It's the wee man stuck in me head

Have you ever watched a movie or telivision program set in Ireland or Scotland and then realise that you can't get that accent out of your mind? It's how it is with me now. i've been watching some BBC Scotland production for the past two days and if i didn't know better, i'd think a wee Scottish man was stuck in me head, pronoucing all me words and telling me funny stories whilst playing the pipes.



And that's how i'm gonna see the old year out - with the Scots or the Irish(as i'm reading a book about Ireland and the two accents are dueling right now to see which one is the winner.)



So Happy New Year to you all and God Bless You and be safe and responsible in your partying

Mrs. Klausenjausen

Hello, i'd like to introduce Mrs. Klausenjausen to you.

She has been called, by her one of her younger sisters, "The Christmas Nazi" but she didn't like that too much and since she wasn't the real Mrs. Klaus, she assumed the name, Mrs. Klausenjausn. she is so excited about Christmas this year that she began to celebrate it over a month ago and again fell in 'love' with her tree when she plugged it in very early this morning (after slipping on the ice as she took her trash to the curb in her pink fuzzy slippers!)

she also has been working way too hard at her various jobs and decided that she was not going to the 2nd job tonight for, you see, Mrs. Klausenjausen is rather stubborn and made up her mind and that's that. No use begging her to go to work, it won't happen. AND she might call-off on the 26th too just because she might...

But back to the spirit of Christmas and the Klausenjausen tradition. There are games to be played and food to be ett. There are nieces, sweet wonderful nieces, to be tickled and to share colouring books and funny stories (Emma the younger told me..erm Mrs. Klausenjausen last night that she spent the entire day in her pajamas! ..and then giggled because it was funny that she never got dressed for the day). There are memories to make and share and laughter to be had and Mrs. Klausenjausen has decided that although she does like her 2nd job and she does need the income from the 2nd job, that she just isn't going to go. Too bad...deal puppy and that's that!

And in case Mrs. Klausenjausen can't blog between today and Christmas day, she wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas. she hopes it it filled with peace, joy and happiness and that everyone takes time to remember the true meaning of Christmas and to realize what a wonderous gift we have been given.

Life is so wonderful and precious - celebrate it wildly this season (but please, no drinking and driving!) and by all means, have at least one pajama day!

It's Monday

Even though i am cheered by the Christmas season, by having family around and days off from wrok, the loss of the Eagles vs. Redskins yesterday has put a bit of a damper on my mood.

You have to understand that i don't just like football...i love it. i love everything about the game. i love the 'fight' of it, the passion. i'm not a stats kinda person - i can't rattle them off (like my brothers and dad) but i love the game. And i love my Eagles.

But when they mess up? True to being a real Eagles fan i would throw them under a bus - but still love them. Other friends who don't root for the Eagles don't understand it when i turn on my team and 'boooo' them - but it's how Philadelphia does football. It's something that's been passed down from generation to generation -it's in our blood.

So today, even though i love them, i wouldn't mind knocking their collective heads against a wall while yelling "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING????"

..of course i'd be in my typical skirt and heels - which would take them off guard and no realize that in this very feminine form, lies a very, very passionate fan.

GRRRRRRrrrrrrrr!
Happy Monday to you

hmmmphf!

Life's curves

What i love most about life is just when everything seems to be going ok..not super great, but ok...the kind of ok where one can relax a bit and take a deep breath and say "AHHHH...it's Christmas time"...life throws ya a curve.

Not a terribly deep curve - cause those are just unhittable, but still this kind of curve makes you swing harder than you wanted to -not knowing if you'll actually make contact or if you'll strike out.

i think i'll be able to hit this curve and maybe even drive it out of the park (not like driving out demons but more like I HIT A HOMERUN!!!!!!!!!!!!) and all parties involved will be ok and maybe even better for the experience....but while that ball is still on it's way down the pike and while the bat is still hovering over my shoulder..i'm just not sure how it will all work out.

So while i'm waiting for the crack of the bat..the roar of the crowd and the privledge of running to all the bases, i think i'm going to buy a pair of new shoes...

...cause i have to look good for the parade, you know!

Things that make me go "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

1. When a co-worker (of course a male) comes to work while obviously sick, sneezes all over the place and then acts like it's not his fault that others might have caught his cold/flu. Dude! Stay home - we don't want your germs. WHY do men do this???? What is wrong with them? STAY HOME ALREADY!

