A New Tradition.

Christmas Day at Pensacola Beach. 

I hope everyone in blog land had a very happy holiday, whatever you happen to celebrate at this time of year with your family. We are not religious, however we enjoy the season, the lights, the treats and the spirit of giving. Spending the holiday this year without our daughter at home, was pretty depressing for us, but we tried to make the best of it and kept in touch with her via a video call using an app called LINE. We watched her open the gifts we sent which was fun and made us feel much better. She and her roommate adopted a cat which has helped make their apartment feel more like home. Her name is Meemo and she enjoyed all the tissue paper from the gifts Megan opened.

Hubby and I went to the movies on Christmas Eve which has always been our little family tradition. Megan went to see Star Wars in TX and we went to see it here. Sadly, we were all disappointed in the movie, but I won't get into that mess. lol.  We had planned to eat out afterwards, but we had snacked a bit before we went out, then we indulged in too much popcorn, so we were pretty stuffed by the time we got out of the theater. 

We snacked on chewy bread, olives, Caponata (eggplant appetizer) and
mozzarella pearls.For dessert we bought raspberry filled cookies. 

On Christmas Day, we had planned to go to the beach, weather permitting. The forecast turned out to be good, so we left around 8 in the morning and headed to Pensacola Beach, FL which is about an hour away from us. We were surprised by how many people were at the beach. We stayed until noon. It was a really nice way to spend the day and it lifted our spirits. I'm sure the vitamin D had something to do with it. Afterwards, we decided we would do this every Christmas. A new tradition!

Before the holiday, I spent a day baking cookies to give as gifts to my neighbors. I had purchased these boxes at the Dollar Tree a while back and they worked out perfectly.

The cookies weren't anything fancy, just those Betty Crocker mix cookies, but they were tasty.
Chocolate chip, snickerdoodles, white chocolate Macadamia, chocolate chunk and some sugar cookies that I cut into star shapes. I delivered all of them along with this year's holiday card that Megan designed. It was her idea to do a fish tank theme this year. It came out great.

I think I mailed out about 60 cards this year. I wrote out a few each day after work. Having them printed, plus buying postage was expensive, but it's been a tradition for many years now and I know my friends and family look forward to seeing Megan's art each year. Not many people send cards anymore, but I always have, and that's one tradition I plan to keep as long as I'm able to do so.

Our decorations are down to the bare minimum. I put a garland over the fireplace and placed a few Santa figurines here and there. I gave away our artificial tree as well as many other decorations that I don't put up anymore. The girls at work were happy to take them off my hands. I donated some other stuff to St Paul's Thrift store too, so our attic is looking a lot roomier. I kept the fancy ornaments, figuring Megan may someday want to put up a tree. If not, they will be hers one day regardless and she can decide what to do with them. 

The day that I was making cookies, hubby dug the VCR out of storage and looked at old videotapes of past Christmases when Megan was little. She was cute as anything and so smart. We did up the holiday in a big way each year, just for her. This was probably the largest tree and the most presents we ever put out.

As she got older, she started to see the commercialism in Christmas and, as a result, wanted less. Spending quality time together became more important than lots of gifts. That's how the movie and dinner out tradition got started. We stopped visiting my relatives after my mom passed away in 2002. Certain events caused a fracture in the family and we didn't speak for years. When my dad passed in 2018, most of us reconciled, but my brother, who I had remained close with, pretty much removed himself from our family and nobody has heard from him in a year and a half. I reached out to him in an email a while back, but received no response.  It's very sad and that feeling of loss seems to get magnified during the holidays. 

The one thing that gives me the most joy these days is our new kitten, Manny.

He is insane at times, but most times he's adorable and affectionate.

Manny and Mister get along so well. When I'm home, I get to see wonderful
moments like this.

This was a sweet moment too. Zoey is fairly tolerant of Manny, but sometimes
she snaps at him and I get really upset with her. 

My Christmas cactus bloomed once again. I'm so happy, but sadly, the man that gave it to me two years ago passed away just before Christmas. He was one of our school's bus drivers, beloved by many. He will be missed. 

