BEST OF 2010

I was reading a forum about what the best thing that happened to a person in 2010.

What would you say?

Most of the answers were either a quest or a new person, whether it be baby or daughter/son-in-law. One person said that made it through it. Gotta think about it? :)

When I asked Tom, he said, "My wife got up every morning to go fishing." I was certain he would say he bought the optical shop. He stated although it made working much easier....it wasn't the high light. I am grinning because the first thing I thought about was catching a small mouth bass.

Many friends have taken trips, not only in the states but to Europe and beyond. Is that your case?

Surgeries? Certainly, for many, life changing.

Think about it. And I will too.

Happy New Year.

e

ITS A MIRACLE!!!

If you are not a person who watches LIFETIME channel and sat for hours watching soppy movies about Christmas, this post is not for you.

There is no blood and guts, no shootum down, roundum up. No horror, mini mun discussion about DNA and hardly a cell phone ringing with a new clue to some gruesome task. No one is on a slab in the morgue being cut open.

But they are in hospital beds
They are mending broken relationships
Santa in some form helps a little kid
Old people kiss without falling out of wheelchairs
Cooking is a family affair
There is always the prettiest tree, regardless of how ugly.

And then, there is the miracle. Regardless of where the story takes place, it always snows on Christmas Eve.

Now Kansas had mild winters. Sure we had ice and snow--just wait a few days. The parking downtown was saw tooth and wasn't cleaned out. I think the city had a teaspoon to clean all the streets. If you had a slope on your drive way, most likely your car would slide back into the street. Sometimes you couldn't get your car in the driveway, so you parked on the lawn were it would stay put.

I remember one year, before there were children in our household, my parents and grand parents all came for Christmas. There was no snow. And it gets pretty dirty looking on a cloudy day. I always said my family brought the snow and believe it or not, it seemed like a miracle.

Grandpa Benhard was getting up in age. I suppose he was 95 or 96 when he sent $5 to be spent on the two children. We bought a saucer sled. But there was no snow.

In North Dakota there is always snow on the ground at Christmas. The sledding hill near the dike is open for sledding and the warming shed is available at normal hours.

So if you live in a balmy sunny place like AZ, FL, or CA, maybe a miracle will happen and you will have snow this Christmas Eve.

e

THE GIFT OF GIVING INFORMATION

It is so important for all of us to realize that we gift to others with more than something physical. Two things happened in one day. One received and one blessing.

Before I go on, let's remember this: The one who receives gets the gift; the one who gives the gift gets the blessing. Let's not break the circle.

I rant and then, I rant some more. If a professional doesn't answer my question, I will stew about it.

So I went back to the eye doctor today. I already knew glaucoma was looming. No big deal to take eye drops at bed time and grow long eye lashes. But I have asked and asked "Why can't I see better out of my left eye"? I even beat my Sweet Thomas up about it. No one answered.

But this morning, I got the answer. The reason Tom could keep pushing the lenses to see better before cataract surgery was because he had a different kind of cataract. Okay. Now I know. Walk on.

I went to the pharmacy to get a prescription. While there, I saw a scrap booking lady. We were talking about die cuts, cameras, cell phone pictures and why people fill up camera cards without down loading them. Since she works with groups, she already knew the answer. Takes too long to delete them once on your computer. And I told her what I do.

Load the photos
Inside that folder (the are generally dated)
Make three folders
1. great
2. good
3. bad

Move pictures accordingly. Delete the bad folder. Keep the good to look at again. And you know the great ones caught your eye when you saw them, print time or put them on a disk. Her eyes got wide. Odd, isn't it, I have been doing that so long, I didn't give it a thought.

This is idea gifts. Try it, you will like it.

e

THE GIFT OF TWO HUNDRED PENNIES

Yesterday, we talked about the supper on Christmas Eve.

Today, let's talk again about giving out of one's necessities not out of one's luxuries.

My grand parents saved there pennies. Grandma said of her husband Benhard, he could squeeze a penny so hard it turned into a nickel. I can hear her as I keyboard.

