Years ago, when Jamelah was still small, we began making our own nativity scene. A ceramics store downtown provided the figures. We talked it over, picked out how we wanted our scene to look, we painted them up, took them back and they fired them for us. We began with the 3 central figures; Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. Each year we would add another figure or 2 depending on what we could afford. We watched our nativity grow each year.

The store went of business but we found another place in the town next door and continued to grow our nativity. We took in a couple of our figures to try and match their stock and was able to get a couple more figurines but that was all and that was the last year we kept that tradition. However, our scene was pretty much completed. We had wanted to purchase a few more pieces (the animals, sheep and whatnot) but the last pieces we bought we not on the same scale and our animals are a bit large, noticeable, but OK.

This year, Christmas caught us unprepared. With our schedules being packed and spending a lot of time at Mom's, somehow our tree just did not get put up. It just doesn't look anything like Christmas at our house, but our neighbors more than make up for it.

Wednesday I decided I had to do something, even if it would not be very much. I strung clear LED lights around our herb garden pots. Cleared off the stop shelf of our bookcase to make way for the things regularly kept on our end table, and set up our nativity in its regular spot. Now it feels like Christmas. The rest of the house may look sadly lacking in Christmas cheer but this tradition is in place. On Christmas morning we will shoo Sweet Pea off the couch (which she owns) and read the Christmas story from Luke. Then we will thank God for the greatest gift ever given and it will truly be Christmas.

Things I'll Miss About Working...

Miss? Surely there's something. Like...

1. The ride to work each morning. It's true. It's a 5 minute drive. Not much huh! But, there is this place on my street that I pass that often makes me gasp. There once was an old factory there which closed. It was torn down by the DNR and the site cleaned up. Now pronouced safe, the city uses it as a soccer field. So it's wide open and looking east each morning I have a new view, unobliterated, of the sky. I'm a sky girl. And right now the timing is perfect. The sun is tinting everything golden and the clouds are tinged in pink. I love this time of day, I love this spot.

2. Coffee. Java Peak is the brand sold by the local gas station and I stop there for my morning caffeine fix. Large coffee (24 oz) with half-n-half. The same people are usually there each morning and we are familiar strangers. We do a corregrpahed dance around each other as we fill our paper cups from the spigots of hot brew. We all seem in good moods although our comments mention the fact that it is still too early to call this a "Good morning!". We complain about the weather, usually, because this is Michigan. Mary and Arlene have been the crew at this station for a long time. Everyting moves smoothly, until some idiot wants to spend his weekly income on lottery tickets, then we all grumble and shift our weight from foot to foot as the checkout line lengthens. I will NEVER buy lottery tickets in the morning at the gas station. That is just rude and inconsiderate. Most people know this. Usually it is a quick in and out. I have perfectly good coffee at home so I don't suppose I'll feel the need to run for a cup in the mornings. But, maybe, once in a while, I'll have to go. Just for that feel of morning commaradierie with my fellow coffee buyers at the gas station.

3. The view from my window. My office is now on the top floor of City Hall. Due to a water problem in the basement we were moved up this summer. The ceiling height in my office is at least 14 ft tall. My windows are 7 ft high. and probably at probably 5 ft wide. Have a mentioned that I am a sky lady. My desk faces the window. I had to close the blind half way because the light flooding in was blinding me. But I have to face it. I have to. You know the glare would make my computer screen completely unreadable. I get lost sometimes sitting here staring out my window. I'm doing it now as I type this. It's a partly cloudy day and the sky stretches on forever and the clouds are fleeing past my window, moving eastward. It's beautiful. It's beautiful now with the rising sun adding golden hi-lights to everything. It's beautiful any time of the day. During weather the mouting clouds climbing mile high are breathtaking to watch. Sometimes I just get lost in ooking out my window the the sky dancing in from of me. It is awesome.

