Monday, November 20, 2006




It Takes a Child to Raise a Village

My determination paid off at Friday night’s charity auction; I won the porcelain carousel that I wanted. Granted, it took some doing, I hovered in the general vicinity of the piece and, every time someone bid, I mentally noted the amount then, with seconds to spare before the bids closed, I swept in with an offer five dollars higher than the highest bid.

Although I could not have been more pleased, I played it cool so as not to hurt the feelings of the losing bidders. The Man-Cub, on the other hand, made no effort to hide his glee and instead broadcast it to the entire room via a touchdown dance so showy and obnoxious, it would have embarrassed a pro football player.

At least it was all for a good cause. I’m not certain of the final numbers but it looks like we pulled in quite a good deal of money; hopefully enough to ensure that our charitable works will be funded for another year.

Speaking of charity, as I was standing in line to pay for the carousel, Oscar appeared next to me, grabbed the ticket from my hand and proceeded to pay the bill. I argued, of course, but he insisted and I now own a carousel paid for by my father-in-law. I kissed Oscar on the cheek, thanked him profusely and invited him and Emily to come by the house later in the week to see my holiday village, the center of which will be my new carousel.

Saturday, I set about constructing the village and, with more than a little help from the Man-Cub (the Girl was at a birthday sleep-over), managed to get the entire thing set up within a few hours and, it looks fabulous if we do say so, ourselves.

Sunday, Hugh surprised me by suggesting that we drive to the neighboring city to do some Christmas shopping. The kids and I were totally up for it and I’m really glad we went because it gave them a chance to see Santa; something that the Girl will probably have outgrown by next year. As it was, both kids readily hopped up on the big guy’s lap, whispered their fondest wishes and posed for a photo.

Once our shopping was done, we headed to Barnes & Noble so the Man-Cub could use a gift card that he received for his birthday back in September. Hugh’s eyes glazed over the minute he realized we were heading into a book store but, once he discovered the aisle containing books about coin collecting, he rather enjoyed himself. In fact, it was all I could do to pull him away.

While Hugh was memorizing the value of his coin collection, I flipped through a book on vintage jewelry and was pleased to see a picture of a pin that I inherited from my grandmother. I was especially pleased to see how much the pin was worth and I made a mental note to call my sister to give her grief about how ugly she had declared the pin to be when I received it.

I need to remember to do that, actually.

For now, I am off to the dentist’s to have a cracked filling repaired which is way less fun than torturing my sister or admiring my fabulous holiday village.


But, there ya go.









It's going to take me a month to figure out how to get it all back into those boxes but, as Scarlett O'Hara would say, I'll think about that later.

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