This past week has been a flury of festive activity. I've been trying to finish up the Christmas cards, make sure we have gifts for everyone on our giving list and in between do a little extra cleaning. Oh wait, I did say festive activity, didn't I? Well, you can scratch off the cleaning then.
We spent Saturday at the first of our family get-togethers this season. George's whole extended family gets together at his cousin's home (no, this would not be the cousin that's a few miles down the road; it's the one 45 minutes away;). This particular cousin lives in one of those country houses that's built way back from the road. When you are at their place it feels like you are in total seclusion and it's wonderful! One of these years I'm going to remember to take my camera -- so may good photo oportunities! We saw several wild turkeys come down to the pond and watched a couple of muskrats for a bit before dinner.
This week is going to be a slower week for George so he going to try and do a few projects around the house. He's going to replace a couple of exterior doors and storm doors. Here's kind of the look we are going for. We also like this. We would pair these with a clear glass storm door that goes all the way down to the floor. (Barney should love this because one of the doors looks right out to our bird/critter feeding area. When I lived in town he used to love looking out the storm door and letting all the neighbor dogs know they were on his turf. ) These are fiberglass doors that are meant to be painted. I'm up for colour suggestions. We've got a white house with no other trim colour. Please do not suggest the ever popular red. I'm not sure I would like it myself and I'm certain it would be too bold for George.
Remember the $8 a gallon milk? Well, this sweet lady calls last night and invites George and I to coffee and dessert next week. She probably wants to get me hooked on the $8 a gallon milk ; )
Monday, December 14, 2009
Menu Plan Monday
Monday
Pot Roast, Potatoes, Garden Salad, Rolls (I'm having soup because I had a Band Adjustment today)
Tuesday
Chili, with all the fixin's and cornbread
Wednesday
Tuna Salad Sandwiches, Homemade Pasta Salad
Thursday
Quick & Tasty Mexican Casserole
Friday
Not sure yet: we may get Chinese take out or go out.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Calling All Meijer Shoppers
Are you a Meijer shopper like me? Well, if you are, you will be mighty glad to know that Meijer is running a special $5 off $25 worth of food.
Sign up here for Meijer deal alerts and you can print out your coupon right away. I recommend signing up for their email alerts; that way if they get to be too much, you can easily unsubscribe.
Sign up here for Meijer deal alerts and you can print out your coupon right away. I recommend signing up for their email alerts; that way if they get to be too much, you can easily unsubscribe.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
It's Begining to Look A Lot Like Christmas
All of our decorations are up, well, all except for the tree skirt I can't seem to find. Here's a few photos from around the house.
Our tree. Sorry for the blurry photo. I tried every setting on my digital camera and various lighting but still can't seem to get it to turn out right. Trust me on this; in real life, the tree is sparkly spectacular.
Apparently somebody's been on the ball with Christmas cards. We've received 5 already, which reminds me that I need to really get going on those tonight!
Here's our little Christmas village.
We have a few heavy ornaments that don't work well on the tree. I like to keep them on top hutch part of my desk. See the peace lily in the background. I'm it's proud mama. I picked it up as a sickly little cast off on Lowe's clearance shelf thissummer. It's doing so well after some tender loving care. Okay, We Now Need to Double Our Income...
My husband has some wonderful customers. This year has brought us several new customers in one particularly nice, old money neighborhood. One lady that George has been doing a lot of work for lately is a dear, elderly widow. Her husband and her only child both passed away a few years ago and she is so very lonely.
When George goes over to her home to work he always spends time visiting with her. She loves to have him eat lunch with her and they have a good time enjoying each other's company. She spends many hours telling him all about her son and husband. Even with a mountain of work and a shorter day to accomplish it all, George makes the time to listen. He realizes that while she hires him for physical labor, she is also hoping for a friend -- someone that cares how important her son and husband are to her.
