Daily Notes- Monday December 30th. 50 degrees and Rain.

 Image from Postcards from Provence.

I finally got out of bed...it's that kind of day here in Maine... raining, snow is melted the front garden bed is now a pond.  Full of water.

I haven't had breakfast yet and really have nothing to share with you...nothing happening here. I have to eat breakfast, and write checks for a handful of bills.   Select a book to read today.  And that's about it.

Hope your Monday is more interesting.....

Daily Notes for Sunday December 29th. Cloudy almost 50 degrees with snow still on the ground.

 What it feels like..emotionally...here in Maine this morning.  An open road available....under cloudy skies.

I am doing a load of laundry- I needed clean clothing.....it's all in the dryer now.  Tumbling. I noticed a second pair of pants in the wash-  of great interest to me as I had difficulty finding clean pants in the closet that fit me this morning.  With 25 cent LLBean pants- the size label inside is often not helpful or correct...the reason they cost 25 cents.  Anyway, I have on clean pants....a win. And both legs on the pants are the same length.  Another failing at LL Bean.. Matching legs..... And two pair in the washing machine. Also with matching legs.  If I ever get back to wearing size 16 (the size of the other pants in the pile) I will have more to choose from....The fact that I hardly eat anything and still don't fit in those size 16 pants- is a mystery to me.  Perhaps they really aren't size 16.

Breakfast was fine- my coffee has been reheated for a second time and is nice and hot.   I noticed there are two Soccer matches on USA (channel) right now and some American football later..  Actually a soccer game is halfway to the finish as I type.  I haven't turned on the tv as yet....I was foolishly attempting to work on the Sunday sudoko puzzle. I believe they get harder every day as the week goes on- as do the crossword puzzles...which I no longer even try.

This book I am reading- Confessions of a Forty Something F**K Up- is holding my interest- I have read it before- perhaps even twice....before....on pages 140 and 148 are paragraphs that had insight into what I am going thru now...so I plan to go back and copy the words into a notebook.  A self help experience. If I continue as I have been going- I will never get better....I need to face things and get past them.... more like leave them behind and forget them....

I made progress yesterday and cooked- on the new stove--lunch or dinner- the clock has little to zero meaning for me at my age....it was just food and still daylight.  And I ate the food.  Washed my dish and the pan and returned to my seat on the couch.  I take up little space on the planet.

I have bills to pay- I should have written checks last week...but I didn't. Procrastination. Plain and Simple.

Daily Notes- Saturday, December 28th. Cold with a good chance for rain or snow...

 You get a landscape this morning... I read a good enough book yesterday...I recalled in the last 50 pages..that I had read it once before.  I haven't selected today's book as yet....as I am considering doing a bit more handsewing of scraps etc..... Work that requires no thinking.  There are football games.

I have Christmas Day food I need to start cooking and eating before it goes bad. Tomorrow we make pizza. I may freeze some of the Christmas food and eat it in January.

I am having to spell check what I type as the computer now finishes typing words for me....getting to "know" me.

My December desktop calendar is full...not much room for anymore  pasted images or drawings..... I have the new 2025 calendar next to my chair.....ready to go.

I slept well.  I feel rested....but I also feel tired. I think I am bored....I've run out of things that spark joy. I am left with things that do not spark anything at all.  I sit and stare at the wall. Wondering at how I was dumb enough to waste so much of my Life and now- that I have time- I have no energy or interest.

This could be depression....it could just be a lack of motivation.  Could be anything at all. Could be nothing at all.  I still take showers, wear clean clothing, brush my teeth, have an interest in reading, I eat. (when I feel hungry)........watching tv isn't as interesting as it once was......and I will admit to taking books back to the library unread...because the book is boring....I read the good ones cover to cover.

Anyway, I have read the paper, filled in two squares of the daily sudoko and  have reheated my coffee, written to you and  I will settle into the couch....with today's book.   and the pile of scrap cloth....oh, it's Saturday- an afternoon of PBS Cooking Shows.....yeah!!!!!

Daily Notes for Friday, December 27th. Sunshine and 32 degrees

 I was questioning myself on "did I post already?"  but I checked twice and I hadn't. I hope.

Grocery Shopping....and an argument.  Yesterday daughter and I stopped at the grocery and I purchased a  small 3 inch square of cake and a jar of chocolate ganache.  I had previously told son not to let me buy these things... but I was with my daughter and she said go ahead.... this is where the politics of adult children causes me trouble.

I just wanted a slice of cake- a 3 inch by 3 inch square.  Not an entire cake like I usually purchased for the Holiday Season.  One little square.....so...  I had a lecture about that piece of cake and that jar of chocolate.

The thing is this same man was SUCH a pain in the ass as a child.... he actually said I couldn't possibly be his mother as I was not smart enough...I think he was three going on four years old at the time. He already knew how to read but didn't know what the words meant......I always had a dictionary handy with definitions, images and examples suitable to the experience of a three year old...  My Life was a Nightmare.  

Well, I thought it was until he started school...then I really was living in the nightmare (he spoke to ALL adults the way he spoke to me).......until they scooted him up a year (the only teacher willing to have him in class was 3rd grade and he was in second grade) and then into gifted and talented when we moved to Chicago....after testing him to see if he was .....I don't know what they thought he was......turns out he was just very intelligent. And dismissive of people who were not. 

Like me. I just don't think the way he does....but I should have let the high school whatever give me that test after they tested my brother.  They REALLLY wanted to test me. I think I would score high on the opposite side of the spectrum my brother and son are on.  So VERY Opposite.

The book I chose to read after the argument....I didn't like it. So I am going to select another one. And keep doing that until I find one I enjoy reading.........I have my new ice cube tray in the freezer making ice...it's 2 pm....I just had a raisin bagel and whipped cream cheese- now I am having a reheated coffee left over from breakfast time.    I'm calling it lunch.

