Sunday Shorts

Well, I’m definitely not talking about the shorts you wear. It’s cold here in Toledo, but I have many friends and family who are snowed in in the east! Edna posted a little later than usual today. I thought she might be without power. I know she already had snow in her yard, and on her flowers, Friday morning and she is in that area for which The Weather Channel coined “snowtober.” She has power at home, but no power at work. She got some great photos of downed trees and the morning sky on her way home this morning. Visit her blog to see them! (Miss Edna’s Place)

David called his brother’s house last night. Their power was still on. He offered the idea that they should make a snow-pumpkin, similar to Frosty Cottontail that we did when we got snowed out from Grandma’s house for Easter a few years ago. Ellen, our SIL, thought it was a fabulous idea and figures JP will love it. I hope they send us pictures!

As for here, it’s 50 degrees, going down to 40, still chilly, I don’t like it to get below 60. Whichever angel was in charge of installing the internal heating element in souls that were going to the Midwest didn’t install mine. I’ve always been cold. I feel bad for the child born in Florida who got my heating element. We can’t just trade now. I married a properly equipped Northeastern boy. He doesn’t like hot weather.

Hugging myself in my fleece jacket and putting my plush slippers back on…brrr!!


Jewelry

When I first embarked on my weight loss journey, I was going to reward myself with a Pandora bracelet. They are gorgeous bracelets and so perfectly Nani. Bracelets are, my opinion, the absolute best piece of jewelry. I love my necklaces and earrings, but I don’t really feel like I’m wearing jewelry, I don’t feel pretty, without a bracelet. This has everything to do with why my favorite earrings are the dangly ones with at least a couple pieces in the dangle that clang together. I can hear them every time I move my head. Without noisy earrings, I don’t see them. Other people do, but I can’t enjoy them unless I look in a mirror. A bracelet, I see all the time.

I’d love to see this every time I see my wrist:



Or this:




Ah, but the Pandora bracelet is not the reward for my weight-loss milestones I hoped it would be. With the price of a Pandora bracelet, rewarding myself with technology is cheaper! But I still get trapped looking at bracelets and all the pretty beads to build something beautiful and original just for me. Last year, when David asked me what I liked from the Rogers and Holland catalog, for his reference, I discovered they carry a different version of the Pandora-style bracelet called Tuscani and I’ve since discovered a definitely cheaper online source, Pugster that sells base chains and beads that fit all the Pandora style bracelets. That’s something I’ve definitely bookmarked for future reference! I wish I could afford to give them to all my girls as gifts. Okay that’s me projecting me, I want everyone to feel as pretty as I do with a nice bracelet!

I AM going to get my Pandora styled bracelet, I don’t know that its beads are interchangeable, but look what I found!

Hope Paige Medical does a huge assortment of practical to stylish medical alert jewelry. That’s a medical alert bracelet! I’ve been diagnosed allergic to Penicillin since I was 15, but I never wore my bracelet because it was the generic one that wasn’t pretty and screamed, “Hey look! Something’s wrong with her!” Yeah, that darned Leo ego. I was thinking that I do enough running around town or driving up to Michigan alone, that I should at least have something that would direct medical pros to find my prescription list in my wallet if there was an emergency. And the one thing this medical ID bracelet has going for it that the old one did not, I LOVE the way it looks! There are a few beaded bracelets in the Pandora style. I could get three and put a different warning on each one so I can wear them together! Okay, maybe not, but it is a lovely medical ID bracelet! When I can get a Pandora style bracelet, it will combine with it just fine!


Halloween Prep


I love Halloween! I finished packing up the “candy bombs” yesterday. There are 150 bags, each with five pieces of candy, one tier one; mini candy bars, the larger Tootsie Rolls and mini boxes of Dots, one tier two; Whopper, Peppermint Patties, big Sweet Tarts packs and long, skinny tootsie rolls & Tootsie Pops and three tier three; Smarties, Tootsie Roll Midgies, Mary Janes, and mini packs of Sweet Tarts, Bottle Caps, Nerds and Laffy Taffy. The candy choices are a combination of large bags that have my favorites Mr. Goodbar and Tootsie Rolls and David’s favorites, Kit Kat, Heath, Smarties and Sweet Tarts in them. This year we don’t have Sprees for David or Bit-O-Honeys for me, but we do both like Bottle Caps. The belief here is when you don’t have a direct request, give a gift you would be happy to receive.

That’s what treats on Halloween are, gifts to kids we don’t know. I LOVE greeting the trick or treaters on Halloween. I remember how much fun it was when I was a kid to dress up and go trick or treating. People were usually nice to downright fun when you went to their houses. I always remembered to say “thank you” and when I got home with my pillowcase half full of candy there was always a moment of amazement. I don’t think I used the term “generous” at 6 years old, but I thought I lived in the best neighborhood because the people gave us kids so much. Like I said about Santa the other day, it’s a privilege to be an adult and get to give the treats now.

I love seeing the kids and costumes from the littlest in pumpkin suits that are falling asleep on Dad’s shoulder by the end of the street to the teens with their teen-age bravado begging for candy and sporting that same smile as the ten-year-olds when they get it. And I’m happy to say that they say “thank you” more often than not.

That’s a big reason why I love being in Toledo at this time of year. We had dwindled from about 20 kids the last year I trick or treated to none for about the last decade I lived in Novi. Our numbers have been growing here since 2007. Last year we had 147 kids! I lament that in this day, it’s not acceptable to even think of taking photos of the kids that visit. I’d love to scrap some of the cute costumes, but I do take photos of the decorations and candy and journal, journal, journal. This year David is working ion Halloween night and as long as the weather is okay, Scotty is coming down from Michigan to have early dinner with me and help me pass out candy. David worked last year too and I was really sore by 8:00. Scotty is going to make sure I don’t overdo the standing up and bending to put treats in bags. The kids won’t think it’s rude if I stay seated by the door to give candy.

Links:
Miss Edna's Place
Pandora
Pugster
Hope Paige Medical