One week before Christmas

Well. it is Sunday afternoon ... actually almost dark (1700 hrs) .... and I have arrived home after taking Ms Hilda home. I took her X-Mas shopping today. I was supposed to buy some things for my loved ones also, but Friday I had to have my Buick towed to the repair shop ... wouldn't start. Cost me $700 to fix it, which (as usual) I could ill afford. But, since I had been saving for Christmas, I had the money. It was the fuel pump ... which is/was in the gas tank ... and it had to be replaced. It took Friday afternoon and most of Saturday to troubleshoot. I have had the problem off and on for a couple of months. It would pick a time and it wouldn't start. After you waited a while and started it, it would start like a champ for a week or so. However, when it started, no one could find a/the reason for the non-start. They tried everything at BrakeMax and could find nothing wrong. Then, when I went to pick it up ... it happened ... they tested it then and found that the fuel pump was only creating 18 psi of pressure and it should have been 50 psi. Earlier, it had been getting over 50 psi. So, they located the problem, but it wiped me out financially. Oh well ... tis the season.

I really love buying stuff and giving stuff to other people (Christmas or not) even though I have never had the knack of accepting gifts easily. I feel so uneasy, uncomfortable and undeserving whenever anyone gives me anything. Anyway, I love the feelings that are extant this time of year. I do ... REALLY ... hate the commercialism, constant Christmas music 24-7 and the usage of Santa, et all to sell everything from toys, to automobiles, to fast food, to farm supplies, to mattresses. I also wonder why the IDEAL Christmas is (and in my memory always has been) New England in the snow, where Grandma and Grandpa have a farm (where no work ever needs to be done) and everyone comes with tons of presents and they all ride in one horse sleighs ... etc. ad infinitum. Those places do not exist and probably never have. Madison Avenue has done amazing things to this time of year.

By the way ... are mattresses ON SALE all day, every day over the entire course of the year??? We have Sleep America, Denver Mattress, and many others here in Tucson and they are on the radio every day talking about their sales. You have all the holidays covered with sales, the special purchase sales, the factory rebate sales, the owner-is-on-vacation sale, the owner's-dog-is-on-vacation sale, and every other conceivable reason for a sale. And EVERY dealer has the GUARANTEED lowest prices EVERY DAY. They will (each of them) beat any competitor's price at any time ... how do they all do that?

Well, I must get to Sunday Night Football (at least until the Uof A basketball game starts at 2000).

I sincerely hope that every one of you has a happy Christmas season and a better year than ever in 2007. I wish you friends, family and love ... both given and received. I hope that you are content with what you have and grateful for the life that you are living.

Peace to all and love from the desert !!