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Jan. 4th, 2006 03:56 pm( ::Giggles:: )
Jan. 4th, 2006
Two-day update: shopping and dejunking
Jan. 4th, 2006 11:45 pmLast night: I went with my dad up to the Sears in Nashua, where he was trying to buy some marked-down Christmas dishes with a pine-cone design on them for a female co-worker of his who's -- in his words -- "a pine-cone nut". Plus, he was looking for more sets of these wonderfully wild Christmas lights with 16 different flash settings: they strobe, they fade on, they fade off, they blink in sequence. He wants to use them for an outdoor Hallowe'en tree and put the bulbs inside plastic jack o'lantern trick-or-treat pails hanging from the branches.
We also nipped into the HUGE Wal-Mart up there, since he was looking for more cheap velvet bows to use on Christmas baskets for his buddy's garden center. I ran across a lovely traditional branched-candlestick-style menorah that I aaaalmost bought, but I couldn't find a price on it, and I wasn't sure how my dad would react to it. Okay, little explanation: I'm obviously not Jewish, but my ex-fiance was a convert to Catholicism from Reform Judaism, who described himself as a "Hebrew Catholic", ie. he maintained some his people's traditions and he kept sight of his cultural heritage, or his "Jewish identity" as one Hebrew Catholic priest he knew called it (this priest had worked with Jewish converts who'd started to question their conversion since so many Catholics have lost sight of the Judaic roots of Christianity, so he started a fellowship/apostolate to help converts find ways to keep their heritage alive). I learned a lot from "Eli" (not his real name), and in many ways, it helped me deepen my faith; I guess you'd call me "Catholic with some Judaic and Taoist leanings".... I've wanted to do a Passover seder at home on Holy Thursday and I'd made up my mind that I was going to buy a little menorah and light it at Hanukkah (yes, I realize it ended Sunday...). My mom is cool with this, since she accepts and appreciates the fact that I'm in tune with the roots of our faith. My dad is a little unpredictable about that, since he was always the most reticent about my relationship with "Eli", and I think he's concerned that I might try going back to him (which isn't going to happen since I lost track of Eli a long time ago; last I knew, he'd moved to Elmhurst, Pennsylvania and that was five years ago), so I was concerned he might react harshly if I'd bought the menorah.
I did, however, end up buying a slightly tacky-looking Christmas tree ornament shaped like a crown, and covered with faux rubies and yellow topazes. I was walking through an aisle of marked-down tree gewgaws of all shapes and sizes, when my eye happened to light on the crown ornament; well, the Merv, in my headspace, pricked up his ears and got that acquisitive, "I must 'ave zis..." attitude going. Apparantly, the crown ornament reminded him of his crown in the First Iteration, the one which the Architect knocked from his head when he (the Merv) was nearly deleted. Yes, I got it to appease him (hey, it was only 50 cents...). It's now hanging on the Christmas tree in my room, in a place of honor near the top.
Today: Ran some errands with my mom; I needed to buy toothpaste badly, so I nipped into Brooks to get some... and I happened to walk through the aisle with the seasonal stuff, read: Valentine's Day junk, at this time of year, though one side of the aisle had been designated the marked-down Christmas/Holiday stuff section, which included a lovely little menorah, styled after the much-older oil lamp-type ones, though this one is designed for small candles. It was only $4.50, so I shook the last (metaphoric) shekels out of my very thin wallet and got it. I'm thinking of lighting it Saturday, when my dad is working the night shift keeping one eye on the boilers at work.
And something very odd happened: I didn't get all choked up at the sight of the Valentine's Day stuff. That's like the first time that's happened since I broke up with "Eli" seven years ago. Maybe I'm finally healed of that incident...
::Grins at her LJ icon:: Doesn't stop me from using it...
