Well, Christmas is over. Did you have a good Christmas? I will tell you about ours in a little while.
Did you find all the gifts you had bought to give to people? I admit it, once when my youngest sister was young (she is 12 years younger than me) my husband and I forgot to bring her gift when we got together with my family for Chanukah - terribly embarrassing and of course we had to get the gift and bring it to her later that week.
I finished decorating our two main trees on Thursday. I did the rest of the decorating, including a small tree with the brass ornaments we have received as contributors to Colonial Williamsburg over the past few decades - they were taking up too much room on the main tree, we have 2 duplicate ornaments and put one set of them on the main tree and the rest on a small tree in our dining room.
Friday afternoon I also went to wrap the gifts. Since we bought few gifts this should be a fairly quick process. When I can I put our gifts to ourselves into recycled small Christmas gift shopping bags (the bags were received with gifts from others in the old days when we traded gifts with others). I thought I had plenty of Christmas wrapping paper as I had not made any notes under “Christmas” in my “buy” shopping list in my cell phone. Oh no! Just a bit left on one roll. I had plan to wrap our gifts as husband was busy upstairs and I could wrap the gift I had for him that he did not know about without him seeing it. Plans changed due to the shortage of wrapping paper. It was more important to nicely wrap his niece’s gifts. I laid out the Barbie for one and DVD set for the other on the paper and cut the paper and wrapped the gifts. I then needed paper to wrap the scarves husband had made them, which I then planned to put into two of the recycled bags. I laid out the rolled up scarves and cut a large enough piece to go around the larger scarf, which was, of course the thicker of the two rolls. Luckily, there was plenty to wrap both scarves. I then went up to talk to husband about the exact wrapping and including a photo with each of the scarf while it was being made. He got all excited as he was not ready to wrap the scarves and had to print laundry instructions for them. I told him to calm down and not rush - but of course he did. While he was doing so I went back down and wrapped in the paper which was left, two of his gifts and used small pieces of the wrapping paper which had been left over in the past to wrap a couple of pieces which I planned to put in his stocking. The other items, which were small enough, I put into other of gift bags. I put all 4 of my 4/$1 hair clips in one bag for me. He came down and we wrapped his nieces gifts. His gifts and my one gift when into 2 regular paper shopping bags (mixed, I did not take a bag just for my bag of hair clips) and the 4 gifts for his nieces into another paper shopping bag. Did not want to chance forgetting a gift for a niece as I did with my sister decades ago. The bags were set aside in the dining room out of the way.
Saturday afternoon I got ready for Christmas Eve dinner. I put the ham in the oven and careful read the directions for the other items I was making 3 hours before we planned to eat.
I then took out the ornament I had embroidered for my husband. I was unhappy with it when it was assembled and decided it needed a decorative edging. I sat and braided red pearl cotton (a type of thread). I then stitched the braid around the front edge of the ornament - made it much better looking. I then wrapped it in tissue paper, having run out of wrapping paper, and added it to the bags of husband’s gifts. I then returned to my cooking.
One of the things I was making as a side dish is something called dried corn. This is a Pennsylvania food. Corn is dried by heat for storage. When it is cooked it is soaked to bring it back. In the past we had bought the canned - ready to heat and eat - version. The one company that makes this item had shut down several years ago and finally someone had bought up the business and was making it again. When we were in the Lancaster, PA area we had bought the canned version and also a version in a package. We have made the canned version and it was not what it used to be. For Christmas we decided to make the packaged version. This version is just the dried corn itself, so it has to be soaked for use. I had misread the package and had thought it would be soaking and cooking for an hour and then another 5 minutes after adding milk - oops, it was to soak for an hour and then cook for 40 minutes plus the 5 minutes after adding milk. Luckily I caught it in time - and hour and 45 minutes would be just about 15 minutes longer than when we would sit down and we were having soup first. It came out pretty close to what we had before.
We had meat tortellini in chicken broth for the soup. Not much involved in cooking same, boil the tortellini, add to the chicken broth when same almost heated.
We had also bought a box of potatoes au gratin. I had never made this before. I waited until the ham came out as I wanted the ham to set a bit before slicing and eating and the potatoes needed a temperature 25F degrees higher than the ham. I of course checked the ham with a meat thermometer to make sure it was cooked through. I followed the instructions for the potatoes. I took out the size baking dish needed and added the cheese mix plus butter and milk as it said. I then was to mix with a whisk - uhhh, the size baking dish it called for was completely filled and any mixing would make it run over, so I had to take it out of the baking dish, mix it and then put it back in. I careful added the dried potatoes to make sure I did not run the cheese mixture out of the baking dish. The box said that the sauce would thicken as it cooked, not really. I cooked it almost double the time with no luck - and I have a fairly quick oven and the oven had been well preheated by the ham cooking in it. We had it anyway.
Dinner in the dining room with tablecloth and cloth napkins and the good china and silverware. 3 hours of cooking 45 minutes of eating and then the clean up has to be done. I had looked up in advance the times for mass. Several years ago midnight mass was moved to 10 or 11 pm at most of the churches around here. We found one that still has it at midnight and it is a pleasant church with nicer people than the others. When I checked the times I found out that there was a midnight mass and also a 10 pm mass. Husband decided we should go to the 10 pm mass. (His choice as it is his holiday.) Clean up had to wait until we returned.
When it was time for bed husband went up and - spoiler alert - “Santa” put our gifts under the tree from the bags in the dining room. So Christmas Eve had gone fairly well.
We go to a family member of husband’s on Christmas Day. We got there and gave the nieces their gifts - which were lost in the numerous and huge gifts from Santa and other relatives. Then the host started in on the subject which polite people have been avoiding discussing, especially when they are the host and they know that their guests disagree with them - the election. Husband got so ill over this discussion that we had to go home and he had to go to bed. Short Christmas Day.
We are now awaiting New Years. I am getting ready for the change. I have made up a list of the todo’s and appointment reminders I need to put into my computer organizer for 2017. I have some entries which are annual ones and are already in the softwear data through 2020, but the daily, weekly, monthly and so on entries I put in each year as they might change and to keep the file smaller. On January 1 or 2 I will back up the file for my archive as 2015-2016. I will then delete the 2015 entries. I will then add the 2017 entries and I will be ready to go for the new year - and still have this year for reference if needed. I keep 2 years current each time and back up 2 years each time. This has worked great for me since the early 2000's.
We have renewed all our prescriptions so as we start the new medical insurance year, we know that we have a start on it and won’t have to worry about any changes not made in the insurance company’s systems for prescriptions delaying us from a needed renewal.
We don’t have plans for New Year’s Eve yet. Husband is thinking of finding out if the movie theater we go to will be open then. Normally we do not do much. We watch the ball fall here in Manhattan on TV. No, we have never gone. It is too big a crowd for us to be happy with in so many ways.
