I had done most of our regular shopping yesterday, running into the mob that I hoped I might miss: nope, everyone was stocking up in case it snowed Sunday night. So when we went to Publix today it was only for incidentals: K cereal since it was on twofer, "spots" Bandaids because I haven't yet found a pair of glasses that doesn't hurt my nose, our favorite trail mix we keep in the vehicles, and a few other things. Then we crossed Macland Road so James could get gasoline at Kroger (I had filled up at BJs when they still had gas) and I ran in to get a paper and more birdseed since it was on sale.
A funny: we brought our reusable bags in with us, but at the Publix checkout counter I told the guy I wanted plastic. Why? Well, because while James wears ankle-high boots to support his ankles all the time, all I have are leather Reeboks. No boots. However, plastic grocery bags over shoes will do in a pinch.
We also stopped at Lowes. I had no illusion that we could find an actual snow shovel; they don't sell them regularly around here, and if there were any, they disappeared yesterday. However, we did find a flat-edged shovel rather than the spade we had. Again, will do in a pinch. Also got two sale bags of bows.
Back at home, I went out on the porch to take any cloth or wood Christmas decorations down. Otherwise they would get wet in the snow/freezing rain and take days to dry. But James followed me out, so we ended up taking down everything, the lights, the wreath, the Moravian star, etc., and putting it all away. Then he got the winter boxes down, so by three o'clock the porch was redecorated for winter: snowmen, snowflakes, a mini-sled and -shovel, and a pine wreath with silvery leaves and a blue-silver bow. I also pulled the candoliers from the front windows and replaced them with hospitality candles.
Then we finished the cleanup from the Twelfth Night party last night: James loaded the dishwasher and wiped down the counters and put the boards away, and I cleared off and wiped the table down and moved it back into place, and vacuumed the upstairs again, and cleared off the coffee table. I also sorted the bows: I save the gold, red, and green ones for Christmas and use the other colors on birthday/other gifts.
By the time this was finished (we had squeezed a short lunch in there), it was nearly time for dinner. I sat and read a couple of mystery short stories, then went out to refill the bird feeders (one was nearly emptied after being refilled at 1 p.m. this afternoon—the birds were definitely stocking up on food against the cold!), and James started dinner going (plain rice and a Hormel dinner).
Showing posts with label parties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parties. Show all posts
09 January 2011
13 December 2009
A Day of Lights and the Glitter of Tinsel
Oh, it's been a busy weekend preparing for Christmas.
Usually I put up the tree on my birthday, which was Friday, but James hadn't brought the tree upstairs yet, and I still had the Rudolph tree to put up. So I did so, and had to fix a couple of other things. Then I cleared off the coffee table so it would be ready for me to sort out ornaments.
I felt myself starting to obsess about this and had to slow myself down.
We had to get up early for Hair Day on Saturday, as our hairdresser, Sheri, was going to a Christmas party. We brought cornbread to go with the main dish, different kinds of chili (Alex made three! a white turkey chili, a regular chili with pork, and Cincinnati chili), and gingerbread (unlike Sook, it's not "fruitcake weather" for me, but "gingerbread weather"). Before we went to the hobby shop, we stopped at Kroger for milk and things. No worries about the milk staying in the truck; it was colder than the refrigerator outside, a chill day with temps in the thirties.
While we were at the hobby shop I took the opportunity to go to the hardware store across the parking lot and buy a space heater for our bathroom. With that big picture window in it, it's never warm enough in there in the winter. (Saturday night it was about 57°F in there; in 16 minutes it had raised the temp 10 degrees.) The owner was exceedingly grumpy that I used a coupon and that I paid with my credit card.
We were keeping an eye on the weather. We were supposed to drive out to Birmingham tonight to our friend Shari's Christmas party, but they had been predicting a hard rain since Thursday. Now, as the forecast settled out, it looked like the periods of rain were supposed to be worst at 5 p.m. (when we would be driving out there) and 1 a.m., when we would be coming home. Plus, last year we went to Hair Day and Shari's party on the same day, too. Between Ron and Lin's cats and Shari's cats, I ended up riding home from Birmingham with a burgeoning allergy attack.
