Root Day

Here's my explanation of root day. Celebrated every month.

Back to Normal

We put all the Christmas decorations away yesterday. Took down the fake tree and the only wreath we put up (above the front porch). DOTR carried everything back to the store room.

I think that's some kind of record. Usually the stuff is hanging around well after Twelfth Night. We've taken care of most of the Christmas treats (that's the great thing about two growing boys....no problem with food hanging around too long). J3 always needs money, so DOTR has him outside working on our plethora of leaves. I'm thinking unless we get rid of a bunch of those leaves, anybody who looks at this house is just going to see lots of work ahead. Maybe they won't think about all those trees shedding their leaves if they're not actually laying on the ground. Whatever works. I'm getting impatient. I want to get going on the renovation on that other house.

One more wrestling tournament this month--a two day varsity tournament Tuesday and Wednesday that we are holding for a private school with a gym undergoing renovations. We thought all we had to do was concessions, but we found out that we also need three meals for the hospitality room. Whoopee. Looks like I'm back to work in the kitchen.

It just so happens to coincide with root day, so I'm setting everything up Monday afternoon and DOTR is going to have to take the stuff over there because I am NOT skipping root day. No way. We're doing deli platters and chips for lunch on Tuesday, meatball subs for dinner and on Wednesday we'll do our big breakfast with biscuits & gravy, scrambled eggs, tater tot casserole and cheese grits. Then....New Year's Eve. DOTR is taking the boys to the Peach Bowl (yeah, I know it's the Chick fil a bowl, but nobody here calls it that....just like Macy's is still Rich's and Rite-Aid will always be Eckerd. You can go ahead with all that name changing, that doesn't mean everybody will play along). I decided on peace and quiet for New Year's Eve this year.

J4, along with half the freshman class, failed Math 1 (thank you State of Georgia for your new curriculum that does not include a math book and requires "brainstorming" amongst the students rather than actual teaching by the teacher....it's working great so far. Not.) Anyway, they all get to go to Christmas Math next week to try to bring their grades up to a 70. Unfortunately, J4 is the rollout class for the new curriculum, which is also why he had to go to summer school after just missing on the CRCT last year in 8th grade. Since he's never had trouble with math before (he has a reading disability--he's always been above grade level and exceeded standards on testing in math) I'm thinking that the new curriculum just might be the problem. Anyway, back to school for us already Monday morning. Fun times.

Same stuff. Different day.

Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful day!

Baby, it's cold

Outside. And inside.

It was in the high 60's-low 70's all week last week, so DOTR delayed making a decision about our fab-u-lous new HVAC system. After a second opinion from one of our clients (who is also DOTR's fraternity pledge son) who owns a huge commercial H&A company, it was determined that while it would be nice to replace the whole thing, it's not necessary right now. I hate to spoil that other guy's Christmas--he's a small business owner and I'm sure he was thinking we were a gift from the heavens.

However, we are now enjoying a little cold snap (20's overnight) and it's just a little frosty in here. We have two units, but the one working is much smaller and only covers the kitchen, girls' bedroom and laundry room.

We have 4 small space heaters already, just because we have uneven heating even when things are working well, but I made DOTR buy three more since he's the one who was dragging his heels on the repair. (Not that I blame him....we're so busy at the office, the whole wrestling meet thing, 3 or 4 Christmas parties, church, etc.....who wants to think about HVAC units? Yeah, me neither.)

It's supposed to warm up in a couple of days, so we'll probably put it off until after the holidays.

Looks like I may get that lump of coal after all.

Counting it Down

We survived the weekend at the wrestling meet. J4 got 4th place--pretty good for a relatively unenthusiastic participant. All the food was snarfed and I was thanked repeatedly. I got home about 3:00 yesterday afternoon and crashed for a couple hours.

Last night we went to a Christmas party--a great evening with good friends in yet another cool historic house. The weather was fabulous and a lot of people spent a good portion of the party on the front porch (no, you can't do that in Nebraska...which is why I don't live there anymore!) The best word to describe it......lovely. I had a lovely time.

I'm still not done shopping for the girls, and the things on their "lists" cannot be obtained at the lamest mall in the world, so I may have to venture outside my bubble if I want to put anything for them under the tree. I read something today about a family who has always done the "three wise men" thing with their gifts....meaning Jesus only got three gifts so that's all you get, too.

