KTgreen

And it’s Friday again.

And we are way deep into the holiday season.  Right?

Tonight is the Homosassa Civic Club Christmas Party.  We have a “white elephant” gift exchange.  Unlike most places, our gifts have to be something you already own and do not want.  (Can’t be a live creature!) Okay.  Sounds weird but it is HILARIOUS.  One year the sought after gift was a stuffed cat.  Last year it was a man-kini.  Think about it.  Looking forward to what no one wants this year!

Then Saturday is our Christmas for the Homosassa Children Party. We are expecting a big bunch of kids this year.  It’s a lot of fun and the kids get a great gift, a visit with Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, crafts, and more sugary treats than anyone should be allowed to consume!

Last night Terry and I attended the Homosassa River Alliance Meeting.  I usually try to wiggle out of this meeting.  (So tired, I’ve been at the learning center all day….) but this time I wanted to attend because they were talking about the time-table for the septic tank replacement.  Looks like we are scheduled for something like 2025.  Surprised we were on the agenda at all.  But the really amazing thing was that the head waters, also known as the Blue Waters, isn’t scheduled until 2028.  The Homosassa River Restoration Project is supposed to start REALLY SOON at the head waters and one of the things that is causing the pollution is the septic tanks.  Seems kind of wrong that the crap will still be seeping while the project is taking place!  Crazy Cakes! Looks to me like someone else has their own agenda!

Back to fun times.  Homosassa Christmas Boat Parade is Saturday night.  This is always a great time.  Except this year Crystal River is having their boat parade the same night!  Whaaat!

 I could be wrong….but I don’t think these parades have ever been the same night.  Wondering if the brilliant minds that set these up are trying to shut down the Homosassa Boat Parade.  They shut down our raft race.  That’s held in Crystal River now.  And I suspect that these same brilliant minds are trying to shut down the Homosassa Arts, Crafts, and Seafood Festival.  A few years ago they set up the Dragon Boat Competition for the same weekend.  Not a big deal at first.  But now it’s turned into a 3-day Arts and Crafts event.  I don’t get it.  Why is the Chamber of Commerce competing against Old Homosassa?  Yes.  It’s the Chamber of Commerce that is sponsoring the other events.  Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

Maybe I’m just being a bit paranoid.

Or maybe, something is not quite right…..

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

Sometimes it seems to take forever to get anything done.

And then, suddenly it all comes together!

Children’s Christmas Outreach.  This has been one of the Homosassa Civic Club’s missions for many years.  Every Christmas the Homosassa Elementary School pulls together a list of names of families that could use some help with gifts from Santa. From that list, the civic club usually took two or families and bought their Christmas gifts along with holding a Christmas Party for all of the local children.

Meanwhile, other organizations were doing the same thing.  Then Shelley and Jon Weichman, owners of the Old Mill Tavern, suggested last year that we join forces and provide for all the families on the list.  

All of the names were given to the Old Mill Tavern and the families were put on the “Angel Tree”.  Customers could adopt a family or donate money at the bar to the fund.  The money donated goes to Christmas stockings and gifts that weren’t purchased by the donors.

This year we have 31 families and 84 kids.  Whaaaat????

How exactly do we provide that much stuff? 

First, all tips collected at the beer and wine booths at the Homosassa Arts, Crafts, and Seafood Festival are designated to pay for the Children’s Christmas Outreach.

Plus this year, the word has gotten out to the community…

A few weeks ago American Legion 166 donated $100 to the cause.  A member of that group also belongs to the Homosassa Lion’s Club and went to their board and said that this was a cause that they should support.  Yesterday they presented a check for $400 for the outreach program.  The Homosassa Rotary has always supported this cause and gave a check for $500. 

The Old Mill Tavern and the Homosassa Civic Club will split the remaining costs.

On December 15th, there will be a Christmas Party at the Homosassa Civic Club.  This is open to all children in the area. Mr. and Mrs. Santa will be there along with crafts and treats.

Shelley and crew will head out and buy the rest of the presents, the stockings and stuffers next weekend and then on December 18th there will be a huge wrapping party at the Civic Club.  The parents will pick up the wrapped gifts later that week and Santa will deliver them on Christmas!

That’s the plan.  In reality.  Do those kids actually get their gifts? As in all communities, drugs are a problem in our little village.  We either remove the bar codes or cover them with markers.  The people at Walmart told us to do that so the gifts can’t be returned.

Breaks my heart. 

Did you know that there is an organization that provides bags of groceries for the kids to put in their backpacks so they don’t go hungry on the weekend?

Okay.  Off of my soapbox before I break an ankle!

This little sweetie was at the Homosassa Civic Club meeting this week.

According to the bylaws, she’s too young to be a member but she is certainly welcome at the meetings.  Too Cute!

On another note, the software I use to write this blog got a WHOLE new revision and I have a bit of a learning curve.  Typically I write this on my iPad on Thursday evening and schedule it to post very early on Friday.  Yikes!  I could not get this “new and improved” version to play nicely on the iPad.  

Anyhow, I figured it out! (on my desktop) And I’m back!

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

Yikes!  Another crazy busy but fun week!

And tomorrow is the first day of December.  Time to get the house decorated, the baking started, and the Christmas music playing!

Probably ought to do some shopping, too!  Speaking of shopping, did you do the whole Black Friday fun stuff?  Okay.  Black Friday is the opposite of fun to me.

But I couldn’t resist checking things out on the Internet.  The packages are still arriving.  (All for me.  I haven’t done any Christmas Shopping yet!  I like to save that for the last possible moment.  I work better under pressure!)

So what’s going on????

Had the “Volunteer Appreciation Dinner” for the festival volunteers on Tuesday. Over 70 volunteers at the festival.  Can not do the festival without them!

I have been fortunate enough to see Terry do many talks at conferences before he retired. He was a very charismatic speaker.  (I know, charismatic no longer has a good connotation.) He always knew the subject, the audience, and made it interesting. Even though he was usually talking about concrete or concrete trucks.  (Warning, don’t ever call concrete CEMENT)

And he was that guy at the dinner.  Just a really brief talk but it started out the party out on a great note.

Then Connie took the stage.  Definitely another charismatic person.

We had some gifts to give out and she volunteered to do the giveaway.  She asked for volunteers to give out the goodies and Paul Ritli jumped up.  They were a good team.

 

Almost everyone won something.  I won a keychain.  Terry got a fishing t-shirt. (Terry usually gives whatever he wins back to the pot to be regifted but I had threatened him that he best not do that again.  And hey, that fishing t-shirt was just my size!!!!!!)

Food was great. Company was great. GREAT DINNER!!!!!

 

Then Wednesday the Homosassa Ukers got together.  19 Ukers.  OMG!  Our little ukulele group started out with friends Connie and Laurel and I wanting to learn ukulele.  Seems that there are a LOT of people in our little community that want to learn how to play ukulele!

Once again I want to shout out to our volunteers for the Uke group.  Anita is teaching the beginners.  Torrey is the Homosassa Ukers leader.  Anita also teaches the kids ukulele in the after-school music enrichment program.  And there is one volunteer per child. That’s what you need to keep 6 to 9 year olds to hold still and learn.  Anita also feeds them before we start.  And during.  And after.  This week it was French fries.  Anita is amazing!

And then today was the Sew Cool! Workshop. Okay.  You might not thinking that sewing is fun.  But with us it is.

I’ve got to know so many wonderful people through all these activities.

And that’s what it is all about.  The Homosassa Civic Club is turning into a true community center.  All these people are coming together and making a community.

It’s so cool for me to be part of this change!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Kathy