So we reluctantly decided not to go, and instead stopped at BJs on the way home for something we'd forgotten, then came home. We had one of those Hormel packaged meat dinners, beef with bourbon sauce, with some white rice. Pretty good. Then we moved the rocking chair into our bedroom and James brought the tree up, and the box with the ornaments, and I commenced to decorate, since we wanted something Christmasy.
I just took my time. I didn't start until after eight, and we had to fluff the tree and, ::sigh::...get the lights working...parts of two strings were out...we just pressed at them; the bulbs must have been loose, because that did the trick. And refasten the lights to the branches, as taking the tree up that narrow staircase isn't conducive to tight lights. LOL. I was even on chat for a while as I put the last set or two of ornaments on the tree. You see, James found a chat program for the Droids. He set his up, then helped me set mine up. Yep, I can chat on the phone now!
I just decided to wait until today to put on the tinsel. James said last night, "You know, you don't have to put on tinsel." Well, yeah, I do. Our trees always had tinsel. [By "tinsel," I mean silver icicles, of course.] My grandparents' and relatives' trees always had tinsel. Garland is okay for the smaller trees, but it's not really a Christmas tree to me unless there's tinsel. It makes the tree live, and breathe.
(We were talking about tinsel last night on chat. Jen said she had only ever know the light, mylar stuff. Pretty much so did I. Lead tinsel was banned by the time I was growing up. I had relatives who still had it, because as a prudent, non-wasteful person, you removed it from the tree and returned it to its holder till next year. In fact, we did the same with the mylar, unless it got too wrinkled. And I did so when I moved out on my own. But the tinsel they're making today is thinner than the mylar tinsel from back then. It's like that fluffy "angel hair" that was once popular for trees. It's so thin and frangible that I have to remove it after Christmas and toss it. Makes me feel wasteful.)
Didn't get to bed until two, and had a nice sleep in, then went to Costco for lunch...cough...we were actually looking for a gift, but they didn't have it. Lots of nice samples for Christmas: chocolates, crab cakes, lobster spread, salsa, meatballs, cocoa and biscotti, potstickers, chicken nuggets, cheesecake, garlic chicken pasta, gouda cheese...
Found the gift in Best Buy, so we're all done. One may need augmenting. I'll see when I wrap.
Anyway, spent the rest of the afternoon tinseling the tree. When you're starting at the back, on the first branch, you wonder if it's worth it.
When you're halfway through and your back is hurting, you wonder if it's worth it.
When your hands are cold and the static electricity is making the tinsel stick to the carpet, you, the end table next to the tree, and the fireplace hearth, you wonder if it's worth it.
When it's finished, and James pushes the tree inch by inch back into the corner (because it can't be decorated in the corner, as there's no way to get to the back) on the unstable carpet, and all the lights are plugged into the timer and it turns on...yeah, it's worth it. Every single aching muscle.
And then, although I had said I would do it later, I vacuumed because I couldn't stand it anymore. And then I sat in front of the tree and put the manger set up, figure by figure, the one bought piece by piece by my mother from the bins at Woolworths and W.T. Grants and Newberrys...the Holy Family, the angel, three kings, three camels and the camel driver, the ox and ass, the man offering eggs, the boy playing the flute, the shepherd, and a flock of sheep and one goat and the sheepdog, all in or around the wooden stable. I bought one of those lights for it, the ones that go in village houses, and it has a yellow light bulb, of course, so the Baby Jesus is softly illuminated with heavenly Light.
Somewhere in the middle of all of that we had some thin steaks for supper with ramen noodles, and I finally got to sit and watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
And now we are having our annual Remember WENN Christmas chat party. We gather in the chat room and watch the episode "Christmas in the Airwaves" together. Always great fun!
Usually I put up the tree on my birthday, which was Friday, but James hadn't brought the tree upstairs yet, and I still had the Rudolph tree to put up. So I did so, and had to fix a couple of other things. Then I cleared off the coffee table so it would be ready for me to sort out ornaments.
I felt myself starting to obsess about this and had to slow myself down.
