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I really should be locked up somewhere where there are no stores during the Fall and Winter season!! Shopping this time of year has become a fixation for me. Especially around these holidays. From Halloween up until Christmas, the stores have so many wonderful things!! Y’all know I collect Santas. “Tree top” Santas are my favorite. Well, you’d think anyway. I have this kind the most. But, I have hundreds. And walking around the stores this week, I was checking out all of the Christmas displays and looking at the Santas. Thing is, most of what they have anymore are near duplicate of what I have already. While walking out of one store, I walked past the wall display of tree ornaments. That was a mistake. A BIG mistake. I saw a glass Santa. Hmmmmm, had to have it. Ya, like I need it! Geez. So then, as I had that in my hot little hand, I spied a beautiful red fox ornament. [I didn't get it tho, but I will go back there soon, and if they do have it, it's gonna be mine.] I then spied a cute little frog with a Santa cap. Grabbed it…Well, they’re kinda costly when you want ‘em all, y’know? This is not good for a retiree’s fixed income! Yet, I kept looking. Here are the ones I found, and brought home with me.
And I think I will make sure I find them that fit our life…something that we all like or that it has a special meaning to our character. Like favorites, or something from our past that it would represent. Not just buy to buy…they have to have meaning to our family….
A Frosty Snow Man. He’s about 3 or 4 inches tall. One of my favorite holiday specials that is broadcast — I love the television version of Frosty, with Jimmy Durante singing the carol. I sit every year and wait for him to sing to me.
A Penguin. Decked out with a red top hat with a gold hat band. It’s carrying a candy cane, cane! He’s miniature, but adorable. About 2 inches tall. Our son, as a toddler kept calling them penQUINS…it’s stuck, we all call them that now. LOL
Now, our backyard is filled with a lot of frogs. I think the ceramic creations in stores these days are terrific. I love frogs too. And I couldn’t resist this little booger! He too is miniature. About 2 inches also. I love him adorned with the Christmas stocking cap and the rhinestone collar. He is holding a heart. Cute, cute, cute!!
This next one that caught my eye is a Canadian Goose. With feathers at the tail. Thing is, where I’m from originally…from Colorado, the whole state [on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains] was literally filled with Canadian Geese. Some actually stayed there year ’round! I remember one golf course we played, the goose poop was all over, and sometimes the geese would attack the golf balls! Anyway, I loved this one. It’s a bit larger than the ones above, it’s about 4-5 inches in length.
When a youngster, spending the nights or summers or weekends with my aunt in Nebraska, her yard was filled with Cardinals. They became a favorite bird of mine. Tho, Colorado was too cold for them. At least I never saw them. Not until we moved to Arizona. I was so thrilled to see Cardinals at my bird feeder again! Here in Texas, I’ve seen a couple –actually A COUPLE -mates—in our yard at the feeder. So, when I saw this one, it just seemed to jump off the rack, right into my hands![insert a wink]
This is the culprit one that first made me stop and do a double take at all the ‘pretties’! He’s so fragile. As I said, they’re all glass ornaments, and reminds me the ‘olden days’ when the ornaments were always breaking from one year to the next. I always helped my mom pack things away…ever so gently, to keep them safe from harm year after year. And it never failed…always some broken, in the box, the following year. Too, they were always some of my favorites. I was disheartened with them. I never bought any glass ornaments when our kids were small and we had three dogs and a cat in the house. It just didn’t seem like a smart move. But this one? Yep, he started it all!!!! He’s about 6 inches long. No doubt the first one up on the tree each year.
The last one this week, is a poinsettia. I do love these also. And only the RED ones. The pink and white, tho beautiful, the red ones are the ‘original’ color. The non-hybrid ones…the REAL ones are from Old Mexico. The road from San Diego down south and beyond the border towns, there is an area that has poinsettias growing on the sides [both sides] of the highway…big as trees!!! That’s when I fell in love with the plant! In San Antonio, at the Alamo, there is one of the ‘original’ Mexican species too. Stunning bushes! Not even close to the likes of the hybrids you buy potted for the holidays. The true poinsettias are more woody and huge, true red, brackets! The ornament is about 4-5 inches wide.
PS…part of a ‘tell’ aspect. We had a cellphone phisher yesterday. I learned something from calling in a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission…and I thought I’d pass it on this morning. When using your cellphone – to keep your identity from going through the airwaves, dial STAR 6 7 [that's *67 --don't key in the word star] before dialing the number you’re calling! It hides your identity!!! Awesome. And I tested it three times on different numbers yesterday afternoon. I works!!!
He gave me a large Raggedy “Anni” doll. When we were just passing a lazy day last month at the antique mall here in town where they have little shops along one entire street, I spied the cutest little, old, handmade, raggedy doll sitting in an antique child’s rocking chair…we couldn’t find a price tag on it, so we assumed it was just for ‘show’. As we were driving home I couldn’t help but say to hubby that that was the cutest raggedy ann doll I’d ever seen, with pink ribbons adorning her jute curls! Well, he musta gone back sometime afterward and got them to sell the doll to him…’cause she made her way to my heart on Christmas day!!
