Things that make me smile, etc.

I am feeling an attack of the rants, but to be honest, I can't seem to organize a serious, focused rant, so I decided to try something cheerful instead.

Things that make me smile.
If you hear me chuckling to myself, it isn't that I am going crazy.  I'm just reliving some little tidbit that brought a smile to my face.  A few choice ones from last night:

• Getting up the nerve to call and invite someone over.  And they were free for the evening and happy to come!  That doesn't make me chuckle exactly, but it gives me a nice warm feeling inside all the same.
• "You can't do a 1000-piece puzzle all in one evening!"  Oh yes we can when Vreneli is here to help!  That girl can put a puzzle together like you wouldn't believe!  And, besides, it was a very easy one.  I love sitting around a puzzle table, chatting and assembling pieces.
• MC with straightened hair.  The double-takes when he walked in.  Everybody approaching it differently--attempt/pretend to ignore it, stare, try not to giggle, openly tease... the line "Didn't feel like curling it tonight."  tee hee!
• MC denies that he is a guest, but cheerfully accepts the epithet "black sheep of the family."  I don't know why that one makes me laugh, but it does.  I mean, if someone would rather be the black sheep of the family than a guest, is that not a profound compliment?
• H offers goodby hug to Mrs. M, and soon everyone is hugging her goodby, including another guest, who, for all I knew, had never even met her before (although you never know... it's a small world).
• Laughing over stories of elderly people with various sorts of dementia.  I wouldn't think it was very funny in fiction, but when it's a first-hand account, it can be.
• Also laughing over "My Life and Hard Times" by James Thurber.  Next time maybe we should try favorite selections from Jerome K. Jerome!?
• The birds.  They are just cute!  Especially the chatty one.  But when I took them up to the "aviary" during supper time, it was really funny how all the other birds came to check them out!  Their parents, in particular, were terribly curious about them.  But the lovebirds and parakeets were also quite interested.  Squirt (the younger parakeet) seemed to be babbling responses to "Cinnamon's" whistles.

It was good to have a pleasant evening with friends after a week that seemed unusually long and tiring (due to headaches and things several days).

One interesting project at work last week was a really good local history interview.  So many fun tidbits to learn!  I hope that interview gets put online sooner than later.  We've got quite a lot of the interviews available by now, just as my boss has time to do that step.  You can look them up at http://ppl.lib.in.us/Local_History&Genealogy/oral_history_videos.html.  More are available at the library, but you can't take them home.

Also, earlier in the week, I was working like mad to get through a particularly tense part of my story (for all my online readers).  So I covered a lot of ground very quickly.  Now I'm trying to figure out where to pick up from there.  The whole novel is written out, so I could go with what I had before.  But there are parts I don't like.  Too much summarizing?  Too much fluff?  Trying to focus on what is really the next most IMPORTANT step, and this isn't it.  But is it an important link to that step?  Not sure.  Waiting for the pieces to "click" in my mind.

And this past week, my grandpa got moved to a different nursing home.  Where he had been, he had an apartment for fifteen years or so, and that seemed to work out pretty well.  He had his little niche, and a handicapped friend that he fed every day (at least since Grandma died).  But when he needed more care himself, we weren't happy with what he was getting.  (Especially the drugs.  Lots of drugs.)  Plus, he was far enough away from family that it was hard to visit him as often as we should have.  Now he is only a few minutes away from where my dad works and where my uncles live, and well within our usual driving distances from home.  We all visited him at the old place on Tuesday, and have been visiting him in smaller groups at the new place.  Friday night I went with my parents and sister H, and we were able to spend some time with him, putting together a gorgeous 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle (it must be AWESOME to be able to paint that well!!!) and listening to Handel's "Messiah" on CD.  A wonderful family moment.

The whole thing of having company on Saturday night was an unexpected pleasure.  My youngest two sisters had invited friends over on Friday, so of course the house had to be cleaned up nicely for that.  Then on Saturday, the house was still tidy, but we found we had NO PLANS!  ... ??? !!!  Time to make some!  So we started brainstorming who to have over.  Hannah offered to invite her friends, and I mentioned some people I could invite, and we started making phone calls.  In the end we had over a nice older couple and two nice young men.  Mom and us girls all pitched in to make lasagne, bread machine bread, garlic bread, a few side dishes, and dessert.  There were a few tense moments, such as when Mom desecrated my Special Smooth Lasagne Sauce by stretching it with cheap chunky sauce from a store--but I don't think any of the guests knew the difference.  And I think--hope--a good time was had by all.

So there!  No rants!  Just things to make me happy! :-)