We had to get up early for Hair Day on Saturday, as our hairdresser, Sheri, was going to a Christmas party. We brought cornbread to go with the main dish, different kinds of chili (Alex made three! a white turkey chili, a regular chili with pork, and Cincinnati chili), and gingerbread (unlike Sook, it's not "fruitcake weather" for me, but "gingerbread weather"). Before we went to the hobby shop, we stopped at Kroger for milk and things. No worries about the milk staying in the truck; it was colder than the refrigerator outside, a chill day with temps in the thirties.
While we were at the hobby shop I took the opportunity to go to the hardware store across the parking lot and buy a space heater for our bathroom. With that big picture window in it, it's never warm enough in there in the winter. (Saturday night it was about 57°F in there; in 16 minutes it had raised the temp 10 degrees.) The owner was exceedingly grumpy that I used a coupon and that I paid with my credit card.
We were keeping an eye on the weather. We were supposed to drive out to Birmingham tonight to our friend Shari's Christmas party, but they had been predicting a hard rain since Thursday. Now, as the forecast settled out, it looked like the periods of rain were supposed to be worst at 5 p.m. (when we would be driving out there) and 1 a.m., when we would be coming home. Plus, last year we went to Hair Day and Shari's party on the same day, too. Between Ron and Lin's cats and Shari's cats, I ended up riding home from Birmingham with a burgeoning allergy attack.
So we reluctantly decided not to go, and instead stopped at BJs on the way home for something we'd forgotten, then came home. We had one of those Hormel packaged meat dinners, beef with bourbon sauce, with some white rice. Pretty good. Then we moved the rocking chair into our bedroom and James brought the tree up, and the box with the ornaments, and I commenced to decorate, since we wanted something Christmasy.
I just took my time. I didn't start until after eight, and we had to fluff the tree and, ::sigh::...get the lights working...parts of two strings were out...we just pressed at them; the bulbs must have been loose, because that did the trick. And refasten the lights to the branches, as taking the tree up that narrow staircase isn't conducive to tight lights. LOL. I was even on chat for a while as I put the last set or two of ornaments on the tree. You see, James found a chat program for the Droids. He set his up, then helped me set mine up. Yep, I can chat on the phone now!
I just decided to wait until today to put on the tinsel. James said last night, "You know, you don't have to put on tinsel." Well, yeah, I do. Our trees always had tinsel. [By "tinsel," I mean silver icicles, of course.] My grandparents' and relatives' trees always had tinsel. Garland is okay for the smaller trees, but it's not really a Christmas tree to me unless there's tinsel. It makes the tree live, and breathe.
(We were talking about tinsel last night on chat. Jen said she had only ever know the light, mylar stuff. Pretty much so did I. Lead tinsel was banned by the time I was growing up. I had relatives who still had it, because as a prudent, non-wasteful person, you removed it from the tree and returned it to its holder till next year. In fact, we did the same with the mylar, unless it got too wrinkled. And I did so when I moved out on my own. But the tinsel they're making today is thinner than the mylar tinsel from back then. It's like that fluffy "angel hair" that was once popular for trees. It's so thin and frangible that I have to remove it after Christmas and toss it. Makes me feel wasteful.)
Didn't get to bed until two, and had a nice sleep in, then went to Costco for lunch...cough...we were actually looking for a gift, but they didn't have it. Lots of nice samples for Christmas: chocolates, crab cakes, lobster spread, salsa, meatballs, cocoa and biscotti, potstickers, chicken nuggets, cheesecake, garlic chicken pasta, gouda cheese...
Found the gift in Best Buy, so we're all done. One may need augmenting. I'll see when I wrap.
Anyway, spent the rest of the afternoon tinseling the tree. When you're starting at the back, on the first branch, you wonder if it's worth it.
When you're halfway through and your back is hurting, you wonder if it's worth it.
When your hands are cold and the static electricity is making the tinsel stick to the carpet, you, the end table next to the tree, and the fireplace hearth, you wonder if it's worth it.
When it's finished, and James pushes the tree inch by inch back into the corner (because it can't be decorated in the corner, as there's no way to get to the back) on the unstable carpet, and all the lights are plugged into the timer and it turns on...yeah, it's worth it. Every single aching muscle.