I could've used this little tidbit years ago, but I am thinking it's never too late to start a new tradition.

Three gifts it is. It's about time I wised up.

It's all about Hospitality

We're hosting our big JV tournament this weekend, starting tonight. 22nd annual tournament, 20 teams. 60 coaches. 10 officials.

I'm in charge of the hospitality room for the coaches and officials. So I shall be, after making homemade chicken salad sandwiches, corn chowder, cheese grits (for tomorrow morning) and assorted snacks, MIA this weekend.

A good hospitality room makes or breaks your tournament. It's the coaches who get to decide where they want to go when confronted with a plethora of choices each week. They like their food and lots of it. If you keep the tournament running smoothly with no long lapses of no wrestling going on, even better. Then they will come back year after year.

So tonight we are serving chili, potato soup and corn chowder, homemade pimento cheese sandwiches, sub sandwiches and chicken salad sandwiches, cookies, brownies, and assorted snacks along with all the water and powerade you could ever want.

At the crack of dawn tomorrow we are serving biscuits and gravy, hash brown casserole, scrambled eggs with salsa, etc., garlic cheese grits, banana bread, cranberry bread and cinnamon pecan bread, cinnamon rolls, fruit, juice, coffee, etc.

Then for lunch, four 6 ft. subs, potato salad, coleslaw, chips, cookies, brownies, etc. etc. etc.

Hope they're hungry.

Finally, finals

The boys have finals this week and today and tomorrow they just have half days. However, new this year instead of early release days (which always sounds like getting out of prison) they have late arrival days. Mainly because on the first monthly early release day back in September there was so much trouble all over town from teenagers running wild, they had to do something (although they've been having these half days since J1 started high school back in 2001 it's never been an issue until now--what does that say about our kids?!? Yikes). So, late arrival it is.

I have to say I like it much better. Getting up at 6:00 vs. getting up at 9:00? No brainer.

Anyway, this morning a girl from down the street was standing on the corner waiting for the bus when the boys were ready to leave. They kept saying "we have to wait until the bus comes before we leave since she's standing out there--it will be too awkward". I told them to ask her if she wanted a ride--she's a 9th grader, went to elementary school with J4, her sister was in J1's class....not like she's a stranger. I told them that it would be nice to offer, since it was drizzling and she was just standing there waiting. If her mom told her she couldn't ride with wildass 16 year olds in a Jeep, well, at least you were polite and offered.

So did they? Of course not. "We're going to McDonald's on the way to school, and besides it would be too weird since she's a girl". WTH? What a couple of jerks. Then I looked out at 10:40 and she was still standing there (school started at 10:58). So I went out and told her I'd drive her to school since obviously the bus was not coming this morning. And I told her that if the boys' car is ever still in driveway and the bus has not come (because it always comes long before they leave in the morning) to please come to our door and ask for a ride to school.

I will never criticize parents for having rude and thoughtless kids again (ok, maybe not NEVER, I do have a reputation to uphold) because I have discovered with these two knotheads that you can ride their butts every minute of the day and they still won't do what you tell them.

Military school looks better every day.

ETA: Okay, I have to cut my guys some slack here. When they got home, they said they did ask her if she wanted a ride but she "gave me that look and tossed her head and said "no"......so I was like, okay, but we're going to the same place", according to J3. She did not cop to turning them down for a ride when I was driving her to school. So I guess I'll keep them for awhile. And I guess I can criticize rude and thoughtless kids openly again.

Whew, what a relief.

Traditions, who needs 'em?

So J2 is home for the duration and last night she helped me with a little power shopping (well, actually we went to dinner, stopped at Border's for coffee, and wandered through Williams Sonoma for quite awhile....but we did come home with stuff, so I guess it was a success).

DOTR's entire family has followed us here one by one since we moved here in the early 1980's. So I never get to spend Christmas with my family (because my sister would be traumatized if my parents didn't jump AND ask "how high?" as she commanded) and always have to spend it with DOTR's. Which is okay, but lately has been wearing on me. I really feel for people who live near both sets of relatives and/or are less stubborn than my husband and will actually visit someone during Christmas.

