The Sounds of Silence

Early mornings or late nights are the best for me during the holidays. Getting up before the sun rises and turning on the Christmas tree, fixing a cup of coffee and just sitting and enjoying the lights and the quiet moment is gift enough for me. I also like the time "after everyone" has gone to bed to be alone and savor the moment. Solitude is not my enemy. I am surrounded by LOTS of people all day long...mostly in the 15-18 year old range. Talking is their hobby. So when I have a few uninterrupted moments, I treasure them.

I know people who can't bear to be alone. They must have constant companionship...if not the companionship of a person then at least the television helps bridge the silence. To me there is nothing better than a block of silence. In the summer, I go out on my backporch and sit, drink coffee and watch the birds. I have a small tabletop fountain that I turn on and the faint babble of water soothes the "beast".

Answering machines, email, computers, phones, tv's, cameras...constant interaction in a world where we are bombarded with signs, advertisements and every method of communication known to man! No matter how wonderful all that communication is please, think about the consequences that it produces. Once upon a time, a person could commit a faux pas and the entire earth didn't necessarily know about it in 15 minutes flat. Today, one slip up and you are a candidate for You Tube. I mentioned to coworkers today that all the "news" on Facebook is overwhelming...it's a great tool but it also has the drawback of your knowing every detail of hundreds of people's lives every day. For all the positives that lightning fast communication brings it also has negatives.

Remember the letter? You know that thing in the envelope that arrives with a stamp? Oh, how I loved to receive a letter (and still do.) It stood for something...somebody somewhere took the time to pick out stationery and get a pen and then dared to reveal their heart in writing to you. I long for letters. When I get a thank you note, it makes my day. Just the thought that somebody actually thought enough of me to send me their thoughts by snail mail thrills me. Oh, I know I'm a little nutty...but those of you old enough to remember receiving an honest to goodness handwritten letter understand. Maybe that's why handwritten Christmas cards mean so much. Little paragraphs inserted at the top or the bottom of the card mean a great deal.

Slow down this week...I know, I know...you have SO much to do...but get up just 15 minutes early one morning this week and savor the moment. Then once this week, write somebody a letter. You'll make their day, I promise you that.

December Blog GiveAway!! Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Today I'd like to announce my second AMcInnis Artworks blog giveaway. I promised one every six weeks or so and it's high time! This is a 7x7 inch mixed media piece using paper, beads, acrylics and pen and ink.

If you haven't joined the blog yet, please do so. You will then be eligible for our drawings. It's simple to do, just click on Follow and follow the directions. Let me know if you have any problem, and I will try to help you figure things out.




The crazy blog poster is acting up tonight...excuse the messiness of this post...ugh :(

I love this time of year and hope to add a little cheerfulness to your surroundings by doing some legwork for you and giving you ideas and fun projects for the holiday season. This little giveaway piece would be cute placed on a small easel and displayed somewhere in your home that needs a little (dare I say it!??) WHIMSY! I greatly dislike that word...so trite and overused. Anyhoooo, it will add a fun note to your already wonderfully decorated homes.

I am helping host a Cookie/Candy Swap next week and thought I'd give you a few ideas for that ubiquitous undertaking. I KNOW everyone either attends or hosts one of these every year, but this year we are taking it in a different direction...one that doesn't require quite so much time and effort. Working women and busy or young mothers don't have all night to spend in the kitchen, so we cut the work down to size.

We have 12 women attending and each woman will bring enough cookies or candy to give each attendee 4 pieces (or cookies). That amounts to 48 cookies and as most recipes make 3-4 dozen, we are in good shape there. They are to bring their offerings on a platter and the hostesses are "springing" for inexpensive platters from "you know where" for each lady. All treats will be set out on the perimeter of a large table and each lady will be given her "gift" platter and the guests will make their way around the table picking up 4 cookies per platter as they pass. At the end (and this may sound a little chintzy to some but it's a real time and money saver) each lady will reuse the aluminum foil that they brought to cover their original treats to wrap up their swapped treats.

NOW, I know this is a streamlined version of the baking all day, putting a dozen cookies in a cute container for every lady and enclosing a recipe card for each container, but frankly, I am more into taste testing than I am into cute for the sake of being cute. Beside that, money is tight this year and this is a fun way to have a little spiced cider, coffee and visit while still leaving with something different for your family to try.

