ends and odds

Lots of thoughts running through my mind 

    Christmas decorations are coming down.  Slowly.  I hate to see the lights go dark.

    We have a lot of knick knacky type stuff.  Most  of it is Christmas related but some are snowmen.  I told Jackie we should leave the snowmen stuff out, because the winter is not over.

    Then we pack it all in one or two tubs and then we can put it out after Christmas, leaving more room and flexibility for our Christmas stuff.  The jury is out.

    We don't have enough electrical outlets.

    I think the standard for how many outlets a house has needs to be updated. 

    For example:  We have two outlets behind our bed.  We have two lamps, a weather radio, charging station for our cell phones, our land line,  and Siri.  That is 5, but we only have 4 outlets.

    Same behind our couch.  Two outlets.  Jackie's chair plugs in, plus two lamps, Siri, our land line and that is 5 for 4 outlets. 

    Behind our tv we have one two plug outlet.  But, the tv, cable box, sound bar, and dvd player all plug in.  See the problem?   Modern houses need more outlets.

    I am still organizing our pantry.   I started before Christmas.  I think I have an idea that will be better than what we are doing now.  

    Why don't I get a variety of birds at my feeders?  I have saffflower seed, thistle, a mix, a sunflower feeder and two suet feeders.  All I seem to get are sparrows.  And crows.  I'd love to see a cardinal or oriole. 

    Everytime we get a service person in the basement or garage, I apologize for the mess.  I do get embarrassed  just not enough to get rid of stuff.

    I miss snow.  Just doesn't seem like winter.

Peace and Love

winner, winner, chicken dinner

 Gosh, this was a good day for me

    I go to Cypress House often for coffee.

    They have a punch card, every 10 coffees you  buy you get a free one.  This year after you get the free one, you could put your name on the back of the card and enter a drawing.

    I walked in today to get a coffee and I hear my name mentioned.  Four of the Cypress House girls came marching out and Emily showed me a video of the drawing. 

    I won!  The Grand Prize!!

    They had just finished the drawing a couple of minutes before I entered.  Talk about great timing!

    I received a very nice gift card and a 5 pound bag of coffee. 

    This was totally unexpected because I never win anything!

    Tonight Renee and Wendy came over and we had raclette.

    This is pretty popular in Switzerland.  There is a heating element and a granite stone about 2 inches above the heating element.  We cook bacon and beef on the stone, but you can also cook chicken or veggies.  On the bottom of the set up are spaces to put a little triangular tray.  We fill the tray with cheese, which melts in the heat.  Then you scrape the cheese over potatoes.

    We have cornishons, onion, tomato, and green pepper to add onto the pile.

    It is delicious.

    It is also a very social meal.  You are constantly interacting with the other diners, which makes for greag conversation.

    Thanks for coming over and thanks for the delicious peach cobbler dessert!  It was a fun time for all of us.

    Tomorrow I think I will get a chicken dinner, because today I am a winner!

Peace and Love

Oh, shit!

I want a new toilet for our master bath 

    We don't need one, but I want one.  Ours has some scratches on it that look unsightly.

    I want one of the new Kohler toilets.  This one comes with hands free operation and is chair high.  But I also like the toilet with the built in bidet.

    My favorite is the one also has hands free operation.  The lid rises and closes automatically and there is a built in bidet.  If you want to be extra clean, there is an ultra violet light  included. But most importantly, this state of the art toilet has a heated seat!

    Now some people might balk at the $11,000 price tag, but the heated seat makes it worth it!  The first two toilets I mentioned were about $4,500 and $5,773 respectively, but I did not see where they had heated seats.

    Good grief.  Don't rich people have enough stuff to spend money on already?

    Then again, I do stuff like that.

    Some of us are going to London this year to watch the Cubs play the Cardinals.  I bought business  class tickets for the flight and am having second thoughts about that.  Then again, I am pretty conservative in my spending and I think I deserve it.

    Therefore, I am letting it go.  Fly away!  Disappear!! 

    At least until the charge comes through and has to be paid.

Peace and Love

eh.....

 Some days are just....eh!

    The only interesting thing I did was to go down to Pickin' Station and restock some items. 

    Linda and I have some neat stuff down there, so if you have a minute or two why not check us out?  There are a lot of other booths with interesting items, including Renee and Wendy's.  There is always an item or two of interest.

    I have been trying to go to bed earlier.  I made by 11:30 last night and fell right to sleep.

    Unfortunately I was up at 1:30, but I fell back asleep almost immediately.  Unfortunately, I was up at 2:30 and that is when I took a pill to relax me and help me sleep.

