The Village--Part 2

Ok, so I decided to go ahead and set up the village. Here is a picture. It turned out beautifully, I think. So far, the cats have stayed off it, so I'm hopeful for the rest of the season. Took me 9 hours to get it all set up. After the devastation of the F5, I think it looks pretty darn good!

The Village

In 1999, one of the grouchiest ladies at the Library where I worked gave me a miniature house for my Christmas present. I was really excited about it for 2 reasons...one being that she didn't like too many people and I was one that she did like, and two...well, it was a miniature house! The lady that lived across the street from us at the time used to have her entire kitchen and the dividing bar area lined with little houses and people walking down the snow-covered streets...it was almost magical. Every year she would call us over to see her new building, and her new setup, and it would be more beautiful than the last one. So, I was excited, seeing as how I could now make a beautiful village to make the holiday season more festive.
The first year, I went out and bought 2, maybe 3, more buildings, and I had this little display and it was really pretty. But it just kept growing and growing, and every year I bought at least one more piece for The Village. For about 7 years, it was more elaborate and more beautiful every year. I loved it.
However, I haven't set up The Village in a couple of years now. No room in the last place, and last year I had just had surgery and everything was out in the garage. It just wasn't convenient, I guess.
So the other day, I went out to the garage and brought all the pieces up on to the front porch. I left them out there for a few days so the spiders could go find somewhere else to live.
Today, I went out and went through all the boxes and brought them all inside, ready to start setting up.
Well, as in any building project, the first thing you have to think about is location, location, location. I can't figure out where to locate The Village! No matter where I put it, I'm going to have to keep the cats out of it, or it will be like Fuzzy Godzillas vs. Charles Dickens. That's been a problem for years, though, and I got some sticky stuff to stick the little things to the table. That'll help.
So tonight, I thought, "I'm going to set it up on the dining room table and see what I have, and then I'll be able to better figure out where to put it."
The first thing I realized was that almost all of my skaters had either an arm, a leg, or a head missing. Out with the Super Glue! I was able to salvage three skaters. I was gluing the leg on a fourth, and ended up gluing the body to my middle finger! Three skaters is enough, huh? However, as I went through all the figures and the trees and tried to think of how to make a town out of them, I got really frustrated. I had to walk away...
Now, The Village is in tatters on the table. Broken bodies lie on the ground like jackstraws mixed in with gates, hedges, trees and lights. The train is off the track, and the tunnel face lies on its side, blocking the track. Only one or two buildings are standing. It is total devastation. See above picture! Instead of trying to pick up the pieces, I think maybe I will leave it.
This year's theme may be "F5 tornado devastes The Village".
I kinda like it!

Buenos Turkeys!

Coining a phrase there from my brother...Buenos turkeys! In English, that's, Happy Thanksgiving...just in case you didn't figure that one out!

Oh what a day this Thanksgiving has been! Got up late, got started late on cooking, made even later by the fact that I am TOTALLY addicted to a Facebook game called Farmville! There is nothing like growing your own coffee for fun and profit to make your life worthwhile!

Holidays are so strange. In fact, I'm getting ready now to watch an all-time classic holiday movie called "Home for the Holidays". My brother highly recommends it..I watched it once but it wasn't the holidays. I think maybe it'll come home to me a bit more now. The perfect dysfunctional family...what's the saying? We put the "fun" in "dysfunctional".

This Thanksgiving was a little stranger for me. For one, I had it at my daughter's house. She and her roommate cooked the turkey and the ham and lots of the fixins. Roomie's family brought a lot of other things to make the pitch-in complete. It was good food. So awesome to see my daughter as a grown up. Of course, afterward, she and her roommate painted eyeballs on their eyelids, which is in the picture above. My daughter is the one with the glowing yellow eyes...wow.. But it was really good fun. Kids!

The really strange thing about it is that on my way home, I got to thinking about Thanksgivings through the years. I remember ours when I was a kid. It was a great time of anticipation. Our grandparents would come down from TN and stay with us. Mema always...don't know if Bepa always came. But I remember Mema humming and cooking and bustling around the kitchen. The most wonderful woman .... wish I could be more like she was. I really miss her. But we would sit and eat too much, and then fall asleep in front of the TV with the football game on. Then of course Grandmother would come for a while and make everyone miserable, but after she left, it was usually ok.

