Eric Clapton & B.B. King- Riding With The King

A week or so ago Randy's mom gave us a box of CDs. There were some great CDs in there (Eric Clapton and B B King... Riding With The King; example above) that we kept but many we chose not to keep... so off we went to the CD/DVD exchange store.

Now I don't know if you ever have tried to swap CDs or not. Our experience has been that we did not get much credit up P'land way. It absolutely blew my mind that the CDs that we did not want gave us $90 in credit! What a great treat! We went a bit nuts... he took off one way and I took off the other. We met in between and walked away with a good deal of great entertainment that included music videos, movies and CDs. Randy was able to replace his stolen Boris the Spider, long missed. (We have a big black spider that hangs in the shop named Boris and no he is not real or I would not be in the shop!)

So today in the spirit of giving and sharing... I give you a real treat... that I hope loaded well enough for you all to enjoy. Take a bit of time to go riding with the King! Meanwhile, I'll be watching Ian Anderson leaping and hopping about as he sings and plays the flute. Very cool beans, my friends.

News flash... Congratulations to daBear on another semester of top grades! WOOT! I'm soooo proud of you!

Snoopy vs. The Red Baron (Snoopy's Christmas) (CC)

Ha! My dad was a great Peanuts fan and my childhood Christmas always had this song in it. I thought you all might get a kick out of it.

Yikes! I've been working my fanny off. This past week it's been one customer after another and a line behind, all day long. I've been coming home and dropping like a rock.

But today its time for another Christmas tradition... baking cookies! "Fuzzy" has finished toys for all my grandkids and I've got to whip up some cookies to accompany them to daBear's. This is the first Christmas that I will not be with my kids since they were born. It is imparitive that they at least have my cookies there.

Not that I was a big baker when I had my kids. I think Christmas time was about it for goodies for them. Maybe a pie or cheese cake at Thanksgiving. My mother did not bake goodies at all. That's what Lock's Bakery was for.

In fact, C4C will recall this memory of Lock's Bakery (I don't think it was truly spelled this way, but that was how it was said.) When we were in our bizarre little private school, we had a variety of ages of students and we all did things together. C4C and I were on the upper end of the ages, though truth be told she was likely more mature than me, even if I was older.

Our school was temporarily settled in a fun area of town with lots of shops and places to eat. Lock's Bakery did as many bakeries have done over the years and gave cookies to kids. I'm sure you've done that... go shopping with your mom and get a cookie from the nice lady behind the counter. Hey... she gave you a cookie and that's proof of nice!

Someone of us, and I could not recall who, suddenly recalled the free cookies at the bakery and off a small division of us set for sugary sweet treats. Now there were two brothers who attended our school. J and T were total opposites. One was tall and dark and the other was short and blond with cute little chubby cheeks. A cherib of a boy. But don't let that fool you.

Locks Bakery was a neighborhood bakery that had been well established for many years. It was filled with grandma like blue haired ladies, looking very prim and proper. Some of us did our thing and were turning to go after polite thank yous. There back lit by the sun streaming in through sparkling windows were J and T. Mischief lit up their faces and I was compelled to stop and watch whatever was about to happen. T pulled a small plastic package and ripped it open, letting the smaller part that ripped off drop to the clean floor. A few drops of moisture leaked out as he pulled the rubber from its wrapper and proceeded to blow it up like a balloon... there in the middle of the bakery floor with blue haired grannie types and hoity toity patrons gasping in horror.

I admit that I covered my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. But it was that nervous laughter that you know means that someone is going to be in trouble laugh. Not that I did not clutch onto C4C outside and give it a good belly laugh. The look on those ladies faces.

However, as it happens in life, there are natural consequences for what we do and the result of that folly was the loss of free cookies! That was a crying shame.

Not much of a Christmas tale, but I know it will make C4C laugh and let's face it... we can all use a good laugh this stressful time of year. For the rest of you all I can do is tell you that I am baking cookies today... so close your eyes and think of your favorite Christmas goodie that screamed Christmas in your head. Was it the smell of ginger bread (cookies or loaf)? Was it sugar cookies iced with frosting and shiny sugar bits and balls? Was it Snickerdoodles? How about a still warm brownie with melty chocolate chunks? YUM.

Today... a day off for me... but not an idle day. I have many folk to bake for this year and this batch has to get into UPS soon if it will reach my grandkids and kids on time. No rest for the wicked... or was that the weary? No matter, I'm a bit of both. Big grins everyone!

FESTIVITIES

Yes... the Ducks are going to the national play off game! Yay! Yay! YaY!

Oh my, what a fun game to watch. By the time we finally got home after watching the game and later festivities... Randy was horse from cheering.

