MrsDoF's Dear Ones

My incoming Google Reader offers this article today
a blind man’s knowledge expands while using Braille.

When we moved here in the Spring of 1983, our next door neighbors were an older retired couple who were delighted to have a busy family with youngsters moving in just across the yard.

We got vegetables from their garden left on the back steps, hands waving to come over and sit awhile on the porch under the overhead fan and have some lemonade and popcorn, a pickle jar with holes in the lid ready for housing lightning bugs being caught by our then 3 year old son.
Oh how they loved to watch children play in their yard and ‘helping’ in the garden.

A most precious gift of friendship.

As time went by, I learned they actually had three children who were all growed up and moved away with jobs and families and busy lifestyles elsewhere.

Their youngest daughter was blind.  There had been an accident with the amount of oxygen in her newborn incubator, and her eyes were bothered the most.  She had grown up going to a school for the handicapped, learning independence along with it.  She had married, with a job.

When our neighbor was clearing out stuff, she found a box with pages of arithmetic problems written in Braille, leftovers from her daughter’s school days.
I was doing childcare at the house then, and so she brought the box over to me, saying she thought the children might enjoy playing with something so different from their usual picture books.

We did have fun, trying to figure out what it all meant.
The kids learned there are so many ways to communicate.
One of the boys was learning at school about the Underground Railroad and quilt patterns and songs used by the slaves to escape.  So many connections.

I’m not sure what happened to the box of Braille sheets, but reading the article above sure brought up some fond memories.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

The weather was extremely cold a few days ago, but with extra people in the house, the cats, Oscar and Mahalia, wanted to go outside a little more often.
Whenever one would actually go out past the threshold, I took to saying “Oscar is OUT, 9 o’clock” so that I would have a mental mark and not leave them outdoors too long becoming a cat icicle.

Although one evening the guys went to a store or somewhere, I got interested in something on TV for a whole hour, and when I finally went into the kitchen, there was poor kitty sitting just outside the window.  He was most disgruntled when he brushed past my ankles.

Lucas left Friday on a train to Chicago.  He was headed to his meet his sweetie at her parents’ house for the night, then he and Milly caught a plane to California, on a day when the weather co-operated and planes were able to resemble routine schedules.
They had Christmas with their families, then will begin the New Year together before Lucas comes back to Illinois to finish his last semester for his Master’s.

This evening, Husband and Chris went out to a store, then to check on Chris’s apartment.  It is not fit for living in, so the kid will be here awhile, until the landlord complies with whatever the Inspector requires.

I put a CD into the stereo and tackled the clearing of must-gos from the fridge, then loaded the dishwasher.

When Chris came in, he began to giggle.  After the week the kid has had, I’m very glad as a mom to hear him giggle, but I could not figure out what could be so funny at that moment.

Then he mentioned the instrumental music.  This isn’t just any music.  Light Jazz Christmas is one of the very first CDs I ever bought, copyright 1993.  by Golly, I just looked it up on Amazon, and it’s selling for $5.50 Used.
Chris says this brings back some good memories from his childhood, but now, having an education as a music major, he knows some aspects are lacking.

Oscar has returned.  Good thing Chris was passing through the kitchen and spied cold kitty at the window.
He was 28 minutes outside, and he is not happy about it being so long.

I’m not sure what I’m meaning to say here.

Maybe that I have had to make more adjustments than I want to, but Family and cats are nice to have around.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

One of the most laid-back holidays ever.
Well, at least as far as gifts and food and family matters.

The night before, we agreed for the time to have French toast as Noon.  Anybody getting up before then would have to eat a little snack, such as her carrot muffin.

When I was growing up, the opening of gifts was a free-for-all, with everybody, aka 4 sisters, tearing paper and ooo-ing and whooping chaos.  Our mother beamed through the whole ordeal, but I often wished for more organization and seeing who got good stuff other than my own, and who gave it to her, other than Santa, of course.

When our sons were little, we got so many boxes from folks via UPS that Joey said the brown truck was like Santa’s helper.  And some relatives wanted to know if gifts were appreciated.
I needed to keep track of what came from whoever to be able to send Thank You cards.

So, we decided on the one gift at a time.  Over the years, as the boys learned to read nametags, they became the Morning Elf in charge of distribution.  Sometimes it seems to take longer than others.

This year the helper was Lucas.
The pile was small, but more than adequate, and not a gift got handed out that didn’t have some witty quip along.

Another of my faults is that I have no patience with surprise gifts.  I don’t like them.  Perhaps I am a control freak, obsessive compulsive about comfort.  And with the boys all grown up, I can change the rules on a whim.

Anyway, for weeks,  I’ve been opening boxes and envelopes as they come along.  For my Christmas gifts, I will say I got sheepskin slippers, and music CDs, a book about holiday miracles, and a knitting peg loom to make Toddler hats.
I’d like to say they are all Christmas gifts because they got here by the holiday, meaning money and gift cards were welcome.

Husband did want me to have something to open on Christmas morning, tho.  So he looked over my Wish List and bought Mamma Mia on DVD, which was carefully wrapped in the Travel section of the newspaper (we haven’t bought wrapping paper in years), with a picture of a camel from the Holy Land folded in place next to the name.  Exactly the kind of gift I like—- one I’ve already expressed interest in, and which saves money in some way.

Did I immediately think that would make a wonderful blog post and take a picture?  NO = proof positive that writing for the Internet still hasn’t moved into front place in my interests.

