Formal Frosty

This weekend our area got its first significant snow. I received 3.5" at my house. I did something I hadn't done in years. I made a snowman. I used to really hate snow, but this snow was very pretty, the roads were fine to drive, and it was relatively warm- right at 32 (that fact that I now own a 4 wheel drive doesn't hurt either). Here's the finished product.

I'm very thankful for my neighbors who provided the carrot nose and tie. One of them had younger brothers, so she knew how to tie it too. With his tie, I felt his name should be Formal Frosty.

Here's To Historically Accurate Nativity Scenes

Every year I set up my nativity set like this

This is a different look than most nativity depictions you've seen. Some of you already understand the reason mine is this way. For those of you who don't, here's why: the wise men weren't there the night Jesus was born. They didn't arrive until some time later. Here's the story from the NIV version of Matthew 2. Pay special attention to verse 11.

The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’^[b]”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

They found Jesus at the house, not the stable. Thus, I set up my wise men so they are literally coming from the east.

I tend to think this is something everyone knows, but I was reminded this week that it's not. My boss, who attends Mass every week, didn't know it. So there's your Christmas fun fact for today.

We don't always see ourselves as others see us

Recently someone at my mom's company was fired for theft. This has been a long-standing problem with this employee, and it finally reached the point where termination occurred. Someone saw the firee recently and asked her how she was doing. Her response "I was treated like a common criminal. I was escorted to my locker and then escorted out of the building"

Um, YES. Theft is a crime. You are a theif.

As my parents always told us "We don't always see ourselves as others see us."

Mystery Solved

For the past week or so I've been hearing an intermittent beeping in my apartment. It's faint, so I only noticed it when everything was off, such as when I was reading or lying in bed. After a while, it finally dawned on me that it was the "chirp" of a low smoke detector battery. However, it was too low in volume to be mine. Well, one morning this week I heard a loud "chirp" and realized one of my WAS beeping. I took care of it. Since all of my detectors were installed at the same time, I put new batteries in all the others ones too. (Safety note: if your smoke detectors are 10 years old or older or you don't know how old they are, replace them immediately. There is a 50 percent failure rates for smoke detectors a decade old).

My detectors all had fresh batteries, but the chirping continued. I checked with my upstairs neighbor. He said the chirping wasn't come from his place, nor had he heard it. Next I consulted with the neighbors upstairs & across from me. Same thing. Finally I asked the last tenant in my building, my next door neighbor who's also part owner of the complex. He told me the chirping wasn't in his apartment, but that it might be coming from the basement. The BASEMENT. I hadn't thought of that. The basement is not finished. It houses the water heaters for all the apartments, and the owners use the rest of it as storage. He promptly went and checked it. BINGO. Problem solved. Thank goodness. It was driving me batty.

Be open to the wisdom of others

Until last year, I always hauled my Christmas tree in my car. In case anyone ever asks you, yes, you can fit a Christmas tree in the trunk of a sports car. It just sticks out some, and you have to tie the trunk shut.

With the addition of the Tracker to my fleet last year, it became the designated Christmas tree transport vehicle. I tied the tree on top and brought it home. This worked better than the trunk of my car, but the Tracker is a soft top, so it was sort of precarious to get it to stay put during travel. I was talking to a guy this week about getting my tree. He owns are Tracker too (he copied off me and bought one. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery you know). He suggested loading it in the passenger door and standing the top through the fold back sunroof.

I took his advice today. It worked GREAT. It fit in easily and no tying was required. Here are the Tracker and tree once we'd arrived home:

Be open to the wisdom of others. It just might make your life easier.


Additional fun fact to this story: I wouldn't let the guy at Lowe's trim the bottom of my tree with the chainsaw until he went and got some safety glasses. There were none in the area where the chainsaw was. While he was getting them, I was talking with another employee. He said "you made me get safety glasses last year." I thought he looked familiar. He was the one who trimmed my tree last year when I bought it. Everyone took it in good spirits and I told the person thank you for humoring me. I just couldn't let them use them chainsaw without them. If I had and something would have happened to their eyes, the guilt would be overwhelming.

Sometimes it's worth more to spend more

I am cheap by nature. I love a good deal. However, as I've gotten older, I've come to realize that sometimes paying more is the wiser thing to do.

Example #1- Eating out

I love eating out, and I would not be sad if I never cooked again. Although I'm cheap, I hardly ever eat fast food. The quality in most cases is just not that good. I'd rather pay a little bit more and have better food.

Example #2- Athletic shoes

Walking is my preferred form of exercise during the non summer months. Previously I had a threshold for what I'd pay for athletic shoes. The problem I've had in the past few years is I cannot find shoes that fit my feet well. I finally gave in and went to a specialty running store. For the first time in a long time, shoes that were comfortable. Were they more? LOTS more. But as my mom says "You only have one pair of feet."

Example 3- Paper Towels

Recently I purchased some paper towels are Dollar Tree. Oh my goodness, they are so cheap. I normally buy the store brand at the grocery store, and those are luxury compared to these flimsy things. I'll be glad when they're gone, which won't be long based on how wimpy they are.

I always like to to watch my spending closely, but sometimes the best value is actually found in spending a little more.