Welcome to the Misadventures of Widowhood blog!

Welcome to my World---Woman, widow, senior citizen seeking to live out my days with a sense of whimsy as I search for inner peace and friendships. Jeez, that sounds like a profile on a dating app and I have zero interest in them, having lost my soul mate of 42 years. Life was good until it wasn't when my husband had a massive stroke and I spent the next 12 1/2 years as his caregiver. This blog has documented the pain and heartache of loss, my dark humor, my sweetest memories and, yes, even my pity parties and finally, moving past it all. And now I’m ready for a new start, in a new location---a continuum care campus in West Michigan, U.S.A. Some people say I have a quirky sense of humor that shows up from time to time in this blog. Others say I make some keen observations about life and growing older. Stick around, read a while. I'm sure we'll have things in common. Your comments are welcome and encouraged. Jean

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Three Things to Talk About


First off just let me say that I came in second place in the gingerbread house contest and I voted for the house that won. The house that came in third I thought should have been disqualified because it had way too many trinkets on it that were not eatable like a costume jewelry for windows and doors and plastic people climbing all over the roof. But the kitchen staff made it and there were no rules, so it is what it is. There was a private party of 100 people from "the outside" booked in our restaurant during the voting period and they all voted in addition to our employees and residents so it was a fair contest but a lady who entered the contest obsessed that everyone would vote for friend’s house or stuff the ballet box for themselves. She was upset there was no way to register who voted and who didn’t and she complained about it all week. As it turned out, her house probably would have won third place if a rule had been in place restricting the decor to all be eatable. If we have rules or not next year she says she’s not entering again and while I’m really competitive with stuff like this, she took it way too seriously.

My house is at the top and the first and third place winners at the bottom of this paragraph. The house that won had the most creative ideas, not the prettiest house but the couple that made it put in a ton of work to make something different out of the standard kit we all started with. I already know what I want to make next year and I've written the idea down on November’s calendar page so I don't forget. This year my theme was a gingerbread shoppe giving out free samples. I think themes help. The house that won had a tiny sign on the lawn that said, “Home Renovations by so and so.”


The problem with making a gingerbread house is that you have way too much candy left over and in my case I ended up with three bags of pretzels. The thin ones I used to trim out the doors, the twisted medium sized that I going to build a fence with but the scale was wrong and the square ones are what I used for windows. I’m not even supposed do eat salty snacks because of my high blood pressure so I got online and found an article title 50 Recipes that start with a bag of Pretzels. I have two parties to go to here that aren’t being put on by the management so we each have to bring something to pass and I’m bringing pretzels coated in white and dark chocolate and rolled in  pecan chips and red sprinkles plus I’m making snowmen in nests of chocolate covered pretzels and a Pina Colada Salad with pretzels. 

From a cute and fun topic to a gross and ugly topic. The photo below was talked at my dermatologist's office this past week for my one month post surgery appointment. The doctor was pleased with the way it looks---no sign of infection and a ring of new tissue forming around the edge. There is a center white area that I’ll need to work harder at scrubbing out when I change the dressing everyday. It’s a scab trying to form above tissue that hasn’t healed yet. In eight weeks I have to send the doctor a photograph and we’ll take it from there. 

I was having so much trouble with the area itching that they hooked me up with a special tape you can only buy online and I’ve got to get more liberal with putting on the Vaseline. They don’t want it to dry out on the surface before the lower levels heal. It’s been over a year since I first discovered what I thought was tick that turned out to be a cancerous mole and I’m betting it will another year before I go without a dressing on it

Back to a fun topic: There's a semi-professional baseball field in town and they find uses for it year around. They host a winter beer festival that I have no desire to attend but for a long time they’ve also hosted a Tour of Christmas Lights that takes people on a long and twisting drive-through it. I lived close by it before I moved and always wanted to see it up close and personal but my husband never did. This year our management offered a trolley ride tour that was as uncomfortable as all get out but the show was spectacular and I now I can cross it off my list of things I've wanted to do.

And forth---I’m not changing the title of this post to Four Things to Talk About because I like the ring of the three ‘T’ words---we had our second annual Tour of Apartments here. Ten of my fellow residents opened their doors to show off their Christmas decorations and general decor, the latter being my main interest in seeing. I don’t do much for Christmas other than a two foot tall tree, and on my main door I have a wreath and on my deck door I have a large red bow so I will never be on the tour.  ©


34 comments:

  1. Minimal decorations are usually best--easy up, easy down and it doesn't shock the senses to view it! LOL

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    1. Not in my wheelhouse to do 'minimal' when it comes to gingerbread houses. LOL

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  2. Congratulations and job well done on your gingerbread house! I can only imagine how many hours it took. When you talked about the resident who got stressed out over the fairness of the vote, I had to laugh. When she figures out how to control everything, she needs to run for President.

