I'm UP!!! I think!

Weird!!! Tried all morning to get to read peoples blogs on blogspot, and got no where. Leslie said she could, so I emailed my sister and Brenda and Brenda replied that she was down too. SO then I tried blogger again and got this far. I will see if it shows or even if it posts.

You can not imagine the frustration I went through his morning. I always log on and then go straight to my site to see the comments, NOTHING!!! went to Phyllis' NOTHING so then I went to Leslie, and got right to her, so I knew it was not the connection. went from leslie to Kat NOTHING, so I went from Leslies to me NOTHING! Being the really smart person that I am I thought hmmmmmm must be a problem with blogger. Went to Blogger.com NOTHING! arrrghhhhh!!

Just now I was able to get into blogger, now we'll see if it posts, maybe I'll see you , maybe I won't, but I am trying!!!!

snowflakes that stay on your nose and eyelashes...

Yes it fianlly snowed, but not much! They were predicting 3-5 inches, so I cancelled rehearsal, and just drove into town to get some fire starters and del-logs and bird seed. I live up about 200 feet from sea level, and the road was really covered, and icy, but by the time i hit the road along the water it was just slush. I drove in four wheel low just to see what it would do. I have had the car for almost 5 years and never had to use my 4 wheel drive. Putting it into 4 wheel low allows you to drive up to 60 MPH, not that I would, mind you, but some idiots would. It did give me more traction, but braking was a hoot. I have ABS braking so I knew not to pumb the brakes like I used to do, just steady pressure. thump thumpthumpthump thump. But I stopped.

There isnt even enough to make the trees all white. Just enough to cover the ice and make the roads a real mess. Sadie is like a little kid in it. She runs out, and plays with it and bites at it and tosses it over her head. Really lots of fun to watch.

I got the fire going good and the new fan Bob got me for christmas is putting the heat all over the room. So we are all nice and toasty. Donna made it home safely about 1000pm so I can quit worrying now. I turned on my scanner, but it had become unplugged from the wall and the battery was drained, so I lost all of my emergency frequencies. So I have to go re-program it. It really helps on nights like this, by listening to the sherrifs deputies you can tell what is happening in the county. ALso being from a family of firefighters, you need to know where your loved ones are fighting fires. (I heard my son talking to his chief from inside an attic of a fully involved house. He was on the next island over, and that had me going for the evening, that was several years ago) I hope I have the right listings. I feel totally lost without my scanner.

The weather report says we should get more snow tomorrow and through the weekend, but I tend to doubt it. We hardly ever get snow.

Hey Everybody Don't forget CJ's birthday is Jan 1, !! I just put a card in the mail to her. She needs all the good wishes we can muster.

It is bedtime, and I dont have to be ANYWHERE tomorrow so I may not even get dressed. Just slug all day. Oh wait...its New Years Eve. That means Bob will be over and I will get my Yearly Smooch. 1 per year! that;s all, and just a smooch. I gotta find a different guy...ANYBODY OUT THERE LIKE OLD FAT WOMEN???

BRRRR

It is really cold out there today. I should know, I was running all over the back yard BAREFOOTED! yep. no slippers no socks, barefeet. NUMB barefeet.

I had let Sadie out to pee, and after an hour of blogging I heard her whimpering...so I went to let her in. I stuck my head out the door and called her and she didnt come. I caled again, and heard her yelp. Then I saw her struggling in the middle of the back yard. She had a new choker collar on, and it had hooked onto a nail on Mariahs old rotten doghouse, and she was dragging the bottom of the house all over the yard. I saw that and ran out, fast. Scared that she would hurt herself. I was half way out when it dawned on me that OH SHIT THE DECK IS SLICK AGAIN!!! frozen!!! I caught myself before I fell, made it down the three stairs and ran across the frozen grass and ice that was out there. Caught her, unhooked her and off she goes!! I ran back into the house after her to make sure she was not hurt, and that is when I realized I had no shoes or socks on.

When I got in, I hobbled to the sofa and she jumped on me. Once I saw that she was ok, and had taken the collar off, I looked at me feet. Covered with frozen ice. I got to the bedroom and stuck my feet in lukewarm water to thaw them out, dried them off and put on some socks. They are much better right now, but since I am a diabetic, I really need to watch my feet. They get really cold, then really hot, then they start tingling. doing stupid things like this does not help. I really need to get in a habit of wearing slippers or shoes. I hate shoes!! I kick mine off as soon as I get home.

Snow is predicted for the next two days. I'll believe it when I see it. I could really use some right now!!