I remember one year I spoke up at the table when we bowed our head to say grace, and said something about why did we always say it once a year when we never said it any other time. Never did quite understand that. Oh, I understand saying grace, but back then I didn't understand that just because you only speak in public to the Man Upstairs once a year, doesn't mean you don't talk to Him every single day of your life. I'm sorry, Daddy...I spoke out of turn. I was totally wrong to do that. It was never anything spectacular, but there was definitely love there, in spite of loud-mouthed teenagers like me.

I also found out that I really miss my ex-husband's family. We used to have such a great time on holidays. We would sit around and talk and then eat and then talk some more, and LAUUUUGH...so much.. then we would play games, then eat some more and talk some more, and then we would head home knowing that we had spent time with people who loved us, and people we loved. I remember one year, his sister had it at her house. I was helping wash the dishes and we were talking and laughing, and alllll these dishes kept coming through. Suddenly we realized we were washing tupperware that had had spaghetti in it. We heard hysterical laughing behind us, and turned around to find that they had taken advantage of our talking and had cleaned out the fridge! Good times.

One particularly memorable Thanksgiving, my sister fried a turkey. It didn't get done, got burned, and she finished cooking it in the oven. I can't find the picture, but it looked like we had dog for dinner. It tasted pretty good, though! Good visit. Good times.

One year, my daughter and I boarded a Greyhound and traveled 21 hours to Virginia to visit my brother and his family for Thanksgiving. That was a great trip. I hope to never do the bus thing again, but it was a good visit, good times too.

A few years ago, my sister and my mom came up here for Thanksgiving. My daughter and I cooked the first Thanksgiving dinner I had ever cooked in my life. Everything was really good. I think it might have snowed, too. Yes, again, good times.

And there is my own daughter. So proud of her. Still happy to be around me. But I left early because I know she is on her own now, and I didn't want to wear out my welcome. I was still the last one to leave, but I did help clean up! But I know she loves me, and I know her roommate loves me, and it was a good day. I pray that she will never dread me coming over, and that I may always have the wisdom to stay out of the way while she's cooking, but always help clean up.

Maybe next year I'll bring the Charades.

Just passing through...

Hi! I'm just stopping in to say hello! Today is day 42 of my quitting smoking. I've slipped a couple of times, but I know that I'm done with them. Alcohol lowers the resistance, I've noticed, but as long as I don't go out and buy any and start up again, I'm cool with that. I'm not a saint, ya know???

Anyway, life is boogie-ing on by as usual. We are 2 months away from freakin CHRISTMAS!! I can tell you right now, lots of people will be having Christmas in July from me, cause there ain't no way I'm gonna get all the stuff done I want to do.

Of course, Halloween is here and TV is totally filled with all my favorite stuff. Ghost Hunters here, Ghost Adventures there, Paranormal this and Haunted that...

My brother and sister will laugh and be happy to tell you how funny it is that I like all this spooky stuff since they, 1) had to call my mom and dad to come get me from the theater when they took me to see Phantom of the Opera, and 2) watched as I jumped up and knocked my TV tray over when the invisible man started returning and all his veins showed up.

Yes, I was a wuss. Not any more...the scarier and ghostier the better. Thing is...that kind of stuff doesn't bother me now. Stuff like 48 hours and Forensic Files..that bothers me...cause there are weirdos out there, ya know??

Oh well, anyway.....I am hanging in there, battling the melancholy that fall always brings. Such a beautiful, bittersweet time of year. Hope you are hanging in there as well!

Begging for a Living?

OK, first I want to say that this whole blog may come across as being judgmental. I apologize in advance for that. This is just something that I've thought about several times over the past few years. If you have a comment or an opinion, please feel free to leave it. First and foremost, PLEASE realize that I am thankful for my job!! I don't want anyone to think otherwise.