When I was a girl New Year’s Eve was confusing to me. I could not understand why it was a bigger deal than the change of any other month. I would be allowed to stay up until midnight. At that time “The Tonight Show” was done in New York City by Johnny Carson. On New Year’s Eve they would do the show live and cut away to the ball drop. I remember one year it was to be New Year’s Eve on Saturday and I was not sure if they would show the ball drop as the show was only on Monday to Friday. My parents, correctly, assure me that they would show it.
Since I am talking about New Year’s and this blog is, at least nominally, about organizing - the question of resolutions has to be mentioned. I found that I never kept any and felt bad about it. One year, some decade or so ago, I made my last resolution which was not to make any further resolutions. I do think over the past year and changes I might like to make or things I might like to do, but I do not make any resolutions - they just cause guilt when they are not kept.
Think of one thing you would like to change to make your life better or easier - and try to do it. Don’t resolve, just try.
I am going to try to do a better job of regular cleaning of the house. I used to be much better at doing so. When first married in and were in our apartment, husband would come Friday night and fall asleep early after dinner from the week. I was also working full time then outside the house. When he went to sleep I would clean the apartment. As we went along we bought the house and I stopped working outside the house and moved the accounting practice I had taken over from my dad into the house and was therefore in the house more, I started doing the cleaning on Wednesday mornings. When he left work, I moved it to Wednesday nights. I am thinking Tuesday nights might be a better choice and will see about it. It is in my calender as a “todo” and I will schedule it for Tuesdays instead. I spread the chores over the month - one week upstairs, the next down, repeat.
My best wishes for a wonderful New Year for us all.
Click to go to the Where Did I Leave That? website - feel free to leave comments.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Thursday, December 22, 2016
WORKING ON CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
Well, here it is the first day of winter - and I have mostly not finished my Christmas decorations.
As I mentioned last week our reenactment unit interprets a house at the local restoration village. The house was built in 1730, with expansions in 1740 and 1760 and again after our period. All of the other houses in the village are from the 1800s so this house is sort of lost as the employees and volunteers are dressed and trained in the wrong period for the house. So members of our unit volunteered to interpret it for this event.
We treat the event as if the owner of the house (in period ) and his wife are having a “small” gathering of friends between their holiday (the family was of Dutch background) of St. Nicholas Day and Christmas. When the event had been held between Christmas and New Year’s it was instead a large party for the X night of Christmas. X being the day it actually is - for example on December 26, Boxing day to us in period, it is the first night of Christmas and so on.
Some of our unit members greet people at the door and tell them about the house in modern terms - where it was, how it got here, etc. They also show the public the parlor which is on the side of the hall and the public is not admitted to. Then they send them into the kitchen for the party. The public is told that not everyone they meet knows anything past the same date in 1775.
In the kitchen some of our members play period music - especially that of Christmas - and others sing along. I interpret the kitchen - which has an older Dutch fireplace, a Dutch cabinet bed, and items out as if the children left them out after Sinterklaus visited them on St. Nicholas Eve.
They then go into the owner’s office which has a bed chamber to either side of it. My husband is back there, also as someone from the period, to quickly tell them what they are seeing and then to speak with the people, especially children.
We are rather popular with some people telling us they come back each year purposely to visit us.
This year’s evenings were Thursday through Sunday nights. Thursday night was COLD. It was also WINDY, with many gusts of 40-60 mph. The front door is a “Dutch door” - that it is the top and bottom operate separately. We use a piece of wood to keep the two pieces together, and leave it just beyond the point that it would latch closed. We could not do so Thursday night. The wind kept blowing the door open. We ended up latching it closed and listening for noise of possible visitors. We had perhaps 30 visitors through the house, including a chorus that was hired by the village to wander about and sing. After they sang, one of them asked if they could come in and we told them to, of course, and to warm up.
Friday night was a tiny bit warmer, but at least the wind was gone. We had more people, but not big crowds.
Overnight Friday to Saturday it snowed about 3-4 inches, following which it got warmer and it rained, so there was very little snow left by Saturday night. Husband and I started to change into our period clothing Saturday afternoon and he suggested that I call the village and check that the path to the house had been cleared. Good thing! The village had canceled the event for the night. We scrambled to call our members who were coming and let them know. Then we went out for dinner and a movie.
Sunday night the weather was pleasant. We had good sized crowds in the house - lots of people, but manageable in size. There have been years, especially when the event was between Christmas and New Years, when they have had over 1500 people come through in a night and we have ended up needing to have people form a line to get in. Altogether Sunday night was a satisfying evening for us and I hope for the public and the village.
So, not much was done last weekend while all this was going on.
Monday I got rid of the last of the stuff sitting around in the dining room. The stuff for our RV was stored outside in the RV. Room was found in our studio behind the kitchen for a large box with my stored plastic containers for food in it (some of which are also used for the RV in season) and another large box which is used when husband washes the pieces he weaves after they are finished.
I then decorated the kitchen, the dining room, the front hall, and part of the living room, including a small beaded tree I made years ago. This tree is stored decorated (glass dome over it) and loses some decorations - this year much more than normal. I also caught up on assorted email, mail, papers, etc. not done since Wednesday.
Tuesday night I brought up the pieces of our Christmas tree and assembled it and put the lights on it. I added the angel topper and two other angel ornaments. These 3 items were made by us and always go on first, with the two angel ornaments sitting on the front of the tree just below the angel topper. I also set up a small tree we set up in our studio (where it can be seen from the kitchen) as I split ornaments we have made between the two (as opposed to the ones we have purchased and put on the main tree) and I therefore work on both at the same time. That was exhausting enough.
I did something smart this year. Whenever I am going up and down - something goes on any trips which I have nothing else to carry. When I went down for each section of the main Christmas tree I would carry down something, such as an empty box from the Monday decorations (2 of those to go down - 9 sections of the tree plus stand, pole, skirt, etc.) or the box from the beaded tree I set up Monday or the box from the small tree in the studio. Each time I also took up a bag of lights and stopped to check the lights in the kitchen to make sure they worked. This gave me a chance to breathe before running back down to the basement for another heavy section of tree. It seemed to work. After the top and 4 of the remaining sections I stopped and assembled the studio tree to rest a bit from running up and down before bringing up the other 4 sections.
Today I started decorating the two trees in earnest. I finished one box of ornaments completely and most of the second of 4 boxes. As I go along there is less is each box as the boxes are packed to be opened in order (and each box is labeled where it falls in the order) so there are more smaller ornaments in the first two boxes as they are the fancy ones and the latter two hold less as they tend to have the larger ornaments to fill in - such as plain balls. Over the years I have started doing the tree in sections so I have some idea of the general area to put each ornament which helps when setting it up (and finding the ornaments to pack them when taking it down).