Thursday, December 26th....Sunshine, snow on the ground and 26 degrees,

 Chocolate Babka.  If only I could teleport this bun from the screen to my house.

I'll be back in a second- my cup of coffee needs to be reheated....... while the microwave heated the coffee I could hear my Son's voice explaining how I hadn't even tried to learn how to use the new microwave"effectively".  I push the number two or three button...the coffee gets hot the oatmeal cooks- why mess with simplicity??????  I did bake those sweet potatoes on the "potato" setting.......months ago.

I got Cookies for Christmas- shortbread cookies shaped like dogs.....daughter said they didn't have the chocolate dogs--. But I like the plain yellow dogs just as much.  I also got cloth napkins- red with white polka dots.... It was a very Merry Christmas....as I am reading a Christmas Rom Com set in England. 142 pages in and no one has kissed anyone.....daughter and I watched rom coms on MTV. 

Betty White never disappoints.  And I read that she ad libs ALL her dialogue even if they beg her to stay on script.  I never missed her and Alan on Password.....before they had even started dating....she was flirting outrageously..

I found a picture of a nice chair in one of the newspaper ads....plan on drawing it later.

Well, I have my coffee to reheat a second time. and my three pills to take....and my book to read. It's gonna be a very quiet day- Daughter might come over later to take me to the bookstore to pick up Tanner and Louise (a book) and we might stop at the grocery store to buy ice cream.....and maybe one piece of cake. For me.

Son said we didn't NEED dessert.....if he didn't resemble my side of the family SO MUCH I would think they gave me the wrong baby when he was born. Who doesn't need dessert???????? But then...he did have to have fat free baby formula....and what baby needs that?????  My Baby.

Merry Merry Christmas To ALL---

I saved this image on the desk top for today.  For each of YOU!!!

We had a delightful time cooking yesterday and the resulting food was so very very delicious..  While we cooked my daughter shoveled the driveway.  About 4 inches of snow.  So a "White Christmas" here in Maine.  Rain is supposed to happen at some point....25 degrees.  Not going to rain at 25 degrees. No Sun.

Today the menu is Christmas Burritos.  I've told the story of forgetting to plan for Christmas Day Food many times.....I made up a Christmas Burrito Story for my children and it stuck.  We love the burritos.

We have no dessert....I wanted to buy or bake something but was voted down by my Son.  He says I have my Chocolate covered donut balls.....and that is true... I saved some for today. Planning ahead I have bottle of wine ready to open.. but might have a nice Margarita instead. Or a Gin and Tonic.

No presents... we each go out and buy whatever we want- 365 days a year---so what's the point?

Flu- and back pain at number one so my Lunch Buddy cancelled her order for Lobsters for the family dinner. They have a tree and gifts....(spell check said they had a tree and GOATS)......I doubt my Lunch Buddy would allow goats in the house to nibble on her Christmas Tree.

That's it for today...the house smells like fried onions...the book I recently read was about a family owned Pierogi Restaurant and they mentioned smelling like fried onions....yep.

Connie...the homemade ones are very sturdy....nothing like the freezer ones..they don't travel well, so I can't send you one....I wish I could..   Merry Christmas to ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Daily Notes for Christmas Eve- Tuesday, December 24th. Cold here in Maine with 4 inches on snow on the ground.

 Pierogi making...Son has everything on the stove.  Production will commence.  These are last year's.

Technically Pierogi is Polish but my Hungarian/Austrian/Slavic family (with a touch of Russian on my mother's side), made them every year on Christmas Eve...... so I continued to make them but the fillings changed as my husband's family made mostly the cheese ones from a dry cheese and the children did not like dry cheese so I used cream cheese and that has been the way it has stayed.  My parents and brothers liked the potato and sauerkraut ones.  I have gone on line  (Internet) and there are also fruit and meat stuffed pierogi.  Actually you can stuff them with what ever you like.

The house already smells like fried onions and butter.

It snowed all night- very lightly and Son and I are hoping we reached the depth where the plow guy comes to clear the driveway.  Five Inches.  The Town has plowed the street.

I need to plug in my table top tree....get some Christmas tunes going.

I have been watching SO MUCH FOOTBALL.  Monday Night Football was quite a DRAG.  How can they always have a boring game- every Monday Night??????? Well, at least the Monday nights I watch.

I've had my oatmeal and read the newspaper...and pretty soon we will be rolling dough and pinching edges and making Rogies.   Ah, the delights of Christmas......and No Gifts.....we decided we don't need anything.

But each other.  Merry Christmas.

Monday, December 23rd- Sunshine and Cold here in Maine. 20 degrees

 Daughter took this picture of the daffodils coming up on the North side of the house....by the front steps. The backyard ones are NOT showing up as yet.  Might not have enjoyed the landscaper walking on them while she weeded.

It's very cold here in Maine but the Sun is shining and the streets etc are dry.  I watched football games all day yesterday while sorting scraps of cloth (wastebasket variety scraps) and stitching scraps one to another until I have a square and then added sides etc..... not a clue as to how any of this works together. None of the colors go together....a true SCRAP EXPERIENCE.

And I don't care.......I imagine this is how women with time and a handful of fabric scraps passed the Winter days by the fire.  No TiVo.  Possibly a radio to keep them company. Edith singing in the background.  I also think I have an opera CD.  Big voiced man.....that should be wonderful as well. Son has driven off to drive the car- he has three vehicles to keep charged up......and have lunch somewhere.

I think I watched ALL the Football games plus got to see Arsenal play Liverpool. (soccer) a different sort of football....so a productive - from my standpoint as an elderly woman- day and evening. I just warmed up my morning coffee for a second time and might actually make a second cup....or not.  I can actually FEEL the caffeine in my blood.

Edith is singing...........about love.

Sunday December 22nd. Sunshine and very very cold here in Maine. 14 degrees at 11am.

