Dear Friends,
Linda and I made it through another day with our toddler grandchild. Linda took a little break from baby sitting , and played Mah Jongg with her usual Tuesday group. I did okay with taking care of Max, but I could have used an extra set of hands.
She was pretty lucky while playing Mah Jongg so she walked in the door very happy at 4:30 PM.
After I put Max to bed around 7:30 PM, I tried to watch the Boston Bruins hockey game which normally goes from about 7 PM until 9:30 PM. I went into my man cave prepared to watch the game. I fell asleep after period one with the Bruins leading by a 1 to 0 score. I woke up with the roar of the crowd with the score tied 2 to 2. The game went to an overtime period, and the Bruins won the game.
It is a balmy 21 degrees right now, and we aren’t supposed to get much warmer here in the Berkshires. The weather guy said that we have another day of similar cold weather. He did say that the weekend storm heading our way will be mostly rain on Sunday and Monday with the some light snow as the front exits the Northeast.
The national news didn’t appear to have anything worth noting except for a Illinois husband who died in a car crash, and his wife is missing. They were partying before getting in their car and heading home. They did find the woman’s foot tracks in the snow, but they authorities haven’t located the woman after the deadly crash on icy roads.
Observation -- This accident got me thinking about drinking and driving as many of us attend more parties than usual during the holiday period. I also was thinking about the many people who will be driving while impaired. The driving impaired people are often under the influence of prescription drugs as well as other substances like Marijuana besides the usual alcoholic beverages. If any of my readers do party over the holidays make sure you have a designated driver.
Since I have been talking about driving, the cars sold by 2014 will have those cameras above the rear license plates so that you can see people and objects when you back the car up. Our Kia is a high profile vehicle but we don’t really see small objects behind the car. This new law was brought about by a couple who had three children. One day this grandpa backed up in the family’s driveway, and ran over and killed his toddler grandson. The family forgave grandpa, but he has been reliving the incident, and he will do so until the day he dies.
The rear window in our Kia Sportage is tinted which makes visibility more difficult especially at night time.
Another observation – While reading the Sunday Boston Globe, our son’s interest was peaked a front page article about one of his competitors called “The Upper Crust”. The guy started out small as a pizza place, and now has 25 franchised places. Well the founder did so using illegal aliens, underpaid them, and threatened to go to the authorities when they workers complained.
If you do something illegal, the law will catch up to you eventually.
Most of my e-mails over the past few days have been about our grandson. How could anyone ever get upset or lose their patience over such a good child who eats well, naps well, sleeps well at night, wakes up with a smile, and just acts like toddlers are supposed to act. The attention span of a toddler isn’t that great. When he gets bored with stuff on the first floor, he signals me that he wants to play in my man cave. I am not used to picking up toys before Linda and I are ready to relax. Max sleeps all night and wakes up between the 6 AM to 7 PM hours. Grandpa has a tendency to rescue Max in the morning before I should. My son told me to wait to he starts yelling to be rescued since he deals with Max in the morning at his house.
I did take him outside in the snow yesterday morning after breakfast. I pulled him around in the toddler sled. He enjoyed it until a stiff wind blew snow into his face. Linda did purchase a new pair of boots before she went off to her Tuesday Mah Jongg session. He had all the winter like clothes except for the boots.
The crock pot won’t be turned on today. We have enough leftovers for lunch and supper.
Today is garbage day, and I did notice that we have generated a bit more garbage with an extra person in the house.
Wednesday is Linda’s knitting group session at Panera bread. I won’t let her go until after Max has supper.
We all might go out and do some errands at some point today. I have to go out for sure and do a few things. I could do so while Max is napping, but I usually nap when Max takes his nap.
We heard by way of an e-mail that Max’s parents miss him very much. They requested pictures of him so Linda took out her camera, took some pictures, and sent them over the internet to his parents.
After Max wakes up, I have to put out the garbage, and get the newspaper off of the driveway. Our plow guy did plow our driveway yesterday afternoon. I have to fire up the snow blower, and do the sidewalks which are a mandatory ordinance for the City of Pittsfield residents.
Have a great Wednesday.
You know what Linda and I will be doing for sure.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Hello on Pearl Harbor Day
Dear Friends,
The first full day of babysitting went very well. We were both a bit tired when our heads hit the pillow last night. My head actually hit the pillow during the morning when Max and I took a morning nap. We both slept from a little after 9 AM until 11:30 AM. We both woke up refreshed. We did try and take an afternoon nap, but Max’s internal plumbing woke him and me up before we got any rest.
Anyone that thinks that people in their 60’s would be good at childrearing has to be absolutely nuts. I suppose if the person was rich and could hire a nanny to do the daily chores of child rearing, it wouldn’t be so difficult. Max is like an explorer, who has to touch and experience everything without any fear. As an example, our television in the family room is at toddler level. He likes to drive his cars on the screen of the television. If he sees a cartoon character, he thinks that he can touch the character. Linda had to take out the Windex before she went to bed to get the tire tracks, and the finger prints off of the screen. Anything that has a dial or a button on it, Max likes to touch. If you are watching a program with him, and you don’t react quickly enough, you will lose the picture, lose the sound, or have your ears blasted out of the room, etc. All these things that I am telling you are what toddlers are born to do. I guess we forgot how much work that it takes to raise active children. We have kept him away from out two four foot decorated trees. If we ever left the room, the decorations on the tree would be altered.
Max has been eating so well. Linda gave him a bath last evening. She put in some plastic ware in the bath water. Some were like cups, and he started to drink the bath water. It looks like we better get some bath toys for Max.
We did leave the house and went off to Walmart looking for some winter boots for our grandchild. They had none in his size. We will have to go back to Target, and buy the pair that we had our hands on. The boots are necessary because we have 3 o 4 inches of snow from the lake effect snows, and I want to take him sliding in our front yard at some point today. All toddlers need a lot of fresh air to help burn off all the energy that they have in their bodies.
We did purchase some car like toys for Max. That kept him entertained for a little while. There is actually enough stuff in any house that will keep him entertained. I have been trying to keep him away from the wine rack. He doesn’t touch the wine bottles, but he does like to touch the hanging wine glasses. He touches them, and the glasses tinkle like chimes.
Maybe I should put crime scene tape all around the house to protect the items which are breakable.
The crock pot Beef Stroganoff turned out very good. Max didn’t care for it, but Linda anticipated that this might happen. She is so good at feeding children with food that that they will just gobble up. As a matter of fact, our refrigerator and the freezer part of the refrigerator are exploding with food designed for a growing boy.
Speaking of the crock pot, I have it fired up once again. Today is pasta night. I have a crock pot full of sausages, one onion, and peppers swimming in a red sauce. It should be wonderful at supper time. I might whip up a loaf of bread in my bread machine when Max is taking a nap.
How about those Patriots? All the people who hate anything to do with Boston Sports went to bed unhappy last night. I watched every minute of the game. All the hype about the game turned out to be a waste of the sports writers’ breaths. Yes, I realize that it is only one game of a long season, but the Patriots are heading in the right direction. The Jets got out coached and out played.
