Calling All Good Souls

Hey, all you good souls out there - 

I thought I'd go for a direct plea to all of you fine folks (which some of you may have already heard of, if you clicked that link to Miz Tiz's "Tiz and Ass" blog, yesterday):

I'd love it if each of you might have an extra Christmas card and stamp and be able to send that extra card to Patsy Roberts. Her story is below. 

This kind of thing ranks up there with the "average people making dreams come true" that I mentioned in yesterday's post. 

Thanks, in advance, for your consideration. 

Robert

*Take a moment and write a card to 87-year-old PATSY ROBERTS.

This sweet matriarch of Rockaway Beach, New York, saved thousands of cards she had received over the decades with the hope of reading them in her final hours, and then Hurricane

 Sandy came along and ruined them. “I was saving them to read when my time came,” she said when her son-in-law told her the cards had been destroyed by the storm surge. “I was saving them so I could read the cards and remember the people I love.”

Out of his own deep love for Roberts, her son-in-law, CRISTIAN DOBLES, is seeking to soften the loss by asking any and everyone of good will to write her a holiday card. He has posted this message on Facebook:

“Patsy Roberts, my mother in law, is the sweetest, most caring human being I know. A true angel on earth ... It doesn’t matter whether you know her or not. Just say something beautiful to her. My goal is to get 1,000 cards to her for Christmas. Please help me with this."

Adding her voice to the plea, neighbor TARA STACKPOLE posted:

“Mrs. Roberts is the true matriarch of our block. She is the neighbor that prays for you, bakes for you, inquires about each family member, and always has a ready smile. At 87, she will put the neighbors' trashcans away on her way home from daily Mass. She is the epitome of what a ‘neighbor’ should be and this block and our family are so blessed to know her.”

Roberts has written thousands of cards herself to family and friends over the years—on birthdays and special occasions, or if she heard of some great success. Sometimes just because she was thinking of them.

Help Cristian and Tara and all of Patsy's neighbors in Rockaway give her a Merry Christmas. Send a card today to:

Patsy Roberts
130-04 Rockaway Beach Boulevard
Belle Harbor, New York 11694

And pass it on to any good souls you know. 

 

Two-Week-to-Christmas Tiz List

Did you realize that, today, it is just two weeks until Christmas? How fun is that?

In the spirit of following through on promises made, I am offering this Tiz List of things you may not know about me because Miz Tiz (whose blog is in the left-hand column over there) was nice enough to clarify something for me on her blog, today. Which makes me very happy, and - since it's so close to Christmas - I figured I should repay my debt before Santa decides I'm being a slacker and puts me on the naughty list.

So here are a few Holiday(-ish) things about me:

1) I'm a huge fan of the period leading up to Christmas - or other big events - because I like the anticipation of the joy of it all.

2) My stomach/neck/wholesetofinnerds gets tied up in knots due to some of the anticipation.

3) That second part I don't love.

4) In part because of the anticipatory joy, I'm really not good at receiving surprises.

5) Even if they're good surprises, I tend to prefer to have at least some advance warning - not a lot, but at least a little.

6) This makes me a VERY BAD person for dealing with things like practical jokes - Holiday related or otherwise.

7) I made Christopher check my amazon.com wishlist to make sure that something I wanted to buy on a super special cheap deal was still showing as unpurchased, because I didn't want to spoil the gift-getting experience.

8) I know that #7 seems contradictory with #4. I'm okay with that.

9) I think that a batch of Christmas cookies that makes fewer than 8 dozen cookies is a waste of time.

10) I buy a LOT of margarine, flour, sugar, vanilla, and red and green sugar this time of year.

11) I also buy those weird red and green candied cherries every couple of years.

12) There's very little margarine, flour, sugar, vanilla, and red and green sugar in the house by the time we get to January.

13) There are usually leftover red and green candied cherries in January, because they keep from year to year.

14) Christopher made me throw out my leftover red and green candied cherries last year. I complained, although they were probably about 4 years old.

15) I learned to print backwards by writing on my parents' drug store windows with "spray snow" when I was growing up.

16) I never figured out how to write backwards in cursive.

17) (As any of my students from back in my teaching days can attest) I tend to write on an upward slant when writing with spray snow on windows (or with chalk on a chalkboard).

18) I like eggnog, but only enough for one or two glasses per year - and it needs to have rum in it.

19) The older I get, the more I can understand why people put lots of festivals near the winter solstice. I totally get praying for the sun to come back.

20) I tend to do two countdowns every December. One is for Christmas, while the other countdown counts down to the solstice, because I want the days to get longer.

21) It makes me happy that average people go out of their ways to make other people's dreams come true at this time of year.

22) I wish people would do that more throughout the year.

23) I sometimes think we should move Christmas to June, so that it would be easier to travel.

24) I sometimes think I should just move somewhere warmer, so that it would be easier to travel - even in December.

25) I'd probably miss the snow, even so.

Caesarean Stormin'

Winter Storm Caesar came through last weekend. Yes, apparently the Weather Channel is now naming winter storms. Why? Because they feel that naming winter storms will result in people taking them more seriously. And will make them more memorable.

I am *not* making this up.

Here's my thought, though: How about they worry about getting the predictions right, first, and then worry about naming them?

You see, as late as on Saturday evening, the forecast was for about 4 to 6 inches of snow, wrapping up around noon on Sunday.

By noon on Sunday, we had about 6 inches of snow, but it showed no signs of stopping. By the time it wrapped up (around 8 o'clock on Sunday evening), we had closer to a foot of snow, as the temps were in the process of dropping. (Okay, credit where it's due: They got the temperature drop correct.)

