And then everyone comes downstairs, and in short order, it looks like this:
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| The cat's out of the bag.... |
Later, there will be cookies. And pumpkin pie.
Join us this week and every week with Ten Things of Thankful. You won't be sorry.
Saturday, December 26, 2015
All Is Calm, All Is Bright
This is my favorite part of Christmas morning. I'm not only the first one downstairs, but I'm the only one awake in the house. Within the hour, there will be laughter and commotion, wrapping paper and boxes and gifts scattered about, Christmas candy being eaten, cats playing with the scraps of tissue paper and ribbon, and the smell of cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. But right now, all is calm. All is bright.
And then everyone comes downstairs, and in short order, it looks like this:
Later, there will be cookies. And pumpkin pie.
Happy birthday, Jesus! I hope You enjoyed Your day as much as we did.
Join us this week and every week with Ten Things of Thankful. You won't be sorry.
And then everyone comes downstairs, and in short order, it looks like this:
Later, there will be cookies. And pumpkin pie.
Join us this week and every week with Ten Things of Thankful. You won't be sorry.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Ten Things of Kittyful Thanks
A kittyful collection of thankfuls for this week's Ten Things of Thankful:
Kitties and boxes.
Kitties and Christmas trees (especially when the kitty is being picturesque and not climbing, getting stuck in, or knocking over the tree).
Fat kitties.
Sleepy kitties.
Fat AND sleepy kitties.
Clean kitties.
Fake kitties (really, you NEED to get the kitty collector app).
Kittylicious! How's your week? Got some thankfuls up your sleeve?
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Kitties and boxes.
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| Fletcher can't resist a box. |
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| Same box, full of Pete. |
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| Ruby's turn. |
Kitties and Christmas trees (especially when the kitty is being picturesque and not climbing, getting stuck in, or knocking over the tree).
Fat kitties.
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| WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?! |
Sleepy kitties.
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| Precious princess.... |
Fat AND sleepy kitties.
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| I need a bigger lap. |
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| Washing what he can reach.... |
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| 1. Derail train. 2. Wash belly. |
Kittylicious! How's your week? Got some thankfuls up your sleeve?
Your hosts
A Fly on our (Chicken Coop)
Wall, Amycake and the Dude, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting
Literal, I Want Backsies, The Meaning of Me, Thankful Me, Uncharted, The Wakefield Doctrine
Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Oooh! Ahhh! Christmas Lights And More Thankfuls
Shhhh! My family is still asleep and I'd like to keep it that way for a little longer. Here are some thankfuls for the week:
1. We drove to the lake house yesterday. No one has been here since my mom fell right before Halloween, but everything was fine.
2. My parents have really great neighbors across the street. They keep an eye on the place and have a key, just in case (for example, just in case there's a tornado warning, as we have a basement and they don't). They turned on the heat and set the thermostat very low, so if the weather takes a dive, the pipes won't freeze.
3. Ordinarily, I am not a big fan of unseasonable weather, but the 70 degree day yesterday made for a really nice visit to Silver Dollar City last night to enjoy their spectacular light display. We didn't have to wear coats and hats and gloves, which meant I didn't have to carry anyone else's coats and hats and gloves when they didn't want to wear them.
4. While there are shows to be seen at Silver Dollar City, such as a production of "It's A Wonderful Life," our plan was just to walk through the park, enjoy the lights, and get the free pewter ornaments we earned by using our season passes the correct number of times (don't ask me what that number is, because I have no idea; I just know that we qualified). I asked the kids if there was anything else they really wanted to do while we were there, and they both said, in unison, "decorate cookies" (we've only been doing this since College Boy was about 3, and I'm sure somewhere I have pictures to prove it, but I'm not where the pictures are, so use your imagination about how cute he was as a little guy, frosting a cookie with green [always green] frosting and sprinkles and devouring it.)
