QuidNunc/QuidTunc?

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Every morning Joel’s phone alarm goes off about 3:00. He shuts it off and gets dressed and goes and picks up the papers at a nearby convenience store. I haul myself out of bed, knowing that if I don’t, he gets more of the workload. I pull on my snowpants and a sweater. We come down to the kitchen. I often have a small glass of warm milk for my tummy. He brings in all these packages of papers anywhere from 4 to 9 depending on how many inserts there are, and we spend the next half hour slipping them into bags. There are around 160 on Mondays through Fridays and about 15 more on Saturdays. We stuff them into a greenhouse crate we used to use for grasses and cloth shopping bags. I get a little bottle of water with soda in it, again for my tummy(!), and between 3:30 and 4:00 we head out into the night. Most of the time we have the roads to ourselves. We see lots of bunnies and today I said, “Let’s count them!” and we saw only one more in the next hour! They must have heard me. I think we saw a fox one night. Lots of times cats are on the prowl. As we start no one is up that we can see, but as we get into the farms there is the occasional barn with lights on and we know that the day has started there as well. There are a few customers that we deliver right to the door as they are unable to get it otherwise. At one place I get out and walk up to the porch and Joel delivers to the next house and turns around and comes and picks me up. I get a little powerwalk in then! We do a lot of driving through farm country and then head back to the developments. One place we both get out and walk down different sides of the median, so that is another breath of fresh air!  We deliver at apartments near our house and unless someone spells out exactly which one it is, it is almost impossible to find the right one in the dark. There is one neighborhood I call the fruity neighborhood because it has ‘Apricot, strawberry, raspberry. lemon and date’ for names. At the end of one row of townhouses a man signaled to us and told us never to back up in his parking space again. Joel doesn’t usually, but this morning it was empty and it is a tight little parking lot and there was that space, because the guy was at the end of the lot waiting for us to come out. He told us a different paper carrier had run into his car and refused to pay for the damages, so he has a sore spot. At another development there is a woman who is a midget. I have seen her from time to time since we moved here. But she is out walking by 5:00 in the morning. She startled Joel one time. Another time I saw her and said, “Hey, you’re up with the paper carriers!” And then relized my voice must be pretty loud in the dark and quiet neighborhood!

We finish and come home and make our coffee and have our breakfast and read our Bibles. Sometimes Joel makes a fire. Then he walks to work and the day is begun! I try to stay awake and then take a nap in the early afternoon. then I’m perky when he comes home and he has been awake for a long time and would just like a shower and a nap! And then some supper. We try to be in bed by 9 at the evening so we can do it all again the next day!

Okay, all my exciting news is that “we” have a new job. I really didn’t feel up to working yet, so Joel found an early morning paper route. So we get up at 3:oo AM, bag papers, jump in the car and go deliver together! My kind husband is doing this for me. People ask if it is hard to get up then. Lots of nights we stir around then, and sometimes, lay awake for a couple hours. Now, I’m doing something then instead of lying there thinking about how long it is going to be until I am asleep again! It’s a lot harder to wake up then and fall back to sleep for an hour and then wake up at 6 to get ready to go again. Plus, we get a free paper!

Joel’s invitation to write Christmas memories has been fun. It’s helped the mailbox, too. Luisa came home on Friday and went to Jeannette’s on Monday. I had to watch the girl movies I got for us by myself. I watched Les Choristes . Maybe that’s not a girl movie. It was interesting to watch it after listening to the soundtrack I got for her. I think I like the music on the soundtrack even better.

I’ve been trotting around trying to make my house look cozy and warm. Whatch’all having for C-mas dinner?? We are traditional about being untraditional, but we did decide some time ago that Italian fish tastes a whole lot better than Swedish fish…. at least until the Swedes decided to switch to candy. We had duck one year for the fun of it. There was a farm close by that sold it. I saw another place not far from here selling duck. Maybe tomorrow I will feel adventuresome. right now, I feel like going to bed. I keep thinking one of these days I will sit here long enough to figure out how to post a pic.

