OMG!!!!!

 We just finished watching the Bears

    To be honest, I thought about doing this little missive with about 2 minutes to go in the game.  But I am so glad I stuck it out.

    What an exciting finish!!!

    Speaking of exciting, I got all the houses lit in the Dickens Village.  Yes, I got down on the floor.  And yes, more importantly, I got back up!

    The new power strip may be the clue....but at the end of the season I will test each bulb, each wire, each strip because I am not going through this again.

    And I got my train ornament tree up!!

    Two major accomplishments in one day!

    I have 3 things to do over the next few days:

        organize the pantry....again

        make shortbread

        clean the damn desktop and den

    If I get any one of those done, I will consider it all a win.....like the Bears today!!

    And as much as I like watching football, having games on Christmas Day just does not seem right.  There shouldn't be any football, basketball, racing.....it's a special day and should be spent with family.

    That's all I will say about that!

Peace and Love

dang it

 I have had some on line ordering issues 

    My first issue was with Astoria Jewelry.  Jackie ordered some things, they did not look the same as the pictures, wanted to return them, could not load the picture, return window closed.......a tale I have told before.

    Yes, I still e mail them and I still go on their FB page and comment "Buyer Beware!"

    We got our Kohl's bill and there was a charge for $14 from a store in Ohio.

    Since we have not been to Ohio for a while, we thought the charge might be a mistake.

    Jackie called.  Lucky she called, because I could not understand  a word the service rep said.

    She gave us another number to call, and we could barely understand the new person.

    Turns out I ordered an apple peeler.  The peeler was sent from a fulfillment center in Ohio, he once the charge from Ohio.  

    We had never seen that!  Evidently it is SOP for that to take place.

    I ordered a winter coat for Beth, one that does not require me to turn her into a contortionist to get her lets trough the holes.

    Unfortunately, I ordered an anxiety coat instead.

    Called Chewy and ordered a new coat.  The service rep had a. terrible phone connection, lots of static and breaking up.  But I could understand nd him.

    Long story short, we are keeping the anxiety coat and donating it to Tails in DeKalb.

    Finally, I ordered a new light strip for our Dickens Village.  It was supposed to be here today.  Nothing arrived.

    I went on the Amazon site to track the order and it said it was delivered yesterday.

    That's when I realized the package Julia got was actually our light strip!  I could have relit  the village today if I had known that.

    Now I am searching for gift ideas for a young girl and a 21 year old.  

    But I figure Christmas isn't until Thursday, so I don't have to start looking until Wednesday.

Peace and Love

almost disaster

 I thought we lost Beth this morning

    She was out in back and chased a squirrel up a tree.  She sat there and baked and barked, them started back to the house.

    Lisa, one of our morning helpers, got a short video of the mutt barking up the tree, with the squirrel perched on an upper branch.  Understand, it is not a big tree.

    Beth was halfway to the house when the squirrel took off.

    Beth took off in hot pursuit.

    They both ran on the east side of the house.  The underground fence did not seem to bother her one bit.

    I put shoes and a coat on and ran out the front door.  She was nowhere in sight.

    I called and called a d looked on the east side of the house.

    No Beth.

    I decided to get my phone, call Julia and Emily, and get on the golf cart to go look for her.

    When I went back in the house, there she was!

    Lisa had raced out the back door while I was getting shoes on.  She found Beth on the east side of the house.  I suspect the squirrel scampered up the red oak over there.  

    While I was out front looking and yelling, Lisa was coming in the back door with the dog.

    Honestly, I felt sick to my stomach when I could not find her in front.

    The lesson I learned is to check the yard for squirrels before I let the dog out!  Also, mabe I better change her battery in the collar.  

    Jackie always asks me why it takes me so long to read the paper on line in the morning.

    It's not just reading the paper.  It's deleting all the e mails that come on that account.  I had not gone through them since Sunday, and tonight I deleted 324 e mails!  Granted, some were ones I had read, like the Trib, Adam Kinzinger, Heather Cox Richardson, Lady Canarvon, but most of them were ads. And a lot were donate to my campaign ads.

    Honestly, I was shocked at how many I deleted.  I guess advertising picks up right before Christmas.

    Tomorrow there will not be that many.  I just need to clean up the inbox a couple of times a day.

    And I should clean up my wooden desk top at least once a year!

    2026 is rapidly approaching, maybe then.

Peace and Love

downtown

I made my annual pilgrimage to the Christmas market  

    Luckily the weather was mild, or at least not freezing.

    Julia, Emily, Missy, Sherri and I checked out the market and Field's.  Happily the windows at Field's were  more Field's than Macy's.  

    The displays traced the history of the iconic department store and some displays even had movement!  They were like the windows Field's took such pride in creating.

    I will let the pictures do the. talking.

