by

Our Daily Thread 12-20-14

Good Morning!

5 Days!!!! 🙂

Today’s header photo is from Kare.

*It’s now Sunday the 21st, so I believe someone has a birthday today.

Happy Birthday Linda. 🙂

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On this day in 1790 the first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, RI.

In 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the American Union. 

In 1879 Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, NJ. 

And in 1968 author John Steinbeck died at the age of 66.

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Quote of the Day

“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.”

Dale Evans

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 This one is a request.

And this one is because I like it. From King’s College Choir

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Anyone have a QoD?

7,368 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-20-14”

  1. Good morning!!! All is quiet at my house…Hubby should be up soon; just heard his alarm go off. He’s leaving around seven for a hunting trip with a few of his closest friends. Even though he’s already gotten a deer this year, he’s hoping to shoot an Axis so we can give most of the meat to my parents and Connie, as they both love venison sausage. I’ve never eaten Axis–it’s supposed to be better (less gamey) than white-tail.

    I’m taking the girls shopping later. Becca made us (me and Scott) presents at school and pottery, which I think are the best kinds of presents. L. still needs to get a few things for a couple of her best friends and for us. I’m not looking forward to shopping with the hordes of folks who will be out and about today… At least my shopping is complete. Still need to finish wrapping a few gifts, but I’m in much better shape than usual, thanks to prodding by Connie.

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  4. I have posted this several times before. But I need to do it again. It’s becoming a Christmas ritual with me. Humor me. You can scroll past it if it’s too much.

    It used to be that when we went to a gathering of some sort, on our return, I would tell Elvera, “You were the prettiest one there.” (I still tell her she’s the best looking one in Adult IV.)
    Once we went to an affair that involved her colleagues at Jefferson High School, in Alexandria, Va. where they worked. After the affair, I told her that she was the second best looking one there. She said, “Who was first?” I said, “Judy”. WELL! it wasn’t fair. Judy was 20 years younger than the others. And youth is beautiful.
    Well, it’s much later now, Elvera is older and Judy is a grown woman and a school teacher. Her mother, Elvera’s friend, has died of Alzheimer’s.
    . Judy sent us a card and a nice note. The first paragraph of the note kinda grabbed me. Since some of you are teachers, I thought, with her permission, that I would share it with you.

    “Dear Friends,
    Here I sit. It’s early morning and all is quiet. The day has not unfolded and I relish the peace. Soon I will be surrounded by the world of 7th graders…the high-octane mixture of hormones, insecurities and the need to impress peers. Although the students are required to unplug earphones and park all electronics in their lockers, you can tell that the beat goes on in their heads and hearts throughout the day. More than ever, as I teach, it is necessary to repeatedly seize their attention away from the thoughts and visual images that seem to be playing in their minds, blocking them from new input. Bless their hearts. So many among our population have such challenged home lives. Many are without anchor to something good, true and hope-filled. Our prayers for our youth are so needed.”

    There’s more of course; I thought that would interest some of you. She also wrote a poem. I have permission to pass it on.

    Bethlehem – dark, cold and finally quiet,
    where most slept bubbled in their own existence
    unaware that in their town, that very night,
    Love had departed His heavenly throne to move in with humanity.
    In a stable was heard
    a baby’s gutsy wail
    the Word’s first sound.
    The town slept on
    But not the shepherds out in the fields.
    Blanketed under starlit night
    gentle stillness exploded into heart-stopping fear,
    brilliance swallowed the stars and
    the quiet was shattered by a thunderous announcement.
    Angels proclaimed that the world’s Savior had just been born in their town!
    No sleep for these shepherds.
    As they ran to search for this baby in a manger
    the Light led, unrestrained by the heavy dark of night,
    and just as the angels had said
    they found Him!
    A boy-King wrapped in rags, lay in a feeding trough.
    unimaginable Glory …
    wondrous mystery…
    In that stable they knelt … they worshipped
    the One
    the Only
    Son of God.
    But the town
    slept on.
    JL Stokes 2008
    Merry Christmas

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  6. I’m up early, couldn’t get back to sleep after waking up at around 4 a.m., so I’ve been cleaning the kitchen. The dishwasher is running. Still need to swab those floors, but I’ll do that later … I may try going back to sleep for a little while.

    No more rain in our forecast for the coming week, sadly. But maybe there’s more coming to the north of us, at least the state as a whole will be getting something.

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  7. Recently the company where I work had a Listing Challenge for Charity. We picked four charities and based on number of listings you were able to give a percentage of $10.000 to the charity of your choice. All of the charities chosen helped children. Did you know that Ronald McDonald house was started in Philadelphia by a pro football player? McDonalds got involved later as a corporate sponsor. The donate 1 cent off of every happy meal they sell. One penny doesn’t sound like a whole lot but think of all the McDonalds around the world. The money stays in the region where the house is. We have one in Mobile connected to the Women’s and Children’s hospital. It has 38 bedrooms. We the director of the house pulled out a premie diaper that was the size of a Kleenex I almost lost it.

    Next up was Wilmer Hall. It has been around since 1864. It was originally started to take care of orphans of the Civil War. Today they take children out of unfortunate situations and take care of them. My cousin wrote the grant to start the Transitional living program. Right now they have 38 children living there.

    Then was the Alabama Sheriff’s Boy’s Ranch ( they Girl’s Ranch is located in another county). It is a working ranch with cattle, horses, pigs, and gardening. They have two houses on the ranch where they have a Mom and Pop in each house to take care of the boys. They have another house where the adult boys can live while they attend college or trade school. They must maintain a certain grade point average to continue living there. The director told us how he and his wife became house parents at the ages of 27 and 24. They have been involved for over 30 years. He told a story of getting a call from the local police about 2am on a Saturday morning. Two of the boys had taken the old ranch truck and were joy riding. They were pulled over because the truck only had one headlight. The policeman discovered neither of them had a driver’s license. The director when and picked them up. He said it was real quiet on the way back to the ranch. Once of the boys finally said they guessed they were in a lot of trouble. He said yes. They asked how he was going to punish them. He told them he was going to have them dig up a big tree stump. They thought maybe they better get a little rest before they attacked the stump. No siree, he had them start on the stump as soon as they got back. He sent them to breakfast about 8am but they had to come back and keep digging. That afternoon he asked them if they wanted to go back to town. No sir they didn’t. They wanted to go to bed. One of the boys went on to college and became a civil engineer. Now they have children of their own that they bring back to the ranch to see their “grand parents”

    Next was Under His Wings. They take in girls only who have come from bad backgrounds. It is very similar to the Boy’s Ranch. It was started by a local OB/GYN and a school counselor. They rely solely on donations. They are trying to interrupt the cycle of bad parenting, drug abuse, etc. It is also a very worthwhile charity.

