Surprise in the Oven

I just realized that the post title could be construed in all sorts of ways, but I am refering to a literal oven used for baking. I'm not prone to pulling surprises out of my oven, since I don't use it very much these days, and I'm not an imaginative or creative cook. Generally the smoke detector notifies me of any surprises incurred while cooking.

One of the first things I did in my retirement was to recruit Phillip to help me finish cleaning up the in-laws' house and disposing of stuff that was left after the children and grandchilden had taken what they wanted. When they moved into the assisted living facility a year ago, I went to their vacated house within a couple of days and cleaned out all the perishible food that had been left. Later (giving the in-laws' time to determine if there was anything they had forgotten that they still wanted), Emily helped me take everything out of cabinets, closets, and drawers so that family members could see exactly what was available. After a couple of months, just about all the usable stuff was gone, and we were left with just stuff, not even enough for a decent yard sale. There the stuff sat for months, until I had time to finish what I'd begun.

Phillip & I went armed with a good stash of boxes (History of the Reformation, if you need to know). We boxed up all the loose stuff, and moved everything that was left to the front room for pick up.

At one point during the morning, Phillip said, "I bet you didn't look here," here being inside the oven. He reminded me that his grandparents usually had leftover food in the oven. Sure enough, this is what we saw:We don't know what it was in its former life.

Dressing Up

As we were leaving to come home on Thanksgiving Day, my mother put some stuff in my hands with her usual comment: I don't know if you want this or not, but... (She has only dial-up Internet available to her, so she doesn't read blogs.) What she gave me is a small, blue calico dress that her mother made and that she (my mother) wore on her first day of first grade. In addition, she gave me a scrapbook that her mother kept for the first few months of my mother's school career. It may seem a bit odd that I keep saying "her mother" instead of "my grandmother," but she died when Mama was a teenager, so I never knew her.

I enjoyed reading the scrapbook entries. She listed everything that Mama wore to school that day, down to what size and color panties! She pasted in a tiny replica of Mama's dress, along with a written description. There is also a sampling of Mama's first grade desk work. I felt that I had been given a treasure, but how could it be enjoyed if I simply tucked it away?

Bingo! Since I hadn't found a suitable gift for Mama for Christmas yet, I decided to have the dress, along with a couple of pages from the scrapbook, put into a shadow box. I set out this afternoon to the framing shop and it's in the works. It turned out to be about twice the price I had anticipated, but I got two of my sisters on board, so now it's a group gift. I'll try to remember to post a picture of the finished project in a couple of weeks.

P.S. Here's the one and only picture I made Thanskgiving Day... on the way home.

Making Money at CVS

CVS paid me $8.32 to bring home everything pictured. (Most important item in the front.) With gasoline prices down, I'm sure that $8.32 more than covered the cost of driving to two stores. I think I'll celebrate my savings by spending time with the people I love at a big feast. Oh, wait...

Don't Let This Happen to You

Nap Hair!
Photo courtesy of Uncle Phillip.

Wii and Wednesday

Dave is out of school this week, so everyone came over yesterday to play our new Wii Music and try out the Wii fit. Even Caleb and Alexa "played." (Caleb did manage to play the drums a little bit.) Dave was offended that the Wii fit didn't appreciate his physique, and it has demonstrated that the entire family is unbalanced... as if we needed a video game to tell us this!

Alexa chilling with Gramps. She turned this little stool upside down, climbed in between the cross pieces, and then hollered for rescue when she couldn't extricate herself!Today is booked. I'm meeting some family members to go over James' parents' finances, voting early, getting a couple of things from the grocery store, working remotely, preparing part of tomorrow's dinner, perusing coupons for Friday's sales, and trying to finish up scanning some photos. Does anyone know if those roller skate shoes come in adult sizes?

Success is Sweet

Here's Phillip's diploma that came in the mail yesterday.

The diploma was accompanied by an official transcript.It's a little hard to see, so here's the important part.If success is sweet, then a job in the field would be a cherry on top!

Cats and Clutter

In a previous post, I couldn't remember what to call a group of cats. Yesterday, I was skimming through a whole stack of catalogs that had accumulated, and Eureka! I found it!I don't know, though. Does this look like a clutter of cats to you?

