(Sigh) A Night to Remember

Tonight, about 15 or 20 friends and neighbors came to the house to surprise me with a 50th birthday pary.

It was perfect.

We had a house full of family people, kids running everywhere, babies toddling, folks talking. The oldest was 79 and the youngest, 15 months.

Turns out, Little One proposed to DH last week, "Papaw, we've got to throw Nana a party for her birthday!!" ... And, turns out, he agreed. Imagine that.

She wrote up an invitation. Haven't seen one yet but I hear it's priceless. He made copies on our scanner/faxer/printer/copier (if you don't have one of these, you must get one. They are IT.)

Both of them distributed them to whomever they thought should come.

I have been in house-cleaning mode last couple of days, trying to clear the Christmas clutter out. Little One actually helped today, voluntarily. It was pretty fishy, come to think of it. DH said he was in a mood to BBQ some wings tonight. Sure, I said.

He was outside cooking. He said, why don't you go take a load off your feet. I said, sure. We had a fire in the fireplace and candles going on, so I turned on the TV and sat down with a beer. I was actually dozing off when a neighbor stopped by and chatted with me. We were talking away when in ran DH, the pizza man, and a dozen or so neighbors.

"Surprise!" they shouted.

This all happened about 6pm. It's 9pm now and they are all home. Sounds like a short party to you, but it was perfect for me. They came, we cleaned out a crapload of wings and 10 pizzas, a good bit of beer and a couple bottles of wine. Good talk, hugs and kisses, cake and ice cream. When the babies started fussing for bedtime, the younger adults said their goodnights, and soon thereafter, those without babies followed.

I feel loved, cherished, and, fifty.

If you are one of the dear friends who came by,

THANK YOU.

Post-Christmas

The day after Christmas. We have already stepped into that territory my mother never had to: limits.

Santa brought Little One a Nintendo DS for Christmas. She also received 3 games for it: Nintendogs, The Incredibles, and Luna White Dragon. Her friend also has a Nintendo DS and when they have a play date, they can play together on them, wireless-ly. Pretty cool. The friend also has Nintendogs and it was highly recommended.

The device has dual screens: one with the game graphics on it and the other with icons for control. It comes with a stylus for using the touch screen to control it. The graphics are photograph quality. It "hears" your voice and can play it back to you, not so remarkable, until you realize that it performs commands based on your voice commands. DS2's phone does that, too, and I find it really neat. Closed, it's about 3x6" and maybe 1/2" thick.

She expressed some frustration with the game last night and I remarked, "If you had read the directions and were having trouble, I'd help you. But as it is, I believe your next course is to try the directions." She grumbled, read the directions, and thanked me. Imagine that.

Nintendogs has a variety of dogs you can adopt -- animated photographs of real dogs. You train them with your voice to sit, lie down, shake, wag tail, jump, and catch the Frisbee. Little One adopted a Yellow Lab and named him Shadow. So as she is playing this game, she is yelling into the game, "Shadow, sit!" "Lie down!" "Yes!" "Jump! ...Jump! ...Jump! ...Jump!" In the background, you can hear the tiniest barks and the sound of cars rolling by (if she is in backyard mode) or the crowds cheering (if she is in Dog Show mode.)

Fortunately she read a new book, The Giraffe, The Pelican and Me, by Roald Dahl, tyvm DS1 and DIL, this morning. Then it started. "Sit! Sit! Sit! Good job. Roll over. Roll over... Roll over... Roll over...."

I have established a one hour limit. I hope that's fair. There are lots of other things to play with, and I may allow a little extra time later in the day if she becomes bored. However, it does seem a tad addictive and I am just trying to be careful.

Her friend's mom allows her to earn Screen Time (TV, pc, and handheld) by reading, with a 1:1 ratio. One hour of reading earns one hour of Screen Time. DH and I have discussed this and we hate to make a chore out of reading as she loves to read so much.

Other gifts she received for Christmas: a Learn to Draw kit that contains a wooden articulated man, sketch pads, step-by-step books, different kinds of pencils, etc. She drew for about an hour and a half yesterday and did some amazing stuff. I may scan some later to post here. A beautiful sterling chain from great-grandparents; several books including Narnia, Guinness Book of World Records, Wizardology (if you have not seen this cool book, plz check it out. In person really beats online as it is tactile. Other books in the same line are Dragonnology, which she already had; Fairyopolis, which she also received yesterday, and Egyptology, which she does not yet have.) Two cd's, both sound tracks: Narnia and Harry Potter Goblet of Fire. She had asked for these but not asked for any pop music. Yea! A new bathrobe and slippers. Two journals; a 1000-piece puzzle and an American Girls puzzle kit in which you complete the puzzle to solve a mystery (also from DS1 and DIL). One other gift so small it hardly merits mention, but is pretty neat, eight tubes of lip balm, in all sorts of flavors: Reese's, Hershey's chocolate, SweetTarts, Twizzlers, Jelly Belly, Dairy Queen, and two others we can't remember. These things smell just like the real thing. I believe her favorite is SweetTarts. Handy as her lips chap really easily and I always have to coax her to use some lip balm. Now maybe she will remember on her own.

