Here Comes Winter!

Hang onto your hats, folks. The winds are supposed to come on strong all day tomorrow, with snow to follow. The Indy area is only expecting an inch, but we saw how the last one inch snowfall went. It's raining heavily now. I expect my car to be royally frozen shut tomorrow. The temps are going to bottom out in the teens over the next few days. So now I start my winter whine: I hate cold!

I had lunch with Judy and Phil Heffelman today. (Thereafter, I stopped in at J. C. Penney's, looking for some sheets as Christmas presents, and ran into a nurse from cardiac rehab who was standing in line at the checkout. She asked how I was. I said, "I just had lunch with my former son-in-law's parents..." The woman behind her in line laughed out loud. She said, "I like that." I said, "It gets complicated...") ANYWAY, we had an enjoyable lunch and talked about some things that are pressing with me. When we left Applebee's, it was sleeting. Not a nice weather day! (Didn't find the proper sheets, btw.)

I brought the Christmas decorations in from the weather today and got the tree up, with lights and garlands on. I will put the "glam" on before the night is over, but my heart isn't in it. Decorating the Christmas tree has always been a family project for me, but there is no family here. I will scale that stuff down, but there are SO many years of handmade ornaments from my former-stepchildren and daughter, and SO many memories in all of those silly baubles. It's sad, really...but I have to remember that the tree isn't about family. It is about the celebration of the birth of Jesus, and NOTHING changes that!

I will be walking at the Rec Center tomorrow morning with my friend Phyllis if we both feel up to it...also weather permitting. I'm not fond of the exercise but really have to keep with it for my health. Just have to make it a habit...a discipline. The alternative isn't all that great!

Merry Christmas to me! The stainless flatware that I ordered for my set arrived today. I am pretty pleased with my online orders. For instance, I ordered my Clinique makeup base online a few days ago, promised to be shipped in 5-7 days, but it was on my doorstep two days later...same as last time. I like that! The Clinique stuff, btw, is WAY overpriced, but it is all that I have found that works for me these days. And so it goes... The stainless is good stuff. I'm glad it is still available.

I'm still looking for a frame for a picture that Robin did in art class earlier in the year. It is standard art-size paper, but NOT standard frame size: 12" x 18". I've looked and looked at the picture, hoping I could trim something off...but Robin was so proud of some things that she put close to the borders of the picture that I can't change a thing. Custom frames are too expensive...but maybe worth it? The picture is a water color wash with crayon resistance. She has a dolphin, a baleen whale, a clown fish, and a sea horse...very well done...with a treasure box with a lock and key at the very bottom. As her brother says, "Robin, you are an amazing artist!"

There is a possibility that the children and my daughter will be here this weekend for their Christmas before she moves. I don't count on anything until it actually happens, but there is much to do, in any case. Back to work here!