Movers and Shakers

With the help of Dave, both his parents, and especially Caleb, we got the truck packed for moving Phillip's stuff to Tampa tomorrow. Caleb kept saying, "One more thing," as he went back into the house to get something else. And he kept saying it even after we had emptied Phillip's room. We may get to Tampa and find that Caleb packed "one more thing" that wasn't supposed to go!

Alexa wanted to help, but mostly she just hung grumpily around.

The empty room.

Our den -- the empty place where the love seat used to be.

Until we get new furniture, the recliner and the rocking chair are where the sofa belongs. I remembered to tell the teenager who will be feeding Blinky while we're gone that we were taking the sofa and love seat so that he wouldn't think we'd been burglarized.

We plan to hit the road about 6 a.m. for what will likely be a ten-hour trip. Time now to hit the hay!

Lumpy

I went looking for the cat this morning, and although I didn't exactly find her, I did find this suspicious-looking lump under the covers.

Haven't we all had days when we wish we could do this?!

Packing up the Christmas Tree

On the Road to Tampa

We got up at 4:30 this morning to see Phillip hit the road about 5:00. He needs to get to Tampa by mid-afternoon in case there are still issues with his apartment and/or electricity that he needs to resolve. Tomorrow he'll get a Florida driver's license and take the written part of the CDL exam, as well as go see the State Farm agent. Wednesday morning he'll make a "rush hour" (it can't be anything like Atlanta's!) dry run to work to see how long it might take him on Monday morning. I'll pick up the Uhaul truck tomorrow, load it (with help, of course), then James and I will head to Tampa Wednesday morning. This morning I have CVS, Walgreens, Kroger, and Publix on my list.

Once again, I am totally devoid of any original material for my blog. You'll have to content yourself with ten random thoughts of others.

1. There are two freedoms, the false where one is free to do what he likes, and the true where he is free to do what he ought. -Charles Kingsley


2. It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth. - John Locke


3. The reason people blame things on the previous generations is that there's only one other choice. -Doug Larson


4. Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. - Benjamin Franklin


5. A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. - Herm Albright


6. Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box. - Italian proverb


7. You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings. - Pearl S. Buck


8. I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei


9. He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money. Benjamin Franklin


10. I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashion. Lillian Hellman

(Post) Christmas Favorites

I promise to do a little better blogging soon, but things are crazy with the holidays and with trying to help Phillip get all his ducks in a row for the move to Tampa. Meanwhile, here are more pictures from my tree. I try to get an ornament from places I've visited (or events attended). If I can't find an ornament, then I'll find a keychain or some other small trinket.Mascot from the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games.
From my trip to Toronto. I kept the hang tag attached because it gives a little history of the mounted police, who aren't always mounted, I've learned.
St. George Island, Florida, a prime nesting place for sea turtles.

Next Christmas I should have a Tampa ornament to add.

Merry Christmas!

I think Alexa likes this toy we gave her, but you be the judge.

"Bah Humbug," Says the Incorrigible Kitty

Blinky was being very blinky this weekend and extremely rude to our guests. When it's just the two (or three) of us at home, she is normally very affectionate. She doesn't much care for Caleb and Alexa, but we have made a little bit of progress with her cattitude lately. She doesn't like lots of humans in her house, so we shut her up in our bedroom while the Christmas party was underway on Saturday. However, anyone who went in our room and even looked at her got this: (You'll have to use your imagination for the accompanying sound effects.) It got worse on Saturday night and Sunday when everyone except my sister and her family (who were staying with us) left and we let Blinky out of confinement.

I've come up with a plan to try to get her to accept guests. I'm going to put some kitty kibble by the front door, and give a few pellets to whatever humans enter, that they in turn can use to befriend Blinky. Maybe if enough people come in and give her treats, she'll learn to like strangers. Or else she'll end up like this:

Better Than it Appears

It took visiting four CVS stores yesterday, but I did pretty well. I spent $5.47 out-of-pocket to get all of this PLUS (here's where the blog title comes in) three 12-packs of Coke and four 2-liter bottles of Coke! The Cokes are in the basement, and I didn't want to haul them upstairs just for a photo shoot. Since we're in Atlanta, everyone knows what Coke (not pop; not soda) looks like anyway. That's a savings of 86%. I had to stage this picture on the sofa in the den because I don't think there's another uncluttered space anywhere in my house. Angi and I spent the whole day shopping yesterday so my house is still a disaster from the weekend festivities. There is probably something I should be doing instead of blogging right now, but I can't think of what it is. Maybe it will come to me later.

