Simple Christmas Thoughts

The trees at work are not looking very good.  I am thinking this might be a good idea for 2013.  Just a basket and a tiny tree.  Some paperwhites.  A poinsettia.  Little clay pots with a very small Norfolk pine seeding in each which can double as tiny gifts if someone walks in with a present for us.

I found the (remainder) of unused Christmas photo cards I have sent in past years.  Now, I can get past the bad choice of photo card I purchased on Black Friday.  Looked ridiculous with my Doodle Trees.  One of the cards would look wonderful with a pencil drawing of a poinsettia and the other with a pencil drawing of a pine tree.  I bought the cards years and years ago.  It's exciting to find things you have forgotten--when you go looking for things you do remember owning.  Age????

My evening (yesterday) at the retail job was a nightmare (towards the end of the evening).  I ran out of gas.  I was unable to cope.  Very close to tears.  And it wasn't anything.  I was just too exhausted to even think, let alone problem solve.  Today at the greenhouse--I enjoyed watering and making decorated wreaths. Every. Single. One. Has. Sold.  Some, just moments after being hung up in the display area.  I am using the end bits of everything we have left.  Just riffing on my imagination.  Good Times.  No Crying.

Needless to say, I won't be doing the retail job again. I'll just buy everything I want before the end of my seasonal job.

Made a huge pot of kale, tomato, potato, bean soup before work yesterday.  Took a serving to work today but didn't eat it so gave it to a co-worker.  She was thrilled.  Home made soup.  She lives alone and will truly enjoy a good homemade soup.

Snow storm arrives in Maine tomorrow.  G has gas for the snowblower and the generator.  He is READY this winter.  Last December he was working--at the end of his own employment rope-- so we were not ready.  He even vacuumed the whole house.  Nice to come home to a clean house.

Nice to come home.  Looking forward to my furlough from both jobs.

Here's A Sample Of Shaker Cabinets & Assorted Things

I am liking the simple vibe here in this kitchen.  Plain, flat, vanilla.  Well, actually a pale, greenish white.  Not that I am moving any closer to actually making up my mind.

G's Jeep went in for a new muffler and it's been three days.  Catalytic Converter.  $2000 plus.  And we still have no idea what is happening.  Parts are supposedly coming from Boston.  On the bus? On foot?

The Jeep "muffler" and the recent carpentry bill have "put me off" continuing on the remodel for the time being.  Sticker Shock and the balance in my bank account.  The kitchen is usable.  It's not time sensitive.  I can wait.

Still no Christmas Tree.  I ordered a fat bottomed 8 foot "wild" tree.  From my very own employer.  So far---silence.  And, no tree.  I'm taking that as a sign.  No tree. This year. Let's see if I can live with that.

I've been making custom wreaths all week.  Some pretty awesome ones.  Not like anything anyone has ever made.  And they are selling.  I stopped looking at the pictures in the book and just made a "version" of what was in the pictures.  Bigger.  Bolder.  Still an 18 inch wreath but the components  are larger.  It's fun.  I made three of my version of Katahdin and while making number four--was told the other three were already sold.  Then I got asked to make a 24 inch version--only with meter balls and a bow.  Wowza was that gorgeous.  Today's version had meter balls instead of berries.  I'm always ready to add or subtract.  So, work has been fun.  We're running out of the "usual supplies" so I am having to use my imagination.  Switch things up.  What I'm good at.

I took an orange pill at work yesterday (the wreath making table is just a bit too low and my back doesn't like it after 7 hours standing on cement)--no rash on my eyes.  I also have been having Trader Joe's Bran Flakes and soy milk for breakfast.  Wow.  They are so good and crunchy even in a bowl of milk.  Being "regular" is such a lovely thing.  We may have to go back and get more.

The days begin with freezing weather.  End with rain and fog.  Travel is dicey.  Visibility is tricky. Just doesn't seem like a Maine December.

Mother and Daughter

Can you tell she has an Apple product that takes pictures?

She will be ticked that this is the one I used and not the "good" picture of me.  But, I can't find that one.  My hair looks nice.  We're both staring at the computer screen.

Now we are on the steamroller ride into Christmas.  No stops.  I worked greenhouse on Friday all day, then retail until 11pm on Saturday and up at 7 for a full day at the greenhouse.  My back was pinging and I thought it would seize up.  I showered, ate some T'day vegetables and stuffing and sat down on the couch.  Last thing I remember was eating my final slice of pie.  Then G shook me awake at midnight so I could go to bed.  Took me awhile to fall asleep again.  I finally got out of bed at 10 this morning (to let G in the garage door).

He's having the exhaust system on the Jeep repaired.  The carpenter was here with his bill.  Yikes. The kitchen designer wants a meeting.  I need to pick out and order my new cooktop, oven and microwave.  This week I am working Tuesday to Sunday.  Today is my only day off.  I paid all the other bills, made up a deposit ticket and G wants to know if I want to go into Portland to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.  I'm thinking I do.

And Then One Has To Accept The Truth

My kitchen is "cottage".  Not rustic modern or any of the other things I wanted it to be.  While I was thinking those thoughts, I was also choosing four over nothing windows (nothing says cottage like 4 over nothing) and asking J to put up a whole wall of beadboard paneling.

Now I have to redefine my plans.  I may even have to include upper cabinets.  This is unpleasant. But in truth, I already have uppers in the two bookcases attached to the vaulted entrance from the foyer. Any kitchen uppers would be on this very wall, alongside the bookcases.  So, actually, they could be just like the bookcases but with a set of doors near the top, or a microwave or an oven.  See how these things slither in?  A wall of "bookcases" pretending to be kitchen cupboards marching along with the fridge in the mid section.  And room on top for plants.  Or birdcages.

When "cottage" was pointed out to me in very stern words by the carpenter -an intervention of sorts----- I had a handful of Cottage Design books right on the bookshelves to refer to.  And I could see that each and every decision that I had made (with ease) was right there on the pages.  The decisions I am having a hard time making--well, that was because they were wrong.

I now know what sort of cabinet fronts to order.  I know what color they will be (white) or (gray green).  I know what the drawer pulls will be.  And--blessed are the unobservant--I know the only choice for the counter tops is black soapstone.  Did you see that coming?????

I don't have pictures--because those are not the kitchen I collected pictures of.  But I will, now.

I will end with a domestic issue a co-worker experienced on the evening of Thanksgiving.  His wife was in charge of delivering corporate gift pies (from a very nice bakery) to employees of her company.  There were five leftover which she brought home.  My co-worker enjoyed ONE slice of chocolate cream pie the night before. Then after all the hubbub of the holiday was past he wandered in search of another slice of pie.  To find that all departing guests had left with a boxed pie (even the chocolate cream with a slice missing) as a gift from the wife and my co worker couldn't even find a crumb of pie to eat.  He mentioned the brief but not pleasant chat he had with his wife.  I think she went out Friday morning in search of a pie.  I cannot imagine the grief from G if I had given away HIS pumpkin pie. And what would you think to get a gifted pie and find a slice missing???