You could take this one step further by asking everyone to bring one notecard with the recipe typed or printed on the front only. Then the hostess could artfully place the cards on a copy machine and not have to print but 2 pages maximum for each attendee. Make sure they sign their names on their cards. What a fun little reminder of a relaxing few hours spent with good friends.

A McInnis' Spiced Cider (my very own recipe)

1 gallon Apple Juice (sweeter than cider) A handful or two of cinnamon Red Hots candies
1 large navel orange (washed & sliced) 2 cinnamon sticks

Put the orange slices (3 or 4 thick slices), Red Hots and cinnamon sticks in the top of a large coffee percolator. Pour Apple Juice in and close top. Let perk....yummy and simple.
My family even likes it cold.

Now, go make a fire in the fireplace, have a little cider and figure out where you want to put that art piece when it arrives in a few days. Let's set the drawing for December 18th!!

* $ Tree and "Blue" Air

Well, it finally happened. It started with that little tickle in the back of the throat and bloomed from there. My first cold in over a year. Even as a child, I dreaded the "dreaded" head cold. I don't cough well...coughing makes me gag. I don't like not being able to taste or smell my food. And I certainly don't like the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer effect my nose takes on. Besides, I just have too much to do to bother with all this foolishness.

I knew it was coming. Here's how it happened. I was trying to get a "few" items in Dollar Tree. There I was on the basket aisle, when some lady and two children came rolling by, she was coughing her head off. I made a quick retreat and tried to roll my buggy out of the way...I'll come back when the air cleared of her germs and get the containers.

Then as I went down the tissue paper aisle, I heard another one...she was tall and I thought maybe the germs would go over my head, but just to make sure, I turned around and took another direction. I'll come back for the tissue.

Coming down an aisle I didn't need to be on, I looked up and the woman with the two boys was coming my way. One of her kids (about 10 years old) said to me, "Hey, would you hand me some Extreme Sour Gummy Straws? They are in the back and I can't reach them." He was a large child and was almost tall as I was, but I reached for the box waaaay in the back and handed him the candy. I could hear Mama coughing all the while. Because of those Extreme Gummies I had to breathe the "blue" air and I believe to this day, THAT was the source of my germs. (No good deed goes unpunished.)

Went to check out and there we all were, stuffed in $ Tree's check out line, everybody in the place (but me at the time) coughing and snorting to beat the band. (Once in science class they showed us a movie about germs and how far they traveled in the air when one sneezes or coughs...that movie changed my life forever and I will never forget the horror of the moment that I became aware of what one cough or sneeze could do to innocent bystanders!)

So it was certainly no surprise when I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat, etc. Now I know you can't stay away from everybody for the duration of a cold, but you sure don't need to shop at the height of the Christmas season in $ Tree, no less and spread the "blue air" around to all of us, besides that, I never did get my tissue paper and the baskets! Happy Monday, honk, honk!

* I WILL Conquer!

I knew I was in trouble when I heard the statement, "The games begin around noon." What had begun as a fun-filled day of Christmas shopping wilted right there on the vine. He continued, "I want to have this wrapped up today."

I answered, "You do mean the gifts...wrapped up, don't you? Not ALL the Christmas shopping!" Certainly he knew we couldn't possibly do all the shopping in one Saturday morning. "Well, I took you shopping at 3:30 a.m. Friday morning and you only got a few things. Why didn't you finish then?" Why? Why, indeed! Picture this if you will: 3:30 a.m. Black Friday, pouring down rain, grandchildren under quilts in backseat, me- ready to leap out of the car (I forgot the umbrella) and run as fast as my short legs could take me and battle my way through the throng in Old Navy. He yelled as I jumped out of the rolling vehicle (and I quote), "I will be back to get you in 15 minutes."

Does anybody but me see the utter nuttiness of this situation? Shopping for me is an experience that takes planning and forethought. I do NOT get up, decide to go Christmas shopping for 100 people on the spur of the moment. I have a plan, I have notes, I have coupons, I have to have coffee, my blood pressure tablet and socks that don't fall down around my ankles. He, on the other hand, gets up and thinks, "I think I'll get this shopping business done. I've got an extra hour before the game comes on. I'll run out, get something, have it wrapped and slap it under the tree by kickoff."

