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Good Morning Everyone from the partly snowy and cold,  rocky coast of Maine.     We are suppose to thave some sunny days a head (3 of them) before a spell of not so sunny and drab Winter days for quite a spell.... 

And so it goes here in February!   

I hope that everyone has a good day.
Sandy

Good morning, it 40 degrees this morning, so I think I will get to the hematologist, there is still snow, but someone has cleaned my walk way, so I can get out.

Larry, when I was growing up in small lace mill town we had a large Pennys, and 4 5 & 10 stores. Penny's had a down stairs which they open only at Christmas, the 2nd floor, had the business office, which was a balcony. In Nov. after Thanksgiving they would open the store at 7PM so you could go down stairs to Toyland and visit Santa. I remember that was such a big night for us kids.

MaryAnn, we also had two family owned Dept. store's Swezeys and the Bee Hive, which also had those little tubs they sent to the upstairs.

Larry, and one I would like to forget also.  LOL

Tis 15 degrees at 8:30 a.m.

Good afternoon from a warm and being plowed out Interior. Farrah has been exceptionally happy the last couple of days and has really formed an attachment to my bedroom, or should I say new pillow? I have opened the blinds the last couple of days on my bedroom window and she can sit on the table and have an entirely new view!

Larry, that loss prevention tactic of clerks' view being only hearsay is nationwide. That and the expense of shoplifting has now been just accepted as an insurance worry and the cost as I mentioned before, just gets passed along to us, the consumer.

Speaking of plugging cars in, here you will see all the cars with plugs dangling out of the front grill. That is because in cold weather, you don't want the engine block to freeze so you plug in your car during severe weather so your tires won't freeze and your car won't either! You will see most store parking lots and employee parking here all have outlets for the plugs.

MaryAnn, our Penneys and many other ones here were like you described. However, Sears had a couple of employees with a lock box that would come by at the opening and closing of each shift and you placed your cash bag in the box's slot. If you needed change, you called a certain code number and your register's number on the intercom. An employee would then bring you change in a bag that you had to use your register key to open. Every employee had their own numbered key so each register you signed onto, they knew who it was. Using or telling others your key was a firing offense and you were banned from reemployment at any Sears store for life.

In my early days at the power company, I worked in the department that sold light bulbs.  This was part of the appliance department, but since it was during the war, we had no appliances. We also took in small appliances for repair (irons, toasters etc).  There were two clerks who worked the counter and we each had our own cash box.  I forget the amount of money we started out with each day but most light bulbs sold for 10c or 15c and came in packages of four, so you can see we didn't take in much.  We sold all sizes of bulbs, up to 1500 watts and we also sold to companies.  For large orders from these companies, those were charged.  At the end of the day, we cashed out, filled out a form and took the boxes to the cashiers department to be put in the safe overnight. I usually balanced.  I was responsible for taking inventory each month, then ordering more bulbs.  With an arrangement with the city of Grand Rapids, when people brought in their burned out bulbs, we would give them a 40% discount. It was to be available to GR residents only, but you can guess that others would give a false (GR) address so they would get the discount.  After the war ended and we started selling appliances again, our department was moved from the first floor to the basement.  In time the company built a new building about seven miles south and were out of the city so that feature was discontinued.  By that time, I had worked in several other departments and no longer sold light bulbs.  It was an interesting time, however.

Mary Ann

Patricia - my daughter worked at Penney's for three years.  She started as a sales associate, and was promoted to Lingerie Dept. Manager.  She liked the work and the people she worked with, but hated the erratic hours and the need to work most weekends and holidays.  When it was announced that the store would be closing the following year, she left and got another job. (Not in retail.) 

The store closed on schedule, and I was so sorry when it was gone.  It was such a nice spacious Penney's, and was very attractive, in the way it was set up.  In spite of all that, they just didn't get enough shoppers to warrant staying open.  I can't for the life of me, understand why the young women of today prefer to shop at stores like Target??  Personally, I think Target is very junky looking, what with shelves stacked, and packed high with merchandise, and the presence of shopping carts everywhere.  The prices aren't that great either.   So that's my rant for the day!