Their were five grand children: Greg, Bruce, Judy, myself, and Jim. Each of us got 200 pennies. I can't remember how they were presented.

Now, I am not a big fan of giving money as gifts but I am a great fan of appreciating what you get.

Which brings me to a friend in MI who is house bound. SHe gives money to her children, their spouses, and her grand children. She has found several clever ways to present the gift.

I adore this women. I wish I lived next door to her. [[I have a really hard time tooting my own horn]] but thought, I could make cards for her to put the cash in as a gift to her. When I asked, she accepted after a little wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll oh my. I tossed out another idea for next year!

The fun began. I asked her what they did, liked, or collected. Once the cards were finished, I mailed them to her. She wrote to say she knew who each of the cards were for. I had listened. And besides, when else would I have a chance to say, NYUK, NYUK, NYUK for the son in law who likes the Three Stooges.

It was a way to give a gift of 200 pennies. And by that, I mean, something given in love.

e

MEATLOAF, REALLY?

A long time friend in Texas wrote to say they were hosting family for dinner during the holidays. He will cook.

He said he was having meatloaf and scalloped potatoes. He would use his mother's recipe. I felt a shiver as I read it, as that is what grandma always had for Christmas Eve supper. Her meatloaf was bits and pieces of meat and potatoes she had frozen and saved to make enough to have meatloaf for eleven. Daddy said she cut it so thin, you could see through it. The plate was passed once with only enough for one slice and passed again when everyone had cleaned their plate.

The point I want to share is this: It was a feast. They not only fed us, but waited on us and ate AFTER we were finished. They were the pure hosting couple.

They gave out of their necessities not out of their luxuries.

e

I SHOULD NOT BE BLOGGING....................

..................rather, I should be running in circles and screaming.

WHY?

Well, it is like this, for generations, if you wanted to give someone a photo, you sent it in and had copies made. Same with slides. No problem, except for the wait. Many times you could get a two for one deal and have that extra print without the price of the additional processing.

It all started when My Sweet Thomas was cleaning the basement and I helped. Now, you have to understand that cleaning the basement appears to be more than dust and sweep. For us, it turned into a major sorting project. That is when we found two radiator keys, an unknown key, a bolt for the French doors, and a tiny box of slides.

What sildes, you ask? Assorted. But two of Tom's pink Lincoln, and one of a mounted Wood Duck, which was a gift to Darrel, he brother.

Now some grown ups, when they have been together for awhile, say Christmas is for children and forget everyone has a child like heart, it just depends on just where or how deep it is buried. Tom's shows up and I grab the chance to go with it.

Oh, how he talked about that pink Lincoln. I thought about how much teasing grief he gave me about a yellow truck-- now I can get him good. TEEHEE

Of course, I have to get the slide into a photo to print. I own a marvelous Epston Scanner which does pictures, negatives, and slides. Of course, this is all electronic crap ola and has to be installed. It was installed in a lap top computer which has come and gone, rather given away.

I got the slides out and the scanner out and all of the lights came on but when I tried to plug and play into the mini lap, it didn't work. It was going to require software, where was that?

I rummaged about for well over an hour, looking in places I normally put it. I did not find it so I went up stairs again to see how we were doing on virus scan and Window updates. My mind cleared and I remembered that all software that came with an item was stored in the folder with the directions on how to run it.

In the big desk, filed under scanner was the software.

BUT

The mini lap, as some of you know, does not have a DVD drawer. Now where was that DVD Memorax thing? There are three bags, or cases, if you will: One is lime green and has the Mini lap in it, and the other two are black. I didn't see black 2 when I pulled black one off the shelf. Nope, that wasn't it, that was a portable DVD player I bought to use at the nursing home. So, I brought it down stairs and there was a small bag--indeed, it was the Memorax unit I needed to load the soft ware into the mini to run the scanner. Let's hope it works because it is not blug and play.

Once on the mini, I will flash drive it to an external unit and print it on the big printer.