Yesterday was a gas. I got up, put on my "Duck" shirt with the fighting mad Donald Duck on it and off we trotted to T and K's for the game. Great fun... BBQ hot sausage, brats and burgers, dips, deviled eggs, and goodies galore!

If you follow college football, then you already know that we won our civil war and will go to the national play-off game. We hoped that Auburn would lose and we could play TCU but that did not happen. So Auburn will clash with the Ducks. Now all we have to do is wait for Jan. 10th to roll around.

Watching the game there is always fun. Interesting folk show up, everyone is happy and united on the same side. It was a rare beautiful day here without rain, so I spent much of my time on the patio. The living room gets crowded and loud.

You know at gatherings there is often someone who is a yakker... perhaps with a bit too much to drink... and past regrets to vent. That person found me. So much for the serenity of my beautiful day, watching the game in a quieter place. I could have gotten up and gone inside. I could have ignored her or been out right rude in response. I listened instead. I don't know why.

Once the game was over and all the joy began to settle back into normal, I thought I was going to escape and go home. Wrong. Somehow, someway, we got talked into going bowling... which is funny because C4C just went bowling with her kids.

I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE GONE BOWLING. Of course I sucked. Big time. I ended up with a 66... and a big portion of that was an accidental strike. But I did laugh a lot and had a great time throwing gutter balls. I tried looking for the Dude or Sam Elliot but neither of them showed up, not even Walter. And unbelievably, they did not serve white russians! But on the flip side, no "Chinaman" peed on any one's rug. You have to look for silver linings sometimes.

I expect today to be a nice quiet day. I have it off too. Randy is still snoozing. This is my quiet time. I'm hoping that he will take me to get a tree today. Which is where my Christmas head is right now. Buy a nice tree. Then make ornaments for it. Randy doesn't have anything at all... his ex got all the tree trimming stuff and I left mine for Max and Squeaky.

So here's the Christmas Count Down Question... What was your favorite tree trimming thing? Was it a big deal with hot cocoa and the family gathered together or what? I knew one family that threw tensile at the tree... I mean that literally. They stood back about 5 feet and threw hand fulls of it at the tree and it stayed where it landed. My favorite was stringing Trix cereal to hang on the tree like popcorn. Its much more colorful. And of course you have to cherish the things your kids make to hang on it. That is a given. So tell us... what is your favorite Christmas tree connection?

Big grins everybody!

LISTS

Today is my "independence day"... my one year anniversary of my divorce. Wow, it sure went fast.

Back to Christmas... Santa has a list. Are you on the naughty or nice list?

"Dear Santa,

Here is my wish list:
1) A warm friendly puppy.
2- 20) See above.

Love,
Anandagirl

What's on your Dear Santa list this year?

On the home front, gearing up for the civil war...Benny the Beaver hangs by the fireplace in his noose, tied with care. Duck Tracks ice cream (peanut butter, chocolate and caramel in vanilla) is vanishing from my freezer. MMMMmmmmm...

I am still coming home to be spoiled. Last night a BBQ burger, chips and dip followed later by the Duck Tracks.

My wipers went kaput. I drove home to the sound of screeching wiper blade on glass, very similar to finger nails on blackboard. Randy drove to the store and got replacements, stood out in the rain with a flashlight and replaced them for me,
then filled my washer fluid that had run dry. What an angel!

Get into the Christmas spirit... leave us a Dear Santa or tell us if you've been naughty or nice. (Sometimes I think naughty is nice. ;-) Hee hee.)

Big grins everyone!

Christmas count down

Okay... first day of the true holiday season for Christmas. So everyday until the big day, I will try and bring a bit of Christmas spirit to Funch.

Today's cheer is an easy one. Our store and the Maries have gotten together for a Toys for Tots drive. Yesterday, all day long, I rang up toys, toys, toys! I was so impressed by how many people came in just to buy toys for that good purpose. And not just small purchases that were cheap. People truly dipped into their pockets. Children came in with their savings to buy and give. Amazing. It was an exhausting but blessed day.

Gotta go get ready to do it again now. I hope this season brings you all joy and peace.

Let the games begin!

Today is the official start of our "Civil War Week". For those of you not familair with U of O football, this is the week leading up to our big game with the other major Oregon football team, the Oregon State Beavers. A very big game for O fans. Emotions run high and everyone shows their colors... parties are planned... and football leads most conversation as you shop, etc.

Last Friday I was dissapointed that I had to miss the Duck game. Randy taped it for me and stopped watching himself at the half so that he would have surprises when we watched together as soon as I got home.

That of course was Black Friday. It was busy and I was exhausted by the non stop ringing up and bagging. How many times can you say "Did you find everything you were looking for today?" and not sound like a robot?

