A couple of swell days...

The last of the Christmas decorations came down today, i.e. the outside lights and the wreath on the door. All went swimmingly, until I tried to put the plastic bin full of lights up on the shelf in the garage. It slipped out of my hand and went crashing to the floor. The contents scattered, and the bin shattered along with my nerves and my patience. I said things I regret, and my darling Jill took the brunt of it. To her credit, she didn't respond to my outburst, and she readily forgave me after I apologized.

Yesterday was a completely different affair. We awoke to about an inch of snow on the ground. Jill had been following the weather reports on TV, and she learned that there was flooding at the junction of Hwy 43 and Interstate 205. After some research, we concluded that there was no tie up on the freeway, so we decided to proceed with our plan to drive to Monmouth for a belated Christmas celebration with our son and daughter-in-law.

We left the house about 8:30 AM and picked up Mom. Then we headed south. There was snow on the ground and on the neighborhood streets, but the thoroughfares were clear. We had a pleasant drive, and arrived at Patrick and Katie's home about 10:40. It was fun to just "hang out" with the kids. Mom had never seen their apartment before and was duly impressed. It is a cute place. After we exchanged a few gifts, we went to the Ragin' River Steak House for lunch. This is not a restaurant that could be accused of having "sudden service," but the food was worth the wait.

On the way back to the house, we stopped at the school where Patrick teaches 7th grade math. I was so glad that "Gramma" got to see where Pat works. She is so proud of him, and it made it all more real for her to see where he works.

We headed home about 3:45 and found the traffic to be quite "doable." When we got to Mom's house, she invited us in for cocktails, and we had a lovely visit. It was after nine before we got home. All in all it was a lovely day.

In fact, in retrospect, today was quite lovely, too. We began with a counseling session at the church. When we returned home, we started to review our budget priorities for the new year. Somehow, we ended up rearranging the furniture in the living room. The new arrangement de-emphasizes the piano and makes the room seem much larger. So far, we are very pleased with it.

The new living room prompted a trip to Fred Meyer for some accessories. That jaunt became a hunt for new drapery panels that took us to five stores. We found some that we liked, but they were either out of stock or had features that don't work for our space, so the hunt will continue. The day is wrapping up now with a delicious dinner that Jill concocted out of left over pesto pasta and some veggies and chicken thighs. This woman can cook, and I have the pot belly to prove it!!