I was thinking that if Belechik was in the corporate world, he would be an asset to any company. He is a man of very few words. He can motivate a team which is made up of 50 % rookies to perform like veterans. His preparation is truly amazing. If you beat him once, he would not let you do it again. He makes adjustments before, and during the game so that you can’t figure out what he is throwing at you. He will give you a chance to do what you are supposed to do, and let you know if you don’t do it right, and he will give you praise if you are successful. Isn’t this what a company wants in a leader?
I think that I might go out and purchase some New York newspapers today. I would like to see how they write up the embarrassing loss by the New York Jets.
Belechik will have his team back at work today. They will be preparing for their weekend opponent, the Chicago Bears.
How about the College Mascot who got thrown out of the game for throwing snowballs? The Police asked him to stop throwing the snowballs. He didn’t, and the Mascot was kicked out of the Stadium. The team did have a back up Mascot.
Linda has her Tuesday Mah Jongg session today. I will be in charge of Max alone. Maybe we can take an afternoon nap at the same time to help take some of the pressure off of me.
There aren’t many of the Pearl Harbor veterans left in the Untied States. Even though I wasn’t even born when it happened on December 7, 1941, I will never forget that day.
Well, I have to squeeze in a cup of coffee before Max wakes up.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
The first full day of babysitting went very well. We were both a bit tired when our heads hit the pillow last night. My head actually hit the pillow during the morning when Max and I took a morning nap. We both slept from a little after 9 AM until 11:30 AM. We both woke up refreshed. We did try and take an afternoon nap, but Max’s internal plumbing woke him and me up before we got any rest.
Anyone that thinks that people in their 60’s would be good at childrearing has to be absolutely nuts. I suppose if the person was rich and could hire a nanny to do the daily chores of child rearing, it wouldn’t be so difficult. Max is like an explorer, who has to touch and experience everything without any fear. As an example, our television in the family room is at toddler level. He likes to drive his cars on the screen of the television. If he sees a cartoon character, he thinks that he can touch the character. Linda had to take out the Windex before she went to bed to get the tire tracks, and the finger prints off of the screen. Anything that has a dial or a button on it, Max likes to touch. If you are watching a program with him, and you don’t react quickly enough, you will lose the picture, lose the sound, or have your ears blasted out of the room, etc. All these things that I am telling you are what toddlers are born to do. I guess we forgot how much work that it takes to raise active children. We have kept him away from out two four foot decorated trees. If we ever left the room, the decorations on the tree would be altered.
Max has been eating so well. Linda gave him a bath last evening. She put in some plastic ware in the bath water. Some were like cups, and he started to drink the bath water. It looks like we better get some bath toys for Max.
We did leave the house and went off to Walmart looking for some winter boots for our grandchild. They had none in his size. We will have to go back to Target, and buy the pair that we had our hands on. The boots are necessary because we have 3 o 4 inches of snow from the lake effect snows, and I want to take him sliding in our front yard at some point today. All toddlers need a lot of fresh air to help burn off all the energy that they have in their bodies.
We did purchase some car like toys for Max. That kept him entertained for a little while. There is actually enough stuff in any house that will keep him entertained. I have been trying to keep him away from the wine rack. He doesn’t touch the wine bottles, but he does like to touch the hanging wine glasses. He touches them, and the glasses tinkle like chimes.
Maybe I should put crime scene tape all around the house to protect the items which are breakable.
The crock pot Beef Stroganoff turned out very good. Max didn’t care for it, but Linda anticipated that this might happen. She is so good at feeding children with food that that they will just gobble up. As a matter of fact, our refrigerator and the freezer part of the refrigerator are exploding with food designed for a growing boy.
Speaking of the crock pot, I have it fired up once again. Today is pasta night. I have a crock pot full of sausages, one onion, and peppers swimming in a red sauce. It should be wonderful at supper time. I might whip up a loaf of bread in my bread machine when Max is taking a nap.
How about those Patriots? All the people who hate anything to do with Boston Sports went to bed unhappy last night. I watched every minute of the game. All the hype about the game turned out to be a waste of the sports writers’ breaths. Yes, I realize that it is only one game of a long season, but the Patriots are heading in the right direction. The Jets got out coached and out played.
I was thinking that if Belechik was in the corporate world, he would be an asset to any company. He is a man of very few words. He can motivate a team which is made up of 50 % rookies to perform like veterans. His preparation is truly amazing. If you beat him once, he would not let you do it again. He makes adjustments before, and during the game so that you can’t figure out what he is throwing at you. He will give you a chance to do what you are supposed to do, and let you know if you don’t do it right, and he will give you praise if you are successful. Isn’t this what a company wants in a leader?
I think that I might go out and purchase some New York newspapers today. I would like to see how they write up the embarrassing loss by the New York Jets.
Belechik will have his team back at work today. They will be preparing for their weekend opponent, the Chicago Bears.
How about the College Mascot who got thrown out of the game for throwing snowballs? The Police asked him to stop throwing the snowballs. He didn’t, and the Mascot was kicked out of the Stadium. The team did have a back up Mascot.
Linda has her Tuesday Mah Jongg session today. I will be in charge of Max alone. Maybe we can take an afternoon nap at the same time to help take some of the pressure off of me.
There aren’t many of the Pearl Harbor veterans left in the Untied States. Even though I wasn’t even born when it happened on December 7, 1941, I will never forget that day.
Well, I have to squeeze in a cup of coffee before Max wakes up.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
Monday, December 6, 2010
Hello on Monday
Dear Friends,
It is not even 4 AM when I began to compose this e-mail. I hope that you don’t think that I am crazy. There is a method to this madness. When Max goes down for a nap whether it is a morning, and afternoon one or both, I will be taking a nap too. As long as I get my afternoon nap, I will be extremely happy. I have to stay awake for the “Big Game” which takes place tonight on Monday night football. My Patriots do battle with their rivals, the New York Jets. The winner will be leading their division since they are both going into the game with identical 9 and 2 records.
My drive home went very smoothly until the last 30 minutes of the trip from North Tewksbury. I put on a CD of James Throughgood, and within 35 minutes Max was out like a light. This was just about the time that we left Route 495 south, and got on the Massachusetts Turnpike heading west to the Berkshires. As we go to the highest point on the Mass Pike, Max woke up from his nap. I gave him some cheerios which lasted for a while, but at this point I had to do some magic so that I could make the last leg of the journey, and still keep my sanity. I thought that he would be impressed by the snow flurries, but it had no calming effect.
I called Grandma Linda as I went through the toll booth in Lee. She greeted us as I arrived at our home in Pittsfield.
Linda did a pretty good job of childproofing the house for a toddler. If there was an item that should have been put away or put higher, Max found it. He liked going around the house exploring, and finding new things to touch.