Thinking about this lady and some other customers in similar situations I'm reminded that just because a person has no material needs, doesn't mean they don't suffer lack. We can be poor in spirit, sad, lonely, emotionally drained, and discouraged.
At this time of year, when we are so focused on sharing our material wealth with others, it's so important that we remember those around us that are hurting, lonely or just need a little encouragement. A few hours of our time, a letter or a card, can do so much to brighten someone's day. Our attention is a way of saying "I care about you; you are important to me".
Moving on the title of this post, why we need to double our income:
This is kind of a funny story. Since George has been spending more time with this sweet lady; (who is very wealthy) he has been acquiring upper class tastes. This would not be an issue; except for the fact that we do not have an upper class income or budget.
Yesterday he comes home and tells me that this lady served the best milk he's ever tasted (with his steak lunch) and that he would like me to start buying it. The only hitch is that it's 4 times more expensive than the milk he drinks now -- $8 a gallon. I tried to explain that $8 is a lot of money for milk. He said I should be happy to do it for his good health. Then I testily said he should consider quitting smoking and his weekly 9x13 pan of baked goods if he was concerned about bettering his health. That went over like a lead balloon and we were about ready to jump into a good argument but the $130 cashmere sweaters saved the day.
Just as we were about to embark on a good fight, George sheepishly opens a bag of goodies this lady gave him. Out comes three gorgeous like new Land's End cashmere sweaters and a pair of Florsheim calf leather wing tips. We both started laughing. And to think I was worried about him getting attached to $8 milk! That was the least of my worries. At least now we have some nice sweaters and a good pair of dress shoes.
When George goes over to her home to work he always spends time visiting with her. She loves to have him eat lunch with her and they have a good time enjoying each other's company. She spends many hours telling him all about her son and husband. Even with a mountain of work and a shorter day to accomplish it all, George makes the time to listen. He realizes that while she hires him for physical labor, she is also hoping for a friend -- someone that cares how important her son and husband are to her.
Thinking about this lady and some other customers in similar situations I'm reminded that just because a person has no material needs, doesn't mean they don't suffer lack. We can be poor in spirit, sad, lonely, emotionally drained, and discouraged.
At this time of year, when we are so focused on sharing our material wealth with others, it's so important that we remember those around us that are hurting, lonely or just need a little encouragement. A few hours of our time, a letter or a card, can do so much to brighten someone's day. Our attention is a way of saying "I care about you; you are important to me".
Moving on the title of this post, why we need to double our income:
This is kind of a funny story. Since George has been spending more time with this sweet lady; (who is very wealthy) he has been acquiring upper class tastes. This would not be an issue; except for the fact that we do not have an upper class income or budget.
Yesterday he comes home and tells me that this lady served the best milk he's ever tasted (with his steak lunch) and that he would like me to start buying it. The only hitch is that it's 4 times more expensive than the milk he drinks now -- $8 a gallon. I tried to explain that $8 is a lot of money for milk. He said I should be happy to do it for his good health. Then I testily said he should consider quitting smoking and his weekly 9x13 pan of baked goods if he was concerned about bettering his health. That went over like a lead balloon and we were about ready to jump into a good argument but the $130 cashmere sweaters saved the day.
Just as we were about to embark on a good fight, George sheepishly opens a bag of goodies this lady gave him. Out comes three gorgeous like new Land's End cashmere sweaters and a pair of Florsheim calf leather wing tips. We both started laughing. And to think I was worried about him getting attached to $8 milk! That was the least of my worries. At least now we have some nice sweaters and a good pair of dress shoes.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Menu Plan Monday
Over the past couple of weeks thanks to coupons and sales I've been able to score some really great deals on laundry soap, frozen vegetables, bread and pork loin. We now have a several month's supply of all of these items.
Don't forget, this is the begining of a new month, which means all the great coupons at coupons.com have be re-set. Go here to get yours.
