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| Gata (Armenian Cookies) from S |
Neighbor S called and brought me some gata (Armenian cookies) that she had made. She brought over four cookies, but, my daughter ate one before I could take the photo! LOL. She loves them!
Today, I received a call in the morning from the charity I will be donating to, to remind me that the pick up is scheduled for tomorrow, "between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.". I have to put the bags by the front door, with a sign on them, naming the charity group.
That phone call was followed by a call from cousin P; I politely declined today's offering because I wouldn't have been able to wash it in time for the donations pick up, tomorrow.
My daughter is hosting a small get together for three of her friends, today. Two of them are friends from middle school and one is a friend from high school days. They used to call themselves the Awkward Turtle Squad and have been bridesmaids together at one girl's wedding and they will be bridesmaids and maid of honor at another's planned wedding, next year (it was postponed from last year, due to Covid). They started this tradition of having a holiday pot luck when they were in high school and after they graduated, they continued to get together, even when some of them moved out of state to go to college, every year, usually at our house. In 2019, they had a dinner at a restaurant for the first time. Of course, they didn't do anything in 2020, but, this year, with a great deal of discussion, watching the Covid case numbers, and endless rounds of "should we/shouldn't we", they've decided to go ahead and have the gathering, with my daughter hosting. She offered to cook rice and curries, which she did on Sunday, leaving only the cucumber salad and rice to prepare, today. All the girls are fully vaccinated and daughter and at least one other girl have had their boosters. I have had my booster, too, but, I am staying sequestered in my bedroom to minimize contact! Daughter has the air purifiers on and two or three windows are cracked open for ventilation, as well.
Today, I did some final house cleaning and tidying before tonight's get together, even though my daughter told me not to bother. I dusted and vacuumed the living room, dining area, and family room. Scrubbed the stove top (including under the burners) and the top of the vent hood and swept the kitchen. There are some decorations up and I've made sure the holiday table cloths are spread on the tables, although my daughter didn't want to take down the holiday plates, etc. They are using paper plates, she told me. LOL.
Today, I am grateful for:
- S bringing us gata
- Being able to get the house cleaned, tidied, and decorated for the holidays
- Being able to get the house cleaned, tidied, and decorated for the holidays
- My daughter having good friends of many years
- The last of the holiday gifts I ordered arriving safely
- The sound of laughter as my daughter and her friends enjoy being together
- The last of the holiday gifts I ordered arriving safely
- The sound of laughter as my daughter and her friends enjoy being together
Today's joyful activity was getting the house cleaned for the holidays.
(We will not talk about the few boxes of stuff that ended up on my bedroom floor to be dealt with over the next few days! They contain gifts to be wrapped and tagged, paperwork to be dealt with, sewing projects to be finished, etc.)
Plans for tomorrow include having the donations collected (I'll put them out by the front door, before I go to sleep, tonight), wrapping and tagging some holiday gifts, having M tend to the garden, and relaxing.
How was your Tuesday? Did you do anything special to celebrate the Winter Solstice? What are your plans for tomorrow?
How convenient that a charity comes to your house to pick up donations. Were you able to give the things that cousin P. gave you to the donation people? How nice your daughter and her squad of girlfriends are having a little gathering. It seems they're taking all the right precautions, and they're all vaxxed so they should be fine. We leave in the morning for a trip out of town to enjoy Christmas with family. Everyone is vaxxed so hopefully we're all safe. I wish both you and your daughter a very merry and blessed Christmas. Denise
ReplyDeleteI've found out that a lot of charities including Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc., will pick up the donations. I always try to have several bags or boxes of items to be donated, when I call them, just to make it worth their while to come out.
DeleteMy daughter and her friends kept their masks on during the visit (except to eat). I stayed in my room, with the door closed, and I had my mask on, too, except when I ate (by which time two of the girls had left).
I hope you have a safe journey to visit family, Denise, and you have a safe and very happy Christmas.
ALL plans completely up in the air. Two members of the family have just tested positive for covid...
ReplyDeleteOh, Angela, I'm so sorry! Hopefully, they will recover quickly and you can see them in the New Year.
DeleteThat is so nice your daughter and her friends have remained friends over the years and can get together this year, I'm sure they will have a wonderful evening. It sounds like you have made sure everything is perfect for them. I'm taking Tilly for her pre-Christmas pampering session today, wash, trim and blow dry but I know she won't be happy about it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; yes, it is nice that they have remained friends for so long. The evening turned out well and my daughter was very happy. They had planned to play a few games, etc., but, apparently, they just talked all evening. Well, at least for two hours. Then, two of them left and the 3rd girl asked if she could stay behind for a little longer. She's the one who has asked my daughter to be her maid of honor and she had brought me a lovely scarf as a gift and a card thanking me for hosting this gathering and "play dates" (she has come over and spent a couple of days with my daughter in the summer). I was so touched.
DeleteOoh, lucky Tilly! Wouldn't it be lovely if we could all get a pre-Christmas pampering session? :)
The fact that it was the winter solstice yesterday was totally lost of me. I did get lucky and was added to the Pilates class I wanted at the last minute. And luckily it was dry enough here that our lawn folks got out to mow/mulch the leaves, so things are looking more green and less brown. Hurrah!