Anyway, our "family traditions" have been a moving target over the years. We've done name drawing, gifts just for the kids, family gifts, etc. etc. Last year I came up with the idea for anybody who wanted to play to bring a $15 gift and we do the dirty Santa game (which I hate, but it works). We are now at the stage where there are significant others amongst the grandchildren, both of my SIL's siblings have also settled down here with their families, so we honestly never know who is going to show up. I figured this was a good solution. So we decided on appetizers and desserts instead of a big dinner and people showing up in the late afternoon (mainly because I'm tired on Christmas--I have acolyte duty for the 11:00 pm service).

To say it was a success is an understatement. It was great, actually. It forced everybody to interact during the gift exchange and we laughed ourselves silly (like when SIL's 11 yr old nephew got a lasagna pan....somebody took pity on him and stole it!) They came, ate, opened gifts and left.

Last night J2 and I did our shopping for the exchange and here's what we got:

Williams Sonoma Gingerbread Cookie Mix
Williams Sonoma Peppermint Hot Chocolate Mix
Harry and David Peppermint Sticks (a HUGE jar--last year the biggest fight was over a jar of gumballs--I am NOT kidding!)
A Charlie Brown Christmas CD
Williams Sonoma Peppermint Snow Lotion and Bodywash (Favorite SIL is going to be taking prisoners to get this one--I know she loves it)
And the gift that keeps on giving everyday.......Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Be a Redneck....." daily calendar.

The best part is that we're going to Favorite SIL's and I don't have to do a thing except buy rolls for the ham sandwiches.

Merry Christmas to me!

Upper Crust

You know you're a high end shopper when you find matching socks for your Target black and grey argyle cardigan.

At Kroger.

Was someone naughty?

Is that why, on December 16 we found out what Santa is bringing us for Christmas?

Wait.....it's so exciting..........


A new heating and air conditioning system to the tune of $8,600. For a house with a big For Sale sign in the front lawn. (applause, applause, applause!)

Maybe I'll settle for a lump of coal.

I Don't Sing, I Sign

If you've heard that line, then you've seen one of the funniest holiday plays ever written, "Sanders Family Christmas".

A holiday tradition at our Theatre in the Square, if you're anywhere close it's worth the trip. Great for the whole family and a great gift for parents (DOTR's parents loved it--they laughed until they cried!)

Stop in for dinner on the Square before the show (and admire the Christmas tree or see Santa in Glover Park, thanks to Maggi) and have a wonderful time.

My Halls

Still not decked.

I'm quickly losing my enthusiasm. I think the fake Nutcracker tree in the living room is going to be it for me this year.

Fa la la la la la, la la la la. Splat.

Car Talk

You've probably seen this a million times already--DOTR sent it to me and we had a good laugh.

Almost ten years ago, we had to GIVE away our very nice, fully loaded six year old Chrysler Town and Country minivan. We got more for it as a tax write off than we could by selling it (we tried, really). The giveaway was a last resort because we needed to get it out of our driveway.

That day I decided I would never buy another car that had no resale value.

We'd sold our other house (we were not meant to be landlords) and made a good wad of cash on it. We probably should've used it to pay down this mortgage, but instead we "split" it and I got to buy the Landcruiser for cash and he got to invest it in the stock market.

Guess what's still worth $15,000, even though it's a depreciating asset. My Landcruiser. Going strong for another ten years, I'm thinking.

And DOTR's stocks? Poof.

Gone with the wind.

Christmas Meme

Yes, obviously I am avoiding decking my halls.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper. Unfortunately, it seems like everything ends up in bags.

2. Tree--Real or Artificial? Usually we get one big real tree for the living room, then we have 4-5 artificial ones in other rooms. This year we're just doing the fake. Sniff.

3. When do you put Christmas tree up? Whenever I get around to it. I try not to get it up too early because generally we wake up one morning about a week before Christmas and our tree is toast. Usually after the Pilgrimage unless I've felt very ambitious the weekend after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? I leave it up until DOTR starts complaining and carries all the empty storage boxes back upstairs from the storeroom.

5. Like eggnog? I like eggnog ice cream better.

6. Do you have a nativity scene? Over 20 years ago I said the words to my mother I have come to regret "I wouldn't mind having one of those Precious Moments nativity scenes--they're kind of cute". She bought the starter set and then went to town. Broad hints haven't worked so finally last year I said, "I think my collection is complete" (considering I haven't taken the thing out of the box for the past three years). I have a some smaller sets, too--different styles.

