Christmas Mischief and Mishaps

Anything I would post about seems so frivilous after hearing the news from Connecticut yesterday.
I watched the coverage and was actually disgusted by the reporters asking for interviews from the children and their parents. I think they could have used a little more compassion.

I watched the interview with the teacher who locked her kids in the bathroom. What a brave, compassionate young woman. She is a true hero and if I had kids I would want her to be their teacher.

Anyway, I did write a post about my Christmas decoration progress today. If you want to escape the sadness for a few minutes read on:

I am finally getting down to decorating the condo for Christmas.  Last weekend, I decorated the mantle in the dining room but I am still tweaking it.  Tonight, I worked on the fireplace in the living room. It really doesn't take me long to decorate the condo since it's a small space.

This week I had a little mishap and it set me back on my decorating. On Tuesday, I fell in the parking lot where I work and I broke my nose. I tumbled feet flying behind me and I crashed onto the concrete face first. Well, first my knee then my hands then my nose and my forehead. What a bloody mess! I had my first ambulance ride and I spent about 3 hours in the emergency room.

I am one lucky girl. I did not have a concussion although I hit my head and I didn't break my kneecap although I hit my knee before breaking my nose. Just a broken nose, sore knee and facial cuts.
I think I have a guardian angel. It could have been so much worse!

Back to the fun stuff. I have a prelit garland that I use on the fireplace in the living room. This year I dressed it up with some gold leaves, gold pinecones and strands of gold beads. I wanted it to really shimmer.

I took about 10 seconds after I'd finished the fireplace for Percy to investigate. I think he can read, he went right to the stocking with his name on it. I should have known shimmery things would attract a curious cat.

How long do you think the garland will last on the fireplace? I am guessing not even 24 hours.

Right now he is back to resting on the cable box so hopefully he's done sniffing around. I'll let you know how it goes.

Can I get a weekend do- over?

It's been a long time since I had a three day weekend. So this weekend I treated myself to one.

In my prior post, I mentioned that on Friday I spent a wonderful day with my friend Lori Lee. She lives in New Hampshire so we don't see each other that often. We spent the day shopping and eating, shopping and eating! It was sort of a mini vacation.

Saturday I slept late. I had no morning obligations. No charity teas to plan, no homebuyer fair booths to man, no participation in any city trivia bees, nothing work related at all. After getting about 9 hours of sleep, I woke up refreshed and planning to do a few errands, a little cleaning,
and a nursing home visit to see my mom.

Well, I did the errands and got the nursing home visit in. After that I decided to go shopping for my mom's day gift. I knew what I wanted and where to get it. I could have gone to the closest store which is in the next town to me but no. The store two towns away is bigger and better so I was headed there. I entered the interstate and passed a few exits when suddenly, disaster!



On a perfectly sunny day I cracked up my car. I was in the slow lane, thank God! Traffic was merging to go onto another route and I was trying to get out of their way by switching lanes. While I was looking in the mirror to see if I could enter the second lane, someone, three cars in front of me evidently jammed on their brakes. They drove off unaware of the chain reaction accident that they just created. The second car then stopped, forcing the car in front of me to swerve to avoid hitting her. I didn't know she had stopped but I saw her once the guy in front of me swerved off the road. Of course, I hit her.

I wasn't going that fast. But I hit that car with quite a force. I have an SUV. A crunching sound, then my airbag deployed, a popping sound, then the airbag hit me in the chest, and then a chemical smell and the bag deflated. I thought I had smoke inside and outside of the vehicle. But it was just powder from the airbag. The smoke outside, my radiator had been punctured.

The witness, the guy who swerved, asked me if I was ok and asked the woman I hit if she was ok. We both were shaken but able to walk. Her passenger was saying she was ok but she didn't want to move. She had neck pain.

Well the photos tell all. My car took the brunt of the damage. Her car had less damage. On mine, the bumper came off, the hood collapsed. I think there must be damage to the frame, and the air conditioner and obviously the radiator. We'll have to see what the insurance adjuster says.

Her damage: her back door wouldn't open, the muffler fell off, but her car stood up really well. I have to say mine did too because I walked away from the accident with just bruises and soreness. It could have been so much worse.

So like in the movie Groundhog Day, I would like to do over Saturday. I would go to the store closest to my home, I wouldn't get on the highway. I would have a present for my mother for Mother's Day, my sister would not have to be my taxi driver, my friend Don wouldn't have to disrupt his plans to pick me up at a towing station. I wouldn't have to worry about deductibles, insurance claims, car rentals, and a possible car payment again!

And I could get back to my mini vacation where I can stop and smell the wisteria!