Train Wreck......

At Christmas time life always seems to be like a train wreck ready to happen. If things went the way we wished them to go we would be done with a lot of the projects that needed to be done.  Car break downs tend to throw up a roadblock and materials don't get purchased and presents don't get purchased.  Viruses that I bring home from school tend to delay the efficiency one needs to have at this time of the year.  People, who want things at the last minute are driving me crazy as I don't do the emergency last minute framing anymore.  People who want to make plans for me outside of the family thinking that I have all the time in the world to give up really don't realize that I don't.

I guess going into retirement so that I could rescue some of the important things in my life made me realize that others really like to take valuable time away from me.  I have my radar up now that lets me see the trains heading my way and I know to get off the tracks.  I really am not retired any more so I find us facing Christmas with that same panic again as we use to have.

I have two styles of trains that were my Dad's, a gift from my brother, many years ago.  I set up the track last year and this size of train really doesn't work very well as a toy.  I remember my boys being frustrated with it when they were young and Grandpa had received the gift.  I put the older fashioned train away in a box and I can't locate it now. This is the newer train of the two sets.

If I ever find the box with the other style of train in it, I will try to put it out too.  I think that last years train that I displayed went into my very full storeroom. It is a nice decoration at Christmas time.

We are down into the colder temperatures today with strong winds.  If you live north of us or east of us you will be feeling it soon. It is winter and I am glad the mud we have had the past two days is frozen up again.  Maybe that will help to dry it out so Barney doesn't get so messed up with mud in his paws.

Thanks for stopping by today. I am now in the Spanish room as a clerical error left them without a sub for the day.  I had originally been assigned a Special Education staff person to float in and out when they needed me.  I never really know who I am on a daily bases but I do feel like a good taco to eat would be good right now.

Oh yes, I didn't remember to mention until now that this is my 1000th post of Creative Zone.  It has been a fun ride and I will hang in there for a while longer.  Thanks for sticking by my site.

Wednesday's wandering........

Again I am stuck on the Christmas ornament theme.  So wandering I really am not doing, except that I am traveling up and down the tree for shots.

Plastic angles are easy to find but this one had a great finish on it. This is the back view of it as all the other shots of it were too blurry for viewing.

The Christmas sleigh is one of my small ones that I put on my small ornament tree.

We are in a drizzle mode for a few days.  I think it will actually freeze tonight for a short period but the mud is out there for our Barnie dog to get into and bring in onto the kitchen floor.

We are in the Christmas crunch time now as we have to send presents in the mail.  I know the one set will get there gifts in plenty of time but the ones to Maine take a while. It is the same with them sending things to us as it seems to be slow from out east coming to the center of the United States.  Our last minute fame jobs, peer pressure jobs, are getting closer to being done.  I have all day Saturday to complete those.

I have a very large poster to assemble this afternoon that has a older Native American rug as the background design in it's illustration.  The problem with it is the rug is deformed and as you put a perfect mat on it the result appears that the framer made a mistake.  The mistake actually is the person who bought the poster with crooked misshaped items on it. When measure in from the side the rug is wider at the bottom and narrow at the top. I may show you the solution when it's done and then again I may not.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my post for today. 

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Thanks for stopping by my post.

Two for Tuesday...........

I haphazardly strung 100 more lights onto my blacked out deer ornament last night.  It could have used another 100 but it will do for this year.  If I find a cheap set after Christmas I would like to buy enough to give it a huge amount of light strung all over it.  A glowing buck that is over electrified would be neat.

A rescued rose with a story that can go on and on, but I will spare you some of the details. Down on the farm was a rose bush that my wife's mother had planted.  It was slowly being overtaken by brush and young trees.  I spent a couple of years trying to figure out how to get it dug.  I finally dug a small section of it that had come up from a root sprout early spring.

When the house came down there was an area of growth still there and a pile of tree branches and rocks.  As my brother in law used a machine with a blade on it to remove the debris I was surprised to find this chunk of a rose bush spread out on the ground with other sections.  It is an old fashioned rose as it had a large base on it and it would have been hard to dig with a spade.

