Header coat rack

Several years ago, we bought an old baseboard at an architectural salvage firm. That was our planned purchase. We also bought two old headers, some drawer pulls and a couple wooden door knobs. I had seen a coat rack made from those materials and wanted one for our house. When we returned home, I found that the place I had intended to hang them wasn’t suitable.

We put everything into storage until I could decide what to do with them.

Finally, the light came on. My sister-in-love loves architecture as much as I do. And my dad could sure use a coat rack. So I made one for each of them.

Since I was making two coat racks instead of one, I needed two more knobs. Marilyn and I had salvaged a bunch of brass doorknobs from a trash pile. I had intended to use them on a door, but they didn’t work. I threw them into my father-in-law’s recycle bin and he had taken them away. But I had inadvertently kept one of the knobs. (Apparently, I should never throw anything away!) I disassembled the doorknob set, retaining only the exterior parts. The interior went into the recycling bin.

My woodworking friend Darrell suggested that I drill holes 18 inches apart so the rack could be attached to the studs. I did that first.

Then I arranged the knobs to suit me. I drilled holes for them and screwed them on. I had to use dowels to attach the brass doorknobs. These holes required a spade bit. I had never used a spade bit before, so was rather intimidated. All went well. The dowel I inserted into the doorknobs was too big to insert into the exterior lock parts. I cut the big dowel a bit short of the full length of the doorknobs' hole and glued it to the handle of an old foam paintbrush cut to size. I topped the paintbrush handle with the exterior lock parts.

Project took a couple hours and was fun to do. Hopefully I can salvage the next boards and knobs myself.

Santa Claus wore brown

Our tree was nearly bare of presents during the run-up to Christmas. I wrapped and shipped our packages without ever putting them underneath the tree. Even though our tree is covered in ornaments and its base is surrounded by our Christmas village, it looked barren.

Then, what to my wondering eyes did appear but a big brown truck, without the eight tiny reindeer. “Santa” was dressed in brown, not in red. Up to my porch and back down he sped. I hardly could catch him in time to say “Happy New Year” as into the truck he did climb.

I placed the packages under the tree, until Hubby woke up and opened packages with me. To open gifts we were so excited and with the gifts we were so delighted.

Obviously, poetry is not my strong suit, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

A very redneck Christmas

Marilyn writes about her boss’s Christmas gift in her best imitation of redneck style.

As our admissions team considered a nice (or not-so-nice) Christmas present for our Director of Admissions, ideas flew through our office like reindeer on a mission! The result was the Ultimate Redneck Survival Kit, a gift we knew Gary would be so happy to receive. Not only did this gift have its hilarious aspects, most of the items were very practical, and they may become a lifesaver! As Tiffini and I put together this lovely gift set, our excitement grew. On the day we packaged the items, we were laughing so hard, we could hardly contain ourselves! (Yes, some people are easily entertained!) Of course, one needs the Ultimate Gift Box in which to place the lovely items. An old cardboard box with duck-taped edges came to our rescue! In Tiff’s best Redneck style, she wrote, “Redneck Survival Kit” on the side. Inside the box were some unusual gifts, each wrapped in their own special gift bag: a lovely brown paper lunch bag! Each gift came with a set of instructions, so that Gary could figure out how they were to be used. Hopefully, those in Redneck Land will appreciate Redneck Survival Kit instructions: A man who is outside in every kind of weather needs a Redneck Weather 4-Caster. We made it from a large block of wood with a twig duck taped to the side of it. We found some bright red yarn from Grandma’s sewing basket to hang from the twig. In our best Redneck handwriting, we listed possible 4-casts: *If yarn is swinging side to side, it’s WINDY. *If yarn is wet, it’s RAINING. *If yarn is white, it’s SNOWING. *If yarn is still, it’s STILL. *If yarn is gone, TAKE SHELTER! Yes ma’am, every Redneck needs one of those! Then you have the Redneck Wynd Chyme. Find an old board about 3 feet long, and gather those darn beer cans left in the yard from the last party there. Yessirree, then take some good ol’ wire and wrap three strands of it around the ol’ board. Then take those dirty ol’ beer cans and wrap the wire through the tabs. HEY, NOW, THAT’S ONE NICE WYND CHYME! Gary is quite the outdoorsman. He goes motorcycling in the summer and snowmobiling in the winter. We wanted to make sure that he was cared for on his outings. Every snowmobiler needs his own set of munchies. We found some Rodent Roughage that sure looked and tasted like those salted peanuts at the local farm stores. We came across some Reindeer Turdz that sure did look like chocolate-covered raisins. Then there was the all-important Fish Bate. That sure did look slimy, but it tasted just fine, kinda like those gummy worms the kids like to eat. Now Tiff is quite the city gal. So she found Gary some good ol’ sushi! Yessirree, she sure did! That was the best-tasting sushi I’d ever had. Kinda reminded me of sugarcoated gummy worms! I could eat quite a few of those myself! That Tiff was really a-thinkin’ about Gary’s safety out there in them bitter-cold mountains on that snowmobile, yessir. In case his brakes went out, she made an Emergency Snowmobile Brake. She found this red brick in her backyard, and tied some of that there bright red yarn around it. If Gary throws it out in the snow, hopefully the brick will catch something in a short time, maybe a tree root, and snowmobile will come to a screeching halt! Of course, a man could get lost in them there mountains on a snowy day. A Redneck GPS system sure could come in handy. This little bag contained what could be mistaken for sunflower seeds. The instructions said, “Leave a trail of these behind you so that you can find your way home. If the seeds are gone, hunt down that darn rodent who ate ’em and KILL him!” Oh there ya go! Sure ’nuff, no one should be without a good ol’ GPS. Of course, we all know Gary’s quite a b.s.-er. What snowmobiler isn’t?

