'Tis the Season

Storms are surrounding us, weather people are talking about doom and gloom, but I am doing OK

I will soon be going on vacation with my family and am excited about all the fun we will be having. Plans have been made since April and everything fell into place very easily.

There were just a few more things to get, so off I went to Costco today, the mega store with everything mega sized. As I walked in, I noticed that against the wall there was Christmas ribbon stacked high.  As I moved across the aisles, I saw all the outside furniture had been replaced by toys for children.  Did I miss something?  Where did the rest of summer go, and for that matter did autumn happen without me noticing?   Have I been in a coma and woken up to a very warm winter?

So just in case you are listening to holiday carols right now and can't wait to get that shopping started, the fa-la-la thing has begun. Sales at Walmart will start at midnight, get there early.



Me, I'm going to the beach.  Hopefully, it will not snow.

A Day in Hades

Winter is almost gone, although it never really arrived, and I am doing OK


I do not usually do the food shopping.  When we were first married, we used to do this outing together, but then I kept having babies, so hubby took over that chore.  He loves doing it, I hate it and so this worked out perfectly for both of us.  Now and then I will run to the store to get a limited number of items that I have written on a list and only enjoy it if the store is small and  running the aisles does not take up a great deal of time.  Hubby can be gone for up to three hours and will go from store to store looking for simple items.  He looks over each purchase, checking dates, prices and flaws.  He does all the right things; I don't.  I want to get in and get out.  However, when I shop, we actually have the makings for a meal; when hubby shops, we have cartons of paper towels, plastic bags, and the latest new blue food.  "New, blue, and improved" is his mantra.  This is one of the reasons we eat out quite a bit.

Last week we couple-shopped at one of the largest grocery stores known to man.  It is called Wegman's and is a heaven for foodies with time on their hands. These stores can have 140,000 square feet with aisles going here, there and everywhere.  The store is packed with over 70,000 food and non-food products, large masses of people with giant grocery carts and what seems like more employees than the federal government.  Many of the departments were giving out samples that day  and hubby was on a master-quest not to miss any of them.  We must have sampled 4 or 5 soups, tasted all types of imported and local cheese, had my arm twisted to try a decadent dessert, and finished up with some beer. During all of this, I managed to pick out some things to buy, but hubby took each item out of the basket to check over and give his seal of approval. Consequently, most of what I had put in the basket went back on the shelf.  I was getting heartburn from not only the food that I had consumed on the run, but from the anxiety of shopping together in a store that was out of my element.   It is not that I did not appreciate all the variety, but the crowds, the expanse of the store, the time wasted looking for items that always seemed to be on the other side (which was like a mile down the road), but mostly it was the shopping-togetherness that was causing heart palpitations - big time.  After two and a half hours we made it outside with our four or five little bags of cheese and ingredients to make tomato-basil soup. Before we left, hubby did suggest that we stop at Wegman's restaurant for more to eat and maybe a glass of fine wine.  He had no idea that I was not having fun.  How could he have missed my crazed eyes, my quivering chin and my body language of angst, pure angst.  A glass of wine, no way, I needed the whole bottle after a trip like that. 

I had to get a physical checkup a few weeks ago before I underwent a small procedure last week. My sweet old doctor asked me how I was doing in my retirement.  After I told him that things were improving, he left me with some sage advice for long-term couples.  He reminded me of the marriage vow, "in sickness and in health", then he added the line, "but never lunch."  To expand upon that, I would include "and never shop together at Wegman's unless you want till death do you part to come sooner.

I think next time we should try four-aisle Trader Joe's. It's all about baby steps.  Maybe then we can work our way up to a 6 aisle Whole Foods in a year or so.

Yes, baby steps, that's the ticket!

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Quite cold here, but doing OK

Skype -  Lights, Camera , ACTION!


I had to get ready tonight for my second Skype appearance.  Hair was newly dyed and coiffed, makeup was put on, the set (kitchen) straightened up, a rehearsal was done and now  "Ready when you are CB."

I made my first screen appearance on December 26th, the day after my children gave me my wonderful new iPad with the app Skype downloaded.  At about 8:30 am, my dear son, Andy, called me on my iBaby (yes, lovin' my new i).  I was still in bed, as the day before had been very eventful and I was sleeping in (OK, maybe it was 9:30).   The ring startled me and I picked it up from where it lay next to me. As I opened it it up and clicked "accept" (or something like that), there was Andy with a big smile, and in the corner of the screen was me, not exactly looking my best. If I had thought about it, I would have put the pillow case over my face.   It was very nice of him to call, as he is my son and as such, does not phone that often.  However, I was not prepared for this and was a little rattled by this invasion of my personal space. He loves me though, no matter my squinty, swollen eyes and baggy chin(s).

 For my second time on Skype though, I would be ready. The scene would be set, the lighting low, and I would suck in any and everything possible.  Hubby and I had tried it out the week before so as not to embarrass ourselves and appear like those old people whose You Tube video went viral a few months ago.  No, that was not going to be us.  We are savvy computer people.  So after about 15 tries with the darn thing hanging up on us over and over, we finally had success.  Eventually we had clicked on the right icons and wowee, I could talk and see hubby on his phone as he sat in the next room from me.  Are we cool or what?

