end of the month.....

1.  Happy birthday day after tomorrow to my youngest daughter, Katie! We've had our ups and downs, but it feels to me now that it's all been an up.  She's a beautiful, smart, talented woman, and we've loved her to bits since she arrived the day before New Year's Eve back in the middle of the 1960s.

2.  Just finished reading Laura Hillenbrand's amazing book Unbroken.  My NJ grandchildren's dogs gave it to me for Xmas, and it was a revelation.  It also made me very thankful that none of my brothers, who were all in the AAF during WWII, never got sent to the Pacific theater and were never killed or injured in an accident in training--surprisingly prevalent and deadly.  My pal Cathy's dad, too, was in the AAF and was sent to the same place in Florida for training as my oldest brother, John.  Dunno if they met or knew each other, but he escaped the accidents, too. If he hadn't, there would not be a Cathy.

3.  Was talking with C yesterday about Westphalia, where my mother was born.  We got to reading Wikipedia about the various treaties named after that place. When I studied History of
Modern Europe in college, I got my one F on an exam in that class.  Could not figure it all out.  Holy Roman Empire and all of that.  Amazingly complicated! I would love to find a really good book that covers that place and time.

4.  Time to turn off the lights and get back to sleep. 

Not only Feng Shui! Ideas for closet in wealth corner:

1.  Tidy it, using principles found in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo.  (The following idea is from this book, too.)

2.   Decorate it with photos and posters that I love.

3.   Another intriguing day yesterday.  Moved the art around, so much more lively and restful here at the same time.

4.   Back home, and it's Christmas Eve.  Have to get to the supermarket in case my friend can make it
for dinner.  Also, I am still OUT OF BUTTER!! Sweet Jebus....Of all times of the year to run out of
butter, this ain't it!!  Can't bake cookies, make a pie crust.  Yes, I know you can use other substances
for this, but I don't.

Questionz...questionz....re interior design.

Feng Shui issues:  

1.  What do you do when your Wealth corner is a CLOSET??

2.  What do you do when somebody gives you some paintings and expects you to hang them, but you feel they are depressing? 

3.  Remind yourself that keeping bags by the front door may be handy, but it can lead to CLUTTER!

4.  And what in the hey is Internal Feng Shui?? Sounds like something I need, but what is it??

Christmas Decor, 2014

1.  This is IT for my house this year, absent a lovely poinsettia from Cathy and a wreath on my front door from my neighbor Shirley and her family. 

2

2. The tree and lovely decorated letter (framed and hung on the l.r. wall) are from Mary Zdon, my brother Paul's 4th child, and the card to the left is from Katy Gorghuber, my brother John's oldest daughter.  The wee figure of Wallace is a household favorite here. Katy has three grandchildren--Charlotte, age 3, and twins Anna & Hattie (age 2).  

3.  I love to hang up photos and memorabilia on my walls.  In fact, I've been thinking of redoing the walls by adding some cork tiles in every room to make it easy to do this. Scotch tape folded so it's double-sided is fine, but it doesn't always last long. 

4.  I may string up some lights on the rubber plant now that it's off the porch till spring. 

Feliz Lunes-y

3 things:

1.  I didn't rate the movie "Nebraska" very high....it was OK as a movie, but I'm not fond of Nebraska itself, even though I was born there.  Can't blame the movie for that.  Ugh.

2.  I've always liked Reese Witherspoon's movies, and I can't wait to see "Wild."

3.  Did you know owls can swim?? Online: http://kng5.tv/1vmDM77

Movies....

One thing:

1.  "Fading Gigolo" (2013) is on Netflix streaming:  Written and directed by John Toturro and starring himself, Woody Allen, Vanessa Paradis, Liev Schreiber, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Tonya Pinkins, and half a dozen or more kid and other excellent actors in a gentle, intelligent, amusing film about two middle-aged men whose businesses have failed and who decide to become a gigolo named Virgil (Turturro) and his pimp (Allen).  Allen gets the idea from his dermatologist (Stone), who asks Allen if he could suggest anyone willing to engage in menage a troi with the dermatologist and her girlfriend (Vergara).  Allen asks his florist (Turturro) if he'd be interested. The two men tell themselves they're in it for the money, but a tender love develops between Turturro and the young widow (Paradis) of a Hasidic Rabbi with 6 children. The setting, Brooklyn, serves up all kinds of subplots (kids with head lice, Hasidim).  I haven't seen such a simply enjoyable movie for a long time.  It did not do well at the box office--nothing blows up or lands in a space ship--but I loved it.  No pain, no strain.  Best Woody Allen role in a long time

Where do the really old folks of my acquaintance live in the US??

5 things:

1.  A friend's mother is age 99, and she lives in a small town in the middle of Montana.  She'll turn 100 soon in February, Montana's coldest month.  The candles on her cake will surely help her celebrate in comfort.  [UPDATE...alas, she died t'other night of "natural causes" at age 99 years and 9 months.]  Rest in Peace!!

2.  My 2nd oldest brother died at age 89 last year, and he refused to move south from MN when he retired at age 65.  He said he loved the snow and cold, and he continued to ride his bicycle to visit his local children. 

3.  Sister-in-law G.E.M., 96, lives in AZ, where she's active bowling and occasionally,  golfing.  Until recently, she often won a prize for making a hole in one!.  I mean, often--once or twice a month!!  But she's not using her golf clubs as much now.  Her 95th birthday celebration last year featured oatmeal, her mother's recipe, for the big family breakfast.

4.  When checking out the obituaries for central Montana, I noticed at least 1/3 to 1/2 were older than 85. Something about living out in the middle of nowhere that keeps folks alive for a long time. 


5.  E'en so, It's too cold out there for me.  Been there, done that.  I don't want to live in the South, however.  Too many snakes and bugs.