'Blue For Black Friday"

There is nothing like a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving. Or Christmas. And every year I keep trying to have one. I come very close to perfection with the kids, the grandkids, the food is great, and here we sit in a cozy cabin in Estes Park. What more could you ask for? After writing about missing Thanksgiving especially. Well I will tell you what I want now --- there is always something out there I want - Black Friday! I have never been "home" or available for retail on Black Friday and dang, I'm itchin' to snag some bargains! To even sneak some of those low priced goodies for myself. To read my favorite "book" that comes out tomorrow - the Target ad! Many times I've not even been close to a newspaper. I feel what it must be like to quit smoking or worse! I need to see those circulars! What am I missing? I'll let you in on a secret. The rush to Christmas that I whined about being such a terrible thing, did kick start my shopping early and I'm almost done. I want more! I want to be standing in line at 4AM at Kohls for something I don't even know what it is yet! My daughter and I could make a list, a road map of sorts, where to go, in what order, who opens first and where's the best stuff? Maybe she should get in one line and I in another? This could be a Christmas miracle for me. I was able to do it with out missing Thanksgiving. So maybe this early start isn't so bad. I did finally see the generic Thanksgiving commercial. Now Christmas will come and I'll be ready, and I imagine I'll do it all without getting involved with Black Friday. I'll turn my attention to something else. I can focus on the once a year, not to be missed Holiday Open House for the Best, the Brightest, and the Beautiful. Our Book Club members. I'll be shootin' for a Norman Rockwell Open House, did he paint one of those?

"Missing Thanksgiving!"

I covered Halloween, but this is serious. Where is Thanksgiving this year? This is the first time I've ever noticed it's complete disappearance. I haven't seen a single commercial for a Butterball Turkey. The Rockwell family gathered around and those boys fighting over the last crescent roll. We truly did jump straight from Halloween to Christmas with nary a gobble. Now there are some things I like about it, I have to admit. I fell into their trap. It's hypnotized me into a state of thinking I need to shop. So I've already started my Christmas shopping - early. But when I walked into Target a week ago and they had snowflakes plastered on their windows and Merry Christmas written on them I was thinking " Shame on you!". I could hop on the Merry-Go-Round and go for the Christmas ring and make Thanksgiving a glitch in the week, but something won't let me. I like Thanksgiving. For one thing it gives me a trial run at the turkey again. But I like the family around without the fuss and gimme presents that goes with Christmas. Fortunately my kids have outgrown that gimme stage. But I put a lot of pressure on myself to have the perfect Dickens Christmas. It's a lot of work but I don't want to change anything. Thanksgiving really does make me feel thankful for my family and for making it through another year and taking stock that life is pretty good. I need that right before the Christmas race starts, I think we all do. So come on Network Television, put that Butterball turkey ad on and those boys fighting over that last Pillsbury crescent roll (relax, we know mom has more in the kitchen!) and let us make that grocery list and plan a time with our people. Then we can race to the finish line for the perfect Christmas, the tree, trimmings, meal, gifts, and most of all some time with the people you care about that you just saw a month ago.

"A 5 Star Day"

