New Clothes

I've been lucky enough for the past 20 or so years to have a job that doesn't require me to "dress up."  I've become accustomed to wearing shorts, T shirts, flip flops and the occasional pair of jeans to work.  I don't think I even own a dress now.  It's gotten to the point where I feel a little phony when I have to dress for an event...wedding, funeral, or the like.  And that just involves long black pants and a grown-up blouse!

But I get tired of the same old T shirts so every once in a while I get some new ones.  This week I got an email from Crazy Shirts in Hawaii.  I love their T shirts.  They are good quality and stay soft after a lot of washings.  I couldn't resist the offer of Free Shipping that was actually FREE with no minimum purchase. WOO HOO!  So I checked out the clearance shirts first.

Right off the bat I found two long sleeved, colorful Ts.  Yes, one even had a Peace symbol on it with seashells and turtles.  Loved them both!  Placed the order online and 2 days later, Mr. Fed Ex delivered them to my door at work.

I should have known this was too good to be true.  Just let me ask this:  In what alternate universe did Crazy Shirts devise their sizing chart?  I normally wear an XL and I feel comfortable in it.  I'm old so I don't really like to wear skin tight stuff.  I'm going with "old" as opposed to "fat around the middle" so stay with me on this.  As I tried on each shirt, I was happy to see that the sleeves were long enough.  Sometimes I have problems with that.  But when I pulled it all the way down, EEK! 

I assume everyone that works at Crazy Shirts must be young, tanned and in incredible shape.  And probably NONE of them wear anything larger than a medium.  Sigh.  Guess I should have shopped in the men's section instead of looking at the pretty colored, girly shirts.  That's what I get for trying to get "dressy."

Naming Names

2012.  New Year.  Time to name names.

Over two years ago, their friend had a Garage Sale.  They decided to help.  There was a box of ceramic and other assorted clowns.  Another friend said they heard a friend declare that he was deathly afraid of clowns.  They were "creepy" and "freaked him out."  That's all this friend needed.  They took the clowns and proceeded  with the plan.

They sent the clowns on holidays or for no reason.  They sent them to places he was vacationing.  They even sent them from far away places.  But the modus operandi was always the same: each clown was carefully packaged with bubble wrap or packing peanuts, boxes were wrapped in decorative paper or plain brown paper.  And there was never a return address.

Over the years, there were ceramic clowns, resin clowns, a Raggedy Ann-type doll clown, a roly poly clown playing a cello, actual bell clowns, clowns sitting on the ground, clowns sitting on boxes, and the most recent - a clown jack-in-the-box.  The recipient posted pictures of them on Facebook.  His friends lamented that his "tormentor" was a horrible person.  How could someone do this to him?  He's such a nice guy - he didn't deserve it.

Each box that arrived creeped him out even more.  He had his roommate open the boxes.....he stored them in his garage.  Curiously, he didn't dispose of them.  Kept them all in his garage, even with the fear in the back of his mind that maybe some night they would rebel and come after him in his sleep.

Throughout all of this, he began to think that maybe, just maybe, his tormentor honestly liked him.  After all, the clowns were packed with care, postage was spent to mail all of them, and really, nothing bad had ever come of it.  He laughed and joked about them.

What he didn't realize was that his tormentor actually DID like him.  They had started it out as a joke but didn't forsee that so many other people would be horrified.  His Facebook friends called the sender "cruel" and "awful."  Still the clowns kept coming.

A few people knew the truth.  They shall remain nameless.  But I know who the perpetrator is and I'm going to spill the beans.  Do you think you know?

Christmas Shoes

Most women love shoes...that's a given.  I love shoes, too.  But I REALLY love Christmas shoes.  Ok, not really shoes - tennis shoes.  Having a broadcast job affords me the luxury of not having to dress up every day.  So tennis shoes and flip flops comprise the bulk of my shoe wardrobe.

Every year I trot out (pun intended) my 3 pairs of special holiday tennies.  The first pair I ever purchased are Chuck Taylor high tops.  For those of you fashion-challenged, Chuck Taylors are Converse brand.  I was a little hesitant to purchase them because, after all, they can only be worn about a month out of the year.  But they were on sale (it was August) so I bought them and left them in the box for 3 months.  They're pretty snazzy - red, green, and gold stripes with gold thread intertwined.  And of course, red shoe strings.

My second purchase is my favorite, I think.  They're white Vans slip ons with skulls wearing Santa hats.  Weird, I know, but I love them!

The third pair is another pair of Chucks, but low tops.  They're white, too, with green Christmas trees and red shoe strings.  These are the ones I was wearing the other day when the mailman came to my door with a large box. I couldn't get the front door unlocked (rusty?), so I told him I'd open the garage.  As I'm standing there by the door waiting for it to go up, I hear him mutter, "nice shoes."  Now due to the noise of the garage door going up, I couldn't tell if it was a real compliment or sarcasm, so I said, "Sorry, what did you say?"  He smiled and said it again.  Nice to know there are "older gentlemen" who can appreciate a cool pair of shoes.  Or maybe he thought I caught his unflattering sarcasm and decided to change his mind.

