January 4, 2014

So Many Christmas Decorations!

January 4, 2014

Some of the grandchildren helped me decorate the house for Christmas.  They came on two different weekends to help.  Now it all needs to be put away and I haven't seen the grandchildren.  Of course the packing up really needs more adult supervision but I could use a little help.  I finished boxing up the decorations from the sewing room tree.  I gathered all the Christmas stuffed animals and boxed them up.  Two of the nativity scenes are boxed as well as a couple of Christmas dolls.  But I haven't even started the big tree!  Yikes!  It may be at least another week before I get it all done.

Thankfully Ron was home this morning since I was still sleeping when my housekeeper arrived and I didn't hear the door bell.  What a treat to wake up and find her already working hard to get the guestrooms back in shape after they have been filled with family over the last two weeks.  

This morning I did some of the Christmas stuff, but mostly spent time polishing silver to use at a reception tomorrow afternoon to honor our pastor on earning his Doctorate.  A friend had a silver punch bowl that I borrowed often over the years.  For a while she told me just to store it at my house since I used it more than she did.  Then a few years ago, she gave it to me.  I love it.  I love her!  It rarely needs polishing.  The way it is stored minimizes the tarnish, but it gets used often enough that it is a simple touch up when I need it. 

That is not the case with the silver service.  I have not used it in many years.  I have polished it occasionally, but not recently.  Again, this one was a gift.  I have a couple of silver pitchers that were $5 garage sale finds - badly tarnished when I bought them, but they cleaned up beautifully.  All of those things had to be done today.  Ron had to get some of it down since it is heavy and bulky.  Tonight he had to get out the punch cups for me.  That box is too heavy for me to manage with the weak arm.  I am in the process of washing all the glass punch cups and glass plates.  If there had been nothing going on the past couple of weeks, these things could have been done sooner, but that wasn't the case.  They needed doing and this is a wonderful event to celebrate, so I am not bothered with the chore. 

During the day, I have had some movies playing.  I am trying to concentrate on the dialog more and not depend on the closed captioning.  That works better on some movies than on others.  Ron spent time this morning installing a wall mount for the TV in my sewing room.  I really appreciate that.  He gave me the wall mount for Christmas - A YEAR AGO!  Then this evening, he put felt pads on the bottoms of some chairs that I got for this Christmas!  Yea!  We are making progress! 

I filled the feeders and ponds in the yard and one of those cute little blue parakeets (budgies) is back.  I love seeing him at the feeders!

Ron also went to his mother's this afternoon to start installing a wall heater to replace hers that died of old age.  When he opened it, he found it had been damaged in shipping.  He called the company and they told him they would ship another one Monday and to return the damaged one to the local store.  He made the return. 

While he did that, I went to the grocery store and did some shopping.  Then I returned home and mixed up a big pot of stew and put it in the oven to cook.  Smells great!  Ron has fallen asleep so I had to take it out of the oven by myself.  Managed without a mishap.  It isn't real heavy, I just would have had him do it if he had been awake. 

Also I spent some time in the yard this afternoon working.  Stephen had brought his bird when he came home from Christmas and I cleaned the cage real well this afternoon before it goes into storage until his next trip down here.  He has a big cage in Dallas and we have a big one here.  He uses a small traveling case to transport Charlie back and forth.  For Christmas, Stephen gave me a turtle fountain and I hooked it up this afternoon.  It is a temporary set up until I can run another extension cord out there for another pump. 

My arm has ached all afternoon and especially this evening.  I took breaks during the day and did some reading.  I need to do some major cleaning in the sewing room - my sewing table has disappeared under stacks of fabric and projects in progress.