January 3, 2009

The top photo shows the little ceramic "pillow" vase that Hubbie's daughter gave me for Christmas. There are three holes in the top for placing elements of an arrangement. For my first attempt, I used a cardinal bird, nestled in natural dried materials, for a winter look.

The second photo is of a winter wreath I put together today from silver materials. I had the grapevine wreath on hand already, and I bought the decorations for $1.50 at a discount warehouse store this morning. The decorations were marked half price, because they were part of the store's Christmas clearance items. I like the wintry look of the wreath, but it needs tweaking, so I'll probably work on it some more tomorrow.

Besides the warehouse store, we also went to the greeting card shop, and to the WDCS. It was about 12:30 p.m. before we got back home, so we had a late lunch, which was okay, because we had a late breakfast after snoozing until after 8 a.m. The reason we slept so late is that we had trouble going to sleep last night. No reason, just one of those restless nights. But I still did my treadmill and weight workout routine this morning.

Hubbie and I spent some time doing household chores this afternoon, before watching our favorite college basketball team play to a nail-biter win.

Mother was under the weather all day, so she stayed home. She wasn't up to having supper, so Hubbie and I settled for leftovers before settling in for an evening of watching TV.

January 2, 2009

We got up later than usual this morning, but I still walked on the treadmill and did resistance exercises.

Our chore for today was taking the Christmas trees down and putting the house in after-holiday order. In another blog, I estimated that there were over 200 ornaments on the tree in the sun room, but I underestimated...there were over 300 on it! No wonder it takes so long to decorate and un-decorate that tree.

In storing the ornaments, we don't just toss them into a box right off the tree. We first remove the hooks, because if they're left on, the ornaments get all tangled together and frustrating to deal with the next year. We also store special, fragile ornaments and tree toppers in their original boxes, and wrap others, like acrylic ones that are easily scratched, in tissue.

The sun room tree sported nine strings of multi-colored lights, which Hubbie carefully wound in loops and secured with twist ties. The six or eight wooden cranberry garlands are stored in a separate plastic grocery store bag.

Everything is tucked away now in a big wooden box in the sun room, or in cardboard boxes stacked in one corner of the spare bedroom closet, awaiting the 2009 holiday season, only 363 days away.

The Christmas cards are stacked on an end table in the den, ready to be re-read before being consigned to a scrapbook, or stored away to be recycled into new cards, gift tags, or other craft projects.

All that remains is the village on the mantel, which is now a "winter village" for the month of January. I think I need a wintry wreath for the front door, too, so I might make that a craft project this weekend. First I'll need to shop for decorations for the wreath, though...mainly white elements, I think. Since I haven't set foot outside the house in two whole days, I'll probably want to shop tomorrow.

Another project I need to think about is writing Christmas thank you notes. I'll probably do that this weekend, too.

New Year's Day

We slept late this morning, and I skipped my exercises. Mother came over after breakfast. and we watched the Citrus Parade from Oralando, Florida, followed by the Tournament of Roses Parade from Pasadena, California.



For lunch, we had pork loin prepared with herbs and roasted in the slow cooker (instead of traditional ham, which is too salty for my diet). With the roast, we had baked sweet potatoes, blackeyed pleas (for good luck), asparagus, and fruit salad.



After lunch, we spent the afternoon playing cards, starting with Xactica...I won three games, and Hubbie won one. Then we switched to Skibo, which is usually Mother's best game. Of the two games we played today, though, Hubbie won one and I won one. No wins for Mother, though she enjoyed playing.



Mother went home at 5 p.m., and Hubbie and I watched the evening news and read the local newspaper, before having a supper of bagel pizzas and salad. After supper, I played on my laptop, while Hubbie watched TV action movies.

It wasn't a very exciting day, but it was pleasantly relaxing after a whirl-wind holiday season.

New Year's Eve

We got up at the normal time this morning, and I headed straight for the treadmill. I wanted to be sure to get an exercise session in today, because I'll probably skip it tomorrow.