    Both the Boy’s Ranch and Under His Wings have found the optimum number of children to be 8. They said above that number and there were too many issues and it was too trying on the “Moms and Pops”. I will post links to all of these so you can see. I am now our point of contact for these four charities to contact us to help with their fund raising events over the next year.

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  8. Good Saturday morning, all. Just for clarification – that is not snow on the pine – it is hoarfrost. We’ve had several days of fog and the frost is thick and heavy on the trees – so beautiful! Even thicker than in the picture.

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  12. Kare educated me in hoarfrost a couple weeks ago as i recall. I’ve probably seen it, I remember walking through a wooded area one Christmas in upstate NY where everything looked like a winter fairyland, frost glistening everywhere. I just didn’t realize there was a special name for it. 🙂 Beautiful picture.

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  14. Musical Advent Calendar – Day 20: Now for the beautiful American carol by John Jacob Niles. He wrote this in 1933, inspired by a fragment of song sung by a girl from the Appalachians of North Carolina.

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  15. Kare, really lovely! I showed it to my husband, who has lived in the Midwest most of his life, and he said he’d seen it but didn’t know that’s what it was.

    Kim, those really sound like worthwhile charities. Good job on heading a useful contest!

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  17. Just saw cheryl’s post from yesterday regarding earrings — I never dared to wear anything but 14K gold or sterling silver for years.

    But when I developed an allergy to nickel, I realized that I can actually wear very cheap earrings, just so long as they are nickel-free. So I’ve enjoyed snatching up a pair for $5 or so at Target every now and again. I have no idea what they’re made of, but they have no nickel and my ears do fine with them.

    Titanium is another metal that’s become popular for nickel-free people, I have a few earrings made from that also.

    Nickel is used in just about everything, by the way, including sterling silver & 14K gold, which surprised me — but also explained why virtually every “good” pair of earrings I had suddenly began to irritate my ears to the point where I just didn’t wear any earrings for about a year.

    Once I realized that nickel was the likely culprit, I discovered the freedom of not having to buy expensive earrings anymore. 🙂

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  18. A friend of ours has a picture of hoarfrost on a locust tree. It is other-worldly since it’s a B&W picture with the thorns covered in frost. We get that around here when the temp is just right. It is beautiful to see. I think that’s why God made us such that our hair turns grey as we age. We’re just changing our good looks! The KJV calls us grey headed folks “hoary head”. In Proverbs 16:31 we are honored: “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.”

    So, ladies, if you are righteous then let the hair go grey. You are beautiful in God’s eyes, so don’t let the world tell you otherwise!

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  19. I saw the header and who sent it in, and thought, “I’ll bet that’s the hoarfrost Kare told us about.” Gorgeous stuff!

    Our former neighbors stayed at an out-of-state Ronald McDonald house in the Midwest for three months while their son was hospitalized nearby after being born near 15 weeks prematurely. He weighed either 1# 12 oz. or 1# 15 oz., can’t remember which, at birth — I think the latter — and lost several ounces after birth, which is typical, of course, but, for him, it represented a huge percentage of his birth weight.

    He might have been a child who had diapers the size of a Kleenex, like Kim noted.

    He turned five years old this month. Little miracle boy.

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  22. I see Peter L got married when he was five. I knew they did things differently back there, but five?

    We are back from getting our Christmas tree. Hiked up the mountain in the rain and mud with the rain turning to sleet and then snow. Everybody got soaked. Then I told the children to go find three good trees we could choose from. Within one minute they were done. I did not hike a mile and a half up a mountain in the rain and mud for that so I took them on a scenic tour through the snow for a half hour. We really did find some trees then and some interesting stuff. People got cold and wet but not miserable so it was nearly a success. All had a good time and most want to go back again. I had a great time and of course I want to go back again. The tree is safely on the front porch losing snow outside and should come in this morning.

    Then it will be off to see son graduate from the Academy.

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  23. I saw the same thing, Mumsee (born in ’57, married in ’62), but was not as gutsy at pointing it out as you were. 😉

    Sounds like a fun Christmas-tree-getting trek.

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  24. Hubby and I and 5th and 6th Arrows are going Christmas shopping for 2nd Arrow today. She’s coming this afternoon, and will be able to attend tomorrow’s extended-family gathering with my in-laws, but can’t be here for our nuclear family’s celebration on Dec. 24/25, so we’re giving her her gift(s) today.

    We have never been so late with getting Christmas gift-buying done as this year. Just didn’t have the money to do it until only a few days ago.

    Thankful for some funds now, though.

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  25. Peter, I have always despised the pressure on women to dye their hair–especially since white hair can be really beautiful!

    In Chicago I resisted it . . . but it’s part of the reason I left Chicago. In my circle (work, church, etc.), I knew a grand total of two other women under 70 who didn’t dye their hair. One ended up dyeing it, so that left one . . . and that one was a total slob. (She’d wear stained or torn clothes to work, and she often had body odor.) “Total slob” was not the image I wanted to portray . . . but “total slob” is not the way Scripture speaks of gray hair. I was unwilling to dye it, but cultural pressure was enormous. (No one ever suggested I dye it, but it was quite obvious everyone but me was doing so. I have yet to go anywhere near totally gray, but I did have a significant number of grays.) I was 100% unwilling to dye it in order to “fit in.” Fitting in simply wasn’t worth that much to me.

    When I met my husband in person, when he knew for sure he wanted to marry me but I wasn’t 100% there yet (I was 95%), he told me he’d prefer to have me dye it. (I’d brought up the subject previously, telling him I had not dyed my hair because I hate the cultural pressure to dye, though I did think that it was honorable for a woman to dye it because her husband preferred it. So he told me as my future husband that he’d prefer to see it dyed, because visually he liked the brown of my hair better than the gray.)

    That brought me to an awful dilemma. I had left a job I loved partly because I so despised the thought of dyeing my hair. (That wasn’t the biggest reason, but it actually was part of what made me feel that I ultimately had no real choice to stay.) It was legitimate to dye it for him, but I detested the idea. And the thought of having my wedding photos show me with dyed hair was distressing.

    I looked at hair dye, thought about it, finally even bought some. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. On a later visit he asked if I’d thought about it some more, or if I was hoping he would change his mind. I told him yes, I was hoping he would change his mind, and he told me he’s a man and men never change their minds. He had no idea how much I hated to do it, and I didn’t realize he was joking. I knew he wasn’t being mean–he really just had no clue how much I didn’t want to do it–but when he said no, he wouldn’t change his mind, I think it was after that I finally bought a bottle of dye. (A temporary one that was supposed to wash out gradually over time, so I wouldn’t be fully committed if it looked horrible. Although I was quite afraid it wouldn’t wash out in time for the wedding.) I knew I had to tell him–making sure he knew before marriage–that I absolutely could not do it past the age of 60, even if I did it for a few years. I sort of understand 30-year-olds coloring it, but personally it really makes me sad to see older women doing so.

