Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays

     It's Christmas morning and I thought I'd write a few words on my blog before we start the day's festivities. Its just the dogs, my husband and me at home this year. That's unusual for us because normally we're either at his Mother's, in any one of several locations with my family or someone is here with us.

   

    Because of that, we didn't do much decorating this year. Instead of the big tree in the living room, I put a table in the corner and put our 3' tree on it. It only takes about 10 minutes to put that tree up. I put a small fiber optic tree in the den and covered the mantle with my Santa Claus dolls and statues. I put a few Nativity sets on the mantle in the living room and I put the Christmas quilt on the dining room table. That's it, all done. (Should be easy to take it all down too.)

    After we open presents, we'll cook a ham for dinner, call all the relatives and watch some Christmas movies and probably some football.

    I hope you have a fun day and enjoy the holiday season to its fullest.

     I'm taking some time out from Christmas preparations to update the blog. I just about finished my Christmas shopping yesterday (just one person left to buy for) and got everything wrapped but still have to get it all boxed up and ready to ship. This is very late for me this year and there's a chance the boxes may not make it in time for Christmas as I only have one day to spare.
    We just put together the Christmas letter which is always a challenge because my husband writes one from his point of view (even though the cards are supposed to be from both of us) and then I edit it to include me and to take out the parts that I think are in poor taste and/or mean. Then he gets mad because he thinks I made it too wordy and boring. So I get mad because he thinks I have no sense of humor and so on. This year I think he just gave up. This morning I updated the Christmas card mailing list and printed the labels. I'll be working on Christmas cards all day most likely.
    We invited several people over for Christmas day including my sister and her family and one of my husband's (and my) friends. I have to have someone here to play games with me! So this week will be dedicated to cleaning, putting out some decorations (haven't done any of that yet) and cooking.
    I keep thinking how different next year will be when I will have my days free to work on all this stuff. But then other retired people seem to be just as stressed trying to get everything done. I'm sure I'll be different (yeah, un-huh). Only eight more working days to go!

    I realized today that next Friday will be the last working Friday for me. I have 13 more working days left over four weeks but with Christmas and New Year's Day falling on Fridays, I only have to work one more full week. The reality of retirement is just starting to hit me. I've been playing at cleaning out my office but today I got serious about it and brought home two bags of stuff. Believe me, there's much more to do.
    Maybe it had something to do with my boss sending out a notice for my reitrement party. Since then I've been getting calls and emails from people I've worked with over the years. Its rather bittersweet. I'm sad to think of the many talented and enjoyable co-workers with whom I may never cross paths again. I'd like to keep in touch with so many of them but the reality is that its hard to do and not likely to happen with many of them.
    The other thought that keeps going through my mind is whether I will still want to travel after I am retired. For me and I think most working people, retirement has always meant living in a low stress world. Vacations were a way to experience that world for a short time. Retirement was also a time when I could travel widely without a deadline. So now I wonder if I will still find travel to be low stress or will my everyday life be so stress-free that traveling will feel stressful. I guess only time will tell.

    I was sick with a cold all week and am just finally getting to feel normal again. We had plans to go to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan this weekend but I had to cancel becasue of my illness. We were going with two other couples to see the village Christmas festivities which were outdoor of course with the temperatures expected to be in the teens. My husband rustled up a substitue and went off without me (it was pre-paid). I'll just have to go another year.

   I spent yesterday watching basketball (UK beat North Carolina) and football (Alabama beat Florida) and looking for a cruise to take somewhere warm next year. I got a good deal on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas which is a Freedom Class ship which used to be the biggest and fanciest in their fleet until the Oasis of the Seas came out just this month. I guess everyone wants to go on the Oasis so there are good deals to be had on the other ships. I'll have a surprise for my husband when he gets home today.

