The Nutcracker

I know this is probably hard to believe, but I've never seen The Nutcracker. This year, however was different because our great niece and nephew Breeze and Stone performed. It was delightful watching them. 

The costumes of all the kids were stunning and it was an excellent production. 

We had Christmas plays when I was young, but the production was always low budget. We had a good time but I'd hate to think a video or 8 mm of one of those survived somewhere. 

But tonight was special. When Breeze and Stone came out to take a bow I was very proud of them both.

Information Overload.

I think I'm going to cancel my subscription to the newspapers as well as all the magazines coming to my house. I'm on about a million newsletters on the Internet not to mention all the email and stuff I get at work.
I'm on what is known as INFORMATION OVERLOAD.  I think I need some time to process what's bouncing around the cracks and crevices of my brain. It's getting to the point that nothing new can go in unless something that's already in there comes out. I mean, what if I start forgetting birthdays, or forgetting to eat....actually that's not a good example because for me, forgetting to eat for a while probably wouldn't be a bad thing, but you get the picture.
I mean, what do other people do. I refuse to believe that people are that much smarter than me....well, there again, as I read back over this post, it's not that big of a stretch to think that there's probably a LOT of people smarter than me. But, I would like to know how you deal with TOO MUCH INFORMATION.
Leave me a comment....on second thought, maybe not because that would be just SOMETHING ELSE TO READ!!!!!!!!!!

Amazon

I love book stores and libraries. I'd move in and live in a big old book store but apparently associates are trained to watch for customers that come into the stores with sleeping bags and coolers because I've been turned away a couple times.

I spend a chunk on my disposable income on books, music, and other stuff you get at a good book store. When I got an email from Amazon.com to hook an affiliate account to my Blog, I jumped at the chance because I'm betting there are others out there that love books as much as me. Now you can order books right from my blog. 

It's a neat feature. Now it's off to work I go.

Always remember those Who serve..

I don't normally like to re-post things, but I read this one a few years ago in "Chicken Soup for the Soul" I think, and I loved the story. I hope you enjoy it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,

A 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and
Sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in
Front of him..

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked.
"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.
The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and
Studied the coins in it.

"Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired.
By now more people were waiting for a table and the
Waitress was growing impatient.
"Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.
"I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.
The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on
The table and walked away The boy finished the ice
Cream, paid the cashier and left.. When the waitress
Came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the
Table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish,
Were two nickels and five pennies..

You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had
To have enough left to leave her a tip.

The Blues

I was a little down in the dumps yesterday. Things were going south at work and at home, I had been struggling with a Christmas column for this coming Sunday's paper.

I went to bed early last night and lie awake stewing things over in my mind. This morning when I got up, things were no better.

I'm normally as chipper as a mockingbird at first light, but this morning I felt a little gloomy. I must have cast a pall over Jilda as well because she seemed a little down too.

She asked me what I was going to write about in my column Sunday. I told her I didn't have a clue. The creative problem solver kicked in and she came up with a killer idea. That was all it took for me to snap out of my malaise, and I immediately felt better.

Tonight when I sat down, I kicked out 500 words before you could say Merry Christmas. I have a smile on my face even now as I type.

The blues don't hang out where they aren't wanted.

Fog

The fog this morning was as thing as a fuzzy blanket. I had to drive slowly with my fog lights on.

The scenery looks "other worldly" in a thick fog. Almost like reality is just beyond you field of vision. I thought it would burn off, but this evening as I made my way home, it returned for an encore.

The worst fog I've ever seen was about five years ago. We'd been to our friend's Tom and Judy's house on the Warrior River. We started out slow but we assumed the fog would lift as we got away from the banks of the river. We were wrong. A drive that normally takes about forty minutes took over three hours. I felt like I'd been beaten with a rubber hose when we finally got home.

Anyhow, the weather gets a lot colder tomorrow and chase the fog off to where ever fog goes.

Thunder in December

It will snow January 13th. This according to Jilda's grandmother Mamie. Of course Mamie's been dead for years but when Jilda was a small child, Mamie said that if there is thunder in December, it will snow one month from that day.

It thundered early this morning. It was just after 2 a.m. when a clap of thunder shook the rafters. Ol' Buddy that sleeps on the foot of the bed, scooted up between Jilda and I and tried his best to get under the cover.

I got up and checked the weather radio and then flipped on the Weather Channel to check things out but there was no severe weather bulletins so I headed back to bed and wrestled Ol' Buddy back down to the foot of the bed amidst a lot of growling and snapping.

A few other nature items to mention, is that there will be a meteor shower this week and December will have a blue moon (two full moons in one month).

Wet Saturday

Jilda and I are playing tonight at Berkley Bob's Coffee Shop in Cullman. It will be a combination of music and readings. We had a successful event recently at Legal Grounds in Jasper and the gig tonight grew out of that. We're excited.

Today has been an old cold rainy day here. We got a good walk in before it started but I can hear it rattling the roof even as I write.

I hope you all have a great Saturday. It would be great if some of you surprised us tonight at Bob's. With Christmas parties and bad weather, we may be playing to coffee mugs but it is what it is.