Mary Ann - I had forgotten that you couldn't get major appliances during the war.  I remember you couldn't get a new car.  Also the gasoline rationing, with a little sticker that was on the windshield.  I was a school girl during those years, and remember how much we all wanted bicycles, but had to wait until the war was over. When my dad came home after he was discharged, one of the first things he did was to take my brother and I to the big Sears store in Los Angeles, and let us each pick out a brand new bike!  It was such a major event, that I remember it clearly, to this day!

Marilyne, I've heard Target called "the rich man's WalMart".  Their prices are quite high.  The only thing I can say about the store here is that the store in bright and the aisles are wide.  You can shoot a cannon down the aisles and not hit anyone as they don't have many customers.  The store here is a Super Target with a complete grocery department but with high prices, that doesn't help them. 

Marilyne, my dad had an A card for gas.  The high school where he taught (and Norm I attended) was about 1 1/4 miles from home and church was maybe two miles from home.  The A card was enough to get Dad to school and back every day, church once a week (often two trips back and forth) and the grocery once a week. 

I don't know how long food rationing lasted and I might have mixed something up.  Norm went into service in March 1951 and came home from basic sometime in the summer.  Evidently gas wasn't rationed then because we took a trip to Mackinac Island, then to the UP of Michigan and down around Lake Michigan into Wisconsin.  Reading a map, I saw we were near Pulaski WI and I knew Dad's aunt and cousin lived there.  We detoured to Pulaski and found where they lived.  Dad's aunt was 75 at the time and he had never met her but we had corresponded.  She came to the door and Dad introduced himself.  She was so excited she ran out into the field (they farmed) and everyone came back to the house.  Since they grew all of their food, the cousin offered us some food coupons.  I guess we took them but as Norm was in service and would leave for Germany soon, there was just Dad and me (Mother had died several years prior) so our needs weren't that great either.  The aunt lived six months short of 100 years but had Alz at the end.   

PS  I'm going to leave the above as I wrote it, but I think I have two trips mixed here, and the year of the trip is wrong, however, I am sure we did not travel in 1946 the year Aunt Rica was 75; she was born in 1871 in Denmark.  Norm was in service from 1951 to 1953 and we did go to Mackinac Island because that was the only way we could see him because he had so many friends to visit!

Mary Ann

Marilyne, I worked in bath & bedding while at Penney's and then in the baby department. We were not allowed to wear pants at work back then, so it made it difficult going up and down ladders to stuff pillows into cubicles at the pillow wall. I was upset that while I was there, management announced that they had deducted an amount from our paychecks to donate to the United Way. I have nothing against the charity, I was, however, upset that Penneys took a supposedly voluntary donation and made it mandatory!

If I'm not shopping the ethnic groceries, I'm shopping online for nonfood items. We do not have a Target, but I've seen they're online. I used to like Fred Meyers, but now they and Walmart are interchangeable with quality and service. I don't know about Janie's store, but the Super Walmart here has no lower prices or quality than other stores. I used to shop at the Sam's Club when I was working and had a company card. Now, the regular customer card is very high, and I'm not sure it is worth it. We have a couple of Walgreen's, and I've been in one of them twice. I did buy some locally ground coffee there once.

I shop JoAnn's Fabrics or Michael for neat and or quirky home items, and we have a Pier One, but I haven't even been in it although it has been here some years. I once patronized this great art gallery next to Alaska House and Xanadu, where I worked for twelve years. Since they knew me, and they had non-Alaskan artwork, (Trust me, this is huge when there are so many Alaskan artists and photographers!); I was able to buy large paintings on layaway. I now have 23 prints, some personally signed by the visiting artist, that I have stacked in my bedroom. In a one bedroom apartment, there is no space for so many large prints! Plus it is a two person job to hang them on the wall.

Speaking of Michael's, last week they had a container sale. I bought ten of the white lidded shoe box size, one three quart size for cat food and one 50 quart size for stashing. I also purchased two small tension rods for under the kitchen and bathroom sinks. I was proud of myself for actually, (trust me this is big); using something I read about! Now under the bathroom sink are four shoebox sized containers, and the tension rod holds several spray bottles off the floor and out of the way. Ditto for under the kitchen sink. I almost want to take pictures; my mother would be so proud! 