7. Favorite gift received as a child? Dancerina, a beautiful ballerina doll that did pirouettes when you touched her crown. I talked my sister into "Swingy" because I wanted that doll, too.

8. Hardest person to buy for? J1

9. Easiest person to buy for? J3

10. Worst Christmas gift? Pretty much anything from my in-laws. The dash cover for my minivan comes to mind (while we watched Homeschool SIL open an adorable ceramic castle). DOTR's late great aunt always sent us a box full of useless junk that was hilarious to open--we'd all bring our boxes and open them together (DOTR's siblings) just so we could share the joy.

11. Mail or email a Christmas Card? Always mail, with a picture of the kids and a snarky letter.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? While You Were Sleeping

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Depends on if I have any money--usually back to school kills us, so I'm running around in December trying to figure out what everybody wants.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Oh yeah.

15. Favorite food to eat on Christmas? Cookies, cookies and more cookies.

16. Lights on tree? thousands

17. Favorite Christmas Song? Angels We Have Heard on High

18. Travel during Christmas or Stay home? In 25 years, we've only been away from home twice.

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen & Rudolph

20. Angel or Star on Tree top? Giant, shiny bow.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve. Both DOTR and I did this when we were kids because we always had to go to Grandma's on Christmas Day. Since we don't go anywhere, I always tried to do Christmas Day, but DOTR couldn't wait and now the kids won't hear of it.....even when they're getting very little.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People who use "the holidays" as an excuse not to do things they're supposed to do....and complain about "the holidays" nonstop. And people who go totally overboard buying crap for their kids.

23. Favorite ornament? All the Nutcracker ornaments we collected when the girls were dancing. I think I will be very sad to part with them....if I decide to give them to them when they move into their own houses.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? Seriously? I haven't gotten anything I wanted for Christmas for so long that I don't even think about it.

Decking the Halls

Well, the jury is in and we're not getting a real tree this year (sniff). First time since we got married. I never should've been thinking out loud that one day when I said, "maybe we should just take it easy on the decorations this year since we have the house on the market" because DOTR took that as gospel.

While I was working at the Pilgrimage on Sunday, he drug the artificial tree that I always put in the basement upstairs into the living room and put it together. Then he randomly selected 4 boxes (out of about 30) of Christmas decorations and dumped them in there. So that's how far we are on decking the halls. I have to go to the storeroom now and actually locate the correct boxes that hold the lights for said tree and the decorations that go in that room.

He also put the trees up in the boys' rooms.....they are the prelit fakes, so in his mind, they're done. Voila. Plugged in, lit up, there's your tree.

So today it's all about decorating. I guess I should start shopping soon, too. We're not doing much since blowing the wad in Maui, but I am not so grinchy as DOTR (his family is the least generous gifting family I have ever known, so he never thinks you need a gift for anything....that is a "sore spot" every year). He's happy to buy you whatever you need, but for some reason he doesn't like it to be a "gift". Whatever. I don't see how a pair of pj pants or a sweater under the tree is such a travesty for these "spoiled kids", but that's how it plays in his mind.

Fa la la la la la.

Mistaken Identity

Friday night at the Pilgrimage preview party, I stopped to talk to an adorable young couple from our church while DOTR headed over to get us a little something from the bar. She was one of the co-chairs this year of the whole she-bang (the Pilgrimage, not the party) and J2 is a favorite babysitter for her two darling little girls. She's in her very early thirties, if that, blonde and just cute as can be. Her husband is a perfect match, very handsome and one of the handful of younger guys in a particular Sunday School class partial to wearing bow ties. Too cute every Sunday morning.

Anyway, as we were talking, a photographer from the newspaper came over and wanted to take our picture. As in me and her husband. Like he thought we looked like we went together. Once we got it straightened out, DOTR came over from the line to the bar and he took our picture instead.

I didn't really think about it until later....but seriously, I should've thanked that photographer for even thinking that I was young enough to be at that party with Mr. Cutie Patootie.

Smooches for him. I should've kissed him right then and there.

Christmas Villages

Do you have any of those Christmas houses that make a beautiful village? I think my mom started collecting one from Kohl's (I can't remember the name) and there are all the really nice villages from Dept. 56., not to mention all the various sets that have been available at Target, Walgreens, Eckerd, etc. through the years.

I try to stay away from collecting anything that is likely to be retired or hard to get ahold of because I get too frustrated. I want it all. I want it now. I don't want to look around for it, I want it to be there when I want it. So.....a collector I'm not.