I am pretty sure the trees will be ready in time. Not sure if I will get up the last of the decorations - some fake roping over the dining room and rear living room windows - as I am not sure I can get to the rear living room windows due to the rearrangement for the weaving stuff.
I took out one of the hams we took bought in Pennsylvania at the end of October to defrost for Christmas Eve dinner - should have plenty of leftovers for Christmas Day and even beyond.
So - a Happy and Merry to all - or as we say in the 1700s - A good Christmastide.
As I mentioned last week our reenactment unit interprets a house at the local restoration village. The house was built in 1730, with expansions in 1740 and 1760 and again after our period. All of the other houses in the village are from the 1800s so this house is sort of lost as the employees and volunteers are dressed and trained in the wrong period for the house. So members of our unit volunteered to interpret it for this event.
We treat the event as if the owner of the house (in period ) and his wife are having a “small” gathering of friends between their holiday (the family was of Dutch background) of St. Nicholas Day and Christmas. When the event had been held between Christmas and New Year’s it was instead a large party for the X night of Christmas. X being the day it actually is - for example on December 26, Boxing day to us in period, it is the first night of Christmas and so on.
Some of our unit members greet people at the door and tell them about the house in modern terms - where it was, how it got here, etc. They also show the public the parlor which is on the side of the hall and the public is not admitted to. Then they send them into the kitchen for the party. The public is told that not everyone they meet knows anything past the same date in 1775.
In the kitchen some of our members play period music - especially that of Christmas - and others sing along. I interpret the kitchen - which has an older Dutch fireplace, a Dutch cabinet bed, and items out as if the children left them out after Sinterklaus visited them on St. Nicholas Eve.
They then go into the owner’s office which has a bed chamber to either side of it. My husband is back there, also as someone from the period, to quickly tell them what they are seeing and then to speak with the people, especially children.
We are rather popular with some people telling us they come back each year purposely to visit us.
This year’s evenings were Thursday through Sunday nights. Thursday night was COLD. It was also WINDY, with many gusts of 40-60 mph. The front door is a “Dutch door” - that it is the top and bottom operate separately. We use a piece of wood to keep the two pieces together, and leave it just beyond the point that it would latch closed. We could not do so Thursday night. The wind kept blowing the door open. We ended up latching it closed and listening for noise of possible visitors. We had perhaps 30 visitors through the house, including a chorus that was hired by the village to wander about and sing. After they sang, one of them asked if they could come in and we told them to, of course, and to warm up.
Friday night was a tiny bit warmer, but at least the wind was gone. We had more people, but not big crowds.
Overnight Friday to Saturday it snowed about 3-4 inches, following which it got warmer and it rained, so there was very little snow left by Saturday night. Husband and I started to change into our period clothing Saturday afternoon and he suggested that I call the village and check that the path to the house had been cleared. Good thing! The village had canceled the event for the night. We scrambled to call our members who were coming and let them know. Then we went out for dinner and a movie.
Sunday night the weather was pleasant. We had good sized crowds in the house - lots of people, but manageable in size. There have been years, especially when the event was between Christmas and New Years, when they have had over 1500 people come through in a night and we have ended up needing to have people form a line to get in. Altogether Sunday night was a satisfying evening for us and I hope for the public and the village.
So, not much was done last weekend while all this was going on.
Monday I got rid of the last of the stuff sitting around in the dining room. The stuff for our RV was stored outside in the RV. Room was found in our studio behind the kitchen for a large box with my stored plastic containers for food in it (some of which are also used for the RV in season) and another large box which is used when husband washes the pieces he weaves after they are finished.
I then decorated the kitchen, the dining room, the front hall, and part of the living room, including a small beaded tree I made years ago. This tree is stored decorated (glass dome over it) and loses some decorations - this year much more than normal. I also caught up on assorted email, mail, papers, etc. not done since Wednesday.
Tuesday night I brought up the pieces of our Christmas tree and assembled it and put the lights on it. I added the angel topper and two other angel ornaments. These 3 items were made by us and always go on first, with the two angel ornaments sitting on the front of the tree just below the angel topper. I also set up a small tree we set up in our studio (where it can be seen from the kitchen) as I split ornaments we have made between the two (as opposed to the ones we have purchased and put on the main tree) and I therefore work on both at the same time. That was exhausting enough.
I did something smart this year. Whenever I am going up and down - something goes on any trips which I have nothing else to carry. When I went down for each section of the main Christmas tree I would carry down something, such as an empty box from the Monday decorations (2 of those to go down - 9 sections of the tree plus stand, pole, skirt, etc.) or the box from the beaded tree I set up Monday or the box from the small tree in the studio. Each time I also took up a bag of lights and stopped to check the lights in the kitchen to make sure they worked. This gave me a chance to breathe before running back down to the basement for another heavy section of tree. It seemed to work. After the top and 4 of the remaining sections I stopped and assembled the studio tree to rest a bit from running up and down before bringing up the other 4 sections.
Today I started decorating the two trees in earnest. I finished one box of ornaments completely and most of the second of 4 boxes. As I go along there is less is each box as the boxes are packed to be opened in order (and each box is labeled where it falls in the order) so there are more smaller ornaments in the first two boxes as they are the fancy ones and the latter two hold less as they tend to have the larger ornaments to fill in - such as plain balls. Over the years I have started doing the tree in sections so I have some idea of the general area to put each ornament which helps when setting it up (and finding the ornaments to pack them when taking it down).
I am pretty sure the trees will be ready in time. Not sure if I will get up the last of the decorations - some fake roping over the dining room and rear living room windows - as I am not sure I can get to the rear living room windows due to the rearrangement for the weaving stuff.
I took out one of the hams we took bought in Pennsylvania at the end of October to defrost for Christmas Eve dinner - should have plenty of leftovers for Christmas Day and even beyond.
So - a Happy and Merry to all - or as we say in the 1700s - A good Christmastide.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
TRYING TO GET EVERYTHING DONE FOR THE HOLIDAY
Well, here it is - another Wednesday night. I feel like I got did nothing this past week as I see so much I need/want to do with so little time left before the 25th.
I managed to start putting up some of the smaller Christmas decorations, okay, I set up my Christmas bear figurines which go in the living room and this week I set up the ones which go upstairs in a little village and a small tree which goes with them which has all teddy bear ornaments. I did not finish setting up the lighting for the village though. We did get the outside lights up on the bushes - and the new wreath for the front door as you know. That leaves about 8 boxes of decorations for inside the house and three trees of varying sizes to go. We don’t have much other of the holiday other than the decorations so I go big on the decorations.
