Paul & Mary's Daily Diary

When our eyes opened, a little tape recorder began to play. It said, “Should you accept this assignment, we need you to finish decorating your house before the authorities condemn it.  This message will self-destruct in three seconds!”

Then, POOF, the recorder went up in smoke!  Finish today? Are they crazy? That’s a Mission Impossible!

As we had a 10:40 am dentist appointment, we got ready to go early and decorated until the last minute.  At 10:00 am, the Silver Fox was making tracks down the 55 to the 405 to Huntington Beach.  Mama, in her kerchief, and I, in my nightcap, sat down in the dentist’s chair for a long winter nap.  Then we found out they ran out of Nitrous Oxide!

We had no Dr. Annie today, she was at her doctor’s appointment so we got our toofers cleaned and then saw Dr. Nagel, Senior, her father.

Dr. Annie works with her father and uncle in the dentist’s office.

By 12:15, we were done and on our way to Mary’s painting class.   We did NOT have breakfast or lunch, and no time to stop and grab anything before dropping Mary off at the Tustin Community Center for Wayward Watercolor Artists.

As she threw her big red bag over her shoulders, I drove off  suggesting she ask the instructor to do the lesson today  about Christmas!

Being single-minded, I went right home and went to work finishing decorating.  I attacked the bar area, which was a jumble of stuff.  I arranged everything so they could be seen and out of the way of things we needed to use, like the Bat Phone (otherwise known as Alexa)!

The bar area is complete!

I did the “Shell Case,” where I carefully placed and arranged my mother’s 60-year-old wine bottle collection, which she made up to be the Wise Men using paper mache and white glue. The product was then carefully painted by Mom.

The picture on the right hand side is a fall watercolor by that famed artist directly from Paris, Mary, la nouvelle aquarelliste incroyablement talentueuse.

The Wisemen are on display!

The phone rang, and Mary said she would be done in 20 minutes.  I threw open the sashes and onto the newly fallen snow; the Silver Fox and his 300 tiny reindeer sped down the street, leaving reindeer poop along the way (so we could find our way back!).

As I pulled up, Mary was walking out with her new masterpiece.  I framed it with my Framit software,

She has only two more classes in this session, and the teacher suggested she try oil painting.   (I offered her my collection of WD-40 cans but the offer was refused?) I suggested she do another watercolor and an oil class; she enjoys it so much!

We returned home, at which time Mary attacked the kitchen with an enthusiasm I had not seen since the last time we went twenty hours without food!   She recreated Thanksgiving dinner, and we enjoyed a glass of wine.  We had everything from Thursday’s meal, and I had time to savor Robin’s cranberries.

No dilly-dallying tonight—we stormed the house like a pack of caffeinated raccoons!

You can see the results of our activities on our website.

Simply Mary!

We even hung the wall decorations. My mother created the piece below in the 1960s by gluing “junk jewelry” into a red velvet-covered picture frame. Over the years, we have added or replaced some of the jewelry because it sometimes falls off.  The picture is like me, things keep falling off due to age.

We put up Mom’s “Junk Jewelry” Christmas Tree.

We did not have to add the picture below as it is always in the entranceway, a reminder of how blessed we are to be together and enjoying the twilight of our lives.

Indeed it is!

All the trees are now up and operational; they have new batteries!  Walking through the house at night is scary because trees and mooses start playing by themselves.

By the end of the evening, everyone was smiling even Mr. Ugly!!

We watched a movie called “A Christmas Karen.”  Summary: Karen is an entitled middle-aged woman whose demanding nature has alienated her neighbors and family. After several incidents displaying her privilege and prejudice, Karen receives an intervention from some unconventional spirits.

It was funny and quite entertaining.

Sleeping Beauty did NOT make it through the movie as she was on the go since 7:00 am this morning without stop!  At 9:30 pm, I turned off the TV and got her vertical (no easy task) and headed her towards the bedroom.  She was giggling and laughing the whole time reminding me of the squirrel scene from the Family Vacation movie.

Scout and I patrolled the backyard making sure there were no elephants hiding in the bushes!