Thursday, December 18, 2014

It's been a while..... again!

I have a hard time keeping up these days. Seems like last week that I was here, and I just noticed it has been almost 4.

I've been busy. Busy with finding the Christmas cards, so I could send them out, and realizing I was looking for something that wasn't there, so I made them. There's a couple that got mailed, most will go in Email, and I sincerely hope I don't tick anybody off with it this year LOL.
Busy with trying to get the house in any kind of Christmas mood, and not having much luck. You see,  I cannot find the tree decorations. I found some, but to put 5 ornaments in a 6 foot tree, just doesn't seem right now, does it? :-), so we will have a very minimalist tree this year...... lights only. I finally found a (very ugly) tablecloth that will fit the table. I never thought our little diner was an odd size, but I have not been able to find anything that doesn't looks like it's dropped there on the way to someplace else, or something that looks like it ate the table.  This size is more or less right. It will be a little long on the short side of the table, but you won't drag it off the table while sitting down to eat. (that was a definate must) I got most of what we want for Christmas dinner figured out. Picked up the Pecan Pie on base the other day, still have to pick up the meat and than we're set. Veg is in the freezer, ready to go. And THANK GOD we're going to my sisters the day after Christmas, so I will have at least a little bit of the "Seasons Feelings"! LOL.  Her house is not a Christmas Store contestants, but there's a tree, candles, decorations on all the flat surfaces, and just an overall "happy feeling" when you come inside. The downside, at least for me, is that the majority will be playing Minecraft, so I'll bring a book for something to do, but I'll be huddled near the fireplace, in the company of people I love so life will be good. The kids have been planning on doing this for a long time, and I have to say, Mike has quietly been too. He got the box to the computer down, stocked up on batteries for the mouse and keyboard and when asked said very happily.... for when we go to your sister to play! He'll have a blast! The only thing missing will be our fuzzy roommate, otherwise it would be absolutely perfect :-)  I wondered for a split second if I should take a stab at taking him with us..... but it probably would be a very selfish thing to do to him, so.... no! If he was more like Boo, he would have a blast. New people, a good lengthy car ride, new places to figure out and explore, and room to run, but Perky doesn't travel well. The rest would be cool, but the more than an hour car ride (one way) would put too much stress on him. He's got New Years Eve Fireworks coming, and that can get bad enough. I hoped they'd ease him into it, and start a couple of days early with here and there a thump, so that when all hell breaks loose at midnight on the 31st, he just sits in the window and enjoys the lights just like he did last time, but it's been very quiet this year. We haven't even heard firecrackers yet, and that usually starts on December 1st, when the sale of fireworks starts. Oh well, we'll see what happens. We'll make him hideyholes, plan for the worst, hope for the best, and that's pretty much all we can do. Either way, I'm as ready for Christmas as I'm going to get. I still have to put the emails out, so I will start on that here in a bit, and that will be it for this year.
I've also been busy getting my insurance figured out. The only time I can change is January 1st, but somehow I have a hard time sifting thru the double talk. My insurance takes my deductible as part of the monthly premium, and I can't get an answer what happens if I don't use it. I was told, everybody has a deductible, as if I haven't done this for the last 30 years..... I know I HAVE it, but besides my cancer checks, I haven't seen a doctor all year, so I shouldn't have USED any of it! In their defence, I guess, we got a bill from Mike's heart attack last July (a good 2 years after the fact!) so they're not very quick on sending them in, which means, the insurance can basically keep the money forever, just in case there's a straggling bill out there, but the money would come in awfully handy for paying bills that actually DID hit the mailbox, and are due now, so I want to change companies, to one that will ask for the money, when they actually need it.
I'm still busy looking for a job, but getting a little bit discouraged. I get a lot of age related rejections. The rules say that employers cannot discriminate, but if you get rejection after rejection that tells you that "you do not fit the demographics of the team" it's age related, politely put, but it still boils down to the same thing, or am I being negative? It just makes me more determined to get my web-design business going. I don't even mind if it is a regular job, as long as I can make a living at it, and enjoy the next 45 years of work.  I found out that all the years of benefits I built in the US, may be out the window, by us coming here, and I don't have any benefits built here, so I know I will be working until they nail that box shut, and all I'm hoping for now, is to at least have fun doing it.

On to more fun things....... I'm back on CT for Carena and Monja! YEAH!!!  I thought I finally had the internet conquered, but right after I mailed them, telling them so, it started acting up again. Checked into other ISP's and found out that there aren't any that are wiling to service this town, so we're kinda stuck with what we got. (I do this check every couple of months, not because I'm a glutton for punishment, but in hopes of being able to switch. LOL) I'm hoping for a rapid implementation of optic fiber, so they will want to set up service, and I'll be gone so fast all they'll see is dust :-) and for now.... we deal. But, I have been able to get done what I needed per their rules, so all I have to do is make sure I can keep that up. Boo has been busy, and her kits are flowing at an alarming rate, but she has a little more lea-way on the timeframes, most times, so I can do the pages and what nots, and ship them her way when the internet plays nice.
Downside on having the "fuzz brain" thing so long...... I promised a Point In Time challenge, and have yet to post it. At first, I plum forgot, and once I remembered, I thought that I just couldn't get my passwords straight anymore, and changed them, just to find out that the new ones didn't work either....... Turns out, for once, it wasn't on my end that things were squirrily.... All is fixed now, I saw on their blog this morning, so it's time to try it again after the Christmas mails are out, and hope I can figure out which password stuck. LOL!

Speaking of blogs! The Studio has a blogtrain going, and I saw that several designers have others running as well, so there are A LOT of neat things floating around, there to be picked up for a kind word of thanks to the designers.  I'm hoping to be able to actually do some downloading over the weekend :-)
Also at the Studio, there is an advent calendar with daily downloads. I missed A BUNCH of them, so I'm not even going to try and catch the remainder, but, that's just me.
Booland has her own thing going on her blog, as well....
Go check these out if you have a chance!

Last but certainly not least....... I'm NOT going to try and come back before the New Year, so....
from The Kelley Clan in Holland.


Be safe, hug the ones you love  and I'll 
See you next year!