Here's what we are eating this week:
Breakfast
M: Cottage Cheese with Fruit
T: Greek Yogurt with Fruit
T: Greek Yogurt with Fruit
W: Egg, Canadian Bacon, English Muffin
Th: Greek Yogurt with Granola
F: Cottage Cheese with Fruit
Lunch
M: Spaghetti w/ Meat Sauce, Garden Salad
T: Pizza & Salad
W: Shepherd's Pie, Garden Salad
Th: Chicken/Broccoli/Cheese/Rice Casserole
F: Lunch out at Red Lobster -- yum! Grilled Salmon
Supper
M: Sloppy Joes and Brussel Sprouts
T: Shepherd's Pie, Garden Salad
W: Chicken/Broccoli/Cheese/ Rice Casserole
Th: Reubens, Bean Soup
F: Take out Pizza
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Old Fashioned Life: Bath Day
Every Sunday night of my childhood was bath night. We weren't a church going family, so we all had our baths on Sunday night so we would be squeaky clean for school on Monday.
Bath night was quite a production at our house. We started by filling several of our largest pots with cold water (we did have cold running water in the house; which we were ever so thankful for). As the oldest girl at home I filled the pots while my mother stoked the fires in the wood stoves in the kitchen and mudroom. We had an electric stove in the kitchen; we used all three stoves to heat enough water for all of us, plus hot water from the wood stove reservoir in the mudroom. It took some doing to get just the right mix of cold water added to the boiling water from the stove to make for a nice warm bath.
The baby and smallest children were bathed first while everyone was in the house. We had one of those old fashioned white enamel coated tubs that the baby was bathed in. I recall Mom taking great pains to make sure she held the baby carefully so baby's skin wouldn't come in contact with the cold metal. After the littlest ones were bathed, the men were headed off to the barn or workshop and us older girls had our baths.
So, how do take a bath without a bathtub? Well we had a couple of choices: we had an old metal tub, but even as a child I thought it quite small and didn't like it. The other choice was to bath in our big farm sink in the kitchen. My preferred method was to sit on the drain board and do most of my washing and then finish up by standing in the sink filled with water and pouring water over myself like a shower. I'm sure that made quite a mess. The one draw back to bathing in the sink was that I was the farthest you could get from the stove and right next to a window. Winter time baths were known for their brevity.
One of my chief occupations as a child was to see how dirty I could get. Each night before bed I got a good scrubbing, but there was still plenty of dirt on me by Saturday night. When you're taking a week's worth of grime off at once, a bath feels great-- even to a little kid. We went through a fair amount of Castile's hard water soap. I still love that soap.
After Mom was sure we were good and clean and all dried off we had to stand there in the kitchen on a towel while my mother doused us in Johnson's Baby Powder. We could hardly breathe as we were enveloped in a cloud of white. One time I decided to help my mother out by dousing my sister Kendra. As she stood there I squeezed nearly the entire bottle on top of her head. Mom thought she was going to suffocate for sure. My sister and I still tease each other about this today. Once we were all powdered up Mom would hand us our clean nightgowns all warm from hanging next to the stove. It was such a heavenly feeling to put on that warm nightgown!
Bath night was quite a production at our house. We started by filling several of our largest pots with cold water (we did have cold running water in the house; which we were ever so thankful for). As the oldest girl at home I filled the pots while my mother stoked the fires in the wood stoves in the kitchen and mudroom. We had an electric stove in the kitchen; we used all three stoves to heat enough water for all of us, plus hot water from the wood stove reservoir in the mudroom. It took some doing to get just the right mix of cold water added to the boiling water from the stove to make for a nice warm bath.
The baby and smallest children were bathed first while everyone was in the house. We had one of those old fashioned white enamel coated tubs that the baby was bathed in. I recall Mom taking great pains to make sure she held the baby carefully so baby's skin wouldn't come in contact with the cold metal. After the littlest ones were bathed, the men were headed off to the barn or workshop and us older girls had our baths.
