Pitter Patter

That's the sound of rain falling on my aluminum awning. It's a peaceful sound and I'm sure that I'll be sleeping well tonight. :)

Christmas was wonderful here. I went with Jack to church, first to our own, St. John on the Desert, where we were part of the play. It went swimmingly, though there were a few forgotten lines and missed cues. It was ok, though. People got the point!

Next we went to the Desert Skies Methodist Church, where Mary goes. She didn't go with us because it was too late, but we enjoyed the bell choir and all of the wonderful music, as well as seeing the people we know there.

Christmas morning, Jack came to my house and we opened presents together. Both of us got neat things! He got me pyjamas with feet, which are perfect for Tucson's cool winter nights.

Then we set about preparing for our feast, each at our own houses. I had some things to do to ready the house, since we had it here -- getting the leaf into the table, arranging furniture a bit, .. that kind of thing.

The food went in on time, we had the appetizer table all set up and all was ready when our guests arrived. Pam, Mike, Valerie, and Bruce came, and we all enjoyed a festive time.

The last few days have been full, as well, with after-holiday errands to run, as well as just some fun post-Christmas shopping. I found some cool trivets which will go on the wall at my new cottage. That's my main find. Mostly we just look around. I'm in the market for a new TV for my new cottage. I'm going to get one that's big enough to view from across the room without my glasses -- probably a 37-40".

That rain's starting to put me to sleep, so.. off I go!

Preparations Underway

Today I got wonderful cards with photos from Joel & Becca and also from Katherine and Dan! I loved Katherine's photo of a sizable herd of deer outside their window in the snow in Bloomington. I sort of miss snow. Well.. not really! :)

Preparations are underway for our Christmas dinner. Today we went shopping at Fry's and a couple of other stores. We were successful in all of our missions except that I was unable to find candied cherries. I could make them, but have decided that, for this recipe, maraschinos will work fine.

Then I set about getting some things going. I have finished the Rosemary Cheese Straws and the olive spread. Tomorrow I'll be a very busy girl, getting the house ready and fixing the desserts. Then the program at church, in which Jack and I each have roles. I'm thinking that I won't have time to blog tomorrow, so that's why I'm breaking my rule of not posting about future happenings. ;)

The air was a bit chilly today. In fact, now at 10:30 pm, it's down to 50 already. Brrr! Yeah, I know, those of you in the chilly northland are not going to sympathize with 50!

Happy

Today we had a bit of rain here in Tucson! The sky was roiling and gray for most of the day, and then, late this afternoon, it sprinkled a bit.

Jack and I took Mary on a few errands today, going first to Safeway, then to Sunflower Market, and finally to the mall. The mall was pretty crazy, with everyone in town off doing their shopping, it seemed, but we still had a good time. We even dined at the food court.

When we got back to Mary's place, there had been a delivery of a beautiful Christmas floral arrangement from Ken and Judy. It looks lovely on her table and she just glowed when she saw it and read the card.

And then, when we came back here, I had a package from Robert and Molly! This is the most fun time of the year. I love getting packages! :) Jack and I came back to my cottage and we watched Hitchcock's The Birds. That movie's scary everytime I see it!

And how about that song that the schoolchildren are singing, as the birds gather on the jungle gym? Michael and I used to try to figure out what they were saying. Well, thanks to Google, here we are -- the lyrics to that nonsensical song:

The butter came out a grizzle-y-grey. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Now, now, now!

The cheese took legs and ran away! Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Now, now, now!

She let the critter get away. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Now, now, now!


I asked my wife to wash the floor. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Now, now, now!

She gave me my hat and she showed me the door! Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, Now, now, now!


I married my wife in the month of June. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Now, now, now!


I brought her off by the light of the moon. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Now, now, now!


She combed her hair but once a year. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Now, now, now!


Whew! That mystery's solved! I do hope that Michael's reading my blog. If he is, he's laughing!

Non-Hiking Day for Janee

I know that even the happiest people have "down" days, and so far, at least, this is one of them. I somehow have hurt my foot. The joint where my big toe hooks onto my foot hurts as if I were standing on a thumbtack. So today I opted out of hiking, and this is supposed to be a really great hike -- one I've not been on -- to Hutch's Pool in the Catalina Mountains. I'm resting my foot today, keeping it elevated, which seems to help. I may stick it into the hot tub later.