And then, although I had said I would do it later, I vacuumed because I couldn't stand it anymore. And then I sat in front of the tree and put the manger set up, figure by figure, the one bought piece by piece by my mother from the bins at Woolworths and W.T. Grants and Newberrys...the Holy Family, the angel, three kings, three camels and the camel driver, the ox and ass, the man offering eggs, the boy playing the flute, the shepherd, and a flock of sheep and one goat and the sheepdog, all in or around the wooden stable. I bought one of those lights for it, the ones that go in village houses, and it has a yellow light bulb, of course, so the Baby Jesus is softly illuminated with heavenly Light.
Somewhere in the middle of all of that we had some thin steaks for supper with ramen noodles, and I finally got to sit and watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
And now we are having our annual Remember WENN Christmas chat party. We gather in the chat room and watch the episode "Christmas in the Airwaves" together. Always great fun!
03 January 2009
"On the Tenth Day of Christmas..." (Evening Edition)
The last guest has just left and I'm about to help James put the things away. We had a big crowd and still had food left over. I told Alice we need to have a game night soon! LOL.
We spent the afternoon getting ready; the first guests arrived about quarter to five—it was Ann and Clay, which is lucky because they have three dachshunds and are used to the Ritual Barking of the Dog—and it soon became busy. One of James' work friends came and also his friend Rusty from the hobby shop with his wife Cindy and son John. John has to use crutches to walk and I was afraid he might have trouble with the stairs, but he navigated them deftly.
Part of the crowd was watching the end of the Falcons game, and the rest sat around the table chatting. After everyone ate, we exchanged gifts. Mel tried to help me solve a computer problem that I have responding with my domain e-mail in Eudora via Earthlink. I think he may have found a solution, but I'll have to try it and see.
Aubrey (13) and her friend Isabel (12) kept the place hopping. They retreated in the spare room to play Jenga and draw. I gave Aubrey a waterproof case with a drawing pad, colored pencils, an eraser and a pencil sharpener as she is always carrying her drawing things with her. Isabel actually found the pickle ornament on the Christmas tree but I gave the prize (a pickle ornament) to Aubrey since Isabel accidentally messed up the little slinky-bracelet I gave to Aubrey.
We all had a great time, but boy, are we bushed!
[Later: we have the food cleaned up and will tackle the dishes and the vacuuming tomorrow. Feet and back hurt. Nice time, though...]
We spent the afternoon getting ready; the first guests arrived about quarter to five—it was Ann and Clay, which is lucky because they have three dachshunds and are used to the Ritual Barking of the Dog—and it soon became busy. One of James' work friends came and also his friend Rusty from the hobby shop with his wife Cindy and son John. John has to use crutches to walk and I was afraid he might have trouble with the stairs, but he navigated them deftly.
Part of the crowd was watching the end of the Falcons game, and the rest sat around the table chatting. After everyone ate, we exchanged gifts. Mel tried to help me solve a computer problem that I have responding with my domain e-mail in Eudora via Earthlink. I think he may have found a solution, but I'll have to try it and see.
Aubrey (13) and her friend Isabel (12) kept the place hopping. They retreated in the spare room to play Jenga and draw. I gave Aubrey a waterproof case with a drawing pad, colored pencils, an eraser and a pencil sharpener as she is always carrying her drawing things with her. Isabel actually found the pickle ornament on the Christmas tree but I gave the prize (a pickle ornament) to Aubrey since Isabel accidentally messed up the little slinky-bracelet I gave to Aubrey.
We all had a great time, but boy, are we bushed!
[Later: we have the food cleaned up and will tackle the dishes and the vacuuming tomorrow. Feet and back hurt. Nice time, though...]
"On the Tenth Day of Christmas..."
...more party prep. We were up until two and ended up sleeping past eleven, so we had to run to Kroger for the bacon bits to top the cheese bake. While there, got things for lunches at work.
James went to the hobby shop for about 90 minutes, while I put things up and then shot part of a "movie" on my camera. It's just of the house all dressed up for Christmas.
We have all the snack/nibbly type things out (Chex mix, M&Ms, cheese cubes, mint candies, crackers, candy cane Jo-Jos, pumpkin cake, etc.) and I have mixed the cheese spreads and they are chilling in the fridge. James is now warming up all the hots: chicken wings, taquitoes, mini egg rolls, cocktail weiners, and Bagel Bites.
