Obviously, I must feel as if I have something to say before this year ends, but it seems I have no idea what it is and come here expecting some sort of Ouija board writing. And it is not working.

Could it be a paranormal thing that I, with my amazing AmeliaJake psychic power, am psyching before it happens? At midnight, will something fundamentally change and I will different? Oh, you hope . . . you hope. But, I must remind you, better the devil you know than the one you don’t.

I think it would be fun to have a shortbread party right now – shortbread made with real butter. Shortbread that melts in my mouth. Shortbread! Shortbread! Shortbread! Shortbread! Shortbread! Shortbread crumbs on my chin and shirt and lap . . .

It appears that the season’s cheer sort of held off on me until NOW and I feel like having fun . . . and shortbread.

My friends here at the PBC & R are getting a wee bit nervous . . . Who IS this smiling, cheerful person? They need to relax; chances are it won’t last. That’s a bummer of a thought, but stranger things, dontcha know?

It’s 12 degrees right now and we have an alert.

Local Weather Alert
Special Weather Statement for Noble, IN
Other affected areas:
…
La Porte, IN; St. Joseph, IN; Elkhart, IN; Lagrange, IN; Steuben, IN; Noble, IN; De Kalb, IN; Starke, IN; Marshall, IN; Kosciusko, IN; Whitley, IN; Allen, IN; Berrien, MI; Cass, MI; St. Joseph, MI; Branch, MI; Hillsdale, MI; Williams, OH; Fulton, OH; Defiance, OH; Henry, OH; Paulding, OH; Putnam, OH
More

… SIGNIFICANT SNOW POSSIBLE NEW YEARS EVE THROUGH THURSDAY…

A POTENT UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY ADVANCING INTO WESTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND MAY LATER FOSTER THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM. THERE IS SOME INDICATION THAT THE SYSTEM MAY TAKE A PATH FAVORABLE FOR A LONG DURATION SNOWFALL EVENT ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GREAT LAKES NEW YEARS EVE INTO THURSDAY.

WHILE THE DEVELOPMENT AND EXACT TRACK OF THIS POTENTIAL WINTER STORM REMAIN UNCERTAIN… SNOW… MAINLY LIGHT TO MODERATE… IS EXPECTED TO OVERSPREAD THE SOUTHWEST GREAT LAKES REGION AND INTO SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN AND NORTHERN INDIANA TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY.

THEN… A MORE POTENT SYSTEM COULD EXIT THE SOUTHERN PLAINS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND INTENSIFY ACROSS THE OHIO VALLEY REGION ON THURSDAY. AT PRESENT THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT DEGREE OF VARIABILITY BETWEEN MODEL SIGNALS WITH RESPECT TO THIS STORMS STRENGTH AND FORWARD SPEED. A SLOWER… MORE DEVELOPED SYSTEM WOULD FAVOR THE POTENTIAL FOR A SWATH OF HEAVY SNOW ACROSS NORTHERN INDIANA… FAR NORTHWEST OHIO AND SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY. GIVEN THE LONG DURATION OF THIS EVENT… 36 TO 48 HOURS… SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TOTALS IN THE 4 TO 8 INCH RANGE ARE CERTAINLY POSSIBLE. AT PRESENT THE LOCATION OF THE HEAVIEST SNOW APPEARS TO BE PRIMARILY ALONG AND NORTH OF ROUTE 24… AFFECTING NORTHERN INDIANA… FAR NORTHWEST OHIO… AND SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN. SMALL FLUCTUATIONS IN THE TRACK AND INTENSITY OF THIS SYSTEM COULD SIGNIFICANTLY ALTER ACCUMULATIONS.

WHILE A SIGNIFICANT SNOW EVENT IS NOT A CERTAINTY AT THIS TIME… HOLIDAY TRAVELERS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT TO LATER FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS… SHOULD WINTER STORM WATCHES… WARNINGS OR ADVISORIES BECOME NECESSARY. ALSO… TRAVELERS MAY WISH TO CONSIDER ALTERNATE SCHEDULES AND ROUTES.

Ah, right off the bat I think I’m going to have to get some compressed air and blow out the “n” key (did that) because it did not want to go down. So, first crisis of the morning taken care of. Well, it wasn’t the first crisis; the first one was not being able to easily put my hands on a pair of matching socks – but then I figured I’m wearing tall boots, so who cares. (I do not put mismatched socks in the same category as underwear with holes in socks when it comes to the ER.)

I have no good reason for the Gadzooks, other than although I know a day is a day and a year is a year, I just feel better about it going to be 2014. Of course, there’s still a few hours to go, but I’ll just pretend I’m really far east of here until midnight.

I have no celebratory New Year’s Eve planned. No resolutions. Not anything. I first typed “no nothing”, keeping with the vernacular, but it just rubbed too hard the wrong way on the nap. That’s kind of funny because I just had to shift off the option in post writing that highlights grammar questions. It was driving me crazy with its little suggestions that I might way to phrase things differently.