Linda fed Max a hearty lunch before we went off to the Children’s Christ Party at the ITAM. Max once again liked to wander around in these new surroundings, and watch other children interact with their parents and grandparents. Each child got a goodie bag, a juice drink, and container of ice cream. Santa arrived about 45 minutes into the party, and then passed out presents to all of the children.
Linda’s goal was to keep me and Max awake so that he would go to sleep good and tired. Well we did get good and tired shopping at Target, and at one those grocery stores which had one of those “buy one get two free items” on specified things.
Max had another hearty meal for supper in the Berkshires. I put Max to bed at 7:30 PM without a whimper. I fell asleep during Sunday night football.
Speaking of meals, we have enough Max food in the refrigerator and freezer so that he could last several weeks here in the Berkshires.
This is my time right now. I am wide awake, and enjoying the first of two cups of coffee before Max wakes up.
Max is going to wake up to a snow coated world here in the Berkshires. The snow is like white frosting on a cake.
Linda and I decided that we are going to crock pot our way through the week that Max will be with us. I have a Beef Stroganoff brewing in the crock pot right now. I am using a McCormick’s spice packet designed for Beef Stroganoff. You add sour cream after the beef, onions, and mushrooms are done (cooking the mixture for 10 more minutes) after slow cooking it for 8 hours. Linda will whip up some noodles, and then you pour the beef concoction over the noodles.
As I came home from North Tewksbury, my high school friend and neighbor was putting up his Christmas lights. I couldn’t believe that he was out there in 29 degree weather with a wind blowing. I am so glad that I have a tendency to do things like decorating early. His efforts were worth it because we drove down the street when it was dark, and his lights that he put out were very nice.
Max got a chance to see our front decorations, and the ones on our deck. Of course, he wanted to go out and touch the mechanical deer, and the lighted figurines on the deck.
I guess that I didn’t miss much these past few days not watching, and listening to the news. It is the same old, same old. One headline that did jump out at me was that a father and stepmother from Alabama are accused of killing their two children. I can’t believe the number of stories each day which involve children. I don’t understand how adults can kill their children. Even though our grandchildren need a lot of attention, and even when they are driving us crazy, Linda and I just want to give them hugs.
Speaking of chasing around grandchildren, a grandmother, who sat next to us, got on the floor to take a picture of herr grandchildren, and she couldn’t get up off the floor. She saw me laughing as her husband helped her up. I had to explain to the lady that I know the feeling. When Linda and I took Max to dance and music lessons in Tewksbury, all the parents sit on the dance floor for a portion of the 45 minute class. Linda and I knew that getting off the floor would be a challenge so the instructor gave us chairs to sit on during class.
It was so nice to sleep in my own bed last night. There is no place like home.
Linda told me that the other Herman (our Optometrist’s son and high school friend of Kevin) twin got engaged over the past few weeks.
Well, I have to send a couple more e-mails, and make out some Christmas cards before Max starts stirring.
Have a great week at work or play.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
It is not even 4 AM when I began to compose this e-mail. I hope that you don’t think that I am crazy. There is a method to this madness. When Max goes down for a nap whether it is a morning, and afternoon one or both, I will be taking a nap too. As long as I get my afternoon nap, I will be extremely happy. I have to stay awake for the “Big Game” which takes place tonight on Monday night football. My Patriots do battle with their rivals, the New York Jets. The winner will be leading their division since they are both going into the game with identical 9 and 2 records.
My drive home went very smoothly until the last 30 minutes of the trip from North Tewksbury. I put on a CD of James Throughgood, and within 35 minutes Max was out like a light. This was just about the time that we left Route 495 south, and got on the Massachusetts Turnpike heading west to the Berkshires. As we go to the highest point on the Mass Pike, Max woke up from his nap. I gave him some cheerios which lasted for a while, but at this point I had to do some magic so that I could make the last leg of the journey, and still keep my sanity. I thought that he would be impressed by the snow flurries, but it had no calming effect.
I called Grandma Linda as I went through the toll booth in Lee. She greeted us as I arrived at our home in Pittsfield.
Linda did a pretty good job of childproofing the house for a toddler. If there was an item that should have been put away or put higher, Max found it. He liked going around the house exploring, and finding new things to touch.
Linda fed Max a hearty lunch before we went off to the Children’s Christ Party at the ITAM. Max once again liked to wander around in these new surroundings, and watch other children interact with their parents and grandparents. Each child got a goodie bag, a juice drink, and container of ice cream. Santa arrived about 45 minutes into the party, and then passed out presents to all of the children.
Linda’s goal was to keep me and Max awake so that he would go to sleep good and tired. Well we did get good and tired shopping at Target, and at one those grocery stores which had one of those “buy one get two free items” on specified things.
Max had another hearty meal for supper in the Berkshires. I put Max to bed at 7:30 PM without a whimper. I fell asleep during Sunday night football.
Speaking of meals, we have enough Max food in the refrigerator and freezer so that he could last several weeks here in the Berkshires.
This is my time right now. I am wide awake, and enjoying the first of two cups of coffee before Max wakes up.
Max is going to wake up to a snow coated world here in the Berkshires. The snow is like white frosting on a cake.
Linda and I decided that we are going to crock pot our way through the week that Max will be with us. I have a Beef Stroganoff brewing in the crock pot right now. I am using a McCormick’s spice packet designed for Beef Stroganoff. You add sour cream after the beef, onions, and mushrooms are done (cooking the mixture for 10 more minutes) after slow cooking it for 8 hours. Linda will whip up some noodles, and then you pour the beef concoction over the noodles.
As I came home from North Tewksbury, my high school friend and neighbor was putting up his Christmas lights. I couldn’t believe that he was out there in 29 degree weather with a wind blowing. I am so glad that I have a tendency to do things like decorating early. His efforts were worth it because we drove down the street when it was dark, and his lights that he put out were very nice.
Max got a chance to see our front decorations, and the ones on our deck. Of course, he wanted to go out and touch the mechanical deer, and the lighted figurines on the deck.
I guess that I didn’t miss much these past few days not watching, and listening to the news. It is the same old, same old. One headline that did jump out at me was that a father and stepmother from Alabama are accused of killing their two children. I can’t believe the number of stories each day which involve children. I don’t understand how adults can kill their children. Even though our grandchildren need a lot of attention, and even when they are driving us crazy, Linda and I just want to give them hugs.
Speaking of chasing around grandchildren, a grandmother, who sat next to us, got on the floor to take a picture of herr grandchildren, and she couldn’t get up off the floor. She saw me laughing as her husband helped her up. I had to explain to the lady that I know the feeling. When Linda and I took Max to dance and music lessons in Tewksbury, all the parents sit on the dance floor for a portion of the 45 minute class. Linda and I knew that getting off the floor would be a challenge so the instructor gave us chairs to sit on during class.
It was so nice to sleep in my own bed last night. There is no place like home.
Linda told me that the other Herman (our Optometrist’s son and high school friend of Kevin) twin got engaged over the past few weeks.
Well, I have to send a couple more e-mails, and make out some Christmas cards before Max starts stirring.