5. Turkeys were on sale for 73 cents a pound, so I bought two for the freezer.
6. The College Boy is finished with finals and home for a whole month.
7. He brought his (REALLY BIG) tv home with him, carefully packing it in the original packaging for the trip, fretting over making sure it stayed upright, per warnings on the box, carried it inside the house, set it in the living room, next to a wing-back chair that contained one Ruby, and was in the process of carrying some things up to his room when there was a big WHOMP from the living room. He returned to find Ruby sitting on the arm of the chair and the tv jelly-side down on the floor next to her. Hysteria ensued, and he rushed the tv up to his room to make sure it still worked, vowing there would be one less cat in the house if it didn't. It did, and Ruby's place in the family is still secure.
8. Emma and I are enjoying the perks of Area Appreciation pricing and going to see a music show tonight. (Branson is known for its music shows, among other things.) This is a big deal, because we don't go to shows; that's for tourists, as far as we're concerned; besides, tickets are pretty pricey. She and I are going to see The Haygoods, whom we love, and we will wish my Person and her daughters were with us, because we never would have gone to see them the first time if it weren't for them. Two thankfuls for the price of one!
9. I don't have pneumonia. I do have bronchitis (its name is Dayn).
10. I didn't have to go to the doctor to get a diagnosis. We had our preschool Christmas program Thursday night, and Dayn the Cold, which started on Monday, had turned into Dayn the Horrid Cough and Dayn the Laryngitis. One of my preschool moms (yay for awesome preschool moms) is a nurse who is also studying to be a nurse practitioner. She brought her stethoscope to school the next morning and listened to my chest, pronounced that it was tight (it's been making a weird noise when I breathe), but it wasn't pneumonia. Whew!
Work hard and find some thankfuls for the week. If I can do it, so can you!
Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group
1. We drove to the lake house yesterday. No one has been here since my mom fell right before Halloween, but everything was fine.
2. My parents have really great neighbors across the street. They keep an eye on the place and have a key, just in case (for example, just in case there's a tornado warning, as we have a basement and they don't). They turned on the heat and set the thermostat very low, so if the weather takes a dive, the pipes won't freeze.
3. Ordinarily, I am not a big fan of unseasonable weather, but the 70 degree day yesterday made for a really nice visit to Silver Dollar City last night to enjoy their spectacular light display. We didn't have to wear coats and hats and gloves, which meant I didn't have to carry anyone else's coats and hats and gloves when they didn't want to wear them.
5. Turkeys were on sale for 73 cents a pound, so I bought two for the freezer.
6. The College Boy is finished with finals and home for a whole month.
7. He brought his (REALLY BIG) tv home with him, carefully packing it in the original packaging for the trip, fretting over making sure it stayed upright, per warnings on the box, carried it inside the house, set it in the living room, next to a wing-back chair that contained one Ruby, and was in the process of carrying some things up to his room when there was a big WHOMP from the living room. He returned to find Ruby sitting on the arm of the chair and the tv jelly-side down on the floor next to her. Hysteria ensued, and he rushed the tv up to his room to make sure it still worked, vowing there would be one less cat in the house if it didn't. It did, and Ruby's place in the family is still secure.
8. Emma and I are enjoying the perks of Area Appreciation pricing and going to see a music show tonight. (Branson is known for its music shows, among other things.) This is a big deal, because we don't go to shows; that's for tourists, as far as we're concerned; besides, tickets are pretty pricey. She and I are going to see The Haygoods, whom we love, and we will wish my Person and her daughters were with us, because we never would have gone to see them the first time if it weren't for them. Two thankfuls for the price of one!
9. I don't have pneumonia. I do have bronchitis (its name is Dayn).
10. I didn't have to go to the doctor to get a diagnosis. We had our preschool Christmas program Thursday night, and Dayn the Cold, which started on Monday, had turned into Dayn the Horrid Cough and Dayn the Laryngitis. One of my preschool moms (yay for awesome preschool moms) is a nurse who is also studying to be a nurse practitioner. She brought her stethoscope to school the next morning and listened to my chest, pronounced that it was tight (it's been making a weird noise when I breathe), but it wasn't pneumonia. Whew!