We made him his very own B.S. Bag. The instructions on the little brown bag said, “When the B.S. starts to flow, blow into this bag. The B.S. makes good fertilizer. Spread it on your yard. Can be used around lawyers offices and political scenes as well.” Then we made B.S. Filters. They are to be used when the B.S. Bag just isn’t enough. This bag had little black pieces of what tasted like licorice. The idea is to blow through the little holes and then eat it. Oh my, that was one nice little gift. One day when we were looking around the office, we came upon a bunch of what appeared to be a stack of old wedding rings. As we wondered where on earth those came from, we realized that this Slinky-like gadget must be all Gary’s old wedding bands. Yessiree! So being the nice pals that we are, we put them in this box right where they belong! We also found some Lady Hookers. Yeesirree, you take a box of them there cute little candy canes and use ’em to hook you a gal!

And then we made up a document that Gary might need again one day. Yep, some Day-Vorce papers for ol’ Gary. Now that was quite the document. Instead of copying it all here, ask Gary to show you. You will enjoy it much more that way! So as I sign off from Redneck Land, I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas! As you work in your back yards this summer, keep in mind that many of the little things out there can be put to good use next Christmas! Everyone has a Redneck pal somewhere!

Adventures in sewing

Sewing, especially sewing garments, makes me nervous. So much can go wrong. Will it fit when I’m finished? I’m always jittery throughout the process.

A friend wanted a snuglet/slanket/snuggie for Christmas. When I saw the commercial, I was shocked at the price. Some days later, I hit my StumbleUpon button. Website showed how to make a snuglet. Free pattern seemed simple enough, so I bought three yards of 60-inch wide fleece.

Instructions said to cut 9X6-inch armholes and 12X30-inch sleeve tubes. I obeyed. I thought my first sleeve tube was awfully narrow, so I tried to pull it on. I couldn’t pull it past my elbow. I tried, but ripped the sleeve tube. When I inserted this tube into armhole, I couldn’t figure out how I would fit them together. The size discrepancy was too great.

I’m inches taller than my friend, but her arms aren’t smaller than mine. Besides, aren’t these garments supposed to be loose-fitting?

I bought more fabric and cut a 14-inch sleeve tube, not bothering to measure the length. I could always trim that later. When I tried on that tube, it fit great on my arm and much better in the armhole. Hallelujah!

I haven’t set in a sleeve for probably 30 years. I looked for instructions. Everyone said to sew basting stitches on the sleeve. Pulling the basting stitches would fit the sleeve into the armhole. And I was supposed to match the notches. What notches?