Have a great week at work or play.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Hello on Thursday
Dear Friends,
Another day went as planned except that my outside light deer didn’t fair well during the rain and the wind which occurred through most of the day. Even though the deer are staked down, the rain softened the soil so much that the stakes had no affect of keeping them upright.
I also had to go out several times and chase light garbage bags that kept blowing down the street. Keeping our three garbage cans upright was also a challenge since they garbage collection guys never get to picking up our garbage until the middle of the afternoon.
Linda and I started our day in the garage once again. I was the bucket man. Linda had to go through several labeled buckets of Christmas decorations before she decided which stuff she was going to use. She didn’t decorate the house with all the Christmas stuff that she normally would put up because neither of our sons will be home for Christmas. For the average person who comes to our house it will appear fully decorated, but it really isn’t. Also, Max will be with us from December 5 through December 12 so she had to put up toddler proof decorations for the most part.
We did put up our two new four foot artificial trees in the family room, and the living room which Linda decorated quite nicely. We decided not to put up a normal sized tree for the moment. Some Christmas wreaths, and other decorations are up in every room on the first floor, bathrooms, and in the basement. We are going to try and keep our grandson busy during his stay, but we will be trying to have him play with toys in the basement. Yeah Right! This sounds nice, but this isn’t going to happen.
Speaking of our Grandson Max, I will be heading alone to North Tewksbury today. I will stay with Max for a couple days in North Tewskbury before taking him back to Pittsfield. I will be taking the KIA which means Linda will be driving my Subaru. She doesn’t love driving the Subaru. We also decided to use the Subaru for short trips and not for trips to the Boston area or beyond.
Kyla drove the Kia the other day when we were there for Thanksgiving, and she loved it. Her Murano went from being a leased car to being owned by Kevin and Kyla. The car needs a bit of work with all the miles that they have put on the car. Linda’s Kia Sportage has 30,000 miles on it, and it doesn’t have the aches and pains that Kyla’s Murano has.
Speaking of grandchildren, our Cheshire friends became the grand parents of twin girls on Tuesday. Their daughter and her husband live in the Boston area like Kevin and Kyla. This means Grandpa and Grandpa Emery will have an easy drive to see the twins as well as giving their daughter and her husband a helping hand. These friends now have three grandchildren and it happened during a one year period. They have already sent us pictures of their new additions to their family. They twins are a couple of cuties!
Sports – I did get my dose of sports last evening while Linda was with her Knitting group at Panera Bread. I was flipping between the Celtics and the Bruins. Both teams won their respective contests.
Speaking of Boston Sports, Tom Brady was named player of the week in Professional Football, the Celtics’ Doc Rivers was named coach of the month for Professional Basketball, and Tim Thomas (the goalie for the Bruins) is leading the National Hockey League in allowing the fewest goals per game. He recorded a shut out last night.
My sport illustrated magazine arrived yesterday. Drew Brees was on the front cover of the magazine . Let us see if it is the “Kiss of Death” like it was for Michael Vick last week. They had a great article on Michael Vick on how he has turned his life around since the dog fighting incident, and his two year stay in Federal Prison in Leavenworth Kansas, which is a few miles from where our son Michael lives. Last week his team lost the football game. I think that it even happened to Tom Brady several weeks ago. Could it happen to Drew Brees too?
The “Boo Birds” will be out tonight in Cleveland to greet LeBron James as he returns to play the team which he abandoned this past year. I might watch a few moments of the nationally televised game just to see how the jilted Cleveland fans react to his presence.
Linda wants to send some Christmas gifts out to our grandchildren in Kansas. Our son said that his house is exploding with stuff too, and that money deposited in a children’s account might be the best gift to give. He is going off to Walmart, and purchase more buckets. This must be a genetic thing. I think that Linda and I must have passed on some of our accumulating stuff habits. He is starting to get nervous because he and his family will be leaving Kansas in June for a new military assignment some where in the States or in a foreign country. He is thinking of selling toys and other stuff before they have to move. Linda and I still have at least 8 buckets of his childhood stuff waiting for him to claim in our garage as well as another 8 buckets of Kevin’s stuff too.
I took a looked at the CNN headlines, and concluded that daily news can really get a person depressed. Oops, I better not use that word depression, I caused a bit of controversy several months back when I expressed my thoughts on depression.
Actually, the Christmas season is not a good time for a good deal of people. Some people have nothing to look forward to. They have no family or friends to celebrate the Holiday’s with. They never get a chance to have that warm and fuzzy feeling like Linda and I get around every holiday, and which we pretty much have every day of the year. Some people have no clue how to make the best of a not so good situation.
Linda and I didn’t have to decorate this year since we have neither son is coming for Christmas, but that didn’t stop us. Linda is booked into a couple of Christmas parties with her girlfriend related groups which she belongs to. We have at least two Christmas parties booked in which we will attend as a couple. I will probably be having another Patriot Party or two before the football season ends, and into the playoffs hopefully. You can sit home and say: “Whoa is me!” or get off your butt and do something.
While I am in Tewksbury for the next few days, Linda and her girlfriend have a shopping day planned as well as Crafts Fair to attend on another day. The only time we get depressed is when our body aches from being too active or trying to find a day where we can act like slugs all day.
You won’t be hearing from me for a couple of days since our laptop will be staying in Pittsfield with Linda.
Our back up computer is not working the way we want it to work so she can’t use that computer if I took the lap top.
I would use the computer at the Brodeur’s, but the last time that I used it, I messed it up, and I haven’t been on it for months.
Kevin and Kyla have their own computers which they use for work.
Linda is trying to squirrel away a few bucks for a new laptop.
Have a great Thursday!
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
Another day went as planned except that my outside light deer didn’t fair well during the rain and the wind which occurred through most of the day. Even though the deer are staked down, the rain softened the soil so much that the stakes had no affect of keeping them upright.
I also had to go out several times and chase light garbage bags that kept blowing down the street. Keeping our three garbage cans upright was also a challenge since they garbage collection guys never get to picking up our garbage until the middle of the afternoon.
Linda and I started our day in the garage once again. I was the bucket man. Linda had to go through several labeled buckets of Christmas decorations before she decided which stuff she was going to use. She didn’t decorate the house with all the Christmas stuff that she normally would put up because neither of our sons will be home for Christmas. For the average person who comes to our house it will appear fully decorated, but it really isn’t. Also, Max will be with us from December 5 through December 12 so she had to put up toddler proof decorations for the most part.
We did put up our two new four foot artificial trees in the family room, and the living room which Linda decorated quite nicely. We decided not to put up a normal sized tree for the moment. Some Christmas wreaths, and other decorations are up in every room on the first floor, bathrooms, and in the basement. We are going to try and keep our grandson busy during his stay, but we will be trying to have him play with toys in the basement. Yeah Right! This sounds nice, but this isn’t going to happen.
Speaking of our Grandson Max, I will be heading alone to North Tewksbury today. I will stay with Max for a couple days in North Tewskbury before taking him back to Pittsfield. I will be taking the KIA which means Linda will be driving my Subaru. She doesn’t love driving the Subaru. We also decided to use the Subaru for short trips and not for trips to the Boston area or beyond.
