Countdowns

It's that time of  year that kids are all excited.  They are counting down the days until Christmas.  They may make a paper chain countdown where every day they tear off a chain helping them see how close Christmas is.

I'm almost as bad, just ask my family.  To me it's the most magical time of the year.  Everyone knows that the countdown actually starts on my birthday which is exactly 100 days until Christmas.

I have several countdowns in my  house. 

I have a magnetic refrigerator tree.  Starting December 1, I put a new ornament on the tree culminating with a star on the 24th. This was given to me as a gift and I love it.

I have a bugle countdown. This has numbers that you flip every day to count down.  This was also a gift to me.  I have this on my washstand under the TV. 

I have a gingerbread countdown house.  I was so excited when I got this.  It was from Hobby Lobby and marked down half price.  It's pretty big. Every day I open a little door/window counting down the days.

I have a Hallmark countdown nativity ornament.  Every day you change the day and hear the story of the nativity.  This was one of the special ornaments that Gary and I bought one year - we buy a new Christmas ornament every year. 

TV stations do 25 days of Christmas showing different Christmas shows leading up to Christmas.  Some of these are old familiar shows, Rudolph, Frosty, Charlie Brown, It's a Wonderful Life, and some are new movies that have been released just for TV.

This year I was asked if I wanted to participate in a Bible Study - Countdown to Christmas.  Of course I said yes.  This has been a great study. I am really enjoying it.  It's titled Hope In Struggle, Countdown to Christmas. 

So every day this month not only am I doing my countdowns throughout the house I am also doing a countdown through the Bible.  It's a great time of reflection on what Mary and Joseph went through as well as what Jesus went through.

And all of these countdowns are leading up to the same thing - the reason we celebrate Christmas. The birth of Jesus. 

How are you counting down the month of December?  And what are you counting down? The birth of Jesus or the arrival of Santa Claus?

Holiday Months

I had a friend send me this picture the other day.  She said it made her think of me.  Now that makes me smile. First off, it's always nice to know that someone is thinking of you.  Secondly, yeah this is kinda me.  

Everyone knows I really love Christmas.  Throughout the year in my mind I am decorating for Christmas.  Trying to figure out where I'm gonna put what decorations. How will I arrange things this year?  What groupings do I want to put together?  Where will I put that new sign I just bought? This stuff doesn't happen with the snap of a finger you know.  

However, I do also love the other holidays.

Halloween -- what's not to love about being able to eat candy because people just give it away!  Haunted houses?  Of course - they are the best.  When we lived in Missouri we always went to the Haunted Houses in Kansas City.  They are awesome! Gotta say when we went to one here in Tulsa we were a little disappointed. We got married on October 29th and the night before our wedding we went to a Haunted House in Springfield.  So much fun with the girls.  

Thanksgiving -- again - what's not to love about food!  As my daughter K.C. says this is the best holiday because no one expects anything of  you and you get to eat all you want.  Food - family and fun.  That pretty much sums up Thanksgiving.  

It's all about the food. And if you have ever been to our house you know that Gary is our menu planner and chief cook and he loves it.  You will find our menu for the entire Thanksgiving weekend printed out and on the refrigerator.  

And it is a whole weekend holiday for us with traditions that we look forward to each year.  Gary's parents come down on Wednesday.  Gary and I both have Wednesday before Thanksgiving off and we do some prep work for Thanksgiving dinner - you know desserts, etc.  Thanksgiving is our big meal and Thursday evening we usually go to  a movie.  Friday - well that's when we go shopping while Gary's dad puts up my outside Christmas lights.  

Hopefully sometime over the Thanksgiving weekend we will watch Christmas Vacation. We might try to do some kind of day trip on Saturday.  I'm kinda thinking that maybe spending the entire day on Saturday watching Christmas movies might be a fun way to spend the day.  Whatever we do - it's a big family affair with all the local family included in any activity they wish to participate in. (Sometimes you might need a little break from family).  

Then Sunday afternoon is when my Christmas decorating begins.  I remove all my decorations that I have out - not just the Thanksgiving ones - but everything!  I start with the two big trees - yes two -- I have two bay windows so each one needs a tree.  I have started taking the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving off work so that I can get the decorating all done and not have my house torn up for a week as I work on decorating a couple of hours a night. I usually have Remington and Lily willing to help me put out my decorations.  Actually last year they did the decorating for me as I was recovering from knee replacement surgery.  They did a great job too.  Now I have the rest of the season to enjoy my decorations, my trees, my lights, and just the season in general and not stress.  