Also under the tree for me was a biography on Johnny Depp. And a novel on Rhett Butler of the Gone With the Wind epic. I started reading Rhett Butler’s People that very night. It begins with a pistol duel between Rhett and Shad Watling [Belle Watling's father? --She's pregnant and Rhett's the 'accused' father of the baby...and within the pages of GWTW, there is a hint of Belle's illegitimate child]. I’m sure the book will be a good read, but I’m hoping that there will be not too many new characters…it’s a very busy first couple of chapters so far!!
This little item, I’ve been looking for for years; even looking at them online. But with purchasing her online, and adding the postage and handling charges, she’d be nearly $50!! Nope, not for me. No way José! I have a lot of movie memorabilia in one room of the house [i.e., Gone With the Wind, Cars, Alien, Star Wars, Shrek, etc.], and I’ve been wanting the Corpse Bride, bride doll. It is one of my favorite movies, an Academy Award nominated movie based loosely on a Russian folktale; it’s so sad…anyway, somewhere in town my dear hubby found her! And she too was hidden inside a gift package for me on Christmas day. I now have to coax hubby to make me a corner shelf to add her to my collection, for now she and Victor grace my bed’s headboard.
Lastly, ever since the maestro tenor Pavarotti’s passing, I have searched high and low for a CD of his when I’d think of it while we’re out shopping in town. Everywhere I looked, they were always ‘sold out’. And I’m not one to buy online much anyway, so that was never a whim. Well, along comes Christmas day, and the last package handed to me, inside, was a 2 CD/1 DVD pack of Pavarotti’s operatic solos! I just love his style. Each and every time I see him sing on video and at one time, live performances on PBS —I marveled at his effortless ability to sing. He was great. And his style will never be duplicated. I love this gift. While packing away the decorations this week, I’ve played it over and over. My all time favorite is his rendition of Ave Maria. I have to add that I replayed that track more than once. LOL
Afterward, we, along with nearly the whole city, ended up at the 16-plex theater. The parking lot was jammed and finding a place to leave our car for a couple hours was a drive-around a couple of times before we found a place. We saw a musical –Sweeney Todd. Excellent movie. It’s a dark, and very sinister story, supposedly based on a real life character/barber who ravished “Fleet Street” in London in the 1800′s. Tho, gory in some parts of the movie, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp once again made a good movie. I liked this one better than “The Book of Secrets” that was released the same day this past week. Being that it IS rather a dark movie, it did come up to #5 for all the showings over Christmas, so all in all…it was worth the money to see. My opinion of course, and I will be sure to buy the DVD when it’s released.
This morning about 5:00 A.M. we were on the road to Houston. In the dark…we don’t like it, but hey….it’s about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. We arrived there before 8, and stopped to have breakfast and called our son from there. He, as we figured, was still in bed; taking some much needed rest from his working hours and schedule. But, he did finally show up about 20 minutes later, where we were and had a cup of coffee with us and off we went to his apartment. If he didn’t come to us, we’d still be lost in the maze of overpasses, underpasses, on ramps, off ramps, street exits…you name it. Every time we hit Rosenberg, just outside the city limits of Houston, I’m reminded of what Mario Andretti said about Houston traffic “I feel much safer driving at high speeds, racing, than I do driving inside Houston Texas” [And I swear this area, near Rosenberg, has been under construction for the last decade or more!!!]….driving in Houston is only for the maniacs of this world. And a few of our family, at one time or another have resided in Houston! I’ve driven through it many times back then, and continue today–it’s NOT improved any!! LOL Our son’s apartment?– It’s a typical bachelor’s place….let’s just say I couldn’t live like that. Too cluttered and too messy. I realize his lifestyle of teaching nights and working at the broker’s office during the day leaves little time for cleaning…but really, can’t a grown man at least make a bed? Besides, he’s been on a waiting list for this ‘fancy’ gated complex for a couple of years, and at last an apartment there opened up for him and he’s in the middle of packing for his move in February. At least for a short while, his new apartment will be clean and organized…won’t take long tho, before it’s back to a bachelor pad. He needs a wife. LOL
We took him for an early, Italian, lunch and then headed back home. We always leave after lunch since neither Bud NOR I can drive safely at night…we wanted to make sure we were home before sunset. Now it’s HIS turn to drive our way. rofl. He’s younger, he can handle the stress of driving out of Houston metro. We arrived home around 3:30 – 4PM. A long day for us, but always fun to see him and enjoy his ever-so busy lifestyle, and marvel at youth wondering just how we did it too ‘back then’.
On Friday we went to see “National Treasure – Book of Secrets”. I was highly anticipating this new release at the theater. And tho not disappointed, I was disheartened that it was so similar to the first successful film, “National Treasure”. The script was nearly the same —altho it was of different circumstances. You had the villain [played by Ed Harris] and the same cast as before, Riley, Dad, Abigail, and Ben. There was a new, fresh character, Ben’s mother played by one of my favorite actresses, Helen Mirren. But, even with her added to the story, it was quite redundant. For me, all in all, the car chase in London was just about the best of the movie [Riley jumping in the Mercedes and stating "I'll drive"]—well, it really hit the funny bone for me, like a cartoon…the rest? Same ol’ same ol’. Mimicked the 1st release, but still very good and very entertaining. Slow beginning, but the action picks up, finally, and keeps you watching for more. Don’t miss the ending. Sweet, sweet Riley. *giggles*