Work hard and find some thankfuls for the week. If I can do it, so can you!
Your hosts
A Fly on our (Chicken Coop)
Wall, Amycake and the Dude, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting
Literal, I Want Backsies, The Meaning of Me, Thankful Me, Uncharted, The Wakefield Doctrine
Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Standard: A Six Sentence Story
"Well," he asked proudly, "what do you think of it?"
With little more than a glance, she shrugged her shoulders and answered, "It's sub-standard."
"What do you mean, 'sub-standard'? I've never had one complaint before about it being sub-standard!" he said with indignation.
"Then you've associated yourself with people who have very low standards. My standards are extremely high, and this," she said, opening the door to usher him out, "is not up to mine."
Linking up with Ivy at Uncharted for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt "standard."
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Pure Randomness: Nothing More, Nothing Less
A random, stream of consciousness post:
My husband thinks I should have my own cooking show on the Food Network where I try to make things without reading the recipe all the way through.
My cats are assholes. I was tired of the disgusting smells emanating from the litter box, so I got them a new litter as recommended by my friend Deena who has much experience with cats through fostering and owning her own. It's actually horse bedding, pine pellets that absorb all odor and make the basement smell like a hamster cage. They hate it. Hate it. HAAAAAATE it. One of them (or more, as they don't sign their work, it's impossible to know) has pooped beside the litter box on the floor and on the throw rug in the downstairs bathroom. I am shaken but not beaten; eventually, I WILL prevail.
Speaking of hamsters, I once wrote that I had two dead hamsters in a toilet paper tube in the freezer of my downstairs refrigerator. They were awaiting interment at the lake house (where the ground is sandy and easy to dig in), but we kept forgetting, so there they stayed for, oh, maybe five years. A few weeks ago, the refrigerator died and everything inside the freezer thawed. Everything. The hamsters are no longer awaiting burial and are now entombed at the landfill. Sorry, hamsters, I meant well.
Anyone know an easy way to make the neighbor's car alarm stop honk, honk, honking the horn ENDLESSLY? Asking for a friend....
My husband just stood in front of me, looked down at me with my laptop open, my phone, my OLD phone, and my Nook lined up on the arm of the chair, and said, "You've got $1,000 worth of candy crushing machines sitting here in front of you." CANDY CRUSHING IS SERIOUS BUSINESS! WHEN WILL YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!
As I was getting gas this afternoon, I took a styrofoam cup out of the car to throw away and dropped the damn thing onto the pavement instead, at which time it promptly rolled under the car. Not barely under the car, either, but smack in the center. Most people would have left it there, but I'm no litterer, so I took the squeegee, got on my hands and knees, and eventually hooked that sonofabitch cup with the end of the squeegee and fished it out while simultaneously flashing my underpants to the folks driving past the gas station when my jeans slid down during my struggle.
My husband thinks I should have my own cooking show on the Food Network where I try to make things without reading the recipe all the way through.
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My cats are assholes. I was tired of the disgusting smells emanating from the litter box, so I got them a new litter as recommended by my friend Deena who has much experience with cats through fostering and owning her own. It's actually horse bedding, pine pellets that absorb all odor and make the basement smell like a hamster cage. They hate it. Hate it. HAAAAAATE it. One of them (or more, as they don't sign their work, it's impossible to know) has pooped beside the litter box on the floor and on the throw rug in the downstairs bathroom. I am shaken but not beaten; eventually, I WILL prevail.
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Have you ever been in a waiting room and the nurse comes to the door and calls your first name and you get up and start walking towards her at the same time someone else does the same thing, and come to find out, there are two of you with the same name, but you aren't the one they want, so you have to slink back to your seat with everyone watching? Yeah, me, either....
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My husband and I were in the car the other day and passed a dog grooming business called, "Stylin' Doggie." I thought it would have been infinitely more entertaining if the name had been "Doggie Stylin'" instead, and my husband said I probably shouldn't be in the business-naming business.
Random enough fer ya?
