Sunday, November 29, 2009




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


13 comments:

Leslie Ann said...

With any luck, those leaves on your roof will never make it to your deck, clogging your gutters instead.

Digital doesn't only suck in the boonies. Even here in a major metro area, digital is dicey on a good day, forget it if it's windy or raining. I hope the world enjoys that bandwidth they freed up with the switch. They'll free up the rest of it when over-the-air TV dies from this in a few years.

The Incredibles is my favorite Pixar film, and I know them all very well. Lots of fun stuff for the adults in it.

Melissa, how about typing out a question for your group message board? Someone might take the bait and share the address with you. You don't have to wait for the world to come to you. Reach out and grab it!

Lucy Melford said...

Oh, so 'boonies' means 'the sticks' or 'way out in the back of beyond'. It's a new word to me! One of the blogs I follow is called 'Mental Boonies' (that's Sophie in Hampton Roads, Virginia) and I wondered what it actually meant.

Melissa, I like the dress you're wearing in the photo. Will you be attending this party in it?

Lucy

Melissa said...

@ Leslie Ann

I don't know how the communications companies ever managed to get away with what amounts to the outright theft of the analog spectrum, from the public. I guess it just goes to show who really owns our government. The companies that gained the analog spectrum for their use, are some of the same ones that sell you cable TV.

Our group leader sent out an email to everyone, asking who was coming to the party. In my reply, I told her we were still waiting for directions. Someone else did to. She is a bit slow to respond sometimes. It took her 3 weeks and an email reminder, for her to authorize my membership on the message board.

@ Lucy

Boonies is slang for boondocks.

Thanks for the compliment on my dress. In the picture it looks like a red paisley print, on a navy background, but it's really black. I don't know why my computer cam distorts colors like that. Purple will often come out looking like royal blue.

I have a few ideas for what to wear to the party, but I haven't made up my mind yet. I ordered a couple of red sweaters on line but they won't be here until Tuesday. Not sure if I'll wear one of them or not yet. I'll have to see how they look on me first.

Melissa XX

Anonymous said...

Your top does look nice and so does your hair.
I hope you find the address and have a great time.
Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees here so no more sweeping for us.
As for digital TV we have exactly the same issues in rural areas.
x

Melissa said...

@ Lisa

Thank you Lisa! I'm afraid your blog is one of the ones I can no longer post comments on. I can't post on Jenny's blog either. I sure wish I could figure out what is causing this problem.

Melissa XX

Amy K. said...

I love the dress too, as well as "The Incredibles!" (In fact, I love just about anything superheroey!)

Sorry about all the leaves. We live in an apartment, so some nice men come by and blow the leaves all over the place. Don't matter to me none. :P

Unknown said...

Melissa - The address was only posted on the private side of the message board. In spite of fearless leader's assertions, I still do not think she has given everyone access to that part. Drop me an email sophia-09 at cox dot net and I'll send it to you. Then you can stop fretting.

Anonymous said...

Hi Melissa, There are a couple of ways of setting up the comments section. If mine is different to the one that works then maybe I can alter the way the comments appear.
Let me know if this will help.
x

Melissa said...

@ Lisa

Thanks Lisa! I can only comment on blogs that have the pop up window for comments enabled. Your blog currently has the embedded comment box at the bottom of the page. Blogs with that format are the ones that won't allow me to comment.

Melissa XX

Anonymous said...

I have changed it now so hopefully it is ok.
x

Kay & Sarah said...

Melissa, I do like your hair style and the pretty dress. I do hope you can get the address from Sophie so that you can stop worrying about one less thing.

And please have a good time by doing as much preparation as you can before the day of the party.

Sarah

Melissa said...

@ Sarah

Thank you Sarah. Yes, Sophie gave me the address, so I looked it up in Google Maps, and got the directions. It's about 45 miles from where I live. Most of it is interstate highway and 4 lane state highway, with just a few turns after that, so finding it should be easy. Thanks for the tips!

Melissa XX

Calie said...

I have this theory about leaves. If you leave them there long enough, the wind will blow them into the neighbor's yard. Problem solved!

Calie xxx