4. Sandee. I love her. She is the secretary to the City Manager and the Director of Human Resources. She is remarkable. She can always make me laugh. And we delight in playing jokes on each other by any means available. She's a great listener. She's good people. She'll be my friend when I leave here, but I shall miss her dopping in to my office for a minute or me sitting in her office just chatting about stuff.

and... I stopped here. I stopped because I would finish this later. It didn't happen. From experience I will say I miss all of the above, probably. We recently had the Christmas potluck and I attended. Soon all conversation turned to work and I was not "in the know". I found myself grinning. It was OK. No more stress about the daily occurrances. I miss it. I miss it. Maybe... once in a while, I think about it. But mostly when I look out my window from home and see the snow covering everything, I don't miss it at all. Welcome to the now, Anne. It is a good place to be.

Goodbye City Hall! I shall miss you.

So... I should be blogging all the time now. But, I always feel too busy. That may have something to do with becoming addicted to Facebook games (Mafia Wars and Farmtown). But, as luck would have it I am getting bored with that entire boogity boo business. Not to the point where I am ready to quit, but I find 30 minutes a day pretty much does it. So, now what.

Well, I am retiring... yes... again! My last day to work is October 30. I don't know what I will do for income because that lost paycheck is really going to hurt. Well, life is, if not anything else, an adventure. So, perhaps I will just enjoy the adventures of it all.

I have asked to teach a Bible Class at the church and it looks like this may happen when the timing comes together.
Also, I'm looking at doing some volunteering. I really think I have to give back some way. My mom worked as a volunteer in our community for as long as she was physically able. She was a volunteer at the hospital until they closed the doors. She also worked at the blood drives for years. She set an excellent example and I want to follow the pattern she set. We have a food pantry at our church that distributes food once a month and they are looking for volunteers. I am sure I can find some place to fit in there or somewhere.

Anyway, tomorrow is my last day to work. Yep! That's right. tomorrow is my last day. hee, hee, hee.

So, goodbye City Hall. I shall miss you. Really! I shall.

My Mind Is Made Up

I'm going to retire. Again! Yes, Again! This time for keeps.

The last time I left my job I hung on working part-time. When, due to budget cuts, the part-time job ended, I worked part-time as the secretary for my church. It was essential to make my monthly budget to have more income. This time, well, nothing has actually changed, except by working I have increased my monthly donation from Social Security, I actually think I can swing it without working. That's my plan, anyway.

I can't imagine it. Not getting up every day and slouching off to the daily grind with a quick stop for coffee on the way in. This winter did me in. I decided that I was not getting up in the cold anymore and cleaning off a car just because I HAD to be somewhere besides home drinking my coffee. Coffee from a coffee spot is great, but it's not like I can't make coffee just as good right at home. Yes, before the year is out I shall plan to make and drink coffee home and enjoy it even more.

Are you wondering just when. My hope is to work through the month of September. Of course, I'm not adverse to stopping prior to that date. I am currently training my assistant to take over my job duties and by then we should have completed the annual cycle. After that she will be on her own. She's a very bright assistant and I know she will have not problem with this job. In fact, she is pretty much perfect for it.

So that's that. I find I am already thinking I won't be here much longer and this time I'm not coming back except for those special events where they invite the retirees.

It's gonna be great. I'm making a list of things I want to do.



* Take pictures of stuff I love

* Sew. I bought a brand new machine which I have had for a year. I took a class to learn how to use it. I haven't even mended anything since the class nor made anything, nor anything else. But soon I'm going to sew... again. I loved the creative process. I hope I can still do it.

* Clean my house. Oh yes! That will be fun.

* Ministry. I want to become involved in some type ministry. I'm thinking about what it will be. Just want to make sure it is the Lord and not me whispering in my ear.

* Stress out less.

* Watch the snow from my window, not from my car.

* Do more with my Mom. Now I visit her daily, but I want to spend more time with her.

* Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

I could have put my eye out!

Tentacles
Originally uploaded by Annie Fay

Winter seems a savage beast this year as the snaggletoothed icicles hanging from the front of the house give credence that all of nature is out to get us. I moan when even a few more flakes of snow flutter downward. I gasp when the cold northwest wind eats my face when I step out the door. I shiver under blankets trying to keep the chill out of my bones and wonder if I am really cold or just feel that way because I know the wind chill outside is a negative 20 degrees. I think this should all be preserved someway. I should be taking pictures and posting them but I can't stand the idea of standing still in the cold long enough to snap a picture.

