Having Missed The Noreaster

We are sitting here under cloudy, wintery skies but no additional new snow. The rest of the northeast has inches and sometimes feet of new snow. I'm not complaining.

We had reasonable sales yesterday, but things were slow in the greenhouse. I added and subtracted wardrobe items to maintain a certain range of warmth. The management had decided to provide pizza in the lunchroom (so no employees would drive off during the lunch break). Somehow, people (former employees) knew there was pizza and came in to visit. I had a last minute customer and had to repot a Myer's Lemon Tree at 20 minutes to 5 (closing time) into a very large pot. And give detailed play by play as I potted. Performance Theater. I was so very happy to get home last night and take a long, hot shower. So happy.

I found a used Scrabble game at Goodwill for $2.99 and now have these sitting nearby. I saw something like this on a blog. The tile holders were cut and the tiles glued on and string added to make little Scrabble tree ornaments. Noel. Joy. Pine. Santa. Elf. Star. Snow. Merry. All available on Etsy. For quite a bit of money. I never buy what I can make.

What I want to make now is a felted wool hat. But there are no wool sweaters left at Goodwill. Everyone in my town has gotten on the felted sweater bandwagon. Or just one person hogging all the sweaters. I'll keep looking.

I have two errands for today (JoAnn's for some fake sheepswool for dog bed covers (my 50% coupon) and Big Lots for white bowls I saw last week and didn't buy). I have to finally get the lights on the tree and perhaps hang a few ornaments. I'll adore it when it's finished. I always do. And bake the Spaghetti Bread for G's work potluck, which is tomorrow. I also need to order something from Williams Sonoma for myself. Neither of my children want anymore cookware and that's the ONLY thing I enjoy buying. So they are getting nothing. Which is fine with me.

Monday, tomorrow, is my last day at work for 2009. I am hearing rumors that Maine's unemployment department has a couple of weeks delay in accepting and processing claims. Checks aren't being sent out on time, either. I will make an attempt to file next week and see if I get any return of all the unemployment taxes I have paid here in Maine for over twelve years.

Riley woke up early and was quite vocal about wanting G to wake up early, also. Riley wants to go for a walk. Sam took the dog for a lovely long walk yesterday when she came to dog walk and played "bucket and stick" games with Riley afterward. So he isn't deprived. But Riley does LOVE to run off leash with G on the Town Commons. I always walk him on the leash. So G is his only possible "off leash" walker. And today is Sunday. G's day off. All Riley can think of is "WALK" and the sooner the better.

I just remembered I have curtains to take to a friend who needs curtains to hang over drafty doors. I learned this trick in Germany and have hung a heavy fabric curtain over outside doorways, cutting off any drafts. The curtains are easy to pull out of the way (on rings) when opening the doors. I also have curtains hung across open hall and doorways inside the house. They remain up all year, but pushed to the side in warmer weather. Now the curtains serve to stop drafts and keep warm air inside rooms we are sitting in. I saw some very, very old curtains in an antique shop in Europe. Very heavy and thick. Padded with horse hair and straw. For a castle doorway or window.

My list of things to do is growing longer every minute I sit here typing. So I'd best stop. Ha! Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. A good day for a bonfire.