Donna made it safely across the Cascades, just between closures on I-90!! but she left Bandit in Ellensburg!!! Now I really have my work cut out for me. He would take Sadie out to pee, Now I have to catch her to put her out.

Well I better get off my arse and start setting my light cues. I have a crew coming in on Sat and Sun to finish the set, and get the gels changed in the Fresnel lens. Got lots to do. Bye...

Setting Goals for Retirement

Patrick made a comment about what I had set as goals for my retirement back in February. I PHHHFFTTTTT'd at him, but it got me to thinking. I actually did not realize that I had set any goals. Since he so pointedly pointed out, it is getting close to NEW YEARS resolution time. I went back into by archives and found an entry that did actually set some goals. Have I finished any of them? Yes I have. But not an important one. I have all of my crafts neatly organized into boxes and labeled so that I can get into them easier. I have not finished the trim on my house, I have not finished the quilts or the afghans, I have not painted the inside of the house except for Donnas bedroom, which I was going to turn into a sitting room; then she came home. I have planed a very small garden and did put up the results, I did make all kinds of Jam, I did get the yard in order, I did get the deck built, but everything else got put on hold for Playhouse business. I got this entry out and plan to just keep reposting it every year until I finally get the list completed. Nobody said how long it was sposed to take you to complete a resolution did they? just said you needed to set a goal. I did...

FEBRUARY 24, 2003
I'm not sure what type of blog I want here, just brain dumps, or a real log. Do I want to get into emotions and feelings for the world to see? Do I want to write this just for me, or with the thought that others will be reading it also. Although I don't know how anyone but Chemystery would even know about it. Hrmmmmmm....we'll see how this works out. Perhaps I will do both.

I can't believe that I only have 1 1/2 real days of work left. As I told my daughter I have NEVER been unemployed and NOT pregnant and pukey! This is going to really be an eye-opener for me. I have all kinds of people asking me what I am planning to do with my time....lets see...I have a three bedroom home with a big garage full of crap that I have been collecting and carting around all over the world for 37 years. It's time to go through it and PITCH!!! (Fair warning Children, if there is anything that you REALLY want, you better tell me now!!) So room by room, I anticipate getting everything in order. No excess furniture, no closets full of crap, New paint, clean windows, and maybe even re-arrange the room functions. Then there are the crafts that I have, in boxes, closets, dressers etc. I intend to get my projects finished, and organize the extra pieces. I have two quilts to finish, One of which was started by my Mother when she was 9 years old. That would have been in 1931! It WILL be finished!! I also have three afghans to finish, one of which was started by my mother, added to by my daughter, and hopefully be finished by me. (as you can tell, finishing projects does NOT run in our family!)

When that is all done, I am going to get the baseboards and transition strips installed on my new floor, paint the rest of the trim on the outside of the house.(yep, another unfinished project) get the yard in order, buy my wish list from Amazon.com, and read, plant a garden, can the results, and with all my SPARE time, .......

Nope, won't be bored for a while...

Oh yeah, and I want to take up scrapbooking. (another project to leave undone?) I would like to make a scrapbook for both Donna and Tim. something that when I am gone, they will have to show a record of their life and their history. I decided this after my Father died, and my sister and I got to talking, and I discovered that even though she and I lived through the very same experiences, we have TOTALLY different memories of the same events. I found that odd, and there is no one to ask who is right. So if I make this scrapbook, and detail the event and what they meant to ME, maybe my Children will have some sense of continuity with their own memories. Who knows, I may get dementia and forget everything.

WELL CRAP!!!!!

I am in a world of shit now! I have spent the day cleaning house, I got all of Bandits hair out of my bedroom, ready for the next onslaught of it. GOt all the laundry done and swamped out my bathroom, which is where I pen Sadie up. I took her basket out, and just put the pillow back in as she was outgrowing her basket.

Tonight I put her back into the clean pen, and came in here tpo blog a little before bed. I looked down and there was Sadie, under the computer desk sitting there looking up at me as if to say "you didn't REALLY think that lame little gate was gonna hold me anymore did you?" So I caught her again, and took hwer back into the bathroom, raised her pen a little more, and turned out the bathroom light. Once Again I looked down and there she was! AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!! She is not fully pottie trained yet, she will go out if I take her, but I have to watch her closely. I sure dont want to have to drag out the kennel, but I will. The pen is just as big as the kennel, but gives her more of a feeling of being with mommie as she can see out.

Oh GAWD!!! I HATE teenagers!!! especially ones that still pee on the floor!

Winding down...