     Another Saturday morning blog update. I didn't post anything during the last week because we were visiting my husband's family for the Thanksgiving holiday. My mother-in-law does not have Internet access. She lives in Owensboro, Kentucky which is where my husband grew up. Since he's been retired this year he's made multiple trips to Owensboro and done multiple tasks around her house. This was supposed to be a fun trip but somehow he still had a list of to-do items. We compromised by doing one or two projects in the morning and going out in the afternoon and/or evening. His Mom stayed home cooking for us which is why my husband is downstairs on the treadmill right now and I'm eating a piece of pumpkin pie while I write this.

    I'll recap the fun things we did. We visited the International Bluegrass Music Museum which chronicles the rise of Bluegrass music from its invention by Bill Monroe in Rosine, Kentucky to the international following it has today. All along the way you can listen to music created by famous Bluegrass artists such as BIll Monroe's "classic" band which also included Earl Scruggs and Lester Flat (best known for "The Ballad of Jed Clampett").

    We visited the Owensboro Museum of Science and History. This museum occupies the Anderson building that was once the premier department store of downtown Owensboro. All my husband could recognize of the store were the elevators. The museum has an extensive kids area with interactive science exhibits. We were more interested in the Owensboro historic photo collection, the Wendell Ford exhibit and the racing exhibit. Owensboro has a rich racing history with a long streak of local boys running in NASCAR including the Waltrips, the Greens and Jeremy Mayfield. They also have a history of hydroplane racing on the Ohio river.

    The Wendell Ford exhibit was the nicest of the museum and included a biography of the long-time US Senator from Owensboro with a replica of his senate office. My husband had a special interest because his uncle was Wendell's barber and they had a tradition of cutting Wendell's hair the night before an election as a good luck charm. It must have worked because Wendell never lost an election. A replica barber shop including memorabilia of his late-uncle is part of this exhibit.

    One day we drove to Evansville, Indiana (less than an hour away) for shopping (of course) but we also drove through downtown where there is a nice river walk, a casino and a World War II era LST. LST's were used to transport and land men and equipment on the beaches in both Europe and the Pacific. My late father-in-law served on an LST during the war. Unfortunately it was not open for tours that day so we could only look at it from the parking lot. We ate lunch at a an old German restaurant (pictured) in a quaint area of town. The food was excellent and the atmosphere authentic.  

    Besides visiting with family, we also hooked up with a couple of his high school buddies and attended a Kentucky Weslyan basketball game. They are a NCAA Division II school and, although the school is very small, they have an enviable streak of championships. They look to have a good team this year as well.

   Happy Thanksgiving!

   It's Saturday and I have my niece and nephew with me today. We went to a movie and a Mexican restaurant. My nephew swallowed his fake lip piercing and was afraid to eat anything. We are looking at our blogs and Facebook pages and talking to Grandma on the phone.  I would like to take them to the hair salon but they both said they just got haircuts.

    What a beautiful weekend we are having! Sunny and warm with blue skies and the colorful leaves, at least those that are not in piles on the ground. We took advantage of the great weather to go to the horse races at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

There was a good size crowd and they simulcasted the Breeder's Cup races from Santa Anita, California. Simulcasted means they showed the races on the big screens and we could bet on the both the live racing at Churchill and the broadcast races from Santa Anita. The Breeders Cup races are the anuual "playoffs" for horse racing with trainers, horses and jockeys competing from all over the world. There are races in all different categories but the big race this year cause quite a stir because it was the first time ever that a female horse (Zenyatta) won! Its very difficult for female horses to beat the male horses (its only been done 3 times in the 135 times the Kentucky Derby has been run). Earlier this year another female horse, Rachel Alexandria, won the Preakness which is the second race in the Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby being the first and the Belmont the third). Quite a year for the fillies!

  

All my clothes are back in my closet. Here's the after photo (with the sliding doors back on).

It looks like it will work out well and I have 5 bags of stuff to donate to the clothing drive. I went ahead and cleaned out all my drawers as well. My husband threw in three bags of his stuff, too. Next thing will be to clean out all the clothes in the basement but that can wait until after I retire (only 37 working days left!).