Once I was ready for the day, I spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen making another batch of fruit salad for our New Year's Day meal, a recipe of baked fruited popcorn for Hubbie (the last for this season), and another batch of dog biscuits for Shih Tzu. We left the last batch out on the counter, and some of them got moldy before they could be used. This time, we put a few of them in the fridge to be used over the next couple of days, and the rest in the freezer to keep them fresh until they're needed.



After lunch, I baked another loaf of lemon bread. I made this because there was a lemon in the fridge that needed to be used. I'd bought two in anticipation of making two loaves of lemon bread...one for Mother, as one of her twelve days of Christmas gifts, and one for a friend. But I didn't get around to the second loaf for the friend, so I gave her something else, and baked the other loaf today for the freezer.



After that, we started the process of putting away Christmas decorations, except for the Christmas village, which we'll leave on the mantel through January. We'll leave the trees up until New Year's Day. Taking those down will be our job for Friday.

After a week-in-review supper, I made a big bowl of trail mix from whatever I could find in the kitchen...Cheerios, Corn Chex, walnuts, dark chocolate chips, Craisins, golden raisins, and stick pretzles...as our New Year's Eve party snack.

We enjoyed the munchies as we played Exactica, which is a bidding and trick-taking game. At the beginning of the game, players declare how many tricks they can take, based on the eight cards they are dealt that are numbered anywhere from four to twelve and contain multiple suit symbols (cones, balls, stars, and cubes).

Once players declare the number of tricks they can take, they have to hope they get the exact number, because any tricks they take over or under their bid declaration count against them. The first player starts by laying down a number card and calling out a symbol number (like "nine, three cubes). Everyone else has to match that card number and symbol, or play any other card if they don't have that one. If no one can match the card, the first player catches the trick.

If someone else matches the card, they catch the trick, or if someone else can match the symbol and has a higher numbered card, they catch the trick. This game is partly guess work, partly skill in determining what order to play your cards to either catch tricks, or avoid catching them.

We played nine games...I won four, Mother three, and Hubbie two. We quit playing just before 11 p.m., when Hubbie poured Golden Spumante wine for the two of us, and made a wine spritzer for Mother. We toasted the New Year as the ball in Times Square in New York lit up. After that, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I stayed up until midnight. I saw the New Year in, but Hubbie dropped off to sleep and didn't rouse until two minutes after.

Tuesday, December 30

We got up early today, so I could get my treadmill session in before Mother and I went to the beauty shop for haircuts. Our appointments were at 10:30 a.m.

We were back before lunch. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands, again, this time to the pharmacy, and back to the store that has a sale every weekend to return the other hair trimmer. This time, I took it back to the men's department, where I got a cash refund, because I'd paid cash for this one. Live and learn. I'll be more careful from now on in choosing which mode of payment to use.

I'll also be careful of what I'm buying. Instead of an electric shaver for Hubbie for Christmas, I ended up with two useless hair trimmers that had to be returned. That's what I get for being in a hurry. I got the first one because I was trying to hurry and make the purchase before Hubbie sought me out, thereby not noticing that I had a hair trimmer and not an electric shaver, and also forgetting to use a $10 coupon.

And I got the second hair trimmer in a rush on Christmas Eve. This time, I decided that instead of returning the first purchase for a refund and then buying a second one to use the coupon, I'd just buy another one, and return one of them after Christmas. Instead, I had to return both of them, since neither was an electric shaver.

Of course, no day is complete without a run to the WDCS, so that's where we went next. From there, we stopped by the veterinary clinic to order a case of dog food for Shih Tzu, and to the health store to get fish oil gels for me. I got two big boxes today, because they were priced at buy one, get the second one half price.

After that, we came back home, and Mother and I heated the leftover "who hash" to have with eggs and toast. After supper, we played several games of Duo, a card game Hubbie usually wins. Tonight, though, Mother won four, I won five and Hubbie won only one. After several rounds that he did not win, I said, "It's time that one won one." So he did. But he didn't win any more.

Mother went home around 8:30 p.m., and Hubbie and I watched our favorite college basketball team win over a very strong, experienced, and virtually unbeaten team, that our young team was predicted to lose to by a wide margin. It was an exciting game.