In years past, we have given Little One a gown for Christmas, from American Girl, with a matching gown for one of her dolls. This year she is in the largest little girls' size, and if we were to buy one for her, it wouldn't last a year -- she is growing so tall, so fast. This is a consideration as they are a bit pricey. So I purchased a sewing pattern for a beautiful, detailed nightgown in a women's small, and made her one out of white batiste. Yards and yards of eyelet trim and "beading," which is an eyelet with little buttonholes down it, through which you weave satin ribbon. I used pale blue satin ribbon. The gown has long sleeves with elastic and more eyelet at the ends. I constructed the whole thing with french seams, so that there are no raw edges, on the inside or the outside. It came out fine and I was so glad that she really appreciated it. I told someone on the phone that her "big" gift was her Nintendo DS and she called, "No, Nana, -- my big gift was the gown."

I know we will look back on this Christmas with some nostalgia. It was her last appearance in the church Pageant. Ten is such a cool age as they are interested in everything, and not too old or too cool to really play anymore. Those days are soon coming to an end. Ten-year-olds are very creative, and curious, and energetic.

I had worried if we'd be sitting around the house missing DH while he worked on Christmas Day. I had even called the Shelter to see if we could work there, only to find out that the local Temple takes Christmas Day as a gift to the Christians. How cool is that.

The day actually passed by quickly. We fixed a big breakfast, then got ready and went to church. When we came home, it was already afternoon and I spent the remainder of the day cleaning and preparing a big Christmas dinner. Ironed special table linens, made a coconut cake with Little One. The time went by quickly and soon he was home.

After dinner, he built a fire and we sat in the living room. I finally got time to look at my Learn to Knit book and give knitting a try. I practiced for about an hour. I think I have a basic understanding now, and can do the basic garter stitch, but I unravelled all I had done as it had a gap or two in it. We will un-decorate a little today and then I hope to try again.

Christmas Eve

At this point, I, like many other Americans, just have one thing to say: "Well, it's almost over."

Don't get me wrong. Christmas is a sacred holiday to me. However, I like to think I celebrate Christ all year long.

The baking, the school festivities, the shopping, parties, caroling, trying to appreciate the poor overworked store workers (that is NOT minimum work -- but they make minimum wage.) It's frazzling and I prefer normalcy. Also, as I get older I have begun to like social situations less and less. I just like being home by the fire.

If shopping for gifts were all there was to it, I believe that'd be fine. It's the shopping for cards, added touches to decorations, ingredients for baking, cool containers in which to pack the baked goods, etc, etc, that takes it over the top.

I know I sound like a humbug.

Here's what I DO like about Christmas.

People are more humane. They wave you ahead in traffic. They wear goofy hats they wouldn't be caught dead in, the rest of the year. Houses look better. In addition to the lights and paralyzed reindeer, the yards are raked and the porches swept. People care about children during Christmas. They give to the poor. We use our good china. We wear festive clothing. We smile. And...we sing beautiful songs, no matter how well or how poorly we sing.

Cool line from "Mary Did You Know?" a song that came out last year (I think). Every artist is rushing to record it but it still has a very cool line:

"Did you know the baby you delivered, would one day deliver you?"

Happy Birthday Little Brother

Well, I guess I am officially getting OLD, because I almost, almost began this posting with "My little brother was born 37 years ago today, and I remember it like it was yesterday."

But I will not.

But, yes, I do. We were shipped to friends of the family to spend the night, a very uncommon occurrence in our family. I was twelve, and my parents did not share any knowledge of the nuances of pregnancy. I knew my mother was expecting. I knew she ate Rolaids like popcorn. I had a vague notion of how the baby was created. And I knew my dad was acting all cocky and proud of expecting a baby and being over forty.

Earlier in the summer and fall, my mom was busy sending copies of my dad's new book to those people who mailed in their checks and order forms. She would sit on the living room floor and wrap the books in brown paper, carefully copying the addresses on the front. We would gather the wrapped books into the car and take them to the post office to mail. I remember solicitously carrying the books for her, so protective already of the baby inside.