To Peek, or Not to Peek

A few days ago, I ended the post with this question: Did you ever peek at your Christmas gifts when you were a child? My kid sister, Pam, confessed that she and my baby sister, Jerri conspired together one year to peek. Here's her story...

Pam says that she was about nine years old, which would have made Jerri about seven. There came a moment when they were the only two in the house. They chose one of Pam's boxes first, and carefully peeled back the tape from the end of the package so that they could open up the paper flap without tearing it. The gift inside? A Bible! Stricken with guilt and remorse, they quickly resealed the package, their proclivity to peek divinely squelched.

Goodbye, Party Animals

Here are some photos from yesterday's family gathering at my house. Notice the similarities between Phillip and his cousin, Patrick? (Check out the feet.)
James and Mama... looking bored.
Kristina and Craig... looking happy.
Caleb, Alexa, and my great-niece, Brooke.
My baby sister, Jerri, and two of her grandbabies, Brooke and Sean.
My kid sister, Pam, and Alexa.
My big sister, Lynn.
My niece, Melissa, and Patrick with the multi-recycled angel tree topper and nearly new pirate shirt. Jerri couldn't go to the beach with us this year, so we bought the shirt and mase pictures of each of us wearing it, then sent the pictures to her.
Kristina wouldn't have thought this was a bad white elephant gift 14 or 15 years ago, but now?
Patrick trying to figure out what his white elephant gift is.

If you must know, it is a "nose" that you put over your own nose. Then "the nose" drips candy that you can stick out your tongue and catch. Or not.
Phillip made it safely to Tampa this evening. He has a physical and drug test in the morning, and he has to find and submit an application for an apartment. He let everyone know that in late April he will accept applications for summer visitors. BYOB (bring your own bed).

Welcome, Party Animals!

My family will be here in a few hours for our annual Christmas shindig. The adults exchange white elephant gifts each year, and because of the evil, creative genius genes we share, not to mention a complete disregard for personal dignity and decorum, it's always an adventure. If there are any doozies this year, I'll be sure to post pictures.

If my count is correct (don't hold your breath), we should all fit around my table that will seat fourteen... along with two little people seated at the Sesame Street set that we gave Emily for her first birthday. I don't think she'll be seated there today though.

December 19th in Georgia

Today I had my house cleaned for me courtesy of a gift certificate given to me upon my retirement from American Vision. Woo hoo! A clean house is even more enjoyable when I didn't have to do it! Instead, I spent a good part of the day cleaning my long-neglected screened porch, since it may be warm enough tomorrow to use it while my family is here for our Christmas party. We ate supper out there this evening. It's sort of a contrast in styles... tablecloth, candlelight, bagged salad, and plastic chairs. But it was pleasant, even if it wasn't up to five-star standards.

Wrapping it Up

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the homemade dress that my mother gave me at Thanksgiving. It's a dress that her mother made for her to wear the first day of first grade. Here's the finished framing project, with close ups of the scrapbook pages that I used.

It's Beginning to Feel It's Not Like Christmas

69.3 on the top right... that's the outdoor temperature. 70.9 on the bottom right... that's the indoor temperature. And it was just four days ago that we had hard rain.The tree ribbon swaying in the breeze... that's the draft from the attic fan coming through the open door.

Christmas Thoughts... Or Lack Thereof

What do you when you absolutely can't think of anything to blog about? You steal... um, borrow from another blogger (just about anyone will do).

Here are twenty-five random Christmas questions and my answers.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I generally prefer wrapping paper unless the gift is oddly sized and I don't have a suitable box, then bags are better.


2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. Although I love the smell of a fresh pine, I don't love pine needles and/or dripping sap everywhere. Now that I have a prelit tree for the first time, artificial is even better.


3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the first or second weekend in December.


4. When do you take the tree down? Between Christmas and New Year's. As a child, our tree was always left up until New Year's Day, but in my house, I'm tired of it and the clutter way before the first.


5. Do you like eggnog? I might enjoy one small glass, but I won't buy a whole quart just for that, and I've never attempted homemade.


6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably a chemistry set. These are not found in toy stores in this day and age, because it's probably possible to blow up a bus with one! I didn't blow anything up (that I recall) but I did put some stains on the carpet.
   
7. Hardest person to buy for? It's a toss-up between all of the men one generation upward -- my father, step-father, and father-in-law.


