Found in Fishers

This gift tops them all!

As I begin to put away the Christmas decorations, goodies, and gifts I'm thinking which present might be the most memorable. I did get a really cool paper cutter for scrapbooking, but returned that. You know me, just too practical of a person to keep a $300 cutter. I got a real cool pair of Crocs. Comfort is what it's all about at my age. But what was the best? or worst? Well there is one gift that just does not fit in any category. I'm not quite sure what to say about it. It's one of those gifts you definately can't regift. Was she serious? Was she being funny? Was she just darn creative?

I think all of the above. Glad to see Mom's sense of humor is really on top this holiday season. You see, she was hospitalized a good part of the summer. In her many visits, she was able to gather a wonderful collection of plastic "barf pans" for lack of a better word. So rather than tossing them into the recycling bin, each child got a wonderful, hee hee, table center piece with ivy and a white candle in one of those...well...special containers. Ok, I know that I am practical, but I probably would have thrown it away. Instead we all get to share in her summer surprises. But now, watcha gonna do with that? How can you toss it? And to think Juan thought that was the only gift. The joke was on him.

5 more shopping days 'til Christmas

The annual sister shopping adventure in Indy is complete. Our list consisted of 14 different stops, one being Castleton Mall. But after checking our list twice, looking for those who have been naughty or nice, we are just about done. We of course could not purchase gifts for each other on this trip...even though Sarah did buy some items for herself. Some kind of scam with a lotion and the Dead Sea. Whatever.

The morning started bright and early. Sarah with spreadsheet in hand...and people call me wacky. We had much shopping to complete. But we were driven to get the majority of our shopping done. What we did not plan for was how Sarah was going to get her loot home in the trunk of her Nissan. She was towing an additional passenger, Liz's friend. And there were certain presents that could not been seen by the eyes of a 4 year old.

After much squishing and squashing, we did it. It all fit it. Mission accomplished!

Happy Birthday to me...hee hee

Happy Birthday to me! Yes I realize that most of you know that my birthday is in April but I celebrated the big 5-0 last Friday night! What a hoot!The whole restaurant sang to me, they even made mention of my 50th birthday during a show we saw Friday night. Too bad it's not really my birthday and I am NOT 50 either. What really happened was that John and I went out to eat and a comedy show with Katie and Jeff and Stephanie and Jay. We decided to have a filling Italian meal at Buca Di Bepo. This was all part of Katie's Christmas gift to us...something about good karma. Anyway after eating the feast the waiter asked us to fill out a survey card saying that we could have a free dessert on our birthday. So I shout, hey it's my birthday! As you can imagine everyone decided that would be pretty fun to celebrate but I recanted to the waiter who then told me it was too late. He got the entire restaurant singing to me when a patron yelled out asking me how old I was. So Juan tells them 50! We laughed so hard. Did not get the dessert free but it was good anyway. We all shared a piece of cheesecake and a brownie sundae thing. After dinner we went to a comedy club to hear an improvised version of a Christmas Carol.The audience participated with one liners that were written on paper. These one liners were opened throughout the show and had to be incorporated in the improv. One paper read...Flora is 50! Funny that came in the program when they talked about the plague. It was a night of many laughs. A great way to celebrate the holidays...and my birthday.

The proof is in the picture.

I think I have a car curse. We seem to buy lemons. I am hoping this is not true of my new Torrent but I am starting to get a little nervous. I was driving one day taking Liz to a friend's house when my air bag light turned on. Yikes I thought. Grabbed the owner's manual and found that it needed immediate attention. I took it to the dealership and they were able to fix it the same day. Well, I thought they did but on the way home the airbag light turned on again. They said it was a loose connection under the seat. Guess they were wrong. Went back again and picked it up the next day. This time they said it was a seatbelt and replaced the passenger side belt. Super I say, pick up the car and pack it for our trip up north for Thanksgiving.

Then....then.... the light turns on. But as I am equipped with my trusty camera I decide to take a picture while driving to prove the light turned on again (that's because sometimes it was on and sometimes it was off).  This time they kept the car for two days. So, the light connection was either bent like they said or they just plain cut the connection, just kidding.

Thinking that all is good. I drive the car one week. Then the check engine light comes on. I'm thinking that maybe there is an electrical problem. I again pull out the owner's manual and read about the light. The manual indicates that the light will turn on if the gas cap is not secure. Resecure the cap and drive it. If the light does not turn off, take it in for maintenance. Sure enough that worked. Turned out when Liz filled the car on a very very cold evening as a favor for using it to go to a friend's house, she did not get the cap on tight.

All is well for now. I am hoping this is not some kind of bad sign from the lemon car gods. Maybe I should put a matchbox car under my pillow for good luck. Light a candle. I don't know but I fear car troubles. Shoot, maybe I should find that wooden statue from my basement and put it in the car to scare away the evil spirits!

Black Saturday

The day after Thanksgiving would just have been a little too overwhelming for me to go shopping. So, I slept. But not Juan. He decided to wait in the 4:30 AM crowd to get into Best Buy. Why do people go shopping at such crazy hours on the Friday after Thanksgiving? What can possibly be on someone's list that one would need to get up before the sun and go shopping? And just how many of those purchases are for the person holding that wallet anyway? I solved the problem and just stayed in bed.

Saturday was another story. How could I stay so close to Chicago and not take a trip to see the Christmas windows? So that is just what the family did. We packed up two cars and parked them in Sarah's work lot, hopped on the "L" and went to State Street to see the windows at Macy's, formally known as Marshall Fields. They were nice, Mary Poppins this year. The characters looked a whole lot like last year but it was the atmosphere. The crowds, the overheated bodies in layers of clothes to stay warm sweating in the stores. Enough of State Street, we took the subway to Water Tower and do some more looking. Had to stop by the American Girl store and snap this picture of their window. The crowds again were thick but it was fun. We finally made our way home. I did make some purchases, non of them for Christmas. Just myself. Hmmm funny how we shop for ourselves on holidays. It was a great weekend, lots of fun. Next up...the sister shopping trip in Indy to do our real Santa shopping.