Twenty minutes to go. I wonder who will come first, as they will experience the Ritual Barking of the Dog. (After about five guests, she gives up.)
James went to the hobby shop for about 90 minutes, while I put things up and then shot part of a "movie" on my camera. It's just of the house all dressed up for Christmas.
We have all the snack/nibbly type things out (Chex mix, M&Ms, cheese cubes, mint candies, crackers, candy cane Jo-Jos, pumpkin cake, etc.) and I have mixed the cheese spreads and they are chilling in the fridge. James is now warming up all the hots: chicken wings, taquitoes, mini egg rolls, cocktail weiners, and Bagel Bites.
Twenty minutes to go. I wonder who will come first, as they will experience the Ritual Barking of the Dog. (After about five guests, she gives up.)
02 January 2009
"On the Ninth Day of Christmas..." (Evening Edition)
The floors are washed, the carpet and stairs are vacuumed, the sofa is clear, Willow's had a bath...I think we're ready. (Well, after I clean off the dang coffee table, anyway. it's like a magnet that attracts stuff.) :-)
We went out for supper at Golden Corral, which, surprisingly, was not crowded, and stopped at Staples on the way back to get a mailing tube. They had some pretty wintry (not Christmas) stationery and labels at half price, which I bought, and also two great gift items at half price. More things for the box!
The bad news: the friend we were expecting for the weekend cannot come. :-( She caught a bad cold from her nephew and needs to get it under control by Monday for work. As Podkayne says, "Snellfrocky! Hangnails! Dirty socks!"
The good news: a friend of ours got in a car accident this afternoon, but is okay except for a few bruises. The car, however, is totaled. Whew. Thank God it was only the car.
We went out for supper at Golden Corral, which, surprisingly, was not crowded, and stopped at Staples on the way back to get a mailing tube. They had some pretty wintry (not Christmas) stationery and labels at half price, which I bought, and also two great gift items at half price. More things for the box!
The bad news: the friend we were expecting for the weekend cannot come. :-( She caught a bad cold from her nephew and needs to get it under control by Monday for work. As Podkayne says, "Snellfrocky! Hangnails! Dirty socks!"
The good news: a friend of ours got in a car accident this afternoon, but is okay except for a few bruises. The car, however, is totaled. Whew. Thank God it was only the car.
01 January 2009
"On the Eighth Day of Christmas..."
...we are resting and watching the Rose Parade. (I said to James yesterday, "You know what I want to do tomorrow? Nothing!") The New Mexico Coyote/Road Runner float has just gone by. So beautiful in HD. Look at the details!!! We're watching on HGTV, and, where their coverage has improved over the years—I remember their first broadcast only had wide-angle cameras and we got no close-ups at all—the hosts are starting to yap too much (like their network counterparts) over announcements and occasionally interviewing hosts of their series instead of concentrating on the parade. At least we don't have to watch commercials and this year's featured celebrities being interviewed to plug their NBC series.)
Cloris Leachman is the Grand Marshal this year. Gosh, she looks great for 80 years old!
Many beautiful floats, including the African veldt theme, and those lovely horses. The western groups have changed over time—I remember when "Monty" Montana and the Sons of the Pioneers were fixtures—but are always beautiful.
I can tell you one major way the Rose Parade has changed in 40 years: when I was a kid, New Year's was still considered part of the Christmas season and you did hear Christmas songs, like "Frosty" and "Winter Wonderland" (usually the wintry things, although I remember "Deck the Halls" since it mentions the New Year), played by the bands. You don't hear them anymore.
{Bother..."Holly" is gone already, too; used to last through New Year's Day. Stupid merger.)
Anyway, we had a lovely time at Bill and Caran's last night: good food to nosh and lots of people to chat with. The crowd seemed to be thinner this year, however, and we were a creaky crowd hanging out in the library except when Aubrey was there. Fiona and Geoffrey's baby daughter Zada (almost 11 months) was the hit of the party.