    I am very glad that your leg is healing. This has been such a long process for you, and I'm sure there are days you just want it to be over with! We hang in there, though, and follow the doctors' directions. I am fast approaching 7 months of dental treatment for an implant. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started, but everything seems to be working out. Getting older takes a heckuva lotta patience!

    Have a great weekend, Jean. I'll bet the CCC is decorated to the 9s for Christmas. I hope you're all having a great holiday season!

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    1. She and I were in a gingerbread cookie painting class yesterday and she brought it up again. She thought 1st and 3rd place both should have been eliminated. I heard the vote counts were squeaky close but I didn't tell her that. LOL

      Would you believe it, the outside here didn't get decorated until yesterday! The inside residents had a party to do it several weeks ago. The excuse was 'They forgot' and no one was in charge of it. Which I can understand given this place is so new.

      I hate changing the dressing on my mole-less hole but I don't have a choice. Getting older really does take a lot of patience and time.

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  3. I prefer a gingerbread house sans clutter -- especially plastic clutter -- myself. I laughed when I saw that star on top of your tree; I remembered your writing about your leftover stars in an earlier post. I do like the winner. It's unusual. Of course, I enjoy simplicity, too. My Christmas decorating resembles yours more than, say, Jeanie's. One thing I did last year was get rid of decorations that didn't have some memory attached. I kept things like ornaments that were gifts, or that symbolize something, and I kept some of the decorations that my parents always had out. One thing I kept just for their beauty was a big set of faceted crystal bead strings. They look great draped around the tree, and sparkle in the lights.

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    1. You would have loved the house decorated by the people in the Memory Care building. It was very simple and understated.

      The winner or our contest was a couple and he's in my writing group and we compared tips as we worked on our houses, and even traded some candy ---stars for winter greens. I was very happy for him to win because it took a lot of courage to cut the house apart and put it back together in a different way.

      I have some special ornaments that I didn't get out this year that I put in a bowl, came from my childhood.

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  4. People! Stuffing a ballot box to win a gingerbread house contest? I would've laughed at this a few weeks ago and said that woman was imagining things but for my sister. She lives in a community similar to yours, Jean...and she told me that the resident (also the resident bully) who runs the bingo activity cheats at it so that she ends up winning most of the time! Apparently she rushes through any numbers not found on her card and refuses to repeat them for the hard of hearing. People find out afterwards they actually did have a bingo but Ms. Bully says too bad, you didn't speak up. My sister called her out on this behaviour (nicely, giving her the benefit of doubt that she is doing it intentionally) and now the bully has it out for her.

    Glad to read that your leg is coming along!

    Deb

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    1. Wow, that story is both funny and sad. Who knew you could figure out how to cheat at bingo. I'm surprised she was allowed to play a card and call numbers at the same time. There is always a bully no matter where you got, isn't there. They'd never get away with that here, though, as staff would do the calling as the do in the other buildings. We don't play it here. We also get to vote on changes like 'do you want a baby grand piano for the lobby'...no stuffing the ballot box on that one because we have to sign our ballots.

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  5. Congrats on doing so well in the gingerbread house contest. Had to smile at "Mrs. Trump" declaring the voting rigged.
    Sorry that wound is taking so long to heal. That is deeper than I imagined. Deep wounds tend to want to heal from the outside in instead of the proper way of inside to out. Keep after it. My dermatologist swears by vaseline.

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    1. Vaseline has been around forever! Just bought a new jar for the duration.

      I don't think she was a Trump supporter but she's known for her crafting here and she didn't like loosing when it comes to creative stuff.

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  6. Congrats on the cute gingerbread house! The lady who complained so much about not winning sounds like an election denier! It is just a fun contest so she should lighten up!
    Your leg is healing slowly but surely. My sister had the exact same experience and it did take quite a while to heal but eventually it did! So hang in there!

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    1. I'm not sure if she was an election denier or not but she doesn't like losing with it comes to artist stuff. She's the same person who quit our barn painting class because the teacher said something to her about leaving a class early.

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  7. I think your leg is coming along nicely, given the type of wound. They took out the sutures from the Mohs surgery on my leg a week ago. I don't have an open wound like yours, but it ain't pretty either. It's going to take a while. The one on my face still looks like a wrinkled up rug, but the doctor swears it will flatten out when the under suture dissolves. He said "I've never seen one that didn't." I wanted to say, "Hold my beer."

