Tag: friends

Beauty drives away

Today James, citizen of the world, currently residing in Maine, came by for a visit. He arrived bearing gifts, including a wonderful book and some homebaked cookies (chocolate/peanut butter, a passion he shares with his fellow Gemini Tim). Tim said that he would give him a manhandling welcome, except Tim has a cold. I plied James with Reeses Cups, charmed him with dogs, got the scoop on what’s been going on with him, solicited free gardening advice, and bent his ear for a while. Then we waved him goodbye…until next time. I miss him, but for me, the world is a happier place just ’cause I know he’s in it.

Bon voyage, James.

Coasting through Christmas

Laura tried to hide how thrilled she was to get her lime-accented gifts of the sponges and candles. But I could tell that she was almost sick with joy when she opened her lemon-slice coasters. How often does a two-dollar expenditure bring that much emotion to someone’s face? I knew that my little offering meant much more than the diamond earrings from her husband and that iPod thingie she got from her in-laws. Why, they were struggling all afternoon to download songs onto the iPod thingie. But the coasters, sponges, and candles–those are things that she can enjoy immediately without having to read a bunch of instructions!
Continue reading “Coasting through Christmas”

Across town, I am being underestimated

When Tom and I got married, Lynne, who’s been my friend since I was 12, made our wedding cake. Layer after layer, creating roses after roses from frosting… She was delirious by W-day.

A cousin of mine came to the wedding with her husband and left a gift on the gift table.
Continue reading “Across town, I am being underestimated”

Going to the ‘burbs

Today, Tom and I went OUTSIDE THE LOOP to visit:


Jonathan

and

Ryan

and their parents, Amy and Richard. Rex the Escape Artist Dog didn’t stop long enough on his way to the food bowl to be photographed. Amy gave us a gift similar to one from our godson’s parents: photos of the little ones in ALABAMA shirts we gave them. This is a big concession from parents who graduated from Texas A&M and Auburn. So far, I’m being nice and not publishing them for the world to see. All bets are off when I get to be naughty again.

A good moment

Last night, and by last night, I mean 4 a.m., I experienced something that used to happen frequently when Tim and I wrote together in the wee hours. I wrote a line that made me laugh out loud. That’s iffy, because I could have been sleep deprived, plus I tend to be wary when I make myself laugh. When it happened with Tim, I was usually laughing at his lines, or was willing to leave in something I wrote if it made him laugh out loud.

But I tried it out on my mother and Tom tonight, and they both laughed. So it’s staying in.

ETA in 2022: I can still remember what the line was. I think this must have been a really fun moment for me to make them laugh.

More decorations

These photos aren’t really large enough to give the best visual, and I colored out the rooms behind the doorways so there’d be less distractions. Every year, our friend Lynne gives Hallmark ornaments to Tom and me. The 18 ornaments on his garland are Star Trek. When I plug in the strand of lights they’re connected to, various characters (Janeway, Spock, Kirk) all speak at once. Some of the ships also do various flashing things. My 22 ornaments are Barbie. They just hang out and look pretty, like Barbie is supposed to.

An anniversary

It was about this time on this date last year that I, the Ultimate Tim Stalker, followed him over to Live Journal and began my own LJ. My first posts were mostly lackluster. I never had a theme for my LJ, like the more political, literary, or humor blogs that I so love to read. It started randomly, and it’s stayed pretty random for the past year. Sometimes I rant about politics; most times, it’s about the dogs.

I worried that people I know might read it, so I’ve pretty much kept my private life (and theirs) out of it. What I didn’t expect was that I’d interact with so many amazing strangers because of it and that they’d stop being strangers (although never stop being strange, because strange is good), or that it would connect me to other writers the way that it has. I love all that.

Thank all of you who have read, commented, e-mailed, and shared yourselves with me on this forum. Even on days that I don’t post, I read and enjoy all of your posts and pictures. You’ve truly made my days better by making me laugh, think, and see into your worlds.

Survivor Finale!

Tonight we forced invited the players on our Survivor Fantasy Tribe to watch the finale with us. We were all happy about the winner, but we were missing one of our players. Steve, in honor of you, I set a place at the table with your favorite beverage, and I even handed over the immunity necklace Rhonda and Lindsey made. Of course, after the photo, I took back the necklace. I didn’t want to be voted off! There was pizza and ice cream.

There is still pizza (thanks, Tom) and ice cream (thanks, Rhonda and Lindsey). It was a great finish to an excellent Survivor season.