Otherwise things are great. I've amassed a small pile of gifts under my little tree and they make me smile. The Village is all ablaze with beautiful (and some really tacky LOL) Christmas lights. In fact, the TOWN is lit up more than I remember seeing. I have my lights on a timer so that they go on and off without my having to be actually there to turn them on or off.

I'd forgotten how much I really love Christmastime! In the years that I was with Michael, 26 of them, we didn't do much for Christmas, since it wasn't exactly our holiday as a family. But now I'm grooving on the whole thing. I found an interesting article about Christmas traditions and how the early Christians hijacked the Pagan holiday of Solstice and the Roman tradition of Saturnalia. After you read the article, take the quiz!

Bleak Midwinter

This was one of those evenings when I could have easily snacked a bunch. We had had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes before returning to church for play/choir practice, which went till 7:45. Since I don't eat after 7:30, I didn't get dinner. But my reflux is doing much better. I'd hoped that I'd be seeing smaller numbers on the scale by now, with this significant lifestyle change, but...not happening yet. 

Our FHTV Choir concert was this morning and that went well. We did Caroling, Caroling; In the Bleak Midwinter, Christmastime is Here, and Dona Nobis Pacem. I almost laughed at the title "In the Bleak Midwinter," because it SO does not fit our weather here this year! Sunny and 70 can hardly be called "bleak," after all!  

If you're following my blog...

... I hope that you'll also click on Ann's Adventures, over to the right under My Friends Blogs. Ann's a friend of mine who's usually in Tucson in the winter. She's living with cancer for now, going through chemo treatments and all that brings. Her spirit is just FUN through all of this, though, and I know that she'll inspire you as she does me. Have a look.

Today I had FHTV choir rehearsal, and that was even more fun than usual. I really am enjoying the songs that we're doing and having Julie as our leader adds to the fun.

I had a few errands to run, so got that done. Then it was back home to change clothes to go out again! I'm not sure why I'm so concerned with having a nice cottage here in Tucson, since I'm so rarely IN it!

This evening, Jack and I went to dinner at Little Anthony's (we need to go there more often!) and then to the Gaslight Theater for their Christmas program. It was really good and all at our table had fun! We sat with Donna and Edna.

And today we got RAIN! It's been raining steadily now since about 4:30. This is the first rain that Jack and I have seen since... Acadia, I think! It sort of felt good to be out in it a bit. It's a little chilly today, too (55 now, in the evening) but it's going to warm up again and be nicer tomorrow. That's enough winter for me! ;)

Working on my new lot

Today I did some work on my new lot, clearing stuff out of one of the sheds and bagging up 10 bags of stuff for the garbage. I also set aside a pile of stuff to take to Goodwill, too -- things that were in the sheds. I took the stuff to the garbage and hefted it into the hopper.

It seems sad that these things which Preston and Florence had been using, living with, probably once loved, probably remembered getting... is now just relegated to garbage.

I'm learning that, if there is too much stuff stored in these sheds, they become just a repository for things that will never be used or even seen again. It's like putting stuff into an attic or into the garage. If you're not putting it where you can easily get to it, you'll never use it again. You may as well give it away now.

Jack came over this afternoon and fixed chicken on my rotisserie. I made mashed potatoes and sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, and tomatoes -- some of my favorite stuff! What a fine dinner it made!

We finished just in time for him to hurry home and change clothes while I changed my clothes here, and then we hustled off together to the Tanque Verde Valley Singers Holiday Concert. It was hosted by our church, where most of the choir's members also go. Fine concert and we had a good time!

We returned here and went to the dance, but we just barely made an appearance when we decided to go. We were both tired after a big day!

Let's Sing

I've been singing! Choir practice at church is on Wednesday nights and practice for the Far Horizons choir is on Thursday mornings. Fun! I love to sing and it's going well.

The new Dance Dance Revolution is working well, with no problems. I really like the new version, with its fine new songs and the "Courses" and "Workouts" are great. I'm back to doing my Fitness Coach as well, and feel like I'm getting my muscles back to where they were. I am feeling like I'm losing some weight, but it's not showing on the scale yet or in my jeans, so it's just a mental thing at this point. LOL! Maybe I'm just feeling a bit deprived, since I'm not eating all the junk in the evenings anymore. My no-food-after-7:30 rule is working well.

Today a group of us went market prowling, beginning at the 17th Street Market downtown, and then going to Roma Imports an G&L Imports. These are all interesting places, with lots of really bizarre things available to buy. I got some herbal tea (I'm going to try to like tea, because I think that I should!) and a couple of other things.