 I didn't know the birds would be moving in this little item.  Always nice to be surprised.

Football yesterday was very satisfying... The Ravens won.  I dug around in my tub of scrap cloth and stitched a few strips together.  I might be making fresh new potholders.....or I might NOT be making them. I really don't care.  I left the pressing of the hand sewn seams for today.  I do love to press things.

I limited the number of chocolate covered donut balls.....I sort of want to eat them all at once but know I would be sad the remainder of the time until Christmas...minus donut balls.

A shower this morning and clean hair- even though I am quite sure I forgot to comb it after the shower. I also have on clean clothes.....being old...one forgets to add clean clothes to the list of what to remember each day.......My thermal under shirt is bright blue.  My sweater is charcoal grey.  My 25 cent pants are a dark caramel. The waist needs a new button. My Smart Wool socks are brown.

I slept well....no dreams.  Always a wonderful thing.

I might get Edith Piaf going today....her CD always makes me happy... I also have a stack of Christmas CD's...been awhile since they got out of the closet in the hallway.  Jingle Bell Rock.

I am reading a mystery romance trade paper.....Elementary School... Crazy PTA woman, Hot male teacher, Missing (dead?) Principal.  Narrator is a single mother of a precocious second grader......well versed in using technology as they all are these days.  It drags.......too many characters and more added with each chapter.......character additions can kill any good plot. And the many references to tea bags- I can see this might be the way someone is poisoned.  This is WHY I don't like to read RomCom Mysteries.  Tea Bags.

Well, FOOTBALL and then PIZZA and then...........Hallmark????????  I do not have WINE in the kitchen cupboard.......And a Gin and Tonic seems overboard......Patty did offer me her extra Pot Plant but....I really don't think my lungs need that sort of excitement.  Here in Maine residents can have 3 for "personal" use but not four.  Knowing Patty.... the plants were of maximum size. Master Gardener Classmate. (laughing)

My Bad...I forgot to POST!!!! Saturday, December 21st

 I don't have any of these but that is probably a wonderful thing.....no chance of eating them all. I do have a box of chocolate donut holes.....oh, my goodness.  Three a day...my limit.

It's dismal and cold here in Maine...the sunshine is finally gone.  Furnace is starting up more often.

I have a new cloth project going and will have an image tomorrow for you all.  I am using scrap fabric from the cut offs wastebasket.  Long time Readers KNOW I love using waste cloth to make things. The first one went easily as I had just a handful of scraps-- now I have a small TUB of scraps (via my Executive Assistant)....so many choices.  Start with one shape and sew another to it...then another etc.  

Nothing matches.

America Test Kitchen is on tv right now...PBS has finally stopped FUND RAISING...... I just wish they had the Great British Baking Show on..  That always made me happy.

I had to get up and plug in my table top Christmas Tree.  So nice!!!!! Sparkly.

Later as it gets dark outside I will turn on the two porch wreaths.  I was hoping to watch some British Soccer yesterday but obviously I couldn't find the channel. Liverpool.  That's all for now....take care and stay warm......

Daily Notes 0n Friday December 20th. A Dark and 27 degree Friday ( yesterday was sunny and warmish)

 It feels like this on some Maine Evenings  (usually). The streetlights....  This year the grass is still green.

Well, it's chilly in here and the furnace (boiler) is doing its best to warm the house to 64 degrees. I did have it higher last Winter with husband needing warmth and Son still in California mode. 

I watched a Christmas Movie.....and then I watched the PBS program on the bodies found under Notre Dame after the fire.  Ancient burials.  

Today there is a soccer game on some station...Liverpool.  I like their games best as the people in the stadium sing.  And I like hearing that while I stitch.

Groceries today and I am buying more bananas and navel oranges.  My Dental Cleaning went well. We numbed my teeth first with something I swished in my mouth...also numbing my lips.....I have very nervy teeth and cleaning is usually a terrible experience.  My tech was super happy about me bringing her a book......I had anticipated this and selected something very nice for her. In years past I brought her a book list.....of the books I had read and enjoyed....

I discovered a real trove of unused Christmas Cards...now I need to find them a place to live between holidays.  So I don't forget yet again.

I am getting used to the instant coffee.  

I have my bedsheets in the washer....a place near my feet shredded....the fabric falling apart.  I don't think it was me (but I did make it worse)....my husband had very sturdy toenails and I think he shredded the linen.  I now have to consider mending......or- since I sleep alone- putting the shredded area on his side of the bed.....under his pillows.   Easily done.

Well, it's Grocery Shopping Day and seems like Son is getting prepared.....I also have a heavy book bag to return to the Library.  Some of it read and some NOT.  Now that I am interested in stitching scraps of cloth together to make a square....I am not reading as much.... Liverpool is playing Soccer today...I can stitch thru that.  I hope they sing...I love that.

Sunshine and colder weather on the way....Thursday, December 19th. Dentist.

 Final chair  of the old series I dug out of the trash pile.  If I find a decorating magazine in the library hallway give away thing tomorrow ...I might draw a few more chairs or anything else the magazines have multiple images of......... I really like the drawn lines on this chair......I did a great job. Swoopy.  I am actually the ARTIST I wanted to be.....long ago.  Funny how that happens.

I looked for additional Christmas Cards... no luck as yet.  I am recalling using a lot of them last year or the year prior. Daughter and I might swing by the Book Store and get a second box of the ones I chose. After the Dentist.  (So not looking forward to the Dentist)

I now have an organized sewing room....will I machine sew?  I doubt it.  But when it all goes out of the house- it will be sorted and organized.  I spent some Brain Time...thinking "who would want quilting cloth?"  It's not that popular anymore.  Acrylic (plastic) printed cloth is the "quilt" of choice these days.