So although this is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, clearly it's difficult for many people and for various reasons. I feel for all of you who may be sad or blue, missing someone, or not quite up to the spirit of the holiday. It can be demanding for women, especially those who feel the pressure of shopping, cooking, wrapping, decorating, entertaining, cleaning and trying to make everything perfect. I can no longer do those things the way I did in the past. Sad too is that so many people knew that hubby and I would be alone this holiday and we didn't get a single dinner invite. I try not to dwell on it it and instead think about all the good things I have in my life and keep smiling. 

Peace and love!
A new year and a new decade is coming!

A quiet simple Christmas.

It's been so nice having this time off from work. It's very quiet and peaceful in our home and I love it that way. I'm not a party girl, not someone who has the need to go out and be with lots of people or find adventure. Even when I do go out, I seek a peaceful environment. For instance, we recently discovered a park on the Mobile Delta that is beautiful and we love to take Zoey there for walks. It's actually closer to us than the dog park and we really enjoy the serenity. We went just before the holiday.

On Festivus Day, I spent a few hours baking in the kitchen listening to some old Motown sounds like The Temptations and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on Pandora.

I made pistachio raspberry bars, apricot coconut bars, pumpkin squares and ginger snaps. I gave an assortment to the lady two doors down who took care of Zoey when we went to NY last summer. She lives alone and had to work a 15 hour shift Christmas Eve waitressing at the Grand Hotel, poor thing bless her heart.

On Christmas Eve, we were excited to finally see the new Star Wars movie.

I didn't realize this, but it was the first time Megan got to see a Star Wars movie in a theater.

She was incredibly excited and had a goofy grin from ear to ear throughout the entire film.

After the movie, (which was fantastic by the way), we went out for a nice Japanese dinner and left our waitress a generous tip. It was a really great day and it was also our Christmas gift to each other. We plan to take Megan to see the movie for a second time on her 21st birthday which is coming up shortly.

On Christmas morning, I went outside in my jammies to take a photo of the full moon. It was beautiful, but my poor photography skills only allowed me to capture this blurry white light shining through the pines.

On Christmas Day we got a visit from our neighbor and his two kids. I had little gifts for them and they gave us a bag of some potpourri that made the house smell like a Christmas tree.

The little girl sat with me in the kitchen and watched me make an apple pie while her little brother pretty much ran all through the house getting Zoey a bit over-excited. His hands were all over the walls as he went around corners asking a million questions. "What's in here? What's this? What's that?" 

A few hours later, some family came to visit and we enjoyed the apple pie I had made earlier. Again, we had another young'n running around the house touching the walls with not just hands, but with feet too. I wondered if we had any extra wall paint. Zoey again was over stimulated.

After they left, Zoey conked out on the sofa, I scrubbed the prints off the walls and got started making sauce and meatballs for our Christmas spaghetti dinner. While it simmered on the stove, we watched a movie and snacked on cheese and crackers. 

I hope everyone had a nice holiday without too much stress or drama. We won't be hitting the stores for all the sales and madness that today brings. Instead we'll be working in the yard removing some very prickly holly bushes. Peace out.

Steampunk Sunday and some good finds.

Aether: The Rise of Specter, proof of concept film has been released. It's a little over 8 minutes long and it gives you an idea (maybe?) of what the director was/is hoping to achieve. You can see the video HERE. Megan can be seen walking down the steps at 1:36 (green coat), followed by Chris at 1:40 (carrying suitcase), and Chris can be seen again drinking a glass of wine at 3:40. If you make it past that point I will be impressed. Although we are hoping that the film gets picked up, that possibly there may be more work for Chris (maybe prop-wise?) and/or as an extra, we're not sure the concept is clear enough for the general public to grasp. Chris has been trying to promote it at his booth during conventions, but there's not that much interest. These scenes were all filmed locally near Mobile at Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island.

In other news, I've been finding some good stuff lately at yard sales. I rarely have to venture out of my development these days as there's always a bunch of sales within a 5 mile radius of where I live which is nice.

We went to an estate sale on Friday and I scored these size 15, brand new Dingo ankle boots for $5. The cashier asked me if I actually knew anybody who was a size 15. I said "no" and didn't elaborate. I was hoping they were worth $125, but sadly they are not. Still, I think I can sell them for a nice profit.




