On to the next...

 

Here we are just nine days away from Christmas and then only a week after that – the New Year! Am thinking that I am not the only one thinking that time passes very quickly -- at least sometimes. Am also thinking that I am one fortunate person...for a lot of reasons really.  Case in point...

Just one week ago my son and his family arrived and were able to spend a long weekend with me. My daughter and her family (who live in the same town as I) were able to join in as well. Perfect! Such all-together times are rare. (I love having all my chicks under my apron -- if only for a few marvelous days.)  So fun – a little nuts off and on -- but wonderful all the way around.  For one thing, they surprised me with having arranged for a family photo session – something I have wanted to do for a long time.  Unfortunately, it was a breezy and damp 36º and a bit muddy as we headed through the clumpy pasture -- dotted here and there with patches of slippery snow. Someone thought my old red barn would make the perfect backdrop for the photos.  (I forgive that person. They were right, after all.)  We all survived and although we were coatless for the trek and the photo shoot, no one can see the shivers in the still photos.  All in all, it went just fine and the photographer (Thank you, Barb! - of Be Inspired Photography) was fantastic – managing the 8 of us well… which … had to have been akin to "herding cats" or "being confined in a room with a bunch of wild ferrets".  My family can be somewhat uncontrollable and unpredictable when we are together.  I love that about us. I think we are fun. Anyway – the "sneak peek" photos turned out beyond great.  Can hardly wait to get them all … think I will try to make one of those photo books for each branch of the fam. Update -- was able to download all the photos last evening.  Can you "see" me smiling?  I am. Most definitely.

Anyway - now onward to 2022… hope it will be a new beginning of a better time for all. I am going to try to look forward with just an occasional looking back. I mean -- we all learned a few things during the past couple of years and I may need to touch base once in a while just so I am reminded of all the important lessons I learned. Then there are the important times that need to be remembered ... and ... family times are, obviously, #1 in the important category. Then again -- now that I think of it -- good friends should be included in that category as well. Yes ... Family and Friends -- gifts both. They make up the most important circles of life -- each of us has such circles ... at least one. I cherish them.  Am thinking that you do as well.

Anyway – I wish you all a lovely holiday season and New Year. I hope that you have people with whom to share these times - family and/or friends.  We have all come through the past couple of years and...  survived many challenges.  We cannot give up now.  Right?

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

 

Never a dull moment...

 

It’s been a nutty few weeks -- annoying, but minor "stuff", in the grand scheme of it all.  We have all had such times.  The thing is ... for me … it is essential to find something humorous at such times.  So… here’s the deal.  The situation involves two, totally separate occurrences.  #1 is the survey that Best Buy wants me to submit, and #2 the shipment of a heavy cylinder of O rings I received from a family-owned company in Texas - O rings that I never ordered. Exhale.

Let’s start with Best Buy and I will make this a painless as possible for you to read.  On October 1^st, after an extensive and exhausting search for a white double wall oven unit to replace my 20-year-old one, I found one online at Best Buy in Erie, PA (44 miles/32.7min) from my home.  Perfect. (White, by the way, is apparently no longer a socially acceptable color in new appliances – totally out of the popular spectrum and therefore almost impossible to find.  So, of course, that is the kind I love the most. It matches my kitchen.  I like what I like and the finish doesn't show fingerprints.)  Anyway – It was delivered and installed on November 1st by two pleasant young fellows sent, for some unknown reason, from Akron, Ohio (150.8 miles/2hrs24 min) from my home.  When they left my house both ovens worked perfectly, but they installed the double ovens leaving them sticking out 2 inches from the wall cupboard – necessary because there was a junction box behind them that needed to be moved and these nice fellows would not/could not move it.  Okay – I understand.  So… I had the junction box moved by others and the oven fit perfectly – except it was discovered in this final process that the Akron installers had broken an important piece that holds the control panel in place – or perhaps it came broken. Who knows?  Duh…  

Long story short – Best Buy has no email address for any customer support so... I wrote them a letter.  I had pictures that I so wanted to attach to an email so that they could “see” the situation.  Crickets. More Crickets. And here I was having taken the time to learn how to move pics from my phone to my PC and how to attach them. Sigh…  So – I contacted the appliance company itself.  They do have a customer support email.  Immediate response. They loved my photos and sent an appliance repairman on December 2^nd.  He ordered the necessary part(s) from his phone and will be back on the 16^th to replace whatever it is that needs to be replaced.  They will bill Best Buy. I had, after all, purchased that pricey five-year- warranty.  Note – I still have heard nothing from Best Buy… except ...  they just sent me a customer satisfaction survey. And guess what – you can attach pictures.  😁 I am going to have fun with this survey for sure. I will let you know if Best Buy actually puts my review on their website.  I am not betting the ranch on it. Oh --Guess what? Update! Best Buy did post my review … and they are sorry – yet -- still did not offer an email address. Said I could chat with them or call.  I am just not into chatting online – the answers seem to be computer generated by a slow-running machine with a human name that doesn’t read well, doesn't grasp what you have already described,  and asks you stupid questions that have nothing to do with the problem. Further…I don’t really have the patience for in-person calling unless it is absolutely the best option for the situation. (You probably noticed this lack of patience in my response to things before this point ….  I get that.)

