Christmas on Main St, Cooperstown, NY

      One of our shop members, Bonnie Enjem, took some night shots of the storefront and I've been downloading them to Facebook every day...sort of a Christmas commercial!

    You can get an idea of what's inside but it looks a little cluttered.  Oh, well,  fine handcrafts from the heart of New York show up anyway!  A portion of all sales from Nov. 13 to Dec. 13 will go to the local Food Pantry.
   Another way to see what's inside the shop is to keep an eye open for our commercial on WKTV during their Christmas on Main St segments.  Programs featuring our commercial airing during the week are:

·         NewsChannel 2 a Sunrise (6-7am)

·         NBC Today Show (7-9am)

·         Wheel/Jeopardy (7-8pm)

Those programs airing on weekends are:

·         NBC Saturday Today Show (7-9am)

·         NBC Sunday Today (8-9am)

·         Newschannel 2 Sunday AM (9-10am)

And during normal daytime on-air programing Dec.2 thru 12th.
   Of course, the best way to see what's available at Cooper Country Crafts is to stop in and browse for yourself.  The shop will be open daily, 10am-5pm thru Dec. 24th

Maggie & Me

   My college friend, Maggie Schanz and her daughter, Kristina, paid me a surprise visit in the shop Saturday. (Really made my day!)  We've been promising our other college friend, Tim, that we'd send him a current photo of 'his favorite 2 college babes' for quite a while but both of us have managed to avoid it until now.  Kristina offered to be the photographer and snapped a couple of shots of Maggie and me...and I retaliated by taking this one of Maggie and her!  I sent them to Tim in South Florida when I got home and he was thrilled to get them.  (Why, I don't understand!)  Anyways, always the gentleman, Tim maintains we haven't aged one bit and look just the same.  (Wonder what he's been drinking, huh?)   I've managed to avoid posting up-to-date photos of myself until now but this blows that.  Gee, I managed to send him the photos but I can't seem to post that photo of Maggie and me.  Got to keep working at it.  

Well, I finally figured out how to download it....

Cataract Procedure #2...Done at Last!

     My 2nd Cataract Procedure-the left eye was completed on Nov. 17th at Little Falls Hospital with Dr. Lemanski and her staff.  
   I was called the day before by the Scheduling Office and told to be there by 12:45pm and not to eat or drink anything after midnight.  When we got to the waiting room at LFH it was practically standing room only!  I was the 3rd procedure scheduled for the afternoon and one of the morning procedures was still waiting to be done!!  So I waited...for about an hour in the waiting room then Jeff announced he was hungry and when I was taken in he would go down to the Bistro (as it's called) and have lunch.  After all my vitals were taken and recorded Jeff came back and we sat together for awhile, then he decided to go get another cup of coffee...really I think he wanted a cigarette...and I waited some more. 
   Around 2:30 I asked if they were going to draw blood and run an INR on me and was told it wasn't necessary.  At 3:30 the OR nurse came in and asked if an INR had been run yet and when she got a blank look from the staff the team from the lab was called and blood was drawn. (Why can't doctors, nurses and all medical staff just listen to the patient?  It would save so much time...and trouble for the patient!!) 
   The anesthesiologist came in and explained what was going to happen to me...it was going to be different from the 1st procedure.  And I waited some more.  About  4pm the staff started timing the procedures ahead of me (average time 30 mins in the OR/actual procedure 22mins) but there was still 1 guy ahead of me!  Got to remember the OR had to be cleaned between each procedure adding to the wait time,too.  Finally, around 5pm I was wheeled into the OR.  My head was taped down, my left eye taped open, the O2 hose was put in my nose and the drape put over my head.  I complained that I couldn't breath and someone lifted up one side of the drape.  (I heard the anesthesiologist say I had 'a touch of claustrophobia' but I think the O2 hose wasn't in my nose properly.)
   I got a little surge of 'happy gas' and then the procedure was about over.  Not very interesting this time around.  Dr. Lemanski did not pack my eye, just covered it with the plastic shield and taped it down.  I was rolled back to my room to wait some more.  My vitals signs were taken a couple more times and then I was disconnected and told I could get dressed and go home...with the usual list of 'do's and don't' and baggie of eye drops.  I would see the doctor the next morning at 10:20 in Cooperstown.  It was about 6:15pm.
   Once we were in the car and on the way home Jeff asked if I was hungry (I hadn't eaten since 8:30pm the night before...was that a necessary question??) and if I'd like to go to the Greek's for supper?  All I could think about was their chicken & rice soup!!  When we walked into the place the owner walked over to greet us, took one look at the plastic shield taped to my face, turned to Jeff and demanded to know what he had done to me!
   The next day we went to the Clinic in Cooperstown and Dr. Lemanski looked at my eye.  Actually, she looked at both eyes.  She was very pleased with the rate the right eye was healing and decided to remove the single stitch she had put in it then instead of having me come back in a week.  I just have to continue with the drops and see her for the final exam...both eyes...on Dec. 22.  At that time she'll probably give me a Rx for reading glasses.  
   I have started to drive at night...no glasses but the headlights from oncoming cars bother me...and driving during the day is no problem except I can't see the speedometer w/o my glasses!  I'm still looking for a pair of sunglasses I like.  Oh, and I need glasses to shop...can't read labels at all w/o them!  Still I recommend if you're told you have cataracts, get them removed.  It's worth the hassle.  (Oh, and I ended up with a small 'black eye' with the left eye!)

