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December 9, 2005
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
We left for Portland a day early last week as we had a lot to do on Friday and the weather was looking kind of "iffy" for that day. So we came in on Thursday, and wouldn't you know it? We hit snow! We caught up with a snowplow and Dave just pulled in behind it and let it take us across the summit. We made it just fine, but we sure liked having 4-wheel drive! As I said, we had a full day scheduled for Friday. I had scheduled a bunch of appointments and Dave had to engineer a Blazer game that evening. I left West Linn Friday at 9:00 a.m. and didn't get back there until 5:30 p.m. I needed to get my blood tested and in order to do that; I had to go without anything to eat the night before. I finished that little chore around 10:30 and headed over to the hospital cafeteria for some yogurt and granola and a CUP OF COFFEE! My doctor's appointment was at 11:45 and I had my teeth cleaned at 12:30.
Since I finished up with all of my appointments, I stopped at the mall to get a few things and then decided I would have plenty of time to get to West Linn for my last appointment at 4:00 p.m. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, the law of averages jumped up and bit me! Halfway to my appointment, there was an accident on the freeway. Everything was at a dead stop! Back before I retired, I made this trip every day, and so I know ALL the back roads! I raced through countryside and residential neighborhoods and came sliding into the parking lot right at the stroke of four! No little freeway wreck is going to get in the way of me having my nails done!
Saturday, I headed over to my Mom's new place and put up Christmas decorations for her. I got her to sign a bunch of cards so that I could get them out in the mail early. I wanted to beat the rush so everyone would know her new address. After lunch, Dave and I decided to catch our once-a-year movie and saw "Walk the Line". It was really a great movie and we enjoyed it very much. It is not that we don't enjoy going to the movies, it is because there is usually nothing on we want to drive 50-miles round trip to go see. The nearest theater for us at the coast is that far away.
Enjoyed seeing my two youngest grandchildren again. Jadyn just loves it when we come as she will come down stairs to our apartment and have breakfast with us in the mornings. Jaysa is her smiley self and will be 7 months old on the 12th of December. We also got a call from Ashtin who is our oldest, informing us that she lost her other front tooth. So all she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth! She has lost four teeth so far and has kept the tooth fairy pretty busy and pretty broke too. I'm hoping we get a chance to see them this weekend so we can get another "toothless" picture.
We managed to have brunch with our best friends, Stan and Terrie on Sunday. It was fun to catch up with what they had been doing. Our game started early and since there was nothing scheduled in the arena before our next game, we didn't have to put our equipment away and we were able to leave at a decent hour for home. We got back down to the coast around 11:00 p.m. and it was good to sleep in our own bed again.
Each day we manage to get a few more Christmas lights hung and decorations put out. I had gotten a couple of dwarf spruce trees and planted them in my flower containers on the deck and I also got my little "kitchen" tree all lighted up and decorated. That took most of an afternoon and we still have lots more to do.
I broke my glasses while bending over the sink and one of my lenses fell into the garbage disposal. I groped around for it for five minutes with no luck. It's amazing how much a smooth piece of glass feels like the bottom of the disposal when you really need to find it. And of course, I couldn't clean the disposal without pulverizing the glass! Dave finally had to fish it out and he managed to get it back in the frame with a temporary fix. The eye doctor had to put in a new screw on one of the hinges as it was stripped out and commented on the age of my glasses! I guess it has been awhile since I have been in to see him. Anyway, they are as good as new again.
We had to turn around and go back into Portland on Wednesday because of games and we will try to come back home again on Sunday night (weather permitting). I managed to get in a fairly productive day yesterday. I visited mom, and got some of her finances taken care of, then went across town to the bank to try to get a screw-up fixed (see rant below) and then out to Hillsboro to get my glasses fixed. After shopping my way back to West Linn, I was ready when someone suggested pizza for dinner!
On Saturday we have a full agenda and are going to go on a steam train ride to check out lights. After that there is a gathering on the sternwheeler in Portland to watch the Christmas boats go by. We belong to the Maritime Museum that owns the steamer, so we get this invitation every year. It's been several years since we've made it, so we were determined to work in into the schedule this year. 50 or 60 of the nicest yachts in town get really "Christmas-y" with lights and moving figures and parade up and down the river. We'll have a front row seat, as we'll be on the river ourselves. Then, as if that weren't enough for the evening, we are also attending the annual Blazers Broadcasting Christmas party after the river parade. I tell you, everything falls on the same day! At least for one day, we feel like such party animals!
I love the holiday season, but sometimes there is just too much going on. Like decorations to put up, gifts to buy, cookies and breads to bake, oh my!
GIVE ME A BREAK!!
I hate to be a Grinch at Christmas time, but I haven't ranted for a while. Every Christmas and on birthdays, we always give our grandchildren a $50 U.S. Savings bond. We get Series EE bonds, which you pay $25 each for and then in so many years, they are worth $50. I figure that by the time they are teenagers, they will be richer than me and I can hit them up for a loan. So, I went into the bank last week to do my thing and after spending about a half of an hour filling out each form (thank goodness I only have four grandchildren) I purchased these bonds. I made a comment to the teller that it seemed like this was the wrong color for the form (it is usually green and these were yellow). She stated that they must have "changed" the color. I didn't notice until I got back home that I was charged $50 each for the bonds instead of the usual $25 so I called the bank to find out what had happened. It turns out that I had purchased the Series I bonds instead of the Series EE bonds, which are more valuable. That really irritated me and I asked them to cancel the purchase and that I would be in this week to re-purchase the Series EE bonds. Well, folks, it's not that easy when you are dealing with the U.S. Government. Not only do I have a whole lot of paperwork to fill out (which I hate to do anyway) but I have to retrieve the four series I bonds that were mailed to my grandchildren and explain to them that they won't be getting them in time for Christmas and return them to the bank. I told the bank teller when I was there that this was their fault but I was the one who had to be inconvenienced. Also, to lay on the guilt, I told them that my grandchildren would not be getting their Christmas presents from me this year because of their error! Oh sure, they were sorry, but there wasn't much they could do about it. Thinking about it though, we have decided to just keep the Series I bonds and not give them another one for their birthdays. I guess the I Bonds are worth more at maturity anyway, so they'll come out ahead. But still, what a mess!!