Either way,  I'm going with the appreciative old Dude.  Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas (again)

Since my last post, I have taken out my Christmas cards and updated the list.  Even mailed out a few.  That's it.  No decorations up yet except a little tree that was Danny's.  Probably won't be putting up any more stuff.  Just not into it.  Thought about lights outside, but if I can't talk John into doing it Thanksgiving weekend, then we won't do it.  I didn't - and we didn't. 

There is one (two) shining star in all this holiday stuff: Preston and Parker, our Grandkids.  If it wasn't for them, I would probably skip Christmas completely this year.  How can you not get in the Christmas mood just a little when you see this:

Brotherly love!  Hope for the future.   Those two little stinkers keep me smiling.  Katy (their Mom) sent a bunch of pictures via Facebook and each one is cuter than the other.  Almost makes me want to forego the freezing cold Winters and move back to Nebraska.  Almost.  But not quite.  Grammies are supposed to live far away so when they finally get to see the Grandkids, they can spoil them rotten and then turn them back over to their parents, expecting all the spoiling that Grammies gave them!  And we get to send them stuff in the mail for surprises, not only at Christmas but all year long. 

Gee, I guess blog writing can be theraputic.  Now I feel a little more Christmas-y just writing about the "Watson Boys" as they are called at home.

So tonight I will finish writing my Christmas cards and mail them tomorrow.  Then maybe I'll shop a little for our Save The Family adopted family.  That certainly makes me feel the Christmas spirit, too.  And it makes me thankful for what I have. 

Especially those two little angels!

Christmas Cards

It's that time of year again.  The Holidays.  I used to go all out at Christmas time.  Lights outside, cards with that yearly update letter, decorations all inside the house.  Last year I did nothing.  Just couldn't after losing Danny in August.  It was too soon. This year, I'm going to make the effort.  It will never be the same, but one has to move forward.

So today I wrote my annual Christmas letter.  Some of our friends actually told me they missed it last year.  I try to make it funny and interesting.  I don't tick off every little detail of what we've done the past year.  Sometimes I add pictures.  The thing is, I feel a little guilty.  My life has continued without Danny.  It's not fair.

Tonight I will have a Colorado Bulldog, get out my storage box of Christmas cards, and update my list.  Over the years, I've saved some cards that were meaningful to me.  I've saved all the picture cards - I've watched all my friends' kids grow up through those cards.  There are some funny ones in there, too.  It's a pretty big storage tub.  Yeah, I'm a saver!

So tonight, Christmas season officially begins for me.  Let's see if I make it through.  Thank God for my husband, friends and family.

Old Friend

I got a postcard (yes, in snail mail) from a very dear, old friend last week.  We went to High School together and kept in touch for a few years.  She had 5 kids and sent me yearly Christmas photos while they were growing up.  Then as things sometimes go, we lost touch.  I knew she had some health problems and had a stroke, and she contacted me  last year when she heard my son had passed away. 

I still have very fond memories of her and think about her often.  So I was quite surprised to receive her card.  She is in Omaha in an assisted living facility.  She's had other health problems and has been in a wheel chair for a while.  But her big news was that in February she had the lap band procedure and lost 100 pounds!  I'm so happy for her!  What an acomplishment.  

I'm happy to hear that she gets together once a month with a couple of other gals we went to High School with, too.  Hopefully, when I go back to Omaha again in March I can stop by and visit her.

I guess no matter how bad you think you have it, there is always someone in your circle of friends that has overcome something  just as life-changing.  It's good to have a lot of friends, whether you are constantly in touch or not.

Visiting Nebraska

John & I just returned from a visit to Nebraska.  His mom and dad live in York and his daughter and her family live in Orchard.  If you drive through Orchard and blink, you miss it.  York is not much bigger.

Yet every time I visit our home state, I am amazed at how not much changes.  It's almost like time has stopped moving forward.  Everyone is friendly, most people still don't lock their doors, everyone knows everyone, and the one finger wave is alive and well.

Ah, the one finger wave!  For those of you unfamiliar with it, the one finger wave is not what you might think.  When you're driving the two lane highways and dirt roads you pass few vehicles.  And those you pass are mostly pick up trucks with gun racks.  But no matter what, the driver will have his hand on the wheel at 12 o'clock and will raise his index finger as if to wave at you, while tipping his head slightly.  It's a friendly sign.  A sign of acknowledgement.  I guess maybe his way of saying "have a nice day."  Whatever it means, I like it.  It's a throw back to the past that has endured to the 21st century.  When I think of people trying to do that here on I-10 during rush hour it makes me laugh.  No index fingers are being extended around here!

I guess life it still a lot simpler and a little slower in the Midwest.  And it's still a great place to raise kids.  Of course, we have two of the most adorable grandkids and spending time with Preston and Parker is always a hoot.  Where the 2 1/2 year old gets all that energy I will never know!  Plus, we have an added extra - John's neice has a beautiful little daughter who is almost 4.  Jaidyn is going to be breaking hearts all over town.

There's always so much I want to do when we go back and it seems like I never get to visit enough or eat enough of my favorite foods.  We did visit Runza twice and thanks to a wonderful cleaning guy at Orsi's Italian Bakery in Omaha, I did get two loaves of my favorite bread in spite of them being closed that day!  No one anywhere on this planet makes Italian bread better than Orsi's.

I really need a week or two to visit Nebraska.  Maybe next time.