Call me Florence

These ladies keep me hopping! 

    Julia had some surgery today.

    Jackie insisted she stay at our house until at least tomorrow in case she needed some help.

    Julia did not want to, but after a couple of hours here she realized it was the best for her.

    She is doing fine.  Her stomach huts, but she is fine.

    But......the ladies are running me ragged!

    Beth has to go out, Jackie needs to drain, Beth has to come in, Julia needs ice, Beth needs supper, Jackie needs water, Julia would like some ice........I haven't worked this hard in years!

    But I can't complain too much.

    Julia wasn't hungry and I have had a yen for scrambled eggs and bacon for a week or so.

    So tonight I made it for supper.

    I know, it is a breakfast dish. But I am operating in the lack of conformity phase of life.

     It was good, but not filling.  At all.  I am hungry.

    Jackie helped me take down my train ornament tree.  That is a challenge.

    Each ornament has its own box.  Those people in China don't seem to package anything consistently.  Some ornaments are wrapped in tissue, some in bubble wrap, some in plastic molds....I prefer the plastic molds because they are easier to get it in the box.

    I always have problem with the engines.  Some of the models have similar looking engines, so I use a magnifying glass to check the number on the engine and match it to the number on the box.

    One box has a number that does not match any of the engines.  One  engine has a number that does not match a box.

    Every year I struggle to find the right box, forgetting that one does not exist.

    Jackie asked me why I don't write the number of the engine on the box it comes in.  That would save a lot of time next year.

    Why I didn't think of the is a mystery.

    Speaking of mysteries, strong winds, 50+ degree temps, lots of rain.....is it really Jan. 8?

Peace and Love

Oh gosh

 I was a busy beaver today

    Almost all the Christmas decorations are in the basement.  Some are even on the correct shelves.

    But I do have a storage space problem.

    I have 4 tubs of left over paper plates, napkins, cups....every thing anyone ever needed for a picnic or party.  I am going to try to condense them into 1 or 2 tubs.  

    I will be 78 in May.  I still have Happy 70 paper plates!  Pretty soon they will qualify as antiques!

    As we were putting ornaments away, Jackie noticed one of them said 156 Millpond.  That puts that ornament around 1982 or 3, because shortly after we moved there house numbers were changed.

    We moved from there in 1992 or so.  I don't remember the exact year.  A friend recently went to a meeting at that house and they sat there looking around thinking, "I've been here before."  After 30 years it may be hard to remember a house you only visited, but they did.

    That's one of my favorite things about Christmas.  The memories that come back when you look at certain ornaments.

    +.    The passport ornament reflecting the London trip and my lost passport experience.

    +     Ornaments from Bob and Anita that listed the year and kids' names.  As the kids left, the ornaments changed too.

    +    Ornaments Julia and Emily made while in the lower elementary grades.

    +    Ornaments I made with my class at school.

   +     Ornaments from when the Cubs won the Series.

    +    My angel wings ornament to remind me of my brother Carl.

    +    Ornaments we bought in Germany on our trip too see Ludwig's castles.

    +    Ornaments that make me laugh, smile, and sometimes tear up.

        They are all put away now, just waiting for another Christmas.  

        Even though they are away,  the memories remain.

        Big day tomorrow.!

Peace and Love

Buyer beware

 Sometimes I just feel screwed

    Astoria Jewelry did it to me.  I have been in contact with them frequently, but I get the same response......return sent too late.  I had tried to send it but their form would not load the required picture.

    In hindsight, I should have e mailed the information without the form.  But I did not think of that.

    Our Comcast bill has gone up $100 over the past year.  I tried to ask someone, but all I got was an AI chat bot.  That was no help.

    I Googled Comcast phone number.  I got an 800 number and dialed it and got a pitch for free medical stuff, I just hung up.  The lady talked so fast, I could not say anything so I just hung up. Suffice it to say, it was not Comcast.

    Went back to the AI chatbot and learned I had to take my bill to a Comcast store to see about changing my plan.