Patricia, I wish I was that efficient.  What things have places, are in their places.  But I have too much that doesn't have a space.  I know I have too many irons in the fire, but which ones do I not do?  As I've gotten older, I have tried to hang on to all of my so-called hobbies and it just doesn't work. 

Mary Ann

MaryAnn, this is a personal journey for me and others feel differently.

Since I moved in here in December 2013 and retired wholly in November 2014, I saw for once all in one place, what I had been carting around everywhere with me. And what had contained the overflow in my downtown storage, out of sight and mind. I started half-heartedly downsizing.

Then the bedbug scare in October, which necessitated my either getting rid of or moving out to my balcony, everything, other than furniture, that I owned, even though I myself, never saw a bug...others around me did in their apartments!

So now, I am deleting even further and trying to dispose of so much stuff I no longer use other than sticking it someplace out of the way. My apartment is suddenly so roomy, my kitchen appliances look so white and I am no longer digging under that bathroom sink haphazardly for that extra tube of toothpaste you knew was under there! Life is good and I am going about preening. 

Hopefully, after a lifetime of slopiness, I can keep it up!

Patricia, I know I'll never hit your goal.  I used to knit and crochet a lot, counted cross stitch; I don't do any of that any more.  I am "into" genealogy, but my work these days is looking for entries to any of my extended family and that only takes a glance.  My biggest thing is the computer and even that is lessening because there are few folders I read and fewer posters these days.  When we had Senior Net, it was not unusual to have two full pages of folders to read.  I did not read all of them and I know when Pat got S&F started, many of those folders did not make it here.  I watch more TV than I used to, but not as much as some people.

Tom thinks I require a lot of help and I didn't say anything, but I don't think I require so much help as he gives it anyway.  I've said I probably am not in as good shape as I think I am, but I probably am in better shape than others think I am.  I am short, less than five feet, and I can't reach a lot of things.  Both Tom and Annie put dishes away where there is room and both of them can reach them.  I cannot.  After a few minutes standing in the kitchen, my back aches, so I sit down.  Tom has back trouble and cannot get to things low down.  It isn't that I have problems and he does not; I sometimes think his are more serious than mine. 

I appreciate very much what he does for me, such as taking me to any appointments I may have.  But we do not "keep house" the same way and if someone says "throw it away", I pull back and say "NO".  I sent a lot of stuff to Goodwill when Tom and Annie moved here.  I have less than 900 square feet on one floor and 2/3 to 3/4 that livable space in the lower level where Tom lives and works.  I get mail that I think I should look at, put it in a pile and there is sits for a while and gets lost. 

I work at getting rid of things, but it's gonna take a long while.  You've seen the sweat shirts with the motto, "I've got so much to do that I'll never die".  Maybe that's how I've reached 92!

Time for bed.

Mary Ann

MaryAnn, after a lifetime as a collector, this is a swing shift in attitude for me. I'm only 65, but many aches and pains are beginning to sneak up on me such as the need to rest one day for each busy day. I try to become more active slowly in increments as I'm trying to lose weight as well.

The computer is dangerous. I tell myself not to turn it on until my housework is done. I'll let you know if that ever happens!    I am taking four PSP graphics classes, one Grammar class; and I subscribe to several recipes, DIY, and craft blogs. So I could spend hours on the computer if I don't watch it! 

Hi everyone.  It is going to be another day like yesterday weather wise with the temperature getting into the low 70's this afternoon. 

Scott was able to get my laser printer working again last night while he was here.  It was just he and I at dinner at the Church as Jennifer didn't attend again.  I took her off the permanent list of attendees and if she wants to go she can make the reservation on a weekly basis.  Today will likely be my typical Thursday with coffee and, if I feel up to it, attending the Wisdom class.  I will just have to see how tired I feel when I get my friend back to the assisted living facility where he resides. I also have to make a stop at Walmart to return something Pat ordered that was the wrong item.  The only other thing on my list to do at this point is to make an appointment with a podiatrist and also one with the car dealer for an oil change.

