Happy New Year!

I have been lax in posting this past month. It seems life has handed me a plate full, and it has taken some time to clean it all off. I am happy to report that there is a new roof on the house, and the bedroom wall and ceiling have been replaced, and the whole room painted and done. I put the finishing touches on today, cleaning and putting everything back in. I can start the new year with a clean slate as far as home projects are concerned. Pictures will be coming on the blog soon.

I must say it has been an intersting year. Some good and bad things have happened. Some bad things that really turned out to be good things happened. And some things I really thought would be great, didn't happen. All in all, it has been a pretty good year. I have realized that in life, things are really neither good, nor bad, they just ARE.

I don't usually make any New Year resolutions, as they tend to last maybe the day. I did make one this year, and that is to wear my partial. I know it sounds weird, but I hate that darn thing, and if I don't start wearing that thing soon, and all of the time, I will be the toothless wonder at the next New Year's party. Did I tell you how much I hate that thing? It just gets bigger and bigger the longer I wear it and by the time the afternoon has come, I am gagging. The dentist has, trimmed, tweeked, and adjusted to the point that there is hardly any of it left. So this year, I SWEAR...I will wear that thing, just as soon as I find it.

I hope all of you have the BEST NEW YEAR, and it is full of joy, love, laughter, prosperity, and adventure!

The Boar's Head Festival

I had the wonderful experience of attending a Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival this evening. It's perhaps one of the oldest festival celebrated during the Christmas season. One of the first festivals on record is that at the Queen's College, in Oxford in 1340.

In Norman England, the boar was a ferocious beast and sovereign of the forest, and was a danger to all, and therefore a symbol of evil. The presentation of the boar's head at Christmastime signified the triumph of the Christ Child over sin. The fresh yule log, lighted by last year's ember, and representing the warmth of the family fireside, has, from the earliest times, marked the rekindling of love as the old year passes and the new one is born.

Long rooted in pagan times, the ceremony of the Boar's Head became a part of the Christmas celebration in the great houses of the Middle Ages. The Christian Church endowed the custom with symbolic meaning and elevated to a Christian ceremony.

I have to tell you it was one of the most fabulous things I have seen in a long time. This Church that put it on, prepares for a year, designing costumes, and sets. There was a full orchestra, and ballet, and choir.

The program started out with the Boar's Head festival, and then transformed into a regular Christmas Pagent with the story of the Christ Child, and then at the end combined both.

It was moving and spectacular, and if you have one of these Festivals in your area, I highly recommend attending one. The rich history, and pagentry are well worth it.

Breaking News

During the local news last evening, there was a breaking news story of a hostage situation in a small town southwest of the city. They said there were more details to follow as soon as they came in. I didn't hear any more of the story, until I got into work today, as most of the people I work with are from that town. I figured they would have the scoop. See if you think this is as funny as I do.

In a nutshell, there is a man in that town known for going "postal" a couple of times a year. He has been known to take his girlfriends hostage when this happens. Last evening, a neighbor saw him outside of his house with a shotgun. He had shot it into the air. The neighbor called the police.

The police came in force, along with a swat team. They cordoned off one square mile surrounding this mans house, pretty much shutting down all traffic through and around this small town. They brought in a tank; Yes, a TANK, and positioned it to where it was pointing at this man's front door. My friend's grandmother was out in her yard, and some swat team members ran through her yard and told her to get inside, and told everyone they saw to take cover. They positioned snipers on some of the business roof tops fixing their aim at this guy's house. After some length of time calling the said person, and using megaphones shouting for the man to come out, with no answer, the police fired some sonic thing breaking all of the windows, and blowing the front door off the house. Tear gas canisters were lobbed into all of the windows filling the house with smoke and tear gas. Swat team people stormed into the house, weapons ready to fire.

Right about this time, the man who was supposed to have had the hostage in the house comes driving into town, to discover that he has no doors, windows, and a tank pointed at his house. He had been with his girlfriend in another town, at a hotel, having a romantic getaway.

I just think the visual of all of this is just hysterical.

If my Grandmother were still alive, she would be saying about six novinas and about three rosaries for me right about now. Gosh I miss Grandma.

Color Crisis

All of the sudden I have been thrown into having to decide what color to paint the bedroom that had been damaged when the tree fell. I wasn't even thinking of color choices for that room, as I hadn't planned on painting and remodling that room until next spring, but Mother Nature had other plans. I have no idea what color I want. Today I went into Home Depot and looked at the color charts. I stood there and got cross eyed. Nothing popped out at me. HELP!!!!

The Christmas Lunch

A few years ago, our office stopped having a regular Christmas party. We all agreed that finding an evening suitable for everyone, and dragging along our significant others, and the Christmas exchange was something we could all do without. There is enough to do this time of year. Instead, we have a Christmas lunch, enjoy one another's company and catch up on what is going on in all of our lives. We all work at the office on a part time basis, and sometimes touch base only a couple of times a year.