As for the O rings....  Amazon let me know that the backorder for the weed torch I wanted was cancelled as they could no longer get that particular brand. I found it at this family-owned company in Texas in about three minutes, so I ordered it. To continue -- although Olga, with a smiley face, had checked the order – alas – they had shipped me a heavy cylinder containing a sack of 2” O rings instead of the torch.  I called them (the best option) and who did they connect me to?  Olga.  Olga sounded overworked and shorthanded … but…  we ended up having a lovely chat and she was going to send me the weed torch immediately. I am not holding my breath, but I did believe her.  I like her. We will see.  She said to keep the O rings - for now.  Not sure what that means.  A good friend of mine suggested that I could make jewelry out of them.  Hmmm…  Update!  Huge thanks to Olga.  The Bluefire 32” Weed Torch arrived safely to my porch. I still don’t know what to do with the O rings….  Ideas? I am just hanging onto them --for now.

So…  those two things are on my mind at the moment.  One thing for sure… I would rather think about stuff like this than the current state of affairs politically, or of the anxiety mongering media, or the perpetration of the fears of the damncovid by those “in power”. I am sick of all of that. "Stuff" like that seems to be always there seething under the surface. It may even have something to do with frustration levels and a lack of patience.  Don’t know for sure.

Makin' a list and checkin' it twice...

It’s that time of year – a time of meal planning, gift buying, and -- in the hills of northwest Pennsylvania -- a time for taking the buckboard to town in order to lay in supplies for the stormy winter days ahead (It’s actually snowing a wet, heavy snow as I begin to write this post – accumulating about an inch an hour for a while now. Here we go….) 

Now those of you who have been reading From Pencil Box to Keyboard for a while now know that I am a planner type – some might say – obsessed a bit with structure and very much drawn to list making as if lists had strong gravitational pull. Case in point – my Thanksgiving post just last week was in list format.  I definitely do not fly through my life willy-nilly by the seat of my pants. I am most comfortable with at least some sort of a plan… even if it is vague.  We are who we are….

Anyway – it is that time of year when lists spring up daily in my head and then appear on my kitchen counter. I keep a list tablet there... sometimes more than one.  Also -- In addition to my list of passwords for various websites, I find myself awash in other lists.  There are shopping lists – one per holiday meal - in addition to the regular weekly one. There is a Christmas card address list which needs to be updated soon and a budding list of things I must remember when doing taxes in the all too near future. Then there are the daily To Do lists that sometimes spread over a week and/or across an entire month.  Sometimes I think I need an index list to keep track of all my lists.  It’s that bad.

I confess I am awash in lists for sure. Some people are convinced that we all have these "must do" lists – either mentally, on an electronic device or ... hand written. I prefer the hand written ones because it is fun to pick up a pencil and cross off things as I move through the list. It is satisfying. I have been known to write down something extra and unplanned that I accomplished just so I can cross it off the list. Yes, really.  If it is a chore list, I always start out with the hardest one – you know -- to get it checked/crossed off early and out of the way – off the list. (If I do nothing else all day, at least I did that hard to do thing.)  But – I think we need to remember that there are fun lists too.  I love to think of bucket lists and wish lists, of lists of my goals and of the steps I need to do to get there.

The only thing I don’t really understand is the laundry list.  What is a laundry list? Where did that phrase originate?   Something to do with a laundry for sure. My life has never had laundries.  We always did our own laundry – and that process did not involve lists – only separating whites from darks… and maybe pretreating -- steps in the laundry process that not everyone does anymore - much to my amazement. It also involved me learning to iron starting with my Dad's handkerchiefs. I was 8 and the ironing board seemed very tall. (That was also before steam irons. There was the sprinkle bottle to help you create your own steam, and the irons were heavy -- very heavy.) Remember, too, that was before permanent press.  Boomers understand what that entails - something akin to waking up hill both ways.  Anyway -- calling a list of seemingly unrelated chores a To Do list is simpler for me…  so just check that laundry list question off the question list. Put that on your To Do.  

Happy Thursday!  It is now twenty-three days until Christmas... just in case you weren't counting down.  If you forget the day count, just ask any of your grandkids.  Bet they will know.  They recently made their Christmas Lists.  