It also has to be meaningful to me. Like instead of collecting any Shelia house, I have just a few of the lighthouses that we've actually visited. One of my friends who grew up in Savannah has a whole collection of the houses there, including her church and school. A long time ago, one of the stores on the square had some knock offs of the Shelia houses that depicted stores and restaurants that had been on the square. Now I wish I'd started collecting them, since most of those places are long gone.

I "sorta kinda" want to get one of those light up villages, but the only one I ever really wanted is history at the stores and would probably be a full time job to acquire from ebay. It's the only one I can think of that would mean something to all of us. When it was in the stores, it was fairly cheap and I should've bought it even though I didn't have anyplace to display it (back then I had very few side tables or shelves of any kind in my house).

So what do I want? The "It's a Wonderful Life" series. Bedford Falls. " And dance by the light of the moon" (remember the tag line at the end of thirtysomething, Once & Again, My So-called life--Bedford Falls production company?) They had several versions, one in Target, one in Walgreen's and I'm also finding an Enesco set and I'm not sure if it's the same thing or not. Anyway, that's probably the only Christmas village I'll ever want.



And I'm too impatient to collect it. Not enough of the pieces are on "Buy it Now" on ebay....and I don't do auctions. Maybe next year.

How about you? A village purist? Not into it? Any house will do?

What's your poison?

The Friendly Skies

It's been over 20 years since I flew on United. I remember it clearly--I went home to Nebraska with J1 for the first time (she was about 4 months old) and I drug her and an enormous diaper bag through the airport in Chicago. I remember that I had to go through security to change terminals and that I walked at least a thousand miles, or so it seemed. Before that, I used to fly United fairly regularly because they were one of the two airlines that went out of Lincoln, so when I was still in college and DOTR was here, I often did the Lincoln-Chicago-Atlanta gig.

Living in Atlanta, we're pretty lucky that it is possible to get on a plane and get off just about anywhere you want to be without going through another airport (if you're willing to pay for it, that is). So, we fly Delta more often than not, unless we get a good deal to somewhere on Airtran or we're booked on a company trip and they make us use another carrier (yeah, don't even get me started on the Alitalia debacle--we'll be here all day). Sometimes it's kind of fun to go to the blue side of the airport where it's not as crowded and the people seem to be nicer--we used to call it "flying the un-Delta"--because frankly for quite a few years Delta's had an attitude around our airport anyway. You're stuck with us, so deal.

So anyway, back to the friendly skies. DOTR heard about this great sale on United to Hawaii back in July and jumped all over it. And we were off.

First, they changed the time of our flight and bumped us off our flight home from Maui to Chicago AND then our flight from Chicago to Atlanta because there was too short a connection time. All without telling us. No email, nothing. DOTR just was checking in one day for the heck of it and found out that while we were fine getting there, we had no seats home. It took him 2 hours on the phone to get that one straightened out and we were stuck in the last row of the plane by the bathrooms for our Maui/Kona-Chicago trip home. Some fun. But it was the best he could do--they were bursting at the seams.

We got to Chicago after leaving our house at 4:00 am and we all ate breakfast at the airport. Little did we know that would be the last food we would see until we landed. They now sell boxed food, only take CASH--$6 for snacks and $9 for a sandwich (preferably correct change because if you don't have it your chances of getting it back are slim to none). Unless you've spent about 30 minutes perusing the inflight magazine, you have no clue what they're selling you when they come by because they all have catchy names like "the minimeal" and the "healthy choice", etc. AND if you don't grab it then (with your correct change) they are on to the next row and sorry, too bad so sad, you snooze you lose. Never have I been on a long haul flight where there's no food if you don't have cash. Luckily, I brought a bunch of snacks and made everybody buy a drink before we left or it would've been an even more miserable 9 1/2 hours.

The plane was so old, the seats were scratchy upholstery, and I was really surprised that they still fly that far in aircraft without the video screen in the seatback. We watched three horrible movies and one okay movie (on the way there--horrible and okay, way home...both awful) on a screen so old the quality was about the same as the roll down projector screen they used in our sad audio visual room in my high school. And I was so lucky to have honeymooners in front of me who blocked my view of said miserable movies because she was unable to detach her head from his shoulder. I was too tired from getting up at 3:30 am to read, otherwise I wouldn't have even attempted to watch. The worst thing, though, was the landing with the two seatbacks of the honeymooners right in my lap (and J2's) because the flight attendants did not even walk through the cabin to make sure everybody's seatbacks and tray tables were in the upright position. Yeah. Can you believe it?