Besides, I had the opposite problem. Armhole was bigger than sleeve. So I pinned them together, placing pins wherever I saw the fabric bulge. Then I sewed them together.

All went well on the first sleeve. Sleeve seam was at bottom of armhole and armhole seam was right side out.

Second sleeve wasn’t so cooperative. First the armhole seam was showing. I ripped it out and resewed it. Then I turned the sleeve inside out, so the sleeve seam was showing. I ripped it out and resewed it. I carefully checked my pinning the third time and thought all was well. What was I looking at? The armhole seam was showing again! I ripped it out and resewed it.

Finally, on Attempt No. 4, sleeve went in correctly. Whew. A girl can only take so much frustration and I was nearing my limit.

After topstitching all edges but the sleeve ends, I tried on snuglet again.

My wingspan is about 6 feet. The sleeves dangled 8 inches below my wrists. My friend’s wingspan is certainly not that long. I folded the sleeves to fit me and pinned them. I wanted to remove the excess 8 inches. Since the serger cuts fabric at the stitching, I decided to serge the sleeve ends. That would get rid of the excess fabric. Or so I thought.

My poor serger couldn’t handle two layers of polarfleece. The stitching looked terrible. I was embarrassed. And I had another problem. Yes, I was cutting the cuffs, but I was stitching them together at the same time.

Hello rotary cutter. I removed both cuffs, then topstitched them with serger. Whew. Now I could stop being a nervous wreck.

By this time, I was sick of the entire project and abandoned it in my sewing chair.

I sure hope she likes this thing.

Stuffing a sock in it

A few mornings ago, I felt cold air pouring into the entryway. I couldn’t figure out where it originated. I had pushed a towel in front of front door to cover gaps between door sweep and threshold, but my feet still felt a horrendous cold spot. I searched for the source and found that the door frame had slightly warped next to the north sidelight. The warping had left about an 1/8-inch gap between bottom of door frame and sidelight frame. Gap narrowed as it went up before closing about a foot above the floor.

I cut up some of my old socks and shoved them into this gap with a metal ruler. I could feel the cold retreat as I plugged the hole. I was determined to stuff enough socks into the hole to completely plug it. This process took about half an hour. Oh, the perils of owning an old house!

As I shoved the socks into this hole, I thought of Ezekiel 22:30: “I [God] looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”

What a sad verse! “… but I found none.” What an indictment!

As I considered this verse, I thought about my gap-plugging tools. Is anything less glamorous than old socks from the rag bin? They appeared to be at the end of their useful life, only to be used in a very critical role, keeping subzero temperatures outside instead of inside. Their role is no longer as public as covering my feet, but still very useful to keep us warm.

Do we ever think that we are too worn out for God’s service, languishing in the rag bin, one step from the landfill? Maybe we’re on the shelf and maybe feel that we’ve been forgotten. Then our new role opens and we are used again. God plugs us into the gap and uses us again for His glory. What a privilege!

Whose gap do you stand in?

My favorite cookies

Hubby asked me to bake cookies for a meeting tonight. I was pressed for time and intended to buy some.

Except for fig newtons, I don’t much care for store-bought cookies. And I do love to bake. So instead of buying cookies, I baked a double batch of Oatmeal Gingersnaps.

Mother bought me a set of Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks when I was still in high school, including their Homemade Cookies Cook Book. (Book is apparently now out of print.) When I baked the first batch of this recipe, I knew I had found a winner. I immediately decided that I had a new favorite cookie and I have yet to change my mind. My brother loved them also and often asked me to make them.

I usually double the recipe. I love to eat the dough, so doubling the recipe enables me to both eat dough and the final product.

Below is the recipe as it appears in the book, with a few adjustments:

Oatmeal Gingersnaps

Printer-friendly PDF

Ingredients:
1½ C. all-purpose flour
½ C. sugar
½ C. Splenda
¾ quick-cooking rolled oats
1 t. baking soda
1 t. ground ginger
¼ t. ground cloves
¼ t. salt
½ C. shortening
½ C. molasses
1 egg

Method:
Stir together dry ingredients. Blend in shortening, molasses and egg. Beat well with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Form into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake on top rack at 375° for 8-10 minutes. Let stand for at least 1 minute; cool on rack.