I know, I know almost 2 weeks to go seems like plenty of time. But I don’t have all that time free. I took off time tonight to take a 3 hour online test I needed to take to be able to continue to work next year - I already finished 5 smaller tests - and the reading for all 6 courses. I managed to finish the exam with 6 minutes to spare and pass it with an 88 - 70 was needed for credit. Now at least I have that behind me and know that I can work next year. I promise myself, next time I will get the courses earlier in the year and get them done earlier to avoid the last minute rush.
I went to a client this week - work must be fit in also - it is very important of course, but that was another day gone from my time.
The next 4 days we will be involved with our reenacting unit for a candlelight nights event at the local restoration village. Our unit takes over a house there from our period (late 1700s) and interprets it as if there was a period holiday party going on in it. The event is only from 5 pm to 9:30 pm, but we have to dress in period clothes, drive to and from the village, set up the building for the night, and then close down the building at the end of the night, so the 4 and half hour event takes us seven hours plus and when we come home afterwards we first make and eat dinner - so it basically takes up the entire day for the 4 days. Today we went out and ran our errands for the rest of the week and mailed out bill payments for all bills due between now and Monday. It is an event we enjoy, but it does take a chunk of time.
So in between all this I will need to finish clearing out the dining room - stuff for the RV will go out to the RV and stuff for husband’s weaving will be stored in our studio. I was pleasantly surprised today when I came downstairs after working at my computer in the afternoon to find that husband cleared out most of the living room of his weaving stuff for me to decorate the room. The original agreement was that I would have it from after Thanksgiving - something I never expected to happen and I had planned to put all the decorations up around his loom and related items - I had even figured that at least I could use the table he uses for warping (setting up the threads to weave through) the loom to put ornaments and such on while I set up, though he has stored the table away. I was very happy that he had the consideration not only to stop weaving, but also to make room for me.
On Monday I received the paperwork I mentioned last week for my embroidery club to reserve our meeting room for 2017. I filled in the papers at the table at Wendys while I waited for husband to get us lunch as the papers have to be notarized - we then went to the bank and had same done. Later when we came home I did the rest of the paperwork needed and husband mailed it for me yesterday (Tuesday) so it is on its way. I also had promised to write something for the chapter president and had started it a couple of weeks ago and mostly finished it today and sent it to her for her to read and see if changes or additions are needed. I also have some questions out to members (by email) for info I was missing.
See, I got a lot done, it just does not register as there is so much else to do. As I sit here writing to all of you, I am also doing the laundry - one load has washed and is in the dryer and the other is washing - more loads to do, but when these 2 are done, we are okay through the weekend if I don’t get to the other loads. Dishes are washed daily - well, three times a day, I wash them after each meal.
How are you coming along with your plans for the holiday? Remember one can only do what one can do. When time runs out - then one is done - by definition. Okay, I admit it, I will keep putting stuff up until it is all up, even if that means the day after Christmas.
I managed to start putting up some of the smaller Christmas decorations, okay, I set up my Christmas bear figurines which go in the living room and this week I set up the ones which go upstairs in a little village and a small tree which goes with them which has all teddy bear ornaments. I did not finish setting up the lighting for the village though. We did get the outside lights up on the bushes - and the new wreath for the front door as you know. That leaves about 8 boxes of decorations for inside the house and three trees of varying sizes to go. We don’t have much other of the holiday other than the decorations so I go big on the decorations.
I know, I know almost 2 weeks to go seems like plenty of time. But I don’t have all that time free. I took off time tonight to take a 3 hour online test I needed to take to be able to continue to work next year - I already finished 5 smaller tests - and the reading for all 6 courses. I managed to finish the exam with 6 minutes to spare and pass it with an 88 - 70 was needed for credit. Now at least I have that behind me and know that I can work next year. I promise myself, next time I will get the courses earlier in the year and get them done earlier to avoid the last minute rush.
I went to a client this week - work must be fit in also - it is very important of course, but that was another day gone from my time.
The next 4 days we will be involved with our reenacting unit for a candlelight nights event at the local restoration village. Our unit takes over a house there from our period (late 1700s) and interprets it as if there was a period holiday party going on in it. The event is only from 5 pm to 9:30 pm, but we have to dress in period clothes, drive to and from the village, set up the building for the night, and then close down the building at the end of the night, so the 4 and half hour event takes us seven hours plus and when we come home afterwards we first make and eat dinner - so it basically takes up the entire day for the 4 days. Today we went out and ran our errands for the rest of the week and mailed out bill payments for all bills due between now and Monday. It is an event we enjoy, but it does take a chunk of time.
So in between all this I will need to finish clearing out the dining room - stuff for the RV will go out to the RV and stuff for husband’s weaving will be stored in our studio. I was pleasantly surprised today when I came downstairs after working at my computer in the afternoon to find that husband cleared out most of the living room of his weaving stuff for me to decorate the room. The original agreement was that I would have it from after Thanksgiving - something I never expected to happen and I had planned to put all the decorations up around his loom and related items - I had even figured that at least I could use the table he uses for warping (setting up the threads to weave through) the loom to put ornaments and such on while I set up, though he has stored the table away. I was very happy that he had the consideration not only to stop weaving, but also to make room for me.
On Monday I received the paperwork I mentioned last week for my embroidery club to reserve our meeting room for 2017. I filled in the papers at the table at Wendys while I waited for husband to get us lunch as the papers have to be notarized - we then went to the bank and had same done. Later when we came home I did the rest of the paperwork needed and husband mailed it for me yesterday (Tuesday) so it is on its way. I also had promised to write something for the chapter president and had started it a couple of weeks ago and mostly finished it today and sent it to her for her to read and see if changes or additions are needed. I also have some questions out to members (by email) for info I was missing.
See, I got a lot done, it just does not register as there is so much else to do. As I sit here writing to all of you, I am also doing the laundry - one load has washed and is in the dryer and the other is washing - more loads to do, but when these 2 are done, we are okay through the weekend if I don’t get to the other loads. Dishes are washed daily - well, three times a day, I wash them after each meal.
How are you coming along with your plans for the holiday? Remember one can only do what one can do. When time runs out - then one is done - by definition. Okay, I admit it, I will keep putting stuff up until it is all up, even if that means the day after Christmas.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS AND THE WEEK THAT FOLLOWED
We went out last Thursday to put up our Christmas lights. We also had some errands to run, but since we wanted to deal with the lights while there was still daylight we did the lights first.
Husband decided that the fallen leaves would catch fire from the lights and we had to rake and bag them first. This exhausted both of us before we even started with the lights. Sunny and 59 degrees which had been expected, was actually terribly overcast and colder.
