I have a Christmas party to go to next week, and I still don't know the address. It's being held at the home of one of my support group's members, but I don't have a clue as to where she lives. At our last meeting, our group's leader said she would post the address on our private message board, but I've yet to see it. Fortunately we have our monthly meeting the night before, and I always carry a pencil and small notebook in my purse, so I guess I can always get the address, and then and copy it down. I hate to do it that way though. I'm a bit of a neurotic when it comes to the unknown, and I like to know as much about what I'm getting myself into, as early as possible. When it comes to going somewhere for the first time, I like to have at least several days to look up the address in Google Maps, and get a good picture of where I'm going, plus a good set of directions.

I guess everything will work out OK. Why do I always  have to worry so much?

I watched the movie The Incredibles tonight. I hadn't seen it before, and I thought it was quite entertaining. Excellent 3-D animation, and lot of good humor. It also had a few poignant moments, thank no less to the dialog between the über sweet Holley Hunter (always loved her), as Helen Parr / Elastigirl, and Spencer Fox, as Dashiell 'Dash' Parr, her daughter. I feel so silly when a cartoon brings me to tears, but I've been doing it ever since I saw Snow White, as a small child. I can't help it. I guess I'm just a sentimental fool.

My deck was covered with fallen leaves again, so I swept it again today. Every time I have swept it before, it became covered in leaves again within two days.  So many trees, so many leaves! Fortunately, most of the leaves have been shed by now, so I was hoping this would be the last time, but as I was sweeping, I looked up on the roof, and it was covered in leaves! Eventually most of those will fall down on the deck, and I 'll have to sweep them off again!

I took  a small TV out into the back yard today, and hooked it up directly to my outdoor antenna, to see if I could tune my local digital stations in better than I had been receiving them. The reception had gotten so rotten, that I could only count on one out of 13 local stations coming in. Even after an hour of rotating my antenna back and forth, I couldn't get the optimum signal, I still couldn't get better than a 70%  signal on my strongest channel. Most channels are only coming in at in the 30-50% range. Digital TV has been a real curse for those of us living in outlying areas. Analogue was much better for us. We may not have received the best picture, in fact it may have been a bit snowy, but at least you could watch and listen to what was being broadcasted.  With digital, if the signal goes below 30% you get no picture at all!

My older sister emailed me today. We are both happy that mom made it through Thanksgiving, without feeling melancholy. Both of us felt it was good therapy, for her to shop for and cook Thanksgiving dinner. Even though she will be 89 on January the 1st, it was her idea to cook. She was always a mother and housewife, and that's all she knows. The big test, will be how she makes it through Christmas, now that my twin is no longer with us. I expect Christmas to be a little bit more emotional than Thanksgiving.

Melissa XX