    Its Saturday morning again and I am at the computer again. Last night we went to see Michael Jackson's This Is It documentary film about preparing for the tour that he did not live to take. I wanted to see it very much but could not find anyone among my family or friends who was interested. While I was willing to go alone, my husband was ultra sweet to me and offered to escort me. It turned out that we both enjoyed it. I don't think it will win Best Picture of the Year (although I think it would have a good chance at Best Documentary) but it shows MJ doing what he was so good at. He still had the voice and the moves. There will never be another like him.

    My husband's other wonderful thing he did for me this past week was to rebuild my closet. He installed a kit to reorganize the closet and it is finished and ready for me to put my clothes back in. In the end, I only gained 4" of hanging space but I'll have about 3' more of shelf space. It will be better organized so I can see all my clothes and they won't get smushed together and wrinkled. My project for today is to put all my clothes back in. Well, not all my clothes, I'm going to get rid of some of the things I don't wear. By a lucky coincidence they are running a clothing drive at work for charity so I can do two good deeds at the same time.

    On Sunday we went with some other friends to visit Nashville, Indiana in the heart of Brown County. This area of Indiana is very hilly and is also known for its fall foliage and covered bridges. The trees were a little past peak but it was a very nice fall day and we enjoyed ourselves immensly. The town of Nashville has become an artists haven. It's full of shops, most of them with good quality goods including glass, pottery, furniture, clothing, candles, food and so on. A lot is from local artists. Don't worry, there are enough cheap souvenir places, too.   

    We ate lunch in a basement dive that was dedicated to Bobby Knight (legendary ex-Indiana basketball coach). Every space on the walls, beams and counters was covered with photos and other mementos of Bobby. Even the conversations (including ours) were about Bobby. It was a fun place to eat.

    My husband and I were especially happy to find something we have wanted for many years, tile house numbers! We have columns along our front porch and wanted the numbers to line up vertically but pretty much everyone makes them to go horizontally. One store had them with frames that could go either way so we finaly have our house numbers up on our porch.

   

     We had a busy weekend. On Saturday the daughter of our good friends got married. It was a lovely wedding and the bride looked beautiful. Here is a photo of her gorgeous dress. She is very tall and wears a size 1.

     I got my husband to dance with me 2 times (slow dances only) but fortunately a large group of our friends were there so I did the cha-cha slide and danced to some more songs with my (mostly) female friends. It was a fun time.

   Now he's saying he does want to stay as a follower to my blog. He also says I am stubborn. And he is doing the dishes. He also got up and painted my closet this morning. So I guess I'll let him stay. I don't know where he gets that stubborn thing from.

    Another Saturday morning and I am at the computer. OK, I used my husband's ID to sign him up as a follower to my blog. I did so because he can be technically incompetent. After all I had to create his blog for him although he has mastered the ability to do his own posts.
   However this morning I discovered that he does not want to be a follower of my blog because, and I quote, "It's boring.". He went on to say that he does not want anyone to look at his blog, follow the link to my blog and think that he has any association to such a blog.
   So I am removing him as a follower.

    We had a fun weekend. Some friends came in and we spent Saturday just going to places around Louisville. We began the day eating breakfast at The Cafe, a restaurant that started out in an antique mall but now has its own building. They kept the same decor with dozens of antique chandeliers peppering the ceiling and old doors and windows decorating the walls.

Then we went to Flame Run, a glass artist workshop where we watched them make one of a set of drinking glasses. Next stop was Bowles Mattress Company to check out the adjustable beds. My husband and I have them and our friends are thinking about it. We were headed into Indiana to the Bass Pro Shop so one of our friends could shop for light weight UV clothing for her upcoming trip to the Amazon. My husband tried out the ATVs but didn't buy anything (thank goodness).