Of course 3 of the 8 strands of lights only had half their bulbs still working - although they had been tested before being stored. We figured we would put up what we have and then go and buy replacements while running errands. The lights go on bushes and 2 small trees and a strand of red bulbs with white cords go around our white mail box post (which is at our front door, not along the road) which gives it a candy caneish look. Hooked up the extension cords, plugged it all in. I went to the basement and turned on the breaker for that circuit and turned on the timer - no lights. Husband comes in and checks to make sure I did it right. (I would say because he thinks I am an idiot who cannot turn on the breaker and timer, but I won't.) He decides that maybe the breaker is broken - it feels funny. Just in case it is the outlet (which hangs oddly since our siding was replaced - but worked fine last time we mowed the grass in July) he decides to disassemble the outlet and check the wiring. It is now dark out and getting colder.
He cannot disassemble the outlets as one of the screws stripped . He then spends an hour attempting to take out the outlets. He then gives up and spends another hour and a half trying to put the front plate (which covers the outlets as they are outside) back on as the entire assembly now is loose due to the stripped screw. We finally give up and put tape around the box - figuring we will be calling an electrician to deal with it all. It is now 6 pm. He goes back into the basement in frustration and finds out that we turned on the wrong breaker! When we bought the house there was one outside set of outlets in the back yard. The breaker was labeled "outside outlet". We later had another one added in front of the house (mostly for Christmas lights) which is labeled "front outside outlet". Yes, I forgot which one was specially labeled and turned on the back yard outlets! I showed him which one was correct. He labeled the other one as “rear outside outlets”. We had disassembled the extension cords to prevent problems and will have to plug everything in again and see if the lights come on - on Saturday. No he did not get mad or yell at me. I was crying too hard from being so stupid and making the problem and wasting so much time for him to do so.
We normally would put up a wreath on each door and swags (all artificial) from the lights on either side of the door - but that would wait. (So far we have put up one wreath - it is new. We put battery operated lights on it and it fits between our front door and the storm door and is lighter so it can go up with magnetic hooks instead of having to run fishing line over the front storm door to hold it outside the storm door . We still have not put out a wreath on the side door or the swags - not sure if he will do so or not.)
We then set out to the PO and the bank. As we approached the corner where the PO is located there were police cars and their lights all over at the corner to the PO. There is a very small "town center" in a pool park there and apparently this was the Christmas tree lighting ceremony. We managed to get through the mess and had to go aways to get a parking space for the PO.
We then had to pull into a side road and turn around, back into the mess, which now also had fire engines with lights and sirens on, to go to the bank. When we left the bank husband was going to go in a different direction to avoid the mess, forgot to and we were headed back there. Instead we kept going to a different main street which goes to our house. There were police cars all over with police directing traffic and apparently we could not turn towards our house - the street was closed either for an emergency or to put up Christmas decorations as there were "bucket trucks" with men in the buckets. We had to drive back to the bank a different way, drive past it and then go the way he intended originally. 15 minutes of errands took over an hour, so it was now 7 pm.
I then made dinner and called him and he had gotten a work online conversation and was on for an hour - to 9 pm. Just as I finished reheating the soup for dinner (and the rest was still reheating) my mom called and I had to tell her I couldn't talk. If you think I write a lot - a call between mom and me can run 2 hours.
Friday we went to Lancaster, PA area for a day trip - mostly Green Dragon Farmer's (and merchant's) market and dinner at Dutchway buffet - owned by and adjacent to their supermarket. Picked up the needed Christmas lights during a stop at Walmart there before our trip home.
Saturday we took the snow blower out of the box and assembled it. We then put up the rest of the lights after making sure that when we used the correct circuit breaker the other lights came on.
We bought gas for the snow blower on Monday and also filled the tank in our van - we don’t drive it a lot, so we don’t fill it a lot, so we figured we would do both at once. On Tuesday we started it and it started fine. Unfortunately we found out over the weekend that we cannot get the small shed we wanted. It would not come for 3 weeks and by then it would be too cold to assemble it. For now the snow blower is in the garage - sitting just inside the door, ready to go. But if it snows we have to shovel our way out to the garage. One idea husband has it to pick up the snow blower and put it in our tiny side porch (really just a covered entryway) - which means I have to clear it out - but we don’t know if we could carry it that much.
Today was my embroidery club meeting. As I was getting ready last night for the meeting it suddenly dawned on me that this is the last meeting of the year. Why is that significant? I never got the paperwork to reserve the meeting room for 2017. I called this morning and found out that the person in charge of the room reservations changed and I was not on the list she was given for who had to have renewals sent to them - “everyone else will call for them”. Luckily this room is not in great demand and there should be no problem - she is sending me the paperwork to do.
I also got rid of 2 months worth of soda bottles today and made about $2 in returned deposits - which I then spent plus more on a few grocery items we needed. I went to Goodwill and donated 3 of our suitcases - more to go there in the future. I also donated my good coat. I love this coat - it comfortable, nice fabric. It is the only piece of clothing I have ever heard my mom say I looked good in. Why did I get rid of it? It was a hard decision, but I have not worn it since 2009 when we had the bed bugs. It is a bit on the long side and I would worry about picking up bed bugs when walking on stairs in NYC if I wore it to work. When we go out to dinner for holidays or such - much rarer now - I sit on my jacket and the coat would be too bulky, so I decided it was time for it to have a nice life with someone else who needs and will use it. I kept it in its bag until the last minute so I would not change my mind. I added to all this a rotating CD rack husband has not used in years and said we should get rid of. Oh - don’t forget to go through all pockets in clothes and suitcases - I did and found copies of our driver’s licenses in one of the suitcases.
So another week is gone. I have put out a minimal amount of Christmas decorations - but I did put RV stuff in our RV to get it out of the dining room until next spring - more of it to go out yet. I also put away all of the various items that were out loose of our reenacting stuff - the dining room is on its way to being ready to decorate.
What did you get done this week? Even a small amount of things done is something done. Jump in and do something.
Husband decided that the fallen leaves would catch fire from the lights and we had to rake and bag them first. This exhausted both of us before we even started with the lights. Sunny and 59 degrees which had been expected, was actually terribly overcast and colder.
Of course 3 of the 8 strands of lights only had half their bulbs still working - although they had been tested before being stored. We figured we would put up what we have and then go and buy replacements while running errands. The lights go on bushes and 2 small trees and a strand of red bulbs with white cords go around our white mail box post (which is at our front door, not along the road) which gives it a candy caneish look. Hooked up the extension cords, plugged it all in. I went to the basement and turned on the breaker for that circuit and turned on the timer - no lights. Husband comes in and checks to make sure I did it right. (I would say because he thinks I am an idiot who cannot turn on the breaker and timer, but I won't.) He decides that maybe the breaker is broken - it feels funny. Just in case it is the outlet (which hangs oddly since our siding was replaced - but worked fine last time we mowed the grass in July) he decides to disassemble the outlet and check the wiring. It is now dark out and getting colder.