Kyla drove the Kia the other day when we were there for Thanksgiving, and she loved it. Her Murano went from being a leased car to being owned by Kevin and Kyla. The car needs a bit of work with all the miles that they have put on the car. Linda’s Kia Sportage has 30,000 miles on it, and it doesn’t have the aches and pains that Kyla’s Murano has.
Speaking of grandchildren, our Cheshire friends became the grand parents of twin girls on Tuesday. Their daughter and her husband live in the Boston area like Kevin and Kyla. This means Grandpa and Grandpa Emery will have an easy drive to see the twins as well as giving their daughter and her husband a helping hand. These friends now have three grandchildren and it happened during a one year period. They have already sent us pictures of their new additions to their family. They twins are a couple of cuties!
Sports – I did get my dose of sports last evening while Linda was with her Knitting group at Panera Bread. I was flipping between the Celtics and the Bruins. Both teams won their respective contests.
Speaking of Boston Sports, Tom Brady was named player of the week in Professional Football, the Celtics’ Doc Rivers was named coach of the month for Professional Basketball, and Tim Thomas (the goalie for the Bruins) is leading the National Hockey League in allowing the fewest goals per game. He recorded a shut out last night.
My sport illustrated magazine arrived yesterday. Drew Brees was on the front cover of the magazine . Let us see if it is the “Kiss of Death” like it was for Michael Vick last week. They had a great article on Michael Vick on how he has turned his life around since the dog fighting incident, and his two year stay in Federal Prison in Leavenworth Kansas, which is a few miles from where our son Michael lives. Last week his team lost the football game. I think that it even happened to Tom Brady several weeks ago. Could it happen to Drew Brees too?
The “Boo Birds” will be out tonight in Cleveland to greet LeBron James as he returns to play the team which he abandoned this past year. I might watch a few moments of the nationally televised game just to see how the jilted Cleveland fans react to his presence.
Linda wants to send some Christmas gifts out to our grandchildren in Kansas. Our son said that his house is exploding with stuff too, and that money deposited in a children’s account might be the best gift to give. He is going off to Walmart, and purchase more buckets. This must be a genetic thing. I think that Linda and I must have passed on some of our accumulating stuff habits. He is starting to get nervous because he and his family will be leaving Kansas in June for a new military assignment some where in the States or in a foreign country. He is thinking of selling toys and other stuff before they have to move. Linda and I still have at least 8 buckets of his childhood stuff waiting for him to claim in our garage as well as another 8 buckets of Kevin’s stuff too.
I took a looked at the CNN headlines, and concluded that daily news can really get a person depressed. Oops, I better not use that word depression, I caused a bit of controversy several months back when I expressed my thoughts on depression.
Actually, the Christmas season is not a good time for a good deal of people. Some people have nothing to look forward to. They have no family or friends to celebrate the Holiday’s with. They never get a chance to have that warm and fuzzy feeling like Linda and I get around every holiday, and which we pretty much have every day of the year. Some people have no clue how to make the best of a not so good situation.
Linda and I didn’t have to decorate this year since we have neither son is coming for Christmas, but that didn’t stop us. Linda is booked into a couple of Christmas parties with her girlfriend related groups which she belongs to. We have at least two Christmas parties booked in which we will attend as a couple. I will probably be having another Patriot Party or two before the football season ends, and into the playoffs hopefully. You can sit home and say: “Whoa is me!” or get off your butt and do something.
While I am in Tewksbury for the next few days, Linda and her girlfriend have a shopping day planned as well as Crafts Fair to attend on another day. The only time we get depressed is when our body aches from being too active or trying to find a day where we can act like slugs all day.
You won’t be hearing from me for a couple of days since our laptop will be staying in Pittsfield with Linda.
Our back up computer is not working the way we want it to work so she can’t use that computer if I took the lap top.
I would use the computer at the Brodeur’s, but the last time that I used it, I messed it up, and I haven’t been on it for months.
Kevin and Kyla have their own computers which they use for work.
Linda is trying to squirrel away a few bucks for a new laptop.
Have a great Thursday!
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Hello on Wednesday Morning
Dear Friends,
The wind has been howling all night. The temperature is in the 50’s. We have a little rain falling right now. One of the bags of garbage was rolling down the street. I had put a bunch of that Styrofoam packing material in a garbage bag. The lightness of the bag was no match for the wind.
I spent three hours in the garage cleaning, throwing stuff out, and rearranging stuff on shelves so that we can now park both cars in the garage.
Linda had fun at Mah Jongg which lasted until 4:30 PM. Many times the games end at around 3:30 PM, but they players must have been into on Tuesday.
I squeezed in a nap too so that I could stay up and watch the Celtics game. The Celtic’s beat LeBron James’ former team the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While Linda and I were on a date night at Matt Reilly’s for their Fish and Chips special, I asked Linda who the big winner was during the Mah Jongg games, and how did Thanksgiving Dinner go for each one of her friends and their families. Every one of her friends won a game or two.
Linda did tell me of a Thanksgiving story which one of her friends told everyone who was playing Mah Jongg. One Mah Jongg player, who is in her late 70’s decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner for her family. She never cooked a Turkey in all of her days on this earth. This Thanksgiving she decided to cook one herself. She had no clue of how to cook a turkey. She called a friend for advice, and the friend said that you have to put water in the bottom of the roasting pan. Well, the Mah Jongg lady got carried away with the amount of water which she put in the pan. She didn’t give the Mah Jongg ladies much details of how the bird came out, but she did say that the bird came out very moist. A steamed cooked Turkey would of course come out moist. No one asked if she made stuffing or if the cooked bird ever got a crispy skin toward the end of the cooking process.
The lady told the Mah Jongg players that next Thanksgiving she is taking her family out to dinner at a restaurant which her and her family have always done in years past.
I also found out that my mother has a new roommate at the nursing home. She happens to be the Mother of a guy that my Dalton friend and I used to tailgate with at the Patriots’ game when we had season tickets. This guy’s mom is in the same age group as my mother. She had a fall at home, and that is why the family had to put her in the nursing home. It sure is a small world.
Politics – I see where the Latino’s in Nevada want to break away from the Democratic Party and form their own party called “The Tequila Party!” The Latino’s are upset with the lack of progress with immigration reform. Do you think that this group will serve free Tequila at every rally? If that is the case, I might join the movement. Just Kidding!
I also see where some people want Hillary Clinton to resign because of the leaks from the Wikipedia affair. Do you think that all the other the other countries who belong to the United Nations might do a little spying on each other like the United States does on a regular basis? It is so sad that our thoughts were written down and stored on a computer.
The Korea incidents had calmed down a bit from the shootings of a couple of days ago. I hope that we don’t get involved in another military conflict, but we have military bases in South Korea.