So tonight I called my daughter who lives on the other side of the country and told her that I was planning on Skyping her. She asked me to wait a few minutes so she could fix up her computer room.  I told her that was silly, there was no reason to have to do that.  I did not tell her of all the preparations that I had made for "our scene."   We connected easily and I got to see her and my beautiful and talented grandchildren.  They read stories to me, showed me their new outfits, and told me about what was going on in their lives.  It was wonderful!    

I do have to practice a little more though.  At one point, I apparently got too close to the screen and all they could see were the fillings in my teeth. Gosh, I should have gotten  that implant.

That Time of Year

Tree is up, presents are bought and doing OK.

Christmas humor from the 50's

Or memories of the 70's

And for our politicians of today

Hubby has an iPhone, Lordy, Lordy!

Have lost 12 lbs, and doing OK.

Old dogs can still learn new tricks.

Even though hubby and I were very involved with the computer age of the last few decades of the 20th century, we have been left behind in the ever-changing technology of the past 10 or so years.  There is no time to learn anything, because the day after we buy the latest new gizmo,  they are offering a "new improved model" and then back to the dark ages we go. It has come to the point that I really don't want to learn "the next best thing", I just want to know how to do the small things in life like turning on the TV, answering a phone, or watching a movie at home.   It is a little discouraging to have to ask one of my adolescent grandchildren to help me out, and, at times,  I feel so incompetent that I just blank out.  It's ironic that just as I have come to a point in my life that I want to slow down, the world is going by me at the speed of light.


For my hubby's birthday last week, our children presented him with an iPhone.  At first I thought it was a bad idea to put this contraption into the hands of us who are in a technological fog and can't figure out how to even insert a DVD disk.  However, hubby was very enthusiastic, but all I could think of was listening to his frustration as he tried to answer the phone.  To my surprise, he played with it, picked out his ring tones, figured out how to find out about the weather (old way being - looking out the window), has signed on to iTunes and was looking forward to getting into the "app" world.  He has even made and received calls!!!!  I am proud of him, but that leaves me as the only one in the family who is appless. So I just went ahead and tried hubby's iPhone.  Woweeee, this is way cool!!  It is not hard at all.  Here I thought I was an old fart, out of touch, living in the 90's, but this little phone is fantastic.  I am a convert.  It is time for me to get into this "i" world, so my next adventure will definitely be an iPad.  I think that as long as I don't have to load a disk, use three remotes, choose between video 1, 2, 3, or 4, I will be OK.







 

I'm All That.

I am a superstar and I am doing OK

It might come as a surprise to you, but I don't live my life like the Kardashians', nor do my everyday activities have any resemblance to the ladies from The Housewives of NY, LA, Atlanta or wherever.  No slinky revealing dresses for me, (the world should be thankful for that), no lunch dates in famous restaurants, no fighting with my friends.  My conversation is not spiked with four letter words, although I do have one or two favorites that I like to use on occasion, but I usually save those for hubby.  I can go about town without people mobbing me and photographers taking my picture.  I did not spend four million dollars on weddings for my children, although I think that the baked beans that we served was top shelf.   So whose life is better?

All these ladies wear very tight fitting clothes,  Since they are on TV constantly, they probably have to wear Spanx and can only breathe out every 5 minutes when no one is looking.  I, on the other hand, often dress in lovely, somewhat loose fitting, elastic waist, athletic pants with either a tee or a sweat shirt.  I can do anything in these.  They are perfect for working out in my gardens, walking around my neighborhood, going to the store, and with the right accessories, even going to lunch with  friends.  Of course, for the more formal occasions, I do wear black.  These outfits do not impede the breathing process, I can bend or sit without worrying about a button popping off or hearing the awful sound of a rip coming from a backside seam. 

On the comfort scale - One for me, none for them.
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Unlike these ladies with their 10 inch designer high heels, I like to wear my yellow duck shoes. They are for gardening and are so comfy that I have forgotten once or twice that I have them on and have ventured out to a store wearing them.  I love my rubber footwear as they grip the ground well and I have less chance of falling over .  If, by accident I do, and trip someplace in my yard, there will be no trouble finding me as the yellow neon will stand out. 

On the safety scale - One for me, none for them.
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These famous for being famous women have over the top make-up that is probably always applied by professionals.  They need to look flawless so they must have an entourage following them around in case they sweat. I have to admit that I do love my creams and potions also.  I have been known to make mid-night calls into QVC to buy the newest anti-ageing face foundations, eyelash builders, contouring blushes and anything else they might be selling that promise me the impossible.  When they are delivered, I find that they don't hide my freckles (which, at my age, are called maturity spots), my short lashes look like I have now attached black widow spiders to my eyes and the blush really did not add contour to my jowls.  I usually put them all away, go back to my cheap drug store make-up and not care if my lipstick rubs off.  I am over a certain age, so I am invisible to most people anyway.

On the "it doesn't matter" scale - One for me, none for them.
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So dressed in my comfy pants, gardening duck shoes, and bleeding lipstick, I win!!  My life is not glamorous by any standards, but it fits me just right.