7 Quick takes (Vol 46)

Howdy, howdy! Here we are again for another scintillating week of Quick Takes. Don't you just love using words like scintillating. They just roll off the tongue.

-1-

Did you know that it is only SEVEN weeks until Christmas. How can that be??? It has snuck up on me somehow when I wasn't looking. Yikes. Thankfully we are fairly low key at Christmas. A number of years ago HHBL and I finally had had enough of the bazillion presents that were opened on Christmas morning. We said to the progeny that they could pick one bigger present (not big like a Hummer but of a more substantial monetary value but still reasonable) and that is what we would get them. They get what they want and can use, we get less headaches and more peace. Works for everyone. Of course, we fill in with some smaller things but it sure makes Christmas morning less stressful. I know what everyone is getting, well all except for HHBL who is really hard to buy for. I just haven't gone out and done the shopping.

Now I just have to find the time to do that......

-2-

To the woman in line at my local Wally Mart who was standing there cutting out coupons as the checker was ringing the items up. Perhaps, just perhaps it might have been better to do that BEFORE you were in line buying the items. I mean, I know that we are all pressed for time and there aren't enough hours in the day and all. I have the same issue. But in the middle of a Monday afternoon when the Wally Mart never has enough lanes open and there are a ton of people in line behind you. Then might not be the time for you to whip out your scissors and your stack of uncut coupons and start to clip away.

I am just saying is all.....

-3-

And also to the woman who was whizzing down the highway on Tuesday morning, merrily applying her mascara as she was driving. I would, personally, really appreciate it if you would find 5 extra minutes in your morning to DO THAT BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE. I value my life and HHBL's life (he was driving at the time) and I think that it might be better if you kept your eyes, beautiful as they may be, on the road and not looking at yourself in the rear view mirror as you wave the mascara wand around.

-4-

So obviously we are entering the holiday season. I won't start a diatribe (at the moment) on the fact that stores are already decorating for Christmas. I will save that for another time. What I love about the season is the mountain, the tree destroying mountain, of catalogs that start arriving here at Chez Knitter. Once you get on a mailing list you are doomed to be buried under these things. But, I have to admit........I love them. I especially love the catalogs that contain the "fun things to wear and delightful diversions". Just this morning I have had to restrain myself from ordering:

Nose shower gel dispenser- the shower gel looks like snot coming out as you squeeze the nose
a Cat Butt magnet set - if they had been Cow Butts then I would have ordered it!
a tee shirt that said "Where's My Stinkin' Bailout"
Monty Python lounge pants that say "I Fart In Your General Direction"
a "Cat Bottom" pencil sharpener ( you just have to see the picture!)
a dog's water bowl that makes it look like he is drinking out of the toilet.

I have had a hard time restraining myself from just whipping out the credit card and shopping, shopping, shopping.

-5-

Do you worry about taking enough books with you when you travel? I do. Heaven forbid that I should be someplace without something to read. It is a tragedy, a disaster of Biblical proportions.....well maybe not Biblical but it is bad. Consequently I always take way more books than I actually need. And it is always an agonizing decision as to what to take because my general rule when traveling is that books that I take out of town with me and that I finish reading must stay where I finished them. I have left books all over the country and the world for that matter. Books in Peru, Ghana, India, Israel, Mexico, Scotland, England....all over. I always hope that whoever finds them gives them a good home. I could mark them through one of those "track your book" sites but I choose not to. I like to think that someone finds the book, takes it home, reads it and passes it on.

That means that whoever cleaned our room at the Chez Lando in Kigali found The Painted Veil by M. Somerset Maughm and Dear Exile by Hilary Liftin in the drawer of the bedside table. I hope they enjoyed them.

-6-

What do you do when you are someplace and you are bored? If I have my camera with me, and when don't I have a camera with me, I take pictures of my feet. I don't know why other than they are attached to the ends of my ankles and therefore readily available to be photographed. It is just something that I do. What can I say, I have a strange view of life.

It is obviously summer because my toe nails are painted.

I was watching a cultural demonstration in Ruhengeri, Rwanda and....I was bored. By the way, these are the BEST investment in traveling shoes that I have ever made. They look a tad beat up but that is because they have been through mud, over rocks, in streams and generally all over the world. They are awesome and my feet never hurt after I wear them. My feet might smell a tad "ripe" by the end of the day but we all have to pay a price for comfort.

-7-

What are the things that you look forward to during the holiday season? The thing or things that you love to do? For the past 10 years I have had an Ornament Exchange at my house. You can go here to see what happened last year. The invitations are all set and ready to mail TODAY and I am already excited and thinking about what food I will make. I have the neatest ornament to "share" and I can hardly wait. This is my big fun thing that I do every December.

Have a GREAT week all and remember to go over to Conversion Diary to see all the Quick Takers. Just click on the picture at the top of the post to be transported, like Captain James Tiberius Kirk.