Shucks

I brag about how we never lose power, because our wires are buried underground in the park here.  Then...we've lost power twice in the last 3 weeks.
Someone ran into a utility pole both times, between here and Brighton.  Different utility pole, but nonetheless, wires came down and power shut off while repairs were made.  Only about 3 hours each time, but.........oh my.............three hours seems like a very long time to go without computer and/or TV.  

The weird thing was, I was reading blogs and making a comment when the power went and today....I can't remember whose blog I was in making my comment--or half comment.  LOL
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I guess our 50+ degree weather is gone until next spring.  The wind turned, the temps dropped and today we got a skift of snow.  Looking ahead, Friday night and all day Saturday, we are to get 2-3" of snow.  All I can say is, YAY!!!!!!!!!  I do love it when the dead earth and gardens are covered by a nice thick layer of pure, glistening, white snow.  

I don't know why snow has anything to do with Christmas.  I don't remember seeing any piles of snow in any Nativity scene.  Probably because the whole time line of celebrating Christmas comes from the necessity of having it near the Winter Solstice.  Christians wanted a holiday to compete with the pagan holiday, so that's when we celebrate.

Actually, Baby Jesus was born sometime in either September or October.  About 6 months after John (the Baptist) was born, and he was born in March.  Plus, in December, in the area surrounding Bethlehem, shepherds are not tending their flocks outside, as it is too cold.  The census, the whole reason Mary and Joe went to Bethlehem, is not taken at that time of year.

Well--who cares.  We need a reason to celebrate with lights and happy decorations in the dark of winter, so it's good enough for me.
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I started the second batch of spaghetti sauce this afternoon.  This one is going easier than the first.  I did simmer it in the stock pot for 4 hours and it did not stick to the bottom of the pot, but to thicken it, I am going to finish up with it in the Crock-Pot.  It is really nice and thick.

I cook a little bit of spaghetti and for supper each night, I put a bit of the sauce on it, from each batch,  to test taste.   So far it is very yummy.
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It occurred to me that I have had my Christmas cards all done and ready to mail since the 1st week of December.  I thought I'd mail them around the 10th.  I looked at the calendar and realized--that is coming up this weekend!!!!  So, I'm sending them out tomorrow.  I have one for my granddaughter's mother-in-law, that I want to arrive on December 12th--when Hanukkah begins, as she is Jewish.

Then I also realized that I'd better get to wrapping presents too.  The dish cloths/scrubbies are all done and in their boxes.  Why not wrap them now and be all organized by Christmas time?

That meant I had to create and print out gift tag labels.  For some reason, I lost my file in my Documents that had gift tag labels and Christmas return labels that I had made years ago.

For some reason that File didn't make it onto my new hard drive?  How does that happen?  There are mysterious things that go on all around me--especially when it deals with computer things.  I've searched for two days for that File and it is no where to be found.  Oh well, I can create them and save them for next year.
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I got my notice today from the Social Security Administration of our cost of living raise.  For some reason, I thought it was going to be 2.5%, but it is only 2%.  That's $20.00 for me, which isn't much, but since everything, including gasoline, is going up in price, it might help a little bit.
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