2. When other passangers of Route 222 seem to think they are the only drivers in the world and take their own sweet time. GO THE SPEED LIMIT ALREADY!

3. When, in the throes of the Christmas season, i am grumpy and cranky. GET OVER IT ALREADY! (grrrr-ing at myself!)

And that's all for now.

i think i need coffee....


*********************
1628 - update
AHHHHhhh...feeling much better - had coffee, had lunch, had advil, decorated for Graduation (Saturday), laughed, used a staple gun (can you say POWER?) so all is well even though it's been raining non-stop all day and it lookin' to freeze tonight (like how i said "lookin?") so i might be grumpy again tomorrow - one can hope.

i did like the idea of taking a Vicodin though i can't be trusted around strong pain killers ...just ask Heather and Maurice about the chicken pox episode....

Better than Martha Stewart?

i love purses and have quite a little collection. i don't buy highly expensive ones and i try to get well-made ones at low prices. Because of this um...'love' - i had the collection hanging from some hooks on the back of my door to my dressing room*. And the other day i took white tissue paper and stuffed each purse accordingly. How nice each purse looks now - holding it's shape and happily hanging there.

But i knew that purses shouldn't hang. Rather, they need to be in a cubby or on a shelf.

AHA! my friend, Emily said! Put little lavendar sachets in each purse to keep them pest free (moths) and then they will be gently fragranced each time you use them.
(she's so smart)

So we joke about it - kind of - and i was truly thinking about the cubby idea - mainly because i like to keep what i have nice AND also i like to do things like that cause it makes others laugh (my nickname this Christmas season is Mrs. Klausenjausen)

Well i think Emily is better than Martha Stewart -because we checked out her site and she didn't mention one bit of the lavendar sachets.

Sometimes i get so Stewart-y i scare myself...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!




*Dressing room: my middle bedroom which i'm turning into an office/dressing room - a work in progress.

Nothing can compare

i currently own, in full, a 1998 Green Honda Civic. It is a four-door, no real bells or whistles, 5-speed (on the floor..not the column!LOL) kind of car. Currently, it has 181,000 miles and is going strong. i plan to run her until she cannot move one more inch. Some tell me that i could get a good 250,000 miles out of her, but we'll see.


A co-worker of mine just bought a brand-new Honda Fit. Cute car - not so much on the outside, but the inside is great - great visibility, lots of fun 'toys' and plenty of room.


However, this brand-new car is said to only get 31 miles to the gallon on the highway and 27 in the city.


my old 181,000 mile car? Gets, on average 32 miles to the gallon on the highway and about 30 in the city. Recently, i got 37 miles to the gallon when i filled up with Exxon's high test the other week.

And i only ever buy manual transmission -cause it's just more fun!

So you can have your new Fit or Civic. me? yeah, i'm going to run my sweet lil green baby until she can't go one more inch! And then i'll have the not-so-fun job of picking another car but i really am not sure that i'll find anything to take the place of what i have now.

Lap dog

In an effort to conserve energy and cut costs, the place where i work full-time has decided to lower the temperature in buildings by two degrees. This is a decision that i think is wise, even if it does cause a little discomfort.


Whenever i'm prone to complain about the temperature of my house or job (and i do complain), i am reminded over and over of some folks i know who live in Tajikistan and how glad they were when their house reached 45F in the dead of winter. Um...yeah..about that.


What i could do is get a lap dog to come to work with me(do you think they'll believe me if i say it is a seeing eye dog?) and that will at least keep my feet and/or legs from freezing off.

Think that would work?














(picture stolen from google.com)

It's beginning to look like...winter

Snowed on Saturday night, but of course it had to. You see, my neighborhood has an annual Christmas party and ours was scheduled, and held, on Saturday night and it's always terribly cold and snows on our party. Odd? Mebbe.

This party is like no other. We go from house to house - usually spending about one hour or so in each house. The owners of the house provide the food and each person brings their own drink - no matter what it is. Also when you go to each house, you take an ornament thus each person receives one ornament from each of the other neighbors. There are about six houses that participate and it's always, always a wonderful night. The end of the party always is at my house, where i serve desserts and then we sing Christmas carols (i have the piano and can play it) and then the party breaks up around 2am and everyone goes home.

It was a huge success this year and i had a wonderful time.