   

    Back downtown we went into the Galt House hotel to the lounge that connects the two towers. See if you notice anything unusual about this bar:

(its a fish tank)

    We also stopped at the 21C Museum Hotel which was rated the best hotel in the United States. Just going to the bathroom there is a treat and the art is grand, high tech, avant garde and fun.
    Just down the street is a large costume and theatrical store, Caufields. You can imagine that Halloween is their biggest time of the year and the store was crowded. We had fun trying out the masks and checking out the animated graveyard scene. We drove out 4th street to Old Louisville, the UofL campus and Churchill Downs.

    No day out on the town would be complete without a visit to Sam's Club to check out the TVs and DVRs. Nothing was bought there either (other than the Hot Dog/Drink combo for a buck fifty).

   For our evening's entertainment we went to the Comedy Caravan where an all-female lineup was on the card. Well, yes, there was a feminist theme going and we were seated front and center so my husband got picked on a little. The women were very funny and they gave us free popcorn so we enjoyed ourselves. The day ended with a stop at the Pie Kitchen on the way home to watch the college football games (UK won).

    At last it is Friday. Just 11 more weeks of working. We are sitting home waiting for our weekend company to arrive. They should be here within the hour. We spent our evenings this week cleaning up so the house looks good and we are ready to enjoy the weekend.

    Tonight is Big Blue Madness, the official start of University of Kentucky basketball. They can start practicing at midnight tonight and the first practice is an extravaganza!

We have a new coach, John Calipari who's brought in a "blue" ribbon class of recruits. It ought to be an interesting year. Their first exhibition game is Nov. 2 and the first game that counts is Nov. 13. Here's a photo from the UK-Alabama game last year. We went down to Tuscaloosa to see the game. It turned out to be the last game for the Alabama coach as he resigned a few days later. Kentucky has that effect on people.

    Here's a quick update. I talked to my Mother today. The surgery to install her pacemaker went well and she was expecting to go home today (she may already be home by now). She was already feeling better.

    This weekend started out as a fun sisters weekend. I met two of my sisters in Chicago where we hooked up with a friend. We planned to visit some of Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods and play games in our suite at the Hilton. Things started to go wrong on Friday because the weather was cold, rainy and windy. After lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in the Hancock building, we went to Water Tower Place where it is all indoors. I guess none of us were in a shopping mood because we couldn't find any stores that interested us so we headed back to the hotel to wait for our friend to get off of work.
    We played one game of Scrabble. I managed to make an 8-letter word using all the tiles in my tray (gaining a 50-point bonus). Unfortunately one of my sisters had already used all her tiles and then did it again a few plays later so she beat us all.
    That night the rain had stopped so we headed to Greektown on the bus and ate at a greek restaurant. We ordered flaming cheese (which almost burned my sister's hair). Afterwards we took the bus to Michigan Avenue and walked through Millenium Park where we were able to catch the end of a fireworks show at the Navy Pier. It turned into a good night.

The "bean" at Millenium Park in Chicago

    On Saturday morning we headed north on the bus to go to Sari-town which has Indian shops and restaurants. Halfway there, one of my sisters was overcome with motion sickness. The bumpy ride and frequent starts and stops of the bus were too much for her. We got off at a pharmacy to get some medicine and went to a fast food place to get a drink and recover.
    While we were resting my brother called from Wisconsin. He had taken our mother to the hospital because she was dizzy and her heart rate was extremely low. The doctors were talking about putting a pacemaker in her chest. We returned to the hotel, packed up and headed to Wisconsin. We arrived in the evening to see that our Mother was doing much better. She was on oxygen and stabilized. They had changed her blood pressure medicine to see if that would work but by Sunday they had made the deicsion to put in the pacemaker. Amazingly they can now do that with a local anethestic and an overnight stay. We decided not to stay for the surgey which is scheduled for tomorrow. We have three siblings who live close by that can stay with her so she will be okay.
    Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods will have to wait for another day.