He cannot disassemble the outlets as one of the screws stripped . He then spends an hour attempting to take out the outlets. He then gives up and spends another hour and a half trying to put the front plate (which covers the outlets as they are outside) back on as the entire assembly now is loose due to the stripped screw. We finally give up and put tape around the box - figuring we will be calling an electrician to deal with it all. It is now 6 pm. He goes back into the basement in frustration and finds out that we turned on the wrong breaker! When we bought the house there was one outside set of outlets in the back yard. The breaker was labeled "outside outlet". We later had another one added in front of the house (mostly for Christmas lights) which is labeled "front outside outlet". Yes, I forgot which one was specially labeled and turned on the back yard outlets! I showed him which one was correct. He labeled the other one as “rear outside outlets”. We had disassembled the extension cords to prevent problems and will have to plug everything in again and see if the lights come on - on Saturday. No he did not get mad or yell at me. I was crying too hard from being so stupid and making the problem and wasting so much time for him to do so.
We normally would put up a wreath on each door and swags (all artificial) from the lights on either side of the door - but that would wait. (So far we have put up one wreath - it is new. We put battery operated lights on it and it fits between our front door and the storm door and is lighter so it can go up with magnetic hooks instead of having to run fishing line over the front storm door to hold it outside the storm door . We still have not put out a wreath on the side door or the swags - not sure if he will do so or not.)
We then set out to the PO and the bank. As we approached the corner where the PO is located there were police cars and their lights all over at the corner to the PO. There is a very small "town center" in a pool park there and apparently this was the Christmas tree lighting ceremony. We managed to get through the mess and had to go aways to get a parking space for the PO.
We then had to pull into a side road and turn around, back into the mess, which now also had fire engines with lights and sirens on, to go to the bank. When we left the bank husband was going to go in a different direction to avoid the mess, forgot to and we were headed back there. Instead we kept going to a different main street which goes to our house. There were police cars all over with police directing traffic and apparently we could not turn towards our house - the street was closed either for an emergency or to put up Christmas decorations as there were "bucket trucks" with men in the buckets. We had to drive back to the bank a different way, drive past it and then go the way he intended originally. 15 minutes of errands took over an hour, so it was now 7 pm.
I then made dinner and called him and he had gotten a work online conversation and was on for an hour - to 9 pm. Just as I finished reheating the soup for dinner (and the rest was still reheating) my mom called and I had to tell her I couldn't talk. If you think I write a lot - a call between mom and me can run 2 hours.
Friday we went to Lancaster, PA area for a day trip - mostly Green Dragon Farmer's (and merchant's) market and dinner at Dutchway buffet - owned by and adjacent to their supermarket. Picked up the needed Christmas lights during a stop at Walmart there before our trip home.
Saturday we took the snow blower out of the box and assembled it. We then put up the rest of the lights after making sure that when we used the correct circuit breaker the other lights came on.
We bought gas for the snow blower on Monday and also filled the tank in our van - we don’t drive it a lot, so we don’t fill it a lot, so we figured we would do both at once. On Tuesday we started it and it started fine. Unfortunately we found out over the weekend that we cannot get the small shed we wanted. It would not come for 3 weeks and by then it would be too cold to assemble it. For now the snow blower is in the garage - sitting just inside the door, ready to go. But if it snows we have to shovel our way out to the garage. One idea husband has it to pick up the snow blower and put it in our tiny side porch (really just a covered entryway) - which means I have to clear it out - but we don’t know if we could carry it that much.
Today was my embroidery club meeting. As I was getting ready last night for the meeting it suddenly dawned on me that this is the last meeting of the year. Why is that significant? I never got the paperwork to reserve the meeting room for 2017. I called this morning and found out that the person in charge of the room reservations changed and I was not on the list she was given for who had to have renewals sent to them - “everyone else will call for them”. Luckily this room is not in great demand and there should be no problem - she is sending me the paperwork to do.
I also got rid of 2 months worth of soda bottles today and made about $2 in returned deposits - which I then spent plus more on a few grocery items we needed. I went to Goodwill and donated 3 of our suitcases - more to go there in the future. I also donated my good coat. I love this coat - it comfortable, nice fabric. It is the only piece of clothing I have ever heard my mom say I looked good in. Why did I get rid of it? It was a hard decision, but I have not worn it since 2009 when we had the bed bugs. It is a bit on the long side and I would worry about picking up bed bugs when walking on stairs in NYC if I wore it to work. When we go out to dinner for holidays or such - much rarer now - I sit on my jacket and the coat would be too bulky, so I decided it was time for it to have a nice life with someone else who needs and will use it. I kept it in its bag until the last minute so I would not change my mind. I added to all this a rotating CD rack husband has not used in years and said we should get rid of. Oh - don’t forget to go through all pockets in clothes and suitcases - I did and found copies of our driver’s licenses in one of the suitcases.
So another week is gone. I have put out a minimal amount of Christmas decorations - but I did put RV stuff in our RV to get it out of the dining room until next spring - more of it to go out yet. I also put away all of the various items that were out loose of our reenacting stuff - the dining room is on its way to being ready to decorate.
What did you get done this week? Even a small amount of things done is something done. Jump in and do something.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
THANKSGIVING IS OVER - CHRISTMAS IS COMING
Well, Thanksgiving is behind us. Now we move on to the December holidays. While due to differences in religion, we celebrate both Christmas and Chanukah, 99% of the decorating is for Christmas.
Normally we would have put our outside decorations up this past week, but due to running around to find a turkey and shop for Thanksgiving dinner at the last minute, we did not get a chance to do so. We are currently having rain. We plan to put up the outside decorations on Thursday - it is not suppose to be raining then and it is suppose to go to a relatively “toasty” 59 degrees Fahrenheit.
We put strands of lights on our larger bushes and 2 small trees in front of our house. We put a wreath (artificial) each on our front and side doors. We also have swags (again artificial) which we hang from our light fixtures on either side of the front door. Last year we added a strand of red lights around our white mail box post - gives the look of, sort of, a candy cane. We used to have wreaths on our lower front windows and swags under them, but we cannot do so since we had our windows and siding replaced. The outside lights are controlled by a timer. We have one in our basement for the outlets that they are plugged into - since they are on their own circuit breaker this is a heavy duty timer, which works for the circuit. We also put battery operated candles in our front windows which go on for 6 hours a night automatically. We used to have plug in window candles, but when we replaced the windows, we found that there was a ledge of plastic on the inside of the window which meant that the candle had trouble staying on the window sill and leaned against the window blinds and would have melted them - so we replaced them with these LED candles -no heat so they do not melt the shades.
This past weekend I took out my Christmas dishes. These are not fancy china to be used for company. They are everyday dishes. I use them for dinner during the holidays. I also have Christmas glasses - they were a “spend this amount and get a gift” that I got when I bought a baby gift for a friend decades ago. I keep the dishes and glasses in their original boxes in the gas meter closet in our basement and wash them before I use them each year. I have only 3 glasses - the fourth one broke - and I keep a small 2 piece nativity set in the 4th space in the box, so the nativity goes out when I take out the glasses. I only take out 2 of the glasses and 2 of the cups to the dishes as I am the only one who uses them. Husband has certain plastic glasses he prefers and I put one out for him as it not worth insisting that he use the holiday stuff.