December 29

We got up earlier this morning, so I could get a treadmill session in before Niece and her family arrived. After my exercises, Mother came over and put color in my hair in anticipation of hair cut appointments tomorrow.

Niece and family came shortly after I was ready for the day. They stayed until around 1 p.m., but declined lunch, since they were due to have a meal at Nephew-in-Law's parent's house mid-afternoon. So we just brought out the dips, Italian cream cheese ball and crackers for them to munch on.

The two great nephews and great niece performed for us while they were here. Fifteen-year-old Great-Nephew played violin and banjo for us. He is quite talented and skilled with these and other instruments, and we enjoyed hearing him play. Twelve-year-old Great Nephew is just beginning to learn to play his saxophone, but he did very well playing a couple of tunes he has learned. Thirteen-year-old Great-Niece, who plays piano, sang for us. She has a clear, sweet voice, and she sang a number that she performed in "Sweeney Todd," which was recently produced in her hometown.

Niece gave Mother a small digital photo viewer for Christmas. It can hold up to 60 snapshots, and can run as a slideshow. Niece had already loaded the viewer with several shots of her family, and I can download more to it from my computer. It is simple to operate, so it won't be a problem teaching Mother how to use it.

Niece gave me a music CD of "Adele: 19". We played the CD while Niece was here, and I enjoy this performer. In exchange, I gave Niece a Christmas ornament/sun catcher from the art gallery.

After Niece and family left, Hubbie and I ran errands...to banks to deliver notices of an upcoming Master Gardener training program that they'll run on their electronic marquees, to the art gallery, to the store that has a sale every weekend to take back one of the electric hair trimmers for a refund, and to the WDCS for groceries.

I was disappointed that at the store that has a sale every weekend, we got a gift card instead of cash for the hair trimmer...their policy is, if you purchase with the store credit card, you get gift cards for returns .

We got back home around 4 p.m., in time to prepare new potatoes and zucchini squash for the steamer. We had these yummy veggies with corn-on-the-cob for supper.

Later, Hubbie and I went to the movie theater to see "Valkyrie." This is a very good movie, starring Tom Cruise. Rated PG-13, for violence and some language, this film is based on a true incident of a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler during WWII.

Once again, there was no ticket taker anywhere to be found to give our complimentary tickets to. We tried as we entered the theater, and we tried as we left. No dice.

In fact, when time wore on and the film didn't begin, we wondered if there was an insurmountable problem that would mean the theater would have to issue more complimentary tickets.

Finally, one of the audience members went out and alerted someone to the problem (probably the one person who was manning the concession stand, since there was no one else around). The staff member said the films are supposed to begin automatically, but he called the manager to figure out what was wrong.

After a while, the house lights dimmed, and the the film began...and then stuck. Up came the house lights. Someone called out, "Boy, that was a good movie!" We all laughed. At last, the lights dimmed again, and this time the movie began...about 30 minutes late.

December 28

Started the day, as usual, on the treadmill. Mother came over as I was getting ready for the day and completed the jigsaw puzzle.

I was pleased this morning to find that four of my photos of the graham cracker mini-Christmas houses were featured in today's regional newspaper. A small snapshot of one of my great-granddaughters appeared on the front page. Even though the photo is tiny, the black and blue bump on Great-Granddaughter's head is still visible. Great-Granddaughter got the bump when two-and-a-half-year-old Great-Grandson whacked her in the head with something.

This is the second year in a row that Great-Granddaughter's face has not been camera-ready at Christmas. Last year, her mouth, including the area above and below her lips, was chapped violently red.

We relaxed for the morning, and then enjoyed a lunch of "who hash," made with leftover "roast beast." Afterward, we played three games of Skipbo. I won two games, and Mother won one. Hubbie was left out in the cold, but tomorrow we'll play his best game...Duo.

Mother went home around 3 p.m.

For the rest of the afternoon, I read the rest of the Sunday newspaper, while Hubbie read a novel. For supper, we made sandwiches with the remainder of the beef roast, and had these with celery sticks stuffed with Italian cream cheese ball, followed by fresh fruit for dessert.