I grabbed up all of the pieces and brought them home. I put them in dirt in a plastic bucket and watered it well.  The same day I saw a television program where Jerry was saying roses do need to go dormant.  So I took it to my cold dark basement and left it.  Two months later you can see the three sprouts that are coming up from the roots.

I was really surprised as the root had been dried out and it looked pretty chopped up.  I just planted it just it case that it would grow.   I don't think I will add any more moisture for a couple of months unless it gets really dry.  I will have to find a good place for it outside in the spring.  I don't know what color it is but I will be glad to see how it does in it's new home.

I paid large bucks to replace my fuel pump, which is installed in the gas tank.  I have the car back now as I had to have it  towed Sunday morning and they repaired it on Monday.  The dealership was pretending that it was busy but with this economy I knew that they weren't too busy.  They had it done by Monday evening and we picked it up this morning at 7:30 before work.  Cars are so dependable until you least expect it, then you are stranded and helpless.

Thanks for stopping by and have a good Tuesday.

Monday morning blue........

Have a good day.  Monday is what it is, as start of the week from a hectic weekend.  I am glad the cold is not so cold as when 35 degrees is warm, you know you have adjusted to winter. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you all are doing ok out there. 

Sunday Shots......

One of my favorite ornaments is this goose in a wagon.  I like the old fashioned wheels on the wagon.

The bear that is made from Aunt Hulda's coat is so black that I can't get a good picture of it, but the tag sure takes a great shot. A distant cousin Marlys made the bear. A cousin Jeanene gave the bear to my wife for her bear tree.

How creative it is to give a penguin Christmas ornament eyelashes and lipstick.  She even has rouge on her cheeks.  This was gift from my sister in law,  Linda.  I may have posted the photo a year ago but this is the first year that I noticed the heavy makeup on the eyelashes..

My car started after sitting with some Heat, anti-frost gas line additive, in it's gas tank for a couple of hours.  I also added some fresh gas from my lawnmower gas can when I added the Heat.  It started right off first try at ten o'clock last night before I went to bed. I could sleep then knowing that our only vehicle was going to start in the morning.

Have a good Sunday and thanks for stopping by my post.

Checking in late today........

The last tree is up and I had to improvise.  I don't have a star or topper for this one as I used the star on the other extra tree.  Della's Irish doll works well as a semi angel doll.  I still have to get outside to do the lights but that just didn't happen today.

Have you ever had one of those days when everything you start as a project seems to take too long or it just doesn't work out to a finish.  I had too many mistakes and barriers that just kept the day being an unsuccessful one that I don't want to repeat.  The harder I pushed the more things just kept not working.  I just finished walking a few blocks to buy some heat to put into my car gas tank.  Hopefully the car will start by tomorrow morning.

We were at 7 degrees this morning as the temps dropped all night.  Then we had a southern wind and it is warming up again. It was melting snow this afternoon.  We are back down to 32 degrees F. now at 6 in the evening. 

Ah yes, there is another new day and I will be glad in it.

Thanks!

Friday's Posting

The other box is now hung except for four or five stragglers.  I don't have hangers in which to hang them but that will be remedied this evening.  I have been putting these up a few at a time through the last two days.  I was glad I separated out the smaller ones to put on another tree.

I have an outside tree that I intend to place lights and beside that my two lighted reindeer. My buck has burned out lights on it and I am going to just string an new set onto it to brighten him up again.

My wife and I use to go to Kansas City every summer and check out their year round Christmas store at the Crown Center mall.  We would buy just one special ornament each summer.  This little girl was one of them that we have on the big tree.  It is ceramic with a flat mat glaze on it.

This is an older ornament that I bought in a set.  They are glass blown and are trying to replicate an antique glass blown ornament.  I have broken a section out of one of them as the glass is extremely thin and it easy to  break when dropped on the table.

I am a part time art teacher today.  There is a study hall and a word processing class that I will be working with in the computer lab.  We had a light one inch snow last night and it got very cold again.  Saturday or Sunday looks like we have a little bit of a warm up with the melting of this white stuff.   The final weeks of December seem to get very busy and scheduled with tasks to do.  I have less things on the list this year than most years but the traditional stress sits in for me anyway.  I hope it quiet downs at least a few days before Christmas.  I am out of school at the end of the day on the 22nd.

Thanks for stopping by my post.