I did scavenge a nice box of scraps....cut off pieces-- just floor and wastebasket stuff...sewing them by hand into squares.  Avant-garde Pot Holders.  Why not....I'm old enough to be making Crazy Pants Things. It could be worse..... I could be drinking Gin all day out of a coffee cup.. I recall a few old ladies of my acquaintance that did just that.....Day Drinking while your family thought you REALLY liked coffee and tea..  I usually brought a book to read while they napped. 

So...dentist and then some Hallmark...I watched PBS on the Eiffel Tower construction.  Amazing.  

Well, that's about it...if anyone wants to play Five Questions...send them along and I'll try to answer them.... Can be serious or silly..or both.   Santa (a friend) dropped off a bag of chocolate candy...in the mailbox....treats!!!!!!!! Surprise Treats....the best kind..

Wednesday, December 18th. I missed a day here.......Sunshine and 40 degrees

 Well. I can't recall why I didn't post yesterday- but I DID write all my Christmas Cards.  And put stamps on them and sent daughter off to the post office as one European card needed the European Airmail stamp.  

I used up all the cards....and had people left over....so I will dig around in the card drawer to see if I have a few orphan cards... 

The mail brought ME two cards....one from a lovely friend who I knew from 5th grade thru high school graduation...we stopped seeing each other as often when I went away to college- as her father had the impression that girls who went off to college- and no longer lived at home- were whores.  I was allowed to come to her house (supervised) but that was it.  A few years ago she asked me to call her- iPhone- and we chatted for the first time in many many years.  She was preparing dinner for her husband. On her card she asked me to call her after the holidays. I will.  

Daughter went off to the postoffice and then drove to the next Town to see about a watch we found in husband's collection (her assistant duties).  Then she had new tires put on her car and still remembered to stop and buy me a small carton of coffee cream.  Son had thrown out the carton I had- said it had expired....I guess it had but was still quite okay by my "standards" which he says are questionable.

I switched to the wider screen version of Hallmark...better image...I get two versions of everything. I usually watch sports on the wider version- Soccer and Open Wheel Racing.... but yesterday the Hallmark Christmas Mystery looked very very nice. It was an old one that I liked years and years ago.  

I went down to the sewing room and dug thru the wastebasket and pulled out scraps...made myself a square....very nice....I have more scraps and will be making another square today.....Mindless handwork as I watch Hallmark..

It's Medicare whatever time and I got four phone calls that woke me up.....I hung up on all of them. So..that's the news....My cards are in the mail.....I only had the one package of ten- Daughter offered to go buy more but I said..."I ran out of people".....the address book is full but I haven't seen or heard from people listed there in decades....who knows where they live now.  Or if they are alive.

I do have extra cards in a packing box....and I do make a card (I draw, paint or color) for the neighbors and my lunch buddy. That's enough.  Getting old...it breaks your heart somedays.

Daily Notes- Monday, December 16th. Intermittent Sunshine and 36 degrees

 I just am so fond of the strange and Wonderfull-ness of budding flowers.

Football yesterday was not worth watching....the Pizza was wonderful as usual.  I did fall in to Hallmarks' Trap and watched two Christmas Movies....I did not record them to save...... dismal even with actors I usually enjoy.....This one guy- see him too much and you've seen all his emotional faces...

I also watched an older recorded movie about a woman returning from Iraq without her bomb sniffing dog..  They had worked together since he was a puppy....but she was sent home and the dog had a few more years of service..... I'd seen the movie before- the love interest was a junior version of Tom Cruse. and any long time readers might recall- I am not one of Tom's fans.

I tuned into a  recorded Hanukah movie (really craved jelly donuts it was like that movie where every day was a repeat of the same day) and then carried the book I had chosen to read.... off to bed.  The Wedding People.  7 day loan so needs to be returned on Friday.  Not what I expected.... Woman- College Instructor...arrives, no suitcase......intention is to kill herself.  Hotel is filled with wedding guests.

First 34 pages (endlessly tedious). Describes her marriage, useless tries to have a baby and/or get tenure at the college where she and husband teach  (she would have liked either).  In depth description of her neighborhood Wine Shop and the "tip" jar on the counter. ... and the clothing worn by all the Wedding Guests in line at reception, then contents of her husband's closet at home.  So, very very riveting 34 pages- also included were holiday vacations and the clothing she wore.. on those Ozark hiking vacations.

I actually, now that I wrote all that...can't imagine ANY other book that crammed that much useless info in 34 pages. I am leaving out descriptions of boring sex with her husband and her cat's bowel disorder..  THIRTY FOUR PAGES IN............  

Someone published THIS.....someone at the Library chose it (New York Times Bestseller List) for the New BOOK shelf.  I have made a promise to myself to read ALL the way to page 50.  Unless something fabulous happens- page 50 will be the last page I read.  I imagine any other people having read this far would be offering to run her over with their cars or push her off the balcony of her fifth story room.  Really.  Cover blurb says it's "wickedly funny"...........NO......just 1000% NO.

Football Sunday- Pizza!!!!! Sunshine and 20 degrees here in Maine. Yes! 20 degrees.

Beverley's Quilt.   I now see the quilt each morning. And remember Bev.

I washed my husband's bed pillows yesterday (finally).  Once just to get the down flattened (wet) and hopefully remove some of the waxy residue from his skin that was in the pillow coverings...then a second hot water wash. Which seemed to have gotten all the waxy oil off the fabric....then the dryer...when I went back to  check on them....both pillows were puffed and dry and smelled nice and clean. I had clean pillow covers to zip onto the fresh clean pillows.  Perhaps today I will wash my own pillows....I sort of envy the clean ones of their POOF!!!

I watched a Hallmark Christmas Movie about a Santa Training School.  One of the Santas was actually Santa  (with memory loss and confusion)...I recalled WHY I stopped watching Hallmark Christmas Movies.  This was a new 2024 movie and the kissing was sort of better......on the movie prior to the Santa one the guy actually opened his mouth and seemed interested.

