Getting Ready for Christmas

So today is Friday December 21st and I've finally managed to get out and do some Christmas shopping. I've been spending the last week baking in most of my spare minutes as Robin and I decided this year to send boxes of cookies home to Karen and Jeri Lynn, along with the purses we bought them on Canal Street in New York last month.

Following our normal pattern of behavior we finally got everything baked and the boxes packed and lugged them up the hill to our local pack and ship. Of course we missed the ups guy so we sent them via Fedex Ground. They're supposed to be there tomorrow but I guess we'll see.

I'm still waiting for my online Christmas presents to arrive so Christmas day might be a bit of a bust but I've got the weekend to sort myself out.

It's kind of nice that Christmas is on a Tuesday, my office is closed Christmas Eve so we're getting a 4 day weekend but on the other hand I feel like Christmas is rushing up on me because I won't have any time to prepare for it after the weekend if over. It's kind of screwy of me, I admit. But I never pretended to have completely normal thought patterns.

Judy

December Television

So in the long cold month of December, TV is a vast wasteland. After the November sweeps practically every show you can name goes into re-runs and the only thing that keeps me going are reality tv shows and holiday specials.

Knowing that this year the writers' strike is going to extend the vast wasteland I have been saving shows on my DVR.

Tonight, however, there was no need to move to the show 'bank' (as I like to call it) for entertainment because The Biggest Loser was on. It was a 2 hour episode and I pause here to wonder if the 1 hour episodes aren't the aberration instead of the supersized episodes (pun intended!) since they have been so frequently longer than 1 hour this season.

Tonight's episode whittles (wow, am I on a pun roll or what!) the number of contestants from 6 to 5. Nicole got the boot. It was quite annoying that Julie, also below the yellow line but sitting pretty in an alliance with 3 other black team members had the stones to pretend there was a chance in heck that she was going to get voted off. In addition to her team having the majority vote, Nicole was clearly the bigger (make that 3 on the pun scoreboard) threat. Tonight was also notable for the fact that poor Kim, trainer to the worst team ever, made her last appearance until the finale. With no one left to train there's no reason for her to show up on campus.

Tonight's other little gem was CBS' annual holiday airing of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. If we know it's coming on (sometimes we get busy and miss it in the schedule) Robin and I always tune in. It really brings back our childhood. Since it was filmed in 1964, I can't remember when it wasn't on. The funny thing is, once we start watching we also start cat-calling the TV because we're so annoyed with Santa, and Rudolph's mom and dad and all the other reindeer for being so prejudiced! I mean it's a red nose, for crying out loud! How's that going to stop you from being a great flying reindeer or get a cute girlfriend? Have you seen the great looking women some of these biggest loser guys manage to snag? And what Rudolph can't do that well? I should say he can! He's cute!

It usually takes us two or three attempts to watch the whole thing because of this. Tonight I got to where Rudolph goes to the reindeer games before switching to the Biggest Loser. But I did record it to my DVR (although I'm sure I have it on DVD too, so how weird am I?) so I can watch it in small doses. Oh yeah, the other annoying thing is that dumb elf boss. What a grating voice! Plus it's not logical, why do all elves have to make toys? Somebody needs to fill the other job categories, I don't see anyone living up there except, Santa, his wife, reindeer, elves and snowmen. Who's cooking, cleaning and doing laundry.

I'm just saying..

Judy

Long Absence

Robin and I have been super busy the last little while and to be completely fair to Robin, she's also had a heck of a time getting pictures and stuff to post when she tries to blog so she's a little like Pavlov's dog but not in a good way. Everytime her upload fails she takes a little longer to try again. Between technical difficulties and time management problems (I really need to win the lottery so this working for a living thing can go hang) we've been very quiet lately.
But due to steady nagging from our loyal but silent readers I'm picking today (of course it's midnight on Friday) to re-new my commitment to letting everyone else know what I think.

Starting small I'll just share that I'm reading a terrific book by William Bennett called "America: the Last Best Hope". It's actually two books. It's the history of the United States. The first book covered from the revolutionary war to just before WWI. The second book covers from WWI until I'm not sure when. I'm reading about President Carter right now. Boy howdy, was he an idiot. Not only incompetent but so wrong-headed that it would only be a little dramatic to say he was evil. He supported Communism and its spread all over the world but any totalitarian government that was anti-communist he worked to topple. You have to wonder what he thought was the difference between a Soviet dictator and any other.
Anyway, I've really enjoyed these books because they're very readable but also information on a detailed level. The information is sortof familiar but at the same time I don't remember learning it in school.

Next up is the new Jan Karon. Maybe by the time I start it, I can figure out how to show a picture of the cover.

And before you know it I'll be dishing on the celebrities and all my favorite reality tv shows (because yes, the addiction continues!)
Stay tuned and POST COMMENTS!

Judy

Blossoms Blossoms Everywhere

Looking up through the cherry trees near the FDR Memorial.

Not all the trees are blooming.

Cherry Blossom Festival in D. C.

My sister Jeri and her husband Ron are here. They very kindly made the 12 hour drive from Indiana to visit and bring us the Tell City table and chairs set that we bought from an estate sale. One day on her way to work, Jeri spotted them as she was passing. She was talking to me on the phone and she mentioned them...next thing she knew she was sending me pictures of the set from her phone. Ain't technology grand? The set looks just like the one my mother had and since Judy and I hate the set we have...the price was low, the condition was good...Eureka! New table and chairs for us. Of course, the set was in INDIANA and we live in Maryland, but they had good storage and a truck for future delivery. It was a match made in heaven.

Ron being a sweetheart, came with Jeri to deliver the furniture even though he felt very poorly. I was glad I had a 36" TV and lots of cable channels to reward him with at the end of the drive. Meanwhile, Jeri and Judy and I were determined to see, in person, blooming Cherry Trees in D.C. Reminder: Jeri came LAST year to see the trees but our plans were stymied by my car accident/concussion and her serious middle ear infections.

We followed our usual plan and drove to Arlington Cemetary to park. I personally planned to take the tour bus around the city and get off at Jefferson and the FDR Memorials because the cherry trees are all around there. (And a whole lot of other places!) Judy got the idea we should just walk across Memorial Bridge and down the river a little and we'd be at the Tidal Basin with great access to trees. It was a "short" walk. Huh. I'm here to tell you 4.5 miles later...it is NOT a short walk. It is, however, a worthwhile walk. We got up-close and personal with lots of trees. Appropriately. No picking of blossoms by OUR team because: 1. the blooms just die so why take them off the tree, and 2. only old wood sprouts fruit so that kills that part of the tree and is a really bad thing to do if you want to continue to see the display of blossoms every year, 3. the Park asks you not to do it. See--three compelling reasons not to bother the trees. My camera took some great pictures however, which you may now enjoy!

Wow! That's Embarrassing!

I knew it had been awhile since either Judy or I had posted....but I must confess I didn't realized that it had been so long. Apparently the last post came out while Yul was still competing in Survivor. Hope no one was depending on this blog to tell them how it all ended.

Anyway, I've been getting flack from friends and family about not posting which rather surprised me (shock shock) since I didn't think anybody reallllly read the blog, so I'm going to post again. Here's your notice. I did something yesterday, therefore, you will read about it today. Get ready.