So there you have it.  Yes, my Fall/Halloween decorations are out.  I will put up my Thanksgiving ones November first. This means leaving pumpkins themselves out but taking out Halloween specific items and then getting my turkeys and pilgrims out.  

BUT in my head right now I am thinking how the Chrismas decorations will be displayed.  

Amusing Myself

My daughter stopped by to visit me at work today after her class.  This particular class is Pop Culture and she was talking about it.

The instructor has said that pop culture is basically what anyone around you happens to say.  For example: You go to college and you call this college because everyone else does.  However, if you came in here and everyone said it was a bank then it would be a bank not a college. 

Then she was telling me how they have to do journal entries.  So of course, my mind goes to what she has just explained about her instructor so here is my 'journal entry' for a pop culture class that meets twice a week.  Please keep in mind - this is just to amuse myself. 

Day 1 - Bank Receipt
 
    I am depositing this receipt into my filing cabinet for the day.   Please add this to my balance and advise me of the total accumulated interest I will receive at the end of the class.  My journal entries will be known as Bank Receipts. My class record will now be known as the filing cabinet. Accumulated Interest refers to my grade in the class itself.


Day 2 - Bank Receipt

   Another deposit for the filing cabinet.  This one can be labeled 240 words for content collection.  Because I say that have 240 words in this deposit it is so.  The class is in agreement.


Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 - Bank Receipts
   Filing cabinet receipt submitted for the day.  This will count as three (3) submissions because I am to busy to do the next two that are required after this.  I have gotten all my fellow classmates to agree to this so it is sufficient for Pop Culture. 

Day 6 - Bank Receipt

  Filing cabinet submission -- I will attempt to do a better job at submitting these receipts in a more timely fashion in the future but please accept this as submitted on Day # 6 with a word count of 314. I had trouble getting this one done - please refer to previous receipt indicating my schedule conflicts. Again, I have gotten my fellow classmates to agree to this.

Day 7 - Bank Receipt

   Filing cabinet submission -- Class is becoming more and more interested in my concept of pop culture and will start filing their own bank receipts effective immediately.  We will be submitting a formal document signed by the entire class renaming this Banking 101 and this will become part of our official transcript because we all agree that Pop Culture was not the Humanities course we thought it was going to be.

Day 8 - Bank Receipt

  Yet another filing cabinet submission -- Class is becoming restless and is considering restructuring.  We have determined that instructor is not a proper name for the person who is 'leading' the class.  We therefore are going to refer to you as our Personal Banker. In addition, we have decided that 8 am is to early for class and we prefer sleeping in so if we do not make it to class until 9 am we will still be considered as present and accounted for in regards to any classroom work. 

Day 9 - Prescription

  The class has gotten tired of bank receipts so we have decided we will now submit prescriptions to the pharmacy.  This is something that is very appealing to us so we will continue this throughout the rest of the semester.  Pharmacy hours are as follows: Monday and Wednesday only from 9 am - 10:30 am.  In addition, we will be calling ourselves penguins instead of people.  We feel that being a penguin would be a lot more fun than a person.  It's even more fun to say. So from now until the end of semester your penguins will be submitting daily prescriptions for you to read. 




I hope that you all have enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.  What is your concept of Pop Culture? 

Reflections

Watching someone you love age is hard.

I've seen family and friends go through the process of watching aging family members with dementia or Alzheimers. Or perhaps failing health.

I've seen people complain of having to deal with their aging parents.  I want to slap them.  They are fortunate to have their parents and to be able to assist them. It's a privilege to be able to assist someone who did so much for you.

This is a part of life that you expect though as you become an adult and your parents age.  Role reversal - you are now taking care of the ones who took care of you.

I think as a child it's something that you realize.  You will probably have to take care of your parents as they age. I also think that most people are more than happy to do so.

Watching your sibling age I think is harder.

You expect your parents to age. You don't expect someone you grew  up with to.

This is your partner in crime when you were kids.  You were a team for football games.  They know your childhood and you know theirs.

We fought each other, we fought for each other and always knew that if anything was needed we could call.

That's what family does. You take care of each other. No questions asked.