Husband, as I have mentioned before, got a loom last Christmas. It is a good size piece of furniture, 32 inches wide and about the same size deep. It is set up in the living room as are various related items, including a small table and large plastic boxes of yarn/finished pieces. It does not fill the room, but since it sits in the middle of the room, it takes up much of the floor space. When husband set it up last January, I told him that I expected the living room back after Thanksgiving until January so that I could decorate. I never really expected same, and I will be decorating around the loom etc. when I decorate as I got a blank stare when I asked when the loom was being stored for the season. Our dining room has additional items for his weaving, mostly items used to wash the woven items after they are made (to draw the threads together into fabric) which is done in our kitchen. At some point the items other than the loom will have to be moved somewhere - my guess is the walkways of our studio behind the kitchen. The nativity mentioned above goes into a display case in a corner of the living room - normally it is the center of the shelf. Right now it is on a corner of the shelf as I could not open the door to the cabinet due to the weaving boxes stored adjacent to the cabinet, but managed to get it open enough to put the nativity just inside the door. I will move it when I move the boxes elsewhere - really, they have to moved or no tree.
The dining room also has stuff which needs to go out to our RV. (This is all the stuff I had to move to use the dining room table last week.) The last chance we figure to use the RV is this coming weekend and we are pretty sure we will not - then all will go out there for winter storage. It is stuff that is used seasonally in the RV - mostly for cold weather travel - and has to be stored in the house when not being used in the RV.
Why does the dining room have to be cleared out to decorate the living room? Because there is a good sized wooden box piece of furniture in the living room where the tree goes. Husband made this some years ago. It looks like what was called a “hope chest” for a young woman to store the items she made for when she got married. This one, however, holds DVDs. Instead of the top lifting the front drops down and drawers come out to hold the DVDs. It is on wheels (we knew we had to move it back and forth to the dining room once a year) and is rolled to the far wall of the dining room (where the table normally is and all the stuff to deal with is now) and stays there for the season with the table in the center of the room where normal people put it all the time.
I admit to still having Thanksgiving decorations out. I have a small light up “house in a tree trunk” which I painted some years ago and also painted a ceramic bear family and their guests coming to the house. I have since added some small purchased bears. Every year I set it up with the bear family at the house and the other bears coming there. This year after the holiday I had the idea to turn the visitors around and they are now “on their way home”. There are a few other small items to be put away also - it all fits in one box. I plan on it all being stored by the end of the week - it only took 15 minutes to put out.
I have large plastic boxes of stuff to put out for Christmas in the basement. We used to keep it in the garage, but we are getting older - hard to climb up and take out and store the boxes - and the boxes are getting heavier, so I found a spot in the basement to store them. There are decorations for the living room, front hall, dining room and kitchen as well as the ornaments for the trees and my teddy bear Christmas village figurines, buildings, etc.
More on all that in future posts - or I would have nothing to post. We bought a new snow blower Monday. We cannot find anyone who does “residential snow removal” and have to be able to do it on our own. Our old snow blower is probably around 30 years old and is large and heavy. We tried starting it over the weekend and it did not start, although it did last summer when we tried it. We had planned on buying this one anyway as it is hard to get to the other one in back of the house and this one, being smaller, we figure we can store it in a small plastic shed in front of our side door. We still have to get the shed and assemble and try out (at least that it starts and moves) the new blower. Husband is researching on what may be wrong with the old one as he wants it as a backup. They were surprised at the (large home big box) store at which we bought the snow blower that we were buying one. I guess everyone else waits until it snows - when it is too late.
I wanted to talk about holiday shopping. Did you go running out on Black Friday or even Thanksgiving? Visit your local stores for Small Business Saturday (started by that so warm hearted American Express credit card company)? Sit all day at work on Monday for Cyber Monday?
We did none of these things. With the exception this year of a TV which husband thought was a good deal (not that we bought/are buying one) which is still on sale at that large box store everyone hates, we have never seen anything worth running for the deal. In addition we don’t buy large amounts of gifts - or stuff for ourselves - for the holidays or otherwise. Are we grinches? No. Husband’s 2 nieces (under 20 years old) always get Christmas gifts from us which we buy. My niece and nephews are in the mid 20's and we mail them checks for Chanukah. Some years ago we agreed with my family not to exchange gifts between the adults. Every year I bought my sister a sweater at a reasonably priced department store (the one with the tool department) with the return card from the gift she had bought me the year before and she would buy me something there also - I was pretty sure with the return card from the sweater I had given her the year before. Gradually this mostly happened with husband and his small extended family also - which was an exchange of cash for check any way.) Husband buys himself a few small items which catch his eye - I then wrap them and Santa puts them under the tree. Generally I don’t get anything. If I do it is a book or a bear item we found on sale during the year and put away until Christmas (one year I forgot we were doing so and read half the book before I remembered). In case you have not figured it out - I have a passion for teddy bears and some of their friends. I believe that a gift should be a token, not an overwhelming “LOOK AT THIS”. The spending of more money for a bigger or more expensive gift does not mean that one is loved or appreciated more - just that someone spent more money, which chances are means they are further into debt than they should be. Plus, more and bigger items mean more clutter in the house!
Speaking of clutter - this is a good time of year to pass along by donation items you no longer need or want which are taking up room in your house. I am planning on donating my winter coat - I have not worn it in years and due to weight loss, I am not even sure it fits anymore. I plan to add to it some dresses I never wear and if we get a chance to go through them - most of the luggage we have as we don’t use luggage with the RV. We will each keep one suitcase and will also keep a rolling backpack. The backpack and a soft bag should fit in the other bag.
So as you are start getting ready this year - remember, whatever you buy or get has to fit somewhere in your home.
Normally we would have put our outside decorations up this past week, but due to running around to find a turkey and shop for Thanksgiving dinner at the last minute, we did not get a chance to do so. We are currently having rain. We plan to put up the outside decorations on Thursday - it is not suppose to be raining then and it is suppose to go to a relatively “toasty” 59 degrees Fahrenheit.
We put strands of lights on our larger bushes and 2 small trees in front of our house. We put a wreath (artificial) each on our front and side doors. We also have swags (again artificial) which we hang from our light fixtures on either side of the front door. Last year we added a strand of red lights around our white mail box post - gives the look of, sort of, a candy cane. We used to have wreaths on our lower front windows and swags under them, but we cannot do so since we had our windows and siding replaced. The outside lights are controlled by a timer. We have one in our basement for the outlets that they are plugged into - since they are on their own circuit breaker this is a heavy duty timer, which works for the circuit. We also put battery operated candles in our front windows which go on for 6 hours a night automatically. We used to have plug in window candles, but when we replaced the windows, we found that there was a ledge of plastic on the inside of the window which meant that the candle had trouble staying on the window sill and leaned against the window blinds and would have melted them - so we replaced them with these LED candles -no heat so they do not melt the shades.