I woke up this morning and it was pitch dark out. It should have been it was only 5AM so I got up, went to the bathroom, and went back to sleep...for an hour, and did it all over again. I finally got out of bed and made a pot of coffee at 645. I sat here in front of the computer watching the morning lighten up. But not by much. It is really dark and dreary out there. It is cold. and it is misting out there. Even Sadie did not want to go out there. THe doves were all fluffed out and hanging onto the trees like last falls leaves. THey too were cold and not wanting to move.

We are expecting snow this afternoon. We won't get it, but the weather reports are predicting it. I want a good deep dump of snow. I have an icebox full of food, and plenty of water and wood, so it can come anytime.

This is the type of day that I would like to spend in front of a warm crackling fire, with a really good book. unfortunately I don't have a good book. I've read them all. After the first of the year, I plan on hitting Barnes and Noble and stockiing up again. I need to find the rest of the Sue Grafton Books. I have read through "I" and need to get through "Q". I also need to see if Barbara Delinsky has any new ones in the works. I read about 1-2 books a week, and right now I am into Female Sleuths! I have read all of Diane Mott Davidson's Catering series. I have read all of JA Jance's JP Beaumont and Joanna Brady books, and I have caught up with all of the Catherine Coulter FBI books. I have read all of Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak mysteries and all of Nora Roberts. Sandra Browns new one has been devoured. SIGH!!! Gotta find a new series to hold my interest. I was for a long while, reading Historical Romances, but then they got too far into bodice rippers, and I want SUBSTANCE too.

Any body got any good suggestions?

THE WINNER IS.....

With 15 of the 25 questions correct....TW!!!! I was surprised once I sat down at 200 this morning and went through the questions and the comments day by day...I just NEW the winner had to be WANDA but I was wrong!! the runner up with 11 of the 25 questions right is BILL!!! who'da thunk!!!

Leslie Wanda Phyllis and Kim all had 10 right, but I had to dis-qualify phyllis because she found my quizzes.

Dorothy came in 4th with 7 correct

Brenda and CJ came in 5th with 3 correct

Patrick came in 6th with 2 correct

and all tied for dead last were

Colin
Blogeois
Chemystery
TX
Don
Leslie (USA)
retro Girl.

Now wasn't that fun? and as Wanda and Brenda said Wow, we learned a lot of trivia about Christmas. i had fun finding the questions too. And trying to stump you was HARD!

Now to get Act II blocked....

I thank you all for playing, and making my Christmas FUN.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY SNOOPY DANCE!!!!!

I saw this over at North Coast Cafe and blatantly STOLE it! It is sooo cute! You can not be unhappy while watching this.

Chemystery, while talking to her husband on the phone each nite always says "wiggles" as she hangs up. I questioned her about it and she said" It means I'm wiggling my toes, and you can not be in a bad mood if you are wiggling your toes like you were waving with them." She's right...try it...

WIGGLES!...

A piteous plea....

Surfing around the blogsphere I ran into Marian Banjes Who was putting out a piteous plea for Christmas Cards. It was meant to be funny, and it was. I just happened to be filling out my Christmas Cards for the first time in over 30 years, and understood completely where she was coming from. My lack of time caused me to discontinue sending out the yearly greetings to my friends, because My mother said that you MUST WRITE A NOTE IN YOUR OWN HAND in each and every one. I barely had time to shop much less hand write christmas cards. Because of this, my received cards got to be a smaller and smaller grouping on the door. I used to have enough to make a full tree out of them on the back of the door, all over lapping. Last year I got two! THis year I had decided I was gonna sit down and shock the hell out of those friends whose addresses I still had. I even sent one to a cousin who is (was?) my mothers age. It was a feeling of fulfillment. Yes I got quite a few this year, mostly because they now had my correct address. And some were sent after they got mine. Sort of an after thought. I dont care! I am hoping that next year They are returned three-fold!!

Anyway, I sent poor Marian a card. She got it, and actually wrote a blog about it!!! I was surprised!! Even has a picture of the very card I sent her! There is something so wonderful about making someone happy with something so insignificant as a CARD! Not an e-card either, although they at least let the recipient know you are thinking of them. I like to receive CARDS! cards you can stick on the refer door and look at every day. Cards that show you this person was actually thinking enough of you to go buy and send a card to you.

Now Marian is not a poor soul to be pitied, she is a sucessful Woman living on an Island off the coast of Canada, who just happened to write a funny entry about wishing any and every body would send her a card. I did! I made a new friend! Funny how that works...

ADDENDUM!!!!!

Several of you said you could not find her post on this. It was in December archives...but here it is straight from Marian Bantjes' site

If anyone would like to send me a christmas/hanukka/new-year's card, my address is:

box x-15
bowen island, bc
v0n 1g0
canada

I've always been a big old grinch and as a result, every year I wander sadly outside looking through the windows of people who have christmas cards strung on strings across their windows, propped on their mantlepieces or tucked into their venetian blinds, and I go home to my one and only card from my mum, who loves me.

