THANKSGIVING 2012

I, the Pollyanna of the family, am having a little difficulty being cheery and thankful this year.  I am doing a thanksgiving post to try to get myself out of this blue funk.

I simply must stop reading the news and pseudo news, watching the news and pseudo news and last but not least listening to the news or pseudo news.  I had become unhappy with the media, when the President would speak, and right after, a distinguished gentleman from the media would come on and tell me what the President had just said.  Did that bother you at all?

This has now exploded to having distinguished ladies and gentleman coming on after the news to tell us what the news meant and we are extra lucky on Sunday mornings, there is a plethora of distinguished ladies and gentleman telling us what the previous weeks news was about and what it probably means in the coming weeks.  There is only one pleasant program, Sunday Morning, that does interviews, looks at art, history, music, oddities, the famous and infamous and the funny.  It even ends with a quiet moment in nature, that is so relaxing, I wish could go on for an hour.

I get overly informed about our diets, something is good for you till it is found to be bad for you.  Overly informed about finance, yes invest till investing leads you into the hands of the unscrupulous who depletes your investments.  Then you will have your social security till there is no more social security.  Medicare will care for you, till you get your letter saying you are entitled to a health assessment each year (not a check up).  You may be asked and answer the deep questions; do you have a smoke alarm, do you use your seat belt, how about a carbon monoxide detector?  How is your mental health, do you feel depressed?  The things you are not allowed to talk about is your health, neither your known health problems nor should you ask about something you notice that is new.  You may not even discuss your medication.  Now, I guess, asking if you are depressed is not such a silly question, since you aren't allowed to discuss your health with your physician, that is very depressing.

Have any of you gotten your degree in the math, needed to figure if you would be better off paying for your prescriptions out right or paying for a prescription insurance and then paying a co pay for same?   
 
                   Total cost out of pocket          vs.                  cost of premium plus co pay

Now if you are thinking you have the answer, please add, which type of insurance do you want to buy?  The little amount per month premium where you pay more out of pocket, the medium premium where you pay a little less out of pocket  or the really expensive premium where you pay a lesser amount out of pocket????????????
I missed that day at school, I am so sorry I did.

Then we must talk about teeth.  Yes, teeth!!  Have you noticed, many older folks with missing teeth?  And truth be told they all don't come from the back woods, where the nearest dentist is 100 miles away.  Let me tell you what the cost of dental, without insurance, could set you back.  I know the proper way to look at your dental health is to save as many of your own teeth as you possibly can, that is the very best scenario, correct?  Maybe not, lets look at this from the down hill side of your life.  You are now left with few real teeth (ones that have not been ground down to the nub to have a false tooth attached) the rest are a combo of crowns and partial plates, both removable and (supposed to be) non removable.  The non removable are really only as good as the cement that glues them in, and the plate is only as good as the fit when originally made for you.  My husband, bless his little tooth, broke a tooth that was on a pin.  Yes that means, go to a lab to have the pin removed, $270 then back to the dentist to have the pin and tooth replaced, $300.  Now I have seen an add on TV with this cute little old dentist offering removal and full dentures for half the cost of his silly pin tooth.

Now lets talk about autos.  You all will remember the post of our last visit with Flossie and Mr. Wonderful at The Villages.  You know, when we took the auto into the dealer for a small fee ;)  with instructions for them to go over the car from bumper to bumper.  A few adjustments later, we started off with a clean bill of health and by the time we were in Tennessee, the check engine light was on and the car was leaping forward on it's own, mile after mile.  All in all, after $1000 in repair cost and much prayer we made it home incident free.  Just a few weeks ago, looking for the best cost for brakes for my hubby's old truck, add after add, sale after sale and armed with several coupons starting at $69.00 upward to $250, he took off to get the work done.  Returning hours later with a bill in his hand for over $700 and a glaze over his eyes, I put him to bed and wanted to take him some warm soup.

Another problem, please hear me out!  I couldn't take my hubby a bowl of warm soup, cause I couldn't get the lid off the can.  A hand held opener is no longer something I can manage, and an electric can opener makes a wonderful burrrring sound, but will not hold on to and cut open the can.  He wouldn't have really liked it without crackers and all I had was a new box of crackers, with the sleeves hermetically sealed so even if I had any teeth left, could not even have chewed thru.  No, couldn't take him a glass of juice, it has the seal that needs to be pried open from a pull tab, that no matter how hard you pull, will not come off, the milk maybe? no, it has the tab to break to get it unscrewed and when you do there is a white seal that can't be removed.  I have no idea why I am as heavy as I am, not being about to get into any food stuffs in the kitchen????

