In My "Spare" Time: Year 16, Week 49, Day One (week 884)

Year 16, Week 49, Day One (week 884)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-23-16 Friday

80 degrees, light breeze, lots of puffs with some sun. Plants got watered very early morning. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

On Monday, I finished painting my second batch of Christmas cards. My first batch was only six cards as I was testing the idea of design and did not add a background to them. My second batch was 25 cards and came out fairly well. I handed out most of the second batch by Wednesday.

On Tuesday, I ordered a grill to be assembled for my pick up on Thursday. On Thursday, I went to Home Depot and the grill was not completed on the assembly. They told me it would be about an hour. I walked every single isle of Home depot except about four that were closed because they were loading shelves. I have some wonderful ideas for projects and have some ideas on to prices on some dream purchases. I arrived at the pickup desk after an hour and the grill was not ready. They said they would deliver tomorrow for free. I went home and laid down to recover from being on my feet that entire time.

Friday
We are having Bar-B-Q style Christmas dinner up by Mom’s house on Sunday so I spent my time moving things around. Many things had to be found, other things had to be put away or hidden.
I started painting my third batch of Christmas cards, along with fixing my first batch of cards. With the first batch, I added color and tone to the background. On some I had the green of the Christmas tree on some so I added the lights to them.
One card was painted on the wrong side of the card. I had laid it flat like a big card and then found the error after I had started, so today I added a wreath. My brother will get that card, likely with a quip about making his card backwards.
Painting the third batch came out well. I have to letter them so I can pass them out.

We open our presents tomorrow early so I have to settle down and concentrate on lettering the cards and wrapping presents.

Year 16, Week 49, Day Two (week 884)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-24-16 Saturday

81 degrees Early morning showers, dry after that. Puffs of clouds, nice breeze, lots of sun. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I did not even bother to see if there were yard sales. If there were any, it might be only one or two on our entire run. After breakfast, we immediately returned to Moms. Most people are getting ready for Christmas, shopping, or sleeping in.

I accomplished more clean up and preparation for tomorrow. I was able to get my presents wrapped and packed into the car. It is always fun (read challenge) trying to keep track of who is getting what, and not forgetting anybody. Mainly, this year, I am giving some money as the actual gift, but giving them something to unwrap so they feel they got a gift. I found in the past that I don’t feel like I got a gift unless I unwrap something. Gift cards or money are nice, but that act of tearing wrapping paper apart is so satisfying. I also had to make sure I had some of the food we were going to have tonight.
The cards I am giving out are ready, but not all the cards I made are. The cards were my main project this year. I found that a number of people have kept every single card I had given them. One guy at work has seven years of them. I have a copy of every card I have made except the very first, which were Teddy Bears. I made only six of them and only have a very blurry picture of them. At that time, I had a teddy bear stamp and was going to stamp the card, but decided that painting the card would be easier than stamping them. I skipped a couple years and then started painting cards again and have done so nearly every year since. At a later time. I also had painted some hatching ducks for Easter that my boss bought off me years ago. Those are the only cards I don’t have copies of.

Tomorrow will be Christmas Dinner by Mom’s house.

Year 16, Week 49, Day Three (week 884)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-25-16 Sunday

81 degrees Showers in the dark of the morning, then puffs and sun with a light breeze the rest of the day. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

The morning was spent getting things ready for the gathering. It is surprising how one thinks of things needed, at the last moment. Even after people arrived, I was digging stuff out. Everyone gathered and My nephew started up on the grill. Polish hot dogs, bratwurst, chicken on the grill. I brought out a cast iron pot and decided to boil water in it just so I could say it was used for something other than popcorn. He decided to make goat meat stew in the pot since the water was hot. I played fetch for him, finding veggies and tools.
Early in the month, I had picked up a set of grill tools. These were high quality. Well, I could not find them. I searched everywhere I thought they could possibly be. When we were putting things away, I found them. They were among my wood working tools. That, I think, was the only downside of the whole day.
Inside, we also had all sorts of food. I got only little of that as I was not inside much.
While I sat for a while a couple times, I was busy helping and checking in on things. When the day started to wind down, I was wore out.

Year 16, Week 49, Day Three (week 884)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-26-16 Monday

70 early morning, 80 degrees in the afternoon Puffs of clouds, nice breeze, lots of sun. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I spent most of the day recovering and cleaning up. Parties are a lot of work. I ended up with loads of leftovers to use up. That will be a challenge. Now I have to find out where lot of the stuff I hid away, ended up.

Back to work tomorrow

I have no idea what I will do next weekend. There was no woodworking this weekend. Next weekend might not be much better.

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