Beat The Clock.

No... this isn't about a nostalgic television game show-- it's about beating the traffic on our too-busy, over-built main roads. The trick is not to be near the major intersections at noon or at dinner-time. Mid-morning is the best... everyone who has driven to work is already there, and the ones who go out for lunch don't get on the road until 11:30 or just before noon.

Between 12:00 and 1:30 is busy, but between 2:00 and 3:20 is manageable. Between 3:30 and 4:00, the roads are filled with mothers and their kids in trucks and large SUVs, either coming home from school or going to after-school sports activities. Anything after 4:30 is horrible, and if you're on the main roads around 6:00, then you might want to keep a magazine on the front seat of your car so you have something to do besides seethe and roll your eyes towards heaven as you're sitting in the bumper-to-bumper lanes. (Mayor White! Are you listening to all of this?)

But on a happy note...... I went to the local consignment shop this morning, as I've been doing every week. I've already found most of the favors I will need for our Valentine's Party in February, but this morning I stumbled upon a treasure. Part of the consignment shop is roped off with swirls of red crape paper as their "store elves" put out all the Christmas items. They will take away the red paper ropes on Thursday, and serve punch and cookies to all the holiday shoppers.

Well, I don't want punch and cookies... I just want some good bargains, and I found a great one today. In their blue and white room, there was a silver Christmas tree skirt tucked on top of one of the boxes waiting for an elf to make holiday magic happen. I saw the silver satin-- couldn't miss it because of its shine, plus the satin has beaded silver snowflakes sewn here and there on the fabric. Gorgeous tree-skirt, and very expensively made... but in the consignment shop, it was less than twenty dollars. Plus, today's special up on the board at the front of the store said that anything with silver and gold in it would be 20%-off the marked price. They change that board and the specials first thing every morning, so on any given day, something is always on sale.

Twenty-percent off anything silver or gold....... a silver satin tree-skirt with silver beading-- can't get any more silver than that, and it qualified for the extra discount. I was thrilled....... I've been looking for years for a tree-skirt for my vintage aluminum tree, and now I have it. As soon as I got home, I took away the white lace tablecloth that I always put on the table underneath the aluminum tree. The silver satin looks beautiful, and the beaded snowflakes are shining and reflecting the colored glass ornaments on the tree. Perfect... couldn't have ordered anything more perfect than that satin fabric. Plus, I didn't get stuck in traffic this morning on my way to the shop.

It's beginning to look more like Christmas every day around here. I'm surprised that the consignment shop waited this long to put up their Christmas displays, but the girls there have been super-busy since Hurricane Ike rolled through. The furniture in that store has been flying out the door as fast as they can set it up, and nearly all the buyers were those who had lost part of their homes to the storm.

I told my husband that if I ever wanted to open up a business, a consignment shop would be the way to go. They split everything fifty-fifty... half to the store, half to the consignee. The store owner's inventory is brought in by all the customers-- and if you have the right location, you'll always have customers. They're careful to only accept items that are brand new or look that way. If it's an antique piece, then it can have just minimal wear or age to it-- nothing too shabby. The woman who owns this consignment shop also owns another one up in Pearland. Between the two stores, she makes a very good living, plus she loves the daily arranging and re-arranging that she and her "elves" have to do every day.

The invitations for our Christmas party have now all been either mailed out or given out. I was around the corner this afternoon giving "an invite" (as they all say here) to H and M, two neighbors who live down the street from V and S. When I told them we were inviting them to our Christmas Open House, H put his arms up in the air and said "Whooooo-eeeeee, we'll be there!" even before his wife opened the envelope to see what the date was.

We invited this couple to our Valentine's party last year, and they were so excited to be included in the party group that they showed up on our front porch the night before the party.... the right time, but the wrong night. They were so embarrassed, but we eased them out of being upset with themselves by telling them that a lot of our friends and neighbors had also made the same mistake over the years. (Not exactly true, but it made them feel better.) So today, when I invited them to the Christmas party, M told me that she would make sure they came to our house on the right date. Before I left, H said that no matter which night they came to our house, at least they "...wouldn't have to fight our way through the traffic on Bay Area Blvd."