Well, it took me till the week after Thanksgiving to unload all this on you.  The good news is that I feel much better just getting all that out. 

 So from our little part of the world to yours, lets get ready for Christmas, HoHoHo

JUST A PEEK

Just a peek at a new product for the store, oh OK a few new peeks:

A warm and cuddly hat with a cabbage rose and scarf set:

 

A real glam way to keep warm, an ear warmer and 90 inch scarf:

 

 

 And, a pretty gift for the bride, maybe from Mom or maybe the Maid of Honor as a last minute 'something new'.  Or, could be used in place of the gift card on a shower gift!  Her gown is a cotton hankie to dab away a few tears of happiness.  For it is just lightly stuck to the card is easily removed  and may be tucked into the brides evening bag.  OH!, and I might just have the evening bag for you ;)

 

 

 

 

That's it, that is the peek,  huggles to you all

THINKING BACK AND DREAMING PUMPKINS

I finally have a little time after the shows and before starting the Christmas gifts for the grandchildren to sit and dream for a short time.  The chill in the air and the color of the trees and all the pumpkins out and about have me looking back on a super time in the mid-west, Pumpkin Show in Circleville, Ohio.

It has now come and gone for 2012, but there is already a 2013 plan, would you believe?  I have a link to a scroll of photos from this last show, and it just keeps getting bigger and better.

http://www.pumpkinshow.com/

The gourds, squash and pumpkins (http://voices.yahoo.com/the-difference-between-pumpkins-gourds-squash-6691116.html), sorry about that! I went to Google the difference between the three, and after reading, I am still not sure.  Again, the gourds, squash and pumpkin display, seem to take a whole street, it was just about 2 blocks long 60 years ago.  Wow was that hard to type, almost 60 years and it is still something that calls me to remember, magic. 

When you are very very young and at the end of your block in your small town, starts a midway that rivals any state fair, in the USA.  From my porch you could see the top of the lighted Farris Wheel.  Yes, for a first grader that was magic.

It was a time when a child could walk the streets with out an armed guard and dream their way up Court Street and down Main Street.  Even though it only took up several blocks of each street, it seems like it took every moment of the long weekend to take in everything. 

Congratulations Circleville on another great Pumpkin Show and will be looking forward to the photo's of 2013's big show.

Original Circleville

Now back to reality and the lone elf must get started!! 

Hope this finds you all healthy and happy, and a special sweet hug to Flossie and Mr Wonderful!!

 

THIS MAY BE THE LAST CRAFT SHOW OF THE SEASON ;(

This was our first 2 day show.  My goodness there is so much to learn, and I just can't use the 'old dog, new tricks' phrase enough.

Learning the ins and outs of craft shows, how to set up and how to attract those shopping, to stop and look.  The displays, some crafters have set up, rival the window dressers in New York.  They have used as much imagination and artistic talent as they used in their craft.

The work of these gentlemen and ladies display just keep me driven to do better work of my own.  The lady behind us makes stuffed animals out of real fur coats from Grandma's attic or Great Aunt Jane's old trunk.  She refashions them to something beautiful, gets them out of the attic or trunk and gives them new life.

A very popular booth was the woman who makes American Doll outfits.  Any of you who attempt to sew can appreciate the tiny stitching it takes to put together an outfit that is so little.  I have a difficult time with zippers in a normal outfit or stitching delicate fabric that likes to slip and slide as you sew, she is doing this in miniature.  And the beautiful fabrics and bling on each outfit, had little girls eyes just sparkling, as they went thru the tiny racks.

We had a writer next to us and there was another an aisle over, with their books proudly displayed.  Who says no one reads real books anymore? 

A gentleman with his hand crafted leather belts, each a piece of art and another with his welded metal art, well I can only say, it is worth the walk just to view the art.

I know many 'poo poo' the 'crafts', but I see it as a traveling art gallery, the writing, painting, sculpting, photography, jewelry design and handwork, can be the work of granny doing her tissue box cover to Grandma Moses doing work that will be enjoyed, by a great many, all over the world.

I must, now, get started on Christmas gifts, we were thinking of trying to squeeze in one more show, but it is much more important to me to have things ready for children and grandchildren and there is a lot of work for this old elf to finish in a month.

As always, I hope this finds you all happy and healthy,