We have a light snow this morning, with the occasional flake still falling. I’m going to check the weather forecast now and perhaps you’ll hear another GADZOOKS!

I have written in past columns and blog posts about how Christmas has become like a door with a long path leading to it, full of bright colors and cheerful tunes and good cheer – and then you open the door and that is it, like lemmings over a cliff.

And actually that part about all the good cheer on the path, well, for many it’s fraught with tension and too much concern with what has to be done, with no thought for the enjoyment of the doing.

As I gather this year’s Christmas decorations, I am packing a couple of boxes labeled “2014” – my favorite ornaments, my bubble lights and a picture that says my intent better than those famous thousand words.

They tell me that when I was very little I would sit for long periods of time just watching the bubble lights do there thing. Hey, I was a little girl – little girls concentrate better than little boys. I watched them a little this year, but because the tree was located where it could be seen from many places in the house, it worked out that none of those places was a sitting area where the seats faced the tree. So most of my watching was a pause in my walk-bys. I need a little tree with about seven bubble lights on it just for me – maybe next year.

It’s still this year, though, and soon I will be taking the bubble lights off the lower and stronger branches of our Frazier fir and packing them away. The colored lights all come down, but the white ones I usually leave where I have placed them haphazardly on fake ficus trees and tumbling down from the crook of a goose-necked floor lamp.

I call these remaining white lights “Winter Lights” or “Northern Lights” and they usually last until the days start to lengthen and the sun itself shifts and begins to brighten the house with new angles.

And speaking of changing seasons, here comes Summer.

Normally, I get lots and lots of notifications of special offers in my email. I let them come and scan through the senders because I have learned sometimes a retailer will offer stubborn resisters of email offers a really, really good deal . . . before the offer goes more public a day later or whatever. I do not turn my nose up at 50% off products I really want to buy anyway – oh, like Yankee Candles and Easy Spirit shoes/boots.

But what makes up my email is not my point here; my point the amount . . . and what happened yesterday. From the magic number of 2:22 pm until way after 11, I received not one notice, alert, or anything at all. Now, just three days after Christmas, I found this extremely odd. For nine hours, nobody wanted to alert me to any deal, anywhere, at any price.

In today’s world, that might almost be a sign that the world has ended – sort of a sky is falling scenario.

I have been thinking about today’s world and how short amount of time it takes to make something an “antique” – and I am not talking about moi. But surely duct tape is forever as the fixer of anything . . . but then we thought that about baling wire. Sigh.

It is almost 11:30 am and I just realized I am walking around with this nice knit green thing on my upper body and an okay slip on the lower half. I am not wearing my skirt yet. I’ll tell you why I called what one would expect to be designated as a blouse or shirt a green thing; it is because it is a hunter green nightshirt. I just noticed that . . . after I noticed the slip situation.

And I don’t care.

I found a sweatshirt among my mother’s things that says “Make my Day” and has a little stick figure wielding a rolling pin. I may just put that on.

And the scary thing is I am actually in a good mood.

No, I am not going to talk about the AmeliaJake facial exercises; I have been scrunching my face today because I have been in a very bad mood regarding total strangers. Not total strangers I have actually seen, but ones who have popped up in Mary Poppins style blog entries. It just worked out today that I clicked on some random links that wound up taking me – one way or another to a blogger who, golly gee, just has to be a Stepford Wife and Total Saint.

Three times I read entries about people who had really unfortunate, frustrating and exasperating days and went on and on about each moment being a treasure. Yes, I understand fully that given a choice between tragedy and anguish and having a spouse carelessly flush the only set of car keys, I would gladly go the lost car key route. But, in every day human nature, wouldn’t someone normally yell, “You flushed the car keys???!!!” Would not that lead you to the door on which you had mounted foam bricks so you could safely bang your head?

Apparently for some, this and other irritating situations are not at all the teensiest bit upsetting. Not even enough to justify an “Oh darn.”

So now I am in the position of being annoyed by sweetness and light . . . which just makes my day and scrunches my face.

UPDATE: Just after I pushed published, I looked up and saw that WordPress was nagging me to update to 3.8. So finally I did just to get them off my back and, frankly, Scarlett, my dear, I don’t like the update.

You know, maybe I’m just not in a good mood . . . Do you think?

Well, Christmas came for AmeliaJake Who; once again it came round just as it always has. But this year, this little AmeliaJake Who had the distinct feeling of stepping outside of the parade and watching part of it pass by.

I am beginning to believe that there comes a time when memories catch up with you, when the list to which you have been adding each year grows too long and it is time to let some traditions become honorary, sort of non-voting board members. I’m getting used to this philosophy and I think it’s starting to fit me.

And now I’m going to go have another glass of sparkling cranberry juice – another fluted glass, because, gee whiz, I just like it that way on the days I’m wearing a silk blouse . . . and an apron.