Yesterday, just down the street from where I live, I got a box of flatware for $5. I spied what I thought was Danish modern flatware in the box. It was marked "Ekco" and "Eterna" and "Japan." I got home to the computer and after a few mouse clicks I found out that this pattern is called "Canoe Muffin" (which is the strangest name I've ever heard of), but apparently it was quite collectible a few years ago and, if I'm lucky, I'll fetch a tidy sum for my lot. Let's hope.

Also in the box was some flatware that I almost threw out because it felt cheap. After some research I found out it's called Old Homestead and it's worth a few bucks, so I listed it.

Another little find mixed in was this little spoon. It's made in Germany and has the Lufthansa logo on the handle. It's always fun to find a little extra treasure in a box of mixed up stuff.

At another sale, I bought a bag of Littlest Pet Shop animals for just $5. I listed these at auction yesterday and have 6 watchers already. Do you know that there's a rare little brown dachshund LPS figure that sells for $300? Apparently there are fakes being made, so beware. I didn't seem to have any super rare pets in this lot, so I listed them all together. Hopefully the bids will add up to a nice sale.

Last week at a thrift store, I paid $5 for this Klafrestrom Swedish enameled cast iron dish. It weighs 5 freakin pounds! Who would want to cook with something this heavy? I listed it on Etsy but something tells me this may be a hard sell.

I also scored this big vintage picnic basket for just one dollar. I washed it and sprayed it down with bug spray before bringing it in the house. I'm keeping it because it will be great for storage.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I'm trying to declutter my home, my mind and my life. For me to keep something I've bought at a yard sale is a big decision these days. Sometimes I'll hang on to it for a while until I'm over the excitement of having it and then I'll sell it. I continue to edit my possessions on a daily basis. The less I have around, the better I feel, the easier it is to clean and maintain my home and the less I have to worry about losing in a hurricane or decide who to leave it all to when I pass on. Seriously, my daughter doesn't want any of my crap. I really don't miss any possessions I've parted with, except maybe all the garden tools we sold back in PA. 

There is a lot written about decluttering, organizing, minimalism and all that related kind of stuff. I found an article online that goes against that grain. It's called, Let's Celebrate the Art of Clutter and you can read it HERE. It's kind of funny and I totally understand where the writer is coming from, but I think more and more people are going the other way. Really, you can't take it with you when you go and whether she likes it or not, her kids are going to sell her crap and take the money instead.

Relax and have a simple Sunday.
:-)

Steampunk Sunday. It's a wrap!

Shooting for the movie Aether wrapped up on Thursday night. It was a long three days for hubby and Megan, but they were happy to have had the experience of being on a real movie set. 

From what I have gathered, Aether is a steampunk "inspired" scifi story. Aether is a gas that apparently caused a city to rise up into the sky, The people living there consider themselves special because of this, so they are kind of an elite or upper class. They arrive to this arena via an airship (a blimp type thing) and visit a bazaar, indulge in gross overeating and then watch a fight. This 3 day shoot is for a "prologue" of the movie which will be used for fund raising for the full version or for perhaps a TV series, so it's not something that will be in theaters anytime soon I guess.

Here are some photos hubby and Megan took behind the scenes.

The man in the foreground is a guard.
He wears a big metal helmet which you can see in the next photo.

Between takes, Megan was drawing and some of the other extras were looking on.

The cast after second day of filming.

This was the bazaar scene.

Megan on the set.

Hubby posing with another extra.

For the feasting scene they brought in a ten legged turkey!

Megan had to go in for hair and makeup on day 3. She was not happy about it, but she handled it like a trooper.

They frizzed out her hair!

They shaved hubby's beard in a weird way, twisted it up and added glitter!

This is my favorite picture. This beautiful girl was 6'2" tall and wearing 8" spike heels.
She towered over hubby. She played a sywren (siren), a character that sells drugs to the attendees.
Hubby said standing next to her was like standing next to an avatar, except she wasn't blue. lol.

And this was the last scene that was shot. It was a fight scene. There was no mat for the final take.
If you watch the video below (that was taken by an on-set photographer), it's pretty good!

On the last day, hubby and Megan were asked if they wanted their info kept on file in case they needed extras for another movie. They said "Sure!" Frame 29 Films has a studio right here in Mobile, Alabama and the director, Drew Hall is doing what he can to promote more film making in this area. The studio even has a huge green screen. Perhaps there is work here for Megan after all once she graduates. Let's hope!

Have a great Sunday!