    Problem is, I always feel so groggy after that. Today I have been dragging and I actually fell asleep playing Spider Solitaire on the computer.  I was sitting in my chair, my eyes got real heavy, and I closed them.  But I woke with a start when my head began to go forward.  I thought i was falling off a ledge.

    Anyway, hoping to get to bed even earlier tonight.  My goal is 11, but that will be hard for me.

    I do have to take out recycling tonight.  

    We play a game.  I take it out early, they come late.  I take it out late, they come early.  Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it.

    I also cleaned up the computer area.  I got my new credit/debit card and activated it last week.  However, when I went to the store today I discovered I was still carrying my temporary card....which I thought I cut up.

    My fear was I cut up the new card!  But, I eventually found my new card and all is well.  

    For now.

Peace and Love

old friends

I have run into a couple of old friends recently 

    I have known Steve for a long time.  He is a self employed entertainer for children's parties.

    He had a party in Sycamore yesterday, called us, and came out.  We had a wonderful supper and a good visit.

    Then today I was at the REC in Rochelle, putting on my walking shoes for my first trip  this year around the indoor track.

    A guy walked past me, then stopped and said, "Is that Terry Dickow? World famous actor and entertainer?"

    I had no idea who it was.  I asked him is name, and still did not know who he was.  Turns out years ago we met at some political events and he remembered me.   

   He also said he went to an Exit 99 show years ago, and asked if we were still performing.

    I said I think so, with maybe a show this spring.  Maybe.  Hopefully, because I need to laugh.  I think we all do.

    Taking advantage of the somewhat warm weather, I took down the outdoor lights today.  They are drying out because they were a little wet.  I will test them and put them away sometime this week.

    The tree is up, still.  I don't know when that will come down, but for sure not before Jan. 6.  Who knows.......I just may leave it up and decorate it with hearts.

    Time will tell.

Peace and Love

wait for it

 This seems to be a winter without snow

    But wait for it.

    Of the 10 biggest snowstorms in Chicago in the last 120 years, 7 have been in January, including the 1967 storm that dumped 23 inches of snow on the city.

    I was home on break from NIU at that time and ended up working at the National grocery store on Ashland.  The place was a madhouse and the manager paid me cash to bag groceries.  I remember it was extremely busy.

    The city was buried.  People just abandoned their cars in the middle of the streets.  Irving Park was full of empty cars and buses.

    Of the other 3 storms, one was in December and the other 2 in mid to late March. 

    None of the top 10 were in April, but I remember the Cubs being postponed because of a storm.  I think I recall  seeing pictures of the outfielders throwing snowballs into the empty bleachers.

    Now, memory and the mind are funny things. 

    Some events I remember clearly, others not at all.

    We had hamburgers and beans for supper last Thursday night.  I cooked our home grown beans and we had burgers on the grill.

    So....explain this.

    I went into the pantry today for something and found the beans on the floor!  The gallon bag had held, but the beans were in non salvageable shape.  After all, they had been defrosting for 4 days!

    What is it about the mind that causes me to do things like that?

    I seriously asked Jackie if she noticed a problem with my mental abilities.  I know the beans are an isolated incident, but the missing nightgown, my missing hammers, and the things I forget really do worry me.

    Is it having too much on my small plate, or do I have a problem?  

    I kind of think it is the former and not the latter.  If it was the latter I would not have remembered my one line:   duck em all! (edited for the sake of the children out there.)

Peace and Love

Holy cow!

 Welcome to 2023

    I am a little tired tonight.  We had people over for New Year's Eve.  We ate, played games, laughed, talked and did it all over again.

    Actually, played games might not describe the night.  Once the bell tolled 12, we played  Taboo.  In Taboo a person is given a word and they must get their teammates to say the word.  But there are words you can't use.  For example, if the word is ball, you might not be able to use base, basket, toes, or other words that can be associated with ball.  Those words are "taboo."  If you use the word, your opponents get the point.

    I stink at reading the words and checking my opponent to be sure he/she does not use taboo words.  I just can't see them.  So I used a magnifying glass, which was not an improvement.

    Our team lost, by the way.

    Then we played "Catch Phrase" and that eventually dissolved into people just yelling out the answers, no matter what team you were on.

    It was fun.  We laughed a lot.

    But along about 3, I said, "Hey....you have to go." And they did.

    I did have to take a nap  this afternoon.  And I am kind of tired tonight.

    The weird thing was I grilled out today!  Jan.1, and I used the grill in the driveway!

    Emily came over and we had bratwurst. They cooked up great and for once I did not burn them.

    Now comes the hard part; working on my resolutions.  I just hope to make ones I can actuallu keep.  That has always been the hardest task for me.

    I hope you have a truly fantastic and healthy 2023.

Peace and Love