Recent Life Happenings

Looking over my previous post of six weeks ago, I see I had a cold at the time. Now I have another one! So annoying. This one doesn't seem severe, either, for which I am grateful. One of my good friends, Ms. J, who is in her early 70s, slipped on the ice by her mailbox and fell on her back. She has been in pain for a week now, and has a cold as well. I spoke with her on the phone recently and she sounds like she is much worse off than I am. So I should be grateful I only have a cold, and not an injury as well.

I overdid Oct. 31-Nov. 4, helping my youngest to finish clean her old apartment and get somewhat settled into her new apartment. In addition to that exhausting activity, I was going without my bio-identical hormone cream, because I didn't think it was doing any good. Wrong! I developed intense heart palpitations, the insomnia and night sweats worsened, and I was altogether miserable. Once I resumed the cream, I began to feel better in a few days. But I took an entire month off from babysitting grandchildren, and spent more time at home, just catching up on various neglected odds and ends.

Part of our family had Thanksgiving dinner together on Nov. 29th. Because I was still quite tired, I hadn't planned to bother with a turkey, but my youngest had been given a 15# turkey in a box of freebies through her daughter's day care, and she had thawed it in her fridge. So she brought it up to our house and we had turkey after all. I put the stuffing into a crockpot, and the squash and apple bake into another. That worked out very well. I had prepped as much of those as I could the day before, knowing how difficult it was going to be to focus on kitchen tasks once my 4-year-old granddaughter arrived.

I also made a blackberry crisp the day before. Oddly enough, I don't seem to have taken any food pictures. Guess I was too busy and too tired.

We had about 2" of snow on the ground by Thanksgiving. My granddaughter insisted we get the sled out, so I did, although I wasn't expecting any success with using it. But it was great! The snow was just right for sledding down our slope by the garage, and we didn't have to break a trail in deep snow. We had a grand time. And yes, I went sledding, too.

This past January or February I bought a really nice artificial Christmas tree on clearance at Michael's. When I put it up a week ago, I was astonished by how much taller it seemed in my house than it had in the store. But I am very pleased with it, especially the pre-lit aspect. It seemed as if the strings of lights were only lasting one season, and I'd end up having to start over with a new string nearly every year. They were always tangled up, no matter how carefully I tried to store them, and I never could figure out how to replace the bulbs so the string would work again.

While I decorate my tree and house, I think about the people who gave me the various ornaments and wall hangings. My mother-in-law gave us some lovely quilted wall hangings, and a framed cross-stitch. A few items I made at craft classes at the local library. Some of the glass ball ornaments were purchases I made as a newlywed, when we didn't have any Christmas decorations at all.

Some of you will remember the small candle figurines from the '60s. I kept all of mine, and still enjoy setting them up every Christmas.

We currently have no snow on the ground and have been enjoying high temperatures in the 40s, and even the low 50s. This is unseasonable weather here, but I am enjoying it while it lasts. I have made no big plans for Christmas with family, as I do not yet know who will be working that day, or who might want to just stay home, or what the weather and roads will be like when the time comes. I will be flexible, and have a respectable meal in mind for whenever it works out.