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    1. That would be scary having one on your face! I had one on the end of my nose but the stitches still show if you look close enough. Anyway, I'm glad to have a 'mole buddy' to go through this with. LoL

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    2. Happy to be your "mole buddy." I got plenty more where that one came from. :)

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    3. Congratulations on your gingerbread house, and good luck with the wound healing. ❤️ Cheerful Monk

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  8. Excellent job on your gingerbread house. Congrats on 2nd place! Did you win a prize? I would've voted for yours. First place was creative, but I appreciate the traditional and I'm a purist---only edible decorations allowed. Jewelry? Really? Btw, good job on finding so many uses for leftover pretzels. When I worked, I always left my leftover pretzels in the staff lounge; it always surprised me that in spite of the mounds of food available this time of year, the pretzels always disappeared pronto!

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    1. My goal is to get rid of the pretzels before the end of the year.Half will be gone after this weekend's party then there is new years eve. I got a free dinned in our dining room and the winner got two of them. I had a couple of people come up and tell me they couldn't vote for the winner because it didn't look traditional.

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  9. I like the look of gingerbread houses but not the taste

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    1. I've never tried to eat one. This is only the second time I've built a house as an adult, helped my mom several times growing up. The first one I built I wrapped it up and stored it and took it out for decorations for about five years and it held up well. Going to try that with this one too, Although our storage is heated so it might not work as well.

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  10. Congrats on your silver medal. I think your house looks inviting and delicious.

    I'm with Ellen D above. The complainer is probably an election-denier who's following the script of her republican idols. LOL.

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    1. It never would have occurred to me that anyone would stuff the ballot box with votes for their own house. After she said that I didn't even go near the box for fear she'd think that's what I was doing. If she hadn't complained so much she probably would have gotten more votes because her house was every bit as cute as mine. But no one wants to hear about election fraud at a stupid little gingerbread house contest.

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  11. Congratulations on your second place. I would have been lucky if my gingerbread house wasn't a lean-to subject to falling over at any moment.

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    1. I actually did think at one point the house was going to come apart and if it had, I'd just rename it the hurricane survivor.

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    2. Good one! My daughter was taking interior design in college and had to create a building or buildings, (I forget which since it was a long time ago) out of foam core. Something happened and it was a wreck, so she added some other components to it and designated it as a disaster site or something of that nature. Everyone, including the instructor, thought it was really creative and she got a good grade on it. And if a cake my mother baked developed a large crack down the middle, she just called it her "earthquake cake," stuck some toothpicks in it and left it at that. Since we lived in California, it was a fitting title. lol

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    3. Creativity is the name of the game in an interior design class. I can see why she got a good grade. Being able to work around the unpredictable is important in that field.

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  12. I love your gingerbread house and all the winners. Three cheers on your win. (I'll bet that the one lady who was so worried about ballot stuffing voted for Trump, too...) I'm hoping to do one of these with the boys when we are there this week but we'll see how it all times out!

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    1. They are fun to decorate. We didn't have to bake the gingerbread with out kits. You can get kits both ways.

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  13. Love your gingerbread entry! Way to go! And that other woman was FAR too competitive....and suspicious. Perhaps voting machines should be installed? Nah... LOL

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  14. Loved your entry, worth a Win. I can see Why 1st Place Won tho', very Creative Design to make out of a Boxed Kit, Imaginative and Unique. Third Place is cute, and if the extras didn't disqualify them, it did make for an unfair advantage to have the non-edibles giving it that 'extra' that might have given favor to their placement in the Winning Circle. Your Healing being so long is concerning, but it seems as tho' you're staying on top of the wound, it still looks painful, so may it Heal quicker than expected and you have no complications. As a Diabetic I'm always concerned about complications arising from things that don't begin as serious, but could come to that.

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    1. I loved that the winner had the guts to cut that house apart and reassemble it. He said it took him two days of staring at it to finally do it. I wanted to cut the door open but I didn't have the guts to try that.

      I'm not diabetic but when ever they test it, I'm on the high end of normal. I keep thinking one of these days I'll go over so an open wound scares me too. I'm doing the wound care faithfully. So fingers crossed that's enough.

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  15. Sign me up for the pretzels coated in dark chocolate! I would scarf them up. What a variety of designs. I enjoy all 3 houses, for different reasons. Yours looks the most appealing. Congratulations!

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