I curse the elements when I begin the futile task of removing snow from my car as one side of the windshield fills up with snow by the time I get the other side cleared. It is hopeless. This winter seems colder and grayer and gloomier and sadder than all the superlatives you can associate with weather rolled into one long, bleak, bad winter day. These days are shorter, the nights darker, tempers flare more quickly. Will it ever end?

But in some moment, and it should really be captured, the sun refracts from the icicles hanging outside my window. I go to see the soft white of fresh snow covering all the mistakes of ugly gray slush and I seem to have stepped out of time. This moment is perfect beauty. I smile, grab my camera and try to catch this instant, knowing full well, even so, I could lose an eye. Those things do happen, you know.

11 below zero morning

11 below zero morning
Originally uploaded by Annie Fay

This is what 11 below zero looks like. Nothing describes what it feels like. Nothing explains the cutting chill of trying to warm a vehicle up so you can endure the short drive to work. Eeeegads! What if I had to walk. I know what I know. I know I hate winter. I know this is the last winter I will do this. At least that's what I think I know.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

It seems the only thing I am passionate about this winter is the weather. I can't stand that every time I converse with someone I am usually talking about work or about how hard it is to get to work. It's not news to anyone that Michigan is cold in the winter. It isn't news to me either. It is not news to anyone who knows me that I complain a lot in the winter about how cold it is.

But this winter is abominable. Really abominable. So far they report that we have received 26 inches more snow already this year than we typically get in an entire winter season. Maybe that means winter is done. It did its meanest to us and now it is all wintered out. I hope so. I know for dang sure that I'm all wintered out.

But we're only half way through the winter. If we get as much snow the rest of the season as we have gotten so far we will definitely not only be ahead of the average we will be breaking records. Anyway, that's what I'm thinking.

I don't want to break any records. I want it to end. Now! Today.

It looks good outside. The weatherman said it would climb above freezing today and although it hasn't made it yet, I'm still optimistic. It is 28 degrees. That's like balmy considering we've been having sub zero temps and wind chills. The sun is even shining. Just 4 degrees warmer and these mountains of white gook could melt before they turned nasty brown.

I'm hoping. I'm hoping. At least today maybe it will feel like like we do not live in the Tundra. And soon, if I make it through the next 2 months, then it really will be spring. I can hardly wait for flowers and butterflies and warm sun on my face. I can hardly wait.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

a slippery slope

Slippery slope, indeed. Isn't all of life one?

It's morning again. It's morning and it is winter and it is cold and it is snowing and i have to go to work and i have to take the dog out and i am running late. Yeah, like that. It's morning again.

I round up Sweet Pea. The easiest part of the ordeal. She comes circling as soon as I start sliding my arms into my coat. How does she know? Then the circling begins. It is some kind of morning dance we do. Me trying to get to the back door and her making sure that I take her with me when I walk out it. Somehow we manage to do exactly that. Get out the back door without me tripping over her form circling repeatedly around my legs. I hitch her to her tree (with a 25 ft leed. Trust me this is not cruelty. This dog is an escape artist and this is our ONLY option) then head for the drive and my car.

I stand in front of it. Why am I perplexed. Of course it's covered with snow. This IS Michigan, and it's morning and i have to get to work and it just wouldn't be right if i didn't have to clean the white stuff that fell during the night off my car so i could do that. I unlock the car and start the engine. Pull the broom out of the back seat (it's much faster than an ice scraper/brush) and start to work on the top of the car. It's not too bad, some days it is really piled high. Then I feel it; my feet are sliding (we live on a hill). I grab the handle to the back door and catch myself from sliding all the way down the drive and out into the street. And in this awkward position I continue; holding on to the door handle with one hand, sweeping snow off the car with the other.

Once I finish all I can reach while hanging on to the rear door handle, I have to figure out how to navigate the rest of the car. I manage. Afterall I have been living in Michigan a very, very long time. And in this house on the hill... a long time. So, that's done.