You're close in age. If your sibling is aging does that mean you are to?  In some ways I believe this is sadder than watching a parent age.  I don't know this personally but you expect your parents to age and need you. You don't expect your brother to be almost defeated.

Now before anyone gets the wrong conclusion - No - none of my brothers have dementia nor any major health concerns at this time. It's more a matter of realizing that perhaps it's best to move closer to family for asistance with some activities.

I spent last week with my oldest daughter helping my oldest brother do just that.  That was a hard week.  We went through personal items and packed and loaded a rental truck in a day and a half.  Then my daughter drove that loaded truck cross country pulling my brother's car.  We did a lot in a short time frame. 

Should it have been done sooner?  Possibly, but until he was ready it couldn't be done. 

Was it worth it? Yes  My brother is happier now than he has been for a while.  I no longer worry about him as much as I know he is within 2 hours of family if anything is needed. And another brother and I agree that he sounds so much better and happier.  So yes it was worth it. 

Would I do it again?  Without any hesitation YES - YES - YES  Family is family.  I will do anything I can for any of my family.  Including driving 15 hours one way to take care of you.

 And knowing that my daughters are there if needed when I call them to help with their uncle is what family is all about. 

Brother Trip

Goodness!  How does the time get away from me?  I can't believe I haven't posted since March.

We had Spring Break at school.  I worked it this year but Gary took a trip to see our Arizona family.  He had a good time.  Since I worked Spring Break I got to take equivalent time later. I opted to take my time in April and I planned a 'brother trip'.

My brothers and I are scattered.  I live in Oklahoma. My oldest brother lives in Michigan. My next oldest brother lives in Pennsylvania and our little brother lives in South Carolina.  We have not all been together since my dad died, like 35 years ago.  Now I have seen each of them and sometimes 3 of us have been together.  I saw two of my brothers last year but it has been probably 20 years since any of us had seen my little brother.  So I just planned a brother trip.

My best bud, Remington wanted to go with me to meet my brothers.  He's heard lots of stories about our growing up years.  From how I got a black eye playing football just because Bub socked me in the eye to keep me from going out for the pass and probable touchdown to the time I got punched in the stomach right after coming home from the hospital having my appendix removed. He knows a lot about my childhood.  Plus, he also knew that Uncle Wayne had lots of tattoos and he wanted to see an 'old person with tattoos'.  LOL

So, we started our trip on a Friday about 12:30.  Our plan was to drive to Pennsylvania first and pick up Wayne.  We got there Saturday evening.  Lucky for Remington, Uncle Wayne knows kids and had gotten some groceries for him, two containers of ice cream for starters.  Remington ate half of one container straight out of the container that night and finished it off the next morning for breakfast.

I should tell you that we drove in rain all day Saturday on the way to Wayne's. Now we get there and our plan is to leave the next day to drive to Michigan to Stephen's. It's about a 5 hour drive.  Steve tells us we should wait a day or two as it is storming. He sent us a picture Sunday morning showing us the ice.

I checked weather and road reports. Wayne and I talked it over and I said I think we'll be fine.  It's only a 5 hour drive. We'll get there before it gets dark.  So we took off.  It wasn't bad until we got to Flint. The farther north we drove the more weather we saw but we made it in just fine.  Remington and I kinda enjoyed the snow although I know that Wayne and Steve were both tired of it by this time. They had been having snow since at least November.

Tuesday late morning we headed out. We had plans to meet my daughter's mother-in-law for lunch about 30 minutes away.  I never realized how close she lived to Steve.  We had a great lunch and visit but did not linger long as we still had quite a ways to go and it was storming again - snow, rain, wind.

The restaurant we ate at had some awesome food and some HUGE portions.  Remington got a 'small' burrito that was humongous!  But he ate it all.

Wednesday evening we finally pull into Bub's in South Carolina.  It took us all day Tuesday to drive through Ohio. We had to drive through a couple of mountains as we entered into West Virginia. Remington and I both thought that was cool but we also agreed that Grampa would not like it.