Sadly, about ten minutes to midnight, I developed stomach cramps. I was able to slip downstairs for a few minutes to join in the end of the countdown and wish everyone a happy New Year, then was stuck in the bathroom for the next 40 minutes. So we had to leave rather abruptly. Came home to wrap in a fleece and wish Rodney, Mike, Jen and Jen's sister Meggan a happy new year online, to the accompaniment of TCM's marathon of That's Entertainment movies. We would have gone to bed earlier, but the segment on Busby Berkeley routines in That's Dancing had us mesmerized.
[2:46 p.m.: Watching the Rose Parade rebroadcast on the Travel Channel. Hosts Stephanie Edwards and Bob Eubanks are a bit ditzy, and we have commercials, but at least they are talking what the floats are made of...and we got to see several floats that HGTV either "forgot," or ignored so they could plug their own programming.]
Cloris Leachman is the Grand Marshal this year. Gosh, she looks great for 80 years old!
Many beautiful floats, including the African veldt theme, and those lovely horses. The western groups have changed over time—I remember when "Monty" Montana and the Sons of the Pioneers were fixtures—but are always beautiful.
I can tell you one major way the Rose Parade has changed in 40 years: when I was a kid, New Year's was still considered part of the Christmas season and you did hear Christmas songs, like "Frosty" and "Winter Wonderland" (usually the wintry things, although I remember "Deck the Halls" since it mentions the New Year), played by the bands. You don't hear them anymore.
{Bother..."Holly" is gone already, too; used to last through New Year's Day. Stupid merger.)
Anyway, we had a lovely time at Bill and Caran's last night: good food to nosh and lots of people to chat with. The crowd seemed to be thinner this year, however, and we were a creaky crowd hanging out in the library except when Aubrey was there. Fiona and Geoffrey's baby daughter Zada (almost 11 months) was the hit of the party.
Sadly, about ten minutes to midnight, I developed stomach cramps. I was able to slip downstairs for a few minutes to join in the end of the countdown and wish everyone a happy New Year, then was stuck in the bathroom for the next 40 minutes. So we had to leave rather abruptly. Came home to wrap in a fleece and wish Rodney, Mike, Jen and Jen's sister Meggan a happy new year online, to the accompaniment of TCM's marathon of That's Entertainment movies. We would have gone to bed earlier, but the segment on Busby Berkeley routines in That's Dancing had us mesmerized.
[2:46 p.m.: Watching the Rose Parade rebroadcast on the Travel Channel. Hosts Stephanie Edwards and Bob Eubanks are a bit ditzy, and we have commercials, but at least they are talking what the floats are made of...and we got to see several floats that HGTV either "forgot," or ignored so they could plug their own programming.]
06 January 2008
Saturday Frolic and Sunday Shopping
Here it is Epiphany already! How does one slow down the doggoned clock on happy days? Yesterday went by like a breath of wind and today, even though James is at work, the hours are flying by.
We were out only briefly yesterday to stop at the hobby shop and then at MicroCenter before getting some sodas at the supermarket and hurrying home to prepare for the Twelfth Night party. We have been leaving the cooked goodies (this time we served chili, cocktail franks in barbecue sauce, split taquitos, mini egg rolls, and honey barbecue chicken wings) and the chips and dip in the kitchen and the rest of the goodies (cheese spread and M&Ms in the center of the table so folks could still gather round the table to eat; there is always space at the coffee table and we also have these clever plastic gadgets (not trays) that carry a paper cup and paper plate and have a hole for your "plastic silverware." James did the cooking part and the cheese spreads because even the light whipped Philly was very stiff, and I did the rest, and we were just finishing as the first guest arrived.
It was a wonderful party, full of stories and laughter. Our friends from Warner Robins got to attend, and we even enjoyed the company of Sue Lawson's mom. It's always nice to have a Mom around. Even Jessie managed to have a good time although she'd just had her wisdom teeth out on Thursday and was in a bit of pain throughout (I gave her a little ice cream to cool her mouth).
Willow went crazy barking for about an hour, but eventually began to wander around happily panting and searching for leavings. By the time the last guest left she was tuckered out. Schuyler, I'm sorry to say, although she had no trouble with the small game night we had, did not enjoy a full-blown party. Not sure if female budgies are just not social critters like the males—certainly Pidge and Bandit ate up all the attention—or if it is just natural shyness, but she wasn't happy much of the night, except when I gave her a stalk of millet and then when the crowd lessened a little.