For the third Christmas afternoon in a row, I did one of my favorite activities, which is baking.  I know some folks want to have all the kitchen work out of the way by the actual day so they can sit in the easy chair with feet up, but the kitchen seems to be where my guys like for me to be.  And I do love churning out the goodies.

What came out of the oven has history, and yes I have done a blog before about the Apple Cake seen here.
As per usual, it was just as yummy as the recipe says.

Then I put my new movie in and began peg loom knitting a child size hat for a girl at church.

The evening got used up watching some more Battlestar Gallactica on DVDs, and I finished the knitted hat.

Definitely laid back.  The 4 of us at home.
We didn’t call any long distance relatives, either.
Maybe I thought it might break the quiet spell.
I’m not sure.

Here’s hoping you and yours are doing fine.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

In spite of predictions for terrible weather, Husband was able to travel an hour each way on I-74 to fetch son Lucas and bring him home for Christmas.  His cat Scratchy remains behind and will be looked after by someone advertised on Craigslist, but comes with a good reference.

We all just got done foraging through the fridge to come up with something to eat for supper.  I used the last of the crockpot roasted chicken to make noodle soup, the Taco Bake pan and a jar of salsa are empty, and some roast beef and sourdough bread made a fine sandwich.
The mess all over the counter will eventually be put into the dishwasher so the machine can work its hardest.

The time right now is when Christmas Eve service was scheduled.  However, my e-mail Inbox says the parking lot is covered with ice, so the decision was made to cancel and stay safe at home.
This saved me having to use up the afternoon baking cookies for the linger-after party.

Which isn’t to say that we don’t have goodies.

The neighbors brought a plate of cookies and the music of bagpipes caroling.

My sister-in-law Becky sent a Kahlua coffee cake, wrapped in cheesecloth, inside a firm container.  There is about a 3” slice left, but I haven’t called dibs yet.

Several times in the last few days, the guys need to go over to Chris’s apartment to empty bins and buckets.
So far, the landlord hasn’t shown any inclination to do much.  The city building inspector says the choice to live there is up to the tenants, but there is now a legal, active file.

About halfway between our house and his place is the Medici Bakery.  Husband believes that such closeness needs investigating and goodies should be purchased.  He claims that during one incident, a giant tentacle reached out from the door and dragged him inside….resistance is futile.

There is a box of Danish, holiday bread loaf, sourdough for sandwiches on the kitchen table, getting shoved from side to side whenever anybody wants to clear space and sit down to do something else.

No, instead of baking cookies, I browsed the ‘Net.
My blog buddy Pam sent some links pertaining to peg loom knitting supplies and education.
I have decided that one of my New Year resolutions will be to not even go into a craft store for at least a month.
I have boxes of yarn, and all sorts of accessories already here in the house, so I need to make use of my stuff and save a bit on the budget.

Husband says he doesn’t think I would do it.
He’s seen how I light up while in the yarn aisle.

But, my oh, my…. what my Grandma calls a bad case of the I-wannas sent me to look at the $loom$ found here.

The sons are watching DVDs of Battlestar Gallactica.
Nice Christmas Eve viewing, No?

I went over to my bookshelf full of Christmas stories.
All those pages, and not a one is _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ . Chris says we should get it asap.

I did read again _The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey_ and _Down at Angel’s_.  I’m not bothering to find authors or links.  Last time I tried to give a book as a gift, I learned it was out of print.

Well, I’d better make sure some dishes get run through the cycles of the dishwasher or there won’t be room for breakfast preparations.

Here’s hoping that you and yours are cozy.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

There is a new porcelain crown installed on the second from back tooth on the upper left side of my mouth.  Once the numbing wore off, my cheek and eye twitch decided to strut their stuff yet another time before I smacked ‘em down with pain reliever.
The dentist recommended soup or soft foods for a day or so, until the area gets settled down.

Chris and I got his car out to the mechanic this morning.
Then I played chauffeur while he did a few errands, and we stopped at the grocery store for the fixins for Christmas breakfast.  French Toast with real maple syrup and sausage is our family history.  He changed the request from links to patties, so we will have something new after all.  I’m really glad for the great variety of cans of soup at a grocery store.

He had to be at work at 1pm, so he’s got my car.

I’m home on a blustery winter afternoon.
It is 26^oF with freezing rain, with more of the same forecast for tomorrow.

ENYA is on the stereo and I’m playing eeny-meeny-miney-moh to decide whether I want to put up the wooden figures Nativity Scene, address some more newsletter envelopes (we got 6 greeting cards in today’s mail), crochet some potholders, or knit a hat.

Not included in my little game is empty the dishwasher, iron several of Husband’s work shirts (he’s gonna be on vacation for a week, so he won’t need ‘em too soon), or clean the toilet.  Such chores get put off so often that sometimes I forget I’m the person first responsible for the upkeep.

One thing I decided is that compost of vegetable scraps, etc. will not be happening over the winter.  The little container on the counter has been cleaned out, run twice through the dishwasher, and retired to a spot under the basement steps.  Even with a cover on, it was quite a source of mold and stink, and I don’t like carrying it out separately across the yard in the opposite direction from the trash bin.  There was a time when I would pay $1 to the first teenager I could grab to go empty it.  My sons and their friends have stories to tell.

Sometimes, frugal and responsible is too much work.

The CD is playing the last song, and I’m still here at the screen.

I really should be doing something with a solid outcome.

~~love and Huggs, Diane