This year it was at a very nice place downtown. As we were all being seated, I noticed a large table of the Red Hat Ladies. They were all decked out in purple and red, and of course, each had on a red hat of some kind. Some even had on Santa hats, as after all, they are red! They all looked so cute. Each had a snowman in front of their place setting, wearing of course, a red hat. I was seated in a spot where I could watch the ladies having such a good time.

I could see in their eyes a youthfulness that was still there, even though it may have left their bodies some time ago. I wonder what adventures and stories each of them may have had. I bet some were quite the "looker" in their day. Some might have been athletic, or a savvy business woman, breaking barriers and paving the way for the young women of today. As they got up, some walked slowly, some had canes, some were just as spry as they could be, but all of them had dancing eyes.

I wondered after they left the restaurant where each of them might be going, and wondered if some were going home to their families, or were some going home to be lonely once again. Was that the highlight of their week or month, the meeting of the Red Hats?

Suddenly I was kind of sad.

Progress

We have had a nice break in the weather and the construction people started with tearing off the damaged part of the roof first. There were two large gaping holes up there. As I was down on the ground asking how things were going, they said that the old chimney that was in that part of the attic was the only thing that held the house together. The roof was sitting on it. Had it not been there, they said the house probably would have collapsed.

I was going to take that old chimney out this past summer, and the chimney that was in the bedroom up there, but never got around to it.

Sometimes being a procrastinator has its rewards.

Word For the Day

Overwhelmed

Finally!

The Tree

With all of the goings on around here, it has been a bit frustrating. It's been a hurry up and wait kind of thing with the insurance adjustor and contractor, waiting for all of the facts and figures to come in. None if it is looking that good at the moment.

So I figured while I waited for all of that, I would put up a Christmas tree, and occupy myself with decorating the tree, and some of the house for the holiday. I haven't decorated in a few years, as I am alone and what was the point of putting a tree up, getting all of that stuff out just for me, and then having to put it all away again. I enjoyed admiring other people's trees and that was good enough for me.

I went to the Home Depot the other evening to see if I could find a live cut tree. It was dark, and very cold, but not too late in the evening. I was the only one out where the trees were, which I thought was kind of odd. I had the whole garden area to myself to walk around and look at all of the varieties of trees they had available. Let me tell you it is hard when you are short and have short arms to hold a tree, stand back and twirl it, to make sure there aren't too many big bald spots and decide on the right tree. After getting some help I shoved the tree in the car and headed for home. Thank goodness for those net gizmos that "condense" the tree.

After the tree "relaxed" in the house for a while, I started decorating it. I could feel my mood change as I pulled out the lights, and ornamants. I was actually excited!

Memories flooded with each ornamant I pulled out. Some I remember as a little girl on our tree, some I had made, and some given to me over the years by friends and family. They all went up, even the ragged looking ones that have seen their better days. I discovered when the lights were low, even they looked beautiful with the lights reflecting off them. You couldn't tell the scratched ornamants from the brand new. They were all beautiful in their own way, and made the tree complete. Hiding or throwing them out would be almost like hiding parts of me that were scratched and dented. All of those parts made me who I am today too.

I'm glad the tree is up. I think it is perfect!

Grrr the pictures won't post. Stay tuned......

When things aren't going very well I tend to get domestic. There must be something comforting about baking a pie or cookies, or popping pork chops and squash in the oven.

Maybe it's the memory of when I was little, and Sundays we had a large meal that Mom put in the oven before we went to Church, and when would would get home, all she had to do was pull it all out of the oven and serve. The house would smell so good. Maybe it's because of the meal, and the smell, and all of us together I felt safe and nothing bad was ever going to happen.

Maybe it's just keeping busy doing things to keep my mind off of the real things bothering me.

Maybe it's only because when I'm upset or worried I eat, and what a better way to solve that problem is to bake.

Maybe it's because...

Icing On the Cake

The icing on yesterday's cake was at about 11:00 the power went out in the area for over four hours. I called to report it, and of course, got a recording where you punch in all of these numbers. After I punched in my account number the recording says: "For security purposes, we are only going to give you the first six letters of your last name." The voice then proceeded to spell out my last name; "XXXXX, is this correct?" I only have five letters in my last name, so the whole last name was said. I sat there with the phone to my ear with this dumbfounded look. Some security! I got the biggest chuckle out of that thinking of how many people have last names that contain less that six letters, and how secure they think they are being. Smith and Jones are out, so is Brown and thousands of other last names. Isn't that like hiding in the middle of the room?

Why, I wonder, do they do stupid things like that? Psst....Electric Company?

Rude Awakening

I was awakened in the middle of the night by a very loud crack, boom, and rumble. At first I was hoping it was lightening and thunder, so I layed in bed and hoped to see lightening. No such luck. When I went upstairs, this is what I found.