I head back to the rear yard and gather up the dog who is always excited to see me. I don't know why either, but I strongly suspect it has something to do with the treat she knows is coming once we get back into the house.

I'm running late. I grab a baggie and fill it with cheerios and pour a little milk into a sealed plastic bowl and head out the door. The defroster has done a good job, the windshield is clear. The walk into the building from the parking lot across the street is a bit slicky but soon I am inside my office. I set breakfast on my desk, go to the front office and take off my coat and manage to get distracted only slightly before heading for my desk. Afterall, breakfast is waiting.

My computer is booting up and I turn to the task of eating. To my surprise I see that I have milk all over my desk. No way! Yes. That's milk. I clean up the mess. Look at my empty cereal bowl (all the milk leaked out with the lid still sealed, or appearing to be sealed) and my bag of dry cheerios. Oh well, I dump the cherrios into the bowl, pick up the spoon and sit down to a great breakfast.

I must add that at lunch when I reached into my purse I found everything wet. I was sure I had not pushed snow into my purse while getting in to my car (I have done that before), so I couldn't figure it out. Then my brain started working and I realized it was wet with milk. In fact everything was wet with milk. I had to dump everything in my purse out. Turn it inside out and set it in front of my air filter to dry. Then wash everything off. Especially the wayward change that collects in the bottom of my purse.

Glad Ware indeed. That bowl was certainly misnamed.

Black Eyed Peas and The New Year

My Mom the last few years has become resolute in the need for eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day. It is traditional to bring good luck. She says her mother told her this. So when shopping she always makes sure there's some in the house she can fix for January 1 each year. Honestly, I don't remember that we did this when I was growing up, but for us, it is now a New Year's Day Tradition.

This year we invited Mom over to watch the Rose Bowl Parade and for lunch. We curled up on our new family room furniture and let Mom enjoy the "power" recliner (it's not what you think. it is simply a recliner that is electric and you don't have to use muscles to get it into position. So, not a lift chair). The parade was beautiful as usual. Jamelah is working on a new afghan for the new couch and she happily worked on that. I just watched the parade and Mom and I chatted. Although, once in a while we had to hush so Jamelah could count stitches.

For dinner we had our good luck black eyed peas, ham and sweet potatoes with some pie which, by some miracle, we just happened to have. It was a fun time but by this time Mom was ready for home and her powerless recliner.

The black eyed pea thing is evidently a southern thing. You can read about it here. http://newsok.com/article/3184895/1198669427 If you didn't have a nice bowl of peas for New Year's Day, still wishing you a prosperous 2009.

Happy New Year

Well here we are! January 1, 2009! That just blows my mind. Really, it does! Remember in 1999 the world was supposed to blow up or something like that. Nine years later and we're still here, pretty much doing the same stuff we were doing then, only with neater technology.

It has been a busy year. I'm back to working full time. It seemed like a good idea when I made the decision, but I'm beginning to feel like I'd like to not work: not part time, not full time, not any time. I blame the arrival of winter this year for that. I just don't want to scrape any more ice off my windshield and then freeze my bunns off while heading to work, ever again. I have promised myself that I will stop working in 2009. It's a promise I hope to keep.

My mom's battle with cancer in 2007 seemed to keep us all running. Her cancer exists but it is doing nothing but just sitting there. Not growing, not spreading... just sitting there. It has little to do with her health and she only goes to see her oncologist 2 times a year now. We saw these changes this year. It is good to not be making monthly trips to doctors and to labs for blood work and all those other tests that became a part of her life. Her big problems are the spinal spinosa (however you spell that) and the neuropathy in her legs. She misses being able to do all the things she did not that long ago. But she turns 95 this year and the doctors tell her she is doing great. She thinks that diagnosis is hilarious. "Great" to her would be doing all the stuff she was still to do when she was 80.

Through this year I have had reinforced in my life that God is good. We have had some setbacks but He has been faithful. I celebrate my belief in Him and am at peace having Him in charge. I look forward to this year. I believe it will be a year of new things; or maybe old things for me. I want to stir up the giftings God placed in me and return to doing the things that blessed me and blessed those lives I touched. It is going to be a good year.