Yield: Allegedly 3½ dozen. Even without eating the cookie dough (what a sacrifice!), I have never gotten 3½ dozen cookies from this recipe.

Recycling decorations

Some years ago, we received this basket as part of a holiday food package. I loved the basket, but wasn’t sure what to do with it. It was too pretty to throw out, so I kept it in storage, waiting for inspiration.

A couple years later, someone gave us a rosemary plant as a hostess gift. It was decorated with these fun picks. I kept them as being too pretty to throw out, but didn’t know what to do with them, either. They, too waited for inspiration.

Last year, the light dawned at last.

The basket even had gold-wrapped florist’s foam in the bottom. All I had to do was cut apart silk poinsettia and holly bushes and shove them and the pics into the foam. Voila! Instant flower arrangement!

And I got to enjoy the virtuous feeling of having recycled something beautiful, and we get to look at something beautiful.

12 Days of Christmas plates

Several years ago, I ordered a set of miniature plates featuring the Twelve Days of Christmas. When they arrived, I got out hammer and finishing nails and was about to pound 12 nails into the woodwork above the arch separating dining room from living room. My mother was appalled. “You are not going to put all those nails in your beautiful woodwork, are you?” “Why? Do you have a better idea?” “No, but I bet I can think of one.” So off we went to the craft store.

She bought four little fences, some silk holly, red ribbon and a glue gun. In about 15 minutes, she had made these decorations. I was impressed. Every year, I unpack them gingerly and carefully check each plate before hanging each fence. Each year, at least one must be reglued. Once the plates are all secure, I check the string, fluff up the ribbons and hang them. I always breathe a sigh of relief when all is back together and on the wall.

Angel on the tree

This angel is the first tree-topper I remember. I have a picture of it from Christmas 1968. I remember Dad lifting me so I could place Angel on the tree. Since I have black hair, I always had a special affinity for that angel. And, of course, I was always such a perfect little angel! (Please ignore the horns holding up the halo.)

I always looked forward to placing it on the tree. My angel made the tree mine.

As the years passed, Angel began looking rather shabby. Her face had a large smudge on one side. Her robe became increasingly dingy. Her wings were dirty.

Finally, my mother had had enough of her rather pathetic appearance. I helped her put up and decorate her Christmas tree that year. When we pulled Angel out of the box, she told me to throw her away.

“She’s worn out,” Mother said. “Get rid of her.”

Mother wasn’t very sentimental about such items.

But I am.

I was horrified. I didn’t want to throw away my angel! “Do you mind if I take her home? I think I can clean her up and use her to top my little tree.” I didn’t have a good tree topper for that tree anyway and what topper could be better than Angel?

I brought her home, carefully washed her robe and gently scrubbed her face and wings. Angel was as good as new. I was thrilled to place her atop my tree. She now presides over our dining room every Christmas, our angel we have seen on high. Now if I could just get her to sing “Gloria in excelsis Deo!”

Stockings hung on the door frame with care

I love vintage fabrics and lace and I love Christmas decorations. When I saw stockings made from old quilts and lace at a craft fair years ago, I had to buy two of them. They fit so beautifully in our old house (built in 1929). When my parents came to visit us that year, my mother noticed the stockings. I saw the wheels churning in her head as she examined them. I took one down for her and she traced around it.

When we came home for Christmas the next year, we saw her version of those stockings, one for each of us. She had quilted long strips of fabric, then cut stockings out of them. Note how careful she was to originate a strip right on the heel curve. My mother loved such details. She embroidered each name on green fabric, then stitched it to the cuff. Dad gave me the stockings last year. He didn’t think he’d be hanging them and thought I would enjoy them. I get a huge lump in my throat every time I hang them. My mother’s legacy.

Check out A Very Mary Design’s Adorable Packaging Giveaway Contest.

Boo and the Christmas trees

Mr. Boo Kitty loves Christmas. Or maybe he just loves the Christmas trees!

As soon as we put up the trees and cover the base with a tree skirt, Boo has to curl up underneath them. He seems to favor the little tree during the day and the big tree at night. He doesn’t climb the tree or swat the ornaments as he did when he was a kitten. I do tie the little tree onto the sideboard so he can’t knock it off and we hang fragile ornaments out of the kitty’s reach, just in case.