Interesting discussion on the different department stores we grew up with and how times change things.   Also that different department stores catered to the tastes of different groups of people or income categories.  We have a very nice and very big Belk's department store in North Augusta that is on the higher end of the scale.

Jeanne, I have opened the photo page so I won't forget and will cast my votes later today. 

Sandy, your new picture shows your beautiful smile better than the first one with the hat.  I hope you have a good day today.

deAngel, we had a couple of 5 and 10 cents stores in our little town as well, Woolworth's and a local chain store of that type.  The Woolworth's had a good lunch counter and a great candy counter with different candies you could buy by the pound. 

Patricia, nice that Farrah has a new view on the world after a nice nap on your pillow.  I do remember having the head bolt heater on my little Simca car and having to keep it plugged in during the winter as there was no garage.  Of all the locales that could use a garage I always thought Alaska was at the top of the list and yet there seemed to be few of them in the late 60's.  I was told it related to the cost of wood to build them.  I agree with you that being told you will donate to a charity isn't donating at all but stealing from a person.  I do remember having a lot of pressure applied to donate but don't recall it was ever demanded or done without the person's consent.  Good work on your organizing. 

Marilyne and MaryTX, I am not fond of Target either.  There is a big Super Target store in a mall area I go by each Monday but have only stopped in there a couple of times. 

Mary Ann, about my only recollection regarding rationing was after the fact my folks ended up with some of those colored mills and they were fun to play with.  I am not even sure how they were used. 

As for 5 & 10c stores, we had Woolworth and Kresge at the ends of what was a bunch of 5 & 10c stores because in between those stores was Green's and Grant's, all within the same block.  Both Kresge and Woolworth had lunch counters but I don't remember any at the other two stores.  They were not as large as Kresge or Woolworth. 

Larry, if I look hard enough (and I'm not going to), I think I could find a red circular token which may have been for meat.  I also have a ration book in my collection.  Terry's wife is helping me go through the boxes in my storage room but we haven't come across those items yet.

It was 15 degrees here at 8:30 this morning and a hour later has climbed up to 18 degrees.  Grand Haven looks so cold and there are a lot of whitecaps.

Mary Ann

Mary Ann - I have two distinct memories of Woolworths, when I was growing up.  I can still see those slanted glass display cases, that were sectioned off and filled with attractive, colorful candy and cookies.  I used to stare at the selections, and especially the cookies that were shaped like little windmills.  I would beg my mother or grandma to buy some of those particular cookies, but they never did! Does anyone else remember those windmills?

The other Woolworth's memory was when I was about 12 or 13, and my girlfriends and I would head for the cosmetic counter, and would stand there and open the various lipstick samples.  You were allowed to sample them by applying the different colors to the back of your hand.  We would end up buying the brand called Tangee.  It was supposed to turn different shades of pink, depending on a person's skin tone.

MaryTX - I've only been to the one Target store that's close - only about three miles away.  It's not a super store with a grocery section, but is just one vast floor, stuffed with items from floor to about seven feet high. I've never been able to find anything there that I was looking for, and it's impossible to locate an employee to help you!  The one Walmart that I've been to is too far from me . . . about 15 miles away, on the outskirts of San Jose.  Once I finally get there, it's too crowded, with long waits at the check-out. 

Patricia - Have you heard of the bestseller book called, "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up", by Marie Kondo?  I ordered it from Amazon, in hopes that it would help me to organize and get this old house into some sort of order. Her
method is fascinating, and I would love to be able to do exactly as she says - step by step.  However, at my age I need help, and I will not be getting it anytime soon!    You may enjoy reading the book (very short).  You can get it at the library, or most likely can read some of it on-line?

Good morning from the Interior, we're at minus 9 and our lows will be between minus 21-23 until 2/11. Our highs will remain about minus nine. I slept in again today, waking up finally at 8:56 AM. I need to get back to waking up at six or seven, but so far I just turn off the alarm and the next time I'm aware is two or more hours later! 

