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Showing posts from 2020

Jazzing up a Gift of Money

  Even though monetary gifts might sound like the easy way out, that's not quite true.  This year I'm calling it the safer way to gift.  Safe because I don't have to risk shopping in a crowded store or picking something online that might not be quite what it looks like on my screen.  My grandkids range in age from 8-27 (two girls and two boys.) Knowing exactly what they wish for at any given age is often a blind guess.  Giving them money sort of feels like a cop-out, like maybe I didn't put enough effort into it.  But this year it feels like just the thing to do.   I started by looking for ideas on Pinterest and saw a five-pointed star made from bills.  It was for sale on Etsy so there were were no directions.  However, I found those easily on youtube.   I decided on two stars for each grandchild so that meant I would need 40 bills to complete the project.  A trip to the bank drive through took care of that. Here is where I messed up by forgetting to take any pictures o

Christmas 2020

Since I have no plans for Christmas this year, due to the COVID crisis, I didn't see much of a reason to decorate.  It's a lot of work when I'm the only one who will see it. But, with the nice weather that continued into late November, I didn't have an excuse not to decorate outside. Exterior decorating has always been my least favorite project for a couple of reasons.  Number one is the difficulty of getting cold hands to manipulate tangled wires and attach things in a way that can sustain wind, rain, and snow.  Number two is really part B of number one.  Securing outdoor decorations usually involves a ladder on either wet and soggy or frozen ground. Bottom line, I'm not much of an outdoorsy type.  But, nice weather and the idea that maybe some colorful lights might be nice for my neighbors to see when they look out their windows, or drive by, gave me incentive to step up and brighten my corner of a 4-way stop intersection.  (photo taken prior to completion) I deci