I finished reading my library book.... The Wedding Party.  Next up is Deaver's Tracker book.  Now that CBS has taken the show off...and shoved it into a streaming service.....I can't watch the actual show anymore and wish I had kept the recorded episodes.  I don't know why CBS bothers to create episodic shows.  High Potential is also gone.  Elsbeth remains-- why?  Will Trent is coming back.

Update on the new coffee....One cup a day....like caffeine training wheels. (I got a good laugh typing that). No Open Wheel Racing so just Football Games today with Football Pizza... onion, red bell pepper and black olives as toppings along with pepperoni today.  We might add pineapple one of these Sundays. Or do more mushrooms.  We like toppings.  We also have already cooked bacon...we could add that.

I watched the end of a British Soccer game yesterday.  I still do NOT understand off sides--- which complicated yesterday's game and ended in shoving and pushing and the goalie smashing into the pole on the side of the goal and ...well that looked like it REALLY hurt..

 

Saturday the 14th of December...Sunshine and 24 degrees here in Maine.

 My Thoughts Exactly....Buy The Books.

The SUN is shining... I am having Columbian Coffee (instant but NOT decaf) from Trader Joes with cream and Splenda.  My intention when the Splenda runs out- to just use sugar- I already use sugar in my cups of decaf tea. Or just dump the Splenda and go straight over to sugar.  I am down to two daily pills...a multi vitamin and the smallest size statin that they make... and I think that pill is only a "cover his ass" pill for my doctor. The Statin my husband took was as large as my multi vitamin.

I've had a nice shower and washed my hair....I have a load of clothing in the washer.  I think I passed the point of no return yesterday......on being Listless.  Lifeless.  Have decided Life is short and I need to just ENJOY myself......I'm NOT the one who died. Stop acting like it WAS me.

Son is very happy that the broken riding mower (John Deere) is now GONE.  It got picked up yesterday and now has a new owner..... if you recall husband driving over a full gas can- setting the thing on fire- you now know how that story ends........with the mower no longer in the side yard covered in a blue tarp. Daughter is finished with the Sewing Room....it's all organized and all that is left are the things I cannot decide to keep or let go.  She has the discard pile somewhere..knowing I'm going to say...have you seen.......?  I say throw cloth away and then I realize I needed it....I actually don't NEED anything.

All the SHARP things are in ONE place....so I don't accidentally cut myself.  DebL's cloth and thread is in the living room next to my couch.  Next to ME.  My favorite things to do are to sort, fold and rearrange all that stuff.  My Happy Place.  A favorite  quilt....made for my dear friend Beverly years ago, is now on my bedroom wall behind the Buddha... it came back to me after her sudden death one December.   I got her Christmas card in the mail that day.  The Quilt was on her coffin....Her daughter said it was Bev's favorite thing...that she traced each hand appliquéd leaf with her fingers each day.  (photo tomorrow)

When it doubt, and this is NEW for ME, I let go.  Yes.....I let go.  Time is short- and all those projects etc....I don't have the time or interest for them anymore.  I'd rather fool around with DebL's dyed cloth and especially her thread.......I'm considering a hand lettered sampler (like the ones DebL makes)....Life would be perfect if I had my co-pilot Riley still here underfoot.  I might return to watching Law and Order.  Like going back in Time.

Well I think I should go check on the washing machine and if done- start the second load...

Another Day - 27 degrees with Sunshine...

  A Few Missteps this morning....and the computer deciding to finish spelling words- not the ones I was intending to spell.  I am guessing the new computers are trying to be intelligent.  Guessing at what the person typing might be trying to type.....I'd notice it more if I was typing with our looking at the keyboard. I used to be able to just look at the screen- yep I looked at the screen and the keyboard finished the word before I had a chance to... fascinating.

What am I reading? I finished a book and just started an old favorite- Wedding Party.There are three in a series with books for each of the three women friends.  This is my favorite. Teddy and Maddie.

Daughter brought me a jar of Trader Joe's Instant Coffee.   Columbian.  Smooth and bold.  I scratched the coffee I had put on the shopping list for today....I'm tired of TEA.. Which I am making and drinking just to keep up my daily water intake.  I do feel better when I drink a good amount of water. Not as drifty.

Library and Grocery as soon as Son makes the shopping list.

Daughter has retreated to the Sewing Room to add the stuff we sorted to the color coded storage tubs....I was so very very exhausted by the time we stopped sorting.....I am going to assume I let stuff go that I should have kept but I just wanted to STOP.........at least I didn't have to "justify" the things I said yes to and defend the things I said no to.  Sigh.  We aren't even close to being finished in there..... one happy note- all the framed art I had in that room stacked up....is NOW on the walls.

While there was all in the sorting I tended to gaze a the art......well, Grocery store and library wait for no man or woman... see you tomorrow...unless you make a comment here and I send you a reply?????

Thursday, December 12th. Sunshine after the "Big Storm" blew over and past us. Sunny, 39 degrees and 99% humidity. Green grass.

 Sorting thru the Sewing Room....it took a LONG TIME (and we aren't done).   I had to advocate for things I wanted to keep. Meaning have a reason for keeping....I got to the point of saying "because I want to" (like a two year old)..........I did offload quite a bit and what we kept will be moved into the appropriate color coded tubs.

We found lots of parts etc for the sewing machine.....I don't see myself EVER needing to buy new needles. EVER.  And considering I use the machine about 10 hours per YEAR......NEVER. And sharp pointy things are in their own safe space.  For the first time.  Goodwill is getting quite a few things back...I no longer have an interest in them.  I may have evolved......it could happen.