Keep in mind that the only reason I would do this is because Tom needs a little child like junk in his life, too. We all do, in fact, it brings magic to me, as well and I hope I am never married long enough to him not to find something that makes him smile. And I hope that for all of you, as well.

I put the bolt on the French door, the radiator keys are in the drawer in this big honkin' desk, and when finished with the slides, I will put them in one of the boxes marked TOM'S SLIDES.

CAN'T DO THAT!!! WHY NOT?

In defensive of myself, there are many things I know how to do. And then, there are other things that Tom does and I haven't paid attention. Like I said, he was tired last night and the dish machine didn't get done. SO this morning, it was on my mental list to do. It is a portable and although I am not found of portables, this one only has to be run every few days and since I don't do it, it doesn't really matter does it? Have I lost you yet? Well, I put in the detergent, I plugged it in, and I turned on the water. On the front panel, three lights were blinking; light wash and heated dry, and the start button. Okay, something was not right. Instead of reading the directions, I called Tom. No answer. I called Tom. No answer. I turned off the water. Read the directions. I called Tom. I had already read the instructions, unplugged and re-plugged in case there was a glitch. I had to press cancel, he said. Well, he wasn't all knowing either, because, as we all know, when we do something automatically, we don't think about how we do it, we just do it.

By this time my brain was remembering telling oxygen patients to unplug the machine, count to 20 and plug it back in. So we started over. Tech support for computers tell me to turn the phone line around. :)

"Press: Light wash", he said
(I was following him to the letter--not trying to be a poop). Nothing.
SO he says, "What lights are on"?
And I say, "Light wash".
And the phone is very quiet.
So I asked him, "Do I press start NOW"?
"Yes", he said.
Dishes are washed.

Tom had asked me a month ago, did I want a new camera, a flat screen, a very nice rod and reel? I could not commit. So the other day, he gave me a 'bonus' and told me not to spend it on anyone but myself. That is really hard for me to do.

I actually made my decision based on what I could do better if I had better tools. Not that it would make me more creative, if it isn't there, it just isn't there. I feel the camera has a couple more good years in it. I am not ready to up grade, I prefer not to spend that much time watching TV, I am not a reader unless I am looking for information. I thought about a bigger computer screen but mine is big already and it took a while to adjust to it. I don't need a new computer or another computer. I am not interested in a fancy cell phone with huge charges because I don't talk on the phone that much. But what I like to do, that is, what I get lost in, is scrap booking and card making and that sort of stuff. Last summer, Circut© came out with a new unit that puts texture into the paper. It can and will color the display. One can design and get some depth to the look. And I knew I was craving that when some of the cards got so fat this year I had to put them in padded envelopes. :).

So yesterday I spent time on line reviewing videos about the product and making notes on what it could do. Reviewing sights and learning what I could. It seems like a good bonus for me. Because the cartridges are so costly, I spent a lot of time on EBAY bidding on units, which, in the end, where 75% less than the highest price I saw. The idea is to build an inventory at the least amount of cost. The machine also allows the use of the cartridges I have for the little unit, which in its day was the top of the line. The bottom line is always, "What is it going to cost"? I would like to have it in place so I can make the first card for Tom in late January.

Oh, and another thing I couldn't do was read the old thermostat. But we put one in that makes sense and has big numbers. It won't be so bad if the old one wasn't so high on the wall and so tucked in behind something. Even though I can read it, I leave it alone. I know that at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, it is going to be cool. That is just the way it has always been.

Until a few months ago, that is, until I was trained, I could never get the 1.2.3 of just how Venetian blinds worked either. Tom showed me in a ring master type big movement way, so I know how now. :). It isn't the opening and closing, it isn't the going UP , the problem was in the coming down.

And those are my true confessions for the day.

Loving thoughts.

PS For those of you who are on a first marriage, you most likely did not negotiate house assignments. I cook, Tom does the dishes. One doesn't spend 25,000 minutes on the phone before you are together without some sort 'who does it'.