Color me checkered and musically chaired

Being virtually homebound as I took care of my 88-year-old ill mom this month gave me plenty of time to also focus on a major decorating goal for my cottage. I want everything to go with everything, to have a unified color theme from room to room.

So I decided to begin with a new bluesy bed covering that would finally allow me to use a chair that had been kind of drifting aimlessly from room to room. I liked this arrangement so much that I bought identical bed linens for the guest bedroom so that a second chair could also find a new home.

Now, with two chairs removed from my study, I could put a chair I had been using in the living room back in its original spot. It made my mom cozier and warmer, with better access to television sound and picture as well.     

Next, came the living room. I’ve been going for a river cottage theme, since I live across from a river, so first I found an outdoor furniture coffee table online that would complement the color of the other furniture and look appropriately casual. With a little adjustment of the couch and a side table, I made room for two chairs.

The chairs I found at a nearby furniture store. I loved the cottagey check of the fabric, but the only problem was that I couldn’t figure out what color the check actually was. It looked blue/gray in the store and was described as brown online. One salesperson said it was black and another one said it was charcoal gray.

So I checked out one of the chair’s checked pillows overnight. Taking it home, I was happy to see that it would fit in beautifully. Only problem was, I still couldn’t figure out what color it was. But I ordered a chair pair anyway. They arrived today and all I had to do was screw in the legs and push the chair back into slots provided on the chair seat. And I even used two of the four pillows on the couch.

Sheers at the windows completed this exercise in musical chairs. And everything pretty much goes with everything now. Whatever color it is.  

Looking great at 88, despite
a bout with the
flu and pneumonia

'Well' -- it's a new year's resolution
Before, during and after the holidays, the operative word in my family was “sick.” First, my granddaughter came down with the flu and, later, croup. Then I got the flu on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, my daughter in Italy, along with my brother and sister-in-law in northern Michigan, all came down with bronchial infections. Then my 88-year-old mother caught the flu, followed by pneumonia. She’s been recovering with me ever since.

It’s especially challenging living an hour away from my mother’s home and her doctors. At first, she thought a Sunday visit to urgent care near her home and an antibiotic prescription would be enough. But when she continued to get more congested, I continued to get more worried and brought her to my home.

Another visit to urgent care resulted in another antibiotic. Then, when she started shaking with chills, followed by a fever, we made a 3 a.m. dash to a hospital emergency room, where they formally diagnosed the flu and changed her antibiotic again.

As her cough worsened, I decided we needed to revisit the emergency room, where, with a third chest x-ray, a spot of pneumonia was detected. This time, she was admitted to the hospital, which was so full that she wound up in a joint rehabilitation unit. The main bed and chair in the room had alarms on them to prevent a fall from a joint replacement.

After two days of excellent nursing, cuisine fit for a hotel and some reviving IVs, she was discharged with a strong antibiotic, inhaler and steroid to knock the pneumonia out. Only problem was that the inhaler made her head sweat. And then she got pressure in her chest which resulted in a call for paramedics. Once they determined her vital signs were not concerning I called her hospital doctor and we mutually agreed to remove the steroid. Voila – no more pressure.

I have made so many trips to my neighborhood pharmacy that the pharmacists recognize me and are always willing to discuss drug interactions and the best cough medicines – suppressant or expectorant?

Now, after a visit to her primary care physician back home (and a quick take down of her outdoor holiday decorations by me), she is on the mend. She is taking yet another antibiotic to address the cough, catching up on much needed sleep and eating better. She goes with me to babysit my granddaughter in the afternoon and has helped me shove furniture around as I do some housebound-fueled room rearranging. And, she was most happy to get a permanent.

So now we are all using hand sanitizer and trying to avoid coughers and sneezers. It has got to be a happier new year, come February.

Bringing fa-la-la-la-la home for the holidays

My general goal when decorating for the holidays is “Christmas in every room.” And even though I moved into a significantly smaller home late last year, I never scrimp on my trees, greens, lights, linens, china and three china Christmas villages meandering through it all. 
 

One of my much-loved collections features dishware with the traditional English Spode Christmas tree design. I add some pieces each year and the display stays in my china cabinet year round. This year, I even added a Spode shower curtain to cover the nook where my washer and dryer sit.