    Finally, I let him know how hard it was for me, and asked him how much it mattered to him. I told him that if it mattered a lot, I would do it, and would choose to do it cheerfully. But if it didn’t matter much to him, well, it mattered a lot to me and I’d definitely rather not.

    He responded that he didn’t know it mattered that much to me–he just liked brown hair better than gray. But knowing it bothered me, it would now distress him if I did it, and I should not do so. (One friend later suggested I could “surprise him by coloring it for our wedding” and I told her no–I would hate it and so would he, knowing how much I hated it! If I had get a crewcut or color it, I honestly don’t know which I would choose. Well, if I had to do either one “for life,” I’d choose coloring. But if I could shave it and let it regrow, or color it for life, I’d probably shave it.)

    I pierced my ears for my husband, and I would have dyed it if I really had to. But his withdrawal of the request was a huge act of grace, one that finally verified yes, I chose the right man.

    And part of my reason that this matters to me so very much is that Scripture speaks positively of gray hair. Our cultural disrespect of the elderly isn’t cute or trendy, it’s sinful. I have no problem with other women dyeing their hair–I actually understand why most women do it whether they actually want to or not, since it’s ridiculously hard to be the only person who doesn’t. And I understand that culturally it’s preferable to look younger than we are, not our actual age. I definitely do NOT think it’s a sin to dye one’s hair, especially to do so for one’s husband.

    But I guess I spent enough years (in childhood and youth) putting up with being mocked for things that didn’t matter at all, that now I’m perfectly willing to be outside the cultural norm for things to do matter.

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  26. Have fun out there 6 arrows.

    Today has been tagged “Super Saturday.” 🙂 Lots of sales, lots of people, lots of panic.

    My buying is done, but I am also running very late this year, I’ve only hand-delivered one Christmas card. So far, I’ve mailed … none.

    And I didn’t do a lot of indoor decorating this year — so at this point it’s late enough that I’ll probably keep it minimal. Less to take down.

    But my outdoor lights are cute.

    Weirdly, I think I had more Christmas spirit 2 weeks ago than I do now.

    Maybe I’m just feel a little glum since I head back to work Monday. We only get Thursday off, then have to go back in on Friday.

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  27. Kare,

    It’s a fantastic shot, and really cool. 🙂

    Peter,

    And it sure beats bald. 🙂

    I agree about the ladies. My wife has these beautiful silver streaks amongst the blonde. It’s like natural highlights, and I love it. I’m glad she doesn’t dye it. And it matches my own, though she has considerably fewer. 🙂

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  28. I never think that people are coloring their hair, I guess I assume that it’s natural. 🙂

    But obviously a lot of younger women color their hair now, too — not to hide gray, just for a different look or to make their own color prettier. I’ve never colored my hair (other than a home experiment with “natural” henna nearly 30 years ago that went terribly wrong, but that’s a long story).

    I think the products have gotten so much better — and easier on the hair — that it’s a lot more common than we realize. Guess I just don’t think about it much.

    And so far, I have very little gray that shows. I have several friends, though, who color and it looks completely natural to me.

    I’m still not sure what I’ll do when I get more gray.

    We shall see.

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  30. I’m slowly going to my natural colour (black brown with lots of grey) after dying it for many years. I just can’t be bothered anymore and it’s expensive. So I’ve had my stylist add high lights and low lights to help it blend better as it grows out. Right now my hair has brown/black, dark brown, medium brown, light brown, dark blonde, slightly lighter blonde and grey all mixed together. I think it’s rather pretty. It won’t be as pretty to me once it’s just the dark and grey but, hey, I’ll save money and time and my husband will love it whichever way it is. 🙂

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  31. After my post yesterday, if I didn’t dye my hair I’d have to buy all new jewelry–cheaper to dye my hair!

    Professionally,I have to do it and it really does make a difference in how I look–both the nice cut and the brown color.

    OTOH, if I had gorgeous white hair or that lovely silver, maybe–I’ll have to eventually–but my boring mouse brown straight hair is growing into blunt faded pewter boring. With social media, even writers have to care about things like that now.

    I am not, however, wearing my pajamas as I type this!

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  32. Donna, when it was getting close to the time that I was going to be requested to dye it, a close friend of mine was dyeing her own and that of someone else in church. She used them to me as an example of what good coloring could look like, that it could look fairly natural. But the friend whose hair she dyed was in my direct view every Sunday at church, and every single Sunday I found myself asking why she had done that to her hair. Granted, her hair had been very unstylishly cut, but she went from pretty, graying hair well past her shoulders, wavy hair with a multitude of colors in it, to a really “flat” color, and at the same time she chopped off half the length. She went from beautiful hair to boring hair.

    When I was a child, my mom once said to me and my sister, “Don’t ever color your hair. You have so many different colors in your hair, and you won’t get that if you dye it.” I have no idea whether most hair is as multi-colored as ours, but I know she was right for ours. I have dark browns and light browns, some reds (Mom’s was a vibrant red), and some blondes, and now the grays too. The grays themselves are a variety of different colors, from strawberry blonde (the color Mom’s grayed to) to white (the color of Dad’s once-black hair when it grayed). To color that would “flatten” the color at least some, and getting the most expensive salon job available is just not in the budget.

    I’m glad I didn’t have to.

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  33. In other news, thanks for prayers, daughter returned safely. We have quite a day ahead of us because it’s the 12th annual cookie baking party!

    She’s still sleeping in.

    I woke at 4 and am on the third load of laundry, have cleaned the kitchen, read the paper, etc., cooked an omelet for my husband’s breakfast (he’s off to the food pantry), put together a double batch of molasses cookies to chill and am about to start on the Peanut Blossom dough.

    I started to clean the oven because I forgot to have my every-other-week for four hours house cleaner do it on Tuesday, but don’t have any oven cleaner. (Learned that after spraying the last bit at myself).

    Rehearsal is in 90 minutes, we have last minute shopping for the party, cleaning, food prep, party starting, greeting guests, baking cookies, cooking pasta, making giant salad, and so forth, to midnight.

    Tomorrow we sing the cantata at 11 (thus the three hour rehearsal this morning), High tea at two with the outlaws and the Christmas concert at 7, followed by the post-concert party at my son’s house where they’ll watch the Seahawks football game.

    Stargazer arrives somewhere in here.