So, how do take a bath without a bathtub? Well we had a couple of choices: we had an old metal tub, but even as a child I thought it quite small and didn't like it. The other choice was to bath in our big farm sink in the kitchen. My preferred method was to sit on the drain board and do most of my washing and then finish up by standing in the sink filled with water and pouring water over myself like a shower. I'm sure that made quite a mess. The one draw back to bathing in the sink was that I was the farthest you could get from the stove and right next to a window. Winter time baths were known for their brevity.
One of my chief occupations as a child was to see how dirty I could get. Each night before bed I got a good scrubbing, but there was still plenty of dirt on me by Saturday night. When you're taking a week's worth of grime off at once, a bath feels great-- even to a little kid. We went through a fair amount of Castile's hard water soap. I still love that soap.
After Mom was sure we were good and clean and all dried off we had to stand there in the kitchen on a towel while my mother doused us in Johnson's Baby Powder. We could hardly breathe as we were enveloped in a cloud of white. One time I decided to help my mother out by dousing my sister Kendra. As she stood there I squeezed nearly the entire bottle on top of her head. Mom thought she was going to suffocate for sure. My sister and I still tease each other about this today. Once we were all powdered up Mom would hand us our clean nightgowns all warm from hanging next to the stove. It was such a heavenly feeling to put on that warm nightgown!
My older siblings, Mom and Dad always washed up at the kitchen sink every day and took their main baths/showers out in the carport. My dad rigged up some sort of camping style shower enclosure on the back side of the carport by where the old windmill was. We had a 5 gallon bucket with small holes punched into the bottom of it that we filled with water and hung up on a hook. The person bathing would use this just like an indoor shower -- except they made sure they showered really fast before the water could run out!
I was thirteen years old before I ever got to take a bath in a modern tub in a bathroom. I was so very impressed at the size of it. I thought there just might be enough room to take a swim.
Want to read more about my Old Fashioned Life? Click here to read all about how we produced our own food, butchering day, laundry day, chores, cooking, etc.Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Home for the (Stress Free) Holidays: Baking
One of my favorite ways to celebrate Christmas is baking and sharing homemade goodies of every kind. In my zeal to have the perfect assortment of goodies, I've been known to go overboard with holiday baking. You know what? That just leads to a stressed out Christmas (and eating far too many yummy cookies).
For the past several years I limit myself to making only 4 kinds of cookies -- some years, depending on how my schedule is, I've only made just one or two varieties. And, that's completely okay. The point of the Christmas season is not to get all stressed out trying to live up to some made up expectations. You might not be a cookie lover or enjoy baking, even baking one variety of cookie might not be your cup of tea. Don't worry about it, just do what works best for you.
The one must have Christmas cookie in our house is my favorite cut out cookie of all time. I love make cut out cookies for each season and frost them. It's so much fun! My recipe bakes up a very tender cookie that frosts well and stores well no matter where you store it -- counter, fridge or freezer. For the other varieties, I usually like to try one or two new cookies I've never made before or, an old favorite that I haven't made in a long time.
Here's the 2009 Cookie List:
The plan is to get all the goodies baked up the Saturday before Christmas. Then I'll make up little tins or boxes to share family, friends, the office, neighbors, and a handful of my husband's customers and deliver them on Sunday and Monday. There will also be a box of goodies left on our counter for hubby. I also like to keep treats like this in the freezer and pull them out to surprise him a month or two later.
Our Menu for the Week
Goodness, is this the second week in a row that I've skipped putting up a menu? Well here you are!
Sunday
Pot Roast, Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts
Often times on Sunday after lunch I'll toss a roast of some kind in the crock pot. Once it's tender, I'll serve a little for a late supper and save the leftovers for a super easy Monday night supper.