Thanksgiving

   Thanksgiving is over...and a nice day it was!  The weather was sunny and brisk but dry and Ed and Sherry both joined us. 
   Sherry brought a bag of dog toys for Fanny and Zoey and a big bag of Rachel Ray grain-less dog food that no longer agrees with her Cocker-Schnauzer mix, Sunny. (I mixed it with the girls' regular dog food and they inhaled it!)  She brought them a large fleece blanket that her dogs love cuddling in but Fanny wasn't interested at all and Zoey lost interest quickly (she preferred chewing a hole in my old comforter and pulling out the batting! Fanny had already done one corner when she was a pup so Zoey thought it was only fair she do another but she didn't stay in a corner!)  One of the toys was a red and green fuzzy tennis ball with rope handles thru it.  Zoey managed to pull part of the red fuzzy fabric off the ball but she at least she didn't 'kill' the ball.  Sherry also brought them rawhide 'cigars' that I saved until this morning.  Fanny destroyed half of hers quickly but Zoey just carried hers' around with for awhile.
   We don't have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner because Jeff doesn't like turkey.  Usually we have roast pork but once in awhile we do a nice London Broil or steaks.  Yesterday we put some steaks on the Ronco Rotisserie, served them with fried carrots and baked butternut squash, baked potatoes and gravy.  I even made baking powder biscuits!  Dessert was an apple pie...that I made in the morning...and a blueberry pie that Ed brought.  I felt generous so I
shared the vanilla ice cream and 'the best chocolate fudge sauce in Michigan' that I had left from my cataract procedure recovery menu.  Warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream and warm hot fudge sauce!!! Excellent dessert if I say so myself.  I sent Ed home with a couple of pieces of his blueberry pie and a couple of pieces of my apple pie and filled my pie dish with the same.  This morning there was a lone piece of blueberry pie left in the pie dish!  I was surprised the apple pie disappeared so quickly since it was my first attempt at one but it turned out pretty good.  Have to do it again.  (When we had first gotten our camp in Speculator my dad was there more than mom and me because of our craft show schedule.  Every time we did make it up there he always raved about the apple pie one of our new neighbors' had made.  Her pie crust was the best he had ever eaten.  And if you knew my dad, you know he was an expert on apple pie.  Well, finally my mom asked the woman what her secret was for the great pie crust because it was a great crust.  Paula just laughed and walked to her refrigerator, took out and handed my mom a box of Pillsbury All-ready Pie Crust.  That became my mom's secret recipe for pie crust, too, and now it's mine.  p.s.  no one told Dad!)
   Today I have to work on part of the hat/scarf order that is suppose to be finished by tomorrow.  I can do it if I actually sit and knit so I better go and get busy.

"Back in the Saddle Again"

     My new HP computer arrived today...1 day early...and I don't know who was more pleased me or Jeff!  Sharing a computer is not really difficult but it's not the easiest thing to do, either. We both like to start off the day by checking our emails, and then I like to check out Facebook.  I really missed that 2nd cup of coffee spent reading what's new online.  Most of the time I could have just gone into Jeff room and turned on his PC because he was probably still asleep but I wasn't having much luck getting his password to work for me.  (In fact, today was the 1st time it actually opened his computer for me!) Then after lunch I like to spend some time playing roaming around online killing time...but that was what he was doing.   Same thing right before...and after...supper!  And if there wasn't anything interesting (to either one of us) on TV at night there was a race to see who got to his PC first.  I tried not to overstay my time online on his machine but sometimes I knew he just couldn't wait until I signed off so he could go back to reading his book or watching a video.  Yes, I don't know who's happier my machine got here but I'm just glad it did!  Now I've just got to get it to download pictures from my camera!!
   

Baby, it's cold outside!