    The fun times have begun!

    I just hope I’m done Christmas shopping . . . 🙂

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  34. michelle 🙂

    I’d probably lean toward the coloring option myself if I had a lot of gray, but that’s me. I do think natural is better as long as it works for your lifestyle and looks. But if it stops working and you don’t like the way you look with gray hair, well, coloring is a perfectly acceptable option. I just don’t think there’s an across-the-board right or wrong on this question.

    A friend and former roommate of mine, a school teacher, has very dark brown hair and it began going seriously gray when she was in her 40s-50s. She began getting it colored and she looked like “herself” again.

    And my cousin’s hair started turning in her 30s — she had bright auburn hair but the gray turned it pink. Not a great look, as you might imagine.

    Of course, men can carry it off much better — they just wind up looking distinguished.

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  35. You know, Michelle, that’s funny, because I actually think just the opposite. Insofar as a writer is an artist (not all writers are . . . writing commentaries isn’t “art,” for example), he’s allowed to be an artist. And that definitely includes not being totally on top of the latest styles. It even includes being quirky. (I don’t think it’s quirky not to dye hair, cut it short, or straighten it, though.)

    Anne Lamott showed up to speak at a conference with an audience of thousands, mostly middle-aged white people. She was wearing long cornrows. Lawyers can’t necessarily get away with that, but artists can!

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  36. BTW, I definitely think it’s OK that sometimes curly perms are in and sometimes they’re out, or that bangs are more popular or less popular a given year, and so forth. I just don’t think culture has the authority to tell me I must dye my hair, cut it short, or straighten it. Or that I must buy new shoes this year whether or not I can afford it, because only this year’s styles are acceptable. Or that I must wear skin-tight pants, strapless dresses, or blouses showing cleavage. If peasant skirts or plaids are popular this year, that’s great. But don’t tell me how I “have to” mold my body or hair, because that’s beyond the role or the authority of culture.

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  37. Well, some people can carry off ‘eccentric’ better than others. I definitely couldn’t do cornrows, for example. 🙂

    Can’t see Michelle in them either, but who knows.

    In general (and there certainly are exceptions, Lamott likely being one of the lucky ones), eccentric is a style that, like gray hair, *tends* to be carried off more winningly by men than women as they grow older (in my opinion).

    Sigh. Not very fair, really, but there it is.

    But meanwhile, on the shopping trend front: Just think of how many things I could break in one of these stores:

    http://abcnews.go.com/Business/brick-mortar-stores-fight-online-shopping-digital-store/story?id=27727483

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  39. The thing I always think about, too, is the damage some of those chemicals can do to your hair — I know people who both color AND perm their hair and it really takes a toll. Pick one of the other, I say.

    As an aside, I asked by hair stylist yesterday what her 15-year-old step daughter would be getting for Christmas and she said “hair extensions.” They are pretty much all the rage and becoming more and more common with younger people who want instant long hair. But they aren’t cheap. The stylist said they can be colored to match any hair color, though, which is pretty cool.

    We had to just wait patiently to grow our hair out back in the day.

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  40. My husband did not do gray hair so well so he gets it dyed. My hair is gradually going gray, and so far it works for me. I don’t want to have to color it, but if for some reason I need to then that will be okay. Like Cheryl said, my hair has a lot of colors in it and with its curl, it is never boring.

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  41. I stay out of the hair dyeing conversation mostly. I unashamedly dye my hair. I started going grey in my mid to late twenties. Now there is enough in it to make it look mousy. It is also of a different texture and the dye tones down that texture. It is coming in wiry and curly. It isn’t pretty. There will come a time when I have to let it go natural or have people laugh at me, but that day isn’t here yet.

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  44. I doubt many of us here are slaves to fashion (well, maybe with the exception of Chas).

    But so many of our more subtle and widespread cultural signals — what becomes acceptable and expected in the way we look, how we wear our hair & clothes — have infused society. theyre acceptable simply by common practice over time.

    If I were braver, I’d wear my fringe jacket to work every day.

    But people would talk. 🙂 Although it’s true that in L.A. you see just about everything.

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  49. My gray haired woman has never dyed her hair. That’s OK with me. It started getting gray streaks in her early thirties, like Kim. But is was the fashion then.
    So, I have nothing to contribute, except for a single word of wisdom for the guys out there.

    Remember: A woman’s hair was always the color it is now.
    You may have a different perception, but to vocalize it can cause a world of trouble.
    You wouldn’t say, “Your bosom looks larger” or “Are you losing weight?”, or “that makes you look fat” (unless she’s kin and asks..)
    Women may talk about such things among themselves.
    Stay out of it. It isn’t for men to meddle with.

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  52. Yeah, I doubt anyone here is a slave to fashion. My gripe is more with the fashion industry that works hard to make it almost impossible not to be. For example, a few years ago it was nearly impossible to buy skirts and dresses, as basic as those are to clothing. Parents have said it’s hard to find clothes for little girls that aren’t “sexy.” When I was looking for white shoes for my wedding day, I probably looked in eight stores in Nashville (it’s not that I was picky, it’s that white shoes weren’t available in any style) before I finally found a pair in Indiana. How can the fashion industry decide unilaterally in summer that white shoes are so “out” they will not sell them?!

    A few years ago I got a haircut at a fairly expensive salon, and the lady tried and tried to get me to agree to straighten my hair. (It is wavy, not curly. I actually wish it had more curl.) I finally let her do a temporary straighten just to get her off my back. But then she asked me if I liked it, and of course the answer was no, I didn’t. Then she told me I was her only customer with curly hair, and she gave me full-size bottles of at least three products! But I wanted to tell her, “Listen, I got curly perms for several years, and I’ve given in to fashion enough that I don’t get them anymore. Personally, I’d rather have a curly perm. But you won’t get me to straighten the bit of curl that God did give me, because I like it! And I’m not willing to put the time and effort into getting rid of something that I like because some fashion ‘expert’ somewhere decided to enforce straight hair on women everywhere.”

    Fortunately, I also married into a family that doesn’t live or die by fashion. My husband likes clothes that are a little out of the ordinary, like fedoras. And he, like me, prefers to buy clothes that are styled in a classic cut rather than this year’s style.

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  53. my perm will not be curly, just body and wave
    Well, the day is a success because the bags of clothes are off the floor and the suitcase is empty. Time to get ready for the Nutcracker matinee.
    Pray as I am not sure who I will sit with and pretty sure the ex and his family will be there
    thanks

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  55. Survived rehearsal and then had to stop at Sur la Table for meringue powder–the only store on this end of town that carries it.

    Mad house, but mission accomplished.