EDITED TO ADD: I forgot the dejunking side of the post... I was working on trying to sort through all the loose papers and old catalogs in my room today. What I really need is to take a week or two off from work and writing and just tear the whole room apart from top to bottom, but that ain't happening this week for sure... Sunday is Inventory Day. Let's see which aisle I have to count stuff in this year... please God, don't let it be the wretched frozen food aisle, since I counted in that aisle two years ago and I got a mild touch of hypothermia which went to my head and made me spaz. Horribly.
We also nipped into the HUGE Wal-Mart up there, since he was looking for more cheap velvet bows to use on Christmas baskets for his buddy's garden center. I ran across a lovely traditional branched-candlestick-style menorah that I aaaalmost bought, but I couldn't find a price on it, and I wasn't sure how my dad would react to it. Okay, little explanation: I'm obviously not Jewish, but my ex-fiance was a convert to Catholicism from Reform Judaism, who described himself as a "Hebrew Catholic", ie. he maintained some his people's traditions and he kept sight of his cultural heritage, or his "Jewish identity" as one Hebrew Catholic priest he knew called it (this priest had worked with Jewish converts who'd started to question their conversion since so many Catholics have lost sight of the Judaic roots of Christianity, so he started a fellowship/apostolate to help converts find ways to keep their heritage alive). I learned a lot from "Eli" (not his real name), and in many ways, it helped me deepen my faith; I guess you'd call me "Catholic with some Judaic and Taoist leanings".... I've wanted to do a Passover seder at home on Holy Thursday and I'd made up my mind that I was going to buy a little menorah and light it at Hanukkah (yes, I realize it ended Sunday...). My mom is cool with this, since she accepts and appreciates the fact that I'm in tune with the roots of our faith. My dad is a little unpredictable about that, since he was always the most reticent about my relationship with "Eli", and I think he's concerned that I might try going back to him (which isn't going to happen since I lost track of Eli a long time ago; last I knew, he'd moved to Elmhurst, Pennsylvania and that was five years ago), so I was concerned he might react harshly if I'd bought the menorah.
I did, however, end up buying a slightly tacky-looking Christmas tree ornament shaped like a crown, and covered with faux rubies and yellow topazes. I was walking through an aisle of marked-down tree gewgaws of all shapes and sizes, when my eye happened to light on the crown ornament; well, the Merv, in my headspace, pricked up his ears and got that acquisitive, "I must 'ave zis..." attitude going. Apparantly, the crown ornament reminded him of his crown in the First Iteration, the one which the Architect knocked from his head when he (the Merv) was nearly deleted. Yes, I got it to appease him (hey, it was only 50 cents...). It's now hanging on the Christmas tree in my room, in a place of honor near the top.
Today: Ran some errands with my mom; I needed to buy toothpaste badly, so I nipped into Brooks to get some... and I happened to walk through the aisle with the seasonal stuff, read: Valentine's Day junk, at this time of year, though one side of the aisle had been designated the marked-down Christmas/Holiday stuff section, which included a lovely little menorah, styled after the much-older oil lamp-type ones, though this one is designed for small candles. It was only $4.50, so I shook the last (metaphoric) shekels out of my very thin wallet and got it. I'm thinking of lighting it Saturday, when my dad is working the night shift keeping one eye on the boilers at work.
And something very odd happened: I didn't get all choked up at the sight of the Valentine's Day stuff. That's like the first time that's happened since I broke up with "Eli" seven years ago. Maybe I'm finally healed of that incident...
::Grins at her LJ icon:: Doesn't stop me from using it...
EDITED TO ADD: I forgot the dejunking side of the post... I was working on trying to sort through all the loose papers and old catalogs in my room today. What I really need is to take a week or two off from work and writing and just tear the whole room apart from top to bottom, but that ain't happening this week for sure... Sunday is Inventory Day. Let's see which aisle I have to count stuff in this year... please God, don't let it be the wretched frozen food aisle, since I counted in that aisle two years ago and I got a mild touch of hypothermia which went to my head and made me spaz. Horribly.