The Woolworth we had, was the one everybody seemed to gather at. The retirees loved the endless coffee and conversation, and the ladies loved it for lunch after shopping. I remember the makeup counter but really enjoyed buying 45s there for the latest music.

I don't have much to add as yet. I finished and posted yesterday's lessons and have laundry, vacuuming and other chores to see to. Everyone have a great day, its morning here so it must be about two in the afternoon where you're at. So I'll say, have a great day! 

Good afternoon, It was sunny, and going up to 40. I will not complain about that.

Larry, I have had many a meal in Woolworth, here and in SC. After shopping my mother and I always ended up there. I remember one time you broke a balloon, and that was how much you paid. There was a women here in the park, that worked at Woolworth's lunch counter for many years. In fact until it close.

Larry, I still have ration stamps for sugar, I just can not throw anything out. I guess my mother must have saved them. I also have a scrap book all all the pay check envelops  from the Charleston Navy Yard.  They all have sayings on them, bug war bonds, which where you talk, someone might listening etc. I wounder who will ever want them?

Marilyne, I remember Tangee lipstick, that was the only one my mother would let me wear, when I was 16, also could wear Evening in Paris perfume.

MaryAnn, We had a Kresge, you could get a 3 scoop cone 1 ice and two icecreams. In town, we had Grants, Woolworths, Mclennan's and huckasier, family owned and things seem to be even cheaper.

Patricia, When I retired i was so bored I did a lot of volunteer work, and then went to night school. By the way woke up  this AM, could not move my leg. Discovered Taffy was sleeping on them

Marilyne, I can buy windmill cookies at our stores, maybe because we are a Dutch area.  If we had a phone book, you would find many of the names are Dutch, starting with Van or Vander, ending in -ma, starting with De, Tj or something similar. 

A catalog I receive has Tangee lipstick in it and the lipstick costs about $14 or so.  I have a few lipsticks that I bought some time ago from Avon so I'm not tempted by the Tangee, which I think is too expensive. 

Terry's wife has been here helping me sort things in the storage room.  I think we were able to dispose of quite a bit.  Some will go to Goodwill, other stuff to the trash.  I haven't seen my storage room so empty in ages.  She is an organizer; I am not!  I'm tired and she did all of the work. 

Our temperature now is 17 degrees so it hasn't gone up much since I got up at 8:30 this morning.  It should warm up by the weekend.

It is interesting reading everyone's experiences with Woolworth.  Our downtown is nothing like it was when I worked.  None of our big department stores are around any more, just specialty stores.  It has been over 40 years since I worked downtown since we moved to the suburbs in 1973.  There was a mall and a department store in that area so if I needed anything, I could get it there, or at the mall near where I live - and that is no longer in existence any longer.  We have big stores, just not the ones of my youth.  Home town stores don't make it now, only big name stores.  I will say that our local food supermarkets are locally owned.

Mary Ann

My middle sister still uses Tangee lipstick.  On her it looks good, on me it looks orange and is not flattering.  I have a catalog which sells Tangee and she does, too.  I think that's where she gets her Tangee.  We both have dark eyes and my hair is still dark, but she and our youngest sister have had white hair since they were about 40.  It's a very pretty white with some black at the nape of their necks.  Both wear it very short.  Right now my hair is also very short, but in the 60's I let mine grow out to much longer than my shoulders--pulled it back in a long pony tail unless I was going out somewhere.  Then I'd shampoo and let it curl down my back.

Sue

Tangee, must have cost no more than 25 cents, in 1946, or I'm sure I wouldn't have bought it!  I think that the catalog that sells it now for $14, must be The Vermont Country Store?  They sell lots of older brands of items that are no longer available in stores.  I wonder who makes those things now?  Maybe the patents ran out many years ago, and they are now made in China?

Gloria - Tangee, was probably the only lipstick my mother would let me wear also, which is why I ended up buying it?  It was fun to sample all those bright colors though, if only on the back of our hands. ha ha

Sue - I remember that Tangee, was supposed to look different on everyone, depending on their coloring.  It sounds like you have nice thick hair - and still it's natural dark color!  Mine is now white . . . used to be a dark blond. 