This past weekend I took out my Christmas dishes. These are not fancy china to be used for company. They are everyday dishes. I use them for dinner during the holidays. I also have Christmas glasses - they were a “spend this amount and get a gift” that I got when I bought a baby gift for a friend decades ago. I keep the dishes and glasses in their original boxes in the gas meter closet in our basement and wash them before I use them each year. I have only 3 glasses - the fourth one broke - and I keep a small 2 piece nativity set in the 4th space in the box, so the nativity goes out when I take out the glasses. I only take out 2 of the glasses and 2 of the cups to the dishes as I am the only one who uses them. Husband has certain plastic glasses he prefers and I put one out for him as it not worth insisting that he use the holiday stuff.
Husband, as I have mentioned before, got a loom last Christmas. It is a good size piece of furniture, 32 inches wide and about the same size deep. It is set up in the living room as are various related items, including a small table and large plastic boxes of yarn/finished pieces. It does not fill the room, but since it sits in the middle of the room, it takes up much of the floor space. When husband set it up last January, I told him that I expected the living room back after Thanksgiving until January so that I could decorate. I never really expected same, and I will be decorating around the loom etc. when I decorate as I got a blank stare when I asked when the loom was being stored for the season. Our dining room has additional items for his weaving, mostly items used to wash the woven items after they are made (to draw the threads together into fabric) which is done in our kitchen. At some point the items other than the loom will have to be moved somewhere - my guess is the walkways of our studio behind the kitchen. The nativity mentioned above goes into a display case in a corner of the living room - normally it is the center of the shelf. Right now it is on a corner of the shelf as I could not open the door to the cabinet due to the weaving boxes stored adjacent to the cabinet, but managed to get it open enough to put the nativity just inside the door. I will move it when I move the boxes elsewhere - really, they have to moved or no tree.
The dining room also has stuff which needs to go out to our RV. (This is all the stuff I had to move to use the dining room table last week.) The last chance we figure to use the RV is this coming weekend and we are pretty sure we will not - then all will go out there for winter storage. It is stuff that is used seasonally in the RV - mostly for cold weather travel - and has to be stored in the house when not being used in the RV.
Why does the dining room have to be cleared out to decorate the living room? Because there is a good sized wooden box piece of furniture in the living room where the tree goes. Husband made this some years ago. It looks like what was called a “hope chest” for a young woman to store the items she made for when she got married. This one, however, holds DVDs. Instead of the top lifting the front drops down and drawers come out to hold the DVDs. It is on wheels (we knew we had to move it back and forth to the dining room once a year) and is rolled to the far wall of the dining room (where the table normally is and all the stuff to deal with is now) and stays there for the season with the table in the center of the room where normal people put it all the time.
I admit to still having Thanksgiving decorations out. I have a small light up “house in a tree trunk” which I painted some years ago and also painted a ceramic bear family and their guests coming to the house. I have since added some small purchased bears. Every year I set it up with the bear family at the house and the other bears coming there. This year after the holiday I had the idea to turn the visitors around and they are now “on their way home”. There are a few other small items to be put away also - it all fits in one box. I plan on it all being stored by the end of the week - it only took 15 minutes to put out.
I have large plastic boxes of stuff to put out for Christmas in the basement. We used to keep it in the garage, but we are getting older - hard to climb up and take out and store the boxes - and the boxes are getting heavier, so I found a spot in the basement to store them. There are decorations for the living room, front hall, dining room and kitchen as well as the ornaments for the trees and my teddy bear Christmas village figurines, buildings, etc.
More on all that in future posts - or I would have nothing to post. We bought a new snow blower Monday. We cannot find anyone who does “residential snow removal” and have to be able to do it on our own. Our old snow blower is probably around 30 years old and is large and heavy. We tried starting it over the weekend and it did not start, although it did last summer when we tried it. We had planned on buying this one anyway as it is hard to get to the other one in back of the house and this one, being smaller, we figure we can store it in a small plastic shed in front of our side door. We still have to get the shed and assemble and try out (at least that it starts and moves) the new blower. Husband is researching on what may be wrong with the old one as he wants it as a backup. They were surprised at the (large home big box) store at which we bought the snow blower that we were buying one. I guess everyone else waits until it snows - when it is too late.
I wanted to talk about holiday shopping. Did you go running out on Black Friday or even Thanksgiving? Visit your local stores for Small Business Saturday (started by that so warm hearted American Express credit card company)? Sit all day at work on Monday for Cyber Monday?
We did none of these things. With the exception this year of a TV which husband thought was a good deal (not that we bought/are buying one) which is still on sale at that large box store everyone hates, we have never seen anything worth running for the deal. In addition we don’t buy large amounts of gifts - or stuff for ourselves - for the holidays or otherwise. Are we grinches? No. Husband’s 2 nieces (under 20 years old) always get Christmas gifts from us which we buy. My niece and nephews are in the mid 20's and we mail them checks for Chanukah. Some years ago we agreed with my family not to exchange gifts between the adults. Every year I bought my sister a sweater at a reasonably priced department store (the one with the tool department) with the return card from the gift she had bought me the year before and she would buy me something there also - I was pretty sure with the return card from the sweater I had given her the year before. Gradually this mostly happened with husband and his small extended family also - which was an exchange of cash for check any way.) Husband buys himself a few small items which catch his eye - I then wrap them and Santa puts them under the tree. Generally I don’t get anything. If I do it is a book or a bear item we found on sale during the year and put away until Christmas (one year I forgot we were doing so and read half the book before I remembered). In case you have not figured it out - I have a passion for teddy bears and some of their friends. I believe that a gift should be a token, not an overwhelming “LOOK AT THIS”. The spending of more money for a bigger or more expensive gift does not mean that one is loved or appreciated more - just that someone spent more money, which chances are means they are further into debt than they should be. Plus, more and bigger items mean more clutter in the house!
Speaking of clutter - this is a good time of year to pass along by donation items you no longer need or want which are taking up room in your house. I am planning on donating my winter coat - I have not worn it in years and due to weight loss, I am not even sure it fits anymore. I plan to add to it some dresses I never wear and if we get a chance to go through them - most of the luggage we have as we don’t use luggage with the RV. We will each keep one suitcase and will also keep a rolling backpack. The backpack and a soft bag should fit in the other bag.
So as you are start getting ready this year - remember, whatever you buy or get has to fit somewhere in your home.
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