We spent all day Thursday with Bub.  He has a beautiful place out in the country that he is clearing off.  He has already cleared a lot of it and it looks so pretty.  Spent some time trying to capture a lizard, which was semi-successful. That means that at one time it was in a container but quickly jumped out.  lol

Friday about noon we headed out for the long drive home.  Made it to Tupelo Friday night without any problems other than all the construction.  Saturday morning up and back on the road.  Did I mention that we had Wayne's dog Bug with us?  He was a pretty good traveler until that last day.  Don't know what happened but we had just stopped and gotten gas and coffee. Pulled back on the interstate and for some reason Bug decided to jump into the front seat. In doing so he put his claw into my coffee cup and it started leaking.  Wayne is trying to get Bug in the back, fortunately he still had his leash on him. Bug is not having any of that.  I'm trying to get pulled off the road and Remington is trying to catch the leaking coffee into a fry container.  I get pulled off the road and then hold the coffee cup sideways to keep the last 4th of the cup from leaking out  and Remington and I are trying to figure out how to get this soggy mess out of the car.  I roll down the window and Bug jumps through it!  I was able to grab the leash and keep him from taking off.  We finally get the coffee disposed of. Take every napkin we have in the car and soak up all the coffee and then head back out.

We did not hit any weather until we pulled into Oklahoma and then the rain started.  We dropped Remington off at his house and then finished our trip to Tulsa. We drove a total of 3.340 miles and it was worth it to see all my brothers.  :)

The Week of Daylight Savings Time

If you are my friend on Facebook you have already read my feelings on Daylight Savings Time.

IT SUCKS AND IT'S STUPID! 

Now, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels that way.  But seriously - how can you think this solves anything?

It takes at least a week to adjust to the new time - the hour you lose - where did it go?  I just lost an hour of sleep and that's not a good thing.  I'm a cranky person when I'm tired.  And there is not enough coffe to make me feel any differently.

Now I have to go around and change my clocks to make sure they have the right time. I have a clock that has little shelves on it and it hangs on the wall. To change this clock I have to take things off the shelves and then take it off the wall.  This clock never gets changed unless the battery dies.  Word of advise - at my house if you are looking at that clock it will always be the 'real' time.

My phone - is it going to automatically update like it's supposed to or not?  Ugg I think it will but how can I be sure? The only way to be sure is to get up and go check another clock in the house to see what time it says. And that's another thing - do you set the clocks forward before you go to bed or wait until the next morning to do so? To many decisions here for me already.

Now to try to remember how to change the clock in the car. Oh wait - I just traded cars I have no idea how to change that one.  It will wait until Gary wants to mess with it (which he has done).  Now I have to remember that I haven't changed the clock yet and then mentally add another hour to the time when I'm in the car so I don't show up late thinking I'm actually an hour early.

I was getting used to having a little bit of sunlight when I headed to work at 7 am. Now I am heading to work at 6 am. That's real smart - let's put someone who is tired behind the wheel of a moving vehicle in the dark. 

 Putting someone who is not a morning person at all on the phone at 6 am is probably not a smart idea either.  Who knows what might come out of my mouth.  Let's just hope I can put a filter on it. 

Now napping at work is really frowned upon but seriously - doesn't everyone need a nap at least on the Monday after Daylight Savings Time?  It is known as National Napping Day.

Statistics say that on the Monday after Daylight Savings Time starts - heart attacks increase by 24%,- car accidents increase by 17%, and work productivity goes down.  I did not need any survey or statistics to tell me that. 

And another thing - what about TV programming?  Now how do they decide which show to air at 2 am when the time is supposed to change?  If I'm having one of those nights where I can't sleep and I'm watching TV expecting to see a certain show - trust me - I will not be happy!  Do they continue with regular programming or what? 

Now for the even stupider part.  There are some states that want to change Daylight Savings Time to be permanent.  No more changing!  Well that would be a great idea if they were not stupid enough to want to change it to Permanent Daylight Savings Time - meaning never turn your clock back!  What idiot thinks this is a good idea? 

So there you have it - my feelings on Daylight Savings Time.  There is no good reason for it! - Period!  Just leave the clocks alone. There are 24 hours in each day - the sun comes up and the sun goes down.

New Title

New title usually means a job promotion doesn't it?  Well, I guess  that's kinda what I've gotten. 

I'm going from Grandma to Great-Grandma!  Isn't that exciting?  Just wish they lived closer than 3 states away.  But it's okay.  I'm able to have a relationship with those grand kids living 3 states away so it should be doable for a great-grand as well! 

But I'm just sitting here wondering how did that little boy who was my first grandchild become old enough to make me a great-grandma?