Trees are another favorite and moving to my cottage required a smaller Christmas tree, so now I have a decidedly slim pencil tree shining in my living room window, complete with paper gift tag decorations featuring, you guessed it, the Spode Christmas tree. Two tabletop trees oversee the sunroom, each laden with beautiful paper mache ornaments I found at thrift stores. More greens, live ones this time, flow out of a stocking basket hanging on my fireplace and outdoors I put greens and red ribbons in two hanging pots once containing summer flowers. Free and festive!

I have so much fun decorating every year that I decided to share a little of my fa-la-la-la-la with my friends and family, so I hosted a tea/open house earlier in the month. Little scones, brownies, cookies, crackers and cheese and fruit were the main attractions, along with assorted teas and coffee.  My barking dog went to doggie daycare, so it was truly an afternoon of comfort and joy. And I didn't bake a thing.

Now, with my Christmas letters written and cards in the mail, I can focus on cookie making with my family and trolling the toy aisles for the puzzles and books my granddaughter loves. I’m even attempting a craft project – mason jars circled with ribbon that looks like Santa’s belt and stuffed with bite-sized licorice.
The only thing missing is snow. After the snowiest November on record, we don’t yet have any white stuff to cushion a reindeer landing.

But Santa always perseveres.



This is one of my favorite photos of my dad,
taken on Christmas day when he had just
received some new earmuffs. My new pearl
necklace is a nice embellishment.
 

A pearl of wisdom for my father 

I’m approaching a bittersweet birthday this month. It has not escaped my attention that my father was the same age as I will be when he died of lung cancer in 1994.

So when I mark my birthday this year, I will make sure I will continue to try to live as he would have wanted – with meaning, substance and joy and appreciating every day as a gift.

Speaking of gifts, my dad was all about Christmas. He was the first one awake every Christmas morning, making sure Santa had placed our stockings in front of a cozy fire in the fireplace and arranging presents around the tree. There is a photo of my brother and I coming down the stairs on Christmas morning our eyes wide with the realization that Santa had, once again, been very generous.

Dad always gave me a book for my birthday and on Christmas, complete with a few of his wise words on the front page. He knew how important reading was, for education, career and all-out enjoyment and he was so right. I continue to check armloads of books out of the library every year. And my greatest reading achievement to date has been making it through the complete Sherlock Holmes series which dad gave me, a very thick book indeed.

Dad also liked to shop for other Christmas presents on Christmas eve day, and he frequented the Salvation Army store for all sorts of unique finds. I remember one very vibrant gift – a dress tiered in ruffles of many layers – that probably would have worked well for Halloween, but was a bit of a fashion conundrum for a self-conscious teenager.

I always give myself a birthday gift and this year I decided to somehow honor my father in the process. Back in my teen years, one of the most popular gifts among my friends was a single pearl on a necklace. I knew this would be too much to ask for in my single-wage-earner family. Even this year I didn’t know if I could find anything within my very limited non-necessities budget.

But I wandered into a lovely neighborhood gift and floral shop recently and there on a shelf of clearance merchandise I found it – a tiny gold shell with a pearl inside and hanging from a gold chain. It’s from a company that talks about living “simply, to purely focus on the things that matter most. That means listening to your heart following your dreams and finding yourself.”

Those words could have spoken by my dad. And I will remember them whenever I wear “his” necklace.

Currently Reading:
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A couple decides to open a used-book store in an Appalachian coal town.
Kisses from Katie: A young woman gives up her comfortable life to move to Uganda and help children there.
Hush: Another mystery from the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine.

An Open Book?

Random ramblings from my (not so) glamorous career in public relations 

I recently read a book by a former presidential speechwriter. It was full of enough foibles, egos and bamboozlers to make you wonder how our government ever managed to function. But it was also pretty funny. And it got me to wondering if I might have enough material from my communications (AKA public relations and public affairs) career for a book. Some of the highlights might include:

At a major automotive company:
- I served as a technology executive’s speechwriter and created the first-ever international vehicle press kit when I knew nothing about cars (and still don’t).
- I had the “honor” of being one of few women to attempt control of a microphone for angry stockholders at two annual meetings. I got chosen because I was a “nice girl,” according to the meeting organizer.
- I received one of those pink telephone message slips asking me to return a call from the CEO. Now, that was terrifying.
- I was told by a university representative that planning for that CEO’s speaking engagement there had been worse than organizing a visit for the president of the United States.
- I once had a performance review by a boss so eager to catch a flight that he just checked off a bunch of boxes on the review form and didn’t even read it. Needless to say, it had no relevance to my actual performance.
- I was asked to sit in on meetings with the executive management team so that I could rearrange their nameplates when they took a break, thereby changing the seating arrangement. I think we used to do this in second grade.
- I received a final payroll check for .01.