Mary Ann - Interesting that you can still buy the windmill cookies.  They're probably made by local bakeries? I'll have to look at the Country Store catalog, and see if they have them for sale there? 

I never wore much makeup as I have a redhead's very dry and sensitive skin. I do use about five moisturizing products, so with not tanning, washing my skin carefully and moisturizing, I have few marks or wrinkles at 65. The point is, I never wore lipstick or used anything on my eyebrows. A trick I have used is to buy a small container of Cover Girl's ivory liquid makeup and put a few drops in my moisturizer when I go out.

I have had the misfortune of folks asking if I'm ill when I'm not and once was told to put my head between my knees and brought a cup of very strong coffee by a new boss I once had. I was too embarrassed to tell him I often looked that pale, with large blue circles under my eyes!  Now with somewhat red, somewhat gray hair, I always look ill as a friend so kindly puts it.    So, I Googled Tangee lipstick and ended up at the Vermont Country Store which sells it for $14.95 along with two other Tangee lip products. Hmmm.

Other than Woolworths, none of the store names mentioned were ones I had heard of. We had Gordons, Mode O' Day, Piggly Wiggly, and Lindys, a small neighborhood grocery run by two brothers. If you wanted to fill a prescription or were in need of a soda, you went to the Co-op Drugstore or to Sullivan's Drugstore. Soft ice cream from the fountain was five cents a scoop. My older sister and her friends went to the Co-op to ogle and flirt with the soda jerks and to slip their cherry cokes under the counter to splash a bit of rum or vodka from small bottles in their purse.That seemed so racy back then!

We had a Dairy Queen just two streets over and I was crazy over their fifteen cents, lime dilly bars. One early morning when I was eight, the Dairy Queen blew up. It ended up with the building owner charged with blowing it up for the insurance and it was never rebuilt. Nor did we ever have another Dairy Queen.

Marilyne, I see Patricia found the Tangee at the Vermont General Store for $14.95, not the $14 I mentioned.  I've had all-white hair since my late 30s and I do have some dark hairs at the back.  I have not been able to wear my hair long because I have two cowlicks at the back.  My hair has body, used to be more wavy than it is now, but I have one thing that the woman who cuts my hair doesn't know what to do about.  I sleep on my left side and I have straightened out a section where it doesn't do a thing.  The hair just hangs there.  It is too short even to put in bobby pins. 

I've never plucked my eyebrows and my family has bushy eyebrows.  Mine aren't as bushy as Norm's were, or as Tom's are.  I have a ruddy complexion and other than moisturizer, I don't put anything on my face, but I do add foundation when I am going somewhere.  I have no wrinkles.  I have bags under my eyes and when the surgeon did my skin cancer recently, he went along the line of the bag and no one would ever know anything was done.

Since I grew up, I have not been a sun worshiper.  When I was young, I did what every young girl did - I went to Lake Michigan and laid on the beach, no shade, and I got burned badly.  My dad once told me I could put my arm in the oven and get the same results.  That must have sunk in because I didn't sunbathe after that. 

I'm not sure, but I think when we visited Rochester MN when I was young that they had a Piggly Wiggly store there.  I know I heard of it years ago and we've never had one here.

Mary Ann

Hi everyone on an overcast and what will be cooler day here in South Carolina with 60 being our high today.  I did go to coffee yesterday but was just too tired to go back downtown for the Wisdom Group at Church.  By late afternoon I was feeling better and this morning got up a little less tired.  I have nothing on the calendar for today although we do plan on eating our big meal out later this afternoon or evening and I need to pick up just a few things at Aldi's if we eat down that way. 

Marilyne, I had forgotten about the display cases being slanted for the candies and cookies at Woolworth's. 

Patricia, those temperatures are not something to look forward to the next few days.  The only time I ever set an alarm anymore is if we have an early appointment and almost always awake before it goes off.  I use my iPhone to set alarms and timers and it is very handy.  I also remember looking through the 45 rpm records but usually had no money with which to buy one.  Sad news that your Dairy Queen was blown up and not rebuilt.  However, I suppose the selling season for their wares wasn't a long one up there. 

deAngel, your scrap book of pay slips from the Charleston Navy Yard could have some value for a collector. 

Mary Ann, nice of Terry's wife to help you sort things and provide more room for you in your storage room. 

It is 25 degrees and snowing. 

At 7:30 this morning, it was 15 degrees and by 8 am it was 14 degrees.  A thermometer near me reads 20 degrees at 12:25 but it is protected and in the sun right now, so I don't really trust it.  However, we are somewhere between 15 and 20, neither of which is warm.  But the sun is shining, so that makes it a nice day.

Terry's wife called that she will be late today but we will be able to accomplish much.  What we designate for Goodwill goes in a bag and she takes it there.  This sorting is something I could not do alone, not just for the fact that some of the boxes are too high for me to reach.  I seem to remember some items we have not come upon and I don't know if I already pitched them or we have yet to come to them.  Jan says we are about 2/3 finished.  I went to the storage room yesterday to see what she had done and it's being organized very well.  I appreciate Jan's help because she is the only one who offered to help.  I have a piece of furniture she asked for years ago and I may be ready to give it to her now - if they have room.

Grand Haven looks so cold.  Well, it is as cold there as here!

Mary Ann

Good for you Mary Ann...   
Pick out a few special things for your self,  and  send the rest on its way...       It is hard to do but you will feel better in the end when you end up with more space to move around it.

Sandy

Hi everyone.  It is a clear sky and one of the colder morning we have had all winter as when I arose the weather report said it was 34 degrees.  However, my outside thermometer now says it is over 40 degrees.  I really didn't accomplish much yesterday.  We did go to Ruby Tuesday's late yesterday afternoon after Pat stopped at the Dollar Tree store to get more cards for the Sunday School card ministry and I waited for her in the car.  We had a very good meal and they have improved their salad bar a lot but have also increased their prices by a dollar on most items.  We did get home before dark.  I have nothing on the schedule for today and glad as got up tired again this morning after plenty of sleep.  So I will just take things easy again today.

Joan, you are having so much snow this winter that you may have to invest in a snow shovel!   Do you know many inches of snow have you already had so far this winter?

Mary Ann, it is good that Terry's wife can immediately take the things designated for Goodwill to them rather than have it sitting around for days.  I hope she got a lot done yesterday.  She sounds like a fine lady and a helpful one as well. 

Sandy, I agree as we eliminated a lot of stuff when we moved here and even more after we unpacked. 

When I got up about 8:30 this morning, the temperature was 2F above zero.  Now, at 10:30, the temperature is about 25 degrees in the enclosed area between the garage and building. 

Larry, Terry's wife is a very industrious person.  She has degrees in social sciences and is an RN.  She is head of a Hospice unit and she comes here on off-days.  She admits she likes to be organized.  I like to be organized, too, but I am not.  Terry had a stoke several  years ago and is unable to work.  Until about five years ago, they lived in Holland MI but then sold that house and moved in with her parents with the idea of the four of them buying a house large enough for all of them.  It was then that Tom and Annie moved here and Tom is the only one living with me now.  Terry, Jan and her folks bought a walkout a couple of years ago and the parents have the first floor, Terry and Jan have the lower level.  They just found out Jan's father has Alzheimer's and he is in the early stages.  You feel bad when you realize he is a former teacher of history and has been deeply involved in reading various histories.  Jan's mother's short term memory is not good either.  Right now they can be left alone, but the time will come when they cannot.  Terry and Jan are expecting their first grandchild in March and both of them will be in CA, together and separate.  They are looking for someone to look after her parents and that someone may be Erin, T&J's daughter in Indianapolis. 

When I think of my dad's death and that of Norm, I am so thankful we did not have to go through full-blown Alz's.  Norm was at the start, but more like Jan's mother; he was not good with his short-time memory.  Dad had not started anything, but slowed down mentally - and died. 

Anyway, Jan is a very strong person.

Mary Ann