    My husband and daughter went out to lunch and didn’t bring back anything for the shopping mama . . . .hmmmmmm.

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  59. Mumsee & Co. must be busy decorating their tree. 🙂

    It still amazes me that I can now pay all my monthly bills in under 2 minutes online. Tap, tap, tap. Done.

    It’s so much better than writing out all those checks, addressing envelopes, trying to find enough stamps, making a trip to the mail box/post office to drop them all off, hoping they won’t arrive late as mail delivery, of course, can be somewhat unpredictable … Life used to be so hard, as the Beatles song said.

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  64. Did we break anything, Donna?

    No comment. 😉

    Actually, we did not, but almost. Does that count? 🙂

    I was looking at framed pictures and such. There was a knick-knacky wood-framed mirror that I wanted to go show hubby, who was in a little different area of the store. I tried pulling it off the shelf, but it was sort of wedged between two bigger and deeper displays on the shelf, and the pile of framed mirrors to the right of the one I wanted starting tipping forward toward the edge as I attempted to pull the one I wanted off the shelf.

    Fortunately, I pushed the errant pile back in its place, so there weren’t any employees that came barreling toward me. 😉

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  65. We went out to eat, and I had the best gluten-free sandwich I’ve probably ever had. Grilled chicken with lettuce and a pickle on a toasty warm gluten-free bun. Wow, was that good.

    Interesting to listen to conversations at the tables around us. At one table I heard someone saying, “I lost a whole bag of stocking stuffers. Can’t find it anywhere.”

    Another person at that table later was talking about someone saying, “I guess she didn’t want an epidural.”

    Fourth Arrow was home by herself for a while — sort of the undesignated greeter for Second Arrow, should she arrive home while the rest of us were gone to work or shopping.

    When we were ordering our food at the restaurant, I got a text from Second Arrow, saying, “Me and [4th Arrow] are going Christmas shopping.” 😉

    So when we get back, we’ll have to see if there were any “You broke it, you bought it” conversations. 😉 Second Arrow has a little trouble with that sort of thing sometimes.

    Hubby frequently tells her, “Can’t take you anywhere!” 😛

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  66. I love to eavesdrop on conversations in restaurants. I am a people watcher too. The other thing I do I watch what people have on the belt at the grocery store and try to figure out what they are doing. Some things just don’t go together. Ice cream and beer? There is a little upscale market in town that I love to drop by. I can always tell when this one man has a date. Chicken, pasta, wine…He strikes me as a real player.

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  68. 6 arrows, you and I must go shopping together sometime.

    Overheard the other morning as my neighbor’s small grandchildren were waiting for their parents to pick them up.

    “Santa and ALL HIS REINDEER??!”

    I don’t know what prompted this exclamation, didn’t hear anything else in the early-morning conversation, but it was the cutest, most excited little voice I’d heard in a while. 🙂

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  69. Kitchen floor washed, burned-out ceiling flood lights replaced (but one of the two I replaced isn’t working, I’ll have to try to rework that one later, maybe it’s just screwed in crooked and I’ll have to take it out and try it again).

    It’s already almost 3 p.m. here, where did the day go?

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  74. So 2nd and 4th Arrows are back home. The older told us she’s been sick pretty much all week. Throwing up repeatedly on Monday and Tuesday. Then got a cold. Anyway, she finally decided she needed to be seen (during the vomiting episode) because she couldn’t keep anything down.

    She drove to Urgent Care and was throwing up about every 10 minutes. She described her symptoms when she got there and they asked if she was actively vomiting. She said yes, and they told her they would try to get her in ahead of other people.

    After one hour and forty-five minutes in the waiting area, she stood up and said, “I need to be seen NOW.”

    They took her back to an examining room, and she laid on the examining table. The attendant told her a doctor would be in soon to see her.

    Anyway, I don’t remember the order of everything she told me, but she passed out on the table and had no idea how long she laid there. She was dehydrated and was supposed to be getting fluids, but no one had attended her for an undetermined length of time.

    Someone came in the room and asked if she had been seen yet. No, she hadn’t.

    Finally, they started some fluids. A catheter was placed in her hand.

    More time elapsed. She fell asleep again.

    Woke up. No one with her. Bag of fluids was gone, but she was still hooked up to the line.

    Which meant air was coursing into her veins. She’s a vet tech, and she knows that can be fatal if air gets to the heart.

    So she unhooked herself.

    Tried pressing the emergency button to call an attendant. No answer.

    She pulled the catheter out of her hand and walked out of there and told someone about the whole deal. (She shared a lot more details with me than I just did here.)

    She told us tonight that she didn’t get very mad about her shoddy care, but would have if she hadn’t been so sick right then.

    Total time to get a bag of fluids in her and a prescription for an anti-emetic: four hours.

    When she returned to work later in the week at the veterinary hospital (she works in the critical care unit), one of her co-workers told her that if she ever gets that sick again and needs fluids, she should just come in to work and they’d hook her up there, as the fluids they use for dehydrated animals are the same ones used for humans.

    Yikes.

    That could have gone on Rants & Raves. Obvious rant, but very definitely a praise to God and His watching over her.

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  76. I guess I’m late for 75. Oh, well.

    I remember going places with my parents and my mother saying, “Look but don’t touch.” We always walked with our hands in our pockets. to be sure. And we all looked down so we didn’t trip over something. In fact, I still tend to walk with my hands in my pockets looking down. Except when giving cave tours, of course. Then it’s hands out of pocket looking up and down so I don’t trip or hit my head on a low hanging rock.

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  77. A new trailer for Unbroken with the Coldplay theme song (which I didn’t hear since it plays with the final credits to the film & the Q&A on stage had already started (so they lowered the sound):

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  80. Speaking of which …

    I stopped at the grocery store tonight and was looking at their display table of boxed pies.

    Somehow my hand-held shopping cart caught a couple of them as I began to move away (with much determination) and sent two of them flying like Frisbies onto the floor, slap, slap.

    But earlier in the evening, I did manage not to break any of the cute, delicate Christmas figurines at the Hallmark store …

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  81. 6 arrows, what a horrendous medical experience. And, sadly, I’ve no doubt she’d get faster treatment at a veterinarian hospital these days!

    Hope she’s better now.

    What was it, do they know?

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  82. Well, I finished the “extra” shopping I wanted to do tonight so that’s that.

    I think.

    I’m very disorganized this year.

    And wondering now if a gift I ordered for my friend Carol — a kindle paperwhite that she’d requested — is a good idea after receiving a call from her tonight saying someone stole some of the body lotion she’d received as a Christmas gift out of her room.

    She’s in a brand new place, but not as good as her former facility I’m afraid.