When we began putting the Christmas village under the big tree last year, I thought Boo would no longer be able to curl up underneath that tree.

I thought wrong.

He daintily between the houses and curls up around the tree pole. I think of Azrael chasing the Smurfs. “Papa Smurf! Papa Smurf! Azrael is looking in the window! What are we going to do?”

Azrael/Boo Kitty doesn’t seem to notice any village dwellers. He just snoozes amid the buildings.

Unfortunately, Boo’s black fur shows up rather too well on our little tree’s white skirt. The big tree’s skirt is red and green, so the fur isn’t as obvious.

The white skirt is the first tree skirt I remember. It was originally just a piece of white felt cut to size. My brother and I received the stockings as Christmas gifts a couple years apart. (Mine is visible at far left.) For several years, our mother hung them from the door between our living and dining rooms.

I remember her standing in the doorway examining them. I wondered why. A few days later, she bought red and green felt. She cut out red felt bells, felt holly leaves and berries. She top-stitched the stockings, bells and holly to the skirt, then added Christmas ribbon around the skirt edges.

Several years later, she decided to make quilted tree skirts for herself, my brother and me. She stitched red and green Christmas fabric triangles for the top, then added a red ruffle around the edges. Bottom is the red fabric. Skirt ties in back. Since she would no longer be using the original tree skirt, I asked for and received it.

Boo Kitty loves them. And so do I.

No-bake cookies or no-bake chicken feed?

I’m not one who likes to make cookies for Christmas. Or for any other occasion! Cookies are just too time-consuming for my taste.

Well, this year I [Marilyn] have a somewhat different outlook on cookie baking.

A friend of mine from church seldom has an opportunity to splurge on such things as ingredients to bake cookies. She asked me a few weeks ago if she and I could bake some cookies for Christmas.

Since it was for her, I bought ingredients for several types of cookies and some fudge. Last Saturday morning, she came to my house and we made cookies. We had a great time visiting and making cookies and fudge.

One of the recipes was “No-Bake Cookies.” I’d made these cookies many times in years past, and knew they were easy and delicious! I measured out the ingredients and mixed them. We then took spoonfuls of them and dropped them onto the foil.

I was rather mystified when the cookies didn’t hold together well. They seemed rather dry. So I added a tad more milk. They were still dry, but we continued making the cookies.

When all the baking was done, I sent home tons of goodies for my friend and her husband, with plans to give most of mine away at work on Monday.

After our family had Sunday dinner, I gave my brother some of the cookies we’d made the day before.

That afternoon, I decided to try one of those funny-looking no-bake cookies. I bit into half of the cookie, quickly spitting it out! I thought, “OH NO! What did I do wrong!” I got the cookbook out and read the directions more carefully.

“Well, I had the ingredients correct… let’s see here… OH NO. NO WAY!” The recipe said to heat the ingredients on the stove to melt the baking cocoa into the rest of the ingredients! How could I have missed that very important piece of the recipe? No wonder the cookies were dry and wouldn’t stick together!

I called my brother first thing the next morning and asked if he and his wife had tasted any of the cookies.

He said, “Sis, what did you do to those no-bake cookies? They were AWFUL! We had to throw them out to the chickens!”

We laughed as I told him that I’d forgotten one key detail: to melt the ingredients on the stove.

My brother said, “Oh, well, the chickens ate ’em just fine! But your fudge was sure good!”

When I told my boss the no-bake cookie story, he smiled and laughed, as he nodded his head. He said that my friend had taken some of her cookies to the church’s Christmas decorating party that night. She was sharing with everyone how much fun we’d had making cookies. She then said, “We must have done something wrong with one batch, though, ’cause they’re awful! But please don’t tell Marilyn ’cause I don’t wanna hurt her feelings!”

Maybe I need to make cookies a tad more often?

A piece of the pie

Hubby wanted a razzleberry pie for Christmas party. The store lacked the required berries, but they had a raspberry/blackberry/blueberry mixture. Because of this substitution, I mislabeled the pie as Fruits of the Forest on my menu card. Fruits of the forest pie has more types of fruit in it than razzleberry does.

