat down. "Did you get your discount?" she ceremoniously asked. "As a matter of fact, I did" I snarled back ungraciously.

When I got home I made a trip to the bathroom mirror to examine my features more closely. Who exactly had I thought I'd been fooling, anyway. I stared at my gray hair and the skin now a little looser under my chin. It's caught up with me and that's all there is to that. I sat down at my desk, wrote out a check and mailed in my membership to AARP. Let's face it, I have arrived. Whether I act like it or not, I am now officially a senior citizen.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Chauffeuring the Girls

Who are the girls? That would be my 89 year old mother, Mary, and her best friend Lola. Mom and Lola have been friends for almost 70 years and they are two of the most awesome women I know. To have a friendship that has lasted that long in this day and age is, in itself, baffling and awe inspiring at the same time.

The girls talk on the phone (for hours) almost daily. They go to yard sales whenever they can. Usually Lola is the designated driver. Mom’s remarks about her driving makes me know she is the senior on the back roads driving 35 and getting cussed out by everyone piling up behind her. That’s OK… they eventually get to their destination.

However, Lola has been ill this summer. Driving has been a bit of a problem and they haven't been able to get around and enjoy all the things they usually do. So when they were both invited to the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of a couple, Ray and Elaine, who had “grown up” in the church they were eager to go. But how would they get to the anniversary; it was out of town? So I volunteered to go along and drive the girls to the party.

Mom was so excited about going she spent 2 weeks before the event making sure that everything was in place. That meant, she kept me on a tight leash with daily reminders to do the proper thing… like “get a really nice card since they had requested ‘no gifts’ and they were giving us a free dinner”… and keeping me aware that I had an appointment and I had better be “on time” because they did not want to be late. “They’re serving dinner right at 5 o’clock, you know.”

So the day arrived. I dressed up a little bit, got in my car for the 20 minute drive 45 minutes early (we were on time) and went to pick up Mom and then on down the road to pick up Lola. I plugged in a favorite cd, turned the music down so the girls could chatter away… and boy did they!

I have always been amazed that my mom remembers where everybody lived over her almost 90 years on this earth… but driving down the country roads to the next town was like having 2 tour guides along for the ride. The comments were nothing if not stimulating and varied not a bit in nature. They followed something like this…

“You know Clarence lived there until he moved to…”

“...and Charles lived right next door… there in that house”

“You remember Bert & Ethel, now this house coming up on the right… wait not that one… there it is… now... that one, that’s where they lived” as an aside… “You know it’s been so many years it’s hard to remember these houses; they’ve changed so much.” Well for my money they were remembering pretty dog-gone good.

We arrived at the party and were ushered in with hugs, kisses, and a lot of “I haven’t seen you in ages”, “how are you doing”, “how are the kids”, “where is ____ now” I stared around at a sea of faces that were familiarly strange and I tried to put names to them and finally gave up until they gave themselves away by some remark they would make. I stared at a lot of beautiful women who wore their years well but seemed a little oblivious since the frequent hair color seemed to be some strange tint of orange (you know that color one gets when trying to touch up the gray yourself instead of having it done professionally). I tripped into the bathroom for a quick check in the mirror to make sure I hadn’t caught the bug. Good! My hair was still gray and there was no hint of orange anywhere around my face.

It turned into one of the most fun nights I have had in years. I loved the girls, I loved watching them visit with old friends and get caught up in family stories, remembrances and just getting embraced by all those who really loved them. When the evening wound down and I was able to usher two tired ladies to the car we began our journey home. They chatted about their friends and the good old days.

I smiled when the evening was over and I pulled the car into the driveway at home. I thought to myself that the most beautiful women there had been my silver haired mom and her silver haired friend Lola… and of course the beautiful bride, Elaine, silver hair shining as much as her smile. But aside from the fun time of seeing old friends, the thing I was really, really glad about was that I don’t have orange hair.


Friday, August 13, 2004

launch day!

well... i'm going to launch this thing. watch out world! here i come.

it still isn't perfect, but is anything?

there are still a couple things i want to add. check back with me and see how i'm doing.

for some reason there is a knot in my stomach, the kind you get just as you step in front an audience to do your public speaking thing. i hope this goes well, if not, please be patient with me. i'm still a novice.

anyway, thanks for stopping in.

taking a deep breath. ok... here goes!

anne

Friday, August 06, 2004

just to get things going

so finally, i decided i was ready to get with the times and create a web site. well, hasn't this been fun? That is not a redundant question...and the answer is "NO!"

rather frustrating actually, but I figure i'll get the hang of it with a little practice. so i'm here typing this, and actually, i'm not sure if it will even show up on my site. experimentation... ah, yes! the things from which dreams are realized. or whatever!

well, if it works... i'll soon be adding to this. if it works, i'll soon get this dang thang launched. if it works!

it better work