Seems like there is a trend that kinda comes and goes around here. It usually starts in the spring, and then you don't see it so much. Then it starts up again around this time of year, fall.
It's people who stand on street corners asking for money. There is one guy who every single day when I go home is sitting waiting on the bus, and when the light changes, he goes up to the first car in line and asks for money or cigarettes. I know this because he's asked me for both. Now, I pull up to the light and roll up my window. This guy, in my opinion, is just bumming for the sake of bumming (I of course could be wrong...but...). He is not the type of person I am talking about.
The person I am talking about usually has a coat on, and a suitcase beside him. (I will say him in the general sense meaning him/her. Trying to be politically correct here.) Sometimes he will have his dog beside him, and I always feel bad for the dog. Invariably he will have a sign made of cardboard with the "reason" he is on the corner scrawled in marker in what looks like child's writing. Sometimes it will say "homeless and hungry". Some others are "laid off can't work", "if you can't give, pray for me", or the very simple, "please help". Some of the people look like they've been through hard times. They look dirty and tired, and their clothes are tattered. Even their sign is tattered sometimes. I feel sorry for them, but I still don't give. Why?
Because for every one of the legitimate down-and-outers you see, there is most likely one who is only pretending to be down-and-out.
I think I saw one of these the other day. She was at the corner of one of the major department stores, squatting down, with the cardboard in front of her eyes to keep out the sun. The sign said "even a penny helps. please pray for me". I stopped at the light and I had time to look at her. Her hair was clean, her jeans were clean, her shoes looked clean, she had on a clean shirt and a nice little gym bag on the ground beside her. Even the cardboard looked new. And I wondered...does she really need help? There have been others too..and unfortunately there is no time to stop and ask these people exactly why they are there, and to try to get to the truth. Are they needy or not?
Now, before you think I'm just being downright mean, let me say that there was a time when I was out of work, not homeless but nearly so, and I used to pick up Coke bottles to turn in for the deposit to get cigarettes and maybe a hamburger from McDonalds. I was not above holding my hand out to people and asking, "spare change?" I even ate part of a Gaines Burger once (that's dog food for those of you who don't know). It was either that or braunschweiger sausage, and even starving I wouldn't eat that! So I know what it's like. I also know what it's like to get tired of it and slink back to McDonalds with my tail between my legs and ask for my job back. Or any job. I know there aren't a lot of jobs out there right now. I am hanging on to mine for dear life, even though I can barely make the rent most months. I work hard for what little money I get, and if I have spare change, how can I be sure that my "investment" in that guy on the corner isn't contributing to a large tax-free income? Seriously!
If you are interested, go to a search engine sometime and type in "begging for a living". You will find information on there about people who make up to $50,000 a year just begging on the street corners. That's enough to give one pause.
This man who asks for help has enough gumption to go stand on the corner for hours at a time, in all kinds of weather, you wonder...if he walked from store to store to store asking, wouldn't one of them give him a job? I don't know..
And that's what I'm saying...how can you be sure? I suppose I could just give each one a nickel or a dime, since "even a penny helps", but I wonder, what happens to me?
Am I being selfish? Greedy? Not allowing myself to reap the blessings of giving away money? I don't know. All I know is that right now it is Tuesday. My gas tank is nearly empty, and I don't get paid til Friday. I have $3 and change in my car ashtray. I will need that change, because gas is so expensive and even that probably will just barely get me through till Friday morning.
I honestly don't know. And I honestly want opinions about this. I don't look at these people with disdain, or look down on them. Maybe I'm too lazy to have a job like theirs. I don't know if I could stand on the street corner like that or not. I look at them and wonder, and wish I had more time to talk to them, and pray for them if they ask for it, and pray that I may never be in the situation to find out what they are going through.
There, but for the Grace of God, go I.

3 weeks down

Well, here I am! 3 weeks and not one cigarette! I really can't believe that I've made it without cheating myself one time. It's kind of interesting. I found that the only time I really really miss it is when I get in the car to drive home from work. So I have little paper straws to hold and that makes me feel better. I'm going to a party next Saturday, and I will be drinking some wine, I'm sure, so I'm hoping that I will be able to get through that without smoking. I have friends who have said they will support me. Whether that means not letting me smoke that night, or making sure I don't continue to smoke afterward...well, either way is fine with me. Thing is, I can breathe now. I smelled my perfume an hour after I put it on for the first time since I don't know when. I do have weird dreams...that's the Chantix..plus I always had weird dreams anyway. But I found that I have time now to do things around the house that would've been put off because I would've been smoking. Something that my support group (Chantix support group) says is..if it takes you 6 minutes to smoke one cigarette, and you smoke a pack a day, that's 2 HOURS you have spent in a day smoking! That was amazing to me.