Gobble... Gobble...

All pans and casserole dishes at the ready   ✔

Large Platter and carving set located ✔

Great Grandma’s little side fruit bowls washed and dried ✔

All ingredients for everything on the counters ✔

Turkey in fridge thawing ✔

Peanut Butter ice cream pie made and tightly covered in the freezer ✔

Stuffing ready put together and into muffin pans for “stuffin’” muffins ✔

Green bean casserole all set ✔

Grandma Betty’s fruit salad just needs whipped cream ✔

Cheesy/bacon casserole ready to pop into oven ✔

Mashed potatoes set to microwave ✔

Table set ✔

Note written to remember the cranberry sauce this year ✔

House about to smell wonderful ✔

Local family about to arrive ✔

Smile on my face – so much for which to be thankful ✔

 

What did I forget beside cornstarch for the gravy makings?

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Gobble… Gobble…

 

 

Short and Sweet...

More than one of my friends have mentioned, from time to time, that they wanted to text or call me, but then realized that it was too late in the day -- even though most normal people would just be getting their second wind. What can I say?  I go to bed early.  Usually up between 3 AM and 4 AM, I am ready for sleep by early evening. I am a morning person. Plus -- it's all about quiet, uncomplicated time. When I was in college I slept in two shifts just so I could have this quiet time. College dorms are not quiet places. I need quiet. I have always needed quiet.

Here's the thing. Time in the predawn hours is not only silent, it is remarkably peaceful. Uncomplicated. About the only sound I hear is the coffee maker and the clicking of the keyboard as I write. If it's cold, I start the fire in the fireplace behind me... so there are those sounds as well.  If I am lucky the occasional owl off in the distance lets me know that it, too, is awake. I like that owl and its haunting hoots. (I like to think that it winters in my little barn.) Anyway -- I can think.  I can watch the sun come up ... a reminder that each day is a new beginning.  Sometimes it is important to think about that.  I am thankful for the start of a new day.  Aren't we all?

The predawn hours are a healing lull before the world comes crashing in.  It is my time. I claim it. Plus - I couldn't sleep in if you paid me... so there is that.  I am who I am. What can I say? I have a suspicion that I am not alone in this. Someone told me once that you need less sleep as you get older.  Not sure that age has anything to do with sleep.  I just know that peaceful silence is a blessing for sure... at any age.

Gun totin' nana....

 

Not a fan of change really… or of trying new foods or even of tasting a teeny bit of things that look icky – like escargot.  I am not a fan of scary things either. It is therefore surprising to me that I recently purchased a Smith and Wesson 380 handgun. Now – I think that handguns are both a big change for me and… very scary. Yes, you read that right – my home is now protected by Smith and Wesson (and so am I).  I need to get a sign for my door that says that.  Some will find that amusing; others perhaps not so much. Don’t care. I am okay with it.

Anyway... the gun, which is, at yet, unnamed, sat around in the box for several weeks while I waited for my gun safety classes to begin.  I took it out once to allow someone else to use it for target practice in order to compare it to a 9mm -- and once to show it to a good friend.  Hesitant to touch it myself, I began to wonder if I were beginning to lose my mind or worse – that I was already too far gone. A handgun? Really?  I mean – those of you who actually know me in the "outside of the blog world" - can you even picture me owning a gun, let alone learning how to shoot or… actually using it?  Well, imagine for a moment, as I have, that you are protecting those you love.  Would you use a gun if you had one handy and knew how to handle it properly?  I am thinking that you would… or that you might.  Plus, I am just ornery enough to use it to protect myself. I notice that I get better at ornery as time goes on. And… I know just where I plan to aim to stop an intruder -- if it comes to that. My son advised me on this and I have given it serious thought.  It's always good to think ahead ... to have a plan.

So – this is what happened. My son gave me some idea of the things that a gun owner should have - and so – off I went to shop for gun related items having no idea whatsoever what I was doing.  Apparently, I was so engrossed in reading the labels on everything that I became an annoyance to another customer… a nice man… yet … a man with limited patience.  I had no idea he was there behind me… until he did the polite “ahem” thing.  He looked at me from behind his mask and asked nicely if he could just pick out everything I would need. He asked me what kind of gun I had and then took everything I had in my hands and put it back on the shelves. It took him about a minute to find everything I needed - explaining each item to me as he went.  I thought him to be very nice until he told me not to be embarrassment to my grandson when we took the handgun safety class together.  I didn’t like him so much after that. But I digress....   My son also sent me a cool shooting supply bag in which to store everything and gave me advice on ammunition, etc.  We plan to shoot together when he is home for the holidays.  It will be a bonding experience.