As I related on FB this morning, once I needed a white blouse. We hadn't been married long and he said he'd take me shopping. Boy, was I in for the "wake up" call of my young married life. We walked in, he walked over to a rack of white blouses, asked what size I wore and handed me one. "Let's roll," he said. Uh, oh. This wasn't looking good and I knew it. I said," That's not the right collar or the right kind of sleeve." He responded, "It HAS a collar and sleeves, let's go." I became frantic, "I can't wear that kind of collar. It makes my face look too round."

"Are you kidding me?" He was incredulous. I waved the white blouse, er flag, and thought I'd bring it back to exchange. For some reason I didn't have time to make the exchange and I had to wear that blouse to an event...I knew it was the wrong thing to do, but if he didn't mind looking like he had married "Moon Pie" face, should I really care? All evening I kept my head down so nobody would see the mirror image of the collar in my round face. I think they thought I was just shy.

Once I sent him to buy me some underwear at the old Gayfer's. He couldn't remember the size and told the lady that I wore a size 12. Of course, in those days I probably DID wear a 10 or 12 IN A DRESS! But underwear sizes and dress sizes are NOT interchangeable. He said when she picked up that underwear, he almost fainted! Said it could have been the sail on a very large ship. He looked around and picked out a lady who looked about my size and he and the clerk decided on the size underwear she was probably wearing and he came home with that size...which I must add was exactly my size!

My point is men shop differently from women...some news flash, huh? Men like to conquer, women like to muse. Men like to "get it over with", women like to drag it on until they are sure they have covered every possible base. Men wouldn't be caught dead in the "return" aisle, women make life long friends there. Soooo, happy shopping and remember this tip: "Don't take him with you. Let him watch the game." You'll live a much more peaceful life.

I'm Running Around Like the Proverbial Chicken...

Hellooooooooo, It's me!! Wow, what a week!! (From now on the code for that is WWW!) So very much to be done...not enough time to do it...For some reason, the time change is really dragging me down. It's sooo dark by the time I get everyone delivered to their homes for the day, that ole grandma just can't do much but come home and take a quick power nap and then try to "continue" for another 4 hours or so.

I feel like I've been running around like the proverbial chicken with her head cut off. Now then, back to business. I wanted to relate a little happening in my life that was extremely special and heart warming. MANY years ago (you know when we had to walk 5 miles to school in the snow with shoes that had holes in their bottoms..haha), we put up our family Christmas tree (always cedar) on December 15. We had big colored bulbs and tinsel and silver icicles that HAD to be put on one at a time. My brother and sister and I ended up throwing wads of them on the tree if Mother left the room ;( Anyhooo, we always had a beautiful little angel on the top of the tree. She had a lithographed head and shoulders, golden wings and was surrounded by angel hair. Three gold stars were strategically placed around her. That was the Alexander angel and she was used every year. Her name was "Sweet Angie" in honor of a little children's song that was popular in the 50's (and I like to think, me.)

Somehow, "Sweet Angie" got lost. My parents stored some of their possessions in a storeroom that caught on fire and there you go, stuff went up in smoke. So we think that's where she was lost. One day, several years ago, I happened by a garage sale and just HAD to pull in. I was delving into a box of antique linens when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a little white box. I opened it and when I moved the tissue paper to see what was underneath, I gasped! There she was! "Sweet Angie"! I couldn't get to the checkout fast enough...."How much?" I asked. Are you ready for the answer?! "Fifty cents!" Why, that was an insult, but I paid her ransom and she has adorned various trees in my house for the last ten years or so.

How do things like that happen? The facts: I would pass by a random garage sale on a random morning, two hours south of where I lived as a little girl and find "Sweet Angie"some forty years after her demise? I know, you are thinking, "Crazy woman, it's not the same one." Well, think that to yourself, please. Because I prefer to think Somebody knew that I needed a strong connection to my past to get me through some tough times and that angel did it and still does it to this day. I love her and every year when I bring her out of her box, she reminds me of a cedar tree sparkly with icicles and big colored bulbs and my mother saying, "Now, put on the icicles, one at a time!" I miss that part of my life.