    I ordered some lightbulbs for our Dickens Village.  4 packs at $9 a pack.  Not a single bulb worked.  I will contact the seller and see if they will do anything.

    We ordered slippers for Emily for Christmas, but they are the wrong size.  I have to send them back UPS, but hey don't fit in the drop boxes in town!  I don't know of a place here to take UPS packages.

    Finally, I bought some jeans from LL Bean.  I've had them a couple of months and there are holes in the pant by the back pockets.

    I e-mailed them and within 10 minutes got a reply,  which included a shipping label and directions to send them back and they will send me a new pair.

    In other words, actual customer service!!

    And to top it off, my hearing aid is squealing like a pig!  

    Now all I have to do is find a time to go to DeKalb to fix my cable bill,  take care of the UPS parcel, get my hearing aid adjusted, return some things to Kohl's.......and who knows what else.

    I just have to find the time to do it all.

    And free time is scarce this week.

    Such is life.

Peace and Love

weird, eh?

 I took Beth for a walk today

    We went half way down the street and turned around.  She met a little dog and the 2 of them stood in the middle of the street, tails wagging and noses sniffing..

    Why is that unusual?

    It's Jan. 5!!  It is supposed to be cold, snowy, icy, and stay in the house weather.  Instead, it's put on a light jacket and walk the dog weather.

    Tomorrow I plan to take down the outside lights.  Last year I let them sit in the basement for a few days to dry out.  I don't  know if that is a help or not.  I will do the same this year and test them all to be sure they work before I put them away.

    At some point I need to test the Dickens Village lights.  There has to be a reason so many did not work this year.  That should only take me a few days.

    Seriously!  I will get bored after about 10 minutes and move on to something else.  At some point I will return to the testing, only to think it's useless and I will find another odd job to do.

    Eventually I will get back to them after Jackie reminds me that things need to be put away.

    After another futile encounter, I will grab them all, say a few cuss words, then throw them into a box or bag and promise to do it next year.

    Maybe that's what I should do in the first place and avoid all the unnecessary hoopla.

    On a highly personal note, I was at 201.5 New Year's Day.  

    Damn cookies and egg nog.

Peace and Love

Noggin it

 I just opened our last bottle of egg nog 

    It is not straight!  And it has quite a kick!

    I think Julia bought it for us, but I just put it in the fridge and never opened it.

    I planned to on Christmas.  And New Year's Eve.  But never did.  Until tonight.

    A couple of nights ago I watched an episode of The Twilight Zone.  I loved that show when I was young and I was happy to find it is on one of the channels that runs old shows.

    In the episode I watched, a man died and went to heaven.  He had his own personal angel, lived in an all white apartment, had women whenever he wanted, all the food he wanted, everything.

    But he got tired of it.  He wanted to do some things from his old life, like rob a bank.  The angel told him there was a bank down the street, a get a way car was arranged, the tellers were told to hand over all their cash.

    The guy became enraged!  He said there was no thrill, no surprises, no excitement in life.  He told the angel he wanted to go to the other place.  The angel asked what other place?

    The man said he was tired of heaven.  It was boring repetitive, and there was no challenge.

    The angel said, "Heaven?  What makes you think you are in heaven?"

    I always loved the little twists at the end.

    But I woke up this morning with a bizarre thought.

    What if our lives were the afterlife?  What if our memories were planted in our brains when we died?  What if all the people we know and love don't exist but in our own little minds?

    And now I think I am going to have another glass of egg nog and possibly go to bed.

    Happy New Year!

Peace and Love

oops!

 We all visited Julia today

    Jackie, Beth,  and I took a road trip to Julia's.

    My niece's daughter,  son and his girl friend came to visit their grand mother, our sister in law, who is still recovering in Rockford.

    After their visit with her, they came down for a mini reunion.  Julia ordered pizza from Giardarno's in Rockford.  We had some deep dish pizza and it was delish!

    Beth generally spent the time going from person to person to get pets.