The library books are very interesting.

I went to the library on Saturday , after going to the doctor’s, just in case I’d get stuck in the house and I’d want a good book to read. I was looking for something specific, but didn’t find them. That always happens to me. It’s sort of like shopping. You can always find something you like if you don’t have something specific in mind! I am not quite sure what I was thinking about, but in my foray in the basement of the library I came up with a book by Barbara Corcoran , who is a NYC real estate guru, a book about a New England town reclaiming their commons, a book about how the alphabet was formed, a book on Greek terms used in the NT, and, alas, a Latin book that I wanted to further peruse, and a book by Bill Buckley. I love Bill Buckley. He’s like a verbose roller coaster ride! I don’t feel the least committed to reading every word in every book, but enough to fill my interest!

Sam just walked in filthy dirty. I said , “What were you doing today?” He said, “He (his boss!) tackled me first!” Well, they were working in the muddy field. Then he told me how caked with dirt his face was and looking at his shiny face I wondered for just a second. A place equipped with hoses every twenty feet……. can you guess??

I guess it’s time to soak some jeans.

On Wednesday, the first Big Snow of the year (enough to cause accidents and school closings), I took my Floridian Mother-inlaw to the doctor. The appointment had been made for some time and to change it would have taken her to June to be seen. It was a lovely day actually, it was just so funny that of all people to go out with , it was her! We actually did better than I thought. She got herself in and out of the car, in the wheelchair and out. A couple of times coming out of the car I had to pull on her arm, nicely, of course. She is a frail piece of work. The roads were pretty clear, but getting snowy by the time we went back. The main roads were just wet. She thought it was so far, and normally, it is about a half an hour, but we got where we were going on time with all the proper papers, which is a big thing, and the doctor took care of all the troubles she went to him with, so she doesn’t have to think about it till June, and then who know? I might be awfully busy running between babies!

Joel and I came home with a sore throat and a cold. He started falling apart Saturday evening. He started sneezing upon shifting into Park as soon as we got home! so we have been staying “IN”, at least since the aforementioned trip. We had a really busy October and November. December hasn’t stacked up so thickly, which is kind of nice. We can light the fire and grab a book.

I think I am hearing Judy Collins on public radio! Wonders never cease.

I just don’t know how to pick up from where I left off. I loved being around Calhouns after not seeing some for 30 or 40 years. It made my childhood seem real to me. I would tell my husband and children that I had all these relatives on my dad’s side and it was hardly believable. When we said good-bye to Uncle John , he said, “Hey, now I’m your step-dad!” And I said, “Yeah, and we’ll listen to you just like we did Dad!” It was great seeing Johnson relatives, too, but there are not such big gaps there and family reunions have made them real to my gang. I always want to know when we pass the Sturgis exit when we travel through Indiana. Last summer I think I slept through it and I felt bereft. We stopped at Nana and Bapa’s graves once and I always think we will again, but we are making tracks as we go by and the only sentimentality I can eke out is waving at Sturgis as we go by. Maybe next time we’ll just take an extra day and go ’sightseeing’. Just to make sure I didn’t make it all up.

Yesterday JN got a Martha Stewart magazine. I’m afraid we’re both fans since we stumbled on  her Thanksgiving special about 20 years ago. We drooled. Today I picked up pine cones and gum balls and JN painted them. I have started a little village on my mantle and I am going to add some ‘trees’. Then I worked on my Advent calendar which is a gold paper chain with fun Christmas things to do on it. Here are a few and then I’m outta here.

1. Paint pine cones (and I got JN to do it for me!)

2. Put up outside lights

3. Bake Christmas cookies

4. Local concert

5. Put up garlands

6. Make a sundae on Sunday

7. Watch a Christmas movie

8. Have friends over for supper

9. Write the Christmas letter

10. Have a family soup/game night

11. Christmas Eve has its special place. We are allowed by the family grocery shopper to eat Junk Cereal. No one ever forgets that!

hmmm… sounds like so much fun, maybe I will do it in January, too . Have to do something about those winter blues!