Blog Archives

It’s black Friday–I’ll stay home

     If retail clerks refused to work the crazy hours and if people weren’t so greedy, there would be no such thing as Black Friday.

     I worked retail for many years.  Black Friday is the worst day of the year.  I’m not sure when it started, but in my early retail years the day was like any other.

     Greed is the only answer to the question, why do they do it? 

     Back when I bought Christmas presents, decorated, and in general, let the retail world dictate my December, I did manage to finish my shopping long before November and December rolled around. 

     Quite a few years ago, The Curmudgeon and I decided that if a holiday created too much pressure to allow one to enjoy it, why bother?  It’s not as if the season were a favorite for either of us.  Mostly it reminds us of lost family.   We’ve both had too many family deaths at this time of year.  I’d just as soon skip from here to mid February.

     These days I only buy or make one ten-dollar gift for my dearest friend of 38 years for her celebration and because she loves this time of year. 

     The Curmudgeon and I buy things we want, when we want them, instead of waiting for a holiday to come around.  We don’t decorate, I stopped baking ridiculous amounts of unneeded sweets, and we’ve found that we enjoy it this way.

   

And so today goes…

     It’s Thanksgiving.  The Curmudgeon and I are going to enjoy a lovely dinner of roast chicken (he won’t eat turkey), sage stuffing, gravy, Harvard beets, cranberry sauce, and we have a slice of cheesecake for each of us for dessert.  Okay it isn’t a completely traditional dinner, but we aren’t your traditional family.

     After dinner we’ll enjoy a movie marathon of some DVDs we bought lately and hadn’t had a chance to watch yet.

     The Curmudgeon will fall asleep in his chair with Patty.  Gavin will be snoring away in my chair with me.  I will be thankful That I get to enjoy watching all three sleep.

     There’s something to be said about a very small family.  There’s no noise, no pressure, and no fighting.  How thankful can I get?  Plenty thankful. 

Another senior moment

     Earlier, much earlier, I had an idea and thought, “wow, that’d make a great blog post!”  I didn’t make a note, should have.  For the life of me I can’t remember what was so brilliant.

     Is it any wonder that every flat surface in my house is covered with sticky notes?

     They aren’t just my sticky notes, The Curmudgeon has his share of them too.  His are far more cryptic than mine.  For example, do you have any idea what sw=E4 Z22 2:30 means?  Neither do I.

     Mine are more like, livingroom rugs 11′ by 8′ and 8′ by 5′.  Then there’s “Dn’t fgt Lot ticks.”  Easy peasy right?

     However, here I am writing away and I still can’t remember what that brilliant idea for a blog post was, DUH.

Hey, I really did need more books…

     I ordered three new books today, The Thinker’s Thesaurus, Word Painting, and The Wrong Word Dictionary.  It’s Signals catalogues fault.  I found The Thinker’s Thesaurus in it and didn’t like the price so I went online and found it on Amazon for five dollars less. 

     You know how Amazon is, they always offer you suggestions “if you like that you might like this’ and that’s how I ended up buying the other two books.  {Sigh}  I’m weak. 

She’s baa-ack and creepier than ever.

     I really could’ve gone the enitre year without having the Target lady show up on their commercials again.  Please Target make her go away, she’s downright creepy.  She’s the stuff of nightmares.

     I’m sure I’m not only person completely creeped out by her.  I’ve begun to change the channel the instant she shows up on the screen.  Is this good advertisement?

Crazy Bull Terrier day

     Take two bull terriers add a sunny brisk day and you have chaos.  Gavin and Patty were like two three-year-old  kids on a sugar, over activity, and a we-swiped-Mom’s-coffee high.

     Hyperactivity at its worst.  When they weren’t bouncing off the walls and each other The Curmudgeon and I were targets of their over zealous glee and mischievous mirth.

     It was with great relief on our parts when three o’clock rolled around and both were looking for The Curmudgeon to go up for his usual nap.  They were tired.  He went upstairs, both dogs dashed for their crates, and waited for me to shut the doors, give them cookies, and cover the doors with their towels.

     Five minutes later the snores coming from the crates were proof that they aren’t as young as they once were.  They snored for two hours straight.  I had to wake them for dinner.

Leaf blower/mulcher works like a dream!

 

     With a yard full of leaves and not being exactly eager to rake them, I ordered a leaf blower/mulcher from Amazon a couple of days ago.  It arrived yesterday.  The Curmudgeon has one in the shed,  but it is gas powered and weighs a ton–I cannot use it.  I am now the proud owner of a Greenworks electric blower/mulcher with metal impeller.

     I spent the afternoon outside moving leaves to the street where the city will pick them up.  A few times I had a cross breeze that brought to mind the saying about ‘herding cats.’  I had to quit when it got too dark to see.  Half of the yard is finished. 

     When I went inside, I had two dogs that were crossing their legs, doing the pee pee dance, and they were HUNGRY.  The Curmudgeon was hungry too.  Oops, my bad. 

     Another sunny day today means I’ll try to finish the yard…

Never a dull moment and always a bruise or two…

 

     I took a shower, pulled on clean jeans and shirt, went downstairs to have some coffee, breakfast, and head out to buy groceries and dog food. 

     In that short amount of time before I left to go to the pet and grocery stores, my clean jeans acquired muddy paw prints, dog slobber, and my shirt held some spots of coffee.  I always look so fashionable at home.

     I had four new bruises on my legs from Gavin jumping into my lap (thus the wearing of the coffee) and Patty had managed to squash my big toe in her rush to get to the back door first.

     The dogs had my first yogurt since they’d tripped me and made me drop it.  I got the second one to myself…thank goodness for baby gates.

     Carrying in groceries would be a real trick if it weren’t for dog crates.  Especially since I carried in a forty pound bag of dog food and a bag containing dog biscuits and two new Nylabones.  Yes, the singing began when they caught the first whiff.

     That was my day…How was yours?

Oh, muse of mine, return to me

 

          Oh, please muse of mine come kick me in the a** and jump-start my writing.  Seek me out and hold a gun to my head–make me write.   

     Take the blank spaces in my brain and fill them to overflowing with words.  Make the words dance and the voices come back to sing operas.

      Make my fingers fly over the keyboard telling the tales locked up inside me.

Picture day!

What are you thankful for this year?

     I’m thankful that I survived my heart attack.  I’m thankful for The Curmudgeon’s love.  I’m thankful for two Bull Terriers who give us their unconditional love. 

     I’m thankful for having such wonderful and loving Aunties, and Cousins.  I’m thankful for good and loving friends who are with us through thick and thin.

     I’m thankful that you stop by and read my little blog from time to time.

I’m going to get my exercise…

     I think I finally have all the Halloween decorations on the second floor ready to take to the attic to pack away until next year.  I know, it’s the lazy way to do it.  However, trudging two flights of stairs on many trips is not my idea of fun.

     This way I can pile everything by the attic door and then haul it all up in as few trips as possible. 

     Since I don’t do Christmas decorations, I’m done with attic trips  for the year.