In other news: family from the South will be here in about 11 days. i can't wait.

Still in other news: the funk is fading but i was a miserable wretch for a few days. In spite of the Christmas season, some personal issues brought me low. However, i am determined to have a wonderful Christmas time - so i press forward!

Merry Christmas!

Funk

i'm in a funk today. Nothing suits me at all and i'd rather be home...doing nothing to be honest.

Not a happy girl.

grrrrrr

Was it love at first sight?

He held it up (i think it's a 'she') and i fell in love. i asked what the name was and he said 'Fraser Fir.'

i said i wanted to look at a few more - tall and skinny was my only requirement. He showed me a few more but i kept thinking about the first one i saw. He told me that the first one was a bit lower in price because she was a little light on the backside. i said it didn't matter because that side would be facing the corner. i already had her decorated in my mind and she was stunning.

He said she was 8 1/2 feet tall. my ceilings are about 10feet so she would fit in perfectly. None of the others compared to her - even with that light backside.

i said - "i'll take the first one." and he laughed and said 90% of people who like the first one they are shown go back to that one. He was handsome - looked good in his rough clothes, eyes bright and shining from the cold and love of what he was doing. He wrapped her in white string and put her in my car, she looked lovely even there. i drove home as carefully and quickly as i could, her smell filled my car and i was so very happy.

When i got home, i set up her stand and then carried her in the house. i was surprised how light she was given her height. my cat, Moses, immediately came over to have a sniff and in 10 seconds flat he was purring and rubbing against her. i knew then that she was a hit.

i set her in the stand, and carefully cut off the white string. As it came away from her, her branches popped out and she filled the space with her glory. Her branches are soft, short needled and very pungent in her scent. Decorating her was a pleasure. i had to stand on a chair to reach her top - the angel's head is a mere 2 inches from the ceiling and once she was all decorated, pushed back a bit and watered i stood and gazed at her.

Absolutely beautiful.

***********

For some reason, this year i have delighted in the Christmas season as you may or may not have noticed. i decided to put up two trees: one, a fake but very old one in my sitting room - it is a short tree and the other a real one for my living room. i haven't had a real tree for Christmas for about four years and i cannot describe the absolute joy and delight i had in bringing my tree home and decorating her. Her beauty is truly esquisite, and she turns an ordinary living room into a softly lighted room of celebration. This season isn't all about the decorations and the tree and the lights -though i enjoy those things more than you know - but it's about the celebration of a baby born. The birth that would change the world forever.
There's so much more that this season resembles and reminds us - but for one night, last night, i enjoyed the beauty of a tree - in all her glory.

It was truly love at first sight.

It's why you love me

Seventeen random things about me.

1. i never do these things.
2. i'm only doing it because my brother is so cute
3. i think my brother, Brad, looks good in a pink feather boa (he has two girls 5 yrs and 2 yrs..thus the pink boas!)
4. i love to chew ice
5. i also love to do laundry
6. Doing laundry and chewing ice at the same time would be heaven
7. Thursday is my favourite day of the week.
8. Sometimes i spell things the British way ...because i read so much British literature and i get confused.
9. i can't make up my mind if dark green, dark purple or dark red are my favourite colours.
10.i only buy cars with manual transmission
11.i live in the city but wish i lived in the country
12. i've never been to Disney
13. i'm left handed but play sports right handed
14. Sometimes i dream in French
15. Other times i dream in Spanish
16. In college i used to dream in Russian
17. i served Hugh Douglass (former Eagles football player) hamburgers and cokes when he went to Central State.

How to make my day

When i lived in France, i would often go into Paris on my day off. i only lived 13 min by train away from the city so it was a trip i took often in my two years there. One night as i was taking the train from Paris back to Deuil-la-Barre i looked at the train on the next track and there was a dark haired man. Handsome business man, of course impeccably dressed sitting in the opposite direction so that we were 'face to face.'He was looking at me. i knew not to stare, so lowered my eyes but then glanced back up (it's the American in me, eh?)..he was still looking. i smiled..and looked away again. When i dared to glance back..he was still looking and then smiled at me. A real smile. Big, fun -one that made me laugh out loud. As my train pulled out - i waved. He blew me a kiss.

i often wonder about him. i hope his life is happy and full and that the smile i saw was a real reflection of the joy he felt inside.

i know it sure made my day!