So on 17.December, we spent the night at the friends' house. One of their bedrooms had captains' beds, really high up, with drawers below, and I thought that was the coolest. A couple of times during the evening, they would get phone calls, from Dad, I guess, and would say our mom was doing fine. Of course she was doing fine. She was always fine. Why wouldn't she? I truly had no clue as to how a baby arrived.

At about 9pm we were informed that it was a baby boy. We were thrilled! A boy! I looked forward to holding him, to caring for him, in the way that most preteen girls do.

The next morning I attended my Junior High behind the home of said friends. That day, I performed in a Christmas play in my speech and drama class. This was my third of six years of taking speech and drama, and it was my favorite class of all. I remember we had written a silly version of Clements' "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Mother would typically be seated in the same area of the auditorium whenever I performed and on this day, she was not there. I remember feeling all un-centered about that.

Following the play, our principal Mr. Knight took the stage. He was a huge man -- the kind whose belly precedes him into the room by a full minute. He love to orate! Pontificate! He spoke slowly and with great deliberation. He thanked us for our play and made comments that my mother had just had a new baby.

The day was a flurry of congratulations over having a new brother. I could not wait to see him. He was so loved before I ever even met him.

Medium Small Ice Storm

Ice storm last night / this morning. School cancelled. It's warm and toasty in the house -- and we have power, unlike three years ago, when an ice storm knocked us out for 9 days.

Little One is out of school and has been creative all day -- drawing, dancing with the little girl from next door, now practicing piano.

Limbs are frozen. This is the view from upstairs window.

First Swim Meet

Little One had her first swim meet today. The facility we went to was also hosting a basketball tournament, and they won the lottery to have the bleachers, so we were advised to bring our own chairs. I also knew to pack a cooler full of food and drinks. Swimmers get hungry!!

I regret to say that in the process of packing, cooking breakfast, etc, I forgot the camera, so I do not have pictures to post. Ok, she was in a blue swimsuit, blue swim cap, and she was wet. Can you visualize it?

Because it was her first meet, we had realistic goals. 1) To finish her events. 2) To not get disqualified on all her events (getting dq'ed on a few would be fine; and is very normal.) 3) To make it through the day with no tears. (Did not verbalize this goal with her but it was there, just the same.)

1.) She finished all her events. She was signed up for a 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, and 50m butterfly. She also got pulled for two relay races. In both relays, her team came in first, which means the "new kid" did not hold them back.
2.) Jury is still out on the dq's. We did not hear for sure but we believe she may have been dq'ed in one of her events. Will post this later in the week when we find out for sure.
3.) She did not cry; was happy all day. When we woke up this morning, I asked, "Is there anything you need today?" (meaning -- pack more conditioner for my hair, etc) and she said, "I need not to get disqualified today!" So clearly she was a little apprehensive. Understandable. After her first event, she cheered up and had a fun day with her friends. However, old Nana did cry.
She was right behind the starting block before her first event. I thought, "If I can just make eye contact with her, she'll be fine. I just need to connect with her." From my location all the way across the pool, I was looking for her. At the same time, she was looking for me, and we found each other at the same moment. Our eyes connected, and I threw her an "ILY" in sign language and she shot one back to me. Then she mounted the starting block and took her mark. Wow-I cried. I was so thankful for the connection -- thankful we had that nanosecond before her start.
Her day was so good that, when we got in the car after it was all over, she actually forgot she doesn't like swim team, that we made her join, that she doesn't want to do it, and she bubbled over, "Wow! That was so much fun!!"

So, all in all, she met or exceeded her goals for the day. And now, The Dreaded First Meet is officially ........behind us.

Autistic Cat

Several weeks, I blogged about our cat Francie. To make a long story short, she was found and adopted by DS2, who is now 29. He brought her home when she was a tiny kitten, truly too young to be weaned, when he was about 10 or 11 yrs old. For all the math prodigies out there, that makes Francie about 18 or 19 now.

You can't really tell she's elderly. She has always kept her figure youthful and trim. She has a little graying around her muzzle (do cats have muzzles?) -- but it's not easily noticed as she is a gray cat anyway. She had pneumonia when we got her, but once we nursed her to health, she hasn't been sick a day since.

Francie was never the primus cat in the household until about 8 years ago. When we got her, we already had a larger black cat named Jennifer. Jennifer was not unkind to Francie, but by rights she ate first and got first dibs on anything in the house. Cats seem to work these things out for themselves and the "new kid on the block" knows somehow to defer to the alpha cat.

