No Sunrise Photo 2011 December 17

       Nope!  No sunrise photo today.

         
 I slept in.  'Till 8:30. Then laid abed until 9 waiting for the kitchen staff to get coffee aperkin'.  Didn't work though.  Kitchen staff took the day off.  So as usual, I had to get the coffee going.  Ella, who arose the same time as I, fixed breakfast.  Our usual: one egg, one bacon, one toast.
         While Mrs. Claus worked in the clubhouse, Santa went to the dojo.  No, not to break boards.  Santa delivered presents to thirty-some kids who were doing a 'lock-in' at their karate dojo (while parents enjoyed the night out kidless).

Me & Mrs. Claus

         I have three more appearances to do in the red suit.  This Sunday one of my nieces is bringing her kids and grand-kids for photos.  Tuesday I'll be at a 'Round the clock daycare.  And then on the twenty-second I'll be back a Jolly Holiday Lights.
Then the night of the twenty-fourth through the morning of the twenty-fifth I'll be busy everywhere.  It's a good thing that there are twenty-four time zones to work in.  That way I have a full day to get all those presents delivered in that magical midnight hour.
           Christmas day is on a Sunday so it will be spent at church in the morning with a potluck for those who have no other plans for the day.  Some of us will also be doing a Shepherds' Run on Christmas morning.  We will take a plate of goodies and a Christmas/Thank You card to people who have to work on the holiday.  There are about a dozen business (convenience stores, clinics, fire stations, etc) within a one mile radius of our church, where folks will be required to work.

2011 December 16

Welcome back Sol, my old friend.  Where have you been keeping yourself?

It is a bright sunshiny morning!  The sun has found its way back to Iowa sunrises.  It has been AWOL for a while.

Hey! I just thought of something; AWOL (absent with out leave) predates LOL, ROFL, LMFAO and all of the other computer short cuts by at least a century.  Who would have guessed that the military would be such a trend setter.

            Speaking of odd words.  I was leaving a comment on a blog that I read regularly and it had me type in the verification code word shown in the little box.  You know the ones that they use to make sure that it is a real live person posting and not a computer spam program.  Anyway the “word” I was asked to type was “unherfuz”.  It started me wondering who makes up these words.  It also got me to thinking that I should start to collect them and then give definitions to the words.

Unherfuz (un-her-fuz)

-verb: unherfuz, unherfuzed, unherfuzing

is a feminine synonym for “shave”.

To remove hair with a razor

-noun: the act of unherfuzing

-related: also see herfuz

2011 December 15

            So, what did you do today?

            WE awoke to find the RV still standing right side up and right where we left it.  “So what,” you say?  Well … those thirty-four mile an hour gusts really had us rockin’.  I hope you had everything nailed down at your house if your house is anywhere near ours.

            I had the second Bible study with the folks at Emeritus.  Ella asked me how it went.  The truth is, I don’t know how it went.  Before we watched the DVD I told them that the speaker on the DVD asked people what they needed to be saved from.  Then I asked them what they thought they needed to be saved from.  After an uncomfortable silence of staring into their laps, one of them said, “The Devil.”

            After the DVD I tried to engage the group in discussion and got nowhere.  I had been told that they love music so I handed out sheets of lyrics for about a half dozen Christmas hymns.  Then I played MIDI music to sing along with.  Nothing.  I ended up doing a solo.

            As we were finishing up they all thanked me for coming.  One of them even showed me that his room directly across the hall from where we held the meeting.  He said that this was the closest he had ever lived to ‘church’.  Do you see why I say that I don’t know how it went?

           

            As I left Emeritus I intended to call Ella and ask if she wanted me to pick up cookies on the way home, or if she wanted to go shop for cookies.  Instead, I dialed Adam’s number.  Kids don’t dial and drive!  I did have a nice visit him (earbuds in) while I drove home.

            Once I got home, I asked Ella the question that I intended to ask when I had tried to call her, “Do you want me to stop on the way home and buy cookies or do you want to go shopping?”  It is a good thing that she is used to my weird sense of humor and didn’t even blink when I asked about doing something ‘before’ I came home, when I was already home.

2011 December 14

            What a full Wednesday!  Men’s Bible Study as usual to start the day on Wednesday.  I stopped on the way home to top off the trucks gas tank. A little over twenty gallons.

I wasn’t home too long before we went over to the senior center in Johnston for lunch. Liver and onions, breadstick, baked potato, cookie and cake.  After lunch there was a program with a pianist and a singer.  She sang some show tunes and then switched to Christmas tunes with we joined in on.

We left the senior center about two thirty and went to Plaza RV in Bondurant and wrote them a check for the 1995 Excel RLJM 5^th wheel trailer that we looked at the other day.  This wasn’t a trade deal.  We still have the Hitch Hiker that we are living in.  Plaza RV will store the Excel until Spring.  At that point we will move the HH off of our seasonal site and set the Excel in place.  It will become our Northern/Summer home.  The HH will follow us to Texas in the Fall of 2012 and become our Southern/Winter home.  The plan is to leave the HH in storage in Texas when we return to Iowa in the Spring of 2013.

Having finished our business in Bondurant, we drove into Des Moines to our church.  The Wednesday afterschool kid’s group, UP Kids, was presenting a Christmas program for their parents and the rest of our congregation.  While we were waiting for that to start, I had a nice phone visit with Adam about some story ideas he is working on.
Then it was time for a marvelous supper served before the program.  Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, salads and deserts.

We got back home a little after seven this evening.  I updated the checkbook and read some of the blogs that I follow and then started writing this.  While I was writing this, Lynn called and asked if we were going to go to Village Inn for pie.  I’d forgotten that it was “Pie Rush Wednesday”.  So, around nine thirty we are going to go out for pie.

It isn’t just the day that has been full.  I’m stuffed

2011 December 13

            We slept in this morning.  Neither of us were up before 8:30.  I made coffee and Ella made breakfast (one egg, one bacon, one toast – apiece).  I worked on the checkbook and budget while she got her pills organized for the next week.

            She was running low on one of her prescriptions so we went to WalMart for a refill.  We paid $4 for what we were paying $8.98 at Walgreens.  While we were there I also bought a new knee brace.  The one I’ve been wearing doesn’t want to stay on me any more, the Velcro keeps letting go.  I paid half of what I paid at Hammer Medical for this brace and it is much more convenient to use.

            From WalMart we headed into Johnston to the senior center for lunch, BBQ pork sandwich, lima beans, peaches and cookie.  There was also a cold diced carrot with onion that Ella ate and liked.  Because of my onion allergy, after taking one bite and finding the onions, I didn’t eat it.

            Now we are home for a nap and getting caught up on reading, writing and watching.

2011 December 11

Sunrise?  What sunrise?

             Gray day but much warmer (20 degrees warmer than yesterday)  It may reach the mid fortys  today.

             1Sunday school and church this morning.  Then a rush home to change into the red suit.  We were Mr. and Mrs. Claus at Emeritus in Urbandale this afternoon.  They had wrapped gifts to give to the various residents and Ella, the elves and I handed the presents to them.

            Right now we have a little break before we go to West Des Moines for another Santa gig.  The little extra money that these things bring in is appreciated.