At a major food company:

- I spent the early part of my career defending the company against a concerted and thorough anti-biotechnology campaign by a national activist organization. I even followed several activists around town when I learned they were up to something near the corporate offices that ultimately involved rappelling.
- The late 60 Minutes curmudgeon Andy Rooney hung up on me when I didn’t agree with him that toaster pastry fires were funny.
- I was assigned to get more national media attention for the CEO, who wasn’t exactly thrilled with the prospect. He eventually got a presidential appointment, so something worked.
- I had to come up with media statements defending the company’s use of sugar in children’s cereals, a perennial “favorite.”
- In my spare time I would use a keyword search to find trademark violations for the trademark attorney, whose office was next to mine.

I planned this big luncheon and was sitting on the right in royal blue minding my own business when the president of the division decided to recognize my work with a very public kiss.

At a major pharmaceutical company:

- I was able to book the governor to speak to our workforce and she had to wing her remarks because her wing man forgot to bring her speech. I have a cherished photo of the governor and I cracking up afterward.
- I was asked to book Notre Dame football legend Lou Holtz for an employee event in Indiana and had to ask who Lou Holtz was.  Oops.
- I was kissed by the division president in front of an entire workforce at a major luncheon. Eeew.
- My greatest media moment came when I learned press coverage of a drug’s 100^th anniversary had attracted 350 million media impressions. This despite the fact that the press kit generated by the PR agency included the misspelling of the drug creator’s name and had to be completely redone at the last minute.
- My draft press release concerning a major workforce downsizing was mistakenly speed dialed by a secretary to the local newspaper instead of the company executive who was supposed to approve it.

And other random vignettes:

- I originally wanted to be a flight attendant and got hired by a major international carrier until a fuel crisis cancelled my training permanently. But never fear, I finally realized my dream and became a flight attendant at around the age of 60. The training was nightmarish, with the showing of a crash film on what should have been an upbeat graduation day. I lasted about five minutes in the air, deciding that a potential emergency landing shortly after earning my wings was a sign that I needed to be grounded.
- I spent a crazy month in New York City after college graduation trying to establish a career as a model. I was accepted by one of the top three agencies at the time, but ultimately decided that if the painting of a turkey to enhance its color was the highlight of my stay, then I better not stay. Still, my agency didn’t give up and was able to convince a fashion magazine to come to my hometown and shoot me for the college issue. Somebody said I looked like Ted Kennedy in the photos.
- I was hired for one job primarily because I was a Sagittarius. One of my friends nearly didn’t get hired because she was a Scorpio.
- During college, I worked as a housemaid in a Scottish hotel and spent the first few weeks just trying to understand the Scottish-brogue English. Later, I worked temporarily with the British subsidiary of the major automotive company and had a lot of problems with spelling (centre instead of center, for instance) and verbiage (such as “boot” for a car’s “trunk.”) The company ultimately sent me on an assignment to visit their PR offices in several European countries. I had no maps and was driving a tiny car, which might have even been a stick shift. I will never drive on the German Autobahn again. Ever.

Hmm, I’ll have to mull this over a little more and I need a catchy title. Right now, the best I can come up with is Retire Before You Figure Out What You Want To Do When You Grow Up.

Pumpkin spice it up when snow falls
Although we're in the middle of snowfalls here in Michigan that seem more Januaryish than mid-November, I'm still loving the taste of pumpkin. It seems like this classic fall flavor has really come into its own during the past several years, perhaps spurred on by Starbucks' pumpkin spice latte (whose sugar content we won't discuss).

Following is my list of all things pumpkin I've consumed so far this year:

The aforementioned Starbucks drink.
Regular coffee
Chai tea
Soup
Scones
Muffins 
Donut holes
Eggo waffles
Hershey's kisses

There is also a pumpkin spice home scent to keep fall alive, even when snow has covered those golden and red leaves. But gingerbread awaits.

Enjoy!