First I must say we had a great meeting on Saturday! What a great group of people to spend time with and I consider myself lucky to get to do so! A good book discussion, Two mini "Happy Birthday party's for Nan and Maxine with a fun lunch at Oskar Blues. I give Oskar Blues ...... how many stars shall I give Oskar Blues? I was facing the wall. Like four feet from it......., not their fault, I think the atmosphere was fun, I heard laughter coming from outside our table. I'll give them five stars for atmosphere. The wall in front of me was pleasant enough to look at. But it was still a wall, so let's sit on that a minute. The menu was fun bar food and what I ordered was yummy. But I ordered a Turkey Roll-Up, it was good but I wouldn't have ordered it if there had been what I consider to be a good salad on the menu. Oddball salad menu, I'm not hard to please in that department. Don't get the wrong idea! They probably had salads you might like! So do I give them + stars for the Turkey Roll-Up or - stars for the sub par salad menu? So, where are we? We started with 5, minus oh, half a star (I'll be nice) for staring at the wall. Not everyone can face the direction they want to. Subtract a whole star for the lacking salad selection - that's fair I think. Service was a bit slow but they just opened, have a new wait staff, it was the busy lunch hour, all the excuses, I mean reasons. We're now at 3.5 stars. But wait! I had a great time! I really liked what I had to eat, I enjoyed the whole experience although I'm sure it was enhanced completely by my dining companions. So what's with the star system? We have it in the book club. I even pay attention to it and get all happy and excited when things are running straight fives for a day after the meeting. Then maybe someone will rate the meeting and the rating dips to an OMG 4.86! What did I do wrong! Did I let the meeting run amok? Was there inadequate lighting? Was a member unruly and I didn't rule? How did I lose those .14 points? I want them back! I want a perfect meeting! I want to know who, I want to know what, I want to know where did I go wrong? It's frightening and just plain unhealthy. So I spank my inner brat and tell myself that Oskar Blues can have a line of people waiting to get in , waiting to order a sub par salad and face the wall while eating it and it's the hottest spot in town. They do this with out being a perfect 5. The LBC meetings may never get a perfect 5, I think the book club has never gotten a mark as lowly as a 3.5 (how humiliating, I'd shut it down!) so according to my math and maybe even Gerty's, that makes us the hottest thing in town! So I forgot for a minute ..... I'm all better now.

"Sneaking Around"

I have a person in my life. Her name is Tal. She is from Israel. She is cute, I enjoy her accent and speech patterns and tend to imitate them when we are together, twice a week. I tend to imitate any accent I hear, I get a huge kick out of that but perhaps the person with the accent doesn't, HHhmmm, note to self...., consider this. Well Tal, has gotten a little high and mighty. I made an appointment with Gerty (member in good standing) to discuss important book club business, over lunch at one o'clock. Now Gerty, if you don't know this, is a Mathematician of the highest order. And if you don't know this, it has gotten to the point that we need a mathematician of the highest order to figure out who gets a turn in book club picking out a book. There are only twelve picks a year. I want new members to get a chance, but longtime (members in good standing) haven't had a chance in over a year! What is fair? So I gave Gerty a list of all members, told her how I was working in the new people and gave her time to study this. I was pleased she agreed it was a difficult issue. This is where Tal comes is. She is a whip-cracking ball buster who makes me do athletic things I'd rather not. When I emailed her and told her I had confused my appointments and needed to reschedule, (Of course I didn't tell her it was lunch with Gerty (member in good standing)! She had the nerve to tell me no! I was to be there at one o'clock sharp! Now very few people get away with telling me no. In fact I can't think of anyone at the moment. Least of all Tal! But she has got me! I can't tell her I'm sick now! I don't want to spend a tortuous hour with her and be a brat! That vile woman! The choices I have to make are almost to much to bear! Book Club chat lunch with Gerty (member in good standing) or beaten by Tal for an hour! Life is so unfair and why do all the worst things happen to me (sarcasm)? Tal is mean and I hate her! I think I'll barf on her Nikes! I am going to pout my way through that hour and she will rue the day she said "no" to Julie Masterson! Unless I can come up with something before one o'clock....... anyone? anyone? Email me quickly @ jmasterson7@yahoo.com

"That's a Darth Moll in the background in case you were wondering..."

"My Shy Superman!"

What has happened to Halloween? I do all the things I'm supposed to do. I spend way to much time trying to decide what kind of candy the little kids will want this year. Will I have good candy? What will they think of my candy? I put it in a festive dish buy the front door. I leave on my porch light. My two favorite trick or treaters come by early - Maddox and Nate. Who/what is a "Darth Moll"? A Star Wars guy? That was one, and good old standard Superman was the other. And I hate to say this..., that was it. Two. As in 2. 1 + 1. Other than my two blood relative Grandsons, I was SHUT OUT! What if, I was thinking, it's assumed that me and my surrounding neighbors are considered old and the kids don't bother with us? They all think I went to bed at 8:30? Living in a Town house area surrounded by houses with young families, we are the older folks. We are mostly couples, no kids. That is a logical assumption, but I'm not going down that road today. Or tomorrow either. I'll take the two I had over the whole neighborhood. What more could you ask for than your own Darth Moll and Superman?