ReplyDeleteSo nice that your daughter has long-time friends that are able to gather - this is what makes the season extra special.
I almost forgot it was winter solstice, till someone mentioned it! Glad you were able to join the Pilates class and your lawns were mowed, etc.
DeleteI love the fact that these girls (well, young women, now) have been friends for so long and continue to be friends. As my daughter says, friends are family we choose!
I think your daughter has taken lots of precautions for her annual get together & hoped it went well. I like the name of their group. My Horse Ladies morphed our group name into The Herd this year, in reference to all of us getting vaccinated in aid of attaining "herd immunity"
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary-Lou; in addition to keeping the place ventilated, they also wore their masks throughout the evening (except when they were eating). My daughter is super careful because of me, since I have at least 6 high risk factors for getting very sick with this virus! Ha, ha, I like the name of your group name! :)
DeleteI'm glad your daughter is able to spend some time with her friends and it sounds like she is taking sensible precautions.
ReplyDeleteAs you might expect ;) we went out for a walk, then in the evening I brought some more holly into the house and lit the candles. This evening I am hoping to finish wrapping my presents. X
Thank you, Jules. The girls had a great evening, chatting and laughing. Much laughter! My daughter was ready with some games if they didn't have much to talk about, but, she said the games were forgotten because they had such a good time just talking! They all wore their masks, taking them out only to eat, and the house was well ventilated (they even had the front door open for a while).
DeleteHa, ha, of course you went for a walk! :D I love it! :D Enjoy your gift wrapping! I, too, need to wrap the rest of my gifts!
I hope your daughter and her friends enjoy their little gathering, which is being safely organized. It can be done!
ReplyDeleteWell, we have joined the Christmas train derailment. Our granddaughter received an e-mail from school telling her that she is high-risk because she was in a cohort where there was an active Covid case. Now she must isolate until December 28, unlikely that in the city she will be able to get a test and get results quickly. So we will celebrate separately and remind ourselves of all the people who are worse off - especially lonely widows and widowers who can't be with family, people whose life preserving surgeries are in limbo, and of course all those who have no homes. We do hope that we might be able to celebrate together later. After all, Christmas doesn't end on December 25th. The tree will be up until I finally tire of it, which may even be close to February if it stays healthy!
Oh, Bushlady, I'm so sorry your Christmas plans have been derailed! I hope that your granddaughter will not get this dreaded virus and will be fine. You have the right attitude about spending this Christmas, too, separately, but, I do hope that you might be able to get together as a family again, in the New Year. Perhaps you can have a New Year's Day gathering. No, Christmas doesn't end on Dec. 25th! That's when it begins!
DeleteMy daughter and her friends had a lovely evening. They kept their masks on except when eating and kept the house ventilated. There was much talking and laughing which was great! I was hoping for some singing, too, but, they were too busy talking to sing! :D
Reading back through your responses I can see that your daughter had a lovely evening with her friends, which is lovely to hear. Where did the 'awkward turtle' name come from or has the origin been forgotten?
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a good day too Bless x
She certainly enjoyed her get together. :) As for the name, apparently, when they were in high school, they came up with a hand sign where they placed their hands together one on top of the other, with the palms facing up - that represented a turtle on its back (= a turtle so awkward that it flipped on its back) while the thumbs represented the flippers. Each one had their own special thumb wriggle pattern. She doesn't know exactly why they chose to be turtles, but, I guess it appealed to their sense of humor?
DeleteIt seems like your daughter has taken all the proper precautions and I hope they had a very nice time together.
ReplyDeleteHow did you pass the time in your room?
Cousin P is making me laugh with her efforts to give you more things :)
By now your donation pick up has been made and more things have left your house.
Good job!
They had a fun evening. :) I stayed in the room and did my blog post, read a few other blogs, and wrote an email to a friend. :)
DeleteP had the last laugh! I took over the gifts I had for her and her daughter, this afternoon; the donations hadn't been picked up yet and when I mentioned I was waiting on them, she gave me two bags of stuff to add to the pile! But, I didn't bring them into the house - I left the with the rest of the donations and they were all picked up around 2:30 p.m. I had about 8 bags of items of my own stuff, plus P's 2 bags. The person picking up the donations was very happy. :)
Sounds like a lovely, sociable evening for your daughter and her mates. It's nice that they were prepared to be so considerate in order to hold the gathering. I'm sure there will be no repercussions. How thoughtful to bring a gift to you as well :o)
ReplyDeleteThey had a fun evening and I hope everything will be OK. Today's new Covid case count in our county was 6,509! That is double what it was, yesterday! It was very sweet of that one girl to bring me a gift, wasn't it? I certainly didn't expect it! Fortunately, I had a little something extra in my gift stash to wrap up quickly and give her, in return, before she left! :)
DeleteI hope your daughter and her friends have a lovely time. Wow - it's nice that donations can be picked up. I am determined next year to do a big declutter. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with things in my house. We still have a long way to go in Jane's house, but hopefully I can find time to get my house done too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sharon; they had a great time. :) The donations were picked up this afternoon; call your charity of choice and ask if they will do a pick up - Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. have picked up in the past. This time, I gave to the Rescue Mission and they picked up without any problem. Start small with the decluttering - just one or two items a day. Pretty soon, you'll see space opening up. :)
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