    Somehow I lost my last post, not that it was all that interesting. I was just surprised that it was not there. I guess I forgot to hit the submit button. I do that more and more lately, emails sitting in the draft bin because I never hit send and I'm wondering why I never got a reply!

    We spent last weekend at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Amongst other things, it is home to the National Museum of the Air Force. What a great museum! They had the foresight to save and preserve many of the aircraft that made history and they have them arranged by era from the beginnings of flight through WWII, Korea and Vietnam into the modern era. They also have all the retired presidential planes back to Franklin Roosevelt including the plane that took the Kennedys to Dallas and back. Its powerful to stand on the spot where Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office on that grim day. By the way, contrary to my last post, the Kennedy's presidential plane was not named the Caroline. The Caroline was a campaign plane and it is not at this museum (I can't remember where I saw it). 
    One hanger is full of experimental planes that were either built for testing purposes only, were predecessors to landmark aircraft or were ideas that just didn't make it, like the flying-saucer-shaped autocar.

    If you go, and I recommend that you do if you find yourself in or near Ohio, be prepared to walk because the museum consists of 5 huge hangers and outside displays. We were only able to see about 60% of the museum. By the way, admission is free.

    The week is going by fast, just one day to go before the weekend. Having my husband home keeps me busier. We had something going on every night. Tonight we had to pack a suitcase because we are going out of town this weekend. We are going to visit the museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Among the planes they have there is the Caroline, the plane John Kennedy used when he was president. It's the plane that flew his body home from Dallas. Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office during the flight.

    Its Saturday morning and I am sitting at my computer. My husband came home from his trip so the dogs are off with him watching him unpack, hoping he brought them some treats. He and his buddies had a good trip. They went to the Black Hills for the first week and then drove into Wyoming and North Dakota. The house is so much livelier with him around.
   I'm working on downloading all the pictures he and his friends took. Here's a picture from their stop in Mitchell, South Dakota.

    I finished all the donwloads and have 1853 pictures. You can read all about his trip on his blog, www.travelswithmikea.blogspot.com.

    I am sitting at the computer and should be paying bills but I was distracted by my blog. I am listening to the radio which is airing the coach's show for the University of Louisville Football program. Even though they lost to the University of Kentucky last Saturday (although just barely) the fans seem pretty happy with the improvement in the team. UK is my team but I sure would like to see UofL continue to improve and get back to being a competitive team in the Big East.

    Well I made it through another Monday, only 16 more to go before retirement! My boss started a days-to-go countdown for me in her weekly status report. I think its to make sure we get all my duties turned over before I leave. Or maybe its just the number of days until someone gets my laptop and someone gets my window office. I wanted to pull a Blagojevich and auction them off to the highest bidder but my boss has already promised them away. No one has spoken up for my stapler yet; I wonder how much I could get for that?
   

    This is my first experience at blogging so bear with me. It's a Saturday morning and I am home alone with my two dogs. One is sleeping at my feet, the other is barking at our neighbor who is out mowing his lawn. It has no effect on him or on the sleeping dog. My husband is off on a buddy trip but I got a post card from him today. They visited the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. 
    Now that I started this thing I am realizing that its hard to be creative on demand. I thought instead I would post a picture of the dogs. Unfortunately it appears my husband took both our cameras with him along with the movie camera. He must look like something walking around with all that hardware. I still have my old camera but the battery is dead. Yeah, the backup battery works. Ok, I took the picture. Now where is the cable to download the pictures?
    I'm back, found the cable and the battery charger. There were still pictures on the camera from I don't know when. Here is the picture of the sleeping dog:

    Her name is Ukie and she is a Papillon that we got from the Humane Society twelve years ago. She is very smart, sweet and a real chow hound. She has amzing focus when it comes to food. She uses her wiles to take food from her sister and often succeeds. One time she bit the end of a jerky strip off while her sister was carrying it in her mouth. Then she went around the other side and bit the other end off.