On the way back, DOTR paid a few hundred dollars to upgrade us to economy plus or something and get us out of our bathroom seats, but somehow we got all spread around even though we booked seats together. The flight attendants seemed to be social coordinators moving people around and we were stuck with what was left as far as I could tell. DOTR got a little pissy about it, so we did score some kind of customer appreciation certificates (that reminds me I need to go online and figure out what we get). And the girls got to move to first class (which they SWORE was full back when people were desperately trying to upgrade) for the landing--so they got a cheese danish and cup of hot coffee out of the deal. We had a short stop in Kona while they cleaned the plane and we desperately found an ATM and then had to buy to stuff to get enough $1 bills so we could buy food on the flight home, but J1 and I didn't get our orders in fast enough (because I was trying to hand out money to everybody all over the cabin with food carts blocking both aisles) to get a sandwich so we got the leftover snacks.

We got in about 25 minutes before the flight we were originally scheduled to take was leaving, so we made a run for it to try to get on standby. As I said before, J2 and I didn't get on, so we went from B terminal to the very end of F terminal and waited for our flight home. Atlanta's airport is huge, but we have trains and moving sidewalks to get you around. Chicago, not so much. At least not to where we needed to go. Tired, cranky, overburdened with carryon luggage (no thanks to $25 a bag and tight connections) we were not having a good morning in the Windy City.

I can honestly say, unless it's the deal of the century (and maybe not even then because I am into my quality of life more than money these days), it may be another twenty years or more until I fly the friendly skies of United again.

I'm sticking with Delta.

Just what I've been waiting for

With a mother who was a postmaster, I pay attention to stamps. Usually I buy the Madonna and Child version Christmas stamps every year, but this year I couldn't resist. I wish they were "forever stamps", I'd buy as many as I could and use them every year.

Weekend Survival

I came through this weekend in much better shape than last year--we behaved ourselves admirably at the Preview Party and awoke on Saturday morning ready to greet the day. Thank goodness. I met up with my friend after lunch and we had a good afternoon touring the houses. DOTR holed up at home with football and a pot of chili, J4 did whatever it is he does on his computer, and J3 was away at a wrestling tournament in Knoxville (he got 5th and their team got 3rd).

On Sunday I had acolyte duty for the late service, then it was a quick bite of lunch and off to my house chair duty. Craziness ensued until docent shift change when we were finally fully staffed (we were House I and a lot of people just buy tickets at the door....so managing the crowd, selling tickets AND trying to be a docent for the first room was not fun for the first hour and a half of my shift). It's a great way to spend a day, though, everybody is happy and having fun and even though it was a little bit colder than normal, the sun was shining and everyone was in the Christmas spirit.

When I got home the boys were off to the youth Progressive Dinner, so DOTR took pity on my tired feet and cranky attitude and fed me dinner and a pitcher of margaritas at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

It seems like everything was this weekend...The Nutcracker, the opening of The Strand (that's why the crowd was a little light at the Preview Party), a Christmas Tree display at the Civic Center, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at our church's Breakfast with Santa, tree lighting on the Square on Thursday and at the Hospital on Sunday.......and on and on. What will we do the other weekends? (I'll be fine, we have wrestling tournaments, one we host and I'm in charge of the hospitality room...no lack of activities here).

My cards are in the mail today, both personal and business, so I guess it's time to get busy on decorating the house. I was going to take it easy this year on the decorations since the house is on the market, but since things are basically at a standstill around here, I decided to just do what I normally do. Which is too much, but what the heck.

After only one week of reentry from vacation, I'm back!

Ticket Giveaway

This is for locals, or those within driving distance. Or if you have a private jet and want a quick weekend getaway. I guess I shouldn't assume.

"Merry Olde Marietta" Tea Room - The Anderson Mansion

First Baptist Church Chapel

The Brumby House

Cobb Museum of Art (formerly the Post Office, then the Library)

Anyway, I have two (2) unclaimed tickets for the Pilgrimage this Saturday and Sunday. Six houses, numerous public buildings, charming shopping, etc. etc. etc. We got a bunch of free tickets for being a preview party sponsor and I'm also a house chair. They are for either or both days, but you can only go in each house once.

http://www.mariettapilgrimage.com/ for the details.