    Plus she has other tablets (and, in general, she’s not good about taking care of her things), so I really do think the paperwhite will be an excess device that won’t be used all that much … It was fun to buy since it’s what she really wanted, but I’m thinking now maybe an Amazon gift card would be a better choice considering her new digs.

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  84. Wait. Some of you are getting shoes you don’t actually need?

    And you’re planning to go without me?

    I finally got my Christmas letter finished . . . though so far the e-mail version of it refuses to “send.” (Several of you are on the list to receive that one. If I have your e-mail address and you want it and you don’t get it, let me know. With gmail I can’t readily see the address book, so basically I just keyed in the name of everyone I could think of who might want a copy, and undoubtedly I missed a few . . . or sent it to a few people who hate Christmas letters!) Usually I write creative ones, or at least try to, and this year it’s basically just “this happened and then this happened,” since it was a busy year and I wasn’t really thinking creatively.

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  85. Christmas Cookie party still going strong four hours later. Went through five boxes of pasta, five jars of pesto sauce (one the large one from Costco) and nearly a full crock pot of marinara sauce. Table is completely covered in cookies; about a dozen, they’re having a good time.

    Two adorable granddaughters were here, along with some in-laws. Fun evening.

    Plenty of cookies for the Christmas concert tomorrow night–and beautiful ones at that.

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  88. ~~Spoiler alert~~

    I went to the Hobbit today. It was better than #2, but still disappointing. If you’re a Tolkien “nerd” as one of the friends I went with calls himself, don’t go with high hopes.

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  89. Sorry about those pies, Donna — slap, slap, LOL!

    Second Arrow is a bit congested and raspy-voiced, but she says she’s feeling a lot better than when she first got the cold on Wednesday.

    That other business with the throwing up Monday and Tuesday was apparently just a short-lived stomach virus (not more than 48 hours). Very unpleasant while it was happening, however.

    She missed work Tuesday and Wednesday, but went back on Thursday for a 12-hour day shift. The pace was so busy, she had virtually no time for breaks. She said when she finished work that day and went home, she felt like she’d been hit by a truck. 😦

    Yesterday was better, though, and she did not have to work today, has the whole day off tomorrow, and will sleep in the daytime Monday before returning to work for an overnight shift starting around 6 Monday evening. Hopefully these days off this weekend will help.

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  90. Hey, Cheryl, how about you join us in the shoe-shopping venture? You just swing over to my state from the east, Donna can fly here from the west, and Kim can come up from the south.

    Wait. We need someone from the north of me now.

    Kare?

    See, I’m kind of centrally located. We can all go out together and create a ruckus at the shoe store. 😉

    Oh, and BTW, Cheryl, I’m interested in getting your Christmas letter, if you still have my email.

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  91. Kare (or nancyjill) would clearly lead us all astray, we’ll all wind up with boxes and boxes of new boots, clogs and shoes.

    And who knows what color our hair will be?

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  94. Are we really at 94? Wow, so close to 100, yet it is way too late for me to be up. Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas with my in-laws, so no doubt the thread will have gone past 100 by the time I’m home tomorrow night.

    I will leave it in the capable hands of my fellow wanderers.

    Good night and blessings. 🙂

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  105. The early bird gets one hundred around here:)
    Musical Advent Calendar – Day 21: There are many settings of the Magnificat (Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55), from J.S. Bach’s half hour Latin version with full orchestra and chorus to Saint Saens’ shortened 4 minute trio. My favourite version by Canadian composer Healey Willan wasn’t available, so I settled for Sir Charles Villiers Standford’s Magnificat in B flat.

    And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
    And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
    For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
    For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
    And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
    He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
    He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
    He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
    He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
    As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

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  107. Yay, Chas!

    Happy birthday, Linda!

    Yay – shoe shopping invite!! – You know I’d come!!!!! I’ve looked at DSW online, but man, the contortions I have to go through for delivery to Canada… I need to try on shoes and make sure they fit!

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  109. After another fun filled day in the city, son has graduated from the youth academy. You can go there to the IDyouthchallenge and see him give his speech. He was a runner up so did not give his speech at the graduation. And I could not hear it well on the video but he is done. He may move to Seattle to live with his sister now. Still deciding on that.

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  111. I almost resorted to wearing squeaky Anne Klien Goodwill shoes to church since DSW package has not arrived. On second thought, I decided son might not appreciate the squeak so I chose another pair.

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  114. Good morning. Becca is sick, again…some sort of upper respiratory crud. She feels pretty bad, so I’m taking her to a 24 hour clinic in a few minutes as I think she may need an antibiotic and want to get it started ASAP so she has time to heal before Christmas Eve festivities…

    The dog (Buddy) began having profuse diarrhea yesterday….So, I was up with him almost all night and am quite tired…If I could safely inject caffeine directly into my bloodstream, I would… Of course, Hubby is hunting this weekend (his fifth weekend away since November 1). Gave Buddy some chicken and rice for breakfast and two tablespoons of pumpkin, which the vet recommended as a binding agent. Fortunately, he hasn’t had any accidents yet…which I’m truly grateful about as he’s a large lab (90 pounds) and it would be utterly disgusting to clean.

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDA!!!

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  116. Ann, do not take any of that caffine that you can take by mouth in volume. I understand it is dangerous.
    Happy Birthday Linda. Granddaughter’s husbands BD is 25 December. It must be tough on kids to have birthdays so close. I had clean forgotten about getting 100 ’till I got back here.

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  118. Just got back from the doctor…Becca’s crud is just a viral cold…only thing to do is wait and rest and keep her hydrated…hoping she recovers quickly and that no one else comes down with it…

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  119. Pastor Steve preached Philippians 1:23-24 again. He mentioned a reason that we prefer death, that is, be departed from this life, because life with Christ and those who have gone
    before is much better. He dwelt on that a good bit. While in Alabama, he suffered a heart attack and was clinically dead for several minutes.
    Then he gave us two reasons to want to remain here.
    1. There are people who need us.
    2. Our work isn’t finished.

    During the sermon, he mentioned a song I heard years ago. Some of you young forks may never have heard it. It’s worth watching for the video,even if you don’t like the genre.
    Jimmy Dickens does the singing. I thought it would be Jim Reeves.

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  121. 6 Arrows, if you e-mail me again, I’ll send you the letter. I thought of you when I was trying to send it, but couldn’t think of your e-mail address and thus couldn’t send it. (If I type in a couple letters, it suggests the rest, but I need to be able to think of part of the name or e-mail address, and if I remember correctly yours is in your husband’s name.) Just remembered I didn’t send it to Chas, either.

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  125. I got it Cheryl. Thanks.