I was reading my Time magazine yesterday, and there were a little over 100 billionaires around 2000. We now have over 1000 billionaires in 2010. President Obama is not having success negotiating with the Republicans who want to keep the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the nation. I don’t want the rich people taxed to death, but they could pay a little more in taxes. The middle class has been footing a larger than normal portion of the budget in the United State. I can see why the rich, and us as well don’t want to pay for other people who will sit on their butts, and continue to receive handouts.
I am actually not I favor of extending benefits beyond the 99 weeks our government has already extended for unemployed people. When you are getting handouts for a long period of time, you lose the urge to go back to work. These people don’t want to go back to work for lower paying jobs, but sometimes you have to suck it up and do so. You might have to work two jobs to make ends meet. You might have to work with immigrants and illegal aliens who are thankful to work any kind of job.
Yesterday, I was listening to a local talk program while working in the garage. The host was upset with the people who drive around in those motorized wheel chairs, smoking cigarettes, drinking cups of Dunkin Donuts’ coffee. These people most likely never paid for the motorized device. They are also in these wheel chairs because they didn’t take care of themselves. The government pays for their subsidized apartments too. Whoa, do I sound like a Republican? Even we Liberal Democrats get a little conservative as we grow older.
There are some truly needy people which government agencies can give a helping hand to, but the helping hand wasn’t designed to last a lifetime.
Social Calendar – I will be helping with chores around the house today. We bought a couple four foot lighted trees, and we have to decide where to put them. I have to dig out the bucket which has Christmas Linens in it. We have to put together some toys for when we baby sit for Max beginning this weekend.
Linda has her knitting group this evening at 6 PM. I might do a Chicken Novena while she is with the knitters.
Have a great Wednesday.
For people in the Berkshires, brace yourself for some cool weather after the front goes through including some possible snow next week.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
The wind has been howling all night. The temperature is in the 50’s. We have a little rain falling right now. One of the bags of garbage was rolling down the street. I had put a bunch of that Styrofoam packing material in a garbage bag. The lightness of the bag was no match for the wind.
I spent three hours in the garage cleaning, throwing stuff out, and rearranging stuff on shelves so that we can now park both cars in the garage.
Linda had fun at Mah Jongg which lasted until 4:30 PM. Many times the games end at around 3:30 PM, but they players must have been into on Tuesday.
I squeezed in a nap too so that I could stay up and watch the Celtics game. The Celtic’s beat LeBron James’ former team the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While Linda and I were on a date night at Matt Reilly’s for their Fish and Chips special, I asked Linda who the big winner was during the Mah Jongg games, and how did Thanksgiving Dinner go for each one of her friends and their families. Every one of her friends won a game or two.
Linda did tell me of a Thanksgiving story which one of her friends told everyone who was playing Mah Jongg. One Mah Jongg player, who is in her late 70’s decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner for her family. She never cooked a Turkey in all of her days on this earth. This Thanksgiving she decided to cook one herself. She had no clue of how to cook a turkey. She called a friend for advice, and the friend said that you have to put water in the bottom of the roasting pan. Well, the Mah Jongg lady got carried away with the amount of water which she put in the pan. She didn’t give the Mah Jongg ladies much details of how the bird came out, but she did say that the bird came out very moist. A steamed cooked Turkey would of course come out moist. No one asked if she made stuffing or if the cooked bird ever got a crispy skin toward the end of the cooking process.
The lady told the Mah Jongg players that next Thanksgiving she is taking her family out to dinner at a restaurant which her and her family have always done in years past.
I also found out that my mother has a new roommate at the nursing home. She happens to be the Mother of a guy that my Dalton friend and I used to tailgate with at the Patriots’ game when we had season tickets. This guy’s mom is in the same age group as my mother. She had a fall at home, and that is why the family had to put her in the nursing home. It sure is a small world.
Politics – I see where the Latino’s in Nevada want to break away from the Democratic Party and form their own party called “The Tequila Party!” The Latino’s are upset with the lack of progress with immigration reform. Do you think that this group will serve free Tequila at every rally? If that is the case, I might join the movement. Just Kidding!
I also see where some people want Hillary Clinton to resign because of the leaks from the Wikipedia affair. Do you think that all the other the other countries who belong to the United Nations might do a little spying on each other like the United States does on a regular basis? It is so sad that our thoughts were written down and stored on a computer.
The Korea incidents had calmed down a bit from the shootings of a couple of days ago. I hope that we don’t get involved in another military conflict, but we have military bases in South Korea.
I was reading my Time magazine yesterday, and there were a little over 100 billionaires around 2000. We now have over 1000 billionaires in 2010. President Obama is not having success negotiating with the Republicans who want to keep the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the nation. I don’t want the rich people taxed to death, but they could pay a little more in taxes. The middle class has been footing a larger than normal portion of the budget in the United State. I can see why the rich, and us as well don’t want to pay for other people who will sit on their butts, and continue to receive handouts.
I am actually not I favor of extending benefits beyond the 99 weeks our government has already extended for unemployed people. When you are getting handouts for a long period of time, you lose the urge to go back to work. These people don’t want to go back to work for lower paying jobs, but sometimes you have to suck it up and do so. You might have to work two jobs to make ends meet. You might have to work with immigrants and illegal aliens who are thankful to work any kind of job.
Yesterday, I was listening to a local talk program while working in the garage. The host was upset with the people who drive around in those motorized wheel chairs, smoking cigarettes, drinking cups of Dunkin Donuts’ coffee. These people most likely never paid for the motorized device. They are also in these wheel chairs because they didn’t take care of themselves. The government pays for their subsidized apartments too. Whoa, do I sound like a Republican? Even we Liberal Democrats get a little conservative as we grow older.
There are some truly needy people which government agencies can give a helping hand to, but the helping hand wasn’t designed to last a lifetime.
Social Calendar – I will be helping with chores around the house today. We bought a couple four foot lighted trees, and we have to decide where to put them. I have to dig out the bucket which has Christmas Linens in it. We have to put together some toys for when we baby sit for Max beginning this weekend.
Linda has her knitting group this evening at 6 PM. I might do a Chicken Novena while she is with the knitters.
Have a great Wednesday.
For people in the Berkshires, brace yourself for some cool weather after the front goes through including some possible snow next week.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Hello on Tuesday
Dear Friends,
Linda and I worked our butts off from 8 AM until 4 PM. I took care of setting up every outdoor decoration that we planned to put out including the deck. While I was doing my thing, Linda was working in the house. She removed all the fall decorations and replaced them with the winter wreaths. She did notice that she is shrinking. When she went to hang certain wreaths, and Christmas items, she had to get a step stool where in years past she didn’t need one.
I have the front and the back on these dusk to dawn timers, but set for 8 hours. They worked to perfection last evening. I had Linda go out and check my lighted decorations and she said that I did a great job. I didn’t put lights in every bush in the front of the house so that means that I shouldn’t have a electrical problem like I have had in the past. Linda has to finish what she started on another day. I have to dig out the Christmas linen buckets and locate the Christmas pillows. She could put out more decorations in our house, but since neither of our sons will be here fro Christmas, she is really trying to cut back. Yeah Right!