For awhile, Hubby worked at a restaurant known for its pies. The owner told him her secret. She made the filling the night before she baked the pie. While it sat, it made its own sauce. I couldn’t let it stand overnight, but I waited as long as I could before I baked my pies. She was right. The berries were floating in lovely syrup.

My mother made excellent pie crusts. Even though I have always made good quick breads, I was terrified to make pie crusts. I have eaten many rock-hard crusts and didn’t want to make one myself. She always told me not to overmix the dough. Using lard as a binder makes the flakiest crust, but lard is a certified artery-clogger.

Mary’s Pie Crust

Recipe as printer-friendly PDF
Ingredients:
2 C. flour
1 t. salt
2/3 C. plus 1-2 T. shortening
1-7 T. water

Method:
Stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening until dough forms pea-size chunks. Add water a tablespoon at a time until dough clumps. Roll to desired size and put into pie plate. If pie recipe calls for baked shell, bake at 450º for 12-15 minutes.

Yield:
Makes 1 single-crust pie shell.

Christmas party

We hosted our annual Christmas party Saturday night. I like to have eight at our table, but we ended up with six (clockwise from left): Tonya, Linda, Marilyn, Hubby, my empty chair and Stacy. We love to entertain any time of the year, but especially at Christmas. The house is always so beautiful with all our decorations. The light of our trees and candles gives the dining and living rooms a warm, relaxing glow. And, of course, the food is always wonderful.

I always make the Christmas menu cards more elaborate than for other theme dinners. This ribbon decorated one of our gifts last year. I kept it for future use, not knowing what I’d do with it. As I waited for Hubby to escape a very ill-timed Saturday morning meeting, the design leaped into my head. After cutting ribbon, I lit a match and melted each end to prevent raveling. I had intended to secure ribbon to menu and name cards with knots, but my paper punch’s holes were too large. I had to tie three knots on top of each other before ribbon remained in hole. That took too long. Instead, I taped the ribbon to the cards. That method didn’t look quite as nice, but, as Patty says, life is a series of trade-offs. As I look at design now, perhaps I should have dangled the ribbon on the card’s other side. Whatever. Guests loved the cards. That’s what matters. The two menu items that are partially obscured were “Cranberry-Orange Pork Tenderloin” and “Out of This World Cranberry Salad”. We didn’t eat the salad. We intended to serve it with the pie, but we were too full. So we took it to our church’s Christmas dinner the next day. They devoured most of it.

Borax ornaments

I subbed in a physics class Friday. While students were creating bridges from balsa wood, I started preparing a borax solution for their borax crystal ornaments. I asked the teacher what strength of solution I needed to make. He said, “Just stir in as much borax as the water will hold.” He had left a box three-quarters full of borax, a Dutch oven and the bottom of a double boiler. I filled the pots with water and put them on the stove. As I heated the water, I stirred in borax. When the borax dissolved, I added more and continued stirring. Eventually, I poured in the entire contents of the box. When the water started boiling, I removed it from the heat and poured it into three beakers. After they had cleaned up their bridge project, students began shaping pipe cleaners into ornaments. Students tied string around their ornaments and a colored pencil. We suspended the ornaments in the borax solution.

When the basketball teams returned from their game that night, coaches were to remove the ornaments from the beakers. Picture shows how we hope they turn out.

The Gift of Christmas Is Jesus

My friend Martha is amazingly creative. To decorate five of our church’s windows for Christmas, she found a theme, then asked me to design each window using that theme.

The local lumber yard cut foam insulation sheeting to size for her, then she affixed 1x1 boards to each end for hooks. She wrapped the boards in Christmas wrapping paper. Once I emailed her the designs, she printed them on transparencies, projected them on the wall and cut out the silhouettes from a different roll of wrapping paper. She and Kim glued them on according to my design.

Martha bought white contact paper for the letters. I cut the letters with a Cricut machine and placed them on the wrapped board. Even using a yardstick, I couldn’t lay them exactly straight. I was frustrated. Hubby asked, “Do you want them to look handmade or as if some machine had made those posters?” I felt better.

We hung them with a chain from hooks in the ceiling.

Wendy had made beautiful, lighted flower arrangements for the entryway. Our church building is still under construction and the ugly construction materials were visible behind those arrangements. So Martha brought backdrops and hung fabric on them to hide the ugliness.