The new cottage is ordered! I'm excited about this now and am ready to see it all come to fruition. When the dollars were figured up, I compromised on a few things, deciding, for example, that I'd hire the tiling installed locally, saving $1600, that I'd get a tile backsplash instead of Corian, saving $800, and that I'd get the standard cabinets instead of the upgrades, saving myself $3150. I ended up saving altogether enough to pay the sales tax!

I'm also ready to start getting THIS cottage ready to sell. I'm thinking that I should bite the bullet and put in new flooring. This carpet is gross. It could probably be cleaned, but it's too light in color for this town and will not hold up well for a new owner. The linoleum in the kitchen is really in need of new. There are holes in it where I took out the desk that i'd put in, more holes where the island used to be nailed down, and there are big black rings where my computer used to stand.

I think that, if I were to put in some good quality laminate flooring, perhaps a tile look-alike as I'd been considering for myself, I'd be out a couple of thousand bucks, but would likely sell the place faster. I really don't want someone looking at this one and thinking, "Well, we would have to put in a new floor..." and that's what they would be thinking if they looked at this. That and a new stain on the deck and clearing my junk out and running a dustcloth over everything, and it's ready to sell.

Sunny Sunday

Last night I baked brownies for the church potluck today. Church was good. We sat at tables for 7-8 and had Communion for each table. And the choir (including me!) sang. The brownies, which I baked with raspberry jam and almonds, were good, but I should have used two mixes instead of just one. Actually, I should have made them from scratch instead of using a mix at all, but... I have not done that since I sold the bakery.

After church, I took Jack home and I went home, we changed clothes, and then I picked him up again so that we could do errands. I had to return my DDR, bc the disk seemed to be bad. I was getting Wii error messages, which is not a good thing. Best Buy was quite amenable to satisfying me and the return was easy.

When we got back to the park, Jack wanted help with putting up more Christmas lights, and so we got that done. His little cottage looks so festive all lit up. I have lights, too, adorning my steel agaves on my little concrete patio out front.

I'm thinking about having my own bedroom put into my loft in my new cottage. I'll see how it feels when the cottage comes, but it makes sense to have my mattress put up there. Then I can use the "bedroom" for my Wii, my keyboard, and put in a Murphy bed or a futon for short-term guests. I'm not planning to have anyone stay for a LONG time. I can always rent another cottage for long-term guests. Or I could move Jack into my cottage for that time and have guests stay in his place. :) That is, if I have guests.

Busy Wednesday

This is a yellow rose from Austin, Texas.

Today was insanely busy, but in a good way. I slept in a little later than I had wanted, spent a bit less time on the Wii than I wanted, and got no breakfast.

Then I drove down to get Jack and then to his Mom's, where we took her toy poodle Jill to get groomed. While the doggy was at the groomers, we ran a few errands with Mary, did a bit of fun shopping, and then took her to the Chinese buffet, which we all loved.

Jill did great at the groomer's much to Mary's delight. The last groomer had cut the dog and then blamed her (the dog) for it. This didn't go over well with Mary. So now she has a new groomer, and Jill seemed delighted with the whole thing.

We got back to Far Horizons in time to meet with George about the cottage. I have still not ordered it, but we did discuss some options, and so I'm closer. I have decided on a floorplan, anyway. With 400 sq feet to work within, there are not just a million choices, but the one that I've picked seems to be workable and I think will be a fun place to spend my winters. It has a loft which, while you can't stand up in it, can be used for a little TV room or an extra bedroom for my peeps back east to stay in when y'all visit!

I think that I'll go with stainless steel for the appliances, though I'm still tossing around the idea of using white or black... I just think that stainless looks so good. I'm going to have Corian, but I have not chosen the color. And I'm getting Craftsman style cabinets in ... either cherry or light maple. Tile floors, except for carpet in the bedroom. And I'll probably make it a dark-colored tile. Lightness is really not a problem down here, with all the sun we get!

I think that I'm going to have the shower plumbed, but nothing installed, and then Jack and I will put in a shower that's properly done... and tiled. There is a place where I can put in a flat-screen TV, and I'll do that, but not likely a huge one, since the room is just 12' long. ;)

I am not going to have window coverings installed in the living room, because I want to put in shades of my own choosing, probably ones just like I have in this cottage, the bottom-up, top-down kind.

I want to ask about having a French door put in, instead of the sliding door. I have to decide on exterior colors. And we still have to talk about lighting. I realize that this is nothing like all the decisions that face people who build real houses from scratch, but there are still many details to ponder. Exciting!