Pillow talk

I never leave home without my pillow.
It goes everywhere with me.
When I travel I take a smaller version of the same pillow I sleep on at home — one I never share.
It's soft, mashable and friendly. It's warm. It stays cool.
When I lose it during the night, I wake up and end up searching around in the dark on the floor for it. If I try to sleep on any of the varieties offered me in hotels, I wake up with a neck ache and usually a head ache.
But in the last year or so, it's become harder to love.
I guess pillows don't last forever. This one had done its time for 40-50 years, maybe?
I tried to replace it with another similar one that was a little too fluffy thinking that after a while it would flatten out enough I could love it.
Didn't happen.
So I starting looking at the display at Bed, Bath & Beyond. They had pillows peddled by this guy who claimed he invented it and it was the best pillow anywhere.
It looked okay but it was kinda lumpy and filled with what felt like bits of foam.
It was also $50.
I looked at it, felt it, tried to imagine myself spending nights with it.
I went home and tried to gauge how closely it matched my beloved.
I returned to the display a couple more times and tried to talk myself into spending so much on a pillow I might not love.
I went out on the internet and read their spiel.
Hey! They offered a 60-day guarantee.
I found a coupon that gave me $10 off the price.
That pushed me over the edge.
I hustled down to the store and bought one.
"Oh, you'll love this!" the store clerk said.
"If I don't, I'll be back," I assured her, gathering up my receipt and tucking it safely into a pocket in my purse.
I tried it that night.
Wow. It was morning before I knew it.
I tried it again for my afternoon nap. Ahhhh.
In less than a week, I'd shredded the receipt and formally adopted my new pillow.
I look forward to bedtime and sinking into slumber. I go to sleep and stay asleep.
I've since talked Marc into buying one though he's always maintained that pillows are all the same and it doesn't matter what you sleep on. He doesn't say that so much now.
I've bought a travel-size one and looking forward to taking it along with me on many voyages.
(No one paid me to say any of this although I would if someone asked me!)
Here's to getting good, deep, sleep!

Stories to behold

When Marc and I started on this journey, there were fewer grandchildren and they were younger.
We could turn to Dr. Seuss and Julia Donaldson and the Berenstein Bears.
We discovered things with Olivia, with Amelia Bedelia, with Curious George and the crazy British Mr. Gum.
Now we have 35 grandchildren ages 6 months to 18 years and their interests run from art to skateboarding and cosmetics and dinosaurs to wizards and science and kids who are always getting into mischief.
We have serious readers and those who just want to be entertained.
We have a couple who keep their gift books in their backpacks and next to their beds.
Some are starting to plan all year to request the books they want. (That thrills us. In fact, there is nothing we like better than to hear that one of our grandchildren has discovered they enjoy reading so much that they want something specific.)
Some have a series that they're following. Together, we've traveled through the Harry Potter series, the Rick Riordan books, the Babysitter books and some Calpurnia Tate stories.
It's been challenging and rewarding.
One grandchild even introduced us to a series he discovered, a series we hadn't realized existed.
Where we could keep a list on a piece of paper and do our shopping in a day or two, today, the list is on a spreadsheet that Marc keeps on his iPad.
We have to start our Valentine shopping right after New Year's.
We have data that goes back decades and a ongoing accounts at the bookstore and Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
We believe it's a worthwhile Valentine tradition that put books into little hands throughout the family.
Sure, we'll give them each a bit of chocolate as well as a love of reading if we can.
Both are delicious but one lasts a lifetime.

Expanding and extending...

Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Our Catan games have been played until the cards are in shreds.
I decided to get all new games for Marc for Christmas although I knew it would be expensive to replace not only the games themselves but also the EXTENSIONS.
I write that in capital letters because I have since learned through bitter experience that there's a big difference between EXPANSION and EXTENSION games.
The EXPANSIONs refer to any game that isn't the original basic starter game including Catan Seafarers, Catan Cities & Knights, Catan Traders and Barbarians, Pirates, etc., etc.
The EXTENSIONs make it possible to play the same games with 5-6 players rather than 4.
To mix them up is trouble.
See, I went off blissfully ordering one of each, I thought.
Since the EXTENSIONs are cheaper than than the basic EXPANSIONs, I had to shop around to find a good price on everything.
I ended up ordering part of what I needed from Walmart, part from Amazon and part from Barnes & Noble bookstore.
I probably spent about $400 by the time I saved myself shipping by buying extra stuff.
The packages began arriving about the week before Christmas.
One came in duplicate and didn't match the new set of games I was trying to assemble.
Another one said it was delivered and signed for by a lady in Lehi whom we have never heard of.
Two came as EXPANSIONS rather than EXTENSIONS.
So now I'm spending time chatting with nice people overseas who want to help me.
It's become quite the negotiation game.
First I have to explain the games and why I want them.
Then I have to make certain they understand the difference between EXPANSION and EXTENSION, not an easy task when you're working with people who barely speak English.
Then I get transferred to the marketplace seller because Walmart doesn't deal with these orders directly.
I'm burning up lots of phone and computer time trying to sort this out and in the meantime, I have a couple extra copies that I think I'll just give as gifts to people who don't even know they need one!
Anyone interested?

Not my fault for sure!

My cute little Nissan Leaf is back in the repair shop for the fourth time in three years.
But it's not my fault, again, for sure!
I wasn't even driving it when it was hit.
It was in the TRAX parking lot, safely, we thought, while we went in to downtown Salt Lake to see the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert.
We came back to find just two cars still in the lot and a tiny note tucked under the window wiper.
"I'm sorry I backed into your car," it said, followed by a name, a phone number and an insurance company's name. 
We looked around the car.
All we could see at that time of night was a dent and scratch on the driver's side door.
(It wasn't until we saw it in the morning light in the garage that we realized it was a significant dent involving most of the door.)
It kind of ruined the night for us.
We appreciated the note but couldn't really relax until several days later after we had made brief contact.
The lady who had been driving said she didn't see our car (which is Sky Blue and regular size).
She drove into it rather than backing which is odd since we were parked parallel well away from everyone.
She told me on the phone that since she is short and couldn't see over the steering wheel clearly.
I was pretty sure she was being sincere when she said she wanted to make things right.
Marc was worried about the fact that she wanted to keep the insurance companies out of it and that the driver was leaving town in a week.
Then matters were complicated by the repair shop which did not want anything but cash for the repairs which were quite a bit more than anyone expected.
We had to insist on a money order for the damages and meet to make the exchange.
Our car is now being repaired. (Surprisingly, they have the right color of paint on hand!)
I'm at home without wheels and amazed.
Not only did we get hit by an honest woman who left her information when she didn't have to but she and her husband coughed up the money.
We'll be made whole and for us, it's a Christmas miracle, for sure.