Monday
Roast, Potatoes, Garden Salad
Tuesday
Salmon Patties, Sweet Potatoes, Mixed Veggies
Wednesday
Turkey Sandwiches, Broccoli Cheese Soup
Thursday
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Salad and Garlic Bread
Friday
Homemade Pizza
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Home for the (Stress Free) Holidays: No Debt
Debt is not your friend.
One of the things about debt that bugs me the most, is that the debtor truly is servant to the lender. Whether you are in the corporate world of financing dealing with millions/billions, or have just one small balance on a personal credit card. It's all the same. The lender rules you.
Before you go out and rack up some Christmas bills, please take a moment to think about how you will feel when your January statements come. If things are tight enough now, where Christmas needs to be financed, it's certainly not going to be easier come the new year.
I've had many modest Christmases in my life -- both on the giving and the receiving end. In fact, most Christmases have been that way, but they've all been so wonderful. The older I get, the more I've come to understand that we are more blessed to give than receive. And sometimes, in fact, most of the time the giving doesn't have to cost much at all. How many times do we fret and worry about getting our loved ones just the right gift -- usually something expensive?
I remember last year; for my birthday, my mom wrote me a beautiful letter. She wrote about how happy she was that I waited all those years to marry my George. She knew how difficult it was for me to wait for God's best, but was so happy to finally see me reaping the reward. That letter is one my most treasured possessions.
When my dad was old and beginning to feel his age I used to go visit him. He has always lived with very little in the way of material things and as a young adult I had very little with which to buy a gift for him. Turns out that was okay. Daddy only wanted to spend time with me. He was always so proud of all of us kids -- he just wanted to know we were doing okay and to enjoy our presence.
Those of you with children may wonder how on earth you can provide a nice Christmas without spending a lot of money, especially when the list to Santa is a mile long with expensive gifts. I used to ask for all the popular toys of the day too. But you know what? The gifts are not what I remember (or in my case, not getting the gifts). What I so fondly remember is traipsing out in our old truck to the wood lot to saw down some scraggly Charlie Brown tree and then placing the best side towards the living room and decorating it with all our treasured mismatched ornaments, and the two strands of outdoor lights. We used to make those red and green paper chains and hung them up on the tree and sometimes all around the kitchen. I used to help my dad making wooden rocking horses to sell so that he could buy a little something special for our Christmas. Sometimes we would go to town and sell a pig. Oh, and the Christmas cookies! My mother loves to bake and she's always more than happy to let little hands help. We used to make some delicious frosted sugar cookies and then use the leftover icing to fill graham crackers.
There's no doubt, when we were making all of these memories I so dearly cherish my parents were weary and worried. Yes, they were tired, weary and some years sick with a bad cold, and no money for the doctor. These fun, festive activities took place all they while they were carrying the full load of a busy farm. They were no doubt sick of heart because they could not afford nicer gifts, a better dinner, and something warm for us to wear. It must have hurt their pride something awful to have a box delivered to the front door a couple of weeks before Christmas -- providing what they could not, no matter how hard they worked.
My parents are amazing people; we never knew how hard the holidays were for them. They put on smiling, cheerful faces and gave us the most precious gifts -- their time and their love.
Maybe this winter is a tough one for you. You might be struggling with the loss of a loved one. You or your spouse might be without work. You might be wondering how to pay the heat bills and not lose your home. Whatever it is that's troubling you, I encourage you to talk to God about it. He's here and He cares. Do you remember that old hymn? No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus, it's all true.
In this giving season, let's focus on giving the things that don't cost anything in the monetary sense but are so much more valuable. We can give the very same things our Savior gives us; forgiveness, joy, love, mercy, hope.
One of the things about debt that bugs me the most, is that the debtor truly is servant to the lender. Whether you are in the corporate world of financing dealing with millions/billions, or have just one small balance on a personal credit card. It's all the same. The lender rules you.
Before you go out and rack up some Christmas bills, please take a moment to think about how you will feel when your January statements come. If things are tight enough now, where Christmas needs to be financed, it's certainly not going to be easier come the new year.