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Because I'm No Quitter, Here Are Ten Things Of Thankful
I'm trying to be brave this week, but I'm struggling. I didn't want to find ten thankfuls this week, and I was thisclose to skipping it. This week marks the 129th week of Ten Things of Thankful. I have participated 128 times. How do I give up a streak like that? Here's my list:
1. Peppermint ice cream, but only during the Christmas season. Any other time would be just wrong.
2. Kid-made Christmas ornaments.
3. Former President Jimmy Carter. What a kind, resilient, humanitarian he is!
4. Coconut oil. I use it on my face twice a day, and it has greatly reduced breakouts (I KNOW! Makes no sense, does it?) When my feet are dry, I slather it on them before I go to bed and put on a pair of socks and wake up with soft tootsies. I use it to clean my make up brushes. I guess I could actually cook with it, as that is its original use, but nahhh.
5. Really bad hair days, so I will appreciate the good ones more. Three guesses what kind of hair day today is.
6. Six Sentence Stories. They are quite fun. You should try your hand at it. Seriously.
7. Friday Night Video Chat. I haven't done one in for-evah and nearly didn't get to participate, as I had technical issues (I ALWAYS have technical issues when I try to do the Video Chat), but I finally got it worked out and it was lovely. (By the way, I know you were all laughing at my failure to thrive, ahem, Clark.)
8. Chicken pictures.
9. Senders of chicken pictures.
10. My daddy. I have the best daddy in the world.
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1. Peppermint ice cream, but only during the Christmas season. Any other time would be just wrong.
2. Kid-made Christmas ornaments.
3. Former President Jimmy Carter. What a kind, resilient, humanitarian he is!
4. Coconut oil. I use it on my face twice a day, and it has greatly reduced breakouts (I KNOW! Makes no sense, does it?) When my feet are dry, I slather it on them before I go to bed and put on a pair of socks and wake up with soft tootsies. I use it to clean my make up brushes. I guess I could actually cook with it, as that is its original use, but nahhh.
5. Really bad hair days, so I will appreciate the good ones more. Three guesses what kind of hair day today is.
6. Six Sentence Stories. They are quite fun. You should try your hand at it. Seriously.
7. Friday Night Video Chat. I haven't done one in for-evah and nearly didn't get to participate, as I had technical issues (I ALWAYS have technical issues when I try to do the Video Chat), but I finally got it worked out and it was lovely. (By the way, I know you were all laughing at my failure to thrive, ahem, Clark.)
8. Chicken pictures.
9. Senders of chicken pictures.
10. My daddy. I have the best daddy in the world.
Your hosts
A Fly on our (Chicken Coop)
Wall, Amycake and the Dude, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting
Literal, I Want Backsies, The Meaning of Me, Thankful Me, Uncharted, The Wakefield Doctrine
Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Lie: A Six Sentence Story
He was pleasantly surprised when she sidled up to him at the craps table, cheering lustily for him as his stack of chips grew, and when her hand accidentally brushed against his arm, he felt a jolt of electricity course through his body; he had never before attracted someone so deliciously sexy, and when he ran into her again at the elevator shortly after cashing in his chips, he boldly invited her to his room and was ecstatic when she accepted.
Inside his suite, drinks in hand, they both sat on the sofa, and as she kicked off her shoes, casually tucking her feet under her, she leaned towards him and said, "Let's play a game called Two Truths and a Lie. I'll go first and you guess which is the lie: I always get what I want, and I wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on you in the casino; I'm not wearing panties under my dress; and I poisoned your drink."
"The last one is the lie," he said, but his tongue seemed surprisingly thick as he spoke, and as he tried to reach his hand out to brush her cheek, he slumped forward instead.
Smiling, she rose and pushed him onto his side, deftly removing his wallet from his pocket as she whispered in his ear, "Wrong, loser, it was the first one; I never wanted YOU, just your money."
Slipping her feet back into her shoes, she sauntered out of the suite, took the elevator back down to the casino and resumed her watch near the craps table.
Linking up with Ivy at Uncharted for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt "lie."