Holidays {Smile}

I probably should have said this sooner, but both Christmas and New Year's went well if quietly. The Christmas Tree never got as many ornaments as meant to add, and the mochi never got baked. I really need to find traditions that are closer to my own talents. Then again, you may have noticed that this year's story hasn't been sent yet, either... You'll get something when I get something done. Currently it's stalled. {rueful Smile}

However, the tree did have some ornaments. Dad fixed a nice dinner on Christmas Eve from steak, potatoes, and cake an aunt sent. (She's noticed that Dad complains that he can't find reliably tender steak in Hilo. In fact, we gave up on non-ground local beef after one batch was so tough, all three of us complained about how much exercise chewing was... {wryly amused smile}) Then there was a nice breakfast followed by present opening the next morning, followed by present reading for Mom and Me, since we both got a lot of books. {Smile, wink}

New Year's was surprisingly quiet this year. There weren't nearly as many fireworks as previously, not even the "novelty fireworks" you don't need a permit for. (You need a permit for every 5000 firecrackers in this county. They aren’t expensive compared to the fireworks budgets of the people who want them, but they're a nuisance to get. I guess that's one way of making people cut back. {lop-sided smile})

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Happy New Year

I hope you're having a good start to the New Year, whether you're shooting off fireworks, pounding mochi, watching a ball or something else drop, or whatever. We're doing well. I hoped to bake mochi (Japanese rice flour pastries) tonight, but I'll just have to do that tomorrow. No, baking it isn't traditional, but I'm not Japanese. {wink, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Merry Christmas, etc.

 

Merry Christmas! I hope you had a good time, if you celebrate it, of course. {SMILE}

 

If you celebrated Yule a few days ago instead, I hope you had a good time then. {SMILE}

 

If you're still ramping up to the really big bash on New Year's Eve, I hope your preparations are going great, and you have a really good time next week. {SMILE}

 

And if you're doing what a few neighborhoods in my town do: started your party a little before Christmas and plan to keep going until after New Year's, I hope your party is going well, and continues to do so! {BIG SMILE, wink}

 

If you didn't do anything above, I hope you've still had some good days, and continue to do so. {SMILE}

 

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

 

Ouch

I was just Telling Chicory thru her blog that I feel like a four-legged stool with only three legs. When things go good, I’m okay, but it doesn’t take much to make me tumble. (Emotionally speaking; my permanent vertigo is neither better nor worse than usual. {cross fingers}

Anyway, I’ve taken another emotional tumble for little reason. Ouch! {WINCE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Expanded links

In case you're curious where else I'm active on the web, I just expanded the list of places I hang out. I also moved that list to the top of my sidebar, where it's much more noticeable. {Smile}

Not that I'm all that active on Facebook, but it's a good way to find out what I'm up to on Goodreads without actually joining Goodreads. {shrug, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

GLUE!

My glue arrived today! {REALLY BIG GRIN, HUMONGOUS GRIN}

Oh, I know it’s silly to get excited about glue, but this isn’t student’s white glue, or even carpenter’s wood glue. Those you can find in many stores in most decent-sized town. No, this is acid-free book binder’s glue. (I’d had some, but mine had gone lumpy. I’m not using that glue, not even the still-liquid parts around the lumps.) There was one store in Hilo that carried it maybe a decade ago, but I think they closed. So it was make a special trip that would quite likely be fruitless, or hop on the web. I found DEMCO, a library supplies firm I’ve ordered from before, and they still had the kind I’d ordered before. It did work great, until it went lumpy. However, Amazon had some, too, and they’ll give you free shipping on large-enough orders. DEMCO won’t, and they will insist you give them your phone number if they’re going to send you anything. Amazon doesn’t. So I ordered a pint from Amazon, along with some acid free coverboards and a friend’s book that I’ve been meaning to order, to make the order big enough to qualify for that free shipping.

They wrote back promising to send the coverboards immediately, and the glue with the book when it comes out in January.

{groan, rub face} It’s the glue I want immediately! The coverboards can wait; Mom wants a paperback cause it’s lighter and takes less space. So I ordered another pint, and a few books that have been sitting on my wishlist long enough to be in danger of dropping out of print. They promised to send that order more promptly, glue and all. {Smile}

I still expected them to show up around the middle of the month. Nope. Today I got two packages. One had the coverboards, and the other had four books and both pints of glue. Yes, both pints. I’m not quite sure how that happened, but I’m certainly not complaining! {SMILE}

Anyway, now I can bind the booklet I promised to Mom. I can also bind a couple of books I found on the web that appear to be in the public domain that I think she’ll like. But she won’t get those until one or another of the upcoming gift occasions. With Christmas on December 25th, her and Dad’s anniversary on December 27th, and her birthday on January 21st, we have enough occasions coming soon. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

An invitation to questions

In a blog I recently started reading, the owner recently decided to give a quite detailed introduction of herself. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. {Smile}

Then I wondered about doing something similar, and realized I didn’t know where to begin… or where to end, or what points to hit in between. {rueful smile}

I know there are a lot of things I don’t talk about. Usually it’s not because I want to keep secrets, but that I don’t realize anyone is interested. {shrug, spread hands, Smile}

I’m not entirely sure how to fix that. So far, all I’ve thought of is offering to answer any questions about me that you might have been wondering about. That’s by no means a perfect fix, since you might not think of some questions at all, but it’s what I’ve thought of so far. {spread hands, Smile}

So… any questions? I'm not likely to get offended, honest. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Thanksgiving

I'd like to wish a happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrated it today. {Smile}

To those who don't, I hope you had a good day. {GRIN, wink}

If you're interested, for us it was just the four of us. Valentine only jumped up on the table once, and got back down when scolded, so he didn't have to be exiled. He had as much turkey as he could cadge off of us. Mom, Dad and I had turkey, stuffing, succotash, cranberry sauce, and blueberry pie.

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Fridge update

Well, the fridge is fixed. It took most of Sunday morning, but it’s fixed. The fellow came, leveled the thing because it was tilted far too far back, and dumped hot water down the drain tube until it broke thru a surprisingly stubborn ice dam. I think he was about ready to open the thing up and see if a gecko had crawled into the tube when it finally started draining. Apparently that happened at least once before. {Smile}

 

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Repairs

We’ve had a bit of a repair saga this past week. The freezer has been icing up. On Tuesday, it got bad enough, the fan blades regularly hit the ice. So we tried defrosting it on our own Tuesday morning.

Then in the evening the toilet stopped flushing. It was definitely broken. Fortunately, we know a plumber lives a few houses down the street. Literally. So we called them that morning. He and his assistant looked at it before breakfast, fetched a part, and fixed it that morning. I do like quick service. {Smile}

The freezer had started icing up again Wednesday afternoon. Dad called a repairman. We expect him repairman tomorrow around 10. We’re more than a little surprised the repairman suggested working on a Sunday, but it was his idea, not ours. {spread hands, shrug} Since church starts too early for Dad and me anyway tomorrow, we might as well stay home and get our fridge fixed. Hopefully. {cross fingers, smile}

Just… don’t let anything else break. This is enough! {wry look}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin