Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Lucky New Year's Day Omen

I made every effort (while lying horizontally in bed) to stay awake, watch the ball drop in NYC and see in the New Year.  After watching all of the so-so entertainment,  I must have fallen asleep 5 or 10 minutes before midnight and awakened at 12:02 by all of the noise made by the revelers!!  I soldiered through all of the hubbub/crap and the only thing I missed was the ball and the stroke of midnight!

On my first walk of the year, I spotted what I hope is a positive omen for the coming year - our resident alligator sunning himself in the golf course bunker!  He had pulled himself up on the sand with only one-third of his tail remaining in the water. They were still out sunning in early December before the cold weather hit, which was very late for them to still be out.  It looks like two warm days in the 70s were more than he could resist.......and I hope he gets many more opportunities to enjoy himself.

Before my walk, we had a leisurely morning before preparing our traditional Southern New Year's lunch/dinner - pork (in Mama's case it was chops) for good luck, black-eyed peas for coins, turnip greens for greenbacks , sweet potatoes (fries) just because they're good, and corn bread for gold and prosperity..  Between all of that and the gator, I hope we've attracted some good luck for the coming year!


On the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year, I suddenly decided to install 3 shelves in my kitchen pantry.  The original shelves are 20" deep and spaced far apart, so there is a lot of wasted space.  It appears organized until my mother comes down and we add her things, and suddenly it becomes difficult to find anything.  So, it seemed that three narrow shelves of 8" depth would create more space and make more items visible.  Naturally, the project required two trips to Home Depot, but I was lucky to be helped by a nice, young guy who looked like he was 12 years old, but he knew his stuff.  He seemed amazed that a little, old lady was going to tackle a project like that!  He helped me find exactly what I needed, cut the boards the length required, and so on....getting me off to a good start.  The only hitch came when I started to put up the first bracket.  They were placed directly above those of the original shelves and I was expecting to attach the bracket to a stud.  It took one screw to realize there was no stud.  So, another trip to HD.  I got some butterfly screws and in no time flat the shelves were up.  I really expected it to take several days, especially since the project was started mid-afternoon.  But, by 8PM it was complete and restocked! Amazing.



And, if you thought I might neglect my civic duties over the holidays, you would be wrong!  Somehow, I managed to receive two letters in one day from my senator, Lindsey Graham!  In an earlier post I mentioned that I was so distraught over the capitulation of the tax cuts for the rich that I had to write someone.  DeMint(ed) is a waste of time as he is in total lockstep with Republicorp, and is now cozying up to the Tea Party.  But, to his credit, I do usually receive a reasonable acknowledgment from Lindsey (we're on a first name basis now).  I can't figure out how I received two replies - except that at the time I was so fired up that I sent a copy of the email to John Boehner, too. He may have passed the buck back to Lindsey.  Anyway, there were some successes after the tax deal (DADT, food safety, 9/11 responders, START, etc.), so I feel better about the state of things at the moment.  I'm going to try to enjoy it until they begin dismantling "Obamacare", a carefully chosen term to instill fear, uncertainly and disdain.....does that cover all of the negative energies??

Off to NC tomorrow for three days to get my mother started on her dental work.  Am hoping that every little thing will add up to good health. 

1 comment:

  1. Hi Donna,
    Well done!!!! I have started this year with great intentions of 'clearing out'!!!! but so far a horrrendous hacking cough has put the brakes on it. Thankfully the medication is starting to kick in and shifting the garbage that seems to have accumulated!!!! There have been so many coughs and colds plus flu going around that it has been difficult to avoid catching it.
    Hope all this bad weather that has affected the east side of the US has not come as far south to where you are. By now you will have Mama being sorted out re her dental work etc. As you say every little thing helps - even to make life just more live-able.
    All my Very Best Wishes to you Both for 2011 and also please pass on my Best Wishes to Allan.
    Love,
    Eileen x

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