T Stands for Pennsylvania Christmas

After a late start due to fridge , illness, and the trip down from Hell, we arrived at the Eldest's to spend Christmas and New Year's with her.

Christmas morning began late. The joys of Christmas with adult children. They all fussed when I wanted the second annual foot picture. But a sharp, "Put your foot in!" and everyone hopped to it. Gifts were opened and then cinnamon rolls for breakfast courtesy of the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Christmas dinner was late in the day. I had ordered a Christmas dinner package from Omaha Steak.  The only grocery store where the Eldest lives is Walmart and I didn't want to go shopping the day before Christmas Eve. (The Young One and I were sick with colds so we stayed an extra day at the hotel to rest and recover). The Eldest has also been unemployed since April so I didn't want her to spend her unemployment check on anything besides her necessities.

The Omaha Steak dinner was fabulous. All we had to do was heat and eat. Spiral Ham, to die for Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Glazed Fancy Carrots (the carrots came in all sorts of colors). The dinner was rounded out by Crescent rolls (again courtesy of the Dough Boy), Sparkling White Grape Juice in pink glasses that once belonged to Doris, and for dessert, a Vanilla Cake, the dessert portion of the Omaha Steak dinner.  While waiting for dinner to heat, I folded red napkins to look like Christmas trees or Santa hats.

After dinner, we played some board games I had brought along as recommended by the Young One. We played Apples to Apples and then Tsuro. 

All in all a very, lovely holiday. I hope your holidays were nice, too.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Words for the Year

For me, when it comes to making New Year’s resolutions, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Several years ago, I came upon choosing a word to focus on for the year. I found it very helpful

This year, I found this fun, little game. Look at the picture. The first three words you see are your words for the year.

Mine were connect, power, miracles. My fortune from the fortune cookie read, “A refreshing change is in your future?” Will I find a long lost relative? Will I take over the Earth? Will something happen to me out of the blue? Time will tell.

What three words did you see first?

Alphabet Sunday

Brought to you by the letter, F. Enders Island

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

This idea came from a Facebook meme:
Over 10 days, post your 10 all time favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:me favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) Charles Laughton, Clark Gable

and the remake

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) Trevor Howard, Marlon Brando

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week while visiting the Eldest in Pennsylvania

1. Went to see Star Wars  (meh) and then out to dinner at Red Lobster

2. Went to see the Christmas tree display at Kraynak’s

3. Had brunch at the Iron Bridge Inn.

4. Celebrated New Year’s Eve with the Eldest. Our tradition is having Chinese food, but the local Chinese restaurant is closed on Tuesdays so we bought PF Chang’s frozen entrees from the grocery store. And she found some Three Stooges shorts on a free streaming service called Tubi. Then toasted the New Year. I also texted New Year greetings to the Young One who spent the holiday with her friend in Ohio.

5. Made plants to visit the Eldest during the Summer with a day trip to the beaches of Lake Erie.

How was your week?

Second on the Second

From 10. March 2014

To set the stage, BC, before children and calligraphy took over my life, I was a computer programmer. I began in the early to mid-1980's working in the early days of computers for small business. Personal computers were still a decade away, and we worked on mini-systems. Computers were no longer so large they needed their own building like ENIAC and UNIVAC, but they were still large, about the size of a full-sized automobile. I worked for a small, software house where my job was to tweak the back-office accounting package the company sold to banks. I had the lofty title of "consultant" and served 21 banks in 5 states.

The Young One told me, in general terms, a bit about working on the game project and working in a group.

"...and then we didn't have much to do because we had to wait for the code monkeys," she said.

"Excuse me?"

"Code monkeys...programmers."

"Code monkeys? CODE MONKEYS! Programmers. COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS. I'll have you know we were treated like gods!

"I was picked up at the airport in a limousine. When I went to the banks, crowds would part like the Red Sea when I walked down the corridors. I would hear hushed and reverent whispers, 'Here comes THE Programmer. THE Programmer is here.' I would be shown to a private office or corner workstation where workers were told 'Don't disturb THE Programmer.' Someone would be assigned to bring me a cup of tea just the way I liked it or to timidly ask if I would like a muffin, donut, bagel, or sandwich. At one bank, the woman who was in charge of keeping track of the safe deposit boxes wept with gratitude after I wrote a small program to automate when the safe deposit boxes were to be renewed. She no longer had to wade through an index card file. Hours of work for her was reduced to a few minutes with the press of a button. After that, every time she saw me, she thanked me profusely.

"Computer Programmers. We were like gods."

"Yeah, so, we had to wait for the code monkeys to finish..."

It's your turn to play. From Elizabeth: Now it's time to share your Second on the 2nd.  The rules are quite simple and everyone is welcome to join the fun look back.  All you have to do is bring back a post that you are especially proud of, or perhaps one you shared before anyone knew your blog existed.  Any post, any genre, any artistic endeavor is acceptable.  Join hosts Bleubeard and Elizabeth to see what else is being served up the Second Time Around.

Wordy Wednesday