The funny thing was that at a quarter to four, it stopped dead. The game was about to begin. People were pouring chips into bowls and popping the tops on beer all over town. Meanwhile I suffered a weird let down of sorts. As I said, it was an exhausting and busy pace all day long until that moment. Time flew by but by four o'clock, each and every minute was at least ten minutes long. Normally, my last two hours go fast and I feel elated that I am about to go home at last. This time, it took forever to get to the point where I could remove my till and count it out.

The drive home, which involves a trip through a busy part of town and a freeway looked more like it was three A M than six thirty P M. No cars. I sat at red lights and seriously considered driving through them since no other cars shared the road. As I neared my exit... which is also the Autzen Stadium exit... there was a big sign telling me that it was closed for football traffic. That put me a ways past my house and a bit of back tracking to get there. Several homes have their lights up, so at least I had pretty things to look at.

For some reason I had it in my head that I'd be working through the civil war game. Crap! Then last night Randy pointed out that I have that day off. YAY! I can hardly wait. For my birthday, T and K gave me a nice Duck shirt... which I will wear that day. You gotta show your colors right?

Mom and Ron are going to take tickets at the game in the VIP section. They earn money for their charity doing this. Mom is a Duck fan and poor Ron, is a Beaver fan.
I think we are all feeling sorry for Ron at this point. The Beavers are going down.
Not that it won't be a heck of a game. It will. Too much emotion and history are in this game. Look what happened to BSU this weekend. We don't want to count our ducklings too much before they hatch! But I do believe!

Meanwhile, I will work. Sigh. In fact, I have to go suit up now. So have a great day everyone. I hope you do something that you enjoy today and that many smiles grace your face. Big grins!

Black Friday

Ugh. Black Friday.

I get up very early every day, so its not the getting up early thing that bugs me about Black Friday. Its the idea that stores are this greedy to get a leg up on each other. Its nuts to shop before your brain can wake up... but as the news on TV airs behind me... I can see them there, brain dead and shopping.

My Turkey Day was nice. We went to Randy's mom's. Not a large showing, just us and Ron's step-son and wife and an older neighbor of theirs who was alone.

The food of course was good. Typical fare... green beans, salad, yams, turkey, ham, gravy and mashed potatoes. Goody wise there were pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie and someone made a great blackberry cobbler that was all warm with a dollip of ice cream on top. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm. Randy ate enough of the cobbler to feed three of me and not much diner. He was saving space for the after Thanksgiving supper turkey sandwich. You know, the one that calls to you from the kitchen until you give in and eat it.

We left without my purse. OKAY... I left without my purse. Which was a problem because they live about an hour and a half away and I didn't figure it out until we were home again. Randy said he would go get it when he got up today. Unfortunately, it's Black Friday and like all retail workers, I have to work today. The card that I swipe to open my register is in my purse. Well, crap.

Randy is such a sweetie that he didn't get mad or rant about how could I do that?
Instead, he called his mom to confirm the purse was truly still sitting on their hall table... it was... and they agreed to bring it to me this morning before I leave for work. They have to have Randy help them install a stove in their rental here today anyway.

Other news:

On the birthday front, it was a nice one. Randy gave me my wedding ring set. His mom remarried a few years ago ( they met on eharmony too) and so she had the set that she used while married to Randy's dad, who passed away a couple of years before she met Ron. Randy is going to wear his dad's ring and I will wear his mom's. How cool is that? The rings get to stay together... you could make a cartoon movie about that couldn't you? You know, how the rings were separated and lonely, one in a jewelery box and the other locked up in a cold dark safe, missing each other desperately! Hee hee. I'm happy with it anyway. I think its very special.

His mom also gave me Randy's great grandmother's service for 12 china set, three casserole dishes and a George Forman Grill.

As for work, it goes well. I have been working a lot of hours and come home beat.
I am thankful for my job. But it does wear me out. All that bending and lifting , bagging and scanning while standing on your feet in one spot all day... ugh.

However, when I walk in my front door, there is a fire cracklng in the fireplace, a hot meal ready to be eaten, a frosty drink and a man who tells me how much he has missed me then gives me a welcome home kiss. Sigh... I love it.

So off I go to cater to the insane people who choose to shop on Black Friday (I would hide at home in bed if I could). I leave with a little black cloud over my head. Not because it will be crazy, though it will and not because I will miss Randy... because I won't get off until the Ducks are in the third quarter of their game with Arizona today. CRAP!

Randy will tape it for me. But you know that's not the same thing as watching it live. Oh well, things could always be worse. I will be thankful for the good life I have and grateful to be home when that time comes anyway. I hope you have a great day and my advice is... stay home and don't feed the greed!