Holidays, Past and Even More Past

Hmm, since I last wrote, there have been several holidays go past.

Thanksgiving: Ken and I drove to Ithaca, NY to spend the holiday with my family. Since my sister lives in NH, we decided to meet somewhere in the middle. So my brother's family came from Columbus, my sister's crew from NH, and Ken & I from Cleveland. We rented a house for a couple of nights, we had dinner "catered", and sat around catching up, playing "Taboo" and "Monopoly" and watching "Jurassic Park" on TV. It was far too short, but a very nice visit.

Christmas: We stayed home. Kens sister, Paulette, usually hosts the family dinner on Christmas Eve at her home in Youngstown, but decided to spend it with her daughters in Columbus. We were invited, but
Ken really didn't feel like spending the holiday with a big crowd of family. So we stayed home and made our own Slovac dinner. Pretty good food, I'd say.

The day after Christmas, I took the Greyhound bus to Columbus to spend a couple days with Kristen and Lee and their cats. I took the bus because my doctor and some others are beginning to think I shouldn't be driving any more. More about that later.

New Year's Day: Tempered with sadness. My  former mother-in-law passed away on December 30, her husband's birthday. She had been struggling with Parkinson's for nearly 30 years. Again, I took a bus down to Parkersburg, WV to be with family and friends as we said good bye to Donna.

Well, folks, it's getting late, and I have to take a Driver's Evaluation tomorrow, so maybe that will be all for tonight. I had intended to write more, but I will need to be fresh tomorrow. Till next time...

Beautiful Autumn Weather

The weather today and this past weekend has been glorious. Lots of mild temperatures and tons of sunshine. I am really going to hate it when the first flakes of sn** start to fall.

So far, the experiment with bringing the garden indoors has been a success. I haven't looked at the peppers, but the tomatoes have two red ones on the vines. That's twice as many as we had all season! We are going to try something new with the outside garden this fall and winter; it's called a lasagna garden, not because of what's planted, but for the layers you put down. It's all about going organic. The first layer is cardboard to kill off the grass and weeds that grew there all summer. It's been rather amusing watching Ken scrounge the basement for enough cardboard to cover the garden. It looks like a patchwork quilt. Next is a layer of fall leaves, so I've been out with the rake, doing my best to keep up with Mother Nature. The next layer will be compost, in part to weigh down the leaves, then kitchen scraps and more compost. Hopefully, by next spring, after the autumn rains and winter snows,
 we'll have a nice plot of land, no weeds, and wonderfully rich soil to start planting.

I started a new knitting project last week. I know, with four afghans in various stages of completion, as well as numerous cross-stitch projects, why start another? Because this one has to be done before Christmas. I'm making Christmas Tree hats for the two youngest of Ken's granddaughters. It remains to be seen whether the two older grandkids want a hat of their own.

Enjoy your autumn. Till next time...

Spirit

Today's post is about getting into the holiday spirit.

Christmas is Coming, 12/17/09

“Christmas is coming/the goose is getting fat/Please to put a penny in an old man’s hat.  If you haven’t got a penny/a ha’penny will do/If you haven’t got a ha’penny/God bless you”

Do you remember that old rhyme? Seems sort of appropriate given the current economic times. Many don’t even have a “ha’penny” this Christmas. But I think we could all use God’s blessings.

Ken is getting into the holiday spirit this year, more than he has for many years. He says it’s all for me, but I don’t think so. Whatever the reason, it’s nice to see him enjoying the decorations (yes, we went ahead and put them up), shopping for his grandkids, wrapping gifts. Some of the spirit may even rub off on me; I started baking cookies today, which I haven’t done for a while. Gotta get ready, ya know, ’cause I hear that Christmas is coming. God bless us all.


Back to August now. My spirit is flagging. I think Ken's is too. He has bipolar disorder, and I think he's on the downward spiral. He hasn't taken his meds for a few days, and he won't get out of bed except to heat leftovers for my supper. 

I think we could use some of that holiday spirit right about now. I know without a doubt that we could use God's blessings.

Holidays and Foreclosures

A little background info is needed to understand today's post. In October 2009, Ken and I had a visit from Colleen, a realtor from a local agency. She was there as a representative of the bank which had just bought the house we were renting. Our landlord lost our home to foreclosure. If anyone has been through that nightmare, you can understand my fears as the holidays drew closer.

December Eve, 11/30/09

Happy December Eve! You ask, “What the …?” Well, I figure that Oct 31 is Halloween (All Hallows Eve) and Dec 31 is New Year’s Eve, so Nov 30 ought to be Something, right? Personally, I can’t believe tomorrow is Dec 1 and that Christmas is less than 4 weeks away. I’m sure there are those for whom the days can’t go fast enough, but I hope the days go slowly.

Do the holidays stress you out? How do your symptoms react to this often hectic time of year? I think it’s the whole uncertainty about my housing situation that has me feeling more Scrooge-like than normal. Not knowing where I’ll be on Christmas, whether to haul the tree and decorations up from the basement, only to have to pack them again the next day, is enough to add stress to an already stressful time.

I think I should be packing, since I can only do a little at a time, but Ken is reluctant to start. He’s sure he can figure out a way for us to stay here, so he won’t attack the basement or the garage. I just fear that the proverbial other shoe will drop somewhere around Dec 20, and we’ll have 3 days to pack, move, and more importantly, find a place to move to.

Maybe it’s time for me to listen to my own PD anthem, “Stand Back Up” by Sugarland. I really like the message: you can knock me down again and again, but I will always “stand back up.”