The light  (sunshine) is very good today so I might give the Annual (missed last two years) watercolor of the Pomegranate a go.... I have the paints, brushes, paper and the Pom ready to go.  And I do need to think about the annual Christmas Card....I have a lovely boxed commercial card...I might just send it.  As the years go by...fewer and fewer cards go out.  I am often saddened by the people who no longer have any contact with me.....drifting away....I miss them.

Deb L- a box of white linen stuff is coming your way- eventually....  Good possibility.   .....we haven't touched the linen closet as yet.... Sam started a box for you. I'll check the tubs of clothing...for linen shirts. and I know two sets of twin sized linen sheets.   Sam reminded me.......

Son printed out a sheet of hexagons for the small art project my former cross the street neighbor asked me to make.  I had been trying to free hand them- which is fine for me but not quite what P wanted.  She wants to remember her grandmother's handmade 30's quilt...Not own it.  My collection of 30's and 40's quilts is moving on to the Antique Market.  The printed sheet of hexagons is perfect. Appreciated.

Well, I actually had quite a bit to say this morning....my cup of tea- in a favorite polka dot cup-- has been reheated twice while I typed this...so I am going to make a fresh cup...read a bit-- perhaps paint or draw or just close my eyes and be old and warm and well cared for......

Another Wednesday....this one dark, dismal and cold. 99% humidity. Rain and wind coming. Power Outages..

 Another of the colored pencil circles.  I have a few more that need coloring.

My hair is finally cut the way I wanted- very short- Pixie Cut.  I showered this morning and now it's washed and short and all is well in My Little World.  Well, it would be well if I had a working whole house generator.......I have the pad and the tanks but no generator. And we have WEATHER COMING.

I watched a program in progress about the guys who went to the Moon and walked around etc.  When asked if they would like to "go back a second time" they all said NO.  No explanation of that answer was in the program.  I'd like to know why they said no.

I watch our new neighbor across the street- she comes out every so often to shovel a bit and then stops and goes back in the house...her husband doesn't shovel.  And they are not putting their cars in the garage.  We have my husband's Jeep in the driveway pullout and my car and Son's car in the garage.  We are still thinking about selling or donating the Jeep.  It might actually come in handy in the snow... I recall it having some snow driving features.  It's the only husband car I never drove...I drove all the others he brought home.  I liked the big Land Rover.  Wish we still had it. Fun to drive. And I hardly ever say that about driving.  I NEVER say that about driving.

I am eating on a semi regular basis these days.....not always what I should be eating...I had a pint of chocolate ice cream while watching tv last night.  High Fat content and zero sugar.  Must be ice cream for one of those new age diets.  Lots of fat and no sugar. Atkins????

I have nothing else to type....the shower has worn me out and I think I need to drink some liquids and sit on the couch and stare at the wall.   Rest up.  Wait for the Storm to blow thru.

Snowed Overnight. Plow Guy came by. Plowed. 26 degrees and no Sun. Haircut Cancelled.

 Remembering when I was folding Stars...this one, I used an old map.  I found the ones folded out of yellow paper but this old map one- was quite lost.  And is now found.

Daughter and I sorted out the paperwork boxes...taxes from the 1960's, all the European taxes, even my grades from college....as many A's as F's.  And not as many of those as I recalled.  I was either not as bad as I thought or the college just didn't give a damn.  There was an "A" next to Tennis... I never went after the first 2 weeks.  I think I should have taken Ballet.  Balance issues in college --I tripped and fell a lot. I still tend to do it if I bend at the waist too much. Bam, I hit the ground.

Daughter says the shredding pile has to sit....and then we will sort it out again...just so we don't shred something and then say- OMG what did I just do!!!!!!!  Been there and done that.

I have a huge basket of laundry to do...mostly Down Filled Pillows... husband's...possibly need to be washed twice.  He was always very "oily".

Daughter pried all the State Quarters out of the cardboard United States Coin Map that husband had...He enjoyed finding and filling the coin slots.  We also have a sheet of one dollar bills... cannot be hand cut. The edges have to be a certain way to go thru counting machines etc.  No idea what to do with them. Useless......in sheet form.  Found a signed baseball- will see if the Twins want it.

We did find quite a bit of crap....some was so worthless that even Goodwill would say no.  But my husband saved it all. We also found the paper etc that goes with all the major appliances and some appliances we no longer own.  We found menus from company events....lots of pens with company names.  

We also found old old family photographs that my children are not interested in... I might package them and send to my brother....he keeps stuff like that.  If reading this Bill or Sue- let me know if it's a yes or a no.  Time to reheat my cup of tea for the second time this morning.....oh, it's nearly afternoon.

Monday December 9th. Usually 9's are lucky days for me. More snow. No Sunshine.

 I have added many pieces of cloth to this over time....and it's past time to add stitch.  Or give up.

It's cold outside and I forgot to turn the thermostat down before I went to bed last night.  Warming empty rooms makes little sense to me.

I watched football yesterday.  I enjoyed watching football.  Our 4pm pizza was delicious.  I did miss the red bell pepper strips....we forgot to buy one on our shopping trip. It should be permanent addition to the list.  I keep thinking I will make a pot of vegetable soup...and then I don't.  Today, it's because I don't have a potato to add to the pot.....how can I run a household and NOT have a single potato?????? I also might NOT have an onion.  We might have used the last one on the pizza.  I do have carrots and celery.

Perhaps Son is going out for lunch and can get me an onion???

I am hoping Public TV will stop fund raising....and go back to regular programing.  Otherwise I am cranking up the cd disk player and listening to Edith Piaf.  In French.

Tomorrow I have to be up early to get my hair cut...9am. Shorter.  Because in Winter I have to wear a hat.

I had my bowl of oatmeal and  tried to find a few numbers fro the stack of unfinished Suduko puzzles. I found a few numbers....not enough to make me feel good about my ability to do the puzzles. And now I am here and feeling cold. Well....that's enough about ME.  How are you today?????

December 8th. Woke to a White December Morning. It snowed.

