Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Almost Christmas

We have a wee bit of snow. It's kind of a light dusting and hasn't turned to slushy mush yet so it still looks pretty.

Every year I try to do something different for Advent. This year I got Samantha a chocolate a day calendar. She especially loves that they first chocolate had a squirrel imprinted on it! She honestly still thinks that there is a chance she will get a real live pet squirrel from Santa.

My Dad is going nuts with the new Kittinger table. He won't let Mom put anything on it. I asked if we will have to hold our plates in our laps when we eat on it. She did not find that one bit amusing.

Mom hasn't been able to walk Pepper like she had because Dad tried to kill her with some sort of portable heater that he got for the living room. Their living room is 900 square feet and all windows so it gets really cold in there along with the fact that they keep the thermostat set at 64 frickin degrees. So, the heater leaked some sort of noxious fumes that messed with Mom's already messed up breathing. She said that every day at noon Pepper walks herself down to the creek taking the same route they usually take and periodically looking over her shoulder for my Mom. What a crazy dog.

And, while we are on the subject of my mother, she lost her John Denver & The Muppet's Christmas album for her record player. I can't imagine what she might have done with it and she said she has looked everywhere. So, I thought I'd go on eBay to see if I could find one.. Well, who knew that would be such an expensive item... $25 for a 35 year old record with singing puppets... OY!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

We recently joined our local rec center and went for the first time yesterday. It was so much fun except that John couldn't go because he had a migraine. Samantha and I swam in the pool and just had the best time exploring all the things to do there. Next we totally want to try climbing the rock wall! There was no one in the pool but us so we were able to be totally silly. Samantha slid down the little kids frog slide and I attempted diving off the diving board. Sadly Samantha looked much cuter on the slide than I did diving!

Yesterday was my Daddy's 78th Birthday. We gave him some new books and Mom gave him his watch back. I guess that's how you would describe it. In 1953 he bought an Omega watch in Sweden that Mom recently found not working in a box of stuff. So, she took it to be repaired for his Birthday and he loved it!

Lately I have noticed a disturbing trend: the older my parents get the more "stuff" they are clearing out of their house. They have lived in the same house in the country for the past 47 or so years so it is packed with stuff and probably needs cleaned out but I can't help finding it a bit sad. Mom calls frequently and asks if I want this or that and says she will put my name on it. I am an only child so I get it all and I am sure when I go through things in the future and find my name on them I will wonder what was I thinking. And, every time we go home to visit we get loaded up with so much stuff, most of it junk. We cleaned our storage area in the basement and I couldn't remember why I had brought back half of the things I found: a deer antler, a rock, a broken necklace, a jar of sand... Oy!