Email me at the address under "Contact me" on the sidebar and the first to respond gets them.

Do you want poi with your turkey?

On Thanksgiving Day, we went to the luau just down the beach at the Marriott (it used to be The Outrigger). We opted for that rather than heading across the island to the Old Lahaina Luau which is reputedly the most "authentic". In place of the usual chicken dish, they had turkey and dressing on the buffet. We shared our table with a family from Houston and sat next to a family from the town in Georgia where Favorite SIL and BIL live. Small world.

Friday was shopping day (you wouldn't have known it was "Black Friday") after we watched the Huskers beat Colorado, of course. We ventured out of our little neighborhood to Whaler's Village and downtown Lahaina.

On Saturday, the kids did a zipline excursion. They downloaded videos of themselves but I've no clue how to access them. They had fun, though. There was one slight problem that we didn't think through when we booked that little activity, though. College football rivalry weekend. Oops. We had to leave the condo in the middle of the 3rd quarter of the GT vs UGA game, so we had to "watch" it by refreshing the ticker on DOTR's phone. After we dropped the kids off at the zipline place, DOTR made friends and found a good sports bar nearby. I can't remember the last time I sat at a bar for four hours watching football on 10 different tv's, but that's how I spent my last full day in Hawaii (actually it was cloudy and kind of drizzly--the only iffy weather day we had--so it wasn't so bad).

Sunday, it was time to get packed up and head back to reality. After a short stop in Kona, we were on the way home. Three of us can sleep on a plane, three of us can't (guess where I fit in!) We discovered a couple days before we left that they had bumped us off our early flight from Chicago to Atlanta because the connection time was too short, but we arrived 25 minutes before the flight left, so we made a run for it. They only had 5 seats, so I decided to stay until our later flight, but by the time the gate agent was printing J2's ticket, there were no more seats. So we (2 of the three who can't sleep on a plane) enjoyed a few hours in Chicago.

Yeah, that's snow!

DOTR got three good hours of work in before he had to come back to get us at the airport, J1 went back to Tech, J3 went to school, and J4 passed out in his bed the entire day.

A good time was had by all.

A Walk in the Clouds

On Wednesday, we drove to the top of the mountain to Haleakala National Park . It was hard to imagine that we were in the same place--it looks like the moon. The first stop is at 7,000 ft. and then onward to 10,000. I'm glad I wasn't driving. I was too busy covering my eyes and doing a lot of "advising". Let's just say a Chevy minivan is not the ideal vehicle for such a trip but it did look a lot more secure than some of those tourist vans and buses. No thank you.

Thanksgiving in Maui

Sunrise view from the lanai with no zoom....we opened the door and could hear the waves splashing all night long. Heavenly.

Here's the condo, and if anything this place is undersold on the website. The complex was built in the 1980's when they could put things right on the beach, but this unit has been totally gutted and remodeled. Gorgeous, and the owners called the day we checked in and the night before we left to make sure everything was okay. High end appliances, top of the line cookware, staples in the kitchen for cooking......I would go there again in a heartbeat. Second floor so no messing with the elevator. Perfect. (and yes, you can see Molokini from the lanai).

Sunset --the big event for the day.

Everybody lined up their lawnchairs on the beach to watch.

The pool and hot tub area just outside our lanai.

J4 doing recon for tomorrow's snorkeling trip.

Heading to Molokini

After round one.

J1 and J4

Cruising for turtles

The girls

J3 -- Facebook Profile Picture

The first whale sighting of the year on that boat

(no you can't see them....that's where they were for a nanosecond, though!)

Done for the day

Back to the beach.

Monday we lazed on the beach, Tuesday we went on the snorkeling trip. It gets dark at 6:00, so we went to bed early every night and were up at dawn every day. We walked or ran on the path along the ocean (I just strolled a couple of miles to the coffee hut between the Grand Wailea and the Marriott, got my Starbucks Kona and strolled back).

More tomorrow.

My First Love

Exciting game. Now both Clemson and Florida State are saying they're playing us in the Gator Bowl and DOTR is already sniffing out Bowl travel packages.

Whew, that was close....for a couple of days it looked like it might be the Jackets.

The Good Word