8. Easiest person to buy for? Myself. Does that count?
   
9. Do you have a nativity scene? It's a very inexpensive one that I just had to buy the first Christmas after James and I were married, even though we had very little money. I couldn't imagine not having one. And I love the accompanying table runner I found a few years ago.


10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Neither. I used to mail a few cards to people across the country that I didn't see, but the last several years, I've written a new year's letter instead.


11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of anything horrible. I've even liked some of the white elephant gifts I've gotten.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? Hmmm, since I hardly ever watch movies, I can't even think of one I've seen. Does A Charlie Brown Christmas with the sad, little tree count? I love the fact that the Christmas story from the Bible is read.


13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? It varies, but I have found future gifts at after-Christmas sales.


14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only white elephants.


15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I've only made one a few times, but my great-grandmother used to always make the family an orange-date-nut cake, and having that cake brings back fond childhood memories.


16. Lights on the tree? I prefer multi-colored vs. all white, and now my tree is prelit with them.


17. Favorite Christmas song? Joy to the World is my favorite traditional carol, but if I can choose a Christmas hymn that not everyone knows, it would be Once in Royal David's City.


18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We stay home because we've usually done all our extended family visits the weekend before Christmas.


19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes, but surely you don't want me to prove it.


20. Angel on the treetop or a star? The tree of my childhood always had an angel, so likewise...


21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.


22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The radio stations who play so-called Christmas music, and all you hear are the Frosty, Rudolph, winter types of songs.


23. Favorite ornament theme or color? If you interpret the clue from the angel, it's largely folk art sorts of things.


24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? A traditional meal is good, but one year Emily and I decided to make all new recipes. We had something I may never have tried otherwise -- a pork roast with yummy cherry sauce.


25. What do you want for Christmas this year? This is sort of post-Christmas, but to have Phillip comfortably and happily settled in Tampa.

Finally, here's a question for you? Did you ever peek at your Christmas gifts when you were a child? Or recently, even?! I never did (that I recall).

Back to Square Two

First of all, yesterday's post title was a pun, in case you missed it.

We thought Phillip had pretty much decided on a place to live in Tampa before three things happened in the last couple of days:

1. He learned on Friday that he did score high enough on the exam to be a Level A mechanic with Hartline; however, because he does not have any hands-on experience, management decided to bring him in at Level B. Level B is good, but A would have meant another $6,000/year.
2. I set about trying to help Phillip make a budget and be sure what he could afford in rent. I went online to the IRS tax tables to compute what Phillip's withholding taxes would be. Uncle Sam will be taking a whopping 28% of Phillip's paycheck. (He needs to get married. For lots of reasons.) I also found a State Farm agent in Tampa so that we could get an idea of what his car and renter's insurance would cost. The agent told me that different zip codes are rated differently based on loss ratio. I didn't get a final answer on the cost of insurance, but it raised a question in my mind about the safety of the areas where we had looked at apartments.
3. I had the bright idea (I wish this light bulb had sparked while we were still in Tampa) to look up some old friends who moved to Tampa a number of years ago. One of the marvelous things about belonging to the body of Christ is that the friendships are forever, even if relocation means you no longer live in close proximity. I picked up the phone, and talked to this couple as if they'd just moved last week. Their children are frozen in my mind's eye at about 5, 3, and newborn; they are now 16, 14, and 11. Yikes! Trey travels around Tampa for his job, and he was able to give us valuable insight into the preferred and not-so-preferred areas of town. Sure enough, the area where we'd looked was not so good. It looked fine during the day, but after dark is often another story altogether.

So, we're back to square two. Square One is having a job at all, so at least that part hasn't changed! We should have known that, like Atlanta, if a property is on the bus line, it's probably not going to be a place where you want to live (generally speaking). So, Phillip has somewhat reluctantly agreed that in order to live in a decent apartment in a relatively safe part of town, he's going to have to drive to work.

Phillip has to be back in Tampa on December 22nd for a physical and drug test. At that time, he'll visit a few places in the new area we've chosen, make a decision, and turn in an application. (Pray for discernment!) Then, it needs to be approved quickly (that week) so that he has a Florida address when he returns to Tampa permanently on December 29th. That's when he'll have to get a Florida driver's license and take the written part of the CDL test. As of this moment (things keep changing!) James and I will drive down the Uhaul on December 31st.

I told my Tampa friend this afternoon that my spiritual side is saying, "God has provided the job, and He will provide the right housing and everything else." My mom side is saying, "Aaaauuugghh!!"

Hard Rain

We had almost 4" of rain over the last two days. It was a little difficult to empty the rain gauge this morning, though.