I've had many modest Christmases in my life -- both on the giving and the receiving end. In fact, most Christmases have been that way, but they've all been so wonderful. The older I get, the more I've come to understand that we are more blessed to give than receive. And sometimes, in fact, most of the time the giving doesn't have to cost much at all. How many times do we fret and worry about getting our loved ones just the right gift -- usually something expensive?
I remember last year; for my birthday, my mom wrote me a beautiful letter. She wrote about how happy she was that I waited all those years to marry my George. She knew how difficult it was for me to wait for God's best, but was so happy to finally see me reaping the reward. That letter is one my most treasured possessions.
When my dad was old and beginning to feel his age I used to go visit him. He has always lived with very little in the way of material things and as a young adult I had very little with which to buy a gift for him. Turns out that was okay. Daddy only wanted to spend time with me. He was always so proud of all of us kids -- he just wanted to know we were doing okay and to enjoy our presence.
Those of you with children may wonder how on earth you can provide a nice Christmas without spending a lot of money, especially when the list to Santa is a mile long with expensive gifts. I used to ask for all the popular toys of the day too. But you know what? The gifts are not what I remember (or in my case, not getting the gifts). What I so fondly remember is traipsing out in our old truck to the wood lot to saw down some scraggly Charlie Brown tree and then placing the best side towards the living room and decorating it with all our treasured mismatched ornaments, and the two strands of outdoor lights. We used to make those red and green paper chains and hung them up on the tree and sometimes all around the kitchen. I used to help my dad making wooden rocking horses to sell so that he could buy a little something special for our Christmas. Sometimes we would go to town and sell a pig. Oh, and the Christmas cookies! My mother loves to bake and she's always more than happy to let little hands help. We used to make some delicious frosted sugar cookies and then use the leftover icing to fill graham crackers.
There's no doubt, when we were making all of these memories I so dearly cherish my parents were weary and worried. Yes, they were tired, weary and some years sick with a bad cold, and no money for the doctor. These fun, festive activities took place all they while they were carrying the full load of a busy farm. They were no doubt sick of heart because they could not afford nicer gifts, a better dinner, and something warm for us to wear. It must have hurt their pride something awful to have a box delivered to the front door a couple of weeks before Christmas -- providing what they could not, no matter how hard they worked.
My parents are amazing people; we never knew how hard the holidays were for them. They put on smiling, cheerful faces and gave us the most precious gifts -- their time and their love.
Maybe this winter is a tough one for you. You might be struggling with the loss of a loved one. You or your spouse might be without work. You might be wondering how to pay the heat bills and not lose your home. Whatever it is that's troubling you, I encourage you to talk to God about it. He's here and He cares. Do you remember that old hymn? No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus, it's all true.
In this giving season, let's focus on giving the things that don't cost anything in the monetary sense but are so much more valuable. We can give the very same things our Savior gives us; forgiveness, joy, love, mercy, hope.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
A Happy Thanksgiving
I hope you've had a lovely Thanksgiving. George and I had a wonderful time at his cousin's house today. I love holidays; happy sigh.
George is still so very busy with his contracting work and while we are so thankful for the work, sometimes we both wish he could have a little bit of time off now and then. Turns out this was the week we've both been waiting for. This week he came home early on Tuesday, took Wednesday and today off and will come home early tomorrow. It's been such a treat to have him around more.
Yesterday we went into town on a "date" to the dollar store and Tractor Supply and run some errands. I'm still smiling at the thought of how much I looked forward to doing that. We looked all around the dollar store for a pair of reading glasses for him and then browsed all of Tractor Supply and ended up picking up some suet and rawhide. Normally when we go to a store of this type (oh heck, who am I kidding; this is the only kind of store I've been in with George) I trot right behind as George looks over all the tools and picks up work supplies. This time he seemed really interested in making sure I got a chance to look at anything I wanted to. Finally, after enough encouarging I went to look at the country Christmas cards; when I came back, there he was eyeballing the air compressors.