I guess, if we actually had paid attention to the Weather Channel, we'd have known this was going to happen, though. After all, Caesar came, saw, and conquered.

Again.

Solid Saturday

I'm happy to say that the no-bake chocolate cookies from Thursday did, in fact, solidify by the time I got up on Friday morning.

And, since it's been a busy Saturday with my folks in town and the annual Arrow Awards (aka Brit Ad Awards) to go to, and a bunch of stuff I haven't actually even started doing, yet, that's about all I've got for tonight.

But at least the cookies hardened.

Thursday(-ish) Thoughts

How in the heck did the evening get so far away from me? Oh, right. Christmas prep before my folks get into town tomorrow afternoon for the weekend. There were cookies to be made, packages to wrap, and things to dust. Dinner ended up being sometime around 8, and I turned on my computer for the first time this evening at about 11:45. So I'm still claiming this as a Thursday evening post.

And, with that in mind, here are five golden questions for you to ponder which have been bugging me, lately (if you have answers, please let me know, because I really do wonder about these things):

1) Why are busses so tall? Is there a reason they have to be that way? It's not like people riding on city busses are trying to sightsee, so what's the reason they all are tall enough to block the rest of us from seeing around them in traffic?

2) Why are the colors of Christmas red and green, while Hanukkah is silver and blue?

3) Whatever happened to the Christmas tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve? I mean... That's why "A Christmas Carol" came into being. And without that, "The Woman in Black" would have to have a completely different opening speech (a few of you will know exactly what I'm talking about, while the rest of you are probably thinking I should have stopped after the Christmas Carol comment).

4) Why did the Christmas tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve ever start? And have you ever heard of Krumpusnacht? Seriously - Google that and check out the pictures of "Krumpus" who used to take care of all the bad little boys and girls while St. Nicholas was taking care of all the good little boys and girls. I'll take a lump of coal in my stocking any day instead of having to worry that that dude is going to show up some dark winter's night.

5) Why is it that weather and the barometric pressure can play such havoc with the preparation of some foods? I'm assuming it has to do with the temperatures at which things boil, but if the no-bake cookies that I have on the table don't set up by morning all because there may or may not be some weather moving in, I'm going to be pissed.

And, with that, I seem to have hit the point in the evening when my eyes start to burn and itch for no apparent reason, so I'm heading for bed. Assuming, of course, that I can find some visions of sugarplums to chase Krumpus out of my head.

Ghosts of Positions Past

Let's see, I moved into my new position at work in... umm... September of 2011, I think.

That means that I have spent the past 15 months doing my best to remove myself from my position as a printing coordinator.

Yes, during that time I had to train my replacement. And, more recently, I had to help her train her new assistant. Who is now switching jobs with someone else, so I'm also helping that person learn the ropes. I still know a lot more about that part of our company than I really need to.

But, even so, I've been mostly removed from all of that for the past 15 months.

Take a moment and pretend that I just walked up to you and said "What did you do with that carton of eggs I gave you in April of 2011?"

You'd probably look at me like I was insane (is "insaner" a word?). You'd say something like "I probably ate them, but I really couldn't be sure at this point."

Let's make it a little easier. Let's say I walked up to you and said "What did you do with that restaurant gift certificate I gave you in April of 2011?"

You'd probably remember what you did with the gift certificate. You might be able to say that you remember having a nice meal. You might even be able to remember who you ate with. And if the service was either really good or really bad you might be able to remember that, too. But unless you have a photographic memory, you probably wouldn't be able to tell me more details than that about what you ate, what you wore, what the bill came to, or any of the other minutiae of the night.

Well, today I had a co-worker come to my desk asking me if I could remember any details about a print job which was placed in April of 2011. Was I immediately able to identify the client in question as a nutjob? Yes. Was I able to say that I remembered there being printing issues - caused in part by the printer but mostly by the client? Yes. Was I able to give specifics? Not in the least.

So, 15 months after I left my old position - and 20+ months after the situation in question - I spent the end of my day searching out clues in old emails. (Hindered by the ever-so-minor fact that the client in question - whenever things would go "wrong" - would start emailing everyone except the person who was working with her. So I most likely don't have 80% of the details in my own emails.)

I suspect it will be how I start my day tomorrow, too.

Seriously. If Marley wanted to freak out Scrooge, he should have shown up in his bedroom at night and threatened to make him find specific, yet only vaguely requested, details in emails which are almost two years old.

Getting There...

The tree is up and even has lights and ornaments on it. 

The house has been "Christmasified." 

Sorta. 

I mean... We're on the way. 

As I type this, Christopher is in his office doing work (you know, like work work - at 10pm on a Sunday), but Christmas music is rolling out through his door to me. 

Earlier today we were at a Christmas open house thrown by some good friends, where we were able to partake of much sweet food involving things like "white candy coating" and Holiday-colored M&Ms. (Seriously, that stuff isn't allowed out in the world at any time of year, but it's totally addictive during Advent. I blame the hibernation urge.)

We have Christmas lights on the little evergreen we put in last summer, and more in our porch. 

I baked more cookies tonight, and re-made the dough for the kind of cookie that failed last week - making triply sure that I doubled the flour this time. 

And although we have no Christmas letter, nor Christmas card address list, we do have our cards, now. 

So... we're getting there. We should be ready to go over the rivers and through the woods in good time - quite possibly fueled by red and green M&Ms and white candy coating.