By the time that we decided to quit working our bodies were going into paralysis mode. I though that a good night’s rest would make the aches and pains go away, but I am hurting more right now then I did yesterday afternoon. It is like the second day of high school football practice after taking the summer off. All the dormant muscles in your body start to ache after the first day of calisthenics. My back is aching again today, I think that I will just chill and read a book while Linda is at her Tuesday Mah Jongg session.
In anticipation of being tired at the end of the day, I put a boneless beef pot roast in the crock pot. I used a slow cooker McCormick beef flavor packet which had all the spices you need to put in. Some potatoes, carrots, and some onions made for a wonderful meal. I even baked one of those Pillsbury breads in the oven so that we could sop up those good juices formed during the cooking process.
Politics – The Wiki leaks has sure gotten the United States in a good deal of trouble. This is another example where computers do serve a useful purpose, but it could get you in a whole bunch of trouble. This is why Linda won’t let me get on Facebook. It was one thing for my daily blog people to respond to my comments, but when the world has access to my thoughts, ramblings, Liberal ideas, etc., I could be a marked man.
Weather – The rains move on in later today, and they will fall during the day on Wednesday. They are talking about us getting 1 to 3 inches of rain. After the front moves through, we will have several days with highs in the 30’s. I called up a 10 day forecast, and we could possibly get snow a week from this Thursday. Of course, it is too early for that forecast to be accurate.
Last night our cars ended up in the driveway. Both bays of our two car garage are filled with buckets of fall and Christmas stuff. My first project of the day is to make the garage totally functional. I don’t want our cars outside during rain, sleet, or snow.
Observation -- Are all of my readers prepared for an all snow event? Of course, the Curley’s are completely prepared!
If the rain over the next few days was snow, three inches of rain would translate into almost three feet of snow. I know some of you hate this thought, but Linda and I would love to be snowed in. If the electricity ever went off for a day or so, would you be able to survive? This happened many years ago when our children were small. It was like we were camping during winter time. I have all kind of grills, and an extra gas tanks, a freezer full of meat, beverages. The only heat source would be our fireplace which can burn wood or fake logs.
I was wondering if any of my readers have a home emergency kit just in case we have a natural disaster. We don’t have an official one like our government recommends, but we have enough stuff to survive for at least a week or so. I do hope that we don’t have to go through an emergency like the people in the hill towns who were caught in that Ice Storm that we had a while back. They did have to survive for over a week before they got their electricity back on. I had friends who had to survive that crisis, and they said that it was pure hell. One friend had their own well, and when the electricity got knocked out, they had no running water in their home. A wood stove kept them warm, but they had to use their town hall facilities for bathrooms, taking a shower, etc. This was the same storm where every town except for Pittsfield got damage from the ice storm.
Well, I have to finish my morning routine, and get to work in the garage. I might have to wait until Linda directs me as to what Christmas buckets have to be taken down from the three shelves in our garage. Every year I hope that we can decrease the number of buckets (35 to 40 buckets) that we have in the garage, but it never seems to happen.
Have a great Tuesday.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
Linda and I worked our butts off from 8 AM until 4 PM. I took care of setting up every outdoor decoration that we planned to put out including the deck. While I was doing my thing, Linda was working in the house. She removed all the fall decorations and replaced them with the winter wreaths. She did notice that she is shrinking. When she went to hang certain wreaths, and Christmas items, she had to get a step stool where in years past she didn’t need one.
I have the front and the back on these dusk to dawn timers, but set for 8 hours. They worked to perfection last evening. I had Linda go out and check my lighted decorations and she said that I did a great job. I didn’t put lights in every bush in the front of the house so that means that I shouldn’t have a electrical problem like I have had in the past. Linda has to finish what she started on another day. I have to dig out the Christmas linen buckets and locate the Christmas pillows. She could put out more decorations in our house, but since neither of our sons will be here fro Christmas, she is really trying to cut back. Yeah Right!
By the time that we decided to quit working our bodies were going into paralysis mode. I though that a good night’s rest would make the aches and pains go away, but I am hurting more right now then I did yesterday afternoon. It is like the second day of high school football practice after taking the summer off. All the dormant muscles in your body start to ache after the first day of calisthenics. My back is aching again today, I think that I will just chill and read a book while Linda is at her Tuesday Mah Jongg session.
In anticipation of being tired at the end of the day, I put a boneless beef pot roast in the crock pot. I used a slow cooker McCormick beef flavor packet which had all the spices you need to put in. Some potatoes, carrots, and some onions made for a wonderful meal. I even baked one of those Pillsbury breads in the oven so that we could sop up those good juices formed during the cooking process.
Politics – The Wiki leaks has sure gotten the United States in a good deal of trouble. This is another example where computers do serve a useful purpose, but it could get you in a whole bunch of trouble. This is why Linda won’t let me get on Facebook. It was one thing for my daily blog people to respond to my comments, but when the world has access to my thoughts, ramblings, Liberal ideas, etc., I could be a marked man.
Weather – The rains move on in later today, and they will fall during the day on Wednesday. They are talking about us getting 1 to 3 inches of rain. After the front moves through, we will have several days with highs in the 30’s. I called up a 10 day forecast, and we could possibly get snow a week from this Thursday. Of course, it is too early for that forecast to be accurate.
Last night our cars ended up in the driveway. Both bays of our two car garage are filled with buckets of fall and Christmas stuff. My first project of the day is to make the garage totally functional. I don’t want our cars outside during rain, sleet, or snow.
Observation -- Are all of my readers prepared for an all snow event? Of course, the Curley’s are completely prepared!
If the rain over the next few days was snow, three inches of rain would translate into almost three feet of snow. I know some of you hate this thought, but Linda and I would love to be snowed in. If the electricity ever went off for a day or so, would you be able to survive? This happened many years ago when our children were small. It was like we were camping during winter time. I have all kind of grills, and an extra gas tanks, a freezer full of meat, beverages. The only heat source would be our fireplace which can burn wood or fake logs.
I was wondering if any of my readers have a home emergency kit just in case we have a natural disaster. We don’t have an official one like our government recommends, but we have enough stuff to survive for at least a week or so. I do hope that we don’t have to go through an emergency like the people in the hill towns who were caught in that Ice Storm that we had a while back. They did have to survive for over a week before they got their electricity back on. I had friends who had to survive that crisis, and they said that it was pure hell. One friend had their own well, and when the electricity got knocked out, they had no running water in their home. A wood stove kept them warm, but they had to use their town hall facilities for bathrooms, taking a shower, etc. This was the same storm where every town except for Pittsfield got damage from the ice storm.
Well, I have to finish my morning routine, and get to work in the garage. I might have to wait until Linda directs me as to what Christmas buckets have to be taken down from the three shelves in our garage. Every year I hope that we can decrease the number of buckets (35 to 40 buckets) that we have in the garage, but it never seems to happen.