    In the course of the sermon, Pastor Steve said that he believes that America, like the rest of the world, will suffer tribulations. In passing, he said that we are one Supreme Court appointment away from not being to be openly Christian in America.
    An interesting thought. I need to think about it, but it is something to consider.

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  126. Ann’s had a busy morning. Hope Becca & Buddy are on the mend … chicken, rice & pumpkin for dogs usually helps.

    KarenO, we had people in church today from Connecticut — Ivoryton ? near Essex — they knew where you lived, though it took me a couple moments to remember the name and at first I said the second half of the name as Falls, they said, no, that would be Springs. Oh yeah. They’re relatives of locals and she actually grew up in California where her mom still lives. Her husband was from the east coast and they met at a work/school conference in Wisconsin, so go figure. God brings people together somehow.

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  127. so nice to walk across the parking lot to church and there were cushioned benches and areal pastor who studied and had a great message.
    But mostly it was all the hugs and greetings, so sweet. I have gone to this church for 42 years

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  128. Our sermon was on The Magnificat from Luke 1:46-55 — “It’s not about me” — Mary glorified the Lord …

    Interesting sub points:

    1/ Mary mentions soul and spirit — “One thing is clear, no matter how we slice up the language — both understanding and affection are contained in Mary’s praise. This is something that cold only be achieved by one who is well catechized in heart and mind. … Knowledge of the promises of God and a joyful expectation of the fulfillment of those promises should be the goal of every believer.”

    2/ Mary referred to her Savior (interesting point considering the Roman Catholic view that Mary was sinless). “Mary rejoiced in being saved from her sins, as should we.”

    3/ The church errs in two ways: Too much of an over-emphasis on our personal relationship with God and Christ — “People feel perfectly comfortable in their Christianity apart from any connection with the body of Christ. This is clearly unbiblical.”

    The other mistake is to over-emphasize our corporate relationship, thinking that church membership is all we need.

    4/ The importance of having a long view: “There should be an excitement in the life of the Christian, not only in what God has done for us, but in what God is doing in history from generation to generation. Mary’s life was to be filled with difficulty (certainly not ‘your best life now’) and headache. But her difficulty and heartache would be major players in God’s plan of redemption throughout history. … We mustn’t be overly concerned with the apparent failures and victories of our singular generation. We must know that God has a plan of mercy for all generations.”

    5/ Mary had that long view: “Interesting that such a young girl would have such a broad world view. God scatters those who are proud in the imagination of their own hearts. Who Mary likely has in mind (in vs. 51-53) people in power who trust in their own innovations for goals and methods, rather than the goals and methods revealed by God’s word.

    “It would appear that our very best political candidates have lost sight of what it means to govern in such a way as to defer to the only wise God and savior. What Mary seems to be saying is, ‘that in the course of history God’s mighty power has repeatedly punished these arrogant people.'” (Wm. Hendrickson)

    6/ How well acquainted Mary must have been with Ps. 2 — “Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? … It would be the Son of Mary who would inherit the nations and break the ungodly with a rod of iron. Mary rejoiced in what had been done for her and what would be done through history.”

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  129. Sounds like a wonderful morning of reunion, Jo. Welcome home. And Janice must be having a wonderful time, too, with their son now home for the holidays.

    Superficial, but I’m loving my newly bobbed, chop-layered, swingy haircut — it’s not any different from before, but it had gotten SO much longer that it was just feeling & looking scraggly.

    I’d forgotten how fresh it looks & feels when it’s shortened and shaped up a bit. 🙂 My hair grows fast, I’ll have to plan to get in for cuts more often I guess.

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  131. Donna, the Magnificent reads like a bit of prophesy. It is not something a woman in her late teens would say. Did he mention v. 54-55? I remind those who believe the replacement theory, that God’s promises were still relevant to Mary. This points to deliverance of Israel as well as all mankind. And Luke was a gentile.

    We studied chapter 2:8f this morning. The question came up about how Luke knew this. I said, “Mary told him”. Luke has lots of detail the other gospels don’t have. Luke was a physician. He was interested in all that.

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  132. Since you asked 🙂 vs. 54-55 in our notes:

    “Jews or Gentiles? This passage, and so many like it, seems to exclude the gentiles.When I read the New Testament — when I read the words of Mary, am I excluded from being in the chorus of her song? We serve a covenant making, covenant keeping God. Yet the covenant is with Israel, and Abraham and his seed. What about me? What about the church? What about those who would believe in the very Son Mary held within her body? Here is where much of modern Christendom has been robbed. We are made to think and to feel as if the promise is for others, when the Scriptures declare it for us. As Pul writes, ‘And if you *are* Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29).

    “The promise made to Abraham was that through Him all the families of the world would be blessed. The Old Testament was always universal in its final aim. And the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16) are the recipients of the precious promises contained in the person and work of the blessed Savior.

    “God has made an everlasting covenant/promise. It is directed toward those who come to God seeking mercy through Jesus. The good news of this mercy has reached our generation — it has reached our ears — may our souls, like Mary’s, magnify the Lord.”

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  133. What about YOU? You are saved by trusting Christ for your salvation. That is enough.
    That is enough for anyone including those in Israel and Syria, etc.
    It also means that God isn’t finished with Israel. The Jews, as a people have undergone persecution from the beginning, but have always survived and prospered. Someday, they will recognize their king.
    My issue isn’t about how you are saved, it is about the replacement theory. That is, we should abandon the nation because God is finished with Israel. There is too much scripture to refute that theory.

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  134. Chas, my post quoted the sermon, not me. 🙂

    But … I’d venture to say the issue, in part, comes down to whether or not the modern-day political state of Israel is the same as God’s people …

    Obviously a point of lots of discussion within the church over the past decades.

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  135. It’s quite nice having our son home now for a bit. Bosley enjoys his company, too.

    The weather has been so cloudy and dreary. I can understand how people are suffering from the lack of sunshine. I have not looked ahead at the forecast for Christmas Eve and Day.

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  137. Ligonier has a good article that I think expresses the non-dispensational view in a balanced way:

    http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/the-church-and-israel-the-issue/

    ” … While dispensationalists often insist that the traditional Reformed affirmation of one people of God comprised of Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ is a form of ‘replacement’ theology, the Reformed view does not regard the gospel as “replacing” the older covenant economy with Israel but ‘fulfilling’ it. …

    ” … The diversity among these various positions on the issue of Israel and the church testifies to the importance of this issue. Does God have a separate purpose and redemptive program for Israel and the church? Or, does the gospel of Jesus Christ fulfill God’s purpose to gather a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, Jews and Gentiles alike, into one worldwide family? When the Apostle Paul declares in Romans 1 that the gospel is the ‘power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile’ (Rom. 1:16), he declares that there is one way of salvation for all who believe in Jesus Christ. Yet he simultaneously affirms that this salvation does not displace or supersede God’s redemptive purpose for the Jews but, rather, fulfills it. The ongoing debate about Israel and the church needs to maintain the Apostle’s balance, neither separating Israel and the church nor displacing Israel with the church.”