 In case you actually recall what I write here....This is one block of the box of unfinished pieces I was searching for-  The border strips were hand needle turned.  Usually on long car rides to visit friends....friends who rarely, if ever, wanted to visit Maine.  These blocks had been lost for years.

I will admit this...now that they have been found.....I am not that interested in them... the one here is the one I like best.  The leaves are a nice addition to the block.  They had all been folded and boxed up...I wasn't looking for a box.....which was why I never looked inside any boxes.

My Son is depressed by the snow that fell overnight.  He doesn't like this part of living in Maine. And it's not enough snow for the plow guy to come by.....so snowblower- if it starts.

I finished a good book and started another- a series of three by unknown to me author.  I took a wild leap. I am not sure it was a good idea.  40 pages in, I felt myself drifting away....  Every Summer After by Carley Fortune.

If I continue to drift...I'll select something from the bookcase...something I have already read and loved reading.  It's days like this when I think learning how to knit would have been a fantastic idea.  I am watching cooking shows on the Cooking Channel right now...Pioneer Woman.  Her voice is a bit annoying.  I miss the every day cooking shows....now it's just Sunday Morning.

Nothing much else- it's Pizza Sunday....football.  At 10 pm Tracker. on CBS.

Saturday, December 7th. Very light snow on the ground- temps in the low 20's.

 Yet another chair drawing....I need to walk around the house with the iPhone and gather images for you all.  I am reading a 50% off book- Tessa Bailey- title Window Shopping. ExCon designs a fancy NYC window.  Yep, that could happen.

The chairs are ones from home decorating magazines- photos and then I made a line drawing.  In ink. I recall a class I took in Drawing. (college)....what an opportunity that I wasted....... if I had only drawn five chairs...I might have had a chance......so these are done with zero classwork or education.  The ability came fully loaded but undiscovered by me until late in Life. Each chair seems to have a personality.

I managed to eat actual food yesterday.  I forced myself to make a plate and eat the food. Here at home.

I am very very tired these days... could be age related...or just fatigue....or boredom.  I tend to just sit and stare- the TV no longer interests me and reading....well, the books I have on the Library shelf are not all that interesting.  I managed to find 5 numbers on the Daily Suduko. Then I gave up.

PBS would have had cooking shows for me to watch today.....but they are doing Fund Raising all MONTH.  Trying to sell old people copies of the show they just watched.- some of these "shows" are so old they are in the old square tv format.  It's pitiful.

I have a line up of Hallmark movies to work thru and delete.  Mostly Christmas ones.  Some might get deleted after the first 30 minutes.  The ones where the guy is actually a Prince...falls for the gal cleaning the room, falling off her bicycle, almost getting hit by a car etc etc..  There's one where the Prince changes a flat tire. Hits his head and forgets who he is??????  That might have been a book I read.

So, I need to get started on today.....finish the Window Shopping book.  Start another one.

Sunshine and very cold....26 degrees. Light amount of snow on the grassy areas.

 I very small quilt I made- notice the scissors for scale.  A Doll Quilt????   If I can find it- I'll try to do binding....I can never recall the way to fold the corners.

It's fun to see what came out of the unexpected photo file off the old computer.

I added ornaments to the table top tree....it's very "sparkly" now.

Watched The remainder of Dark something or other  ...the Hillerman Indian Reservation mystery series. I have read the books...So I watched two multi episode stories- now they could have been recorded years ago....but another is supposed to have been offered.  Not sure I arrived in time.  I deleted- the Tivo is now at 20% (mostly Hallmark Movies).  I need to make the call to order the new one...but first find the number.

I was trying to read a Tracker book- but it's about some compound with rules etc very secretive-  I got bored.  So I will move on to the next book..  today is Library Day so I can find a few other things to read- or not....I do have three books in a series I purchased....new to me author.  Always a shot in the dark.

I've been asked by my Son to eat MORE food...yesterday we used my......Air Fryer...to crisp up some French fries in the fridge...  From restaurant meals.  They were wonderful.  I have never used the thing on my own........I have some stuff in the freezer I could Air Fry. Someday.  I've eaten Mussels and Eggplant Parm at two different restaurants.  Not both at the same time.

The Floral Delivery was a very lovely Red Poinsettia from my Bankers.......It's now on the Flower Table with the glass jar of Paperwhites which are now reaching up over the top of the tall glass vase.....green shoots but no flowers as yet....I add water to the vase each morning.. the roots filling and pushing up the pebbles..I admire the flowers each day when I stand at the sink washing our assorted dishes and cups and glasses.  Very very enjoyable.  The flowers and the dish washing.

The Bean Corduroy pants I have been wearing for a few weeks- they get washed---are now too large... the waist.  So I will be sorting thru and finding a new size to wear unless I want the try taking tucks in the waist etc.  Perhaps I should have kept the 14's?????  Nope.

Thursday, December 5th. No sunshine here in Maine- 36 degrees

 My Christmas Gingerbread House.  I decorated a regular boxed doll house and had it at the Library Check Out Desk all the years I worked at the Library.....it feels like  Some Other Life.  Or....more like the Life I am now living is "something other".  Not exactly less...just not what I expected.

I recall a male Library Patron trying to pick a fake gumdrop off the roof of the house....I mentioned to him that nothing on the house was "edible" while he was trying to pry that gumdrop off.........

So, cold weather here in Maine....wet.  The coastal areas are warmer than inland.  So Maine might be having snow today but my coastal part of Maine is having cold rain.  Which will freeze overnight and we'll have ICE.  Lovely.  A Call this morning- A Floral Delivery today.  From Whom???????

The gal that helped me with the landscaping around my house- actually she helped with the WEEDS that had taken over the landscaping......is now caring for 26 cats...  OH!!!!