We are blessed beyond belief to not have one of those families that gets bogged down in drama at holiday get-togethers. Oh, wait, let me say that a little more accurately -- we don't usually get together with the more dramatic ones -- that branch of the family tree usually likes to keep to themselves (or in jail). Probably because us non-drama types aren't very exciting : )
Anyway, back to our happy Thanksgiving: one of the aspects about any holiday is the chance to enjoy the fellowship of our family. We're not a family (on my side or George's) that gets together en mass very often. Usually just around the holidays -- and it's so nice to have the opportunity to catch up with everyone at one time. Again, we are so blessed, I think we all actually like each other.
This was my first official holiday meal, since having weight loss surgery in August. For those of you following my updates about how that aspect of my life has been going; you can read more, here.
Tomorrow starts the first day of the Christmas season for us. In the coming week, I'll put up the Christmas decorations, select the 4 varieties of Christmas cookies to bake, update our Christmas card list for personal and business clients (and get started writing those suckers out early), and compile a list of what gifts we are planning to buy this year. This ranks as one of my favorite times of the year.
George is still so very busy with his contracting work and while we are so thankful for the work, sometimes we both wish he could have a little bit of time off now and then. Turns out this was the week we've both been waiting for. This week he came home early on Tuesday, took Wednesday and today off and will come home early tomorrow. It's been such a treat to have him around more.
Yesterday we went into town on a "date" to the dollar store and Tractor Supply and run some errands. I'm still smiling at the thought of how much I looked forward to doing that. We looked all around the dollar store for a pair of reading glasses for him and then browsed all of Tractor Supply and ended up picking up some suet and rawhide. Normally when we go to a store of this type (oh heck, who am I kidding; this is the only kind of store I've been in with George) I trot right behind as George looks over all the tools and picks up work supplies. This time he seemed really interested in making sure I got a chance to look at anything I wanted to. Finally, after enough encouarging I went to look at the country Christmas cards; when I came back, there he was eyeballing the air compressors.
We are blessed beyond belief to not have one of those families that gets bogged down in drama at holiday get-togethers. Oh, wait, let me say that a little more accurately -- we don't usually get together with the more dramatic ones -- that branch of the family tree usually likes to keep to themselves (or in jail). Probably because us non-drama types aren't very exciting : )
Anyway, back to our happy Thanksgiving: one of the aspects about any holiday is the chance to enjoy the fellowship of our family. We're not a family (on my side or George's) that gets together en mass very often. Usually just around the holidays -- and it's so nice to have the opportunity to catch up with everyone at one time. Again, we are so blessed, I think we all actually like each other.
This was my first official holiday meal, since having weight loss surgery in August. For those of you following my updates about how that aspect of my life has been going; you can read more, here.
Tomorrow starts the first day of the Christmas season for us. In the coming week, I'll put up the Christmas decorations, select the 4 varieties of Christmas cookies to bake, update our Christmas card list for personal and business clients (and get started writing those suckers out early), and compile a list of what gifts we are planning to buy this year. This ranks as one of my favorite times of the year.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Our $359 Caledar
We received a very nice calendar yesterday ---- from our propane company. This calendar is filled with the heartwarming, nostalgic artwork of Ken Zylla. I can't wait for the new year so I can hang it up next to my desk.
We also received a $359 bill.
As nice as this calendar is, it's not worth $359. I always dread seeing the propane truck pull up our drive. It usually means a $600 or $700 bill. Each year on the last visit before Christmas, they try to sweeten things up a little by giving us a little calendar and sometimes even a pen. Last year I got a notepad too.
I'm trying to look at this positively. Because we've had such unseasonably warm weather for so many week now, and propane has dropped dramatically in price, the bill is half of what I was expecting.
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