Anyway, I'm doing great, got new shoes so I can walk better, started eating better, my house is coming together. It's great!

I'm still lonely, though..lol..had to throw that in there. But I'm a lot more comfortable than I was before. I suppose eventually I'll get over being lonely. Right now, I'm trying to learn to like being with myself. Trying to get my shit together before I'm too old to have any shit!

It's sad that we don't allow ourselves to enjoy the good things in our lives because we are afraid of the bad things that "might" happen. Don't know if that's Christian teaching or Murphy's law or what. But it is nice to pat myself on the back today and say...I did it! I'm going to try to keep my chins up and look forward to good things, and pray that they will come to not just me, but to my family and friends as well. I couldn't have come this far without you and I love you all!

Now, off to another week of work, and another week of not smoking..and maybe lose a pound or two! It really is a mindset..but oh so hard to get to... I have some words of wisdom spoken by that great prophet Anthony DiNozzo on NCIS:

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.

Do something different today!

It's twins!!

No...no kids...but more patio furniture! LOL. A friend of mine is moving, and she gave me 2 more chairs and a table! I have room for a cookout now! Only thing is, gotta get some people over here to join me! Amazing. I didn't think I'd be really thankful that I didn't get that fancy schmancy patio set, but I really am now. It just goes to show that there are things that we need/want that eventually find their way to us in their own time. I need to remember that. So if you are ever discouraged because things don't seem to go right, or they are coming along really slowly...just remember the saga of Patty O'Furniture. BELIEVE!!!

The Saga of Patty O'Furniture continues....

A while back, I wrote how I had tried and failed to purchase a patio set for my deck. I have thoroughly enjoyed having a nice vacuum cleaner. "My Bloody Valentine" in 3D sucked big time, but Jensen Ackles is always nice to look at so it's got that going for it!

I had a party about a month ago. There were a lot of people here and there wasn't much of a place to sit, but we managed. Well..we won't have to "manage" as much anymore!

I am now the proud owner of this very PLASTIC (i.e. NON-breakable!) patio set. Now, I know it's not such an awesome thing to some, but the way it came to be on my deck, well, that's what the saga is allllll about...pull up a plastic chair and listen..

Yesterday I got paid. You know how I feel about payday..love/hate...money/broke...same story. This payday was nothing different. I went to the local Family Dollar store to purchase the usual and sundry items we can't live without, toilet paper, cat food, anti-freeze (another saga there!). I was pretty much finished with my shopping and walking down the aisle to check out, and there it was! A box! A box with little round plastic, umbrella-ready tables! Right beside it was a box with umbrellas in it! And on top of them both...the magic words...30% OFF!

If I had been in a car, my tires would've screeched I stopped so fast! To make it short, (too late..lol) I walked out of the Dollar store after having spent a total of $25.20 for a table and an umbrella! I was ecstatic! No, I didn't have any chairs, but that was ok. I knew that eventually I would be able to get some.

So, this morning I was on my way to the store and I drove past a yard sale. Sitting in the yard was a stack of 4 resin chairs. They screamed my name as I drove by, and even though I didn't screech my tires, I turned around as quickly as I could and went back. When I asked the lady how much she wanted for them (after deciding in my head I would pay $20 for them all) she said $2.00. I said $2.00 each? She said no, $2.00 for all of them! I asked her to hang on to them and told her I would be back with the cash in a little while. As I was driving I happened to think of the $2.00 bill in my wallet. Now, I do need to tell you the story of the $2.00 bill...

I was once caught in straight line winds at the local gas station where my daughter worked. It was pretty scary. As the manager herded us all into the back room, there was this little old lady who was scared of the storm. Once it passed, I went and got us some coffee and just sat with her for a while. When we got ready to leave, she took out this $2.00 bill and said she had had it in her wallet for 9 years and it had brought her good luck and she gave it to me for helping her. In the past 3 years since I've had that bill, things have started looking up for me and my girl, and I had begun to think that it was time for someone else to have the bill. How much more perfect could it be to pay for a miraculous stack of chairs with a miraculous bill!