Where did  the little boy go who would sit on my lap on the riding mower to help me mow the lawn.

What happened to that little boy who sat in my lap and 'helped' me make his Aunt Charlie's wedding dress?

Where did the little boy go who used to call me on the phone and hide in his closet to talk to me in whispers so his parents wouldn't know he was talking to me again?

Where's the little boy who made forts for us to hide in so no one could see us?

What happened to the boy who called the rocking chair 'Grandma's chair' and wouldn't let anyone else sit in it?

Where's the little boy who sat in his high chair and gave all his food to our dog Bit then put all of Bit's dog food in his diaper bag to take home? 

Where's the boy who asked me to play street hockey with him in Arizona in July when the temp was 113 degrees?

Where's the boy who always wanted to play one-on-one?

Where's the boy who got to play Neopets so we could e-mail each other?  And that one game where he would message me to get online so I could follow him and his friends around and fight peole online?  I was always worried those other boys parents would think I was some kind of pervert.  LOL

Oh gosh!  How did he grow up? 

Well he did and now I get to be a great-grandma.  Here's to my new title. 

Free Day

I've been quiet for a while.  Took time off to have a knee replacement and then holidays and busy time at work.  Well, it's still our busy time at work but I'll take this time to vent a little.  I'm going to write about how I would answer calls if I were given a Free Day.  I really think everyone in Customer Service should be allowed one free day at least every quarter - every month would be nicer but I would settle for every quarter.

Here's how I would answer calls:

Caller - after asking numerous questions they should already know the answer to:  Well, if I have any other questions I'll call you back.
My Free Day answer:  I'm sorry but each caller is only allowed one call per semester. If you have any questions for us you need to ask them now.  Your number has been recorded and will now be blocked until the semester is over.


Caller:  Yeah, I'm calling to find out if it's to late to enroll for classes?
My Free Day Answer - well if you haven't taken the time to even apply for admissions a week before the semester starts then you are probably out of luck.  Try again next semester.


Caller:  My classes are on Monday and Wednesday but you are closed on Monday.  Should I come to campus any way?
My Free Day answer:  Yes indeed - we will have monitors in place where you will need to check in just to verify that you showed up for class.  Your instructor will not be available that day but you must check in prior to the start time of your class time that day.


Caller:  Yeah, I'm taking Saturday only classes.  What should I do the rest of the week?  Do I need to go to campus?
My Free Day answer: Yes, we ask that all students report to campus every day of the week. Please feel free to just hang out in the lobby for the day. You may go home at 5 pm.


Caller (for the fourth time): Can you connect me to advisement?
My Free Day answer after telling him 3 times that no I cannot they do not receive any incoming phone calls:  Sorry, you're stuck with me.  How many times do I have to say - THEY DO NOT RECEIVE ANY INCOMING PHONE CALLS?


Caller:  Yeah, I'm kinda wondering where my money is?
My Free Day answer: I don't know - where did you put it?


Caller:  Can you tell me why my instructor hasn't answered my e-mail?
My Free Day answer: Why yes indeed.  Instructors only answer e-mails on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month of even numbered month.  If it is an odd -numbered month they will respond on the 2nd Thursday of the month.


Caller:  I don't think you're listening to me you aren't any help at all.
My Free Day answer:  Oh, yes, I'm listening to you. I quit really paying attention 10 minutes ago when you started telling me how dumb I was because you needed to turn in documents that have shown for the last 5 months that they needed to be turned in. It is not my fault that you choose to wait until today to check on this and now you don't have your financial aid in place.


Caller - parent calling for adult son (25 years old) who is asleep: No he's not available, he's asleep right now and I don't like to bother him.
My Free Day answer:  Perhaps you should bother him. He is an adult and he is responsible for his account and his classes. Make him grow up.


Caller: Can you look up classes for me and tell me what's available?
My Free Day answer - no you need to do that yourself. If you are serious about taking classes then you need to look and see what's available.  If you really want me to look I might give you finger painting classes.


Caller: Classes start next week and I didn't get my taxes done until last week. Now Financial Aid is saying they won't pay for my classes until all my information is turned in. I'm running out of time. Can you help me?
My Free Day answer: Sorry - perhaps you should have been thinking of those taxes last year when they were due then in January of this year you would not be wondering how to get the information you need.  Sounds to me like you are out of luck.



Now how much more fun would my job be if I could answer questions that way?