I didn't have any extra arms to stop last night at the Pick 'n Save after stopping at Walgreens and TJ Maxx, so I walked down today, there and back by 1:30 p.m. What a mob scene! You would have thought the world is forecast to come to an end at midnight tonight, and everyone is determined to die stuffed full of their favorite foods and liquor! Geez. I gamely fought my way through crowded aisles, ignorning as best I could screaming infants, obnoxious children running all over and climbing over everything who never seem to belong to anyone, and doddering elderly. I have nothing against the doddering elderly. I am probably only about 20 years or so away from being a doddering elderly myself, having succumbed to my 59th birthday in August but, darlings, really. It just is not polite to block an entire aisle designed for two carts to pass each other with room to spare when you only have one cart!
Anyway, today was positively balmy, high of 38 degrees F. I could have waited for the pouring-buckets rain that has been beating against the house from the east since about 2:00 p.m. to just melt the snow out of my driveway, but I dutifully got out there this morning and shoveled it away, thinking that the temperature was going to drop a lot more rapidly than it did. Well, I got a good workout anyway with the shoveling and the hike to and from the Pick 'n Save. Good news on that front - Roundy's purchased the lot across the street where my favorite Sentry store used to be but closed years ago. They also bought out a Popeye's and a Ponderosa Steak House which have been torn down. the Sentry complex will soon follow, I expect. A brand spanking new mega Pick 'n Save will be built and it will cut off a full three blocks from my walk (one way). I am SO happy! The mega-marts are gigantic and loaded with everything. It will be a thrill to shop in one - I love the one near downtown Milwaukee with its wine bar and gourmet salad/pizza/etc. bar. Want to shop 15 different kinds of fresh olives? Mega-Mart has them.
I was sooo relieved to get back home lugging my groceries (including my own emergency supply of cheap pink wine), and I didn't have to play race the clock to avoid freezing feet, hands, cheeks (the face cheeks, people) and nose. Ahhhh, I love these December thaws. It was a wonderful slow stroll and I only had to stop occasionally to wipe my drippy nose (it doesn't deal well with temperatures below 50 F). I had some in-shell nuts in my pockets and I tossed them to several squirrels I saw along the way.
But too much rain - enough already. I'm surprised I haven't seen flash flood warnings. Nope - instead, I've got the local news on now - we have been upgraded from a "winter storm warning" to a BLIZZARD WARNING. Great, just great. As the storm front moves east, looks like my area will start to experience sleet and then snow with sustained winds of 30 mph and higher sometime around midnight. Yep, the end of the world as we know it... I am prepared. I am going to make a batch of JAN'S KILLER BROWNIES TONIGHT using my patented secret recipe :))) That's not a triple big smile - those are my two double chins that I've earned from eating my patented secret recipe brownies. Fortunately, we won't get the worst of it - only between 4 to 7 inches of snow. Areas to the north will get hammered as the wind shifts around.
I never have understood how the wind can be pounding rain from the east off Lake Michigan if the storm system is approaching from the west, but so it goes.
I promised 'Sis that I would take some photos of my christmas tree. I tried some last week but they didn't turn out at all. I think the tree is pretty, but now I am regretting not taking the time to put the gold bead garlands all around. And, contrary to my best intentions, I did purchase four more ornaments this year. As punishment, I had a hell of a time trying to find a spot to tuck them in on the tree, LOL! But they were so pretty and such a deal (T.J. Maxx) - 4 of them for $5.99. I could not resist.
Let's see how they turned out --
Right now the top-most branch is draped in faux pearls and gold beading which looks pretty impressive in person but doesn't do jack-squat in this photo. My tree skirt isn't - it's a couple of curtain panels I made years ago that have been stashed in the linen closet forever since I changed the decor of the living room (wherein said tree is located). I found them in the linen closet and since they match colors in the furniture and area rugs I put them into service, scrunched up around the base of the tree. I have shopped and shopped for a tree skirt but I refuse, absolutely refuse, to pay $30 for one on sale. Red and green won't coordinate - my tree is wine-colored (or maroon, if you must) and gold, with a large accompaniment of crystal and pearl-adorned ornaments. The tree skirt must be cream-colored, or gold, or wine (or maroon). Try and find a reasonably priced, properly colored tree skirt! When I retire, which will be in about - well, never mind, probably never given the way the economy and my 401(k) is going, I may take up sewing again.
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