So..I have to put on my wool socks, make and put my bowl of oatmeal in the microwave, read the morning newspaper, do my sudoko puzzle- try for at least 5 numbers-- wait to see what is coming in from the Flower Shop and then.....add a few more things to the Christmas Tree.  Decorate the sides- I just have things on the front but that's all.  

I didn't want a tree...but now that it's here....I love having it.

Daily Notes a bit late in the day....Everything is just fine...I had a "Road Trip" which began at 11am.

Well, things aren't going as I would like but we will work thru it.... the 48 inch round wreath- (there are two) and the new fake tree daughter and I purchased inside the window.  I can see a few dead bulbs.

We (my Master Gardener Classmate and I)  had a late lunch at Olive Garden after shopping at Kohl's.  I give up trying to spell it correctly.  My Driver had a new store credit card and first use promised 40% off....we got to the cash register- long line with only two open.......and when her purchase were totaled she got 20%.  The 40% was for the DAY she got the card- ONLY that day.  I, personally, would have returned everything right then and there. And asked for scissors and cut the card up.

That's how I roll these days.

My daughter was excited by the large bookstore in the Augusta shopping center ( a one hour drive on I95). Barnes and Noble...we didn't get to go there. She was hoping I would find books there I wanted to read... me, too.  It's a shopping center with little signage and hills and parking and it's actually quite a mess.....more so than I remembered. I don't EVER need to return.  Never.

By the time we made it back to home base, it was dark and the store windows in Town were lighted up and everything looked "cozy".   Well, tomorrow I will post"on time".  

Tuesday, December 3rd. Cloudy with a chance of WET.

 Another Chair.  I have things to take pictures of with the iPhone...but yesterday was very busy here and things were moved out of the Office/Sewing Room and Shelving was taken out the boxes and put together and then storage tubs were taken out of a bedroom closet so I could hang clothing- I have so much clothing......(most of it was bought at the LL Bean employee Shop the one October I worked there...)

I have clothing- never worn as yet- to last me thru to the end of Life.  And all sizes in case I actually attain my perfect weight (doctor's opinion). I am drinking more water each day and peeing quite a bit...so perhaps getting rid of fat cells.  I don't know how it works.  I am wearing new to me clothing.  I feel okay... not perfect by any means...death takes quite a lot out of people like me.  Emotional People.

I have stopped crying...which is fantastic as it was wearing me out.

I watched Three Billboards an FX movie I had recorded years ago... the Tivo let me fast forward thru the commercials.  The plot was sort of all over the place and I wasn't real happy about the ending.  I don't think I have any more recorded FX movies...so I will start in on the Hallmark Christmas ones. And delete them as I go.  Santa might bring me a brand new TiVo if I order one.  One that does streaming and DVR.

Next up will be Netflix or Prime.  Or both.  

Son and Daughter put  two 48 inch wreaths up on the porch...just the white light ones.  The center one would have meant moving the bird feeders in December......where would the birds find food???? so, just the two white ones... the third one is LOADED with colored lights...fantastic looking. Sigh.  We can possible get the birds to eat elsewhere next Spring.

Well, I finished yesterday's book and need to choose today's book from the stack on the bookcase.  I have two library books that need reading. The Tracker ones.

Daily Notes- Monday December 2nd. Sunshine and 31 degrees

 Line drawing for you today.  I haven't seen this particular item in years....but if I find it (again)..I'll finish coloring it.  I really was quite good at line drawing.....I should do more of it.

I watched the San Fran - Buffalo game in Buffalo.  They only shoveled the ice packed snow off the lines. Was a brutally cold game to watch and San Fran didn't have the right clothing. I also watched the season's last Tracker episode.  I wish I had recorded them so I could watch them again...but the TiVo was acting up.

I can see remnants of snow on the ground.  Where the Sun isn't shining.

I had a slice of our Pumpkin Pie last night with the Buffalo game... so delicious.

Not much else going on.  I have the December Desk Calendar to work on.....I don't use that desk anymore- but will once this new iMac takes over.  Right now both are working.  Old and New.  On either side of the living room.

I washed clothes yesterday and then Son washed his laundry,  I keep hoping the Generator People will return and get the generator set up for the Winter Power Outage Season.

Not much else to report.  I am trying to work my way thru a book...it's not holding my attention.  I think my daughter will be taking me shopping tomorrow.  I plan on showing her my Winter Boots and my No Slip Shoes....I might agree to buying a new pair of Crocs and putting the old pairs in the garbage bag. But that is AS FAR as I plan to go.

Sunday the First Day of December. Sunshine here in Maine...38 degrees. It snowed in Maine but not here.

 I am trying to work my way back to the sewing room to "Find Things" but until THEN, you get colored pencil circles.  And tomorrow you get a chair drawing....(there are quite a few chairs from that period of my Life).

I am off to a late start because Son and I watched Open Wheel Racing.... now I have some cooking show on which sounds annoying so I will be moving on to something else or reading my new paperback. Until a football game I want to watch comes on.....

I had to sort thru a box - a large box---of images I had  (I turned off the tv yesterday evening) cut from various magazines... Daughter had given me that task.....now it's done...and I have a plastic storage bag full of images for my desk top calendar pages in 2025.  She also returned my Doll House Furniture... why she wanted it is beyond me.

We (daughter and I) are going shopping- she says---for Winter Weather Shoes (non slip) this coming Tuesday.  Not very interested. As I have non-slip restaurant shoes I wear in the Winter and they are still great.... if I had thought to wear them on Thanksgiving-- I would not have slipped and fallen on the ice covered grass.

I had a shower this morning...washed my hair with my new shampoo....excellent.  Everything I have on is clean.  And everything I HAD on is in the laundry basket waiting to be washed.  

Birds are feasting on the birdseed on the front porch.   I need to finish my Swiffering of the kitchen floor. And eat some lunch before doing that.... that's about it for this Sunshine filled Sunday in Maine.