So – time passed and I found myself standing at a shooting range in between my son-in-law and grandson.  It felt like I was in standing between two strong guardians. I like that feeling and once again wished that my son didn’t live so far away, so he could have been there too.  He, too, is so fun and ... patient ... as well.  Anyway – the instructor has no limit to his kindness and patience with a gun toting Nana, and I learned a lot of important things. (The other men at the range  -- standing as far away as possible from me -- were total gentlemen -- although I think I may have heard some muffled signs of amusement - nothing even close to snickering though -- which was kind.) Nevertheless -- I am looking forward to more lessons.  By the way – I shot better than my grandson who may be an excellent shot on the Trap Team, but is new to handguns.   12 of the 16 bullets I shot actually hit my target and the one time I shot using a fancy pistol with one of those red dot things, I actually hit the bullseye center – all of this without my glasses.  Yep… I figure I am on my way, partner…. Must also mention that a dear friend of mine happened to call me this week (always so good to hear her voice) and when I told her about my gun and that I was writing about it – she totally took it in stride and said that she, too, has seriously considered "packin’ heat". That would make two white haired ladies one would not want to underestimate. That is just one thing that I love that about her. She has always been a feisty one.  I love feisty - at any age.  

By the way – if you plan to stop over after dark or in the middle of the night... text first just to be on the safe side.  Also, by the way, both my son-in-law and grandson said that I definitely had not embarrassed them.  Nice. Very nice.

Must be that time of year...

 

Here we are in the first week of November.  We will be turning back the clocks in just a couple of days.  Here we go again….  For those of us in snow country, we enter these days with a bit of annual trepidation.  It doesn’t help this year that the two Farmers' Almanacs offer different predictions about how hard the winter will be. But – hearty stock – we do take pride in surviving the winds of autumn followed by the snow and ice fest to come. We talk about it a lot. Our weather becomes a part of who we are in these parts. We go into a sort of survival mode and are proud of it. I also like to remember winters of years past as well.  The winters seem lighter somehow -- or maybe I am just taller.  No, actually – that cannot be it. I am getting shorter. Relate to that?

Anyway – come the end of October or the beginning of November each year, being the creature of habit that I am, I start thinking about preparing an Agenda for the upcoming year. My preference? At-a-Glance monthly.  With this particular type of Agenda, I am able see an entire month of things I want to remember – like upcoming birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  I have used a monthly agenda for years.  My Grandkids call it nana's brain.  I love that.  They are, in fact, closer to the truth than they may realize.

So – as is my tradition - I sat down at the dining room table on a dreary, rainy October day and began to mark my At-a-Glance 2022 monthly calendar with all “my” important dates.  I use green for birthdays and anniversaries.  I sometimes put the age of the person in parenthesis following their name as the years tend to get away from me. My grandson was in one of those what I call nippy nappies on my counter yesterday and today he bends down to give me a hug. Back to the point -- I use red ink to indicate when taxes are due, and other dates that I need to remember to keep me out of prison. You know that kind of date.  Heaven knows we have made enough tax deadlines and scheduled enough car inspections over the years to know their importance. I fill in the rest of the important stuff as I go along day by day. At the end of the month, I look back in wonder at how many things I actually accomplished...or not.

As I worked on this project moving from the cluttered and detailed 2021 to the blank slate of 2022, it was  fun to read what all went on last year… a lot of one-year anniversaries of damncovid highlights.  Just think we are approaching year three now.  Good grief. Anyway – I have a tendency to stuff important papers and to stick post-it notes on my Agenda and guess what I found?   I found two post-its with messages that I want to share with you. 

The first is an excerpt that I apparently found in a Mindful magazine at some point.  I vaguely remember the article – it was about what the writer described as mindful self-compassion rather than self-judgement.  The quotation I obviously wanted to remember?  “Learn to be kind to your imperfect self.”  I think this one works on a couple of different levels. Right?

I didn’t write down the source of the words on the second post-it.  Drat that.  I tried to Google it, but all I came up with was a Buddhist 12 step program and a similar sentiment on a T-shirt. Now Buddhists are known for their mindfulness so maybe it came from the same article as the first post-it.  Wish I knew where to give credit. Anyway -- these words take it a step further:

        Be kind to yourself. Be Present. Face it.

        One breath.

        One thought.

        One choice at a time.

I love the message on both of these post-it notes.  I see why I jotted them down. The thing is, as I move forward on my journey this time around, I like, more and more, to sit with things for a while.  You know what I mean? To think deeply about, to mull…. I figure I will get there eventually.  If not – I have enjoyed the process. And -- isn’t “mull” a fun word?  It sort of lingers in your throat when you say it out loud – it sounds like what it means... and it is a soft and gentle sound. I think we need more soft and gentle these days.  I have been giving that notion quite a bit of thought lately.