Our tree looked ready for the landfill, but she rescued it, too. Winding garland between the branches filled in the tree, vastly improving its appearance.

I love her ideas.

We are conveying the true message of Christmas to passers-by in a beautiful fashion. Jesus is the true Gift of Christmas. All other gifts are shadows of His great Gift to save us all. We only have to accept that gift, the gift of eternal life.

Organizing our shed

Garage clutter piled outside.

I hated our shed. We could hardly get around in it and we struggled to access what we needed. Walking in the shed was dangerous because so many objects had fallen onto the floor. Our wheelbarrow and big tiller sat outside because we couldn’t wedge them into the shed. The mower sat right in front of the door, an obstacle and tripping hazard.

But I didn’t know what to do. I felt so overwhelmed every time I looked inside. The thought of cleaning it was unbelievably discouraging. Organization is not my strong suit and it isn’t Hubby’s either. We were guilty of every clutter-producing practice. I had tried to organize the place before, but was only partially successful. I resigned myself to a clutter-choked shed. Sigh.

Enter Marilyn. Organization is her strong suit.

She asked, “Why don’t we organize your shed?”

“Have you ever looked in there? You’ll have heart failure!”

She said that we’d take everything outside and sort through it. “Everything” included a lot of “stuff”. We moved around existing furniture into a more rational arrangement, then I started pitching. By project’s end, Dumpster was full. While I was throwing away the junk, she was organizing the good stuff.

Shed when finished. I wish I would have taken its picture before we pulled everything out of it. So much of its current contents had to sit outside before.

When we were finished, we had a place to walk without falling over the mower. At last, we could put away our wheelbarrow and tiller instead of covering them and hoping the elements didn’t penetrate. Our yard looks much less cluttered now.

I had salvaged a large piece of particle board and was using it to cover the shed’s dirt floor. Our ramp from door to interior floor was in bad shape. Marilyn suggested that I remove the old ramp and replace it with the particle board. I placed two 2x4s from my recycle bin underneath the plywood for reinforcement. Amazingly, all three boards were the right size. I used outdoor-grade deck screws, which I already had, to screw the boards together and attach them to the threshold. Voila! A new ramp for no cost.

Hubby was amazed how much better the shed looked and how much more functional it had become.

She says we’ll be tackling our kitchen sometime soon. We are looking forward to it.

Decking the halls

Our entire long Thanksgiving weekend is prescheduled. All I get done is to help make/eat Thanksgiving dinner and decorate for Christmas. Everything else takes a back seat. Laundry and dishes stack up because I’m too busy taking down and putting up the décor. Who wants to wash when she can decorate?

By tradition, no Christmas decorating can start in our house until Thanksgiving Friday morning. But, after that, our house looks as if we’re getting ready to move.

Dad was surprised at the extent of our seasonal decorating efforts. “You even change the pictures?”

Who wants to look at the same pictures all year? Not us!

We used to have floor furnaces. When they died, we installed a natural gas stove downstairs. Floor furnace grates are now our vents. The vent just visible in lower right corner became our “hatch”. It sits right above our storage rooms where nearly all our decorations are stored. I carry the boxes up a ladder and hand them to Hubby.

Passing boxes through the hatch is much easier on my knees than going up and down our spiral staircase. I’d hurt for days afterwards. And I had several nasty falls.

By the time we erect and decorate two trees and nearly every horizontal surface in our dining and living rooms, I am very ready to collapse into my recliner and enjoy our handiwork.

Semper Paratus

Today I was called at 11:54 to sub for a class that began at 12:08. As I hurriedly changed out of T-shirt and sweats into more professional attire, I remembered the Coast Guard’s motto Semper Paratus, Latin for “Always Ready”. Maybe I should adopt that motto as my own?

As I consider this notion, I find it a great stretch. Yes, I do get called to work on a moment’s notice, and sometimes I do feel that I have entered a combat zone.

But days in the classroom hardly compare to pulling drowning people out of a sinking boat in a hurricane. My rather sedate life hardly compares with those who interdict drug traffic on the high seas.

As citizens, we are protected from horrors that we don’t see by brave men and women in both the military and law enforcement who go out into grave danger on our behalf.

Thank you.