97% Savings on CVS Stuff

This is what I got at CVS today (visiting two stores) for $2.91 out of pocket. I should have MADE $2.09, but $5 Extra Bucks didn't print on one visit, and I didn't want to make an issue out of it, since I already got 28 batteries practically free. The kicker is that I now have $40 in EB to use next week for the Black Friday deals!

P.S. Thanks for the battery coupons, Coupon Queen. Sorry that you live so far away, Best-Friend-of-Coupon-Queen.

New Addiction

Check out this fun (and addictive) game:

http://www.sober-productions.co.uk/line-rider/

Half of Us are Coordinated

But when all is said and done, we're all done-for.

"I Thawt I Saw a Putty Tat"

I have a pussy cat, and a putty tat. Here's my putty tat:

It contains Silly Putty that can be stamped with the paw print that's on the bottom of the tat or it can be pressed into the mouse mold on the inside of the top piece. I'm sure there are various other uses for Silly Putty, but I'll leave that to your imagination.

Much Better, Don't You Think?

Here's my desk now. Definitely an improvement.Just don't look down here.
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It's Hopeless

I'm really, really trying to restore order to the chaos that is my desk at home. The problem is that I need about three times this much space. Usually when I start to organize something, I intuitively know the direction I should take. Not this time. Stay tuned.

Today I bought the Wii fit. After a fruitless online search, I didn't think I'd be able to get one for weeks, but Phillip found the last available one at a games store close by. Here's James attempting the stair-stepping routine. Stay tuned to see if this is a hopeless endeavor as well!

The Final Finale, Really

I think this post really is the last* about my retirement. One of the things in my former office I needed to photograph before I left was the Quote Board. It started soon after I came to American Vision. I was attempting to install a printer cartridge for someone. It was the kind of cartridge that fits atop a cartridge carrier, for lack of a more technical term. When I was trying to explain how it all fit together, I said (of the toner cartridge), "It rides piggyback on the doodad." AV's president, Gary DeMar, liked the sound of that phrase and thought it would make a good book title: Riding Piggyback on the Doodad. (So far as I know, my title has not been used.) He wrote it on a nearby white board, and the Quote Board was born. When we expanded our office space, I got a 4' x 8' white board, and the far end of it became the permanent spot to record profound statements from within our ranks. Here's (mostly) what it looked like, and then some close-ups for easier reading. Finally, my favorite, uttered in a discussion about various shapes of pasta, and whether or not they were really all the same:Here's a sign that was created in the warehouse for reasons I can't recall now, and it eventually found its way into my office.Last thing before I went out the door, I left it on my boss's desk.* "Last Post" - subject to change without notice

She Thinks I'm Late With Her Supper

Saving IN Retirement

I may have saved all I'm going to for a while for retirement, so now I have to concentrate on saving in retirement. I saved 90% at CVS, paying $4.61 for this:

Of course, take into consideration that without sales, coupons, and Extra Bucks, I wouldn't have bought anything except maybe the batteries ($15 in EB when you spend $20). The air fresheners were free and the L'oreal skin stuff was free. If only I knew someone with "Mature, dull skin" to give it to. Hmm...

My savings, alas, at Kroger, amounted to just 27%. I had to buy some stuff that wasn't on sale. A capital crime, for sure, if you ask Coupon Queen.

Here's my Publix receipt -- all 3.5 feet of it! A full foot is listing the coupons that helped me reach over 65% in savings.

The cashier didn't want to use all my soup coupons, but I finally persuaded her that I really did buy 18 cans of soup. I never took soup for lunch at work because it was too much of a pain to heat it up, but I'll eat a lot of it this winter at home.

In the future, I may have to do Kroger and Publix on separate days, although the stores are located virtually next door to one another. By the time I went to two CVS stores, two banks, two grocery stores, and then home to unload it all, I was worn out! I was able to play only three matches of Wii tennis with Phillip.

Fall Inside the House, Too

Here's my entryway table.

Gold and Copper

As promised, the gold and copper that was at a lofty level is now upon the ground, free for the taking.

Here's the end of driveway. Rain yesterday helped bring tons of leaves down before they'd turned brown.