Is it my fault? Yes it frickin' is, because I never send cards which is why I have to go publicly on the internet and beg for them like a dog!

But this year, I will be sending cards, so if you'd like to get one from me and you don't think I have your address, just drop me an email ... mb at quatrifolio (dot com), and I'll send you one. I promise.

And if you're going to send one to me, don't tell me, I like surprises. Though of course this means I'll be pathetically checking my mailbox in anticipation for the next 4 weeks.

CHRISTMAS QUIZ FINAL DAY!!!!

Yes you Lurkers TW was right. It was Electric Christmas lights, although Colin from Scotland posted the right answer first!!

I am now gonna post the FINAL QUESTION!!! and Even Brenda should be able to get this one right, Even Leslie might!!!

WHAT IS BRENDA"S YOUNGEST GRANDCHILD CALLED?
No fair peeking...

I will post the final results of this quiz later on in the week. I have to clean my house, and wrap presents, and start dinner, and catch Sadie, etc, so I will be busy until then

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL YA'LL!! Be safe!!

This little wreath is making its way around the blogosphere. I've taken it from Leslie's place; she took it from Leigh's place; go ahead and help yourself and let's see where it goes.

CHRISTMAS QUIZ day24...

Sneaky!!! I get you all now, you wait until TW does her research then you all jump in and give the same answer....It's a conspiracy I tell you.

the answer as you all know is IT TAKES 6-8 YEARS FOR A CHRISTMAS TREE TO GROW TO CUTTING SIZE

nOW FOR TOMORROWS QUESTION...

What contribution to our Christmas heritage did Ralph E. Morris make in 1895? tHIS IS HARD!!!

Candy Canes on Puppies and Whiskers on Kittens...

Bright colored packages tied up with string...oh that's not the way the song goes? Sadie thinks so. Yesterday. Lint, the manx cat my Son left me in the bathroom, decided that he would take a candy cane out of the paperwhites on my desk. It took him about three hours. Now you have to realize this cat is over 12 years old and arthritic, so when he starts acting kittenish, I let him. He got the Candy Cane out and then proceeded to knock it off of my desk onto the floor. I was busy blocking Act I so I did not stop him.

Today while I was blogging and then Blocking the rest of Act I. Sadie and Uncle Bandit were asleep on the living room floor. Cuddled together like spoons. THey were so quiet that I just left them that way.

I got ready to go to rehearsal, and went to pick Sadie up to put her in the car.

You know the face that little kids have when they have had their first all day sucker? Yep...that's the one, candy and red all over them? Sadie it seems had NOT been sleeping that quietly and had indeed found the wayward candy cane from the day before. There was red candy in pieces stuck all over her face, There was white candy stuck on her front paws where she had held it down and chewed on it. There was candy stuck to her ears, and her tummy. I had to laugh, she was so funny looking! and the battery to my camera was dead and in the charger! DAMN! That would have been a picture to publish!! I had no idea how much she had eaten but since I saw none laying around, I assumed it was all gone. I watched her carefully for a few hours to make sure it would not hurt her then put her out to pee.

I took a hot shower and as I was walking across the bedroom rug, I stuck to the rest of the candy cane. So now I have a knee that doesn't bend, with a foot that is really sticky and has something attached to it, Naked as a jaybird, hopping over to the bed to rest on so I could get the damn thing off my foot. The cats were laying on my bed in their usual spots waiting for me to crawl in and turn on the electric blanket. Lint looked up at me as if to say "What!?" The others just quietly laid back down and went to sleep.

Sadie hasn't got a clue!! Must be nice to be young and "innocent" again.

CHRISTMAS QUIZ day23...

Well that was just way too easy...EVERYBODY got it right...finally. Yep. It was Coca Cola. And yes the Santa on the label is the best SANTA ever!!!

Now on to todays question...

How long does it take a christmas tree to grow from a seedling until it is harvested? (Not even sure I know the answer to that one)

Winter Solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year...YAHOO!!! I hate the short days, I hate waking up in the dark and going to bed in the dark. I enjoy the early morning sunrises...at 4:00! and I really enjoy the long afternoons and evenings that Summer brings. I enjoy the peace that the thought of Winter Solstice brings. There is a hush hanging over the world. The stars are twinkling brightly and coldly. The moon is just a tiny little sliver, but it won't be making it's appearance for a while yet. The owls are hooting far off in the woods, and the bunnies are hopping through the yard looking for any thing that Lola may have dropped in her run from feeder to fence.