So I told the ladies at the yard sale the story of the patio furniture and the little old lady and they took the bill. I don't know what they will do with it, I hope they will have good luck and pay it forward. But that is how I came into possession of the 4 chairs. They are sturdy, and comfortable, dirty..lol..and they are awesome.

The only thing that was left was an umbrella stand. Coffee can and rocks is what I was thinking, but I went to Lowes anyway. They had ONE umbrella stand left. It was plastic. It was the same color as my table. It was $3.99. SOLD! Add to that one 50 pound bag of sand, (2.99) and Voila!

The patio set you see above. I love it! Total spent...around $35.00, not $350.00 like the glass one that would've broken by now, I am certain of it.

So now I can have a party with my head held high... I have finally found my Patty O'Furniture, and we are going to live happily ever after!

The moral of this Saga (including the first installment) is: When God closes a door, He opens a window. Amen!

Let's do the Time Warp again!!!!

Ok, is it just me, or is time just flying by? Used to, work days dragged on and on. Now they are going almost as quickly as the weekends. What's up with that? I don't think it's just getting older. Even my 25 year old daughter says time flies. Now at work, where things are hectic and stressful, the time just goes on by. My sister sends me an email saying the clock has stopped, and yet it still is only a few minutes and it's time to go home. Once I get home...forget it...it's time for bed! I don't understand it. Weekends? They used to last a long time...well, a longer time... and now they are just zoom zoom and back to Monday to do it all over again. SSDD...ad infinitum...Pay days are the worst! Two weeks with no money, then I pay the bills, go to the store, get gas in the car and wonder where the money went. On Saturday, I'm back to square one. I might have a little bit left to get a little something, but not much. But that's ok...payday will be here again in about ...15 minutes.

I wonder if it is living in the present that makes me this way now. I try really really hard to not dwell on past mistakes, or even past triumphs. Seems like reality is in another dimension or something. I do spend a lot of time watching movies...but that's still just a couple of hours out of the day. I don't know.

But as time rolls on, I'm happy to be in a situation where it's not dragging by day after day after day with no hope for anything better tomorrow. (that was my marriage...yuk yuk)

I saw a saying the other day, "Normal Day, let me be aware of the treasure you are." I got to thinking about that, and I thought...how many people are facing horrific things on this day that is so normal for me? How many would give anything just to have to get up and drive 30 min to work? How many of them are crying over marriages that are falling apart, or the death of someone precious to them? Stuck in a situation that seems hopeless..no way out? How many are addicted and don't know how to stop? Without becoming too maudlin, I remember what it was like to be in those situations. How long the days seemed to be when there was no life but parties and long lonely nights and a bleak future.

*shiver*

I guess what I'm trying to say is this...I'm thankful for my normal days because there is always an abnormal day lurking somewhere in the future for us all. The time is flying because I have been blessed with normal days for now. It's all relative, Einstein.

So, let's get out of the car and walk up the road to the castle. I think the dancing has begun..

Let's do the Time Warp again!

Good Times!

I have so many things in my life I'm thankful for. One is that I have the freedom to end a sentence with a preposition. hehehe..
Even though there are also so many things to worry about, especially since our country seems to be on the verge of revolution, but I find that I am content. Not that I don't care, but maybe it's just that...at the age of 54 I am finally coming into my own. I finally have a house that I love, my daughter is now on her own and seems to be doing well, and I have friends. My brother and sister are my friends, too, and sometimes that's a rare thing in this day and age. So every morning while I'm driving to work, I thank God that I have another day to live and love and laugh. Maybe it's naive, stupid, whatever, but it's what I do.
Last night, I threw a party and there were 15-20 people here...I didn't get a good count...but we all had a great time, and I felt the LOVE....lol. There are some people who didn't come that I wish would have, and some who couldn't come that I wish could have, but my daughter and some of her friends were here, my best friend and some of her family were here, friends from work, and it was just awesome to me. Some of the dreams I had for this house have come true.
No, I don't make a lot of money still, I don't have much in the way of "things" and I do live in a country where there is turmoil. But I can go thru my days knowing that someone out there has my back, and ultimately God has my back. So, I'm going to try my best to not worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will take care of itself. Today, and in my memories, Let the Good Times Roll......