SCORE!

Phil & I set out at 7:30 this morning in an attempt to acquire the gaming systems are darling boys would like under the tree.

We were home before 11, with everything their hearts desire. 

We even picked up an extra PS4, in case Kelly wants one. 

HO! HO! HO!

If she doesn't want it, we can always return it.

Or, as Herman pointed out, sell it on eBay for big bucks!

I can't believe the big deal these things are.

By the time they started handing out the tickets, the line was over 60 people long.

And that was before 9am on a Sunday morning.

There were 5 people who SLEPT AT THE MALL to be sure they got one.

Unbelievable!

After they give you the ticket, you wait even longer in line for your turn to buy one. 

Best Buy was well organized.

And our salesperson was a cutie who was Baby's age. 

On a very positive note, everyone in the line was real nice. 

We saw none of that ugliness that has been on the news about Christmas shoppers.

It feels great to be done.

Look who Murray found

Murray had a stuffy Holiday affair at a local bank after work on Wednesday. 

I wasn't invited.

Even if I was invited, I was too tired from my FH morning to mingle and be charming. 

(those of you who REALLY know me, know that charming is not my forte)

Apparently, Sr Colette has more energy & charm than I do.

And, I gotta say, that woman LOVES parties.

Charming is her specialty.

Unless there is work to be done...then slave driving is her specialty. 

This woman could get work out of a corpse & money out of a rock!

I guess that's why she's been so successful at FH.

No one knows exactly how old she is, but she's well into her 70s.

She still rollerblades, exercises regularly, plays the piano and acts in the St Francis charity shows and runs FH like a clock. 

She's hilarious!

Who knows what else she does!?!

But she is an inspiration, for sure. 

A Good Morning

I spent this morning at Francis House. 

I brought the tshirt quilt to Kathy.

Remember this one?

She LOVED it!

She got goosebumps when I first showed her. 

She laid it out in the Common Room and showed it to anyone who would look.

A reaction like that makes me happy I persevered and finished it.

Hildegard made me some German Christmas bread and gave it to me. 

I love my Wednesday Francis House friends...Hildegard, Janice, Kathy, Tony, Ellen & Jeff. 

They are a blessing to me.

A thank you?

I just got this in a text from John.

He often goes home at lunchtime to feed Ozzie.

I don't see the humor.

A repair

Before I started blogging, John bought his house. 

So, I made him this quilt.

I considered this to be a perfect guy quilt and was quite pleased with myself. 

Then he got this guy.

Full disclosure...I love this guy.

But....then this happened.

Ozzie!  How could you?

It's been getting mighty nippy lately.

I fixed it today.

Im sure Ive shared my distaste of binding quilts.

So, you can imagine I did not enjoy rebinding this one.

And, I washed it.

It was stinky smelly.

It shall be returned to Chestnut Street in the morrow. 

Why did I just say in the morrow?

I'm strange. 

Tshirt quilt

What's the only good thing about making tshirt quilts?

Finishing. 

I made this for one of my FH friends granddaughter. 

It started out as me teaching her how to make it. 

I'm not sure how, exactly, I wound up doing the whole thing.

But, I did....

And, it's done.....

And, I still do not enjoy the process. 

I did, however, like using all those yummy purples!

Attitude...

Is everything.

I'm posting this so I can retread it when life gets hard. 

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud woman, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally

blind, moved to a nursing home today. 

Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. 

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walkerto the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, Including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. 

"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having Just been presented with a new puppy. "But wait, you haven't seen the room yet." "That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied.  "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged...it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it..."

She went on to say, "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up.

I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I 

have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and

be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my 

eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored

away...just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account...you

withdraw from what you've put in...So, my advice to you would be to deposit

a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories, so when you go over it

a second time, you can enjoy it again."