Jennifer died 2 days after DS2 left for basic training -- 11 years ago. Francie was the sole cat for a month until I married DH, who had a very large and very dominant cat named Molly. Molly had always been an only child, and resented this scrap of a cat entering her kingdom. She growled and hissed and otherwise terrorized Francie. I vividly remember Francie crawling across the room to the food bowls on her belly.

Molly's demise came a few months after we moved into this house and Francie was Sole Cat for about 5 years, until Little One saved her allowance for a cat of her own. Daniel. Daniel is a pretty good sport and would love to be friends with Francie, but she is Elder Emeritus now and has no use for Daniel.

All these years, either due to her blindness, or her rank in the social system, Francie has been reluctant, make that refusing, to mix with the other animals, or anyone other than family. If she's on the bed and Dan hops up, she leaves. If she's on the stairs and Tucker barks, "Hey, let's play!!" she arches her back and hisses.

Friday night, a miracle happened. We don't know why. When it happened, every member of the family froze, at least until I ran for the camera. Words can't explain it -- but it happened. Here it is.

All Hail to the Decorating Diva

The old neighborhood was host to the Symphony Guild Christmas Tour of Homes this past weekend. We weren't on the Tour, but our NDN's were, and we definitely did not want to be the Scabs Next Door.

So we cleaned up the old place and it looked okay. We usually go for Simple but Tasteful, however, this year Little One asked if we could put up lights. Hmm? Lights? On the house? Yes, she replied, and on the bushes as well.

This was a New Idea. Of course, we enjoy driving around and looking at all the houses that are Brightly Lit, but to do so ourselves? We had to think, or, ponder, as our pastor says, on this one.

We came up with the idea to place greenery, boughs, on the archway leading to our porch, with lights in them. This presented a subtle touch, yet, had lights, which of course, we must do, now that Little One is an Independent Thinker. We didn't like the idea of lights on our bushes, so we didn't mention it, and she hasn't mentioned it again, so we are hoping that part is Over.

So. How to mount boughs to brick without boring a zillion holes in our elderly brick or mortar. So we placed a call to dear MIL in Tennessee. She....IS....the....Decorating....Diva. (Of the Earth.)

Simple! She gaily sang. Hot glue!

We tried it / it worked.

All Hail to the Decorating Diva. (Of the earth.)

It wasn't quite late enough in this shot to show the spotlighting effect.


Looks a little as if some lights are out on the greenery over the archway. Not. Lights were just sort of tucked behind greenery so they didn't show for this pic. They have been rearranged now.











The light you see here is not the flash, but DH's ingenious spotlight. (On a timer, no less. On at 4m, off at 11.)





















This is the front door before I added lights and holly berries. Tried to get rid of flash spot with the "red-eye" feature in software, but it made it look even worse, so here it is in its untouched state. I will try to get a shot with lights/berries soon.

Catching Up

I have taken quite a long respite from blogdom in order to neaten up the appearance of our home. The Symphony Guild is having their Christmas Tour of Homes in our dear old neighborhood, and one of the homes on the tour is next door. Well, we could NOT be the Scabs Who Live Next Door so we have been working our proverbial (if not literal) butts off. Raked, picked up about 4 gallons of pecans (that's the easy part -- now to crack and shell), got wreaths, made bows, installed hangers, hung, made tiny wreath for my little studio window, raked more, loaded flowerbeds with pine straw, hot-glued hangers to entryway for greenery & lights (thank you mother-and-father-in-law for the scoop on how to hang things onto brick.)

Whew. That's not all. The exterior light to the upstairs entryway (which faces said next-door-neighbors) was broken so DH had to get new lampparts and rewire and reinstall. Took down my Thanksgiving grapevine from around front door and installed greenery/lights. Called City to vacuum streets on Friday so they would be clean for The Tour. (They even sent the street washers to follow the vacuum trucks. Love this town sometimes.)

So. Now we look -- well, not great enough to BE on the tour, but good enough to be next door to the tour. 8-}

Took a trip out of town on Tuesday for training on how to be on the Zoning Board of Adjustments, which I've served on all summer and fall, with no training. Very glad to get that. Our City staff person offered to take a van. I figured he was saving me the trouble of getting lost, so I took him up on the offer. All in all, there were three men and me. We arrived there in time, had the training, dinner and Q&A. I was anxious to return home before the finale of The Biggest Loser, this great show about fat people who go to a spa for 12 weeks and compete to see who can lose the most weight. Anyhoo, as we left the building, each and every one of the men was confused and could not remember where on earth we had parked the van. Sooo gratifying.

Well, all week as I have been un-blogging, I have been making mental notes, "When I do get to blog, I need to put this or that in..." and now that I am actually online, I'm suffering the old Brain Freeze. What are the insurgents putting in our water?

Til next time..........