Have a great Tuesday.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
Monday, November 29, 2010
Hello on Monday Morning
Dear Friends,
The adventure in North Tewksbury ended around 10 AM on Sunday. We said our “Goodbyes” to Kevin and his family, and went off to the Brodeur’s to pick up a chair that they picked up for us at the Home Goods in North Tewksbury. Our Home Goods, like many across the Northeast, seem to have one of a pair of furniture items which we would like to have as a matching set. After multiple telephone calls, Linda found a match to the chair which we purchased at our local Home Goods store.
The ride home had little bumps in the road. As we exited Route 495 onto the Massachusetts Turnpike, the traffic was back up for several exits. The stop and go traffic was not fun.
When we arrived back at our home, we emptied the car quickly, and headed off to a birthday party for my niece’s son who turned two years old. My sister decided to host the party at her house. We arrived an hour or so later than the starting time of 1 PM, but we didn’t miss the blowing out of the candles, and the eating of the birthday cake. My sister knows how to throw a party. I did a head count at one point, and I counted over 30 people which included adults and children. I am betting that my sister was happy when the final person exited her house.
Well it is kind of strange that I am waking up to a house where I have to be quiet, but only for Linda, and not our grandchild. We actually have to conserve our energy for the next few days before I (maybe Linda too) go back to North Tewksbury to pick up Max. We will be baby sitting Max from December 5 through December 12 at our home in the Berkshires. The last time that Max was here was when we had the house in a mess with respect to renovations.
As we left our son’s house yesterday morning, they were planning on going off and getting their first Christmas tree for the house which they purchased last March. They did pick out their first tree, and Kevin has already posted a picture on Facebook. The tree is a mere 11 feet tall. Kevin and Kyla did have some lights from last year’s tree, but when you go from a 6 foot tree, which they put up in their former East Boston apartment, to an 11 foot tree, you might need some more lights, and decorations. Linda and I might help with some kid like decorations some of which were handmade by Kevin when he was a child.
Speaking of decorations, Kevin and Kyla’s neighbors were working feverishly on Sunday to outdo the Curley’s from North Tewksbury. I guess that I did unintentionally set off a battle by helping Kevin putting up a few lights on some bushes next to Kevin’s front door on Saturday. Now Kevin is thinking about putting up more lights on more bushes which he has beyond the front door. The lights which we bought at Home Depot were all sold out by 4 PM on Sunday. This could be a real problem since he would want matching lights. Could Kevin and Kyla’s home end up like the one in the Chevy Chase Christmas movie? The neighbor across the street not only put up those 4 huge deer with spotlights on each one, but he added a Nativity crèche too. I will have Linda try and take some pictures of the Christmas Decorations of Kevin’s street when we go back on Friday. We might stay over on Friday night so that she can take pictures when all the decorations on the street are all it up.
This morning, I will be setting up outdoor lights at our home. I have to move both cars out of the garage, and do a lot of reshuffling of the multiple labeled buckets. While I am doing my thing, Linda has to go through stuff which we pulled out of the closest when we put away the air conditioner. This is the room which Max will be sleeping in.
I am guessing that I will need at least two days to complete the decorations. I just remembered that I have to set up decorations on the deck too so that Linda will be able to see not only the birds, but lighted decorations too.
Some people on our street have their decorations lit up, but the Curley’s will be using colored lights which will make our house stand out. I also purchased some lighted deer at the end of the season to replace the deer which we had when our children were small.
Well, I have to grab a cup of coffee, read the local newspaper, and put on some work clothes.
I have too much to do, and so little time to do so.
I am hoping that the weather cooperates too.
Have a great week at work or play.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
The adventure in North Tewksbury ended around 10 AM on Sunday. We said our “Goodbyes” to Kevin and his family, and went off to the Brodeur’s to pick up a chair that they picked up for us at the Home Goods in North Tewksbury. Our Home Goods, like many across the Northeast, seem to have one of a pair of furniture items which we would like to have as a matching set. After multiple telephone calls, Linda found a match to the chair which we purchased at our local Home Goods store.
The ride home had little bumps in the road. As we exited Route 495 onto the Massachusetts Turnpike, the traffic was back up for several exits. The stop and go traffic was not fun.
When we arrived back at our home, we emptied the car quickly, and headed off to a birthday party for my niece’s son who turned two years old. My sister decided to host the party at her house. We arrived an hour or so later than the starting time of 1 PM, but we didn’t miss the blowing out of the candles, and the eating of the birthday cake. My sister knows how to throw a party. I did a head count at one point, and I counted over 30 people which included adults and children. I am betting that my sister was happy when the final person exited her house.
Well it is kind of strange that I am waking up to a house where I have to be quiet, but only for Linda, and not our grandchild. We actually have to conserve our energy for the next few days before I (maybe Linda too) go back to North Tewksbury to pick up Max. We will be baby sitting Max from December 5 through December 12 at our home in the Berkshires. The last time that Max was here was when we had the house in a mess with respect to renovations.
As we left our son’s house yesterday morning, they were planning on going off and getting their first Christmas tree for the house which they purchased last March. They did pick out their first tree, and Kevin has already posted a picture on Facebook. The tree is a mere 11 feet tall. Kevin and Kyla did have some lights from last year’s tree, but when you go from a 6 foot tree, which they put up in their former East Boston apartment, to an 11 foot tree, you might need some more lights, and decorations. Linda and I might help with some kid like decorations some of which were handmade by Kevin when he was a child.
Speaking of decorations, Kevin and Kyla’s neighbors were working feverishly on Sunday to outdo the Curley’s from North Tewksbury. I guess that I did unintentionally set off a battle by helping Kevin putting up a few lights on some bushes next to Kevin’s front door on Saturday. Now Kevin is thinking about putting up more lights on more bushes which he has beyond the front door. The lights which we bought at Home Depot were all sold out by 4 PM on Sunday. This could be a real problem since he would want matching lights. Could Kevin and Kyla’s home end up like the one in the Chevy Chase Christmas movie? The neighbor across the street not only put up those 4 huge deer with spotlights on each one, but he added a Nativity crèche too. I will have Linda try and take some pictures of the Christmas Decorations of Kevin’s street when we go back on Friday. We might stay over on Friday night so that she can take pictures when all the decorations on the street are all it up.
This morning, I will be setting up outdoor lights at our home. I have to move both cars out of the garage, and do a lot of reshuffling of the multiple labeled buckets. While I am doing my thing, Linda has to go through stuff which we pulled out of the closest when we put away the air conditioner. This is the room which Max will be sleeping in.
I am guessing that I will need at least two days to complete the decorations. I just remembered that I have to set up decorations on the deck too so that Linda will be able to see not only the birds, but lighted decorations too.
Some people on our street have their decorations lit up, but the Curley’s will be using colored lights which will make our house stand out. I also purchased some lighted deer at the end of the season to replace the deer which we had when our children were small.
Well, I have to grab a cup of coffee, read the local newspaper, and put on some work clothes.
I have too much to do, and so little time to do so.
I am hoping that the weather cooperates too.
Have a great week at work or play.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad
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