       I worked in the shop Wednesday and by the time I got home it was dark and I was in a 'state'  Not only was it the first time I drove any distance (to town doesn't count) since my 1st cataract procedure but half the trip home was after sundown,  with headlights flashing in my face in fairly heavy traffic.  I pulled into the driveway, walked thru some 'doggie do' and tracked some into the house.  Supper was suppose to be the rotisserie chicken I had just picked up at Walmart but no one seemed interested. I had also gotten a pizza at Walmart but again, no interest.  I just cleaned off my shoes, heated a piece of pizza in the micro and curled up in bed with a book...and the dogs.
      Thursday we went to town, first to Lowe's to get a new T, cap and connecting pipe for the woodstove's chimney and then to Rite Aid to leave a Rx for Jeff.  He spent quite awhile putting the stove pipe back together before the wooden brace that supports the pipe broke halting the day's activity.  It was plenty cold enough working outdoor yesterday but not to be able to finish the job did not make anyone happy. (My mouth, on autopilot, said you should have done in last month when it was warmer....that did not get a pleasant reply.)  Jeff decided to go back to town and pick up his Rx's and put air in the tires on the Outback.  He finally figured out why the parking lights were on all the time and managed to turn them off but in the meantime, the Outback had developed 2 flat tires.  He put air into them with the small air condenser he has for that but wanted to top them off at an 'air station'.  I was going to go with him but as we were cleaning the passenger seat off so I could get in Jeff saw a package and a pile of mail on the patio table next to the car.  Sometimes our mail delivery person is extra nice and brings the mail to the house instead of putting it in the box.  Neither one of us had heard them stop today and we didn't know if the mail had been brought today or yesterday!  So, instead of going to town again, I took the box and the mail and went back inside.  The dogs greeted me as if I had been gone for days...instead of 5 minutes and helped me unwrap the box.

    The big squishy box was from my Yarn Pal, Angela in Michigan, and had so many wonderful surprises in it!  The yarn was delightful!!  Knitting needles and other supplies!  A booklet on crochet (I can but don't), a loom for pot holders (different from what I used as a kid)...even a bag of treats for the dogs!  Fanny helped check things out while Zoey was just interested in the tissue paper (like any baby!) A bag

of buttons caught my eye...boy, will they come in handy on sweaters, and a heavy winter hat that feels so soft!  Oh, and can't forget that bottle of homemade strawberry jam and 'the best chocolate fudge sauce in Michigan'!   Remember that for my 1st cataract procedure my old friend, Tim, recommended ice cream to help me recover?  Well, he also recommended hot fudge sauce and I just never got any.  I'll be ready for the 2nd procedure next week with this jar!!  Oh, there's a plaid tin 'M' that's a tree ornament but I think it will just be hung on my wall! It was a great Yarn Pal package!
    Every year the shop participates in the "Adorn a Door" contest in Cooperstown by decorating a wreath with objects handmade by our members.  The wreaths are 'voted'  on by the public...really a silent auction...and the lucky winners go home with some pretty interesting wreaths to adorn their doors.  This year I saw these

mini Stockings and decided to make one for the wreath and a few extras for sale in the shop.  Being semi-handicapped at the moment made them a little more difficult than they should be (they're done in 2 ply acrylic on US3's) and they took longer than I had expected.  I hope to do a couple more this weekend and leave them off at the shop next Friday after my post-op appointment.  Unfortunately, I can't price them at what they're worth so they're going for $3.99.  They've been gathering fav comments...hope they sell!
    I  hope Jeff finishes the stove pipe today.  I want a fire in the woodstove.  I'm cold and since we had snow on the ground this morning...not much, just a dusting...it's time for the woodstove to be in use!!
    
    
 

Our New Windows

   We had Pace Windows and Doors here yesterday and had the four bedroom windows replaced and the dry rot around them removed. 

The frames and sills outside had to be rebuilt...especially in this 1st photo.  Rain water always runs off the porch and house roofs and covers this window,  and ice usually builds up around and over the electrical

box.  Jeff's going to put a 'rain dam' on the roof above that window in an effort to divert the water.  (Hope that works!) Then all the frames and sashes were clad in aluminum.  Look pretty good, don't they?  It

took the guy from 10am until 8:30pm to do all four windows...and at the end he was working in the dark and rain!  He

asked if he could keep working rather than come back today. He lives in the Finger Lake region, 

a 3 1/2 hr. drive, and when it got dark and he still had to finish 1 window he was willing to stay until it was finished!  The windows look much better and seem to be a tighter fit!  The curtains were not moving with the wind last night!  And since we had to move some furniture out of the bedrooms and take the curtains off the windows it turned into a good opportunity to do fall cleaning!  The curtains are nice and clean and the rooms look good...for awhile!  This morning I even cleaned dresser drawers. (Jeff did that last night!)  At least 2 rooms got done this year!  Oh, and the kitchen got done when I had the hee bee gee bees before the Cataract Procedure #1-the Right Eye.  Maybe I'm not such a bad housekeeper, after all.  I just need a good reason (or excuse) to do it!

Our house is not dirty white or lt gray, it's faded blue.  Not bad for a nearly 70 yr old house!