    On our way home, traffic was pretty heavy.  I remember passing Mannheim Road. and maybe seeing some of the Naperville exits, but when I woke up near Rochelle it was noted that my snoring was pretty loud!!  That and a coffee means I won't sleep well tonight.

    But I am tired.

    And my step counter just told me that after all the walking I did today, I am a 4 minute walk from closing my loop.  BS!!

Peace and Love

The birds even visited baby Jesus!

Birds of a feather flock to keep warm

Cups were an odd shape for drinking

My schnitzel I son the right, back.

The tree was even decorated to honor Field's

I'm fed up

 I am in a pretty negative mood tonight

    Yes, some of it is my fault.

    For example, I had 72 cents a gallon in HyVee rewards.  The  rewards expire  today.  I filled the car last Thursday and learned about the rewards Friday.

    It was so cold, I did not go anyplace Saturday or Sunday.  Monday I went to Rockford to visit a relative in the hospital.  Today I went to DeKalb.

    I used about 1/4 of a tank.

    The HyVee rewards are good at Casey's.  So I stopped at the Casey's in Creston to fill up and save 72 cents a gallon.

    I don't know what I did wrong, but I did not get the discount.  It normally shows, but this time did not.  I should have hung up the hose and started over, but I didn't.

    I put 5 gallons in, which is about $3.50.  But the gas was 17 cents a gallon more than stations in town, so I spent another $1 or so, meaning I wasted $4.50.

    I know, big deal....not even a coffee.

    It's the damn point.  I should have been more aware.

    I'm still fuming over Astoria Jewelry.  I could not post the required picture and eventually the return period expired.  I have contacted them several times but their answer is the same:  Tough toenails!

    Those damn lightbulbs.  How can they all be bad?

    Last night I quit the computer at 9.  Planned to go to bed early.  Finally made it at 11:45!  What the hell did I do?

    The only bright spot of the day was a Cubs hat cousin Bob sent.  It's a replica 1911 hat, maybe,  but it looks great.  

    Anyway, I am in a big grouch today.  Tonight.  Whatever.

    Hoping tomorrow is better.

Peace and Love

giving in, or up?

 I am so frustrated abut those stupid lights

    Last night I ordered a new light package.  Yes, it is expensive, but maybe my problems with the Dickens Village will be brought to light.  (clever pun, eh?)

    I don't know if you ever heard of them but once upon a time Tom Swifies were popular.  Sure, it might have been in the 1890s, but they were popular.

    And yes, I said 1890s, although I have no idea when.

    Some examples:

    The light now works, Tom said brightly.

    I think  the battery needs charging, Tom weakly said.

    The Earth is not round, Tom  flatly stated.

    I think we blew a circuit, Tom darkly muttered.

    Tom always spoke with an adjective that reflected the sentence.

    And while now I am a sophisticated adult, I can admit there was a time in my young life when several of us would gather and refuse to speak unless we spoke as a Tom Swiftie.

    Ah....... I mis those days.

    Maybe I should start a movement and call them Taylor Swifts?

    Jackie and I finished watching Man on the Inside  season 2 and I gotta say, I loved it!

    The final scene was so .... don't know the right word.  Sweet?  Endearing? Happy?  Satisfying?

    It's on Netflix and stars Ted Danson.  I highly recommend it.  You might start with season 1 for background.  

    

    

Peace and Love

Sunday fun

 This was a pretty fun day!

    I watched most of the Bears' game.  But it was also cookie decorating day, so that kept me hopping!

    Camryn, Sam and Jen were the main decorators, although Julia and I helped.  Well, I did 4.

    We had a fun time and I think the cookies turned out super!

    This weekend was a blast.

    Yesterday I cooked meat to almost perfection, today I made chili, and frosting for the cookies.  I assembled the ingredients and Sam mixed them.  We made a pretty good team.

    Camryn  let Emily's dogs out so I did not have to, which was a big help for us making the frosting.

    Almost everything went into the dishwasher, which made clean up fairly easy.

    But the night has ended on a bummer.

    We had trouble getting lights to work on the Dickens' Village pieces.  I had a box of 100, and last year we used 4 of that lot, but this year none of them worked.

    So I ordered, at a hefty price, bulbs from Dept. 56.  They come in packs of 3 for $9 a pack.  I have opened 2 packs and none of them work.

    Is it bad bulbs?

    Is it bad cords?

    Am I cursed because I did not read A Christmas Carol this year?

    I am really frustrated about this. It has never been this difficult!  We have always screwed the bulbs in and they work.  Now I have 4 unlit houses and I am vexed.

    The strip's power light is on, so I assume it has power.  

    I wish I had an answer.

    Sigh......

    I guess I will try again tomorrow.

    Oh....I did not win 1 billion $.  Maybe tomorrow.

Peace and Love

My snowman is upside down!!

Batman

Just a note....the cookie sheets look horrible because these are the ones we put under items in the oven that may overflow.  We do have clean cookie sheets.