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  141. Nutcracker was nice. I sat next to my 9 year old grandson. We kept quietly poking each other throughout the performance and there was a little tickling and lots of back scratching. All the quiet ways to express love to a wiggly boy.

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  142. It’s past. At 6:04 p.m. in the Eastern time zone, the sun turned
    It’s headed north.
    You won’t notice for a while.

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  143. Glad to hear it, I prayed with you. I don’t have a nine year old grandson but I do have an eight year old son. And a seven year old grandson and a six year old grandson. I understand wiggly. But today for church, it was seven year old girl braiding my hair. Over and over. Hopefully, less distracting than her usual antics.

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  144. Oh, I used to love it when people would braid my long hair in class when I was in high school. It would always put me almost to sleep … A girl who sat in back of me in chorus used to do that and I’d go into a trans. 🙂

    Lively night at the dog park — someone was passing out homemade peanut brittle (for the people). It’s getting very cold at night and is overcast most of the day — but no rain on the horizon according to the weather forecast.

    😦

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  151. Just this evening, as I was coming in from working with my dogs, I said to myself, “I sure am glad I don’t live in Los Angeles where it gets very cold at night”.

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  152. Just this evening, as I took off my red chore coat after working outside with my dogs, I mentioned to my little folk, “Aren’t you glad we don’t live in Los Angeles where it gets very cold at night?”

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  153. Seven year old daughter replied, “Yes! Because then every night we would have to remember to get out our blankets because it was so cold”. That would be if we lived in Los Angeles where it gets very cold at night.

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  157. I may need to grab my long scarf. And hat. And gloves.

    One of the dogs in the “big” dog park was even wearing a green-and-white Christmas sweater.

    The little-dog side is filled with sweater dogs.

    But not usually on the big-dog side. That is rare.

    Only when it gets very, very cold.

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  159. Donna – I have a feeling that Mumsee’s dogs would make fun of the little sweater dogs.

    They’d probably also make fun of Heidi for sleeping on a bed with her people. And for sometimes coming under the covers with me.

    But at least I live in Connecticut, where it actually gets cold at night.

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  161. Oh, Karen! Did you not hear? It is getting very cold in Los Angeles. Time to break out the fur lined hoods and mittens and boots. Wait. It is Los Angeles, I believe that stuff is illegal there. Must be time to break out the thinsulate. Don’t forget to layer!

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  163. Layering — us and our dogs.

    Yes, we have dog booties. I got some at the newspaper, a freebie from a blog source. They are very fashionable. And cute. Which is more important in L.A.

    It is very cold.

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  164. Wow, I just checked the weather forecast for Los Angeles and it looks like it may dip all of the way down to fifty four there in the dog parks. I hope they bundle up! No exposed skin, got to be aware of frost bite. Oh wait, it would not be Los Angeles without exposed skin….

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  170. Donna may need to buy insulated coveralls in case the wind chill dips down below 50°. Oh, wait, the breeze always blows down by the ocean. Must be awful having those cold ocean breezes in the LA winters. Imagine watching those surfers in their rubber suits in the freezing water while sitting in the sunshine on the beach during one of those torturous LA winters. Must be about as bad as when the Mississippi freezes over around here, and we walk down in the frigid breeze and stand about 6 feet offshore on the ice and hope we don’t fall in. I don’t envy Donna at all.

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  171. Oh, and all the exams are graded! Now I’ll see how many parents care that their little darlings failed a test that was open book/open notes. I’ll just tell them their little darlings don’t seem to know how to pay attention, or just don’t care enough to try.

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  172. Isn’t California the place they canceled school due to rain? I suppose they will have to now, I hear it is very cold down there in Los Angeles.

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  173. Around here they close schools when the windchill gets below -25° or the air temp is below -15. I wonder how cold it has to be in LA for schools to close. 50 might just be it, since I doubt they have very good heating systems there.

    I remember once our grade school in Arizona closed because the pipes for the outdoor water fountains froze when the temp got around 25° above.

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  174. There, see, Peter understands.

    I will check out the insulated overalls.

    Although, I read recently an article that said one should NEVER wear overalls over the age of 50.

    Or beat-up tennis. Or hoop earrings.

    L.A. fashion is so complicated.

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  181. I hope to have husband pick up a pair of insulated coveralls for daughter. She works hard outside and could use them. But only if it gets very cold. Like it is in Los Angeles. At night. In the dog park.

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  183. Now Peter L can start Christmas break with a clean slate. Now that he has failed a bunch of students. Or allowed them to fail. Comprendes? Of course, they already got started in Los Angeles where I hear it is very cold at night in the dog park.

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  184. No, Donna. Not overalls, but coveralls. Overalls don’t cover the top completely. Coveralls are like a jacket that goes all the way down to the ankle; like footie pajamas without the footie. And they are insulated, so they are thick and cozy for those cold temperatures. The Carhartt brand is popular around here. Click here for examples of either.

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  185. Okay, the cookies are done, just waiting for the fudge to cool so I can beat it. Now, if it was in Los Angeles, where it is very cold at night in the dog park, I could set it outside for a few minutes after the dogs leave, and be done. But for now, I will head out into the balmy evening to put Jake away in her run.

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  186. Oh. Well, then.

    Perfectly acceptable for all ages? Fashion wise. Right?

    Because that is always the first priority for us in L.A. For people and doggies.

    Fashion.

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  190. Of course, Donna. Everybody is allowed coveralls. Especially if one is looking for the “make fun of the ruralite” look. One would not want to get grease on them, but be sure to buy the expensive type, with the grease already added. And perhaps a bit of mud on one sleeve for the full effect.

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  192. Now sources tell me, it could get down to forty one in Atlanta overnight. Time for that thinsulate or better yet, stay indoors. Of course, that is nothing compared to the dismal situation in Los Angeles where it is very cold at night.

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  193. Don’t forget the official looking ones with “Authentic Farm Animal Poop” along the hem of the pant leg. Don’t worry, though, it has been sanitized. And I am sure you can get them in all kinds of earth tones, which should be fashionable enough with the tree-huggers in LA. Hey! Maybe that’s why they hug trees out there, because they think it’s too cold for the trees so they hug them to keep them warm on those frigid California nights.

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  195. Hey Mumsee and Donna- We’ve run the count up into the 190s. Want to race to 200? It has been a long time since we got that high of a count in a thread.

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