We left the dishes because James had to get to bed due to having to work today, but everything else was cleaned up last night and I did the vacuuming again today so now all is spotless. Since I had the table cleaned off and will be transferring the Christmas things to winter things over the week, I did not replace the Christmas runner. Instead I used the food-based mineral oil I finally found and gave the table top (which is solid wood) a good oiling. It was looking pale and dry, almost like dry skin on a person, from lack of oils, since it hadn't been treated since we bought it seven (?) years ago. I put a good coating of oil on with a paper towel, let it absorb for half an hour, wiped the excess off with another paper towel and left it a bit more, then finally buffed it down with a holey old sock which has been washed and saved for dusting/polishing purposes. It looks so lovely; the color deep brown again—how wonderful that a clear liquid brings out such a wonderful color.
I didn't sleep in after James left for work, but instead set out for the store. I had a 30 percent off coupon for Borders and Borders Bucks as well as some rewards coupons and got the Inside the Victorian Home book I had become so enamoured of on New Year's Eve. I also bought James a new aircraft calendar and, through some shopping, purchased at least six more gifts for next year! These are all gifts I know people will like and use, not just "this is on sale; I can give it to so-and-so," and three of the things I would truly not ordinarily been able to afford. I also bought two Christmas books at half price.
We were out only briefly yesterday to stop at the hobby shop and then at MicroCenter before getting some sodas at the supermarket and hurrying home to prepare for the Twelfth Night party. We have been leaving the cooked goodies (this time we served chili, cocktail franks in barbecue sauce, split taquitos, mini egg rolls, and honey barbecue chicken wings) and the chips and dip in the kitchen and the rest of the goodies (cheese spread and M&Ms in the center of the table so folks could still gather round the table to eat; there is always space at the coffee table and we also have these clever plastic gadgets (not trays) that carry a paper cup and paper plate and have a hole for your "plastic silverware." James did the cooking part and the cheese spreads because even the light whipped Philly was very stiff, and I did the rest, and we were just finishing as the first guest arrived.
It was a wonderful party, full of stories and laughter. Our friends from Warner Robins got to attend, and we even enjoyed the company of Sue Lawson's mom. It's always nice to have a Mom around. Even Jessie managed to have a good time although she'd just had her wisdom teeth out on Thursday and was in a bit of pain throughout (I gave her a little ice cream to cool her mouth).
Willow went crazy barking for about an hour, but eventually began to wander around happily panting and searching for leavings. By the time the last guest left she was tuckered out. Schuyler, I'm sorry to say, although she had no trouble with the small game night we had, did not enjoy a full-blown party. Not sure if female budgies are just not social critters like the males—certainly Pidge and Bandit ate up all the attention—or if it is just natural shyness, but she wasn't happy much of the night, except when I gave her a stalk of millet and then when the crowd lessened a little.
We left the dishes because James had to get to bed due to having to work today, but everything else was cleaned up last night and I did the vacuuming again today so now all is spotless. Since I had the table cleaned off and will be transferring the Christmas things to winter things over the week, I did not replace the Christmas runner. Instead I used the food-based mineral oil I finally found and gave the table top (which is solid wood) a good oiling. It was looking pale and dry, almost like dry skin on a person, from lack of oils, since it hadn't been treated since we bought it seven (?) years ago. I put a good coating of oil on with a paper towel, let it absorb for half an hour, wiped the excess off with another paper towel and left it a bit more, then finally buffed it down with a holey old sock which has been washed and saved for dusting/polishing purposes. It looks so lovely; the color deep brown again—how wonderful that a clear liquid brings out such a wonderful color.
I didn't sleep in after James left for work, but instead set out for the store. I had a 30 percent off coupon for Borders and Borders Bucks as well as some rewards coupons and got the Inside the Victorian Home book I had become so enamoured of on New Year's Eve. I also bought James a new aircraft calendar and, through some shopping, purchased at least six more gifts for next year! These are all gifts I know people will like and use, not just "this is on sale; I can give it to so-and-so," and three of the things I would truly not ordinarily been able to afford. I also bought two Christmas books at half price.
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