Coming home from rehearsal tonite the ground fog was reaching it's cold fingers up from the fields onto the road. It was making it very hard to see. All of a sudden in the fog there is an ethereal light coming through, all colored and wavy in the fog. As I drove closer I saw that it was the light of the Christmas lights reflecting onto the fog, like a halogram. When I was even with the farm house I saw the very top of the roof, clearly visible as the fog was really low, and the top of the house was sporting a huge lighted star of Bethlehem. It was so clear, like it was trying to bring the 3 kings and the shepards to the barn. It was almost eerie!



As I drove through Coupeville, there was no fog, until I got close to the O.L.F. airstrip and then it socked in again. As the road turns in to a giant S curve at the head of the field, I looked across at the Youderians farmhouse, and could barely make out the Colorado Spruce tree that she has all lit up with the giant colored lights. It was there, like a beacon, telling me that it was safe, come on around.

I looked up Winter Solstice on the internet, and learned that the early Christians did not celebrate Christmas, because no one was sure exactly when Christ's actual birthday was. It was the early priests and Prophets that decided to use the pagan holidays as a Christian celebration, to capitalize on the spreading of the religion.

THe original Pagan celebration was to dance naked around a huge bon-fire and paint their bodies blue and wear mud-hats. ya s'pose the neighbors would care?

CHRISTMAS QUIZ day22...

THE ANSWER TO TODAYS QUESTION WAS THREE...GOod research to Kim and Bill and all the others that got it right!!!

Now for the question for tomorrow!! In 1931 what company started using Santa in their advertising at Christmas?

UH-OH!!! Chemystery knew this one right off, must have been too easy....

A new Friend...

This morning while reading Leslies comments I saw a post from Iceland. Since I always wanted to get stationed there, but never made it, I decided to go look. Gulla Her page is wonderful! So cute and full of cute little blinkies. Not at all crass and crude like me, but cute and sweet like I always wanted to be. I especially liked her pages on Icelandic customs. There is a lot to see! When you have some time to visit, go check out her site. You'll like her!

Mom Getting into the Spirit...

I woke up this morning knowing that I had to finish decorating and cleaning or It would not get done at all. I sat here for an hour reading blogs, still not in the spirit, still in my sweats and pj top. I knew I had to do something, SO I warned the Daughter, (who HATES noise of any kind on her day off) that I was gonna be making noise. I dragged out all the hokey CHristmas Albums, you know, John Denver at Christmas, John Denver with the Muppets, Neil DIamond Christmas, etc. and turned them on..NOt real loud, but enough so that I can hear them where ever I am. I started singing along with them, and thought Wel lets get the lights around the windows like you always wanted to do. SO I pulled out the white lights and started tacking them around the window sill. Lint then proceeds to jump up on the sill, and since he is very old and arthritic, he missed and grabbed on to the curtain and pulled the rod and all the lights down right on top of him. SHIT!!

Noe Sadie is in the frey...She wants to chase Lint who is still tangled. I try to grab the lights, and twinsted my sore shulder so I let out another SHIT YOU FUCKING BASTARDS! right into the neighbors ear. I had the window cracked open, and Lea was standing right there on her side of the fence which is only about 5 feet from the window. SHe laughs and wonders what I am "SHIT"ting at.

Got the curtain back up and the lights back up and thought I needed a little break. I came in here and laying right where I put them last year are my gold star deelie bobbers. YEP THAT WILL DO IT!! Plopped those puppies on top of my head and started in again. It worked. I now have the SPIRIT.

My Daughter of course being only the sad young age of 36 thinks her mother is a freak. "Mom. THey're gonna lock you up real soon!" and proceeded to take a picture of me to prove I am loonie!! Now do you see anything wrong with this?
It is after all December 20, only 5 more days until Christmas and I have tons to do. works for me...



Remember ya'll, no makeup, saturday afternoon, sweats. 'K?

CHRISTMAS QUIZ day 21...

WHO_HOO Bill is on a roll!!! His answer was of course correct, the FLOWERS are yellow or green and the red is the BRACTS. Gotcha!! Several of you got that also.

Now for tomorrows question we will go to the cartoon Charlie Browns Christmas:

How many versions of Jingle Bells does Schroeder play before Lucy is satisfied?

TUFF ONE!! Drag out those christmas videos Grandpeople!!!

CHRISTMAS QUIZ day 20...

YEA!! Bill Got one right!! along with several others. The best tasting snowflakes are formed in JANUARY

Now for tomorrows hum-dinger!! WHAT COLOR ARE THE FLOWERS ON A POINSETTA?

I'm counting on you here Bill!