    Unfortunately, when the group went downstairs to see the wine room, Beth dropped a load on the concrete floor.

    This is the second time she has done that at Julia's!  Both times in the basement, luckily.

    She has done it once at our house in the basement.  Maybe it is the concrete smell that appeals to her.

    Funny thing is, she had gone out shortly before then.  

    These folks  are in the college attending age bracket.  On New Year's Eve we met 2 young women who are in helicopter training school and will soon be flying Apache helicopters.

    I've run into a lot of young people lately and I don't have any fears about what that generation is going to do.  They are eager, tech savvy, smart, and will build a better tomorrow.

    I just hope there will be a tomorrow for them to build.

    Today is Jan. 3, Epiphany is Jan. 6.  That officially ends the Christmas season for us. 

    But I plan on cheating a little this year.  The outside lights may come down tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

    Then the Dickens village.  Then the rest of the decorations.  

    And finally, the tree.

    The house will seem empty, the Christmas gaiety  will be put away .

    A  cold.  hum drum January and a slushy February will follow and then spring, if we are lucky.

    Life seems to be going by too quickly.

Peace and Love

Pop goes the memories

 I am drinking a 7-Up and thinking of the Kennedys

    No, not the president, senator, or the faux Kennedy running a government office into the ground.

    I am thinking of the Kennedys I knew.

    Up until about sixth grade, we lived in a 1 bedroom apartment on the third floor of my grandmother's building.

I shared a bedroom with my brothers Carl and Dennis.  My parents had a Murphy bed in the front room.

    If you don't know what a Murphy bed is.....It lifted up and went into the wall.  Then you closed some doors and it looked like a cabinet.  I think they are pretty darn cool and a real plus for small apartments.

    Across the street from us was a family with Kennedy as  a last name.

    My parents were friends with them

    When Mr Kennedy died, the kids, all adults, decided to sell the house.  My parents bought it for $17,000.

    We all had our own bedrooms!

    Mr. Kennedy's funeral was in their house.  I remember (and it may be a false memory) looking down from our apartment into their living room and seeing him in a coffin along the wall my parents would later put a couch.

    Fast forward a few years.

    I had a newspaper route.  It was actually in a factory and I sold the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago American.

    But I also delivered a paper to Marion Kennedy, who moved from 1472 W. Belle Plaine to a house on Berteau, 2 blocks north.  

    Marion worked for the city of Chicago water department.  Her sister, Timothea, was an actual sister in a convent in Iowa.  Her brother Jack was a priest and her other brother Phil was a Monsignor.  I don't know exactly what that is, but my parents felt it was a pretty important position in the Catholic Church.

    Father Jack would often visit Marion.  If I delivered the paper while he was there, he would always insist on talking to me.  We talked about what I wanted to be in the future, how school was, what my day was like....stuff like that.  In fact, he even made me a bet on grades.  If I got an A, he would give me $1.  A B was worth 50 cents and a C got me nothing.  If I got a D I owed him 50 cents and an F would cost me a dollar. 

    I was always glad to show him my report card.

    So how does 7-Up fit in all this?

    Marion would always give me a bottle of cold, cold 7-Up to drink during those visits.  I remember how refreshing and great it tasted.  My parents didn't buy much pop, so it was a treat.

    They are all gone now.  

    I often wondered why Marion was the only child not to enter some type of service to her church.  I remember she was a faithful believer, unbelievably kind, soft spoken, and drank 7-Up.

    I have commission papers and photos of Captain Kennedy  from 1896.  They are another one of those items I don't know why I have, or what I should do with them.

    I have a FB friend from those days, and she lived next to the Marion on Berteau.  I wonder if she enjoyed 7-Up too.

    The house?  My mom sold it in 1978 or so for $57,000.  A few years ago it was listed for somewhere in the $800,000 territory.  But it did not look like  my boyhood home.

    Funny when memories pop up.  

Peace and Love

Sometimes Beth just wants to see what is going on from a different angle.